Sen. Ted Cruz

Gaddafi, again, a terrible man.

America came in and toppled him.

He was killing terrorists.

Instead, the terrorists took over.

They began killing Americans.

That was a material harm to our national security.

Why is Iran different?

Iran is different because the Iranians are murdering Americans.

They are waging war with us, whether the Democrats want to acknowledge it or not.

And so removing from power Islamists who are actively trying to kill Americans makes us safer.

Now, Iraq was compounded because the mission became nation building.

Because the mission became put hundreds of thousands of boots on the ground for years at a time.

And a lot of folks in the Republican Party thought, you know, our mission is to promote democracy.

Democracy is wonderful.

And we are the global police who will promote democracy across the globe.

I think that's completely misguided.

I think democracy is great.

I think we should advocate democracy.

The bully pulpit, I am all for advocating democracy, but I'm not willing to send our sons and daughters to die to try to turn countries in the Middle East into Switzerland.

I think that was a big mistake.