Sen. Rand Paul says he doesn't want to get personal in his response to an attack on Monday by Sen.
John McCain, who said Paul doesn't know enough about the situation in Syria and Iraq.
"I'd like to make it not so personal," the Kentucky Republican said Wednesday on Fox News Channel's
"Hannity."
"I think that we really have a true policy difference here. I'm not for arming radical jihadists. I'm not for arming radical Islam."
McCain, an Arizona Republican, went on the attack on Sean Hannity's Fox show on Monday night after Paul criticized President Barack Obama's request to arm Syrian rebels.
"Has Rand Paul ever been to Syria? Has he ever met with ISIS? Has he ever met with any of these people?" McCain said Monday. "I know these people. I'm in contact with them all the time, and he is not."
Paul said Wednesday that he wants to fight the Islamic State (ISIS), but he fears that most of the weapons given to the rebels have "just gone on through to ISIS."
Both the Free Syrian Army and ISIS are fighting the Syrian government of Bashar Assad. They also have been fighting each other, but a report over the weekend suggested the rebels and ISIS may have reached a truce.
"We don't even know who the head of the Free Syrian Army is," Paul told host Sean Hannity. "There are three different people who say they're the head of the Free Syrian Army."
He said he thinks Republicans and Democrats, including Obama, who want to arm the rebels should be careful they are not giving weapons to people who might use them against Americans.
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