Rand swerving left?

Rand Paul defends Obama on drone strike that killed hostages

By Catalina Camia

GOP presidential hopeful Rand Paul defended the Obama administration for a drone strike that accidentally killed two hostages and signaled he supports the use of unmanned aircraft in a “combat” situation.
“I tend not to want to blame the president for the loss of life here,” Paul, a Kentucky senator, said Monday on Fox News. “I think he was trying to do the right thing.”
Obama last week apologized for the operation against suspected al-Qaeda targets in Pakistan that resulted in the death of Warren Weinstein, an American contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development, and Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian citizen working for a German aid agency.
Paul became a national figure in 2013 when he staged a nearly 13-hour filibuster against CIA Director John Brennan over U.S. policy on the use of drones. His comments on Fox & Friends were his first since issuing a brief statement last week after the White House revealed the news about the counter-terrrorism operation and another in the region that killed two other Americans believed to be working with al-Qaeda.
The presidential candidate, whose views on national security and foreign policy are being intensely scrutinized in the campaign, sought to clarify his stance on the use of drones.
“I think in military and warfare they do have some value,” Paul said. “I’ve been an opponent of using drones about people not involved in combat, however, if you’re holding hostages you kind of are involved in combat.”