Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) used a speech at the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Convention on Monday to blast the Obama administration for fighting to a “stalemate” in Syria and called on the U.S. to stop policing the world.

“Last week I was told by the administration, you know what their goal is in Syria? To fight to a stalemate,” Paul told the convention in Kentucky. “I’ve told them I’m not sending my kids or your kids or any American soldiers to fight for stalemate. When we fight, we fight to win, we fight for American principles, we fight for the American flag and we come home after we win.”

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Paul said the U.S. government’s intervention in Egypt, Syria and Libya is not done with “common sense” and that unlike earlier generations, “we often don’t think before we act.”

“For our country’s sake, certainly for our soldiers’ sake — for the sake of every veteran who ever donned a uniform and fought for this country — America’s mission should always be to keep the peace, not police the world,” Paul said.

“There is no greater priority for the federal government than the defense of the Constitution and the nation,” Paul added. “Yet, sometimes I think our defense is weakened by our overeagerness to be involved in every civil war on the planet.”

Paul said it is “a great irony” that weapons the U.S. is sending to militants in Syria may be used against millions of Syrian Christians who tend to side with President Bashar Assad.

“I, for one, will fight with every ounce of my energy to prevent arms, American arms, that you paid for, from being used against Christians,” Paul said.