Missouri Dems: Rand Paul Was Right — Ferguson Looked Like Fallujah

Sen. Rand Paul was right about the dangers of militarizing local police, two Missouri Democratic lawmakers concede.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, meeting with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Thursday at the Pentagon to urge cutting back a program that gives military hardware to local police, said strife-torn Ferguson, Missouri, reminds him of a war zone.

"It looked like Fallujah. It looked like the Iraqi war," he told The Hill.

"Rand Paul was right. He talked about how we cannot militarize our cities. That's what it looked like. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I grew up in the South during the civil rights days."

In his column for Time.com, Paul wrote "nowadays, police are looking, and acting, more like soldiers than cops, with bad consequences. And those who suffer the consequences are usually innocent civilians."

More