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At theConservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)this week, you might have expected to see evidence of the debate raging in the Republican Party over its approach to foreign policy. Instead,the GOP's loudest and most aggressive foreign policy instincts were on mostprominent display. It was less a soul-searching moment, and more hawkfest 2015.

At a marquee foreign policy panel, for example,Sen. Tom Cotton got the biggest applause for this line:"Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, and Joe Biden made the right decision to support George Bush in the Iraq war." About ten seconds later, Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT), who like Cotton is an Iraq vet, denounced the 2003 decision to invade. The crowd was silent.

That's as a good a summary of the CPAC approach to foreign policy as you can get.A hawk was cheered. A skeptic was ignored.

And while CPAC appeals to the most conservative wing of the party, the rise of the hawks here is part of a much broader trend in the GOP.There are three big reasons for the return of the GOP's aggressive foreign policy and each says something important about the 2016 race.

Every plausible candidate for the 2016 GOP nomination - with the notable exception of non-interventionist Rand Paul - has advanced a pretty aggressive approach to world politics. The place it is most true: ISIS, which was clearly CPAC's most popular foreign affairs topic. At times, the conference felt like a competition as to who could be more aggressive with respect to the group.

"ISIS represents the worst threat to freedom since communism," former Texas Governor Rick Perry said.

"We kill the terrorist leaders before they kill us," Sen. Ted Cruz, also of Texas, said.

Governor Bobby Jindal (LA) won huge applause for demanding that America "hunt down and kill these radical Islamic terrorists."

There's a reason that ISIS, more than Iran or Russia, took the spotlight at CPAC. They are a simple, unambiguous evil one that harkens back to the early 2000s, when the GOP's war on terrorism rhetoric helped it dominate Democrats at the polls before Iraq went sour.

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Republican hawks stole the show at CPAC. Heres why that matters.