MainAll NewsUS & CanadaSanders: Trump could drag us into war with Iran
Sanders: Trump could drag us into war with Iran
Democratic presidential candidates discuss Middle East policy.
Warren, Biden and Sanders at Democratic debate, January 14, 2020
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said during a Democratic presidential debate on Tuesday night that he fears President Donald Trump could "drag" the US into a war with Iran that would be worse than the Iraq War.
"What we have to face as a nation is that the two great foreign policy disasters of our lifetimes were the war in Vietnam and the war in Iraq. Both of those wars were based on lies," said Sanders.
"And right now, what I fear very much is we have a president who is lying again and could drag us into a war that is even worse than the war in Iraq," he added.
"The American people are sick and tired of endless wars which have cost us trillions of dollars," Sanders said.
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said that she would "get combat troops out" of the Middle East.
Former Vice President Joe Biden argued that it was impossible to remove all of the troops, a view that was echoed by Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who said she would keep some troops in the region.
Biden also spoke about the latest tensions between the US and Iran and America's standing in the world at tonight's debate.
"We're in a situation where our allies in Europe are making a comparison between the United States and Iran, saying both ought to stand down, making a moral equivalence. We have lost our standing in the region. We have lost the support of our allies. The next president has to be able to pull those folks back together, re-establish our alliances and insist that Iran go back into the agreement, which I believe with the pressure applied as we put on before, we can get done," he said.
Biden went on to say that he would leave troops in the Middle East.
"I think it's a mistake to pull out the small number of troops that are there now to deal with ISIS," he said.
Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg said the United States "can continue to remain engaged without having an endless commitment of ground troops."
He criticized Trump as well, noting that the president who called for the end to "endless war" has "more troops going to the Middle East."
Buttigieg also referred to the Iran deal, saying ensuring Iran doesn't have nuclear weapons is a priority but also criticizing Trump for withdrawing from the deal.
"Ensuring that Iran does not develop nuclear weapons will, of course, be a priority, because it's such an important part of keeping America safe," said Buttigieg.
"But unfortunately, President Trump has made it much harder for the next president to achieve that goal. By gutting the Iran nuclear deal — one that, by the way, the Trump administration itself admitted was working, certified that it was preventing progress towards a nuclear Iran — by gutting that, they have made the region more dangerous and set off the chain of events that we are now dealing with as it escalates even closer to the brink of outright war," he added.
Tags:Democrats, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, US Election 2020, Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg