Bernie Sanders Says He Is Working With ‘Honest Conservatives’ To Stop Trump From Going To War With Iran
During a campaign rally on Saturday, Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders discussed the prospect of war with Iran, Mediaite reports.
The Independent Vermont senator said that he is working with “honest conservatives” in the Senate to stop the Trump administration from escalating tensions with the country.
“I am doing everything that I can. Working, by the way, with some honest conservatives in the Senate, to prevent Donald Trump and John Bolton from taking us into a war in Iran.”
Sanders compared the Trump administration’s aggressive posture toward Iran with the disastrous Iraq war the Bush administration had waged. A war with Iran, according to Bernie Sanders, “would be even more destructive” than the Iraq war, and it could lead the United States to “perpetual warfare in that region.”
As Mediaite notes, Sanders also stressed during his speech that he had opposed American military interventions in Vietnam and Iraq, as well as the Saudi-led and U.S.-backed genocide in Yemen.
In early April, Congress passed a bipartisan resolution to end U.S. involvement in the Yemen war. Sanders led the effort but, as Vox reported, President Trump vetoed the directive.
It comes as no surprise that Sanders is criticizing Trump for escalating tensions with Iran, given that his foreign policy platform appears to be focused on diplomacy, humanitarianism, and cosmopolitanism.
As The New Yorker reported, Sanders’ 2016 campaign was almost exclusively focused on domestic issues, but in his second run for president, the Vermont senator is making his foreign policy views known.
I was right about Vietnam.
I was right about Iraq.
I will do everything in my power to prevent a war with Iran.
I apologize to no one. pic.twitter.com/Lna3oBZMKB
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) May 24, 2019
Two years ago, Sanders hired progressive think-tank veteran Matt Duss as a foreign policy adviser, crafting his foreign policy around opposing the “new authoritarian axis” in order to “reconceptualize a global order based on human solidarity.”
As The Hill reported, Sanders recently went on NBC’s Meet the Press to discuss his opposition to wars in Vietnam and Iraq, stating that he “won’t apologize” for his anti-war efforts.
His remarks came amid rising tensions between Iran and the United States, and following reports that the Trump administration is looking to send as many as 120,000 troops to the country.
Over 70 retired military leaders sign letter urging Trump against war with Iran https://t.co/Amn0PCa8ij pic.twitter.com/Lx1SN11Azy
— The Hill (@thehill) May 25, 2019
As the publication notes, the self-described democratic socialist, who has frequently brought up his anti-war past to differentiate himself from other candidates in the race, is trailing former Vice President Joe Biden in the vast majority of polls of early primary states.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Sanders has criticized Biden’s hawkish foreign policy positions. In an interview earlier this month, the Vermont senator pointed out that he led the effort against the Iraq war, while Biden voted for the invasion.
