Focusing on his foreign policy experience, Sen. Bernie Sanders released a new presidential campaign ad on Wednesday promising to protect the lives of American citizens while refusing to sacrifice more U.S. troops ensnared within quagmires of perpetual conflict throughout the Middle East. After learning the bitter lessons of Vietnam and Iraq, Sen. Sanders has taken a wiser approach to engaging enemies of the state who also present a clear and present danger to our allies.
“As president, I will defend this nation but I will do it responsibly,” Sanders declared in the campaign ad. “I voted against the war in Iraq, and that was the right vote. We must never forget the lessons of that experience.”
Titled “Defend this Nation,” the presidential campaign ad highlights Sanders’ consistency in refusing to declare war against countries that are not an imminent threat to the American people. In 2002, then-Rep. Sanders voted against sending troops into Iraq and led the opposition against the war. Although Vice President Dick Cheney lied about Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction and the Bush administration was responsible for waging an unjustified war, discarding civil liberties, and sanctioning torture, most of Congress blindly accepted their lies and became willing accomplices in their crimes.
In a House floor speech against the Iraq war on September 10, 2002, Sanders said, “There is more danger of an attack on the United States if we launch a precipitous invasion. Mr. Speaker, I do not know why the president feels, despite what our intelligence agencies are saying, that it is so important to pass a resolution of this magnitude this week and why it is necessary to go forward without the support of the United Nations and our major allies, including those that are fighting side by side with us in the war on terrorism.”
Sanders continued, “But I do feel that as a part of this process, the president is ignoring some of the most pressing economic issues affecting the wellbeing of ordinary Americans. There has been virtually no public discussion about the stock market’s loss of trillions of dollars over the last few years and that millions of Americans have seen their retirement benefits, for which they have worked their entire lives, disappear. When are we going to address that issue?”
In his recent campaign ad, Sanders stated his determination to destroy the global threat of ISIS but not without cooperation from our allies. Many consider the repeated Western invasions into the Middle East as a continuation of the Crusades, and a form of extreme religious intolerance as waves of uninvited infidels obliterate holy sites. Instead of leading U.S. troops into further quagmires without support from our major allies, Sanders would take the approach of supporting our allies without preemptively invading nations or leaving behind an occupying force.
“ISIS must be destroyed, but we should not do it alone,” Sanders asserted. “We need an international coalition, with Muslim boots on the ground, fighting with our support. It’s time to end the quagmire of perpetual warfare in the Middle East. As president, I will.”
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