Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) continued his attacks on former Vice President Joe Biden’s (D) foreign policy experience during the seventh Democratic debate.
In recent days, Sanders and his campaign apparatus have ramped up his attacks against Biden’s past decision to support the Iraq War. On Tuesday night, Sanders continued the barrage.
The Vermont senator started his attack by labeling the war the “worst foreign policy blunder” in recent memory.
“The War in Iraq turned out to be the worst foreign policy blunder in the modern history of this country. As Joe well knows, we lost 4,500 brave troops, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died. We have spent trillions of dollars on that endless war, money which should go into healthcare, and education, and infrastructure in this country.”
Watch his comments below:
"I did everything I could to prevent that war. Joe saw it differently.” Bernie Sanders slams Joe Biden over Iraq vote https://t.co/1r2BoGhN5S pic.twitter.com/K9a12uwbrF
— TIME (@TIME) January 15, 2020
He continued to say that he believed members of former President George W. Bush’s administration lied to lawmakers in the lead up to the war and blasted Biden for supporting the war.
“Joe and I listened to what Dick Cheney, and George Bush, and Rumsfeld had to say. I thought they were lying. I didn’t believe them for a moment. I took to the floor. I did everything I could to prevent that war. Joe saw it differently.”
Biden responded by saying he made a mistake at the time, and that in the subsequent year he helped bring about the 2011 withdrawal from Iraq.
“I was asked to bring a 156,000 troops war home from that war — which I did. I led that effort. It was a mistake to trust that they weren’t going to go to war. They said they were not going to go to war. They said they were just going to get inspectors in. The world, in fact, voted to send inspectors in, and they still went to war. From that point on, I was in the position of making the case that it was a big, big mistake. From that point on, I voted… I moved to bring those troops home.”
Over the weekend, Sanders’ campaign released a video from 2003 of Biden touting his support of the Iraq War and called it “appalling” that Biden has not “[admitted] he was dead wrong on the Iraq War,” as IJR has previously reported.