Pope Francis on Iraq: (War & Peace Dec 25, 2020)
Peace and reconciliation in Mideast, Africa, and Asia

He called for peace and reconciliation in Syria, Yemen, Libya, Nagorno-Karabakh, South Sudan, Nigeria and Cameroon and Iraq, which he is due to visit in early March.

He also asked to comfort those suffering from humanitarian crises or natural disasters in Burkina Fasso, Mali, Niger, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Kamala Harris on Iraq: (War & Peace Oct 7, 2020)
Trump does not care about troops' injuries or deaths

PENCE: My son is in captain in the United States Marine Corps. My son-in-law's deployed in the United States Navy. I can assure all of you with sons and daughters serving in our military, President Donald Trump, not only respects, but reveres all of those who serve in our armed forces and any suggestion, otherwise is ridiculous. Let me also say the American people deserve to know-

Donald Trump on Iraq: (War & Peace Sep 15, 2020)
I'm bringing troops back, when advisers wanted war

Look at North Korea, how that's worked out. We haven't--the sanctions are on. Everything's the same. We haven't spent anything. We're getting along with him. I get along with Kim Jong-un. That was supposed to be a war.

If President Obama were president, if Hillary Clinton ever got in, that would be a war, probably a nuclear war with North Korea. In the meantime, I'm getting calls all the time from friends of mine in South Korea. Thank you. We love you. Thank you. It's really been rather amazing.

Donald Trump on Iraq: (War & Peace Sep 15, 2020)
Soldiers don't want to be in Afghanistan

You know, there's no sadder thing than to sit with a widow or a mother, and these incredible Marines are walking off a casket and they were killed in the Middle East. Going there was the worst decision in the history of our country. We've spent $8 trillion and we've lost thousands of lives.

Iraq did not--Saddam Hussein did not knock down the World Trade Center. They said they had weapons of mass destruction. They made a mistake.

So we've been in there almost 20 years in Afghanistan. And we're bringing our soldiers back home. Nobody expected that from me. And people are so happy about it. And you know who's the happiest? The soldiers, I see them all the time. "What do you think, should we be here?" "No, sir, you shouldn't be here." "Why?" "They don't like us, sir."

Joe Biden on Iraq: (War & Peace Feb 8, 2020)
FactCheck: removed troops from Iraq, but they went back

It's true that in 2009 Biden chaired a committee that oversaw the troop withdrawal, while also keeping an eye on economic and political issues in Iraq. The Biden committee included representatives from the Defense Department, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Treasury Department and other agencies.

But what Biden fails to mention is that later--in Obama's second term, with Biden still vice president--the U.S. sent troops back into Iraq to combat the Islamic State fighters who had occupied much of the country. Near the end of the Obama administration, in late September 2016, the number of U.S. troops deployed exceeded 5,000.

Joe Biden on Iraq: (War & Peace Feb 7, 2020)
I made a mistake; Bush said he wouldn't go into Iraq

Joe Biden on Iraq: (War & Peace Feb 7, 2020)
I made a mistake; Bush said he wouldn't go into Iraq

Pete Buttigieg on Iraq: (War & Peace Feb 7, 2020)
Taking out a bad guy is not always a good idea

Pete Buttigieg on Iraq: (War & Peace Feb 7, 2020)
Biden made wrong decision on Iraq War

Pete Buttigieg on Iraq: (War & Peace Feb 7, 2020)
Biden made wrong decision on Iraq War

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (War & Peace Feb 7, 2020)
I listened about Iraq; they were lying thru their teeth

Joe Biden on Iraq: (War & Peace Jan 14, 2020)
Pull troops out of Mideast, except to patrol Gulf and ISIS

Sen. Bernie SANDERS: What we need to do is have an international coalition. The nuclear deal with Iran was worked on with a number of our allies.

BIDEN: I was part of that deal to get the nuclear agreement with Iran. And it was working. It was being held tightly. There was no movement on the part of the Iranian government to get closer to a nuclear weapon.

Q: So would you leave troops in the Middle East or would you pull them out?

BIDEN: I would leave troops in the Middle East in terms of patrolling the Gulf, where we have--where we are now, small numbers of troops, and I think it's a mistake to pull out the small number of troops that are there now to deal with ISIS. And with regard to this idea that we can walk away and not have any troops anywhere, including special forces, there's no way you negotiate with terrorists.

Joe Biden on Iraq: (War & Peace Jan 14, 2020)
As veep, worked to end Iraq war

Sen. Bernie SANDERS: When Congress was debating whether or not we go into a war in Iraq, I said that would be a disaster. I helped pass a War Powers Act resolution, working with a conservative Republican, Mike Lee of Utah, which said that the war in Yemen, led by Saudi Arabia, was unconstitutional because Congress had not authorized it. We got a majority vote in the Senate. We got a majority vote in the House. Unfortunately, Bush vetoed that and that horrific war continues.

Joe Biden on Iraq: (War & Peace Jan 14, 2020)
Iraq war vote mistake based on Bush/Cheney lies

Sen. Bernie SANDERS: The war in Iraq turned out to be the worst foreign policy blunder in the modern history of this country. 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 health care and education and infrastructure in this country. Joe and I listened to what Dick Cheney and George Bush & Rumsfeld had to say. I thought they were lying. I didn't believe them for a moment. Joe saw it differently.

Amy Klobuchar on Iraq: (War & Peace Jan 14, 2020)
I opposed Iraq War from the very beginning

V.P. Joe BIDEN: I said 13 years ago it was a mistake to trust that they weren't going to go to war, to stop what we thought to be Iraq's attempt to get a nuclear weapon.

Sen. Amy KLOBUCHAR: I wasn't in the Senate for that Iraq War vote, but I opposed that war from the very beginning. In my first campaign for Senate, I ran against a Republican who ran ads against me on it, but I stood my ground. When I got to the Senate, I pushed to bring our troops home. Then I have dealt with every issue, from Afghanistan to being part of an effort to improve the situation for our troops in a very big way with our education and with their jobs and also with their health care.

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (War & Peace Jan 14, 2020)
Great disasters of our time--Vietnam & Iraq--based on lies

V.P. Joe BIDEN: I said 13 years ago it was a mistake to trust that they weren't going to go to war, to stop what we thought to be Iraq's attempt to get a nuclear weapon.

SANDERS: 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. And right now, what I fear 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.

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (War & Peace Jan 14, 2020)
Passed bipartisan War Powers Act to stop Yemen war

V.P. Joe BIDEN: I said 13 years ago it was a mistake to give the president the authority to go to war if, in fact, he couldn't get inspectors into Iraq to stop what--thought to be the attempt to get a nuclear weapon. It was a mistake, and I acknowledged that. But the man who also argued against that war, Barack Obama, picked me to be his vice president. And once we were elected, he asked me to end that war.

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (War & Peace Jan 14, 2020)
Endless war in Iraq cost us trillions and 4,500 troops

V.P. Joe BIDEN: We should not send anyone anywhere unless the overwhelming vital interests of the United States are at stake. They were not at stake in Iraq. It was a mistaken vote. 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. From that point on, I was in the position of making the case that it was a big, big mistake. And from that point on, I've voted to--I moved to bring those troops home.

Mike Bloomberg on Iraq: (War & Peace Jan 6, 2020)
Iraq war was a mistake based on faulty intelligence

Joe Walsh on Iraq: (War & Peace Dec 24, 2019)
Withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan

Mike Bloomberg on Iraq: (War & Peace Dec 24, 2019)
Supported 2003 Iraq War, as response to 9/11

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (War & Peace Dec 19, 2019)
I was wrong on my vote for Afghan War; remove all troops

Bernie Sanders: Well, only one person, my good friend Barbara Lee [U.S. Rep, D-CA-13] was right on that issue. She was the only person in the House to vote against the war in Afghanistan. She was right; I was wrong. So was everybody else in the House. But to answer your question, I don't think you do what Trump does and make foreign policy decisions based on a tweet at 3AM in the morning, or desert your long-time allies like the Kurds. I think you work with the international community, you remove all troops over a period of time, a short period of time, within one year.

Joe Biden on Iraq: (Homeland Security Oct 15, 2019)
ISIS will come here if they take over Iraq and Syria

And with regard to regime change in Syria [Trump withdrew US forces from the Kurdish areas of Syria last week], that has not been the policy. It has been to make sure that the regime did not wipe out hundreds and thousands of innocent people between there and the Iraqi border.

And lastly, what is happening in Afghanistan all the way over to Syria, we have ISIS, it's going to come here. They are going to, in fact, damage the United States of America. That's why we got involved in the first place, and not ceded the whole area to Assad and to the Russians.

Bill Weld on Iraq: (Homeland Security Sep 24, 2019)
Lesson of Iraq War: train Saudis, but no US troops there

WELD: One of the things that troubles me about Trump in the foreign area is he claims to be a non-interventionist but he's awful quick on sending those troops. A couple of months ago he said, "I'm sending 5,000 more troops to the Middle East immediately." Well, they never got there because they must have had a second thought. And he never said what it was for. I'm not quite clear why we're sending troops to Saudi Arabia to defend their oil supplies. Don't they have any troops over there? I know they have a lot of weapons--because we sold them all to Saudi Arabia--but maybe we should make sure they know how to fly those planes and fire those missiles. I just I don't get it. Boots on the ground to another country for regime change or to correct something that we see in the other country that we don't like? That's the height of the lessons we learned from the Iraq war --we shouldn't do that.

Bill Weld on Iraq: (War & Peace Sep 24, 2019)
Supported the Obama administration's Iran nuclear deal

On foreign policy:
• Weld opposes countries being allowed to develop nuclear without proper oversight, calling proliferation "the number one threat to the security of the world." He supported the Obama administration's Iran nuclear deal.
• President Bill Clinton tapped Weld to serve as his ambassador to Mexico, but withdrew his nomination after complications in the Senate.
• Weld has since been critical of the Iraq War and other invasions, according to The New York Times.

Mike Pence on Iraq: (War & Peace Sep 14, 2019)
2001: Saddam Hussein is a threat to our national security

Shortly before the House was set to vote on whether to authorize Bush to send troops to Iraq, Pence threw his support behind Bush. "I grieve at the thought of the United States at war and am not anxious to see it." Pence said. But Saddam Hussein is a threat to national security and to world security." Democrats and Republicans overwhelmingly banded together in the House and Senate to give Bush the power to declare war on Iraq. On March 20, 2003 the US invaded Iraq, just 18 months after the September 11 terrorist attacks, and shunted the effort in Afghanistan aside. And Mike Pence, like the rest of Washington, was 100 percent on board.

Joe Biden on Iraq: (Principles & Values Sep 12, 2019)
Deal with loss by finding purpose in what you do

BIDEN: I think the most critical setback that can occur to anyone is to lose family. [The philosopher Soren] Kierkegaard said "faith sees best in the dark." Right after I got elected, my wife and daughter were killed in an automobile accident. And I lost my faith for a while. I came back.

And then later, when my son Beau came home from Iraq with a terminal disease, and a year later, losing him was like losing part of my soul.

But the fact is that I learned that the way you deal with it is you deal with finding purpose, purpose in what you do. We've all been through that, in some form or another. And for me, the way I've dealt with it is finding purpose. And my purpose is to do what I've always tried to do and stay engaged in public policy.

But there's a lot of people been through a lot worse than I have who get up every single morning, put their feet one foot in front of another, without the help I had.

Joe Biden on Iraq: (War & Peace Sep 12, 2019)
Can't put Afghanistan together: it's 3 different countries

BIDEN: I've been in and out of Afghanistan, not with a gun--and it's an open secret that I was opposed to the surge in Afghanistan. The whole purpose of going to Afghanistan was to not have a counterinsurgency, meaning that we're going to put that country together. It cannot be put together. Let me say it again. It will not be put together. It's three different countries. Pakistan owns the three provinces in the east. They're not run it. I will go on and on. But here's the point. The point is that it's a counterterrorism strategy. We can prevent the United States from being the victim of terror coming out of Afghanistan by providing for bases-insist the Pakistanis provide bases for us to air lift from and to move against what we know.

Joe Biden on Iraq: (War & Peace Sep 12, 2019)
I shouldn't have voted for Bush's AUMF; he did it wrong way

BIDEN: No, it wasn't wrong to pull out. The fact of the matter is that, you know, I should have never voted to give Bush the authority to go in and do what he said he was going to do. The AUMF was designed, he said, to go in and get the Security Council to vote 15-0 to allow inspectors to go in to determine whether or not anything was being done with chemical weapons or nuclear weapons. And when that happened, he went ahead anyway without any of that proof. The big mistake that was made, which we predicted, was that you would not have a circumstance where the Shia and the Kurds would work together to keep ISIS from moving in.

Sen. Bernie SANDERS: The truth is, the big mistake, the huge mistake, and one of the big differences between you and me, I never believed what Cheney and Bush said about Iraq

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (War & Peace Sep 12, 2019)
I never made the huge mistake of voting for Iraq AUMF

BIDEN:

BIDEN: No, it wasn't wrong to pull out. I should have never voted to give Bush the authority to go in and do what he said he was going to do in the AUMF [Authorization for the Use of Military Force in Iraq]. The big mistake that was made, which we predicted, was that you would not have a circumstance where the Shia and the Kurds would work together to keep ISIS from moving in.

SANDERS: The truth is, the big mistake, the huge mistake, and one of the big differences between you and me, I never believed what Cheney and Bush said about Iraq...

BIDEN: You're right.

SANDERS: I voted against the war in Iraq, and helped lead the opposition. And it's sad to say--I kind of had the feeling that there would be massive destabilization in that area if we went into that war.

Joe Biden on Iraq: (War & Peace Sep 4, 2019)
FactCheck:No, didn't oppose Iraq War right after war started

But a review of Biden's public statements about Iraq in the lead up to the invasion shows he was never entirely opposed to military action against Saddam Hussein:

• "Nine months ago, I voted to use force and I would vote that way again today," Biden said in a July 2003 speech at the Brookings Institution.
• In early January 2003, ahead of Secretary of State Colin Powell's presentation to the UN Security Council, Biden said war with Iraq appeared near inevitable.
• In a speech to the New Castle Chamber of Commerce in February 2003, Biden said. "I supported the resolution to go to war. I am not opposed to war to remove weapons of mass destruction from Iraq."

Joe Biden on Iraq: (War & Peace Sep 2, 2019)
U.S. forces out of Iraq, by whatever path led there fastest

Barack Obama on Iraq: (War & Peace Sep 2, 2019)
OpEd: Withdrew from Iraq for political reasons

Tulsi Gabbard on Iraq: (War & Peace Jul 31, 2019)
No arbitrary deadline, but out of Afghanistan in one year

Jay Inslee on Iraq: (War & Peace Jul 31, 2019)
We need a president to stand up against drums of war

Beto O`Rourke on Iraq: (War & Peace Jul 30, 2019)
End U.S. wars in Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, and Syria

Eric Swalwell on Iraq: (War & Peace Jul 17, 2019)
Keep the troops deployed abroad

EIGHT CANDIDATES HAVE SIMILAR VIEWS: Michael Bennet; Joseph Biden, Jr.; Cory Booker; Peter Buttigieg; Amy Klobuchar; Seth Moulton; Tim Ryan; Andrew Yang.

Other candidates have urged restraint, warning that allies in nations such as Afghanistan and Iraq still need American military support. Withdrawing all U.S. troops, they assert, could be a grave mistake and only make the situation worse.

Pete Buttigieg on Iraq: (War & Peace Jul 17, 2019)
Keep the troops deployed abroad

EIGHT CANDIDATES HAVE SIMILAR VIEWS: Michael Bennet; Joseph Biden, Jr.; Cory Booker; Peter Buttigieg; Amy Klobuchar; Seth Moulton; Tim Ryan; Eric Swalwell; Andrew Yang.

Other candidates have urged restraint, warning that allies in nations such as Afghanistan and Iraq still need American military support. Withdrawing all U.S. troops, they assert, could be a grave mistake and only make the situation worse.

Amy Klobuchar on Iraq: (War & Peace Jul 17, 2019)
Keep the troops deployed abroad

EIGHT CANDIDATES HAVE SIMILAR VIEWS: Michael Bennet; Joseph Biden, Jr.; Cory Booker; Peter Buttigieg; Seth Moulton; Tim Ryan; Eric Swalwell; Andrew Yang.

Other candidates have urged restraint, warning that allies in nations such as Afghanistan and Iraq still need American military support. Withdrawing all U.S. troops, they assert, could be a grave mistake and only make the situation worse.

Tim Ryan on Iraq: (War & Peace Jul 17, 2019)
Keep the troops deployed abroad

EIGHT CANDIDATES HAVE SIMILAR VIEWS: Michael Bennet; Joseph Biden, Jr.; Cory Booker; Peter Buttigieg; Amy Klobuchar; Seth Moulton; Eric Swalwell; Andrew Yang.

Other candidates have urged restraint, warning that allies in nations such as Afghanistan and Iraq still need American military support. Withdrawing all U.S. troops, they assert, could be a grave mistake and only make the situation worse.

Seth Moulton on Iraq: (War & Peace Jul 17, 2019)
Keep the troops deployed abroad

EIGHT CANDIDATES HAVE SIMILAR VIEWS: Michael Bennet; Joseph Biden, Jr.; Cory Booker; Peter Buttigieg; Amy Klobuchar; Tim Ryan; Eric Swalwell; Andrew Yang.

Other candidates have urged restraint, warning that allies in nations such as Afghanistan and Iraq still need American military support. Withdrawing all U.S. troops, they assert, could be a grave mistake and only make the situation worse.

Michael Bennet on Iraq: (War & Peace Jul 17, 2019)
Keep the troops deployed abroad

EIGHT CANDIDATES HAVE SIMILAR VIEWS: Joseph Biden, Jr.; Cory Booker; Peter Buttigieg; Amy Klobuchar; Seth Moulton; Tim Ryan; Eric Swalwell; Andrew Yang.

Other candidates have urged restraint, warning that allies in nations such as Afghanistan and Iraq still need American military support. Withdrawing all U.S. troops, they assert, could be a grave mistake and only make the situation worse.

Seth Moulton on Iraq: (War & Peace Jul 10, 2019)
AdWatch: Don't send troops back to Iraq

[OnTheIssues transcription of TV ad]:
• Who is this Seth Moulton?
• Four tours in Iraq--a war he opposed but didn't want another to go in his place.
• And he doesn't want to send troops back there now.
• Running for Congress, unafraid to take on the radicals who threaten to shut down our government.
• He'll stand up to them, to protect Social Security, Medicare, and the rights of women.
• And no one will fight harder for our veterans.
• Seth Moulton: His fight is for our values.

Seth Moulton on Iraq: (Immigration Jul 7, 2019)
Helped his Iraqi interpreter get asylum in U.S.

MOULTON: He was one of the many people in the world who came to America looking for asylum, a perfectly legal thing to do, which I think is something that's lost in this immigration debate today, and he did so because he is an American hero too. He put his life on the line not just for his country - Iraq, but for his new country, America.

Joe Biden on Iraq: (Health Care Jun 27, 2019)
Build on ObamaCare, with Medicare buy-in

Joe Biden on Iraq: (War & Peace Jun 27, 2019)
I got 150,000 troops out of Iraq; do same in Afghanistan

V.P. Joe BIDEN: I was responsible for getting 150,000 combat troops out of Iraq, and my son was one of them. I also think we should not have combat troops in Afghanistan. It's long overdue. It should end. We cannot go it alone in terms of dealing with terrorism. I would eliminate the act that allowed us to go into war. That's why we have to repair our alliances. We put together 65 countries to make sure we dealt with ISIS in Iraq and other places. That's what I would do. That's what I have done.

Sen. Bernie SANDERS: Joe voted for that war;I helped lead the oppositio

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (War & Peace Jun 27, 2019)
Used War Powers Act to get US out of Saudi-Yemen war

V.P. Joe BIDEN: I was responsible for getting 150,000 combat troops out of Iraq. I also think we should not have combat troops in Afghanistan. It's long overdue. It should end.

Sen. Bernie SANDERS: One of the differences that Joe and I have in our record is Joe voted for that war, I helped lead the opposition to that war, which was a total disaster. I helped lead the effort for the first time to utilize the War Powers Act to get the United States out of the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, which is the most horrific humanitarian disaster on Earth. Let me be very clear. I will do everything I can to prevent a war with Iran, which would be far worse than disastrous war with Iraq.

Tulsi Gabbard on Iraq: (War & Peace Jun 26, 2019)
No war with Iran: it would escalate region-wide

And it wouldn't be just contained within Iran. This would turn into a regional war. This is why it's so important that every one of us, every single American, stand up and say no war with Iran. We need to get back into the Iran nuclear agreement, and we need to negotiate how we can improve it.

Obviously, if there was an attack against American troops, then there would have to be a response. But a war with Iran is incredibly dangerous. Trump needs to get back into the Iran nuclear deal and swallow his pride, put the American people first.

Joe Sestak on Iraq: (Homeland Security Jun 23, 2019)
First 3-star Admiral elected to Congress

Joe served as President Clinton's Director for Defense Policy on the National Security Council in the White House, the first Director of the Navy's strategic anti-terrorism unit (Deep Blue) after 9/11, and the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Warfare Requirements responsible for the Navy's five year $350 billion warfare requirements.

Pete Buttigieg on Iraq: (Foreign Policy Jun 16, 2019)
Isolationism is not right way for us to go

Beto O`Rourke on Iraq: (War & Peace Jun 14, 2019)
Deal with conflicts diplomatically or fight wars for years

Pete Buttigieg on Iraq: (War & Peace Jun 11, 2019)
Never send troops without clear definition of their mission

We should never again send troops into conflict without a clear definition of their mission and an understanding of what will come after.

I believe we should use force when there is a clear and present threat to the US; when it's necessary to deter and defend against an attack on or imminent threat against the United States, our citizens at home or abroad, or our treaty allies; and when we act as part of a legitimate international coalition to prevent genocide or other atrocities. But when we must use force, we must also have an end game.

Seth Moulton on Iraq: (War & Peace Jun 2, 2019)
Against pushing us into war with Iran

Seth Moulton on Iraq: (War & Peace Jun 2, 2019)
A mistake for those who voted for Iraq war

A: It was a mistake, because we should have been a lot more careful about going into Iraq. We should have questioned the intelligence. We should have made sure that we exhausted every opportunity before we put young American lives in danger.

Seth Moulton on Iraq: (War & Peace Jun 2, 2019)
Trump's "Chicken hawks" pushing us towards war in Iran

Tulsi Gabbard on Iraq: (Foreign Policy Apr 22, 2019)
Met with Syrian president; for "extreme vetting" of Syrians

• Syrian President Bashar al-Assad meeting: In what her office called a "fact-finding" mission, Gabbard made a secret trip to Syria in Jan.2017 and met with Assad. There are questions about the Arab American organization that funded the trip. She has also met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
• "Extreme vetting" vote: She voted with congressional Republicans on an Obama-era bill that would place "extreme vetting" measures on Iraqi and Syrian refugees.

Julian Castro on Iraq: (War & Peace Apr 11, 2019)
Don't entangle ourselves in wars, but rebuild alliances

Jay Inslee on Iraq: (War & Peace Mar 27, 2019)
Opposed war in Iraq; opposed use of torture

Joe Biden on Iraq: (War & Peace Mar 27, 2019)
Supported wars in Iraq & Afghanistan, but not Iran

• Biden at first endorsed full-scale nation-building in Afghanistan but when he saw it wasn't working, he changed his mind, arguing that the U.S. military should destroy al-Qaeda and then leave. As vice president, he was a lonely voice in the Cabinet opposing Obama's escalation of the war in 2009.
• Regarding Iraq, however, he was a hawk. He repeated false intelligence claims that Saddam Hussein possessed chemical and biological weapons and was seeking nuclear weapons, and therefore was a threat that had to be "eliminated." He later called his vote for the 2003 invasion a "mistake."
• Biden is a self-described Zionist. He has stated that the Democrats' support for Israel "comes from our gut, moves through our heart, and ends up in our head. It's almost genetic."
• He would disagree with the present Israeli government on Iran. He wrote that "War with Iran is not just a bad option. It would be a disaster," and he supported Obama's entry into the Iran nuclear agreement.

Mike Gravel on Iraq: (Foreign Policy Mar 20, 2019)
1971: end Vietnam involvement; 2008: end Mideast involvement

Mike Gravel on Iraq: (Principles & Values Mar 20, 2019)
Push Dems toward sensible views on political reform

The account has also fired off several scathing attacks of Gravel's prospective opponents, including Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), who "kept innocent men on death row"; Joe Biden, who "voted for the Iraq War"; Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who likes to "abuse American workers"; and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), who "invented a drug dealer friend (and voted with Big Pharma)." The account also attacked Booker's "melodramatic" performance during Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation hearing last year while touting Gravel reading the Pentagon Papers into the congressional record in 1971. Meanwhile, the account seems to favor Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), candidates it wants to push "toward more sensible views on political reform and foreign policy through the debate."

Tulsi Gabbard on Iraq: (War & Peace Mar 12, 2019)
No more wars for regime change, like Syria and Afghanistan

Her biggest obstacle: Her foreign policy has also been a source of controversy. In 2017 she met President Bashar Assad in Syria and has questioned the international consensus that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against its own citizens.

"I served in a war in Iraq, a war that was based on lies," she said. "I think that the evidence needs to be gathered." She refused to label Mr Assad as a "war criminal"--a position that sets her well apart from the majority of US politicians and the American people.

Pete Buttigieg on Iraq: (War & Peace Mar 11, 2019)
Don't let Iraq war supporters plan Venezuela invasion

Bolton was an early supporter of the Iraq War and pushed for the initial invasion during his time, after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, as President George W. Bush's undersecretary of State for arms control and international security.

Tulsi Gabbard on Iraq: (War & Peace Mar 11, 2019)
U.S. government lied to American people to launch Iraq War

Gabbard also would not say whether she would trust the American intelligence community as president. "We have, in our recent past, a situation where our own government told lies to the American people, and to the United Nations for that matter, to launch a war," she said.

Pete Buttigieg on Iraq: (Homeland Security Feb 12, 2019)
Signed up for military in 2008, during Iraq troop surge

The Iraq troop surge was winding down but not yet over. Afghanistan, mostly out of view, was simmering. Yellow ribbons were everywhere, and more than once I would knock on a door and get into a conversation with a young man who told me he would love to go to the caucus on Thursday and vote, but couldn't because he was packing up for Basic Training. [He signed up].

Pete Buttigieg on Iraq: (War & Peace Feb 12, 2019)
2002: opposed Iraq War because believed WMDs would be used

Iraq fell quickly, and for a moment it seemed that the invasion was a vindication of American intervention abroad. Protesters like me looked foolish. Sure, the pretext for war was actually false, but who could quibble over that, as a brutal dictatorship was being turned into a model democracy at relatively little cost to America?

Then the suicide bombings began. We were not, as the administration had promised, "greeted as liberators." A well-functioning democracy did not emerge. And the ensuing chaos made it clear that the administration had not planned for the aftermath of the invasion, as Iraqi cities became a kill zone for our troops. We who were against the invasion had been wrong about the weapons, but right about the war. The administration had been wrong about both.

Hillary Clinton on Iraq: (War & Peace Feb 12, 2019)
OpEd: supported Iraq War to avoid looking unpatriotic

Democrats, unsure of themselves, were afraid to sound like an opposition at all, and many carefully avoided opposing the Iraq War for fear of looking unpatriotic. (Some, particularity Hillary Clinton, would come to regret this posturing.) Instead they tried to change the subject, emphasizing Social Security and Medicare, even though global security was the dominant issue of our moment--even in Indiana.

Pete Buttigieg on Iraq: (War & Peace Feb 12, 2019)
2002 Iraq War made no strategic sense, even if WMDs existed

The tough talk was rousing, but it made no strategic sense. Saddam was a notoriously sinister dictator whose top priority, as with all dictators, was his own survival. It followed that he viewed his arsenal of chemical and biological weapons (as most of us believed he had) as an insurance policy to keep him in power. He would only part with them voluntarily if it would benefit his personal security--an unlikely course for someone who did not trust America. But actually using them would almost certainly lead to his destruction, so he had every reason to sit on his weapons if he had them. The only scenario where he might use them would be if he had nothing to lose by doing so--and now by invading, we were poised to create that very situation.

He didn't have any WMDs--and so they were not there to be used against American troops.

Donald Trump on Iraq: (War & Peace Feb 5, 2019)
Afghani settlement: great nations do not fight endless wars

I have also accelerated our negotiations to reach a political settlement in Afghanistan. Our troops have fought with unmatched valor--and thanks to their bravery, we are now able to pursue a political solution to this long and bloody conflict.

In Afghanistan, my Administration is holding constructive talks with a number of Afghan groups, including the Taliban. As we make progress in these negotiations, we will be able to reduce our troop presence and focus on counter-terrorism. We do not know whether we will achieve an agreement--but we do know that after two decades of war, the hour has come to at least try for peace.

Elizabeth Warren on Iraq: (War & Peace Jan 17, 2019)
Withdraw US troops from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria

• Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria: U.S. should withdraw troops from those countries.
• Warren, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, supports reducing the U.S. military's presence in some global hotspots.
• Last November, she called for the immediate withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan.
• Warren also says the U.S. should withdraw service members from Iraq and Syria, though she has not gone into detail about what timetables she would support for those withdrawals.

Tulsi Gabbard on Iraq: (Homeland Security Jan 14, 2019)
Allow transgender Americans in the military

• Gabbard supports the legal status of same-sex marriage, opposes attempts to bar transgender Americans from the military and supports laws to ban discrimination based on sexual preference.
• Gabbard has changed her position. In 2004, she opposed a bill allowing civil unions for same-sex couples in Hawaii.
• Hawaii's LGBT caucus withheld their endorsement from her in 2016. She has said that her time in Iraq sparked soul-searching and led to changes in her beliefs.

Rand Paul on Iraq: (Foreign Policy Oct 21, 2018)
End support of Saudis and Iran won't need nukes

PAUL: This is a 1,000-year-old war in the Middle East between Sunni & Shia, and Saudi Arabia is pitted up against Iran. The biggest thing that destabilize the Middle East--and I think the president agrees with me on this--was the Iraq war. There was much more of a balance in the Middle East at that time, but if you look at military spending right now, the Saudis and the gulf sheikhdom that are their allies spend eight times more than Iran. And so, there is an arms race, but when we supply arms to Saudi Arabia, Iran responds. So when we complain about the Iranians having ballistic missiles that they are developing, they are doing that in response to the arming of the Saudis. It's a bilateral arms race that goes on and on. And so, I wouldn't continue it, I don't think we need the Saudis.

Marianne Williamson on Iraq: (Homeland Security Jul 24, 2018)
Remove pathological romanticization of the military

We need a miracle of God to remove from us what has become an almost pathological romanticization of the military. I have a great respect for the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces, but their idealization as ultimate and exclusive saviors in times of national distress is a disservice to them and to us all. If America spent more time and resources waging peace, we would find ourselves waging far less war.

Marianne Williamson on Iraq: (War & Peace Jul 24, 2018)
U.S. imperialistically devastated both Vietnam and Iraq

To look in our national mirror is to see both glory and shame. We endured the horrors of a Civil War, heroically fought two world wars, brilliantly helped defeat Hitler--and then imperialistically devastated both Vietnam and Iraq. We are blessed with more money and more technological resources than any other nation in the world, yet we give only 1 percent of our budget away to nations less fortunate than us. America has always been a land of contradictions.

John Kasich on Iraq: (Immigration Jun 6, 2018)
Allies directly affected should repatriate Syrian refugees

Going forward, we need to be much more careful and focused about how we fight terrorism. We have to develop better criteria for when to intervene abroad. And when we do intervene, we need clearer guidelines about what kinds of resources to commit--for example, combat troops versus military trainers.

John Kasich on Iraq: (War & Peace Jun 6, 2018)
War on terror should focus on threats to US homeland

Regarding ISIS, in Syria and Iraq, the terrorists' strongholds have been all but eliminated. The only remaining core US interest at stake is preventing ISIS from using those countries to mount future attacks against us.

Going forward, we need to be much more careful and focused about how we fight terrorism. We have to develop better criteria for when to intervene abroad. In particular, we should restrict our major counterterrorism efforts to instances in which our homeland is directly at risk. When it is not, we should avoid getting embroiled in civil wars and instead use diplomacy to rally international partners to assume the lead.

Rand Paul on Iraq: (War & Peace Mar 18, 2018)
Lesson of Iraq: unintended consequences from regime change

PAUL: When it comes to foreign policy, the thing I liked about President Trump was his opposition to the Iraq War. I guess what I'm perplexed by is that he keeps nominating people around him on foreign policy who actually thought the Iraq War was so good that they want to have an Iran war now. The lesson of the Iraq War was that there are unintended consequences from regime change. And so I don't think somebody being the head of secretary of state who wants regime change in Iran is a good thing or wants regime change in North Korea. You really want a diplomat to be in charge of the State Department, not someone who is advocating for war. So, I can't vote for Pompeo.

Q: Will you filibuster?

PAUL: I will do everything [possible but] I don't have the power to stop nominations.

Rand Paul on Iraq: (Homeland Security Mar 14, 2018)
Oppose Trump nominees who supported Iraq War or torture

Paul argued, "I'm perplexed by the nomination of people who love the Iraq War so much that they would advocate for a war with Iran next. President Trump campaigned [that] the unintended consequences of regime change in Iraq led to instability in the Middle East."

On Haspel's confirmation, Paul said Haspel's remarks about her time overseeing a CIA "black-ops" site disqualified her from the job of leading the intelligence agency. "My opposition to her is over her direct participation in interrogation and her gleeful enjoyment at the suffering of someone being tortured," Paul said.

Donald Trump on Iraq: (War & Peace Jan 29, 2018)
2016: secret plan to defeat ISIS; 2018: caliphate gone

At the time, it seemed unlikely he would ever have to make good on the promise. However, Trump's surprise victory gave him the chance to back up his claim. Many were openly skeptical he could do it.

But one year into the Trump administration, the facts on the ground--in Syria and Iraq--have changed dramatically. The 'Caliphate' announced with such fanfare in the summer of 2014 was in tatters. "We have made, alongside our coalition partners, more progress against these evil terrorists in the past several months than in the past several years," Trump proclaimed last fall. So is ISIS now defeated?

President Trump deserves credit for hastening the downfall of their Caliphate. However, ISIS 2018 will launch an insurgency in its former territory. ISIS has access to electronic spaces where it can continue recruitment efforts.

Joe Biden on Iraq: (War & Peace Oct 24, 2017)
Son Beau served in Iraq while Delaware Attorney General

Beau did things the hard way, the right way. At first, Delaware's governor offered to appoint Beau to be the attorney general, filling a vacancy. He turned it down so that, Obama said, he could run in an election and "win it fair and square."

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (Foreign Policy Sep 21, 2017)
Foreign policy is directly related to military policy

Foreign policy is about U.S. government budget priorities. At a time when we already spend more on defense than the next 12 nations combined, foreign policy is about authorizing a defense budget of some $700 billion.

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (War & Peace Sep 21, 2017)
1990s Iraq invasion laid groundwork for more wars in region

As a freshman congressman in 1991, I voted against the first Persian Gulf War, [saying], "I fear that one day we will regret that decision and that we are in fact laying the groundwork for more and more wars in that region for years to come.". Not a bad analysis for a freshman congressman.

In 2003, I did everything I could to prevent George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq--a war that Hillary Clinton supported. In one debate, when Hillary Clinton cited Henry Kissinger as a friend and mentor, I suggested that he was a terrible secretary of state, a war criminal, and would play no role in a Sanders administration.

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (War & Peace Sep 21, 2017)
Iraq War discredited vision of benevolent global hegemony

The goal is not for the US to dominate the world. Nor, on the other hand, is our goal to withdraw from the international community and shirk our responsibilities under the banner of "America First." Our goal should be global engagement based on partnership, rather than dominance. This is better for our security, better for global stability, and better for facilitating international cooperation.

Far too often, American intervention and the use of American military power has produced unintended consequences which have caused incalculable harm.

Tulsi Gabbard on Iraq: (Immigration May 27, 2017)
2015: Favor Christian over Islamic refugees

Tulsi Gabbard on Iraq: (War & Peace May 27, 2017)
Opposes fighting in Afghanistan & Syria; end arms to Saudis

Tulsi Gabbard on Iraq: (War & Peace Nov 15, 2016)
Iraq was a war we never should have gotten into

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (War & Peace Nov 15, 2016)
1990: Tried to stop Bush's driving Saddam out of Kuwait

I feared not only the immediate impact of the war, in terms of the death and destruction it would bring, but what it portended for the future. Would war, and more and more wars, be the norm in solving international conflicts in the future? The entire world was united against a small country with a weak army. Surely, I reasoned, there must be a way other than war to achieve our goals and get Iraq out of Kuwait.

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (War & Peace Nov 15, 2016)
Iraq War: worst foreign policy blunder in modern history

Needless to say, that wasn't my view. Clinton, as a former secretary of state, had more hands-on experience in foreign policy than I did, that did not necessarily make her better qualified in that area. In foreign policy, judgment mattered, and on the most important foreign policy issues of our time, my judgment had been better than Hillary Clinton's.

I not only voted against the war in Iraq, I helped lead the opposition to what turned out to be the worst foreign policy blunder in American modern history. Hillary Clinton, as a U.S. senator from New York, had voted for the war.

Hillary Clinton on Iraq: (War & Peace Oct 19, 2016)
No US troops as occupying force in Iraq

TRUMP: Three months ago, I read that they're going to attack Mosul. Whatever happened to the element of surprise? We announce we're going after Mosul. These people have all left.

CLINTON: The goal here is to take back Mosul. It's going to be a hard fight. I've got no illusions about that. And then continue to press into Syria to begin to take back and move on Raqqa, which is the ISIS headquarters. I am hopeful that the hard work that American military advisers have done will pay off and that we will see a successful military operation.

Donald Trump on Iraq: (War & Peace Oct 19, 2016)
Iran is taking over Iraq

Hillary Clinton on Iraq: (War & Peace Oct 9, 2016)
Arm and support the Kurds against Assad

Mike Pence on Iraq: (War & Peace Oct 4, 2016)
Back at war in Iraq because we didn't leave enough forces

Bill Weld on Iraq: (War & Peace Oct 3, 2016)
Supports libertarian "restraint" on military action

Hillary Clinton on Iraq: (War & Peace Sep 26, 2016)
Take out current ISIS leaders like we took out bin Laden

Hillary Clinton on Iraq: (War & Peace Sep 7, 2016)
Iraq war VOTE was my mistake; Iraq WAR was Bush's mistake

CLINTON: Look, I think that the decision to go to war in Iraq was a mistake. And I have said that my voting to give President Bush that authority was, from my perspective, my mistake. I also believe that it is imperative that we learn from the mistakes, like after-action reports are supposed to do, and so we must learn what led us down that path so that it never happens again. I think I'm in the best possible position to be able to understand that and prevent it. But I will say this. I'm asking to be judged on the totality of my record, what I've done for our veterans as first lady, as senator, what I've done for Gold Star Families, working with them to increase the death benefit from $12,000 to $100,000,

Donald Trump on Iraq: (War & Peace Sep 7, 2016)
I opposed Iraq War in 2004; it destabilized entire Mideast

TRUMP: I was totally against the war in Iraq. You can look at Esquire magazine from '04. You can look at before that. I was against the war in Iraq because I said it's going to totally destabilize the Middle East, which it has.

USA TODAY Fact-Check: Trump expressed mild support for invading Iraq when asked about it on the Howard Stern radio show on Sept. 11, 2002--about six months before the war started. Stern asked Trump if he supported a war with Iraq, and Trump responded, "Yeah, I guess so." Trump cited an Esquire article that appeared in August 2004 to show his opposition to the war. But that article appeared 17 months after the war started. The facts don't support either candidate's strong assertions.

Donald Trump on Iraq: (War & Peace Sep 7, 2016)
When we defeated Iraq, we didn't know what to do after that

Part of the problem that we've had is we go in, we defeat somebody, and then we don't know what we're doing after that. We lose it, like as an example, you look at Iraq, what happened, how badly that was handled. When President Obama took over, it was a disaster. He took everybody out and ISIS was formed. If you look at the aftermath of Iraq, Iran is going to be taking over Iraq.

If we would have taken the oil, you wouldn't have ISIS, because ISIS formed with the power and wealth of that oil. They have among the largest oil reserves in the world. We go in, we spend $3 trillion, we lose thousands and thousands of lives, and then, we get nothing. It used to be to the victor belong the spoils. I always said: Take the oil.

Mike Pence on Iraq: (War & Peace Jul 15, 2016)
Supported Iraq war and sending more US troops there in 2007

Amy Klobuchar on Iraq: (Foreign Policy Jun 12, 2016)
Fight ISIS Internet recruiting, but don't indict Islam

KLOBUCHAR: Having been the local prosecutor during 9/11 when they caught Moussaoui, in our state [Minnesota], I know that you want to make sure that you have the evidence clear before you make statements about a solution. But we know some of the things that have to happen here. The continual work to root out this evil at its roots at the enclave of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, to stop the flow of the international money, to go after the recruiting that we've seen in the US over the Internet.

Q: In Minnesota, there have been numerous cases about people being recruited to part of the ISIS campaign?

KLOBUCHAR: Yes; dozens of indictments & recent jury verdicts. And what we've found is that individual people are recruited over the Internet. No mom wants their kid recruited to go fight for ISIS. You don't want to indict an entire religion, you don't want to indict an entire community over a lone wolf.

John Kasich on Iraq: (War & Peace Feb 25, 2016)
Arm the Ukrainians and fight ISIS in Syria, Libya

Donald Trump on Iraq: (War & Peace Feb 19, 2016)
FactCheck: Supported Iraq invasion in 2002; opposed in 2003

Trump has repeatedly claimed that he was against the Iraq War before it began, despite no evidence of him publicly stating this position. Trump's comments on Stern's show are more in line with what he wrote in his 2000 book, The America We Deserve, where he advocated for a "principled and tough" policy toward "outlaw" states like Iraq.

Asked at the CNN town hall about the Stern interview, Trump said, "I could have said that. I wasn't a politician. It was probably the first time anyone has asked me that question. By the time the war started, I was against it, and shortly thereafter, I was really against."

John Kasich on Iraq: (Foreign Policy Feb 13, 2016)
US should not be world's police in places like Iraq

Sen. Marco RUBIO: Saddam Hussein was in violation of U.N. resolutions, in open violation, and the world wouldn't do anything about it, and George W. Bush enforced what the international community refused to do.

KASICH: I don't believe the United States should involve itself in civil wars. Civil wars are not in our direct are interest. The fact is, is that we should go to war when it is our direct interest. We should not be policemen of the world, but when we go, we mean business. We'll do our job. We'll tell our soldiers, our people in the service, take care of your job and then come home once we've accomplished our goals.

Donald Trump on Iraq: (War & Peace Feb 13, 2016)
The war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake

Ted Cruz on Iraq: (War & Peace Feb 13, 2016)
Overwhelming air power against ISIS, & arm the Kurds

John Kasich on Iraq: (War & Peace Feb 13, 2016)
If there weren't WMDs in Iraq, we shouldn't have gone

KASICH: We thought there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Colin Powell, who is one of the most distinguished generals in modern times said there were weapons there. The fact is we got ourselves in the middle of a civil war. The borders of that country were drawn after World War I by Westerners that didn't understand what was happening there. The tragedy of it is that we're still embroiled. If there weren't weapons of mass destruction we should never have gone.

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (Foreign Policy Feb 11, 2016)
Need to look at consequences of removing dictators

SANDERS: Where Secretary Clinton and I disagree is the area of regime change. We can overthrow dictators all over the world. The point about foreign policy is not just to overthrow a dictator, it's to understand what happens the day after. In Libya, Secretary Clinton, as secretary of state, working with some other countries, did get rid of a terrible dictator named Gadhafi. But what happened is ISIS came in and now occupies significant territory in Libya. But this is nothing new. This has gone on 50 or 60 years where the United States has been involved in overthrowing governments.

Hillary Clinton on Iraq: (War & Peace Feb 11, 2016)
My 2002 vote for Iraq war does not impact ISIS plan today

CLINTON: I do not believe a vote in 2002 [for the Iraq war] is a plan to defeat ISIS in 2016. It's important we focus on the threats we face today. When people vote, they are voting for the commander-in- chief. It's important that people look at who is best prepared for dealing with them. Senator Obama, when he ran against me, was against the war in Iraq. Yet he turned to me, trusting my judgment, my experience, to become secretary of state.

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (Foreign Policy Feb 4, 2016)
Key doctrine: We can't do it alone; must work in coalition

SANDERS: I did give a speech at Georgetown where I talked about democratic socialism and foreign policy. Maybe I shouldn't have combined the two in the same speech. While it is true that the secretary and I voted differently on the war in Iraq, what is important is that we learn the lesson of the war in Iraq. And that lesson is intrinsic to my foreign policy if elected president, is the United States cannot do it alone. We cannot be the policeman of the world. We are now spending more I believe than the next eight countries on defense. We have got to work in strong coalition with the major powers of the world and with those Muslim countries that are prepared to stand up and take on terrorism. So I would say that the key doctrine of the Sanders administration would be no, we cannot continue to do it alone; we need to work in coalition.

Hillary Clinton on Iraq: (Principles & Values Feb 4, 2016)
I am a progressive who gets things done

CLINTON: Because I am a progressive who gets things done. The root of that word, progressive, is progress. I've heard Senator Sanders' comments, and it's caused me to wonder who's left in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Under his definition, President Obama is not progressive because he took donations from Wall Street; Vice President Biden is not progressive because he supported Keystone; Senator Shaheen is not progressive because she supports the trade pact.

Hillary Clinton on Iraq: (War & Peace Feb 4, 2016)
4,000 U.S. trainers & special forces in Iraq & Syria

A: We have to support Arab and Kurdish fighters. It is important to keep the Iraqi army on a path where they can take back territory. They're doing the fighting. We're doing the support and enabling. I am against American combat troops being in Syria and Iraq. I support special forces. I support trainers. I support the air campaign. I want to continue, and that's what the president is doing.

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (War & Peace Feb 4, 2016)
Iraq war led to ISIS creation, as I predicted would happen

CLINTON: We have to support Arab & Kurdish fighters. It is important to keep the Iraqi army on a path where they can take back territory. They're doing the fighting. We're doing the support and enabling. I want to continue, and that's what the president is doing.

SANDERS: Let me agree with much of what the secretary said, but where we differ is on the war in Iraq, which created barbaric organizations like ISIS. Not only did I vote against that war, I helped lead the opposition. It gives me no pleasure to tell you that much of what I feared would happen the day after Saddam Hussein was overthrown, in fact, did happen. I think our task is to make certain that our young men and women in the military do not get sucked into never-ending, perpetual warfare within the quagmire of Syria and Iraq. It must be Muslim troops on the ground that destroy ISIS, with the support of a coalition of major powers.

Barack Obama on Iraq: (Foreign Policy Jan 20, 2016)
US should learn lessons from Iraq and Vietnam

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (Foreign Policy Dec 19, 2015)
I do not believe in unilateral action against terrorism

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (Foreign Policy Dec 19, 2015)
Easy to overthrow a dictator but hard to control aftermath

Hillary Clinton on Iraq: (War & Peace Dec 19, 2015)
3-part plan to go after ISIS: territory; network; safety

Hillary Clinton on Iraq: (War & Peace Dec 19, 2015)
Support Sunni Arab and Kurdish forces against ISIS in Syria

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (War & Peace Dec 19, 2015)
I voted against 1st Gulf War, which led to 2nd Gulf War

Ted Cruz on Iraq: (War & Peace Dec 15, 2015)
FactCheck: No, ISIS and Iran haven't declared war on America

• ISIS is not a country, and hence cannot formally declare war. ISIS' actions against the US focus on expelling US (& French & other) troops from the Mideast; ISIS has no territorial claims on America.
• Iran is not at war with America. Iran DOES declare war--in the Iraq-Iran war, a formal declaration was made on 9/22/1980. But Iran just concluded a major treaty with America, and has not indicated any war plans.
• France, after the ISIS attack in Paris, is considering invoking NATO article V, which would be an international declaration of war (the U. invoked article V in response to 9/11/2001).
• America has not declared war on ISIS or Iran; doing so would require an act of Congress.

John Kasich on Iraq: (War & Peace Nov 17, 2015)
US ground troops in Syria, but not involved in civil war

Hillary Clinton on Iraq: (Gun Control Nov 14, 2015)
Reverse gun manufacturer immunity; let them get sued

CLINTON: I said I made a mistake on Iraq, and I would love to see Senator Sanders join with some of my Senate colleagues in addition the Senate that I see in the audience. Let's reverse the immunity. Let's put the gun makers and sellers on notice that they're not going to get away with it.

SANDERS: Let's do more than reverse the immunity.

Q: Was that a mistake, Senator?

SANDERS: Let me hear if there's any difference between the Secretary and myself. I don't know that there's any disagreement here.

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (War & Peace Nov 14, 2015)
Invasion of Iraq led to ISIS; Hillary voted to invade

CLINTON: ISIS has developed [since 2014]. There are many other reasons why it has, but I don't think that the US has the bulk of the responsibility. I really put that on Assad and on the Iraqis and on the region itself.

SANDERS: She said the bulk of the responsibility is not ours. Well, in fact, I would argue that the disastrous invasion of Iraq, something that I strongly opposed, has unraveled the region completely and led to the rise of al-Qaeda and to ISIS.

Q: You're saying Secretary Clinton, who was then Senator Clinton, voted for the Iraq war. And are you making a direct link between her vote for that or and what's happening now for ISIS?

SANDERS: I don't think any sensible person would disagree that the invasion of Iraq led to the massive level of instability we are seeing right now. I think that was one of the worst foreign policy blunders in the more than history of the United States.

Donald Trump on Iraq: (War & Peace Nov 10, 2015)
Assad is a bad guy, but his replacement could be worse

TRUMP: Assad is a bad guy, but we have no idea who the so-called rebels--nobody even knows who they are.

Carly FIORINA: Governor Bush is correct. We must have a no fly zone in Syria.

TRUMP: So, I don't like Assad. Who's going to like Assad? But, we have no idea who these people, and what they're going to be, and what they're going to represent. They may be far worse than Assad. Look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Look at the mess we have after spending $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place--we have nothing. And, I said, keep the oil. And we should have kept the oil, believe me. We should have kept the oil. And, you know what? We should have given big chunks of the oil to the people that lost their arms, their legs, and their families, and their sons, and daughters, because right now, you know who has a lot of that oil? Iran, and ISIS.

Rand Paul on Iraq: (War & Peace Nov 10, 2015)
A no-fly zone in Iraq means shooting war with Russia

TRUMP: If Putin wants to go and knock the hell out of ISIS, I am all for it, 100%. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world.

BUSH: Donald's absolutely wrong on this. We have to be involved. We should have a no fly zone in Syria.

FIORINA: Gov. Bush is correct. We must have a no fly zone in Syria because Russia cannot tell the USA where and when to fly our planes.

PAUL: You're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies. Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq. You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the world.

John Kasich on Iraq: (War & Peace Nov 4, 2015)
Destroy ISIS, with US troops as part of coalition

"We have not led, and when you don't lead, you create doubt in the minds of our friends, and also, it encourages our enemies," he said. He said he'd support a larger US military presence in the region. "The time has come to destroy ISIS as part of a coalition," Kasich said. "And if that means that US boots have to be on the ground, so be it," he said. "Because to allow this to linger, to put this off, to think that somehow this is going to go away is naive at best."

Kasich said joining Russia in the fight against ISIS doesn't mean the US should set aside fights with Moscow over its incursion in Ukraine and its intervention in favor of Syrian leader.

Donald Trump on Iraq: (War & Peace Nov 3, 2015)
We should have demanded a deal with Kuwait to liberate them

Who did they turn to for help? Who else? Uncle Sucker. That's us. We spent billions of dollars sending our army to win back Kuwait. Our people were killed and wounded, but the Iraqis went back to their country.

About two months after the war, several Kuwaitis came up to my office. They told me, "We want to invest outside the United States." We had just handed them back their country! They were watching TV in the best hotel rooms in Paris while our kids were fighting for them. And they didn't want to invest in this country?

How stupid are we? Why didn't the United States make a deal with them that outlined how they would pay for us to get their country back for them? They would have paid anything if just asked.

Donald Trump on Iraq: (War & Peace Nov 3, 2015)
Blunder to announce withdrawal timetable from Afghanistan

Donald Trump on Iraq: (War & Peace Oct 20, 2015)
Afghanistan war made a mess, but troops need to stay

"We made a mistake going into Iraq. I've never said we made a mistake going into Afghanistan," Trump told CNN. Trump said on October 6 that he believed entering Afghanistan was a mistake and worried about U.S. forces getting stuck there.

"At some point, are they going to be there for the next 200 years? It's going to be a long time," Trump said, when asked about Afghanistan. "We made a terrible mistake getting involved there in the first place. We had real brilliant thinkers that didn't know what the hell they were doing. And it's a mess. And at this point, you probably have to stay because that thing will collapse about two seconds after they leave."

Trump first signaled his backtrack when he said Afghanistan is "where we should have gone," meaning the US should have focused its attention on Afghanistan over Iraq.

Ted Cruz on Iraq: (Foreign Policy Oct 18, 2015)
If Mideast strongmen still in power, better for US interests

CRUZ: Of course, it would.

Q: Gaddafi, Saddam, Assad, if they're strongmen, they keep stability?

CRUZ: It wasn't even close that Libya under Gaddafi was better for US interests than the chaos now that is allowed jihadists to gain strength.

Q: What about Iraq under Saddam?

CRUZ: It wasn't even close.

Q: Do you think Iraq would be more stable today under a strong man like Saddam?

CRUZ: Based on what we know now, should we have gone into Iraq? No, of course not. It was based on the belief that they had weapons of mass destruction that they would use against us.

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (War & Peace Oct 18, 2015)
Diplomacy and coalition-building before unilateral action

SANDERS: Well, I'm not going to get into hypotheticals, but I would say that Bush's decision to get us into a war in Iraq unilaterally was one of the worst foreign policy blunders in the history of the US. I think sensible foreign policy and military policies suggest that it cannot be the US alone which solves all of the world's [problems].

Q: In all circumstances?

SANDERS: I didn't say in all circumstances. But I think that there's a lesson to be learned from Iraq and Afghanistan, then what a great military power like the United States is about is trying to use diplomacy before war and working with other countries rather than doing it alone. At the end of the day, a military coalition is what will succeed, not the US doing it alone.

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (Energy & Oil Oct 13, 2015)
Address climate change so we can leave planet to our kids

CHAFEE: It's certainly the chaos in the Middle East. And it all started with the Iraq invasion.

O'MALLEY: I believe that nuclear Iran remains the biggest threat, along with the threat of ISIL; climate change, of course, makes cascading threats.

CLINTON: I think it has to be continued threat from the spread of nuclear material that can fall into the wrong hands.

WEBB: Our greatest long-term strategic challenge is our relation with China.

Q: Senator Sanders, greatest national security threat?

SANDERS: The scientific community is telling us that if we do not address the global crisis of climate change, transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to sustainable energy, the planet that we're going to be leaving our kids and our grandchildren may well not be habitable. That is a major crisis.

Hillary Clinton on Iraq: (War & Peace Oct 13, 2015)
We're already involved in Syria; deal with Russia there

Donald Trump on Iraq: (Foreign Policy Oct 4, 2015)
Better to have Mideast strongmen than Mideast chaos

TRUMP: It's not even a contest. Iraq is a disaster. And ISIS came out of Iraq.

Q: Well, let me button this up. If Saddam and Gaddafi were still in power, you think things would be more stable?

TRUMP: Of course it would be. You wouldn't have had your Benghazi situation, which is one thing, which was just a terrible situation.

Q: Would you pull out of what we're doing in Syria now?

TRUMP: no, I'd sit back.

Rand Paul on Iraq: (Foreign Policy Sep 16, 2015)
Let those in the Middle East fight the battles there

The Kurds deserve to be armed and I'll arm them. But the boots on the ground need to be the people who live there. Why are we always the world's patsies that we have to go over there and fight their wars for them? We need to defend American interests, but it is not in America's national security interests to have another war in Iraq.

Donald Trump on Iraq: (War & Peace Sep 16, 2015)
I'm pro-military but I opposed invading Iraq in 2003

Sen. Rand PAUL: I've made my career as being an opponent of the Iraq War. We have to learn sometimes the interventions backfire. The Iraq War backfired and did not help us. We're still paying the repercussions of a bad decision.

Dr. Ben CARSON: When the issue occurred in 2003, I suggested to President Bush that he not go to war. So I just want that on the record.

Rand Paul on Iraq: (War & Peace Sep 16, 2015)
I opposed Iraq war in 2003 & I oppose Syria war now

PAUL: I've made my career as being an opponent of the Iraq War. I was opposed to the Syria war. I was opposed to arming people who are our enemies. Iran is now stronger because Hussein is gone. Hussein was the great bulwark and counterbalance to the Iranians. So when we complain about the Iranians, you need to remember that the Iraq War made it worse. Originally, Governor Bush was asked, "Was the Iraq War a mistake?", and he said, "No. We'd do it again." We have to learn sometimes the interventions backfire. The Iraq War backfired and did not help us. We're still paying the repercussions of a bad decision. We have make the decision now in Syria, should we topple Assad? I said no, because if you do, ISIS will now be in charge of Syria.

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (Foreign Policy Sep 13, 2015)
Address humanitarian crisis in Syria with allies in region

SANDERS: I think it's impossible to give a proper number until we understand the dimensions of the problem. What I do believe is that Europe, the United States and, by the way, countries like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, must address this humanitarian crisis. People are leaving Iraq, they're leaving Syria with just the clothes on their backs. The world has got to respond. The United States should be part of that response.

Q: When it comes to Syria, how much of the problem is the United States' fault, of policy, whether Bush in Iraq or Obama in Syria?

SANDERS: Look, I voted against the war in Iraq; much of what I feared would happen, in fact, did happen: Massive destabilization in that region. The issue now is not who is at fault. The issue is now what we do. And what we do is bring the region together.

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (War & Peace Sep 5, 2015)
Stop ISIS, but only with an international & Arab coalition

• A Global Threat That Must Be Stopped: ISIS is an incredibly dangerous, powerful, and barbaric organization. For the sake of people in the Middle East and all over the world, they must be stopped.
• We Must Learn From the War In Iraq: In terms of lives lost, injured soldiers, monetary costs, and lasting effects in the region, the Iraq War was a disaster. We need to learn from it so we don't make the same mistakes twice.
• A Coalition is Required: The United States cannot and should not lead the effort to defeat ISIS on its own. There are enough capable military powers in the region, and the coalition should be led by Middle Eastern allies.

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (War & Peace Sep 5, 2015)
Iraq war destabilized Mideast; stay out of Mideast quagmire

A: No. In 2002, as a congressman, Bernie spoke extensively about the dangers of going to war in Iraq, and warned about the destabilizing impact that a war would cause and how it might lead to a counter-insurgency like we've seen, first with al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and now ISIS: He voted against the resolution that gave President George W. Bush permission to invade Iraq.

Q: How has the Iraq war impacted Bernie's position on dealing with ISIS?

A: In February 2015, in response to a war powers resolution--a formal request by President Barack Obama to authorize a military campaign against ISIS--Bernie said, "I voted against the war in Iraq because I feared very much the destabilizing impact it would have on the region. Today, I very much fear U.S. involvement in an expanding and never-ending quagmire in that region of the world."

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (Social Security Aug 30, 2015)
Raise the Social Security cap on taxable income

I believe that we have got to raise the minimum wage over a period of several years to $15 an hour--not Hillary Clinton's position. I voted against the war in Iraq. Hillary Clinton voted for it.

Amy Klobuchar on Iraq: (Homeland Security Aug 24, 2015)
Offer troops care for traumatic brain injury

Amy Klobuchar on Iraq: (War & Peace Aug 24, 2015)
2006: turn over governance of Iraq to the Iraqis

Amy Klobuchar on Iraq: (War & Peace Aug 24, 2015)
2007: Withdraw combat troops from Iraq on sensible timetable

After my election to the Senate, I wanted to do everything in my power to help end the war. In March 2007, I flew to Iraq; then I was tapped to give the national response to President Bush's weekly radio address. I spoke about our soldier's bravery and commitment but also about the need to withdraw our combat forces on a sensible timetable, train the Iraqi police, and transition to Iraqi governance.

In March 2007, I flew to Iraq; [then] I gave the national response to President Bush's weekly radio address. I spoke about the need to withdraw our combat forces on a sensible timetable, train the Iraqi police, and transition to Iraqi governance.

John Kasich on Iraq: (War & Peace Aug 16, 2015)
Fight ISIS by supporting Kurds and educating Iraqis

A: Well, we should have had a base left in Iraq, for sure.

Q: But do you think that President George W. Bush, who launched the attack initially on Iraq, bears some responsibility for ISIS now?

A: I would have never committed ourselves to Iraq. And, as you can see, ultimately, it's going to end up being divided into three parts. I think the Kurds are great allies of ours. And we have got to very conscious of some of the things that they need and balance that off against the Turks, because that's become an issue over there. But all the religions of the world ought to stand up and say, "you blow up innocent men, women, and children, and you think you're going to paradise, there's something wrong with you, you're nuts, and if we catch you, we're going to throw you into prison, maybe for the rest of your life."

John Kasich on Iraq: (War & Peace Aug 16, 2015)
2002: go to war with Iraq; 2015: we never should have gone

In an interview on "State of the Union," Kasich said, "I would never have committed ourselves to Iraq." Kasich said the US "should've left a base in Iraq" instead of withdrawing troops in 2011.

But in November 2002, Kasich, then a former congressman, made a very different argument during an event at The Ohio State University, as the US was gearing up for war in Iraq. "We should go to war with Iraq. It's not likely that (Saddam) Hussein will give up his weapons. If he did he would be disgraced in the Arab world," he said then.

Kasich's 2002 comments, in front of a crowd of 100 students, were reported at the time by The Lantern, Ohio State's student newspaper, under the headline: "Fireside speaker favors war with Iraq."

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (Foreign Policy Aug 9, 2015)
We have to negotiate with others, even Iran

SANDERS: We have got to go through every possible effort in order to make sure that we achieve that goal of Iran not having a nuclear weapon without going to war.

Q: So, do you support the agreement?

SANDERS: Yes, I do. Look, I'm not going to tell that you this is a perfect agreement. And every agreement can be better.

Q: What about hard-liners chanting death to America in Iraq making common cause with the opponents of this deal?

SANDERS: I wouldn't frame it that way. But this is the way I would frame it. It's so easy to be critical of an agreement which is not perfect. But the US has to negotiate with other countries. We have to negotiate with Iran. And the alternative, you know what it is? It's war. Do we really want another war, a war with Iran? I think we go as far as we possibly can in trying to give peace a chance, if you like, trying to see if this agreement will work. And I will support it.

Donald Trump on Iraq: (War & Peace Aug 6, 2015)
Opposed Iraq war in 2004 & predicted Mideast destabilization

Ted Cruz on Iraq: (War & Peace Aug 6, 2015)
If you wage jihad on America, you sign your death warrant

CRUZ: When I asked that to General Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs, he said there is no military solution. We need to change the conditions on the ground so that young men are not in poverty and susceptible to radicalization. That, with all due respect, is nonsense. It's the same answer the State Department gave that we need to give them jobs. What we need is a commander in chief that makes clear, if you join ISIS, if you wage jihad on America, then you are signing your death warrant. I introduced the Expatriate Terrorist Act that said if any American travels to the Middle East and joins ISIS, that he or she forfeits their citizenship so they don't use a passport to come back and wage jihad on Americans.

Donald Trump on Iraq: (War & Peace Jun 16, 2015)
Boots on the ground to fight ISIS

In early 2015, Trump told CPAC that he felt the U.S. may need "boots on the ground" to fight the Islamic State. Soon after, he clarified to Fox News that he would send limited numbers of troops if all of his military advisers recommended it.

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (Foreign Policy Apr 30, 2015)
Focus on domestic needs instead of international conflict

Sanders backs President Obama's negotiations with Iran and sharply criticized Republican senators who signed a letter warning Iran against a potential deal. In a statement, the Jewish senator pushed back against the idea of tougher sanctions and was critical of Netanyahu's speech to Congress. Sanders was the first senator to announce he would not attend the speech.

Rand Paul on Iraq: (War & Peace Apr 7, 2015)
Create & arm a Kurdish state as support against ISIL

Paul's support for the Kurds includes giving them more weapons, but he doesn't feel the same about Syrian rebels for reasons that include fear the arms would land in the hands of extremists. He also insists the Obama administration was wrong to intervene in Libya.

Ted Cruz on Iraq: (War & Peace Feb 8, 2015)
Arm the Kurds to fight ISIS, with US air support

CRUZ: We met today with the president of Kurdistan. The Kurds on the ground are fantastic fighters. The Peshmerga have been our allies. And they're actually fighting every day to stop ISIS. Now, what makes no sense whatsoever is, the Obama administration is refusing to directly arm the Kurds. We need to arm the Kurds now because they are our boots on the ground. I don't believe it is necessary to put American boots on the ground if we are arming the Peshmerga. The Peshmerga on the ground, combined with overwhelming American airpower, can take out ISIS.

Q: So some in the Pentagon who apparently are considering about 10,000 U.S. troops on the ground, that would be a bad move?

CRUZ: In my view, American boots on the ground should always be the last step, and we need to exercise other steps before that. We have the availability of overwhelming airpower, and we have boots on the ground that are ready and eager to fight.

Barack Obama on Iraq: (War & Peace Jan 20, 2015)
Authorize the use of force against ISIL

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (Technology Jan 15, 2015)
$1 trillion investment in infrastructure

Rand Paul on Iraq: (Foreign Policy Jan 1, 2015)
Where do Ron and Rand Paul disagree on foreign issues?

Ted Cruz on Iraq: (War & Peace Sep 7, 2014)
Bomb ISIS back into the Stone Age, with Congress' approval

CRUZ (ON TAPE): What we ought to have is a direct concerted overwhelming air campaign to take them out.

Q (END TAPE): In Iraq and Syria?

CRUZ: The focus should be Iraq, but the real focus should be taking out ISIS. Within Syria, it should not be our objective to try to resolve the civil war in Syria.

Q: You said that the U.S. should bomb ISIS back into the Stone Age. Should that take Congressional approval?

CRUZ: It should absolutely take Congressional approval, I think.

Q (voice-over): But not all Republicans agree. On Friday, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida sent a letter to the White House saying the president doesn't need Congress, he should act swiftly on his own. What advice would you give the president?

CRUZ: I think it is an urgent concern to strike while ISIS is vulnerable.

Rand Paul on Iraq: (War & Peace Jul 14, 2014)
Assist Iraqi government against ISIS, but not Syrian rebels

I support continuing our assistance to the government of Iraq, which include armaments and intelligence. I support using advanced technology to prevent ISIS from becoming a threat. I also want to stop sending U.S. aid and arms to Islamic rebels in Syria who are allied with ISIS, something Perry doesn't even address. I would argue that if anything, my ideas for this crisis are both stronger, and not rooted simply in bluster.

If the governor continues to insist that these proposals mean I'm somehow "ignoring ISIS," I'll make it my personal policy to ignore Rick Perry's opinions.

Rand Paul on Iraq: (War & Peace Jul 14, 2014)
No US troops in Iraq, even against ISIS

Unlike Perry, I oppose sending American troops back into Iraq. After a decade of the United States training the Iraq's military, when confronted by the enemy, the Iraqis dropped their weapons, shed their uniforms and hid. Our soldiers' hard work and sacrifice should be worth more than that. Our military is too good for that.

Rand Paul on Iraq: (War & Peace Jul 13, 2014)
How many Americans should die to defend Iraq?

I disagree with Sen. Paul's representation of what America should be doing, and when you read his op-ed, he talks about basically, what I consider to be, isolationist policies.

Rand Paul on Iraq: (War & Peace Jun 22, 2014)
ISIS are nasty terrorists but no clear-cut American interest

PAUL: I see mostly confusion and chaos, and I think some of the chaos is created from getting involved in the Syrian civil war. You have to realize that some of the Islamic rebels that we have been supporting are actually allies of the group that is now in Iraq causing all of this trouble.

Q: ISIS, as a terrorist organization, has been billed by many as a clear and present danger. Do you see that?

PAUL: I look at it on a personal basis. I ask, "Do I want to send one of my sons, or your son, to fight to regain Mosul?" And I think, "Well ya, these are nasty terrorists, we should want to kill them." But I think, "Who should want to stop them more? Maybe the people who live there." Should not the Shiites, the Maliki government, should they not stand up? Yes, we should prevent them from exporting terror; but, I'm not so sure where the clear-cut, American interest is.

Rand Paul on Iraq: (War & Peace Jun 22, 2014)
Iraq War gave Iran regional hegemony & caused Mideast chaos

PAUL: Was the war won in 2005, when many of these people said it was won? They didn't really understand the civil war that would break out. And what's going on now, I don't blame on Obama. Has he really got the solution? Maybe there is no solution. But I do blame the Iraq War on the chaos that is in the Middle East. I also blame those who are for the Iraq War for emboldening Iran. These are the same people now who are petrified of what Iran may become, and I understand some of their worry.

Q: You're not a "Dick Cheney Republican" when it comes to American power in the Middle East?

PAUL: What I would say is that the war emboldened Iran. Iran is much more of a threat because of the Iraq War than they were before--before there was a standoff between Sunnis and Shiites--now there is Iranian hegemony throughout the region.

Hillary Clinton on Iraq: (Foreign Policy Jun 10, 2014)
Push Russia on press freedom; they've killed 20 journalists

When I visited Moscow in 2009, I thought it important to speak out in support of press freedoms and against the official campaign of intimidation. I met with journalists, lawyers, and other civil society leaders, including one activist who told me that he had been badly beaten by unidentified thugs. These Russians had seen friends and colleagues harassed, intimidated, even killed, yet they went on working, writing, and speaking, refusing to be silenced. I assured them that the US would publicly and privately raise human rights concerns with the Russian government.

Hillary Clinton on Iraq: (War & Peace Jun 6, 2014)
I got it wrong on 2002 Iraq War vote

I thought I had acted in good faith and made the best decision I could with the information I had. And I wasn't alone in getting it wrong. But I still got it wrong. Plain and simple.

Rand Paul on Iraq: (Homeland Security Apr 13, 2014)
Don't let people who make money off weapons define policy

(VIDEO CLIP) PAUL: Dick Cheney then goes to work for Halliburton, makes hundreds of millions of dollars as CEO. Next thing you know, he's back in government it's a good idea to go to Iraq. (END VIDEO CLIP)

Q: Do you really think that Cheney was motivated by his financial ties to Halliburton?

PAUL: I'm not questioning his motives. I don't think Dick Cheney did it out of malevolence, I think he loves his country as much as I love the country.

Q: But you said we don't want our defense to be defined by people who make money off the weapons.

PAUL: There's a chance for a conflict of interest. At one point in time, he was opposed going into Baghdad. Then he was out of office and involved in the defense industry and then he became for going into Baghdad.

Rahm Emanuel on Iraq: (Principles & Values Apr 6, 2014)
Washington is not broken; the GOP is broken

EMANUEL: It has been going downhill. Washington is not broken. The GOP is broken. They need a Bill Clinton moment with someone to figure things out. If George W. Bush had never gotten in the disastrous Iraq war, he was trying to modernize the party on a series of fronts. But on tax and foreign policy, everything cratered.

Q: Chris Christie was going to be the savior.

EMANUEL: He "was." You said it in past tense.

Q: Do you think it is past tense?

EMANUEL: I do. Nothing is ever absolute in politics, but I am willing to go out on a limb and join you. It may take more than an immediate time frame for him to recover, and he doesn't have more than that.

Joe Biden on Iraq: (Foreign Policy Mar 1, 2014)
An internationalist as Foreign Relations Committee chair

Barack Obama on Iraq: (War & Peace Jan 28, 2014)
Support rebels in Syria who oppose terrorism

American diplomacy, backed by the threat of force, is why Syria's chemical weapons are being eliminated, and we will continue to work with the international community to usher in the future the Syrian people deserve--a future free of dictatorship, terror and fear.

Rand Paul on Iraq: (Foreign Policy Jun 13, 2013)
US aid enables a war on Christianity in the Middle East

Today, Christians in Iraq, Libya, Egypt and Syria are on the run--persecuted or under fire--and yet, we continue to send aid to the folks chasing them. While they burn the American flag and the mobs chant "Death to America," more of your money is sent to these haters of Christianity.

Even if all the atrocities to Christians were not occurring in these countries, we simply don't have the money to engage in this foolishness. We must borrow the money from China to send it to Pakistan.

It is clear that American taxpayer dollars are being used to enable a war on Christianity in the Middle East and I believe that must end.

Ron DeSantis on Iraq: (Homeland Security Nov 6, 2012)
Gave legal support to Gitmo terrorist detention center

He is currently an officer in the reserve component of the United States Navy. He is a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion. He has lectured on the law of war at Florida Coastal School of Law.

Barack Obama on Iraq: (War & Peace Oct 22, 2012)
Supported "Iron Dome" defense shield for Israel

OBAMA: When I went to Israel as a candidate, I went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum there, to remind myself the nature of evil and why our bond with Israel will be unbreakable. And then I went down to the border towns of Sderot, which had experienced missiles raining down from Hamas. And I saw families there who showed me where missiles had come down near their children's bedrooms, and I was reminded of what that would mean if those were my kids, which is why, as president, we funded an Iron Dome program to stop those missiles. So that's how I've used my travels when I travel to Israel and when I travel to the region.

Barack Obama on Iraq: (War & Peace Oct 22, 2012)
We had forgotten why we went into Afghanistan

ROMNEY: Inside Pakistan you have a large group of Pashtuns that are Taliban, that they're going to come rushing back into Afghanistan when we go.

Joe Biden on Iraq: (War & Peace Oct 11, 2012)
Out of Iraq as promised; out of Afghanistan soon

With regard to Afghanistan, he said he will end the war in 2014. Governor Romney said, #1, we should not set a date, and #2, with regard to 2014, it depends.

When it came to Osama bin Laden, the president, the first day in office, he called in the CIA and signed an order saying, 'my highest priority is to get bin Laden.' Prior to Pres. Obama being sworn in, Governor Romney was asked a question about how he would proceed. He said, 'I wouldn't move heaven and earth to get bin Laden.' He didn't understand it was more than about taking a murderer off the battlefield; it was about restoring America's heart.

And lastly, the president has led with a steady hand and clear vision. Governor Romney, the opposite. The last thing we need now is another war.

Barack Obama on Iraq: (Homeland Security Sep 19, 2012)
Remain vigilant & focus forcefully on groups like al Qaeda

A: Well, we're still doing an investigation. The natural protests that arose were used as an excuse by extremists to harm US interests. We have to remain vigilant. Look, when I came into office I said I would end the war in Iraq--and I did. I said that we would begin transitioning in Afghanistan. But what I also said was we're going to have to focus narrowly and forcefully on groups like al Qaeda. Those forces have not gone away. We've decimated al Qaeda's top leadership in the border regions around Pakistan, but in Yemen, in Libya--increasingly in places like Syria-- what you see is these elements that don't have the same capacity that a bin Laden or core al Qaeda had, but can still cause a lot of damage, and we've got to make sure that we remain vigilant and are focused on preventing them from doing us any harm.

Barack Obama on Iraq: (War & Peace Sep 6, 2012)
End our longest war: out of Afghanistan in 2014

A new tower rises above the New York skyline, Al Qaeda is on the path to defeat, and Osama Bin Laden is dead.

Deval Patrick on Iraq: (War & Peace Sep 4, 2012)
Obama ended war in Iraq & is ending war in Afghanistan

Barack Obama on Iraq: (War & Peace Aug 11, 2012)
Green Party OpEd: We are not out of Iraq

Obama vs. Stein vs. Romney vs. Johnson on International Issues:
• Cuba Policy
• Iranian Sanctions
• Iraq War
• Israel/Palestine
• International Diplomacy
• Patriot Act
• Guantanamo Prison
• Defense Spending
• Afghanistan War
• Climate Change
• Oil Drilling
• Nuclear Power
• Free Trade vs. Protectionism
• Mexican Border
• Illegal Alien Deportation
• Immigrant Benefits

Ted Cruz on Iraq: (War & Peace Jun 22, 2012)
Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan went on too long

Joe Biden on Iraq: (War & Peace Jun 14, 2012)
1990 Gulf War: reason enough to send generation to war?

"The president says he's angry and impatient, but God bless him, so are all of us. But is that a reason to send a whole generation to war?" asked Biden.

"The price is in body bags, in babies killed," said Barbara Boxer, then a member of the House of Representatives.

Joe Biden on Iraq: (War & Peace Jun 14, 2012)
OpEd: Iraq war follows tradition of active US leadership

At the grass roots, the Democratic Party included millions of liberals who, since Vietnam, had been instinctively skeptical about the use of force or other assertions of American power abroad. By contrast, many of the party's foreign policy hands, particularly the alumni of the Clinton administration, had a different outlook. They viewed themselves as heirs to the foreign policy traditions of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and John Kennedy, all proponents of national strength and an active leadership role for the US.

Hillary Clinton on Iraq: (War & Peace Jun 14, 2012)
OpEd: Iraq war follows tradition of active US leadership

For the Democratic foreign policy elite, the Iraq War was a disaster both politically and for the ideas they had come to hold. The war reopened old divisions between the Democratic Party's leaders and the party's base. At the grass roots, since Vietnam, liberals had been instinctively skeptical about the use of force. By contrast, many of the party's foreign policy hands, particularly the alumni of the Clinton administration, had a different outlook. They viewed themselves as heirs to the foreign policy traditions of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and John Kennedy, all proponents of national strength and an active leadership role for the US. The Clinton administration had put its imprint on the general idea of regime change in Iraq, though not by American military invasion.

Barack Obama on Iraq: (War & Peace Jun 14, 2012)
OpEd: Calling Iraq "a dumb war" left open "smarter war"

Obama's speech set him apart from the elite Democrats. To be sure, there had been a series of caveats about other wars, but these would be either overlooked or dismissed as necessary hedging. Obama had actually taken a clear, forthright and unequivocal position against the war in Iraq--before it occurred, not afterward.

Barack Obama on Iraq: (War & Peace Jun 14, 2012)
Iraq was a rash war, based on politics, not on reason

In the fall of 2002, Obama was beginning to lay the groundwork for a campaign for the US Senate. Obama's speech [to an anti-war demonstration] proved to be a critical step in launching him to the Senate & then to the presidency. What he said would be recalled and recited again and again during his battle for the Democratic nomination in 2008. He called Bush's intervention in Iraq "a dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason, but on passions, not on principle, but on politics. I know that an invasion of Iraq, without a clear rationale and without strong international support, will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than the best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment of al-Qaeda."

Barack Obama on Iraq: (War & Peace Jun 14, 2012)
2008 trump card: opposition to Iraq War showed experience

In response, Obama pulled out his trump card: his early opposition to the Iraq War that his opponents had voted to authorize. He recited: "I find it amusing that those who helped to authorize and engineer the biggest foreign policy disaster in our generation are now criticizing me for making sure that we are on the right battlefield and not the wrong battlefield in the war against terrorism." Obama said. The audience cheered.

Years later, an Obama aide said he felt this was a turning point in winning the Democratic nomination. Obama not only deflected the attacks on his inexperience in foreign policy, but turned that inexperience into a virtue. His words reinforced the campaign's larger message that Obama was a young, energetic outsider who was not tied to the Democrats of the past.

Barack Obama on Iraq: (War & Peace Jan 24, 2012)
For first time in 9 years, no Americans are fighting in Iraq

These achievements are a testament to the courage and teamwork of America's Armed Forces. They don't obsess over their differences. They focus on the mission at hand. They work together.

Barack Obama on Iraq: (War & Peace Jan 24, 2012)
Make sure Afghanistan is never again a source of attack

Barack Obama on Iraq: (Homeland Security Jan 11, 2012)
Reduce defense spending 1% in 2013; add 2% per year after

The administration plans $82 billion in funding for the Afghanistan and Iraq wars for 2013, according to OMB. The basic defense-only "topline" numbers are currently projected at: $524 billion in 2013; and $533 billion in 2014; $546 billion in 2015; $556 billion in 2016; and $568 billion in 2017. The percentage increases are expressed in "nominal growth," not adjusted for inflation.

The 2012-2021 defense plan calls for $5.652 trillion in spending. OMB calculated that the total Budget Control Act- mandated defense cut over those years is $488 billion--or about an 8.5% total decrease.

Joe Biden on Iraq: (War & Peace Dec 13, 2011)
Proud of involvement in winding down Iraq war

BIDEN: I feel like I participated in something that I can be proud of the rest of my life. Had I stayed as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, no matter how engaged I was, I don`t think I would have been in a position to be able to affect events on a day to day basis.

Q: In 2002, you voted for the authorization of use of force to go to Iraq. Is there a lesson learned about how we debate the use of force, how we debate whether or not to go to war?

BIDEN: I hope to God there is, because when that original debate took place, those of us like myself who voted to authorize to use force were based on the president`s commitment not to use force. He had no intention of using force. It was to demonstrate to the United Nations and to the world that we were united in wanting to stop Saddam Hussein.

Joe Biden on Iraq: (War & Peace Dec 13, 2011)
We shared responsibility to bring democracy to Libya

I would give Libya as an example. It was clear that Moammar Gadhafi was really not a good guy at all. But what did the president do? We spent several billion dollars, but we didn`t lose one American life. We didn`t put one boot on the ground. And we had a shared responsibility with the rest of the world, including Arab nations as well as NATO to deal with that issue.

And now, there`s a shared responsibility to the world to help them establish a democracy. That`s very different than going it alone. I hope we`ve learned the lesson that, unless our immediate vital national interest is at stake, going it alone should be the last option.

Joe Biden on Iraq: (War & Peace Dec 13, 2011)
Iran is isolated, and will be more so when Syria falls

BIDEN: Well, the argument was made early on that we removed two of Iran`s most greatest concerns, Saddam in Iraq, and the Taliban in Afghanistan. But the result now, in part because of some really outrageous moves that Iran has made, it actually has lost power in the entire region. The fact of the matter is its only ally left in the region is about to be toppled. That is in Syria with Bashar Assad. But the biggest thing that`s happened is the president has been able to unite the world, including Russia and China, in continuing to ostracize and to isolate Iran. So, the truth is, the capacity of Iran to project power in the Gulf is actually diminished. They are less feared. They have less influence than they have had any time, I would argue, in the last 20 years.

Donald Trump on Iraq: (War & Peace Dec 5, 2011)
Iraq should pick up the tab for their own liberation

How much is it worth to them to be rid of the bloodthirsty dictatorship of Saddam Hussein and to have gained a democracy? In reality, that's a priceless gift. When I say they should pay us back, I'm not even talking about cash out of their pockets. All I'm asking is that they give us, temporarily, a few flows of oil--enough to help pay us back and help take care of the tens of thousands of families and children whose brave loved ones died or were injured while securing Iraqi freedom.

But does Iraq do that? No. In fact, they've made it clear they have no intention of ever doing so. Ever. The ingratitude of Iraq's leadership is breathtaking.

Joe Biden on Iraq: (War & Peace Aug 30, 2011)
1998: only way to remove Saddam is massive military effort

There was bipartisan support for the operation. Sen. Joe Biden, writing in The Washington Post two months before the strikes, noted the limitation of any policy that left Saddam in power. "Ultimately, as long as Saddam Hussein is at the helm, no inspectors can guarantee that they have rooted out the entirety of Saddam Hussein's weapons program," he wrote, and he observed that "the only way to remove Saddam is a massive military effort, led by the United States."

Merrick Garland on Iraq: (Homeland Security Jun 27, 2011)
Let Abu Ghraib torture victims sue their torturers

In a dissent, Appeals Court Judge Merrick Garland said he would allow the Iraqi detainees' lawsuit to move forward against both military contractors. "No act of Congress and no judicial precedent bars the plaintiffs from suing the private contractors--who were neither soldiers nor civilian government employees," Garland wrote. "Employees of private contractors accompanying the Armed Forces in the field are NOT within the military's chain of command, and such contractors ARE subject to civil liability."

Barack Obama on Iraq: (War & Peace Jun 8, 2011)
Intervene in Libya for humanitarian reasons

Michele Bachmann's position on Libya distinctly contrasts with Obama's position. Bachmann is against American involvement in the civil war in Libya. Her view is that no one really knows who the rebels in Libya are, nor how they intend to change Libya. She further explains that there are terrorist groups assisting the rebels. Obama's position is that the US must be involved in Libya for "humanitarian" reasons. As the Libya situation drags on, people will realize that if NATO and the U.S. had never intervened in Libya, the civil war would have been over in a few weeks. The rebels would have been driven out long ago, and thousands of deaths would have been prevented. Americans will demand that Obama answer "Why Libya?" just like they demanded that Bush answer "Why Iraq?"

Deval Patrick on Iraq: (War & Peace Apr 12, 2011)
Bush was careless in starting Iraq war

Bush immediately said yes. Kerry dawdled for 3 days, and many assumed he was conducting a poll to determine the best answer or the best way to frame it. I furiously shot off emails to Kerry's brother, a prominent Boston lawyer who was central to the campaign. I thought Kerry had a chance to present a different vision for using American military force while confronting the Bush administration for its carelessness in starting the war. Instead, he answered the question by agreeing with Bush. I was certain it was not what he believed.

Jesse Ventura on Iraq: (Technology Apr 4, 2011)
WikiLeaks exposes how our government lies when waging war

Here are a few things we've learned from WikiLeaks' document releases that we didn't know before: The CIA has a secret army of 3,000 in Afghanistan.In Iraq, there are another 15,000 civilian casualties that haven't been brought into the light, and our troops were instructed not to look into torture tactics that our Iraqi allies were using. US Special Operations forces are in Pakistan without any public knowledge, and our Pakistani "allies" are the main protectors if the Taliban in Afghanistan.

I mean: Let's face it: WikiLeaks exists because the mainstream media haven't done their job. Instead of holding government accountable as the "fourth branch" the founders intended, I guess corporate media's role today is to protect the government from embassassment.

Rand Paul on Iraq: (War & Peace Feb 22, 2011)
Opposed to Iraq War; no direct threat & no declared war

I will not vote to go to war without a formal declaration of war, as our soldiers deserve and the Constitution demands.

Bernie Sanders on Iraq: (Homeland Security Dec 10, 2010)
War in Iraq will cost us $3 trillion including veteran care

So when we talk about Iraq, it is not only the terrible loss of life that our soldiers and the Iraqi people have experienced, let's not forget what it has done to the deficit and the national debt. We did not pay for the war in Iraq. We just put it on the credit card.

Hillary Clinton on Iraq: (War & Peace Nov 9, 2010)
OpEd: 2003 Iraq vote unmistakably authorized war

Joe Biden on Iraq: (War & Peace Nov 9, 2010)
OpEd: 2003 Iraq vote unmistakably authorized war

Joe Biden on Iraq: (Foreign Policy Oct 5, 2010)
New World Order should not mean US fights for the UN

Joe Biden on Iraq: (War & Peace Oct 5, 2010)
2008: Afghanistan is forgotten war, & Pakistan is neglected

Joe Biden on Iraq: (War & Peace Oct 5, 2010)
Enemy is Al Qaeda, not Taliban; timetable for withdrawal ok

Joe Biden on Iraq: (War & Peace Oct 5, 2010)
Not necessary to defeat Taliban; it's part of Afghan society

I wrote to the president, a long, 20-page handwritten memo focused on making the case:
1. that this is a 3-dimensional problem--al Qaeda, Pakistan and Afghanistan;
2. that there be a limit on the number of troops so that this wouldn't be a constant, creeping escalation whatever troop level was announced;
3. that there be a date at which we would begin the drawdown of American forces with the aim of drawing down all combat forces out, a la Iraq;
4. that it was not necessary to defeat the Taliban because the Taliban was and is part of the fabric of the Pashtun society--20% to 30% of it is incorrigible and must be defeated, and the remainder should be integrated into Afghan society;
5. that the return of the ability of the Taliban to overthrow the Afghan government was simply not within their power;
6. that the Taliban was not seeking to establish a new caliphate, they were not an existential threat to the USA,
7. that al-Qaeda's return to Afghanistan was highly unlikely.

Hillary Clinton on Iraq: (War & Peace Oct 5, 2010)
2002: Saddam gave sanctuary to terrorists including Al Qaeda

Joe Biden on Iraq: (War & Peace Oct 5, 2010)
2002: Iraq pivots from unfinished business in Afghanistan

Biden returned conveying a plea for urgent help, and Powell joined it, but while Bush "was agreeable and willing to listen, he was also noncommittal," Biden wrote later. Though Bush talked of a Marshall Plan for Afghanistan, he had other ideas, and was already giving Cheney and Rumsfeld "the force and resources they requested for a new target"--Iraq.

By now it was becoming increasingly clear to Biden that a critical pivot was under way from the unfinished business in Afghanistan to the neoconservatives' vision of spreading democracy throughout the Middle East, starting with deposing Saddam Hussein.

Biden and Republican Senator Chuck Hagel introduced a bill providing more money for Afghanistan, but the administration opposed it.

Joe Biden on Iraq: (War & Peace Oct 5, 2010)
No vital interest in Kuwait in 1990; like Vietnam in 1972

Mike Bloomberg on Iraq: (Foreign Policy Sep 28, 2010)
2008: I know foreign policy from negotiating deals worldwide

Kirsten Gillibrand on Iraq: (War & Peace Aug 11, 2010)
Timetable for drawing down troops from Afghanistan

A: I support the recent removal of combat troops from Iraq, as agreed to with the Iraqi government. I also support a timetable for drawing down troops from Afghanistan as a political tool to help encourage the Afghan government to assume more responsibility for their own security.