CNN "State of the Union" interviews during 2019: on War & Peace
Pete Buttigieg:
Make sure we have right kind of settlement in Afghanistan
Are we going to leave well, or are we going to leave poorly? To do it right, we need to make sure we get basic assurances about counterterrorism, and that the Afghan government is on the table, so that there's a formula for stability.
We have leverage in this conversation. It is in the interest of even the Taliban to make sure that we have the right kind of political settlement. But there has to be an actual strategy. It has to be driven by our ability to get a deal that makes sense.
Source: CNN State of the Union interview for 2019 Democratic primary
Aug 18, 2019
Mike Pence:
Iran will not be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons
The president's message to Iran is very clear, that we're not going to allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon, and we're not going to stand by while
Iran continues to sow malign influence across the region. Iran is the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world.
Source: CNN State of the Union 2019 interview
Jun 23, 2019
Pete Buttigieg:
We've learned how hard it is to end a war
I think we have learned as a country in my lifetime just how hard it is to end a war. We'd better be working very hard to make sure we don't start one. When you look at the destabilizing chain reaction
that appears to have been initiated when this president withdrew us from the Iran nuclear deal, I'm very concerned about the stability of the region and the possibility that this is a dynamic that even the president won't be able to control.
Source: CNN "SOTU" 2019 interview series
Jun 16, 2019
Pete Buttigieg:
Deal with Iran; consult with intelligence
When you look at the destabilizing chain reaction when this president withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, I'm concerned about the stability of the region. I would consult with the intelligence community, and not politicize their findings.
There's no question that the U.S. has an interest in maintaining security and freedom of movement in those shipping lanes. There's no question that we need to make sure that we're not contributing to a dynamic that could become more unstable.
Source: CNN State of the Union 2019 interview
Jun 16, 2019
Bernie Sanders:
US shouldn't favor Saudis or Iran; broker diplomatic answer
The function of the president is not simply to side with Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is a totalitarian, despotic, murderous regime. They are not our friends. They do not share any of our values. Iran also has played a very bad role in that region,
supporting terrorist organizations. The role of the United States is to bring Saudi Arabia and Iran together and help work out some kind of diplomatic agreement. I do not want to see perpetual warfare in that region.
Source: CNN State of the Union 2019 interview
Jun 2, 2019
Seth Moulton:
Against pushing us into war with Iran
The parallels between how the Bush administration pushed us into war with Iraq and how the Trump administration is pushing us into war with Iran are uncanny. But I also think there's a parallel here with Vietnam, where what Bolton and Pompeo
are trying to do is put enough troops in the Gulf, that there's just a good chance there will be a Gulf of Tonkin-type incident. It's been very clear from things that the secretary of state in particular has said that that's what he hopes happens.
Source: CNN SOTU 2019 interview of presidential hopefuls
Jun 2, 2019
Seth Moulton:
A mistake for those who voted for Iraq war
Q: Was it a mistake to vote to go to war in Iraq?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.
Source: CNN SOTU 2019 interview of presidential hopefuls
Jun 2, 2019
Seth Moulton:
Trump's "Chicken hawks" pushing us towards war in Iran
The parallels between how the Bush administration pushed us into war with Iraq and how the Trump administration, under a draft-dodging commander in chief, is pushing us into war with Iran are uncanny. But I also think there's a parallel here with
Vietnam, where Bolton and Pompeo are trying to put enough troops in the Gulf that will set off war with Iran. We have a commander in chief who's not tough enough, who doesn't have the credibility to stand up to these chicken hawks.
Source: CNN State of the Union 2019 interview
Jun 2, 2019
Pete Buttigieg:
Don't let Iraq war supporters plan Venezuela invasion
Buttigieg fired on Trump foreign policy official John Bolton, who has long advocated and defended the invasion of Iraq. (Buttigieg served during the war in Afghanistan.). "I don't understand how somebody leading us into the
Iraq war is allowed that near the situation room to begin with," Buttigieg said in an answer about conflict in Venezuela, where
Bolton has suggested military force could be an option.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.
Source: CNN KFile on 2019 SXSW conference in Austin
Mar 11, 2019
Tulsi Gabbard:
U.S. government lied to American people to launch Iraq War
Gabbard would not say whether she believes Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad is a war criminal -- the latest in a string of skeptical comments about whether Assad was, as the United Nations concluded, behind an April 2017 chemical weapons
attack. "I think that the evidence needs to be gathered and, as I have said before, if there is evidence that he has committed war crimes, he should be prosecuted as such,"
Gabbard said.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.
Source: CNN KFile on 2019 SXSW conference in Austin
Mar 11, 2019
Page last updated: Jan 12, 2020