Truthout.org political website: on War & Peace

Amy Klobuchar: Supported regime change in Libya; supports Israeli military

• Klobuchar supported the U.S.-NATO-led regime change war in Libya in 2011, and her public statements suggest that her main condition for the U.S. use of military force anywhere is that U.S. allies also take part, as in Libya.
• In January 2019, Klobuchar was the only presidential candidate who voted for S.1, a bill to reauthorize U.S. military aid to Israel that also included an anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions provision to allow U.S. state and local governments to divest from companies that boycott Israel.
• She is the only Democratic presidential candidate in the Senate who did not cosponsor Sanders's Yemen War Powers bill in 2018, but she did cosponsor and vote for it in 2019.

Bernie Sanders: Cut military spending, except F-35 at Vermont air base

• Senator Sanders has only voted for three out of 19 military spending bills since 2013.
• Sanders voted as requested by Peace Action 84 percent of the time from 2011 to 2016, despite some hawkish votes on Iran from 2011-2013.
• One major contradiction: Not only did Sanders support the F-35, he pushed--despite local opposition--to get these fighter jets stationed at the Burlington airport for the Vermont National Guard.
• In terms of stopping the war in Yemen, he and Senators Chris Murphy and Mike Lee have led a sustained effort to shepherd his historic War Powers bill on Yemen through the Senate.
• Sanders supports U.S. withdrawals from Afghanistan and Syria and opposes U.S. threats of war against Venezuela.

Cory Booker: End intervention in Yemen & Iran, but not Israel

• Booker was one of the first five cosponsors of Sanders's Yemen War Powers bill, and he has an 86 percent Peace Action voting record.
• He cosponsored the Senate bill condemning the UN Security Council resolution against Israeli settlements in 2016.
• He was an original cosponsor of a bill to impose new sanctions on Iran in December 2013, before eventually voting for the nuclear agreement in 2015.

Donald Trump: Implicitly approved Israel killing Iranian nuclear scientist

In January, the Trump administration assassinated Iran's top general, Qassim Suleimani. Shortly before that assassination, Pompeo followed the same pattern [as prior to the Mohsen Fakhrizadeh killing]--traveling and meetings with U.S. allies in the region.

Donald Trump: OpEd: Israel killed Iranian scientist & Trump approved

Elizabeth Warren: No intervention in Yemen; but intervention in Gaza OK

• Her Peace Action voting record is 84% and she was one of the first five Senators to cosponsor the Yemen War Powers bill in March 2018 [requiring Congressional authorization to arm the Saudis in Yemen].
• In 2014 she supported Israel's invasion of Gaza that left more than 2,000 dead, and blamed the civilian casualties on Hamas.
• She opposed a bill to criminalize boycotting Israel and condemned Israel's use of deadly force against peaceful Gaza protesters in 2018.

Jay Inslee: Opposed war in Iraq; opposed use of torture

Joe Biden: 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.

Kamala Harris: Ok with Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory

• Senator Harris has been vocal about is her unconditional support for Israel. She told an American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference in 2017, "I will do everything in my power to ensure broad and bipartisan support for Israel's security and right to self-defense." When President Obama allowed the U.S. to join a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements in Palestine as a "flagrant violation" of international law, Harris, Sen. Cory Booker and Sen. Amy Klobuchar were among 30 Democratic (and 47 Republican) senators who cosponsored a bill to withhold U.S. dues to the UN over the resolution.
• Harris did join most of the other presidential candidates who chose not to speak at AIPAC's 2019 gathering.
• She also supports rejoining the Iran nuclear agreement.
• Harris has voted for six out of eight military spending bills, but she did cosponsor and vote for Sanders's Yemen War Powers bill.

Kirsten Gillibrand: Withdraw from Yemen; Withdraw from Afghanistan

• Opposing runaway military spending, voting against 47 percent of military spending bills since 2013.
• Her Peace Action voting record is 80 percent, reduced mainly by the same hawkish votes on Iran as Sanders from 2011 to 2013.
• Gillibrand was an early cosponsor of Sanders's Yemen War Powers bill. She has also supported a full withdrawal from Afghanistan since at least 2011, when she worked on a withdrawal bill with then Sen. Barbara Boxer and wrote a letter to State Department Secretaries Robert Gates and Clinton, asking for a firm commitment that U.S. troops would be out "no later than 2014."
• Gillibrand cosponsored the Anti-Israel Boycott Act in 2017 but later withdrew her cosponsorship when pushed by grassroots opponents and the ACLU, and she voted against S.1, which included similar provisions, in January 2019.
• She has spoken favorably of Trump's diplomacy with North Korea.

Marianne Williamson: Stop relying on brute force internationally

• Williamson believes, "Our country's way of dealing with security issues is obsolete. We cannot simply rely on brute force to rid ourselves of international enemies."
• She [says] that our military budget "simply increase(s) the coffers of the military-industrial complex."
• She writes, "The only way to make peace with your neighbors is to make peace with your neighbors."
• Williamson proposes a 10 or 20 year plan to transform our wartime economy into a "peace-time economy." "From massive investment in the development of clean energy, to the retrofitting of our buildings and bridges, to the building of new schools and the creation of a green manufacturing base," she writes, "it is time to release this powerful sector of American genius to the work of promoting life instead of death."

Tulsi Gabbard: No regime change in Iran; no war in Yemen

• She unequivocally states her opposition to U.S. "regime change" interventions, as well as the New Cold War and arms race with Russia, and supports rejoining the Iran nuclear deal. She was also an original cosponsor of Representative Khanna's Yemen War Powers bill.
• Gabbard voted at least twice (in 2015 and 2016) not to repeal the much-abused 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force, and she voted three times not to limit the use of Pentagon slush funds.