Ending Endless War

In the nearly two decades since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the United States has made a series of costly blunders that have not only weakened our democracy but also undermined our leadership. Senator Sanders believes we need a foreign policy that focuses on core U.S. interests, clarifies our commitment to democratic values both at home and abroad, and prioritizes diplomacy and working collectively with allies to address shared security concerns instead of military force.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan is the longest war in American history After nearly two decades, thousands of American service members killed, tens of thousands more wounded, and hundreds of billions of dollars spent, it is past time to bring home the American servicemen and women still serving in Afghanistan. While the United States may have entered this war with significant clarity of purpose and moral authority, Senator Sanders believes we must now end America’s longest war.

Iraq

The war in Iraq has taken the lives of 4,910 American troops, killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens, displaced millions of people, and cost U.S. taxpayers more than $2 trillion. The United States invaded Iraq in 2003 based on false information, and the evidence is clear that the war has been counterproductive in terms of fighting international terrorism and promoting regional stability. As someone who voted against military action in Iraq in the first place, Senator Sanders believes it is important that the United States withdraw troops from Iraq while continuing to assist them in building a stable government and economy.

“The cost of war is great, and it is far more than the hundreds of billions of dollars we spend on planes, tanks, missiles and guns.

The cost of war is more than 6,800 service members who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. The cost of war is caring for the spouses and children who have to rebuild their lives after the loss of their loved ones. It’s about hundreds of thousands of men and women coming home from war with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, many of them having difficulty keeping jobs in order to pay their bills. It’s about high divorce rates. It’s about the terrible tragedy of veterans committing suicide.”

Israel and Palestine

Senator Sanders believes that the United States must play a leading role in ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine and creating a permanent two-state solution. He believes the United States must work with the international community to support a sustainable solution that respects the legitimate claims and right to self-determination of both peoples, lifts the blockade of Gaza, resolves the borders of the West Bank, and allows both the Israeli and Palestinian people to live in peace.

Reasserting Congress’s War Power

Article I of the United States Constitution is very clear that it is the Congress, not the president, which has the power to declare war. Over many years, administrations of both parties have steadily eroded that power, and Senator Sanders has long believed that Congress must take steps to reclaim and reassert it. That is why Senator Sanders was proud to introduce Senate Joint Resolution 7, which required an immediate end to U.S. participation in the catastrophic Saudi-led war in Yemen, which has become the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. For the first time in history, Congress utilized the procedures laid out in the 1973 War Powers Resolution to compel the president to remove U.S. forces from that had not been authorized by Congress. This was resolution was eventually passed by a bipartisan vote in both chambers of Congress.

Defense Budget

Senator Sanders believes that at this pivotal moment in American history we have to make a fundamental decision: Do we want to spend trillions of dollars more on endless wars in the Middle East, or do we want to provide decent jobs to millions of unemployed Americans here at home? Do we want to spend more money on nuclear weapons or do we want to invest in decent jobs and childcare and healthcare for the American people most in need? That is why in June 2020 he offered an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act calling for a 10% cut in annual Pentagon spending to invest in education, health care and poverty reduction in America’s most marginalized communities.