Issue Position: Iraq War

Issue Position

In 2003, President Bush began the war in Iraq against the advice of many military experts and despite calls for restraint from the American people and members of Congress--including Sanders. At the time he assured the American people that the war was necessary because Saddam Hussein was hoarding weapons of mass destruction. He also assured us that our soldiers would be greeted as liberators and that his strategy would quickly bring a resolution to the conflict and smoothly transition the people of Iraq to a stable, democratic government.

More than four years later, thousands of American soldiers are dead and tens of thousands have been wounded. No evidence that weapons of mass destruction ever existed has been found and the President's strategy has left our soldiers and the Iraqi people mired in violence, chaos, and civil war.

Having originally voted against the war in Iraq, Senator Sanders has been an outspoken advocate for ending the war and bringing our troops home. Sanders believes that American troops should be safely withdrawn from Iraq as soon as possible - with virtually all troops redeployed within a year--and has sponsored legislation to make that happen.

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