IRAQ WAR

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.  Then-congressman Sanders was among those to voice strong opposition to the war then, and now.  At the time, President Bush told the American people that the war was necessary because Saddam Hussein was hoarding weapons of mass destruction. He insisted the war would be short, and that his strategy would insure a smooth and rapid transition to a stable, democratic government in Iraq.  President Bush was, as we all know now, wrong on all counts.

Now 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.  The president’s strategy has left our soldiers and the Iraqi people mired in violence, chaos, and civil war.

This misguided war has had an alarming toll on the people of Iraq.  According to UN estimates, millions of Iraqis have been displaced by violence.  The Iraqi refugee diaspora includes more than a million people in Syria and many more in Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, and elsewhere.  The government of Prime Minister al-Maliki is basically paralyzed, not capable of moving Iraq seriously forward.  These political impasses and the sectarian violence has forced millions of Iraqis out of their homes and country.

Also, the war is costing the United States $12 billion a month, and there are estimates that the ultimate cost of the war will be more than $1 trillion.  This war is putting us deeper and deeper in debt as we rebuild Iraq while we ignore the urgent need to rebuild our aging infrastructure and other unmet needs here at home.

Time and again, Senator Sanders has voted for legislation to bring an end to the war and safely redeploy our troops.  Senator Sanders believes that American troops should be safely withdrawn from Iraq as soon as possible.  Practically all American troops should redeploy out of Iraq within a year.  Senator Sanders has said: “Enough is enough. We must bring our troops home as soon as possible.”

Learn more about Senator Sanders’ efforts to end the war in Iraq :