Bernie Sanders blasts Joe Biden over Iraq War vote: ‘The worst foreign policy disaster in modern history’

The two men are leading a crowded 2020 Democratic field

Clark Mindock
New York
Wednesday 01 May 2019 22:59 BST
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Bernie Sanders has attacked Joe Biden for his vote to approve the Iraq War, taking his 2020 challenger to task for his part in the “worst foreign policy disaster in the modern history of America.”

Mr Sanders blasted Mr Biden for the 2002 vote on Wednesday, highlighting the legislative measure that led the United States into a lengthy entanglement that left hundreds of thousands of dead.

“I voted against the war in Iraq,” Mr Sanders said in the US Capitol. “In fact, helped lead the opposition to what turned out to be the worst foreign policy disaster in the modern history of America. Joe voted for it.”

The two men are leading in the crowded field of 2020 Democrats vying for the party’s presidential nomination, with both hoping to overcome previous failures in the contest to become the Democratic standard bearer taking on Donald Trump.

For now, Mr Biden leads in most polls, with 32.8 per cent support in an aggregate of polls put together by Real Clear Politics. Mr Sanders comes in second, meanwhile, with an average of 19.4 per cent of the vote.

The two men provide stark contrasts for Democratic voters, even as they pursue the same nomination.

Mr Sanders ignited something of a political firestorm during his 2016 run, which has extended into the 2020 contest as he calls for populist measures like Medicare for All, big tax hikes on the wealthy, and for other major policy changes that would dramatically rework the US economy. Funding his campaign are thousands of small donors, as the candidate has refused money from corporate PACs and has rejected special interest financing.

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Mr Biden, meanwhile, has come to represent the Democratic establishment, after having spent eight years as vice president and decades in Washington cultivating deep ties with the party. Mr Biden, who raised more money than Mr Sanders in his first day on the campaign trail, has not rejected money raised by special interest groups.

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