A Bernie Sanders speechwriter released footage of Joe Biden criticizing anti-war Democrats in 2003 when George W. Bush initially entered the Iraq War.
When Biden was a senator, he addressed an audience at the Brookings Institute delivering a message that he stood with the U.S. President and his invasion of Iraq.
“Some of my own party have said that it was a mistake to go to Iraq in the first place. They didn’t believe that it’s not worth the cost, whatever benefit may flow from our engagement in Iraq. But the cost of not acting against Saddam, I think would have been much greater,” Biden said.
Biden continued by praising Bush for his leadership in the Iraq invasion.
“The President of the United States is a bold leader and he is popular. The stakes are high and the need for leadership is great. I wish he’d use some of his stored up popularity to make what I admit is not a very popular case. But, I and many others will support him,” Biden said.
https://twitter.com/davidsirota/status/1216381872982200320
While Biden thought the invasion of Iraq was needed to curtail the evils of terrorists such as Saddam Hussein, he flip-flopped his stance when it came to curtailing evil terrorists in Iran. After Trump ordered the killing of Iranian Quds force leader Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Biden said deterring Iran was a bad idea.
“…This is a hugely escalatory move in an already dangerous region. The Administration’s statement says that its goal is to deter future attacks by Iran, but this action almost certainly will have the opposite effect,” Biden said in a written statement.
My statement on the killing of Qassem Soleimani. pic.twitter.com/4Q9tlLAYFB
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) January 3, 2020
By Biden’s logics, when Bush went to war with Iraq over faulty intelligence, it was righteous. But, when Trump takes out a leading terrorist in Iran, it’s an escalatory move that brings America to the brink of war.
Biden supported the Iraq war in 2003, but doesn’t support deterrence in Iran, a far more threatening Middle Eastern power.
Biden’s change in tune over the Iraq war versus the “escalation” in Iran stems from his allegiance to the Obama Administration’s failed Iran Nuclear Deal. Trump withdrew the United States from the failing deal. For Biden to admit that Trump’s strategy in Iran was successful, it would also suggest the Iran Nuclear Deal was a failure.
