Sanders: ‘I Am Prepared To Take This Country Into War If That Is Necessary’ (VIDEO)

Sen. Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, speaks during the CNN Democratic presidential debate Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
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Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said Tuesday night at the Democratic debate that he would take the United States into war — as a “last resort.”

Sanders had said that “when he was a young man,” he “strongly opposed” the policy that got the United States into the Vietnam War.

He applied for the status of conscientious objector during the Vietnam War. Sanders’ application was later denied, but he was too old at that point to be drafted to serve.

Sanders said that he was not a “pacifist” and did support the war in Afghanistan and supports air strikes in Syria.

“Yes, I happen to believe from the bottom of my heart that war should be the last resort, that we have got to exercise diplomacy,” Sanders said. “But yes, I am prepared to take this country into war if that is necessary.”

Watch Sanders’ comment:

This post has been updated.

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Notable Replies

  1. “… and supports air strikes in Syria.”

    Well that is a going to piss off some resident Sanders supporters who have been popping off like idiots about President Obama (and by extension Clinton) over Syria.

  2. So he is only a pacifist when his named gets called to fight?

  3. Avatar for chammy chammy says:

    Any President worth his salt would say the same thing. To think otherwise is beyond naive

  4. Yeah, I think a lot of Sanders supporters are going to tune that comment out. Or try to. I almost wanted to but on my internet radioactive websuit and wade on to FDL and watch the heads explode then.

  5. I thought about going to the great Orange Satan for a bit since their live blogging is far more prolific than the glacial one here at TPM, but thought better of it as well.

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