Bernie: US should avoid "perpetual warfare in the Middle East"
What's the story
Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders said America must not get involved in "perpetual warfare in the Middle East."
He said the US should avoid unilateral action and instead work with Russia and Iran and convince them to withdraw support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
His statement came as he clarified his opposition to President Donald Trump's recent decision to conduct missile strikes on Syria.
07 Apr 2017
USA launches missile strikes in Syrian air base
Responding to the usage of chemical weapons on a rebel-held town, the United States of America on Thursday night executed a missile strike at a Syrian air base.
In a televised address, President Trump mentioned that the base was where the chemical attack was carried out from.
The suspected nerve gas attack carried out in Idlib on Wednesday, killed several including, dozens of children.
13 Apr 2017
US drops "biggest" non-nuclear bomb on ISIS tunnels in Afghanistan
According to an exclusive report by CNN, the US military had dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb in Afghanistan on 13th April at 7:32 PM local time.
The Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB), nicknamed "mother of all bombs," was reportedly targeted at ISIS tunnels in the Achin district of the Nangarhar province.
This is the first time the 9500kg MOAB has been used in battle.
Quote
Sanders: Assad must go, ISIS should be defeated
"Assad has got to go. ISIS has got to be defeated," Sanders said. "But I do not want to see the United States get sucked into perpetual warfare in the Middle East, see our men and women get killed, trillions of dollars being spent."
Avoid war
Sanders calls Iraq War biggest blunder in US' modern history
Sanders, who lost a bid for last year's Democratic presidential nominee, said, "The war in Iraq was the worst blunder in the modern history of this country - precipitated mass instability. We cannot continue to make those mistakes."
He said the US shouldn't be "dragged into another war".
His statement comes as Trump's decision to attack the Assad regime received bipartisan support.
Need strategy
Sanders says US must create strategy for Middle East
"It's not a question of one strike or one big bomb in Afghanistan," Sanders said, referring to the "Mother of All Bombs" being dropped in an anti-ISIS operation.
"What you need is a strategy... This will require intensive negotiations to tell Russia that they cannot support a dictator [Assad] who is destroying his entire country. One strike is not going to do very much."
Focus on home
Sanders says US needs to focus on domestic problems
He said the US shouldn't consider going to enter into another war especially when American kids can't afford to go to college, when the nation's infrastructure is "collapsing" and when 28 million Americans have no health insurance.
"We have got to start paying attention to the needs back home," Sanders added.