Democratic 2020 presidential hopefuls face conundrum with Trump’s airstrike

Democratic presidential hopefuls faced a conundrum Friday between acknowledging the significance of the Trump administration’s killing of a top Iranian general involved in hundreds of American deaths, and accusing the president of leading the nation closer to war.

Some, including former Vice President Joe Biden, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, attempted to have it both ways.

“No American will mourn Qassem Soleimani’s passing. He deserved to be brought to justice for his crimes against American troops and thousands of innocents throughout the region,” Biden said in a statement. But he added, “President Trump just tossed a stick of dynamite into a tinderbox.”

While some candidates tried to straddle the line, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard went more forcefully after Trump.

“This is a dangerous escalation that brings us closer to another disastrous war in the Middle East,” Sanders said in Iowa.

Sanders harked back to the warnings he gave when voting against invading Iraq in 2002.

“At that time, I warned about the deadly, so-called unintended consequences of a unilateral invasion,” Sanders said, adding, “It gives me no pleasure to tell you that at this moment, we face a similar crossroads fraught with danger.”

Gabbard, a Hawaii Army National Guard major, called Trump’s strike “an act of war” and pushed to remove American troops from Iraq and Syria.

She tweeted to those who voted for Trump because “of his antiwar rhetoric, it’s time to realize he lied.”

Warren switched up her messaging as she attempted to appeal to different sides of the Democratic Party.

At first Warren tweeted, “Soleimani was a murderer, responsible for the deaths of thousands, including hundreds of Americans. But this reckless move escalates the situation with Iran and increases the likelihood of more deaths and new Middle East conflict. Our priority must be to avoid another costly war.”

But on Friday, she tweeted, “Donald Trump ripped up an Iran nuclear deal that was working. He’s repeatedly escalated tensions. Now he’s assassinated a senior foreign military official. He’s been marching toward war with Iran since his first days in office — but the American people won’t stand for it.”

Buttigieg, a former U.S. Navy intelligence officer, said,“There is no question that Qassim Suleimani was a threat to that safety and security. … But there are serious questions about how this decision was made and whether we are prepared for the consequences.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2rR81iI