SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
The 9/11 attacks, Sen. Bernie Sanders said Wednesday, "began an era of endless war for our country and we must change course." (Photo: Erik McGregor/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
On 18th Anniversary of 9/11, Bernie Sanders Calls for End to Endless War
"U.S. power should be measured not by our ability to blow things up, but to bring people together around our common humanity."
Sep 11, 2019
Sen. Bernie Sanders marked the anniversary of the September 11th attacks on Wednesday by calling for the nation to get off the path of never-ending war it's pursued since the start of the so-called war on terror.
"Instead of staying focused on those who attacked us," Sanders said in a statement, "the Bush administration chose to declare a global 'war on terror' in order justify its 2003 invasion of Iraq, a country that had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. The war on terror has turned into an endless war."
And that, Sanders continued, has had deleterious effects, including a $6 trillion price tag and a weakening of U.S. democracy. Endless war has also unleashed blowback--"it has produced more terrorists," he said.
His somber reflection stressed the need to one of the post-9/11 conflicts--the war in Afghanistan.
"If we do not move decisively to end America's longest war," Sanders wrote on Twitter, "we will soon see servicemembers fight and die in Afghanistan and around the world in a conflict that was started before they were born.'"
A new approach to global engagement is necessary, said Sanders.
"We must envision a new form of American engagement: one in which we lead not in war-making but in finding shared solutions to shared global challenges," he said. "U.S. power should be measured not by our ability to blow things up, but to bring people together around our common humanity."
Sanders is one of the Democratic White House hopefuls that has signed a pledge affirming his intention of ending the "endless war."
Rolled out earlier this year by the veteran-led grassroots organization Common Defense, signers promise they will "act to bring the Forever War to a responsible and expedient conclusion."
While frontrunner Joe Biden has not added his name, other 2020 Democrats have: Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker, former HUD Secretary Julian Castro, and entrepreneur Andrew Yang.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Sen. Bernie Sanders marked the anniversary of the September 11th attacks on Wednesday by calling for the nation to get off the path of never-ending war it's pursued since the start of the so-called war on terror.
"Instead of staying focused on those who attacked us," Sanders said in a statement, "the Bush administration chose to declare a global 'war on terror' in order justify its 2003 invasion of Iraq, a country that had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. The war on terror has turned into an endless war."
And that, Sanders continued, has had deleterious effects, including a $6 trillion price tag and a weakening of U.S. democracy. Endless war has also unleashed blowback--"it has produced more terrorists," he said.
His somber reflection stressed the need to one of the post-9/11 conflicts--the war in Afghanistan.
"If we do not move decisively to end America's longest war," Sanders wrote on Twitter, "we will soon see servicemembers fight and die in Afghanistan and around the world in a conflict that was started before they were born.'"
A new approach to global engagement is necessary, said Sanders.
"We must envision a new form of American engagement: one in which we lead not in war-making but in finding shared solutions to shared global challenges," he said. "U.S. power should be measured not by our ability to blow things up, but to bring people together around our common humanity."
Sanders is one of the Democratic White House hopefuls that has signed a pledge affirming his intention of ending the "endless war."
Rolled out earlier this year by the veteran-led grassroots organization Common Defense, signers promise they will "act to bring the Forever War to a responsible and expedient conclusion."
While frontrunner Joe Biden has not added his name, other 2020 Democrats have: Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker, former HUD Secretary Julian Castro, and entrepreneur Andrew Yang.
Sen. Bernie Sanders marked the anniversary of the September 11th attacks on Wednesday by calling for the nation to get off the path of never-ending war it's pursued since the start of the so-called war on terror.
"Instead of staying focused on those who attacked us," Sanders said in a statement, "the Bush administration chose to declare a global 'war on terror' in order justify its 2003 invasion of Iraq, a country that had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. The war on terror has turned into an endless war."
And that, Sanders continued, has had deleterious effects, including a $6 trillion price tag and a weakening of U.S. democracy. Endless war has also unleashed blowback--"it has produced more terrorists," he said.
His somber reflection stressed the need to one of the post-9/11 conflicts--the war in Afghanistan.
"If we do not move decisively to end America's longest war," Sanders wrote on Twitter, "we will soon see servicemembers fight and die in Afghanistan and around the world in a conflict that was started before they were born.'"
A new approach to global engagement is necessary, said Sanders.
"We must envision a new form of American engagement: one in which we lead not in war-making but in finding shared solutions to shared global challenges," he said. "U.S. power should be measured not by our ability to blow things up, but to bring people together around our common humanity."
Sanders is one of the Democratic White House hopefuls that has signed a pledge affirming his intention of ending the "endless war."
Rolled out earlier this year by the veteran-led grassroots organization Common Defense, signers promise they will "act to bring the Forever War to a responsible and expedient conclusion."
While frontrunner Joe Biden has not added his name, other 2020 Democrats have: Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker, former HUD Secretary Julian Castro, and entrepreneur Andrew Yang.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.