Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders took a swipe at neoconservative Bill Kristol for his “foolish advocacy of the Iraq war,” and questioned whether he had apologized to the country for it yet.

Sanders was responding to a tweet Kristol sent that said, “#Never Sanders,” and linked to a New York Times article about the longtime Vermont senator’s opposition to war.

“Have you apologized to the nation for your foolish advocacy of the Iraq war?” Sanders tweeted, adding he makes “no apologies for opposing it.”

Sanders’ record of opposing wars like Vietnam and Iraq, and US meddling in Nicaragua, has recently been highlighted by the media as the 2020 presidential primaries approach.



NBC’s Meet the Press came under fire last week for tweeting, “Sanders said he won't apologize for supporting anti-Vietnam War efforts and voting against the war in Iraq,” which sparked ridicule among social media users and inspired Sanders to release a video in which he stood by his anti-war stance and promised to do everything to prevent a war with Iran.

I was right about Vietnam.I was right about Iraq.I will do everything in my power to prevent a war with Iran.I apologize to no one. pic.twitter.com/Lna3oBZMKB — Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) May 24, 2019

Kristol tweeted his ‘never Sanders’ diss after the former Burlington mayor introduced a petition to prevent “military action against Iran without congressional approval,” something that likely upset Kristol, who has been calling for regime change in Iran for over 13 years.

Kristol refused to apologize over his comments, instead calling on Sanders to engage in a "real debate on US foreign policy."

Nope. I dislike quasi-Stalinist demands for apologies. I've defended and will defend my views on Iraq, and Syria, and Milosevic, and the Soviet Union, and more, as you defend yours. How about a real debate on U.S. foreign policy--I'll ask for no apologies!--on a campus this fall? https://t.co/AdC0CelINz — Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) May 26, 2019

A co-founder of the neoconservative think tank the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), Kristol called for regime change in Iraq in 1998 in a series of articles and a letter to then-President Bill Clinton. Following 9/11, PNAC encouraged the George W. Bush administration to overthrow Saddam Hussein. Kristol ardently supported the war in Iraq, which he claimed would be a “two-month war” and repeatedly argued for sending more troops there to rectify the failing invasion.

During the 2006 Lebanon war, Kristol suggested the US take the opportunity to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, asking, “Why wait?”

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