BERNIE: "War should be the last resort of a great nation-We should explore every other option"

[kpete]

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Thursday offered a striking rebuttal to criticisms of his anti-war views, saying that he is opposed to war because of its lasting physical and mental toll on America’s veterans.

“War should be in my view, the last resort of a great nation. We should explore every other option -- and I know that opens up the political types: ‘Oh, you’re wimpy. You don’t want to go to war.’ Well, I don’t accept that. I’ve talked to too many people who came home without legs, without eyesight, with traumatic brain injury,” he said in an interview with the Des Moines Register.

The Democratic presidential hopeful has long opposed war: as an activist, he protested the Vietnam War, and as a congressman, he railed against the Iraq War.

But Sanders also cares deeply for military veterans and has spent much of his legislative career fighting for better health care, jobs and educational opportunities for veterans. As chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee last year, he brokered a bipartisan deal to pass a bill allocating $17 billion to reform the VA health care system and reduce backlogs at VA hospitals (though veterans continue to experience severe delays in receiving care).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-veterans_55e8b4c3e4b002d5c07577eb

[CanonRay]

1. Somewhere along the line, we forgot that

thanks for the reminder Bernie.

[AtomicKitten]

2. Hear, hear.

[Autumn]

3. And there is wisdom.

Thank you Bernie. "too many people who came home without legs, without eyesight, with traumatic brain injury" And for what? It wasn't to protect us, we were never in harms way

[Trajan]

4. This is exactly my own opinion on this subject

It is exactly proper to strain to find non violent solutions to international disagreements ...

The LAST step, a sober resolve to prosecute war that limits civilian involvement ...

I believe that World War II was justified and necessary, and would note that FDR, like Bernie, a Democratic Socialist, did engage the Axis Powers fearlessly and successfully ... I'm sure Bernie would do the same ...

I respect and support Bernie's position, and have done so all my adult life ...

[KoKo]

5. Recommend!

[SonderWoman]

6. Then votes yes on Afghanistan war.