Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts on Wednesday said it was a mistake for “anyone” to support the 2003 invasion of Iraq — a universe of people that includes top 2020 Democratic presidential rival Joseph R. Biden.
“The Iraq War was a terrible mistake, and the United States has paid a huge cost and so has much of the rest of the world,” Ms. Warren said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Ms. Warren was asked if it was a mistake for Mr. Biden to vote to authorize the war.
“I think the war was a mistake, and I think it was a mistake for anyone to vote for that war,” she said.
Including Joe Biden?
“Everyone,” she said.
Mr. Biden, the former vice president and U.S. senator, has said recently that the 2002 vote to authorize the war should be looked at in context, and that he feels former President George W. Bush misled him about the scope of the conflict.
After taking a backseat to other issues during the 2020 presidential campaign, foreign policy is now front and center given the ongoing military situation in Iran.
The Pentagon confirmed late Tuesday that Iran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles at bases in Iraq that were housing U.S. troops — an apparent response to the recent airstrike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
Later in the interview, Ms. Warren sidestepped a question on how Mr. Biden’s foreign policy judgment differs from hers.
“I can’t speak to Joe Biden — all I can tell you about is myself,” she said. I believe this is about judgment. I believe this is about being willing to use military force to protect the United States but recognizing right up front the job of the president is to keep America safe, and we cannot solve non-military problems using the military.”
Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has been on the rise in recent polling on the 2020 Democratic field, defended his support for the Iraq War this week, saying that was the mood of the country at the time.
“I don’t live in a regret world, and I didn’t make the decision,” Mr. Bloomberg told the Los Angeles Times.
“America wanted to go to war, but it turns out it was based on faulty intelligence, and it was a mistake,” he said. “But I think the people that made the mistake did it honestly, and it’s a shame, because it’s left us entangled, and it’s left the Middle East in chaos through today.”
