Sen. Sanders Airs Concerns on Syria

Press Release

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) this afternoon reiterated his concerns about U.S. involvement in the Syrian civil war.

In an interview on MSNBC, Sanders made three points.

First, he said that more than 9 out of 10 calls and emails to his office in the past week were against unilateral U.S. action against Syria. "The calls that are coming into my office are overwhelmingly against getting involved in a bloody and complicated civil war in Syria," Sanders told anchor Alex Witt.

Second, at a time when the U.S. faces major domestic crises in terms of high unemployment, low wages, massive income and wealth inequality and the planetary threat of global warming, he feared very much that U.S. involvement in Syria would make it even harder for the U.S. government to address the enormous problems facing the American middle class. "The American people are profoundly disgusted with the fact that the United States Congress continues to ignore the enormously serious problems facing the middle class of this country," Sanders said.

Third, the senator worried that the "surgical strike" against Syria advocated by President Barack Obama could turn into a much deeper engagement and a push for "regime change." He noted that a resolution passed last week by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee contained language that could become a basis for broader U.S. involvement. If that occurred, the U.S. involvement could take years, cost billions of dollars and possibly involve U.S. troops.

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