FACT BRIEF

Has Joe Biden's nominee for Secretary of State consistently backed every US military intervention in the past two decades?

Saturday, December 12, 2020

By Lauralei Singsank

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Antony Blinken, Biden's nominee for Secretary of State, has worked closely with the President-elect through much of the past two decades, first as a Senate staffer and then in the Obama admnistration.

He has called Biden's support for the Iraq War in a Senate vote in 2002 a "vote for tough diplomacy," arguing that it increased the likelihood of successful diplomacy.

Blinken's direct role in key Obama-era decisions on Libya (to support intervention) and on Afghanistan (to increase troop commitments, over Biden's opposition) isn't clear. In a 2020 CBS interview, he criticized Trump administration withdrawals from Syria, while admitting the Obama team's own efforts "failed."

In 2018 Blinken joined other Obama-era officials criticizing U.S. support of the Saudi-led coalition in the "disastrous" war in Yemen, which actually began in Obama's tenure but expanded under Trump.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Biden-Harris Transition: Antony Blinken biography

New York Times: Biden's 2002 Iraq Vote was for 'tough diplomacy' in Blinken's view

Financial Times: ‘Afghanistan Papers’ shed light on Biden’s role in America’s longest war

CBS News: Transcript of Blinken interview (May 19, 2020)

Washington Post: Top Obama-era officials urge immediate end to U.S. involvement in Yemen war

Slate: How Biden could prove his administration isn't just Obama 2.0

Responsible Statecraft: Tony Blinken—The good, the bad and the ugly

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