Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Wednesday, Aug 05, 2026

Fact check: Did Biden support wars in Iraq, Serbia, Syria and Libya?

Fact check: Did Biden support wars in Iraq, Serbia, Syria and Libya?

Republican Sen. Rand Paul advocated for President Donald Trump’s re-election by portraying him as someone who wants to end wars and casting Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden as someone "who consistently called for more war."

"Joe Biden voted for the Iraq War, which President Trump has long called the worst geopolitical mistake of our generation," Paul said Aug. 25 during the second night of the Republican National Convention. "I fear Biden will choose war again. He supported the war in Serbia, Syria, Libya."

Is the senator from Kentucky right about Biden’s record? Biden voted for a resolution that paved the way for the Iraq War, and for a non-binding resolution to authorize military air operations against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro).

The conflicts in Syria and Libya happened when Biden was vice president and followed the policies of President Barack Obama.

Biden ‘voted for the Iraq War’


This checks out. In 2002, President George W. Bush argued that Iraqi president Saddam Hussein had chemical and biological weapons, sought nuclear weapons, supported terrorism, and threatened peace.

In October 2002, then-U.S. Sen. Biden voted in favor of a resolution that authorized Bush to enforce ''all relevant'' United Nations Security Council resolutions on Iraq and if needed, to use military force against Iraq.

In a Senate floor speech before voting for the resolution, Biden said that "failure to overwhelmingly support" the resolution was "likely to enhance the prospects that war will occur."

The objective of the resolution was to compel Iraq to destroy its weapons of mass destruction, Biden said. He left open the possibility that Hussein might "miscalculate" and "misjudge" U.S. resolve. In that event, use of military force might be needed, Biden said.

The United States invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003, and the war officially ended in late 2011. No weapons of mass destruction were found.

In 2005, Biden was asked in an interview if his 2002 vote was a mistake.

"It was a mistake," Biden answered. "It was a mistake to assume the president would use the authority we gave him properly. … We gave the president the authority to unite the world to isolate Saddam. And the fact of the matter is, we went too soon. We went without sufficient force. And we went without a plan."


Biden ‘supported war in Serbia, Syria, Libya’


Serbia: Biden voted for a 1999 concurrent resolution authorizing President Bill Clinton to conduct military air operations and missile strikes against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), in cooperation with North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies. (Concurrent resolutions express the sentiment of Congress, but are not signed by the president and do not carry the force of law.)

Clinton in March 1999 ordered air strikes in response to Yugoslavia’s campaign of violence against ethnic Albanians in the province of Kosovo.

The Kosovo conflict erupted in the 1990s between two groups within the former Yugoslavia — Kosovars, who are primarily ethnic Albanians, and Serbs, who are of Slavic descent. The two groups long disputed the territory known as Kosovo.

After greater Yugoslavia fractured in the early 1990s, the dispute over Kosovo became violent, pitting the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army against the Serb-dominated government of what remained of Yugoslavia.

Paul’s office referenced conflicts in Syria and Libya that started in 2011, when Biden was vice president.

Syria: Syrians began protesting their government in early 2011, calling for political and social reforms and the ouster of their president. The protests prompted a violent response from the Syrian government.

The conflict escalated as different groups within the country, foreign countries, and terrorists became involved. The United States since 2011 has called for Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad to step aside. The Obama administration in 2014 launched air strikes against the Islamic State in Syria and in 2015 deployed troops there to fight the terrorist group.

Biden’s campaign said the Obama-Biden administration supported the Syrian opposition in a variety of ways, including by deploying U.S. forces to combat ISIS.

Libya: The United States, as part of a NATO operation, provided air support in an intervention that resulted in the ouster of the country’s longtime dictator, Moammar Gadhafi. Obama said Gadhafi was launching military actions that were causing civilian deaths and forcing ordinary Libyans to escape to neighboring countries, threatening a humanitarian crisis within Libya and instability for its neighbors, Egypt and Tunisia.

The U.S. military spent about $2 billion and several months backing the Libyan uprising against Gadhafi. The uprising — part of the Arab Spring — toppled Gadhafi in August 2011, and rebel forces killed him that October.

Paul’s office sent us as a 2011 fact-check of Biden as evidence for his support of the U.S. intervention. In that fact-check, we examined Biden’s claim that in Libya, "America spent $2 billion total and didn’t lose a single life." We rated that Mostly True. (The fact-check did not focus on Biden’s own position on the issue.)

Biden’s campaign, however, pointed to a 2016 Politico report that referenced an interview Biden gave to journalist Charlie Rose in which he said that intervening in Libya was wrong.

The Politico story said that Biden told Rose that he had "argued strongly" within the White House "against going ... to Libya." Politico reported that Biden in that interview also said the United States should not use force unless the interests of the country or its allies are directly threatened, whether it can be done "efficaciously" and whether it can be sustained.

PolitiFact ruling


Paul said Biden, "Voted for the Iraq war … He supported war in Serbia, Syria, Libya."

Biden as a senator voted for resolutions that supported interventions in Iraq and Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro). As vice president, he followed the policies of the Obama administration, which included interventions in Syria and Libya.

Biden’s campaign said that Biden as vice president supported going into Syria, but pointed to 2016 reporting that said Biden within the White House argued against intervention in Libya.

Paul’s claim is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. We rate it Mostly True.

Concurrent resolutions express the sentiment of Congress, but are not signed by the president and do not carry the force of law.)

Newsletter

Related Articles

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
AI Is Remaking the US Economy, From GDP Growth to iPhone Prices
FIFA’s Retreat Leaves a Larger Question Over Who Guards the Game
Finland Deploys Commercial-Scale Thermal Batteries Using Crushed Rock to Store Renewable Grid Energy
Valued at $109 Million: F-35B Fighter Jet Crashes in Southern California
US Says It Has Carried Out Heavy Strikes on Iran After Attempted Attacks on Its Forces
Over 24 Hours in the Air: Qantas Airbus Completes Record-Breaking Test Flight
Arrest Warrant Issued in Lebanon for Tycoon Spotted Meeting Netanyahu in Washington
Trump says Israel ‘would not survive’ without US
Nvidia Reportedly Takes Vast Texas Data-Centre Lease to Underwrite AI Expansion
FIFA’s Private-Investment Plan for World Cup Rights Draws European Revolt
Following OpenAI's Cyberattack: 'Most Companies Still Do Not Understand What Is Coming'
OpenAI Sued After ChatGPT Allegedly Discouraged Emergency Care Before Near-Fatal Embolism
Miliband Sets Climate and International Law at Centre of UK Diplomacy
Pentagon Discloses Nearly 100 US Troop Injuries During Renewed Iran Fighting
Trump Readies New Tariffs as Temporary Global Levy Nears Expiry
High Prices Push Coffee Drinkers Toward Whole Beans and Home Brewing
Trump Draws Boos and Podium Scrutiny at Spain’s World Cup Triumph
Spain Defeats Argentina in Extra Time to Win Second World Cup
Turkey Explores S-400 Transfer to UAE in Bid to Rejoin F-35 Program
US Retaliates Against Iran After Two American Troops Killed in Jordan
Proposed U.S.-Saudi Nuclear Pact Could Permit Limited Uranium Enrichment Under International Safeguards
Why Kentucky Fried Chicken Became KFC—and Why the False Explanations Persist
Iran Claims It Destroyed Bahrain’s Main Artificial Intelligence Center in Missile and Drone Strike
Ukrainian Drones Strike Wildberries Warehouses Deep Inside Russia
Reported CIA Mission Helped Clear the UAE’s Path to Advanced US AI Chips
Artificial Intelligence Capital Fuels Markets While Governments and Regulators Face Mounting Strategic Tests
China’s Moonshot’s Kimi K3 Narrows the Gap With Anthropic Through Scale, Openness and Lower Cost
The Ledger Will Not Trust on Faith
Passenger Bound for Germany Refused to Sit Beside a Woman on a Plane — Then Slapped a Flight Attendant
Ukraine’s Leadership Rift Spills Into the Streets as Protesters Target Army Chief
The Ten World Cup Finals That Defined Football History
Smartphones Are Getting More Expensive, Sales Are Collapsing, and Even Apple Admits: "Prices Will Rise"
Leadership Change and Strategic Rivalry Redraw the Political Map
The AI Race Enters Its Infrastructure Era
Britain Nationalises British Steel to Protect Scunthorpe Production and Strategic Supply
Thomas Tuchel Faces Fierce Backlash After Tactical Retreat Costs England World Cup Final Berth
A Quiet Bastille Day: France Grapples with World Cup Heartbreak and Leftover Fireworks
Spain in Ecstasy: "We Feel Unbeatable, We Taught the Whole World a Lesson"
Harvard Astrophysicist to Lead U.S. Scientific Advisory on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena
Emergency Sirens Activated Across Bahrain as Interior Ministry Issues Shelter Directives
World Cup Visitors Turn American Big-Box Stores Into Souvenir Stops
Netflix Weighs Always-On Channels, Bundles and Short-Form Video
The AI Invoice Shock: Layoffs Didn't Save Managers Money — They Cost Them More
Concern: Sexually Transmitted Bacterium Among Men Develops Antibiotic Resistance
Passenger Partially Pulled Out of Ryanair Jet After Cabin Window Fails Mid-Flight
Severe Heatwave Drives Dangerous Ground-Level Ozone Pollution Across Two Thirds of European Union
The Physical and Electronic Barriers Disrupting Domestic Wireless Networks
France and Morocco Open World Cup Quarter-Finals as Collina Defends Refereeing
Tech Pulse: The Future of AI and Screen Culture
Global News Briefing: Escalating Geopolitical Tensions and Corporate Shakeups
×