Despite the Paris attacks on Friday that killed 129 people, Bernie Sanders argued Saturday that climate change still remained the world's greatest threat during the second Democratic presidential debate Saturday in Iowa.
"Absolutely," the Vermont senator said in response to a question from debate moderator John Dickerson. "In fact, climate change is directly related to the growth of terrorism.
"And if we do not get our act together and listen to what the scientists say, you're going to see countries all over the world — they're going to be struggling over limited amounts of water, limited amounts of land to grow their crops, and you're going to see all kinds of international conflict."
He then acknowledged that "of course, international terrorism is a major issue that we have got to address today."
Sanders said that he agreed with positions stated by rivals both Hillary Clinton and Martin O'Malley, but that he had one "disagreement" with the former secretary of state — who argued that the United States should help Mideast countries battle such terrorists as the Islamic State.
He then slammed Clinton for her support for the Iraq War in 2003, which Sanders said contributed to the rise of ISIS and other groups.
"I would argue that the disastrous invasion of Iraq, something that I strongly opposed, has unraveled the region completely and led to the rise of al-Qaida and to ISIS," he said. "What we have got to do — and I think there is widespread agreement here — is that the United States cannot do it alone."
Sanders called for "an international coalition that includes very significantly the Muslim nations in that region who are going to have to fight and defend their way of life."
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