Joe Biden

=== Senate Foreign Relations Committee ===
[[File:Bill Clinton and officials on Air Force One.jpg|thumb|Senator Biden accompanies President Clinton and other officials to [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]], December 1997.|alt=Photo of Clinton, his senior officials, and Biden on Air Force One]]

Biden was a longtime member of the [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]]. He became its ranking minority member in 1997 and chaired it from June 2001 to 2003 and 2007 to 2009.<ref name="aap08-365" /> His positions were generally [[liberal internationalist]].<ref name="nyt-foreign">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/world/americas/24iht-policy.4.15591832.html | title=In Biden, Obama chooses a foreign policy adherent of diplomacy before force | last=Gordon | first=Michael R. | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=August 24, 2008 | access-date=November 5, 2009 | author-link=Michael R. Gordon | archive-date=February 27, 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130227192937/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/world/americas/24iht-policy.4.15591832.html | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="lat-foreign" /> He collaborated effectively with Republicans and sometimes went against elements of his own party.<ref name="aap08-365" /><ref name="lat-foreign" /> During this time he met with at least 150 leaders from 60 countries and international organizations, becoming a well-known Democratic voice on foreign policy.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2008/09/23/meetings_with_foreign_leaders.html |title=Meetings with Foreign Leaders? Biden's Been There, Done That |last=Kessler |first=Glenn |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=September 23, 2008 |access-date=November 5, 2009 |author-link=Glenn Kessler (journalist) |archive-date=January 12, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112112314/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2008/09/23/meetings_with_foreign_leaders.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Biden voted against authorization for the [[Gulf War]] in 1991,<ref name="lat-foreign">{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-aug-24-na-foreignpol24-story.html |title=Joe Biden respected—if not always popular—for foreign policy record |last1=Richter |first1=Paul |last2=Levey |first2=Noam N. |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=August 24, 2008 |access-date=November 5, 2009 |archive-date=May 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502051910/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-aug-24-na-foreignpol24-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref> siding with 45 of the 55 Democratic senators. He said the U.S. was bearing almost all the burden in the [[Coalition of the Gulf War|anti-Iraq coalition]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/13/world/confrontation-gulf-congress-acts-authorize-war-gulf-margins-are-5-votes-senate.html |title=Congress Acts to Authorize War in Gulf |last=Clymer |first=Adam |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=January 13, 1991 |author-link=Adam Clymer |access-date=January 24, 2021 |archive-date=January 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210103081353/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/13/world/confrontation-gulf-congress-acts-authorize-war-gulf-margins-are-5-votes-senate.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Biden became interested in the [[Yugoslav Wars]] after hearing about [[Serbs|Serbian]] abuses during the [[Croatian War of Independence]] in 1991.<ref name="nyt-foreign" /> Once the [[Bosnian War]] broke out, Biden was among the first to call for the "[[Lift and strike (Bosnia)|lift and strike]]" policy.<ref name="nyt-foreign" /><ref name="aap08-365" /> The [[George H. W. Bush administration]] and [[Clinton administration]] were both reluctant to implement the policy, fearing [[Balkans|Balkan]] entanglement.<ref name="nyt-foreign" /><ref name="lat-foreign" /> In April 1993, Biden held a tense three-hour meeting with Serbian leader [[Slobodan Milošević]].<ref name="wapo-bosnia">{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/06/AR2008100602681.html | title=Biden Played Less Than Key Role in Bosnia Legislation | last=Kessler | first=Glenn | newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] | date=October 7, 2008 | access-date=November 5, 2009 | author-link=Glenn Kessler (journalist) | archive-date=August 26, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090826101923/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/06/AR2008100602681.html | url-status=live }}</ref> Biden worked on several versions of legislative language urging the U.S. toward greater involvement.<ref name="wapo-bosnia" /> Biden has called his role in affecting Balkan policy in the mid-1990s his "proudest moment in public life" related to foreign policy.<ref name="lat-foreign" /> In 1999, during the [[Kosovo War]], Biden supported the [[NATO bombing of Yugoslavia|1999 NATO bombing of FR Yugoslavia]].<ref name="nyt-foreign" /> He and Senator [[John McCain]] co-sponsored the McCain-Biden Kosovo Resolution, which called on Clinton to use all necessary force, including ground troops, to confront Milošević over [[FR Yugoslavia|Yugoslav]] actions toward [[Kosovo Albanians|ethnic Albanians]] in [[Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija|Kosovo]].<ref name="lat-foreign" /><ref name="wsj082508">{{cite news | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB121954185485266719 | title=Biden, McCain Have a Friendship—and More—in Common | last=Holmes | first=Elizabeth | newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]] | date=August 25, 2008 | access-date=November 5, 2009 | archive-date=October 16, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016194520/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB121954185485266719 | url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq ====
{{Main|War on terror}}
[[File:Joe Biden addresses the press after having a brief meeting with Iraq's interim Prime Minister lyad Allawi.jpg|thumb|Biden addresses the press after meeting with Prime Minister [[Ayad Allawi]] in [[Baghdad]] in 2004.|alt=refer to caption]]Biden was a strong supporter of the [[War in Afghanistan (2001–present)|War in Afghanistan]], saying, "Whatever it takes, we should do it."<ref name="TNR.hawk">{{cite magazine|last1=Crowley|first1=Michael|title=Hawk Down|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/politics/hawk-down|magazine=[[The New Republic]]|quote=Even before Obama announced his run for president, Biden was warning that Afghanistan, not Iraq, was the 'central front' in the war against Al Qaeda, requiring a major U.S. commitment. 'Whatever it takes, we should do it,' Biden said in February 2002.|date=September 24, 2009|access-date=January 24, 2021|archive-date=October 16, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016194518/http://www.newrepublic.com/article/politics/hawk-down|url-status=live}}</ref> As head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he said in 2002 that Iraqi president [[Saddam Hussein]] was a threat to national security and there was no other option than to "eliminate" that threat.<ref name="MTP04292007">{{cite news |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/18381961 |work=[[Meet the Press]] |title=MTP Transcript for April 29, 2007 |first=Tim |last=Russert |publisher=[[NBC News]] |date=April 29, 2007 |page=2 |author-link=Tim Russert |access-date=January 24, 2021 |archive-date=December 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201208191954/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/18381961 |url-status=live }}</ref> In October 2002, he voted in favor of the [[Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq]], approving the [[U.S. Invasion of Iraq]].<ref name="lat-foreign" /> As chair of the committee, he assembled a series of witnesses to testify in favor of the authorization. They gave testimony grossly misrepresenting the intent, history, and status of Saddam and his secular government, which was an avowed enemy of [[al-Qaeda]], and touted Iraq's fictional possession of [[Weapons of Mass Destruction]].<ref>{{#invoke:cite news||first=Mark|last=Weisbrot|author-link=Mark Weisbrot|date=February 18, 2020|access-date=August 28, 2021|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/17/joe-biden-role-iraq-war |title=Joe Biden championed the Iraq war. Will that come back to haunt him now?|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109174540/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/17/joe-biden-role-iraq-war|archive-date=January 9, 2021|work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> Biden eventually became a critic of the war and called his vote and role a "mistake" but did not push for withdrawal.<ref name="lat-foreign" /><ref name="wapo-bosnia" /> He supported the appropriations for the occupation, but argued that the war should be internationalized, that more soldiers were needed, and that the Bush administration should "level with the American people" about its cost and length.<ref name="aap08-365">''Almanac of American Politics'' 2008, p. 365.</ref><ref name="wsj082508" />

By late 2006, Biden's stance had shifted considerably. He opposed the [[Iraq War troop surge of 2007|troop surge of 2007]],<ref name="lat-foreign" /><ref name="wapo-bosnia" /> saying General [[David Petraeus]] was "dead, flat wrong" in believing the surge could work.<ref name="nytm-traub">{{#invoke:cite news||last=Traub|first=James|author-link=James Traub|date=November 24, 2009|title=After Cheney |page=MM34 |magazine=[[The New York Times Magazine]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/magazine/29Biden-t.html|url-status=live|access-date=January 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210103084703/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/magazine/29Biden-t.html|archive-date=January 3, 2021}}</ref> Biden instead advocated dividing Iraq into a loose [[federalism|federation]] of three [[ethnic group|ethnic]] states.<ref name="Divided">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/weekinreview/19shanker.html |title=Divided They Stand, but on Graves |first=Thom |last=Shanker |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=August 19, 2007 |access-date=January 24, 2021 |archive-date=January 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210103081421/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/weekinreview/19shanker.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Rather than continue the existing approach or withdrawing, the plan called for "a third way": federalizing Iraq and giving [[Kurd]]s, [[Shiite]]s, and [[Sunni Islam|Sunnis]] "breathing room" in their own regions.{{sfn|Witcover|2010|pp=572–573}} In September 2007, a non-binding resolution endorsing the plan passed the Senate,<ref name="LAT20071001">{{cite news |last1=Parker |first1=Ned |last2=Salman |first2=Raheem |date=October 1, 2007 |title=U.S. vote unites Iraqis in anger |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-oct-01-fg-iraq1-story.html |url-status=live |access-date=January 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210103081500/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-oct-01-fg-iraq1-story.html |archive-date=January 3, 2021}}</ref> but the idea failed to gain traction.<ref name="nytm-traub" />