Trump, Sanders say U.S. should not try to topple dictators

U.S. presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump said separately on Sunday that the United States should not try to topple dictators such as Syria's Bashar al-Assad, highlighting a skepticism over foreign wars that transcends party lines.

Both candidates said the Middle East would be less tumultuous today if Libya's Muammar Gaddafi and Iraq's Saddam Hussein were still in charge, arguing that the United States faces a greater threat from Islamic State and other extremist groups that have flourished in their wake.

"The region would be much more stable" with Gaddafi, Hussein and Assad in place, Sanders, a Democrat, said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"100 percent - is there even a doubt in your mind?" Trump, the Republican frontrunner, said in a separate interview on the same show.

Though they agree on little else, both the Democratic challenger and Trump appeal to voters who view the 2003 invasion of Iraq as a mistake and are leery of getting too deeply involved in the region.

The U.S. bombing of Libya in 2011 when Clinton was Secretary of State hastened Gadaffi's downfall but created a vacuum which is being filled by extremist groups, the Vermont senator said.

"Gaddafi, terrible dictator, gotten rid of," Sanders said. "Right now, ISIS is gaining ground in Libya because of all of the destabilization in the region and all of the turmoil."  

"Every time we get involved with rebels ... it ends up being far worse than the people who were there in the first place," he said. - Read More at the Reuters

Trump, Sanders say U.S. should not try to topple dictators