PRESS RELEASE
Gabbard Leading Democratic Resistance to Neocon War
April 10, 2017 (EIRNS)—Over the weekend, a number of Democrats have had the courage to question the line, that Trump’s apparent adoption of the neo-con "Assad must go" attitude toward Syria is just what the country/world needs at this moment. Most assertive in this discussion has been Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), who, in addition to questioning Trump’s response, has even questioned whether the gas attack itself actually occurred, saying she was "skeptical."
Gabbard’s comments came in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Saturday, during which he showed a clip of Rex Tillerson saying he had a "high degree of confidence" on the nature of the Syrian attack (based on information we now know was falsified). Replying that she was "skeptical," Gabbard expanded for her incredulous host:
"Wolf, I remind you about what happened before we launched an invasion and occupation of Iraq. Then, Colin Powell and many others within the administration came to Congress and came to the U.N. claiming they had the evidence proving that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. We launched a completely destructive, counter-productive war based on that intelligence, which, now, years later, has proven to be wrong.
"So, yes, I’m skeptical, because we have to take at a premium the cost of these wars, not only on the Syrian people and the people of the Middle East, but the cost of these wars here, in the United States...."
For this transgression, Gabbard had (within hours) drawn the ire of two establishment Democratic figureheads, former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, and Neera Tanden, John Podesta’s stand-in at his Center for American Progress. Tanden tweeted, "People of Hawaii’s 2nd district—was it not enough for you that your rep met with a murderous dictator? [Assad]" Hyperventilating on that theme, Dean later tweeted, "This is a disgrace. Gabbard should not be in Congress."
Appearing Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press, Bernie Sanders said,
"What we have got to do is be smart and figure out what is the rational solution. Is putting 50 missiles into Syria going to solve that problem?"
Proposing sanctions as the alternative, Sanders said, "At the end of the day, in my view, we’ve got to learn about the failure of our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, not repeat them."
Appearing on the same show, Virginia Senator (and former Hillary runningmate) Tim Kaine said, "We don’t have a system where the president just gets to launch missiles against anybody they want to," instead arguing for Trump to come before Congress. On the same theme, Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey told CNN’s State of the Union that he "would not vote to allow him to do it. But at least the American people would be entitled to is that full debate".
In a statement, Congressional Progressive Caucus leaders, including Democratic Reps. Raul M. Grijalva (Ariz.) and Keith Ellison (Minn.), also called for Trump to come before Congress, warning that "the unauthorized attacks could pull the United States into a regional war and escalate this unprecedented humanitarian crisis."
Justice Democrats, a group formed in January by former disgruntled Sanders campaign aides, posted a petition to demand that Congress come back into session and debate the issue "before Trump starts an unconstitutional war."
