Tulsi Gabbard Blasts Donald Trump, Calls For ‘No War With Iran’
Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard has long warned against the danger of Donald Trump starting a war with Iran, and after the president authorized the assassination of Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani, she hasn’t bitten her tongue.
Over the weekend, the Hawaii Representative released a series of videos questioning the decision-making of Trump and the Pentagon, Newsweek reports.
“Trump’s actions last night in bombing the Baghdad airport with the targeted killing of Iran’s top military general was an act of war — with no authorization or declaration of war from Congress,” she said in one video.
“He has put us in a state of war with Iran and seriously escalated this tat for tat conflict, pushing us deeper into an endless quagmire. So the question is: What’s the end goal? What are we trying to achieve here?”
In a tweet on Sunday morning, Gabbard called for the United States to remove itself from Iraq and Syria, claiming that this path forward is the only one that will prevent war with Iran. Earlier, on Saturday, the 38-year-old congresswoman asked how many more American lives and U.S. dollars will be wasted before the country leaves Iran. She called Trump’s policies “short-sighted” and accused him of damaging U.S. national security.
Per The New York Post, Gabbard is also selling t-shirts that read “NO WAR WITH IRAN” on her campaign website.
“How many more American lives, how many more trillions of dollars will be wasted before we exit?” the ad reads, urging Americans to stand up against war with Iran.
We need to get out of Iraq and Syria now. That is the only way that we're going to prevent ourselves from being dragged into this quagmire, deeper and deeper into a war with Iran. #StandWithTulsi #TulsiWasRight pic.twitter.com/z8FYsSRJBl
— Tulsi Gabbard ? (@TulsiGabbard) January 5, 2020
Gabbard’s beliefs on the Soleimani attack echo Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who said that the Washington Iran hawks are not asking the “big-picture questions,” such as how big of a threat Iran poses to the U.S., who is benefiting from the recent drone strike, and what the implications are of entering a new “quagmire” from which he believes there isn’t an “obvious exit.”
Several top Democratic lawmakers have also been unified in their opposition to Trump’s decision, which they have called reckless.
In the past, Gabbard said that war with Iran is “HIGHLY likely” unless Trump “swallows his pride” and re-enters the Iran nuclear agreement that he exited. Despite her call, Gabbard predicted that Trump would likely put his personal political interests and pride ahead of the interests of the country.
Trump previously acknowledged the chance of U.S. military intervention in Iran while speaking to Good Morning Britain co-host Piers Morgan, although he claimed that it wasn’t the ideal scenario.
