Gabbard: ‘We need to learn from Iraq’ – The Hill
Rep. Tulsi GabbardTulsi GabbardDems want Trumps Syria strategy White House: Russia trying to 'cover up' gas attack Gabbard: We need to learn from Iraq MORE (D-Hawaii) has a message for the liberals attacking her criticism of President Trumps missile strike on Syria, warning that a rush to aggression risks repeating the same mistakes that led the United States into the Iraq War.
We need to learn from Iraq and Libya wars that were propagated as necessary to relieve human suffering, but actually increased human suffering many times over, she said in an email to The Hill.
Gabbard, a major in the Hawaii Army National Guard who served two tours in Iraq, has been highly critical of Trumps decision last Thursday to launch 59 missiles at a Syrian airfield in response to a deadly chemical attack that killed scores of civilians, including children, in a western Syrian town days before.
Gabbards position particularly her skepticism that the Syrian government was behind the chemical attacks has led to an outcry from some establishment Democrats, including former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, who want her out of Congress.
A meeting between Gabbard and Assad in January has only heightened the critics belief that shes acting as an apologist for a tyrannical leader known to employ brutal tactics, even against his own people, to keep a grip on power in the country's yearslong civil war.
But Gabbard, who sits on both the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees, maintains those critics are ignoring the lessons of recent history that have left the United States mired in costly Middle Eastern conflicts for more than a decade.
"I and thousands of my brothers- and sisters-in-arms went to war in Iraq based on false intelligence and lies from our leaders our president, military and political leaders. We should have been skeptical then, and we werent, she said. The cost was thousands of American lives and trillions of dollars down the drain. What to speak of millions of non-American lives.
Echoing the position of other liberal Democrats, Gabbard says the administration is conducting an unconstitutional war because Trump didnt come to Congress before launching the strike. Going a step further, shes also questioning the veracity of Trumps claim that Assad is responsible for the chemical attacks.
"There is a reason our Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war: we should be shown the evidence and given the opportunity to debate the strategy and sacrifice expected, she said.
No leader of either party, pro or against military intervention should let our President take us down the path to another regime change war without that debate."
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who praised the U.S. strike, is urging GOP leaders to cut short Congresss two-week April recess to bring the House back into session to stage such a debate.
Speaker Paul RyanPaul RyanTrump: 'I don't like the term "border adjustment"' GOP infighting imperils agenda GOP wrestles with big question: What now? MORE (Wis.) has rebuffed that request, though the Republican leader is also calling on Trump to confer with Congress about a future course in Syria.
It is now appropriate for the administration to consult with Congress as it considers next steps to resolve the long-running crisis in Syria, Ryan's officesaid Friday.
The House is scheduled to reconvene on April 25.
--This report was updated at 2:01 p.m.
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Gabbard: 'We need to learn from Iraq' - The Hill