DNC Vice Chair Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) criticized Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s advocacy for the wars in Iraq and Libya, and “the administration is essentially working hand in hand with the Islamic extremists” in Syria on Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time.”
Gabbard said, “Here’s what i’m concerned about, Bill, is that we end up in November of next year, and we end up with the frontrunner Hillary, and many of the Republican candidates that we’re seeing, who are essentially interventionists, and who are taking positions that will put us in yet another position, just as we’ve seen over the last decade of getting into a regime change, nation-building mission, which is essentially what they’re advocating for right now in Syria.”
After host Bill Maher stated that Hillary’s “kind of a hawk herself.” Gabbard responded, “Absolutely. She was a cheerleader for the Iraq War when she was in the Senate. As secretary of state, she was the — one of the strongest advocates for getting rid of Gaddafi, and we see exactly the results of that in Libya today where — in both of those instances, in Iraq as well as in Libya, the end result is our enemy is stronger, the Islamic extremists have taken over, and they’re creating more of a threat to the people there, as well as to the rest of the world.”
Regarding the president sending troops into Syria, Gabbard stated, “There’s something that bothers me more, which is a bigger issue. … If you’re sending troops into harm’s way, but you have not clearly identified and delineated what the mission is, or who the enemy is, then we’re talking about a very serious problem. No troops should be sent into harm’s way unless you have both of those things covered and that’s the issue that I have with Syria, with what’s going on there now, that the administration is essentially working hand in hand with the Islamic extremists on the ground there who are working to overthrow Assad, so that they can take over and establish their Islamic caliphate, and the president, his policy, is, you’ve got the CIA there essentially working towards the same goal.”
She added that overthrowing Assad would “strengthen our enemy.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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