Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), a long-shot 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, called America’s killing of Iranian terrorist leader Qassem Soleimani a “tit-for-tat” response to Soleimani’s terrorism against American soldiers, saying that killing terrorists like Soleimani who are planning terrorist attacks against the United States “undermines our national security.”
“This was very clearly an act of war by this president without any kind of authorization or declaration of war from Congress, clearly violating the Constitution,” Gabbard told Fox News. “It further escalates this tit-for-tat that’s going on and on and on. It will elicit a very serious response from Iran and pushing us deeper and deeper into this quagmire and it really begs this question, for what? What are we trying to accomplish? What is the end state and the goal here?”
“Look, I’ve said for a long time that going to war with Iran would make the war in Iraq and even Afghanistan look like a picnic,” Gabbard continued. “It will be far more costly and devastating in American lives and in taxpayer dollars. And I don’t believe the American people want to go to war with Iran. They understand how serious this is.”
“Congresswoman, how do you justify it when you lack at the statistics?” Fox News co-host Ainsley Earhardt asked. “The State Department says 17% of all U.S. Deaths in Iraq from 2003-2011 were orchestrated by Qasem Soleimani. When they attack our embassy, are we supposed to just stand by and let the Iranian-backed militias invade our territory and possibly kill Americans?”
“No, look, there is no question about how evil this guy is. No one should shed a single tear for his death. But that’s not really the question here. The real question is what are we trying to accomplish here in this country, and where will this decision that this president made to escalate this, these tensions and this crisis and commit this act of war without congressional authorization?” Gabbard said. “It will lead us to an outcome that actually further undermines our national security and needlessly sends more of our troops into harm’s way.”
“So when you look at their influence in Iran, when you look — excuse me, in Syria, when you look at Iran’s influence in Lebanon, when you look at Iran’s influence in Iraq, when you look at their influence throughout the region and now their pursuit, covert and overt of a nuclear weapon, are you comfortable with us just pulling back and watching, sitting in the stands and saying pass the popcorn?” Fox News co-host Brian Kilmeade asked.
“No. I think we need to figure out why and how we’ve gotten to this point where Iran has a much greater level of influence and presence in Iraq and Syria,” Gabbard responded. “As you mentioned, it was because of our regime change wars in Iraq and Libya and Syria that we’ve seen these countries, Iraq and Syria especially turn more towards Iran for help and for assistance, strengthening their partnerships and allowing for Iran to gain far greater influence and presence in many different respects in these countries. Really the question that we need to ask ourselves now is, we have men and women in harm’s way today in these countries, and what purpose are they serving?”
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