Tulsi Gabbard has once again gone on the offensive, skewering Washington mainstream foreign policy and the Trump administration’s refusal to stand up to “dictator” Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Trump reportedly told Erdogan in a phone call last week as the Idlib crisis escalates, now in an open state of war between the Turkish and Syrian armies, and with Russia supporting the latter, that the US “reaffirmed” its support for Turkey in Idlib. Ankara is now demanding greater support from NATO as well, after Russian jets were widely believed behind last Thursday’s massive air strike which killed 33 Turkish soldiers.
Congresswoman and Democratic presidential hopeful Gabbard attacked this stance in a weekend video statement, urging Trump instead to make clear that “the United States will not be dragged into a war with Russia by the aggressive Islamist expansionist dictator of Turkey via NATO.”
.@realDonaldTrump needs to make it clear to NATO and Erdogan that the United States will not be dragged into a war with Russia by the aggressive, Islamist, expansionist dictator of Turkey, a so-called “NATO” ally. #StandWithTulsi pic.twitter.com/Fbjv7m3jcm
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) February 29, 2020
She also slammed the mainstream media’s efforts to renew holding up al-Qaeda terrorists on the ground in Idlib as mere “rebels” and “freedom fighters” — saying it’s a disgrace to men and women in uniform who signed up to fight terrorists in the wake of 9/11.
“Turkey’s been supporting ISIS and al-Qaeda terrorists from behind the scenes for years,” she pointed out.
“Turkey’s Erdogan wants to create an Islamist caliphate in Syria, reestablish the Islamist Ottoman Empire, and is working with al-Qaeda and other terrorists to achieve his goal.”
“He wants to be the caliph,” she added, explaining further he’s not a “friend” of America, but remains one of the most dangerous dictators in the world.
.@realDonaldTrump Remember this? https://t.co/clk808kH6p
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) March 1, 2020
She ended by urging the American people to get behind passage of her Stop Arming Terrorists Act, which seeks to remove all support to terrorist factions in Syria as well as aid to those state actors like Turkey which back them.
Notably, she also called out President Trump for contradicting past accurate statements which highlighted the terrorist links of Syria’s so-called “moderate rebels”.
And in what could be a first, Syrian state media has reportedly translated Gabbard’s speech and broadcast it all over Syria.
Tulsi’s speech on #Turkey’s invasion of #Syria has been translated and broadcast across the country. @TulsiGabbard #TulsiGabbard pic.twitter.com/zoFXP0aKnU
— Syrian Girl 🇸🇾 (@Partisangirl) March 1, 2020
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