Congresswoman who invited Syrian Kurdish leader to US returns to presidential debates
Tulsi Gabbard, a member of the House of Representatives and a frequent critic of US policy in Syria and the Middle East, will participate in the October 15 Democratic party presidential debate after missing the one in September, according to multiple US media outlets.
Gabbard is a US army veteran who fought in Iraq and now represents a district in the Pacific island state of Hawaii. Of Indian descent, she is well-known for her strong criticisms of US policy and military interventions in the Middle East. She is particularly against US support for Saudi Arabia and actions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who she met in a 2017 trip to the country.
My brothers and sisters in uniform took an oath to support and defend our Constitution and the American people, not the theocratic dictatorship Saudi Arabia which supports al-Qaeda and spreads the ideology of radical Islamist jihad around the world. #TULSI2020 pic.twitter.com/9w0SO107Hn
— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) October 4, 2019
In a July debate, she accused US President Donald Trump of “supporting Al-Qaeda,” the group that masterminded the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the US.
Such theories are common in the Middle East, but were until recently fringe in the US. However, in the Trump era, it is now more common for American politicians to criticize their country’s foreign policy in harsh ways. Trump himself called his predecessor President Barack Obama the “founder of ISIS” during the 2016 election.
Gabbard did not qualify for last month’s debate due to her low numbers in the polls. The debates are for Democratic party candidates seeking their party’s nomination to face off against Trump in the 2020 general presidential election.
Gabbard is unique among the candidates for addressing the Kurdish issue.
In February, Gabbard invited Syrian Kurdish leader Ilham Ahmed, the co-president of the Syrian Democratic Council, to Washington to attend Trump’s State of the Union address. The Syrian Democratic Council is the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - a Kurdish-led armed group that fights the Islamic State (ISIS) in northeast Syria with US support.
In her statement inviting Ahmed, Gabbard called on US troops to leave Syria, but lauded Ahmed for her work on the “protection of the Kurds in the region.”
“Ms. Ilham Ahmed has been a leader in the battle against ISIS in Syria, where the Kurds have proven to be the most effective ground force, and a strong advocate for peace in Syria,” said Gabbard. “We must bring our troops home from Syria, quickly and responsibly.”
Gabbard has received some support from Assyrian Christians in Iraq and abroad as well. The Assyrian organization Seyfo Center praised her for speaking out on the Assyrian genocide and she has met with the group.