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Tulsi Gabbard meets with war criminal Bashar Al-Assad.

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I

ItWasMeantToBe19

Banned
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) confirmed in an interview with CNN on Wednesday that she met with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad during a recent trip to the country.

Gabbard told Jake Tapper on CNN's "The Lead" that she "hadn't planned" on meeting Assad, but took the "opportunity" when it came up.

"Bashar al-Assad is responsible for thousands of deaths and millions of people being displaced during this five-year-long civil war," Tapper said. "Did you have any compunctions about meeting with somebody like that, giving him any sort of enhanced credibility because a member of the United States Congress would meet with someone like that?"

"Whatever you think about President Assad, the fact is that he is the president of Syria," Gabbard replied. "In order for any possibility of a viable peace agreement to occur, there has to be a conversation with him."
Click to expand...

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewi...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Oh yeah, baby, Hindu Nationalism is here in the United States government and it wants to let you know that it's just as bad as Christian and Islamic extremism.

Assad has killed 500k people or so and is responsible for a refugee crisis that has brought fascism back to Europe. But Assad is more creative than just mass murder.

”Do you love your husband?" the interrogator asked.

During her first interrogation session, Bayan*, a Syrian activist, had resisted physical abuse and refused to answer questions.

So the Assad regime's jailers tried a different tactic.

For her second interrogation, they dragged her husband into the room—naked, wet, blindfolded. He looked like he had been tortured, she said, with lacerations and the marks of abuse all over his body.

Then they began beating him with a thick green hose. She was helpless to intervene.

”I can still hear his voice," she told The Daily Beast.

After that session, she stopped resisting.
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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...n-syria-and-then-rejec-ted-by-washington.html

.@TulsiGabbard says Syrians told her "there are no moderate rebels." That's the Russian government line exactly.
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https://twitter.com/joshrogin/status/824371557141200897

(Assad's forces are made up largely of the terror group Hezbollah)

.@TulsiGabbard says the Syrians she spoke to all support Assad. Maybe because her trip was arranged by the regime? #facepalm
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https://twitter.com/joshrogin/status/824369900017827845

”For security reasons, we will not be releasing additional details or comments until she returns," Latimer said in an email.

Congressional leaders were blindsided by Gabbard's trip to war-ravaged Syria with staffers saying she didn't give the customary advanced warning to Democratic or Republican leadership offices.
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http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/tulsi-gabbard-secret-syria-trip-233762

Nice.

Someone primary this dumb motherfucker.
 
Trickster

Trickster

Member
As someone who's genuinely curious, isn't her point that for there to be the possiblity of peace, you would kinda have to talk with Assad at some point? Regardless of how big a piece of human scum he is
 
I

ItWasMeantToBe19

Banned
Trickster said:
As someone who's genuinely curious, isn't her point that for there to be the possiblity of peace, you would kinda have to talk with Assad at some point? Regardless of how big a piece of human scum he is
Click to expand...

"There are no moderate rebels" and "all Syrians support Assad" is what you call "propaganda."
 
notworksafe

notworksafe

Member
"Whatever you think about President Assad, the fact is that he is the president of Syria," Gabbard replied. "In order for any possibility of a viable peace agreement to occur, there has to be a conversation with him."
Click to expand...
she isn't wrong here
 
N

nelsonroyale

Member
I don't see why she shouldn't. Meeting somebody doesn't mean that you necessarily condone or support them...His policies and orders have caused terrible suffering, but he is a head of state (dictator in this case). I think there should be more meetings between enemies. As horrible as Assads actions are, ever means should be explored to bring stability to Syria. If the world takes a turn for the better, maybe we can bring all Assad types (Trump included) to international justice at some point.

Unfortunately, until Assad is rid of, a dialogue should be taking place in some form.

For reference, I know very little about who she actually is.
 
C

ClosingADoor

Member
Shouldn't the White House manage this stuff, no matter who is in it at the moment. Sounds kind of strange to have others doing unplanned visits like this.
 
M

mercenar1e

Member
ClosingADoor said:
Shouldn't the White House manage this stuff, no matter who is in it at the moment. Sounds kind of strange to have others doing unplanned visits like this.
Click to expand...

McCain visited the Syrian rebels a few years ago.

mccain-syria.jpg
 
T

theignoramus

Member
Trickster said:
As someone who's genuinely curious, isn't her point that for there to be the possiblity of peace, you would kinda have to talk with Assad at some point? Regardless of how big a piece of human scum he is
Click to expand...

She was on CNN acting as his apologist. She had more words of condemnation for the opposition than she did for the man who used chemical weapons against his own population.
That interview will be her undoing within the Democratic party, she may as well run as an independent next time.
 
C

cryptosporidium

Member
No idea who this Tulsi is, but her reasoning for meeting with him is valid. Despite the fact he is a monster, the situation calls for people to work with him and Russia. Hell, John Kerry worked really hard creating respect between himself and Sergei Lavrov
 
I

ItWasMeantToBe19

Banned
Rentahamster said:
Hindu nationalism? Really now?
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Tulsi Gabbard loves herself some Modi (note: Modi killed 800 Muslims citizens as mayor of an Indian city) so I'm guessing she's a Hindu nationalist because only a Hindu nationalist would be that nuts and this support for secular dictators certainly points to an anti-Islam stance that seems to suggest that too.

So, yep.
 
B

Bam Bam Baklava

Member
theignoramus said:
She was on CNN acting as his apologist. She had more words of condemnation for the opposition than she did for the man who used chemical weapons against his own population.
That interview will be her undoing within the Democratic party, she may as well run as an independent next time.
Click to expand...

People said the same about Trump. Clearly the lunatics have taken over the asylum in our political process so nothing is impossible anymore.
 
A

AuthenticM

Member
As much of a shithead Assad is, wouldn't Syria be worse off if he was taken down by the rebels? I saw this French documentary some months ago, and in it, the women interviewed said that Assad was secular and allowed women to work and participate in arts and all, while the rebels were extremists who wanted to enslave them.

Hussein was also a shithead, and everyone agrees now that taking him down was the worst possible outcome.
 
I

ItWasMeantToBe19

Banned
AuthenticM said:
As much of a shithead Assad is, wouldn't Syria be worse off if he was taken down by the rebels? I saw this French documentary some months ago, and in it, the women interviewed said that Assad was secular and allowed women to work and participate in arts and all, while the rebels were extremists who wanted to enslave them.

Hussein was also a shithead, and everyone agrees now that taking him down was the worst possible outcome.
Click to expand...

Should Al Gore have praised Saddam as everyone in Iraq wanting him to be dictator and how every rebel against Saddam was a rapist.

Should we have done that.
 
M

metalslimer

Member
AuthenticM said:
As much of a shithead Assad is, wouldn't Syria be worse off if he was taken down by the rebels? I saw this French documentary some months ago, and in it, the women interviewed said that Assad was secular and allowed women to work and participate in arts and all, while the rebels were extremists who wanted to enslave them.

Hussein was also a shithead, and everyone agrees now that taking him down was the worst possible outcome.
Click to expand...

Assad is a war criminal that should be sentenced to death, but yes it's hard to see things becoming stable forcefully removing him. Gabbard has nothing to do with it though and meeting a murderous dictator is fucking stupid when you have no say on foreign policy
 
S

studyguy

Member
So she just met out of the blue without telling any congressional leader because reasons? On what seems like a trip set up by the regime? What are you even doing there when no one asked or cleared you to go? Assad doesn't suddenly meet with people out of happenstance.
 
N

Netherscourge

Banned
Wait a second - she witnessed a live torture?

Or am I reading the OP wrong?

EDIT - nevermind. Looks like several different articles thrown in there.
 
T

tearsintherain

Member
AuthenticM said:
As much of a shithead Assad is, wouldn't Syria be worse off if he was taken down by the rebels? I saw this French documentary some months ago, and in it, the women interviewed said that Assad was secular and allowed women to work and participate in arts and all, while the rebels were extremists who wanted to enslave them.

Hussein was also a shithead, and everyone agrees now that taking him down was the worst possible outcome.
Click to expand...

Yup. Tons of the weapons we supplied to syrian free army ended up in the hands of ISIS. If Assad falls the entire region becomes a sharia law ISIS region. As long as Russia is fully backing Assad, he is more or less staying in power.

We always say how shitty Bush and Cheney were for blowing up the middle east with the Iraq war, but its so bizarre to see so many people demand we "do something" about Syria. Nothing we do will help that country, and any sort of attack, ground invasion, overthrow, etc will destabilize even more parts of the region as its viewed as yet another West vs Islam fight.

Russia backing Assad is the best thing for the west, its another Afghanistan in the making. As Russia gets drawn further and further into it, they will start taking the brunt of the anti-Imperialist conspiracy theories popular in the middle east. The absolute best thing for the West is to simply make life livable for people living there with aid, not supplying rebels with arms and money, and trying to curb the violence. These vast regions are absolute quagmires for foreign powers, and its just so strange to see Russia and the USA constantly repeat the same mistakes every 20-30 years.

You know who the biggest supporters of the syrian rebels are? Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Yeah, those are two groups we REALLY should be aligning ourselves with, because they surely only have pure motivations.
 
I

ItWasMeantToBe19

Banned
tearsintherain said:
Yup. Tons of the weapons we supplied to syrian free army ended up in the hands of ISIS. If Assad falls the entire region becomes a sharia law ISIS region. As long as Russia is fully backing Assad, he is more or less staying in power.

We always say how shitty Bush and Cheney were for blowing up the middle east with the Iraq war, but its so bizarre to see so many people demand we "do something" about Syria. Nothing we do will help that country, and any sort of attack, ground invasion, overthrow, etc will destabilize even more parts of the region as its viewed as yet another West vs Islam fight.

Russia backing Assad is the best thing for the west, its another Afghanistan in the making. As Russia gets drawn further and further into it, they will start taking the brunt of the anti-Imperialist conspiracy theories popular in the middle east. The absolute best thing for the West is to simply make life livable for people living there with aid, not supplying rebels with arms and money, and trying to curb the violence. These vast regions are absolute quagmires for foreign powers, and its just so strange to see Russia and the USA constantly repeat the same mistakes every 20-30 years.

You know who the biggest supporters of the syrian rebels are? Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Yeah, those are two groups we REALLY should be aligning ourselves with, because they surely only have pure motivations.
Click to expand...

I do not think Russia backing Assad is good for the West.

Since, you know, millions of people are fleeing from Assad, heading to Europe and making racists so anxious that they vote in fascists.

I think fascism is Bad for The West actually.

Maybe Assad will murder all of his opponents before they can flee Syria tho.
 
A

AcademicSaucer

Member
Assad's government has done terrible things, he isn't going anywhere tho, and as we speak the opposition to him is killing each other in Idlib where total war between rebels has erupted in the background of a ceasefire between rebels and the government.

There really isn't a viable alternative to him in the near future, the most you can hope right now in Syria is for ISIS to be destroyed, even Turkey is now saying that Assad is going to stay so any negotiation is inevitably going to involve him.
 
G

gutter_trash

Banned
the US picked a side because Saudi Arabia told them to. That's why

is Assad a monster? yes

but, the Sunni rebels (which contain extremists) are monsters as well.

It's just that the US and the UK picked the side Saudi Arabia told to back.

Assad is secular, women can dress however they want, can hold jobs and etc.

Rebels removing Assad would just create a religious state
 
I

ItWasMeantToBe19

Banned
bonesmccoy said:
I don't see what Gabbard meeting with Assad has to do with 'Hindu Nationalism' in the USA.
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Assad is often popular among Muslim haters because he's "secular." Hindu nationalists hate Muslims and Gabbard is probably a Hindu nationalist based on her love for Modi and her bizarre other behavior.
 
H

Hasphat'sAnts

Member
Trickster said:
As someone who's genuinely curious, isn't her point that for there to be the possiblity of peace, you would kinda have to talk with Assad at some point? Regardless of how big a piece of human scum he is
Click to expand...

Sure, geopolitics is pretty gross most of the time, but you don't have to make this argument by carrying water for Bashar Al Assad
 
C

cDNA

Member
Tulsi was ready to jump in the Trump cabinet without blinking, it was her opportunity to jump with the Republicans. However she seems to get a pass from the same people that are rightfully criticizing Roby Mook for working with Corey Lewinsky.
 
N

Noirulus

Member
Hindu Nationalism? Wtf? Bashar al-assad is islamic, how are you going to say Hindu Nationalism is just as bad as islamic? Terrible thread.
 
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