Gabbard was right about the USG and al-qa'ida

Tulsi Gabbard is being thrashed today in the Trump Is Always Perfect camp for saying that He is supporting AQ.  If she had expanded the accusation to include actions taken in the Obama administration she would have been exactly correct.

The Saudis, the Israelis and their acolytes among American neocons like the late, sainted John McCain, Sheldon Adelson, Lindsey Graham, Joe Lieberman, John Bolton and Pom Pom have long succeeded in using the madcap US policy of regime change in Syria as an excuse to fund jihadi groups in Syria.  There is a wide variety of these but the most obvious are the al-nusra front and hayat tahrir al-sham, both of which are branches of AQ in Syria.

Both CIA and the US armed forces have been and still may be supplying and funding these groups.  She was right.  She simply needed to explain herself better and not try to pin the blame solely on Trump who is largely an "absentee landlord" with regard to policy in the ME.  He has no policy in the ME.  Adelson, Natanyahu and Lindsey Graham have policy in the ME, but not Trump. pl

https://www.foxnews.com/media/tulsi-gabbard-defends-debate-claim-that-trump-supports-al-qaeda-to-shannon-bream

Comments

[casey]

"Adelson, Natanyahu and Lindsey Graham have policy in the ME, but not Trump."

Ouch, Mr. Colonel, that's the unvarnished truth.

Here's what is probably a ding-dong civilian question: While we're on the ME, is it just me or did the UK and US stand down as Iran took control of the UK-flagged tanker really make the US/UK look completely and utterly .. not sure what the right word is here..."foolish" seems inadequate, theater pieces? Are all these ships and planes a sort of maritime version of a Potemkin Village?

[walrus]

Sir, I’m worried for your blood pressure if you keep watching this stuff.

[semiconscious]

the man has a stronger stomach than i do, for sure (&, yes, blaming trump for this debacle was both simplistic & misleading)...

[Fred]

casey,

The owners of the "UK flagged" tanker had a crew that is "Indian, Russian, Latvian and Filipino" didn't seem to want UK nationals working for them. Apparently the UK flag is one of convenience.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-49170648

The UK, when siezing the Iranian tanker can do so to enforce "sanctions". Heavan forbid the Iranians sieze a UK flagged ship and make similar charges or in doing so can show just how much harm an actual confilct would infilct on economies around the world. All done without actually shooting anyone.

[The Twisted Genius]

She's also getting a ration of crap from the left for refusing to declare Assad a war criminal and demanding a regime change in Damascus. She voted against Obama policy in Syria several times so I consider her actions to be her words.I wish she would emphasize that. While always supportive of Israel's right to exist, her lack of support for the Saudis, regime change in Syria or war in Iran are marking her as an enemy of the Israeli lobby and the Netanyahu government. All the never-Trumpers say she's a Putin puppet because of her stance on Syria and condemnation of our forever wars in the ME. It won't help her politically, but I'm glad she's sticking to her guns. The political class are all scum. Piss on the lot of them.

[Jack]

Sir

I thought Tulsi was spot on. She called out Kamala with confidence. And the media are out that she's Putin's stooge and an Assad apologist. Perfect! I agree with you that she should have also pointed out as she's done previously that Obama also aided AQ. In her clarification after the debate she noted that Trump is beholden to the Saudis who are the biggest sponsor of AQ.

Tulsi deserves to be in the debates as she's not afraid of the ziocons. And she comes across as confident and is very articulate with her positions.

At this point in 2015 Trump was polling at 1%. Unfortunately my family is not yet enough to get her to the next debate. The one positive is she was the most searched candidate after both debates and hit the top spot in all 50 states after yesterday.

https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/propagandists-are-freaking-out-over-gabbards-destruction-of-harris-5d54e98f0431

As far as Trump is concerned while it is clear he is a conduit for the ziocons on ME policy, I'm curious about his position with respect to the Deep State? While he continuously tweets "witch hunt", he hasn't been proactive at all in confronting them. In fact his actions show he's giving them a pass. So much for Draining the Swamp!

[Jack]

"That @TulsiGabbard take down of @KamalaHarris was one of the most lethal I’ve seen in decades of watching these debates. And after Harris offered a feeble response, Gabbard crushed her again. Brutal. #DemsDebate"

https://twitter.com/DavidShuster/status/1156752285462122496?s=19

[Andrei Martyanov (aka SmoothieX12)]

Russian MoD two days ago, through no less than GOU's (Main Operational Directorate) big boss General Rudskoy briefed journalists on US training (around al-Tanf) and deploying for what amounts diversionary and terrorist actions couple of groups, later (yesterday, I believe) Zaharova elaborated on that even further. Those are not really news in Russia--it is a given now. I, frankly, already lost count and do not retain all those Arabic versions of their titles--something, something Al Sha...Nus...Qa... and on, and on and on.

[Bill Wade]

Putin's Puppet: Tulsi Gabbard, oh well, it is a clown world after all.

[turcopolier]

semiconscious

Yes, she should have blamed Obama as well. Without US support for the jihadis and the dissidents Kurds this would have been over a couple of years ago.

[JP Billen]

Like a shark attack! Kamala never saw it coming and had no retort. Just stuttered a bit. And then tried to take down Tulsi after the debate in the news room by calling her a coddler of war criminals when Tulsi was not there to respond.

[Vegetius]

If you know anything about this you know what she was getting at. But most people don't, and that Lemon character cut her off before she got any deeper into it.

Even if you have no intention of voting for any Democrat, people should do what they can to keep her and Yang in this as long as possible.

[Jack]

NBC News

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna964261

The Russian propaganda machine that tried to influence the 2016 U.S. election is now promoting the presidential aspirations of a controversial Hawaii Democrat who earlier this month declared her intention to run for president in 2020.

What's the half-life of the Russian boogeyman?

[Harlan Easley]

How can any US Military officer have any honor and not resign when they are ordered "US armed forces have been and still may be supplying and funding these groups". The same people who murdered 3000 US Citizens on 9/11.

Let's be real. Zionist run our Government, Media, and by implication tell our Armed Forces what to do.

[blue peacock]

The one thing that has become rather apparent today that I didn't realize is that Harris is the Democrat establishment candidate. The Wall St & neocon candidate. The viciousness with which the establishment media have attacked Gabbard as a Putin/Assad apologist and how coordinated it all is across all the platforms is very instructive.

Harris looked weak and dumbstruck when Gabbard pummeled her with incontrovertible facts of how she treated those weaker, mostly minorities as California AG. While AG she treated the Wall St elites like current Treasury Secretary Mnuchin differently, by giving them a pass. No wonder she's been raising a lot of campaign cash in the Hamptons.

If Tulsi Gabbard gains any traction she'll be formidable even with a full-on media assault on her. Trump has shown that you can win an election even with the entire media apparatus throwing everything they've got against you. That was very smart on Gabbard's part to hit "frontrunner" Harris right at her perceived strength - her tenure as California AG, when she was riding the media momentum after knocking Biden out in the first debate.

[TedBuila]

Bingo!

[annamissed]

After the Kamala thing this debate and the Ryan thing last debate, this woman is looking like a Ninja warrior. She has taken more political career ending risks than all the Democrats combined, and keeps coming up right. She's far from finished.

[Christian J Chuba]

IMO she gets her resolve because she went to Damascus and not only talked to Assad but she mentioned how Syrians came up to her and said, 'why are you doing this to us, what have we ever done to you'. When you meet people, you can tell when they mean it. When you go back to the states and hear the same statements being repeated by TV hosts, politicians, and think tank gurus who don't have to live there, you know you are getting talking points.

[ISL]

Given the way the political class promises immoral acts that they know are against their and US interests in exchange for campaign dollars, I would propose the oldest occupation (prostitution) is appropriate in addition to scum. The corruption* in late US empire is nauseating to observe, and history shows it never ends well - and in the past there were no nuclear weapons.

Its far between where a prominent politician takes a stand that is unpopular amongst the commentariat of the Borg on issues and shows backbone. It is very encouraging that Tulsi has been showing she can work the (Borg-assimilated) media.

That said, piss on the lot of them is right!

* A study showed that statistically, the opinion of US voters had zero effect on actual legislation and spending. I note that a significant fraction of political funding is from entities with global interests.

[scott s.]

The Hawaii establishment Dems are primarying her for HI 2CD in 2020. Kaiali'i Kahele from Hawaii Island would be the first 2CD rep not from Oahu (since the creation of districts in 1970). He can check off several boxes (child of prominent Dem pol, Hawaiian, Major in the HIANG)

[ISL]

Dear Colonel,

A quote from Tom Luongo

"He’s weakest on the one issue that got him elected in the first place, foreign policy. Hillary was the candidate of Empire. Trump was not. It’s why we saw an international conspiracy formed to destroy him and his presidency. Now that same apparatus is mobilized against Tulsi Gabbard.

That’s good. As a solider she knows that when you’re taking flak you are over your target."

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-02/empire-coming-tulsi-gabbard

[robt willmann]

Tulsi Gabbard has a kind of methodical speaking style, but what comes through in her voice is a type of natural sincerety, as opposed to the fake or phony sincerety projected by most politicians, and that surely has helped her when running for political office. She was elected to the Hawaii state legislature in 2002, the youngest person to do so at age 21. As a member of the Hawaii National Guard, she volunteered in 2004 to go overseas and so resigned from the legislature and was deployed to Iraq in 2005. In 2010 she ran and was elected to the Honolulu City Council, and then in 2012 successfully ran for Congress and started her fourth two-year term this year.

Yesterday, 1 August, she was invited to be on Tucker Carlson's evening show on the Fox News channel. Carlson played the 32-second hard hit Tulsi did to Kamala Harris during Wednesday's debate. But during the remaining 5 minutes that Carlson had her on and let her talk, she did not repeat any of her points about Harris, nor did she tell the viewers any new ones, even though she started her knockout of Harris at the debate by saying, "There are too many examples to cite ...."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_EnaGFe-_Y

Compare that to Donald Trump's little press conference on Tuesday, 30 July, on the White House lawn. Notice what he said about his jab at the sorry mess in Baltimore, Maryland and Congressman Elijah Cummings.

Although Trump is a bulls**t artist, and you do not automatically believe what he says, look at all the points he makes in a mere 1 minute and 40 seconds--

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4810973/president-trump-defends-criticism-representative-elijah-cummings-calls-baltimore-filthy-dirty

Tulsi appears as a decent and conscientious person, and maybe with a little practice, she can do more of the public service she did Wednesday night when exposing Kamala Harris.

[Eric Newhill]

TTG,
I find it amusing in a sick kind of way, that Gabbard is getting the Putin Stooge treatment.

If she had principled political courage, she would have stood up for Trump against the witch hunt. But she went with the partisan crowd and that helped allow the precedent of Putin Puppet accusations to become a feature of the swamp. Now, as was inevitable, it has come right back at her.

Same goes for Biden and the racism canard.

S/he who lives by BS, dies by BS.

[smoke]

Thanks for those links. My feet just won't stop tapping and soon start walking away from the teevee. It is helpful to be able to rerun key points afterwards.

And Trump is mostly right about Baltimore. Baltimore truly is a city of neighborhoods. Some neighborhoods are great. I lived there happily for ten years in the 90s, in a neighborhood that has since become so gentrified that one street has been converted to angle parking. But miles of other neighborhoods, scattered across the city but prominently in West Baltimore, are blighted with high crime, unemployment, and all the ills of poverty.

Trump's point is well taken. Baltimore has been in the hands of a Democratic machine since forever. During all this time, little has improved in the devastated sections of the city. Remedies surely are not simple, but staying a course, with the same leadership, that has produced little improvement over decades, makes no sense.

Baltimore imploded in the 60s-70s as the US economy moved away from the very industries and methods on which Baltimore's then healthy economy was built. Central among these, the US steel industry died, taking with it thousands of well-paying, working class jobs, as well as the yellow, stinky skies of the Baltimore waterfront. Manufacturing, on which much port activity relied, shifted, and shipping containers eliminated many longshoring jobs.

Gradually the port of Baltimore has retooled and adjusted to changes in shipping and trade, so that economic activity there has been growing again. But new shipping efficiencies mean that less labor is required for more cargo. That rebuilding has been a statewide effort, and the port is physically spread out beyond just Baltimore City.

That is not enough for the city itself, where some sections should be on life-support.

[smoke]

It was predictable that every effort would be made to sideline Gabbard, because of her foreign policy positions, positions that are resonating with many voters.

Criticizing the last Dem prez would just hand Dem opponents a partisan rallying point. Gabbard is certainly aware of Obama admin's involvement, but she would like to stay in the debate as long as possible. I, too, would like her voice to continue challenging the neocon-media consensus.