War: The Devil is in the Details
In May 2018, Tulsi Gabbard warned her congressional colleagues that H.R. 5515: John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (NDAA-FY2019) included a measure that authorized the White House to orchestrate and wage war against Iran, and attempted to have the measure removed.
A summary published by the Chairman of the National Defense Authorization Act confirmed that the measure, “Authorizes the Secretary of Defense, with the concurrence of the Secretary of State, to develop and to implement a strategy with foreign partner countries to counter the destabilizing activities of Iran.”
Members of the House of Representatives who voted with Tulsi, to REMOVE the NDAA-FY2019 measure that authorized the Countering Iran Strategy:
| Amash Burgess Capuano Cárdenas Castor (FL) Chu, Judy Clark (MA) Clay Cleaver Crowley Davis, Danny DeGette DeSaulnier Dingell Doggett Duncan (TN) Ellison Eshoo Espaillat Evans |
Fudge Gabbard Grijalva Gutiérrez Huffman Jayapal Jeffries Johnson (GA) Jones Khanna Labrador Larsen (WA) Lee Lofgren Massie Matsui McGovern McNerney Moore Napolitano |
Nolan O’Rourke Pingree Pocan Polis Raskin Richmond Sánchez Sanford Sarbanes Schakowsky Serrano Swalwell (CA) Takano Thompson (CA) Tonko Waters, Maxine Welch Wilson (FL) Yoho |
Members of the House of Representatives who voted to RETAIN the NDAA-FY2019 measure that authorized the Countering Iran Strategy:
| Abraham Adams Aderholt Aguilar Allen Amodei Arrington Babin Bacon Banks (IN) Barletta Barr Barragán Barton Bass Beatty Bera Bergman Beyer Biggs Bilirakis Bishop (GA) Bishop (MI) Bishop (UT) Blackburn Blum Blumenauer Blunt Rochester Bonamici Bost Boyle, Brendan F. Brady (PA) Brady (TX) Brat Brooks (AL) Brooks (IN) Brown (MD) Brownley (CA) Buchanan Buck Bucshon Budd Bustos Butterfield Byrne Calvert Carbajal Carson (IN) Carter (GA) Carter (TX) Cartwright Castro (TX) Chabot Cheney Cicilline Clarke (NY) Clyburn Coffman Cohen Cole Collins (GA) Collins (NY) Comer Comstock Conaway Connolly Cook Cooper Correa Costa Costello (PA) Courtney Cramer Crawford Crist Cuellar Culberson Cummings Curbelo (FL) Curtis Davidson Davis (CA) Davis, Rodney DeFazio Delaney DeLauro DelBene Demings Denham DeSantis DesJarlais Deutch Diaz-Balart Doyle, Michael F. Duffy Duncan (SC) Dunn Emmer Engel Estes (KS) Esty (CT) Faso Ferguson Fitzpatrick Fleischmann Flores Fortenberry Foster Foxx Frankel (FL) Frelinghuysen Gaetz Gallagher Gallego Garamendi Garrett Gianforte Gibbs Gohmert |
Gomez Gonzalez (TX) Goodlatte Gosar Gottheimer Gowdy Granger Graves (GA) Graves (LA) Graves (MO) Green, Al Green, Gene Griffith Grothman Guthrie Hanabusa Handel Harper Harris Hartzler Hastings Heck Hensarling Herrera Beutler Hice, Jody B. Higgins (NY) Hill Himes Holding Hollingsworth Hoyer Hudson Huizenga Hultgren Hunter Hurd Issa Jackson Lee Jenkins (KS) Jenkins (WV) Johnson (LA) Johnson (OH) Johnson, E. B. Johnson, Sam Jordan Joyce (OH) Kaptur Katko Keating Kelly (IL) Kelly (MS) Kelly (PA) Kennedy Kihuen Kildee Kilmer Kind King (IA) Kinzinger Knight Krishnamoorthi Kuster (NH) Kustoff (TN) LaHood LaMalfa Lamb Lamborn Lance Langevin Larson (CT) Latta Lawrence Lawson (FL) Lesko Levin Lewis (MN) Lieu, Ted Lipinski LoBiondo Loebsack Long Loudermilk Love Lowenthal Lowey Lucas Luetkemeyer Lujan Grisham, M. Luján, Ben Ray Lynch MacArthur Maloney, Carolyn B. Maloney, Sean Marchant Marino Marshall Mast McCarthy McCaul McClintock McCollum McEachin McHenry McKinley McMorris Rodgers McSally Meadows Meeks Meng Messer Mitchell Moolenaar Mooney (WV) Moulton Mullin Murphy (FL) Nadler Neal Newhouse |
Noem Norcross Norman Nunes O’Halleran Olson Palazzo Pallone Palmer Panetta Pascrell Paulsen Payne Pelosi Perlmutter Perry Peters Peterson Pittenger Poe (TX) Poliquin Posey Price (NC) Quigley Ratcliffe Reed Reichert Renacci Rice (NY) Rice (SC) Roby Roe (TN) Rogers (AL) Rohrabacher Rokita Rooney, Francis Rooney, Thomas J. Ros-Lehtinen Rosen Roskam Ross Rothfus Rouzer Roybal-Allard Royce (CA) Ruiz Ruppersberger Rush Russell Rutherford Ryan (OH) Scalise Schiff Schneider Schrader Schweikert Scott (VA) Scott, Austin Scott, David Sensenbrenner Sessions Sewell (AL) Shea-Porter Sherman Shimkus Shuster Simpson Sinema Sires Smith (MO) Smith (NE) Smith (NJ) Smith (TX) Smith (WA) Smucker Soto Stefanik Stewart Suozzi Taylor Tenney Thompson (MS) Thompson (PA) Thornberry Tipton Titus Torres Tsongas Turner Upton Valadao Vargas Veasey Vela Velázquez Visclosky Wagner Walberg Walden Walker Walorski Walters, Mimi Wasserman Schultz Watson Coleman Weber (TX) Webster (FL) Wenstrup Westerman Williams Wilson (SC) Wittman Womack Woodall Yarmuth Yoder Young (AK) Young (IA) |
Tulsi’s amendment failed in the House, and none in the Senate attempted an amendment of their own to remove the authorization for war.
Final Passage
In the Senate: Amy Klobuchar, Cory Booker, and Michael Bennet voted Yes to APPROVE the NDAA-FY2019, which included authorization for the White House to orchestrate and wage war with Iran.
Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Kirsten Gillibrand voted against final passage, but did nothing to have the authorization for war removed.
Major Tulsi Gabbard is a strong woman of courage who knows how to lead us into an era of peace and prosperity. The rest of them are fuck-ups.
Trump’s False Peace
Testimony from Iraq’s interim Prime Minister confirms reports that the Iraqi government had refused to protect the US embassy from protestors. The protestors did, however, retreat at the behest of the PM.
After the protest subsided, President Trump called the PM to thank him for his assistance. During that call, Trump requested permission to send more troops to the US embassy. The PM denied his request. Trump also asked if Iraq would mediate negotiations between the US and Iran. To this, the PM agreed.
Saudi Arabia was involved in these negotiations, and the Iraqi PM had a message from them delivered to Iran. Soleimani was on his way to meet with the PM to deliver Iran’s reply to that message when he was targeted by US drones.
Soleimani was assassinated while enroute to peace negotiations that Trump had requested.
Related News: President Trump promises peace, but delivers war.
P.S. Certain reporters are sharing chatter they’re hearing from their USIC sources about Soleimani’s travel schedule revealing he was up to no good, and about Trump admin putting the hit job together at the last minute like Keystone Cops groping each other in the dark. Turns out – Soleimani was meeting with various factions to negotiate peace, and Trump admin knew exactly what he up to. Feeding reporters false info is standard counterintelligence protocol. Unattributed info leaked by intel agencies should never be trusted.
Tulsi Gabbard calls assassination of Iranian General an unconstitutional act of war
In an early morning interview with Fox News, Tulsi Gabbard called Trump’s order (in circumvention of congress), for the targeted assassination of a high level Iranian general in Iraq, an unconstitutional act of war.
Fox responded by asking Tulsi about how she can justify her comments, since Iran has supposedly killed American troops.
Truth is — Iran was never held directly responsible for those deaths. Rather, they supplied the weapons and materials that led to them during Operation Iraqi Freedom… a war that we fought over a decade ago, based on lies.
Iran responsible for deaths of 608 American troops in Iraq
If Iran can be held directly responsible for these deaths, then America could also be held directly responsible for deaths caused by the weapons we have sold/supplied to various countries throughout the world.
Truth is — there has not been a direct conflict between Iran and US forces. This was always something we have tried to avoid.
Related News: Allegations linking Iran with 9/11 are not based in reality.
And how can Tulsi justify her comments, since our embassy was under attack?
Truth is — the protestors failed to penetrate the US embassy, and withdrew after a standoff. Our embassy in Baghdad is a huge fortress, and there is no way that protestors could have broken through its barriers.
And how can Tulsi justify her comments, since Iran is about to build the bomb?
Truth is — Iran has been trying to salvage the JCPOA Treaty.
Iran remained in compliance with the Iran Deal as late as July, but then announced that they would increase its enrichment of uranium beyond the purity allowed under the agreement, if a way couldn’t be found to shield them from U.S. sanctions targeting their economy and oil industry.
Despite Iran’s previous compliance, Trump admin began imposing draconian sanctions against them in October of 2017, five months after Trump reportedly struck a secret deal to help Saudi Arabia defeat Iran.
These unjustified sanctions, imposed by both the United States and the UAE, have led to civil unrest in Iran, and have been condemned by European leaders.
Truth is — threats to build a bomb are the only leverage Iran has to save itself from devastation.
Tulsi Gabbard has long described Trump’s behavior toward Iran as capitulation to Saudi Arabia, and categorized actions taken against them as a regime change effort.
ICYMI: Iran, Russia, and China started joint naval maneuvers last month.