Tulsi Gabbard, a congresswoman from Hawaii and Iraq War veteran, recently returned from a fact-finding trip to Syria. Gabbard, a strong opponent of the U.S.’ support for anti-Christian jihadist groups in Syria, said that the trip left her more convinced than ever that “this regime change war does not serve America’s interest, and it certainly isn’t in the interest of the Syrian people”:
I traveled throughout Damascus and Aleppo, listening to Syrians from different parts of the country. …Their message to the American people was powerful and consistent: There is no difference between “moderate” rebels and al-Qaeda (al-Nusra) or ISIS – they are all the same. …
I met a Muslim girl from Zabadani who was kidnapped, beaten repeatedly, and raped in 2012, when she was just 14 years old, by “rebel groups” who were angry that her father, a sheep herder, would not give them his money. She watched in horror as masked men murdered her father in their living room, emptying their entire magazine of bullets into him.
I met a boy who was kidnapped while walking down the street to buy bread for his family. He was tortured, waterboarded, electrocuted, placed on a cross and whipped, all because he refused to help the “rebels”—he told them he just wanted to go to school. This is how the “rebels” are treating the Syrian people who do not cooperate with them, or whose religion is not acceptable to them.
Her complete letter can be read here.
Gabbard recently introduced the Stop Arming Terrorists Act (HR 258) in Congress to end American support for jihadist groups cleansing Syria of its Christian population. She writes, “We must stop directly and indirectly supporting terrorists – directly by providing weapons, training and logistical support to rebel groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and ISIS; and indirectly through Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, and Turkey, who, in turn, support these terrorist groups.”
CSI is grateful to Congresswoman Gabbard for her courageous stand against jihad terrorism in Syria, and urges support for the Stop Arming Terrorists Act.
