After resigning as Democratic National Convention (DNC) vice chairwoman in order to endorse presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has recently appeared in an emotional campaign ad supporting his foreign policy and stance on war. While choking back tears, Rep. Gabbard explained why she decided to serve in Iraq and how the cost of war does not simply end after a soldier leaves the battlefield.
In a powerful new campaign ad titled “The Cost of War,” Gabbard, who served a 12-month tour in Iraq with the Hawaii Army National Guard, discusses her decision to join the military while commending Sanders’ foreign policy. Attempting to keep her composure, Gabbard asserts, “I felt a sense of duty and I could not in good conscience stay back here in beautiful Hawaii and watch my brothers and sisters in uniform go off into combat. These are people and friends who we never forget, and who we strive to honor every day that we are blessed to live and breathe.”
“Congresswoman Gabbard is one of the important voices of a new generation of leaders,” Sanders declared last month. “As a veteran of the Iraq War she understands the cost of war and is fighting to create a foreign policy that not only protects America but keeps us out of perpetual wars that we should not be in.”
To endorse Sanders, Gabbard resigned as vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee so that she could focus on electing “a president who will usher in a new era of peace and prosperity.” Like Sanders, Gabbard has been outspoken on the danger that a no-fly zone in Syria, proposed by Hillary Clinton, could drag the U.S. into another quagmire in the Middle East. She introduced legislation calling for an end to the war to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad and to focus on defeating the Islamic State, al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.
“Bernie Sanders voted against the Iraq War,” Gabbard explains. “He understands the cost of war. That that cost is continued when our veterans come home. Bernie Sanders will defend our country and take the trillions of dollars that are spent on these interventionist, regime change, unnecessary wars, and invest it here at home.”
In contrast to Sanders’ foreign policy, Republican candidates Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz want to reinstate the use of torture, while Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton appears willing to continue President Obama’s drone program, which is responsible for butchering a Yemeni wedding, a Pakistani tribal council meeting, and at least eight U.S. citizens without due process.
“The American people are not looking to settle for inches. They’re looking for real change,” Gabbard concludes. “What I saw in Bernie Sanders was the heart of Aloha. No matter who you are or where you come from in this country, that we are all in this together.”
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