The Two Mavericks Refusing to Arm Terrorists
“Everybody’s worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there’s a really easy way: stop participating in it.” — Noam Chomsky
BAILEY T. STEEN | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2017
Never shy of breaking away from her party’s groupthink, it was Democratic Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) who introduced possibly the most common-sense bill in history, “The Stop Arming Terrorists Act” (H.R.608), little over 10 months ago.
The legislation reads: “To prohibit the use of United States Government funds to provide assistance to Al Qaeda, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and to countries supporting those organizations, and for other purposes.”
Following in Chomsky’s words of just saying “no” to games of 4th-dimensional neoconservative chess. Finding common allies in the likes of Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), leader of the American libertarian movement, who introduced the bill to the Senate last month.
The two have so far garnered, as of now, only fourteen co-sponsors from the non-Representatives Thomas Massie (R-KY), Walter B. Jones (R-NC) and Congress’ first “Justice Democrat” in Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA). Paul standing as the sole Senator in support of the legislation, so far receiving no support from his Republican colleagues, Democrats from across the aisle or Independents like Bernie Sanders (I-VT), currently the most popular politician in the country at 75%.
No information has been released on when a vote will take place.
The legislation remains in limbo as The Trump Administration continues a bungled approach to America’s foreign policy. It was actually Rand Paul himself who asked, “What is America’s foreign policy?”, and one can give you different answers depending on who you talk to.
Is it one of interventionism? If so, why was it President Trump who brokered a Syrian cease-fire with Russia and called off CIA forces wanting regime change?
Is it one of non-interventionism? If so, why would the Senate pass a bill to arm Saudi Arabia, the Wahhabi super-state that continues to bomb Yemini civilians and fund Syria’s so called “moderate rebels”.
Those same rebels that Rep. Gabbard stated, after her visit to Syria with former U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) this year, were not the moderates we’re looking for.
After all, Google can verify “rebel” is just a synonym for “terrorist”.
The American Empire can’t trick you with Star Wars references that easily, darlings.
Whether it be Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Syria, Iran, Somalia, Yemen, the shadow war going on in Africa, all the countries that, on Democracy Now, retired General Wesley Clark Sr. revealed “were planned to be invaded in under five years”, Rand Paul and Tulsi Gabbard are not having it.
Two representatives showing critical attention to America’s role in the spreading of Islamic Terrorism. Willing to hold their carpet bombing parties accountable for turning two of Bush’s wars into eight, with 2016 alone showing over 26,000 bombs dropped overseas in America’s name.
The problem one could say of #TheResistance, the one guided by self-professed leader in their dear Hillary Clinton, the woman who had a hand in most if not all of those foriegn policy interventions, is they are, in themselves, the thing being resisted by the average working people.
The common man is not rallying behind a “muh Russia” agenda. Earlier Harvard-Harris Polls show the majority voters just don’t care.
When they show up to town halls they want the focus on an agenda behind healthcare, jobs, the economy, the minimum wage, and to stop the never ending “stupid wars” that started in 2001.
And only two prominent voices in Washington are rallying behind an agenda built on common-sense.
