Tulsi Gabbard, a 35-year-old Democrat representative from the state of Hawaii, made a secret fact-finding visit to Damascus this past week.  For security reasons, the exact dates of the trip weren’t published, but the date of the report was January 19.  Gabbard, an Iraq War veteran, met with U.S. president-elect Donald Trump in November to discuss Syria policy.  Despite her backing Bernie Sanders in the primaries, it was reported that Trump is considering her for a position at the Pentagon or the State Department.

During the meeting, Gabbard said she told the President Elect:

… [of] my grave concerns that escalating the war in Syria by implementing a so-called no fly/safe zone would be disastrous for the Syrian people, our country and the world.

Gabbard’s concerns are valid.  In fact, she comes across as the antidote to the interventionists in the Gang of Eight, so it’s no wonder she finds a receptive audience in Donald Trump.  She has long opposed the idea of regime change and says Syria would descend farther into chaos should Bashar Assad be ousted.

On January 13, Gabbard introduced the Stop Arming Terrorists Act, which would prohibit U.S. taxpayer dollars being spent to support or back “terrorist groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda in their war to overthrow the Syrian government.”  Gabbard also said on the House floor:

Our limited resources should go toward rebuilding our communities here at home, not fueling more counterproductive regime-change wars abroad[.] … [S]top this madness.

On that, she’ll have no argument from me.

John Smith is the pen name of a former U.S. intelligence officer.