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Gabbard talks peace, warns of ‘regime change wars’

By Casey Junkins - City Editor | Dec 10, 2019

NASHUA – In the 18-plus years since terrorists hijacked airplanes to attack New York City and the Pentagon on 9/11, U.S. taxpayers have spent more than $6 trillion on what Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard calls “regime change wars” in the Middle East.

For the record, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office shows that the entire federal budget for fiscal year 2019 was $4.4 trillion.

This, of course, doesn’t even count the human loss and sacrifice made by the tens of thousands of U.S. military personnel and their families for their service in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and other nations.

Gabbard, currently serving her fourth term as a congresswoman from Hawaii, stopped in at The Telegraph office in downtown Nashua on Monday. Although Chicago-based Real Clear Politics has Gabbard at only 1% in the national poll average, the same organization shows her at 5% in New Hampshire.

Though the geographical distance, not to mention the climate, from Hawaii to New Hampshire is considerable, Gabbard said she enjoys the Granite State.

“We’ve felt right at home here. We’ve been really welcomed in New Hampshire,” Gabbard said.

“The national polls are built on name recognition, and are not an accurate reflection, because the first states matter the most,” she added.

Gabbard is both a U.S. Army combat veteran and currently a member of the National Guard, having originally enlisted in the military in 2003.

Therefore, it is perhaps not surprising that she is unafraid to “ruffle the feathers” of those in her own political party – or anyone in Washington, D.C. – for that matter.

“They know they can’t control me,” Gabbard said of officials at the Democratic National Committee and others.

Late Monday, after Gabbard had left The Telegraph office, she tweeted that she would not be participating in the next official Democratic debate.

“For a number of reasons, I have decided not to attend the December 19th ‘debate’ — regardless of whether or not there are qualifying polls. I instead choose to spend that precious time directly meeting with and hearing from the people of New Hampshire and South Carolina,” Gabbard stated via Twitter.

Gabbard has many objectives, but said one major goal is to restrain the “military-industrial complex.”

During his 1961 farewell address, President Dwight D. Eisenhower stated: “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”

Gabbard said the confluence of capitalism and government has only gotten worse in the succeeding six decades, which she said leads to unnecessary loss of blood and treasure.

“The foreign policy establishment and the military industrial complex in Washington are unquestionably opposed to my candidacy because I am speaking with truth about who has paid the price for the leadership in our country that has been under their control for so long. My calling for an end to our long-held regime change war policies, an end to this new cold war in arms race, it threatens their bottom line and their profits,” she said.

“It is what is in the best interests of our national security, our military, the American people, our pocket books, our debt, our deficit. Enough with doing their bidding. It is time for the American people to come first,” she added.

Gabbard also warned of “total destruction of our planet” that may come if the U.S. cannot have amicable relations with nuclear powers Russia and China.

“I’m working to try to make sure we don’t see the end of the world in a nuclear catastrophe,” she added.

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