Rep. Tulsi Gabbard ‘skeptical’ that Assad regime behind gas attack

Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said she’s “skeptical” that Bashar al-Assad’s regime was behind the chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of people in Syria.

Gabbard’s remarks came after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said, “We have a very high level of confidence that the attacks were carried out by aircraft under the direction of the Bashar al-Assad regime,” and President Donald Trump said: “There can be no dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons.”

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked Gabbard if she didn’t believe the President, the secretary of state and Pentagon officials, all of whom came to the same conclusion: that Assad’s regime was responsible. Gabbard mentioned the previous invasion of Iraq, and the intelligence that suggested Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, which turned out to be false. “So, yes, I’m skeptical,” she said.

Gabbard said: “Why should we just blindly follow this escalation of a counterproductive regime-change war?”

Blitzer mentioned that the US military also shared an image of a radar track of a Syrian airplane from the Shayrat airfield flying to the purported chemical strike area Tuesday. Gabbard replied, “Congress and the American people need to see and analyze this evidence and then make a decision based on that.”

The Hawaii congresswoman continued, “I have not seen that independent investigation occur and that proof presented showing exactly what happened and there are a number of theories of exactly what happened that day.”

“Don’t you believe Bashar al-Assad bears any responsibility for the horrific deaths that have occurred in his own country?” Blitzer asked.

“There’s responsibility that goes around,” Gabbard said, “Standing here pointing fingers does not accomplish peace for the Syrian people. It will not bring about an end to this war.”

The congresswoman recently faced criticism for making an unannounced trip to Syria, where she met with Assad.