米国のトランプ次期大統領は２１日、新政権発足に向けた人事選考で、民主党のトゥルシー・ガバード下院議員（３５）と会談し、外交・安全保障問題で意見交換した。
トランプがガバード議員を国防総省か国務省の要職に起用を検討しているのなら注目に値する。
バラク・オバマ、ヒラリー・クリントンのような傲慢でイカれた戦争屋政権とは違う方向を目指すかが問われているが、このハワイ州2区選出の若き民主党女性下院議員トゥルシー・ガバードの起用か否かでその答えの一端が見えて来るだろう。
トランプと会談後、ガバード氏はトランプ氏の面会要請に応じた理由について「（保守派の）ネオコンが我々を戦争の激化に引きずり込む前に、トランプ氏と面会する機会を持つのは重要だ」と述べた。
2015年5月27日、米ハワイ州を訪れた翁長雄志知事はトゥルシー・ガバード下院議員と会談した。ガバード氏は、日本の国土面積０・６％の沖縄に在日米軍専用施設の７４％が集中する現状などを知り、
「初めて聞く話ばかりだ。議会で取り上げたい。次に会う機会があれば、もっと前に進めたい」と理解を示した。
「初めて聞く話ばかりだ。議会で取り上げたい。次に会う機会があれば、もっと前に進めたい」と理解を示した。
・・・・Far more important is that Gabbard, a 35-year-old Iraq War veteran, endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries because of his opposition to neocon/liberal-hawk military adventures. She starred in one of the strongest political ads of the campaign, a message to Hawaiians, called “The Cost of War.”
“Bernie Sanders voted against the Iraq War,” Gabbard says. “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 the ad, Gabbard threw down the gauntlet to the neocons and their liberal-hawk sidekicks, by accusing them of wasting trillions of dollars “on these interventionist, regime change, unnecessary wars.” Her comments mesh closely with Trump’s own perspective.
After the meeting on Monday, Gabbard released a statement confirming that the focus of the discussion had been her opposition to escalating the war in Syria by following neocon/liberal-hawk suggestions for a “no-fly zone” that would require widespread U.S. military destruction of Syrian government installations and the killing of a large number of Syrians.
“President-elect Trump asked me to meet with him about our current policies regarding Syria, our fight against terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS, as well as other foreign policy challenges we face,” Gabbard said. “I felt it important to take the opportunity to meet with the President-elect now before the drumbeat of war that neocons have been beating drag us into an escalation of the war to overthrow the Syrian government — a war which has already cost hundreds of thousands of lives and forced millions of refugees to flee their homes in search of safety for themselves and their families. …
“While the rules of political expediency would say I should have refused to meet with President-elect Trump, I never have and never will play politics with American and Syrian lives. …
“I shared with [President-elect Trump] 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. It would lead to more death and suffering, exacerbate the refugee crisis, strengthen ISIS and al-Qaeda, and bring us into a direct conflict with Russia which could result in a nuclear war.”
