Syria expert explains why he 'wouldn’t share intelligence' with Tulsi Gabbard

09 January

Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, an ex-Democrat turned MAGA Republican and President-elect Donald Trump's pick for national intelligence director, has been drawing strong criticism from many foreign policy experts — many of whom have been sounding the alarm about her aggressive defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Gabbard has defended Putin so passionately that pro-Kremlin media outlets have dubbed her "Russia's girlfriend."

One of those Gabbard critics is Mouaz Moustafa, who heads the Syrian Emergency Task Force. Moustafa has had dealings with Gabbard, going back to 2014 — and during an interview with Politico published in Q&A form on January 9, he laid out some reasons why he's hoping that the U.S. Senate will reject her as director of national intelligence.

Politico's Katelyn Fossett explains, "Moustafa has spoken with Gabbard or been in meetings with her several times, and he was struck by Gabbard's lack of outrage at Assad's atrocities. He has talked about some of those meetings before, but he discussed these encounters in more detail in the interview. Ultimately, he came away increasingly concerned that her aims and worldview were at odds with the U.S. mission in Syria and U.S. foreign policy more broadly."

Moustafa fears that if Gabbard becomes intel director, major allies will quit sharing intelligence with the United States.

The Syrian Emergency Task Force director told Politico, "If Tulsi Gabbard is running our intelligence services, France, UK, Australia…. if I was them, I wouldn't share intelligence with us."

Fossett recalls that a Syrian defector known as "Caesar" had his face concealed while briefing members of Congress "because congressional aides were worried that Tulsi Gabbard might compromise his identity."

Moustafa told Politico, "The first time I ran into Tulsi Gabbard was 2014; she hadn’t been a congresswoman for a year yet. In 2014, she heard from this military photographer Caesar at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in front of reporters and cameras, where his face was shielded. She was surrounded by photos of people that were tortured to death in the most horrific ways."

Moustafa continued, "All the members of the Committee, Republicans and Democrats at the time, sent out statements of outrage afterward.… All of them except her."

Nonetheless, Moustafa recalled that he wanted "to give her the benefit of the doubt."

"So in 2015, a year after that hearing, I took her alongside other members of Congress to the Syria-Turkish border," Moustafa told Politico. "She showed no remorse. She showed nothing but support for Assad."

Moustafa fears that if Gabbard is confirmed as intel director, intelligence could end up "in the wrong hands."

"As an American citizen," Moustafa told Politico, "it concerns me that someone who subscribes to the views and ideologies of America's worst adversaries may be running our intelligence services. This is about real concern for the United States"

Read Politico's full interview with Mouaz Moustafa at this link.

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