U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard claims that she is running for president to promote “peace … freedom, justice, equality and opportunity for all” (“She’s running,” Star-Advertiser, Jan. 12). But we remember Gabbard paying a friendly personal visit in 2017 to the murderous Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, who has for years dropped barrel bombs and used chemical weapons to kill thousands of his own people.

She then sponsored legislation to remove U.S. troops who were supporting those in Syria resisting Assad. And isn’t this the same Tulsi Gabbard who accepts campaign monies from a Hindu supremacist movement with a record of violently attacking non-Hindus in India? Where is the “peace, freedom and justice” in all of this?

And what qualifications and experience does Gabbard have to lead this country at a time of great challenges and divisions? Surely, the last two years demonstrate the damage an unfit leader can do. The real question here: Is Tulsi Gabbard fit to represent us in Hawaii?

Noel Kent

Manoa

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