US Rep. Tulsi Gabbard only candidate to end US wars

“Among all of the participants in the Democratic debate…without any doubt, the one that stood out far above the others for her intelligence, her knowledge, her comprehension of world events is Tulsi Gabbard,” said James Fetzer, a retired professor of philosophy at the University of Minnesota.

“In my judgment, Tulsi Gabbard is the only candidate among the 20 who has the clarity of thought and the strength of intellect to sort through the difficult problems confronting this nation,” Fetzer said.

“I believe that as this Democratic campaign for the [presidential] nomination progresses, Tulsi Gabbard will emerge as the leading intellectual, non-interventionist foreign policy proponent who represents the best interest of the United States,” he added.

During the first Democratic presidential primary debate Wednesday in Miami, Florida, Gabbard warned that Trump and his hawkish advisers were leading the United States towards a "disastrous" war with Iran.

"This president and his chickenhawk cabinet have led us to the brink of war with Iran," she said.

Gabbard said it's important that "every single American stand up and say no war with Iran."

She also used her stance on American intervention to draw a contrast between her and Trump.

Gabbard has held these anti-interventionist foreign policy positions, which are central to her campaign, over her four terms in Congress.

Gabbard served in a field medical unit of the Hawaii Army National Guard in a combat zone in Iraq from 2004 to 2005. She has been the US Representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district since 2013.

"For too long our leaders have failed us, from taking us from one regime change war to the next, leading us into a new Cold War and arms race, costing us trillions of our hard-earned taxpayer dollars and countless lives. This insanity must end," Gabbard said at the debate.

She argued that the US should bring back its troops because "we are no better off in Afghanistan today than we were when this war began."

"The Taliban was there long before we came in," Gabbard added. "They're going to be there long before we leave. We cannot keep US troops deployed to Afghanistan thinking that we're going to somehow squash this Taliban that's been there, that every other country that's tried has failed."