One of the most important committee assignment of this Congress may turn out to be Rep. Ilhan Omar’s appointment to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Rep Omar (MN-5) fled the Somali civil war as a child, spent years in a refugee camp in Kenya before migrating to the US as a refugee. As such, she’s going to bring a singularly unique perspective to foreign affairs. As the US is engaged in several unauthorized military actions across Africa and the Middle-East, she will be the only Muslim on the committee. She will also be the only refugee on the committee, one who has personally experienced the impact of a civil war where a belligerent was supported and armed by the US.
When US airstrikes kill civilians, like this one last week:
An airstrike hit people trying to flee the last area controlled by the Islamic State group in eastern Syria Friday, killing at least 20 including children, opposition activists and the country’s state media reported.
The airstrike on the IS-held village of Baghouz comes as the offensive against the extremists by U.S.-backed fighters of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces has intensified over the past weeks. It also comes as the U.S. has announced that the process of American troop withdrawal from Syria has begun. — time.com/...
When things like this happen, we can expect Rep. Omar to speak clearly and convincingly of the real long-term impact of our constant arming and bombing of poor countries.
Republicans are apparently “concerned”. The new ranking member of the Foreign Affairs committee is posting vaguely sinister tweets about Rep. Omar, but thankfully he’s being schooled/ratioed at the same time.
Zeldin is a right-wing zealot who last made national news for hanging out with the far-right wannabe-paramilitary Oath Keepers. He won by 7 points in the mid-term and in a wave presidential election, his seat in NY-1 (Suffolk county) should be competitive.
A reminder of what’s at stake:
— @subirgrewal