Have we ignored it, or is it just that people have refrained from breaking it (prior to the Obama Administration)?
We haven't had a single voice from the government for a long time, if ever. Is it that important that we have a single voice? I'm thinking not. We just went through a period where folks try to directly sabotage a negotiation. And we were ok with that. And I don't think it's so important that dissenting voices can't be heard, or worse by law, must be suppressed.
Based on what, exactly? Congresspeople travel to other countries and meet with foreign leaders all the time - or meet with them here. The issue only comes if they are trying to influence policy or represent the US Government. Is there any suggestion she did such a thing?
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/23658239/...8/t/mccain-visits-iraq-his-eighth-trip-there/ Here's just one example. McCain in 2007 visited the Iraqi, French, British, and Israeli leaders on this one trip. As noted in the article, it was the 8th time he visited Iraq. Obama did a tour in 2007 or 2008 of Europe as well - I'm sure he visited foreign leaders. Congressional fact-finding missions happen all the time, etc. There's a difference between that stuff and what the Logan Act addresses.
We don't know what exactly she did, which would be the point of an investigation. If it's all very innocuous, so be it. But visiting Assad isn't like hob-nobbing with the executives of allies. We're fighting a proxy war against him. And, Trump hasn't declared his undying love for Assad yet. But, if Trump isn't bothered about it, I suppose he's lending his implicit authority to the visit anyway and there's no problem. Gabbard was supposedly considered for the cabinet and seems to be of like mind with Trump on the Syria question. It could be, so far as I know, that Trump asked her to do it. I rather hope that's the case.
Sorry - to clarify I'm 100% OK with investigating and looking into it. My problem is the seeming pre-judgment that Congress should kick her out or take some kind of action. Certainly very true. But from a Logan Act perspective, this isn't super relevant.
Just in case some of you want some information from one of the greatest US experts on Syria that is beyond the usual sound points that all the mainstream media seem to want to push. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/americas-failure-russia-success-in-syrias-war Joshua Landis is head of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma and publishes the influential blog “Syria Comment.” He is, perhaps, the nation’s foremost expert on Syria. He has been consistently right about the events of the last five years. When most Washington policy-makers were predicting that Syrian President Basher al-Assad would fall, Landis warned that he would hang on to power. While liberals and conservatives were calling for military intervention in Syria to overthrow Assad, Landis advised caution. In this interview, he assesses the Obama administration’s policy in Syria and the prospects facing the new Trump administration as Russia and Iran consolidate their hold over the Northern tier of the Middle East. It is, in my opinion, the clearest and most comprehensive analysis of why the United States failed to get its way in Syria and what it should do now. – John Judis
http://pdamerica.org/we-thank-you-congresswoman-gabbard-for-your-courageous-trip-to-syria/ Syrian Americans thank Tulsi Gabbard for courageous fact finding trip Per tthe Progressive Democrats for America
