"You Would Think That We Would Learn From Those Mistakes": Ilhan Omar on Sanctions, Intervention, and War
"It's not black and white, things are nuanced"
On March 9, Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar was one of only two House Democrats to vote against a sweeping sanctions bill against Russia.
Omar talked about her vote with me during an exclusive interview Monday.
“There's this weird muscle memory that is deployed when it comes to sanctions, where we believe if we [target] the people in a country where we have leaders that are adversaries somehow that's going to make the people rise up and dispose of that leader,” Omar said. “We certainly haven't seen that happen in Cuba, we haven't seen it happen in Venezuela, we haven't seen it happen in Iran—and you would think that we would learn from those mistakes.”
The cost of intervention came up repeatedly during our conversation. Omar talked about how, as a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, she often has the opportunity to ask policymakers about their past decisions on how to handle US interventions. They frequently express regret, she told me.
“I always feel like it's necessary for me to say, ‘Can we pause, can we ask the right questions, can we critically think about this,’” Omar said. “It's not black and white, things are nuanced. We're dealing with human lives and involvements that create an escalated situation that never really minimizes the number of people dying.”
But US foreign policy is predicated on avoiding introspection. And that means that no lessons are learned—nobody ever has to face up to what they’ve done.
“We wash our hands and nobody is asked to be accountable for it and the cameras are turned off,” Omar said.
To listen to the full interview, listen on the Callin app or click the link. You can also find The Flashpoint on Apple Podcasts and on Spotify.
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