In 2011, the U.S. government was considering military intervention in Libya to protect — it said — Libyans protesting against dictator Muammar Qadhafi.
Donald Trump weighed in during a 2011 CNN interview, saying that his only interest in the North African country was in exploiting its oil. “Unless we take the oil from Libya, I have no interest in Libya,” Trump said.
Trump was not alone in this sentiment. Neera Tanden, the president of the think tank, the Center for American Progress, proposed the same thing a few months after Trump did.
Tanden is known for hawkish views although she doesn’t like being described as hawkish, she told Salon. Days after the NATO operation was launched, she tweeted, “To liberal friends worried re Libya, is there better reason 4 use of US power than 2 protect innocent civilians from slaughter by a madman?” She told Salon that her views do not reflect those of the Center for American Progress
Tanden has had many online feuds with anyone who has ever been critical of Hillary Clinton, SplinterNews reported.
One of Tanden’s most memorable feuds was her suggestion that Libya should use its oil reserves to pay the U.S. back for the cost of bombing it. Tanden claims that her suggestion came from leaked internal emails. The emails were provided to the Intercept, according to a 2015 report. Tanden is still trying to deal with those comments — and their source.
Over the weekend, Los Angeles Chargers running back Justin Jackson tweeted that Tanden had helped get Trump elected.
“Wikileaks exposed you for wanting to take Libyan oil as ‘payback’ for overthrowing their government. Libya is now a failed state and terrorist hotbed. You’re a warmonger. Voters rejected your ideology in 2016,” Jackson tweeted. “So you know who likes you Neera? Trump.”
Tandem defended herself, tweeting, “Mr. Jackson – this wasn’t wikileaks, it was a news story based on a leaked email from an internal debate. We never took a posture and of course, I wouldn’t push this, the email was a mistake. All of which I said a long time ago.”
The Center for American Progress is the country’s most prominent liberal think tank. Tanden served as policy director for the Obama-Biden presidential campaign and was reportedly being considered for Clinton’s chief of staff if she won the 2016 election.
Tanden has been accused of assaulting a former ThinkProgress staff member because she was angry that he asked Clinton about her Iraq war vote. That staff member, Faiz Shakir, went on to become Bernie Sanders’ campaign manager.
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Tanden recently tried to correct the record. “I didn’t slug him, I pushed him,” she said in a recent interview, SplinterNews reported in April, 2019.
The Center for American Progress received $15,000 from Mark Zuckerberg’s foundation in 2017, and $665,000 in 2018. It also got $2.5 million from the United Arab Emirates between 2016 and 2018, though it says it decided to stop taking their money in December, 2018.
Tanden attended Democratic dinners in New York and Washington where the topic was “What To Do About Bernie”, according to an April, 2019 New York Times article.
In early December, Tanden tweeted that she’ll support Sanders if he’s the nominee.
