In the end, preferably sooner than later, Hillary Clinton needs to explain Bill Clinton's policy during his presidency towards Iraq and then later his role and advice in relation to Bush's war in Iraq and the role he may have played in the background, such as perhaps persuading Tony Blair to go along with Bush. Bill Clinton had some competent people in foreign policy and did some useful things in world affairs but he also had some advisers who were the equivalent of Democratic neoconservatives.
In the 1990s, there was legitimate concern about weapons of mass destruction, but a lot of nonsense from the Republican right (mainly the intellectual neoconservatives) also became conventional wisdom. I would like to know why Bill Clinton didn't challenge or at least examine that conventional wisdom more than he did. Or why some of his advisers didn't.
I'm also puzzled that Wesley Clark and Hillary Clinton seem to share some views about Iraq but I find Wesley Clark's views easier to accept. I don't think it's just a matter of packaging. Hillary Clinton is a very competent candidate and yet I get restless with her explanations. I suspect she needs to find some real way of clearing the air on a number of foreign policy positions. I have yet to hear something from her that tells me she understands just how profoundly George W. Bush's foreign policy is flawed and how much damage he has done to our foreign policy process. I'm hearing bandaids and I don't think bandaids are going to fix what Bush has broken. I want strong assurances from Clinton that she understands that we're not in the 1990s, that we are very much in a different era now.
Posted by Craig at March 15, 2007 03:05 AMThis is not surprising, really, when you consider that both Hillary’s and Biden's continued support for Bush's betrayal is steady and subtle.
They don't argue that invading Iraq was wrong and negligent. Rather, they point out that the invasion and occupation weren't conducted competently. Hillary wanted to do Iraq as much as Bush and the neocons. For them, Iraq is quite the success.
In an interview with TruthDig, Lt. Col Karen Kwiatkowski (USAF, ret.) said that US occupation of Iraq will continue regardless who (a Democrat or a Republican) gets into the White House in '08. Why? Because the AIPAC-owned Washington establishment loves the idea that Saddam was overthrown and that the US now has four "mega bases" in the region that we can use “to operate there indefinitely, no matter what happens in Baghdad, no matter who takes over, no matter if the country splits into three pieces or it stays one."
In short, those mega bases allow the US to protect its “interests," and from where it can strike Iran or Syria at will.
The president responsible for "losing" this strategic territorial advantage will doom his or her party to the political dust heap for generations. The truth is that we're never going to leave Iraq.
Posted by fafnir at March 15, 2007 04:55 AMTold you so.
AIPAC's Queen is nothing more than Joe Lieberman in a bad pantsuit.
Posted by Christopher at March 15, 2007 04:59 AMSpeaking of Hillary, here's what the liberal darling said about the Gen. Peter Pace fracas.
When asked whether homosexuality was immoral, "Well I'm going to leave that to others to conclude."
Why isn't she running as a Republican?
Posted by Christopher at March 15, 2007 05:18 AMHillary is Bush in drag.
Posted by Mal Feasance at March 15, 2007 05:19 AM"Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now...We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for victims of our nation and for those it calls enemy. We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late." - Martin Luther King Jr., 40 years ago on the Vietnam War.
Endless war. They all step up, hands outstretched. "Please sir, bloody mine too, please..."
This is all our nation is anymore. War and rivers of blood. You want to get anywhere, you must sell yourself to it. Not a shred of humanity, fucking anywhere.
Posted by Sharkbabe at March 15, 2007 05:38 AMOh, and America ostensibly worried about others' weapons of mass destruction. It is to laugh, and weep. Am trying to laugh, because life is short.
Posted by Sharkbabe at March 15, 2007 05:43 AMthe scaled-down American military force that she would maintain would stay off the streets in Baghdad and would no longer try to protect Iraqis from sectarian violence — even if it descended into ethnic cleansing
So, if you wouldn't stop ethnic cleansing, why would you need troops there? You just let it cleanse until you reach homeostasis, correct?
Because the AIPAC-owned Washington establishment loves the idea that Saddam was overthrown and that the US now has four "mega bases" in the region
4 mega, 7 sorta mega. And all enduring, so please don't call them permanent.
When asked whether homosexuality was immoral, "Well I'm going to leave that to others to conclude."
Gays and Lesbians just don't have a big enough PAC. I propose a new FAGPAC that can outspend any PAC in American History. Hell, maybe we can get enough money to buy our own war! Now who the hell am I pissed-off at? North Dakota! Damn terrorist fucks!
Hillary! Strong for Israel, weak for America. That explains many presidencies.
Posted by phidipides at March 15, 2007 05:45 AMThanks for that MLK, Christopher. When he stepped out of his good doggie civil rights leader thing and talked larger - Vietnam - started publicly connecting the dots - bang.
Posted by Sharkbabe at March 15, 2007 05:49 AMThe Iraqi people will eventually break every bit of us, stomp our bases and the last Burger King menu sign therein into dust. The moment can't come soon enough.
Fuck all these pols, they are ALL Cheney Lite. Can anybody get a little creative? Anybody?
Posted by Sharkbabe at March 15, 2007 05:56 AMI believe we're beginning to get a consensus that the US is not going to leave Iraq.
Posted by JohnT at March 15, 2007 06:04 AMThere's no difference between Hillary Rodham and George Bush. Except maybe she likes chocolate chip cookies and he likes Oatmeal.
She continues to prove the point that with all her "education", she still lacks good sense and judgement. And that as long the US stays in the Middle East, nothing will change and the US will continue to be at risk.
The correct answer is to pull out the US troops and let the UN handle it. The CIA and the war party won't like it, but facing the fact that you're either irrelevant or the reason things continue to get worse is usually something no one likes to admit.
Posted by Alex at March 15, 2007 06:11 AMIn another life, Hillary could be Hillary Rodham Bush.
AIPAC's Queen redefines the term DINO.
Posted by Christopher at March 15, 2007 06:24 AMEt tu, Clintons? Both of you. PNAC assholes just like them, Cheney Lite. I weep for what Hillary could have been.
Bill having giggling slumber parties with 41. The Carlyle "grownups" trying to stop Chimpy, but not really. Sick. Just sickness.
Posted by Sharkbabe at March 15, 2007 06:28 AMHillary the Hawk was an outspoken supporter of Israel’s massive military assault on the civilian infrastructure of Lebanon and the Gaza Strip last summer, which took the lives of over 1,000 civilians.
She justified it by claiming it would “send a message to Hamas, Hezbollah, to the Syrians [and] to the Iranians” because they opposed the United States and Israel’s commitment to “life and freedom.”
WTF?
"Yet her overall strategy is smarter than what we have now from the Bush Administration, and is realistic in acknowledging how difficult and counterproductive a total withdrawal would be to our national interests."
It's all about OUR national interests eh Steve?
And fuck all the Iraqis we have to murder, rape, torture, and imprison to sustain this filthy smash and grab. Fuck Hillary and every other craven, war-mongering, Israel fellating politician.
Posted by ran at March 15, 2007 06:55 AM2nd Lt. Chelsea Clinton yet?
Or does Hilla the Hun only play Stratego with other people's kids?
At least nutty Michael Ledeen and Eliot Cohen have some skin in the fight.
This war, conceived and promoted by primitive brutal fools, was lost before the border was crossed. Perhaps that's why it appealed to loser Hilla.
Each additional day in Iraq only further diminishes the national interest.
Of course, if the national interest was Hilla's paramount concern, we probably wouldn't have committed this deceitful aggression and failed parasitic war of occupation in the first place. And we would've had a single payer universal health plan, sensible energy policy and full implementation of the Oslo accords ten years ago instead of cock-up, waste and perfidy.
Think war's good for business, Hilla? Then invest YOUR kid.
Posted by Pvt. Keepout at March 15, 2007 07:15 AMshe just committed political suicide. no longer even a rational voice when you show you are a lunatic
Posted by oldtree at March 15, 2007 07:36 AMAmerican unilateralism in Iraq is no longer an option; we have lost that prerogative. What does it mean if we sit there and pump the oil while the Iraqis are invited to just kill each other? We are hated occupiers, and that has to stop. We are not in the position to solve this problem, much as we and Israel would like us to do so. Those are the serious facts, and serious people should recognize them. America can no longer solve Iraq.
Posted by seesdifferent at March 15, 2007 07:52 AMEvery week, AIPAC's Queen has a new position on Iraq. What she needs to do is fire Terry McAuliffe and hire her husband as to run her campaign.
Posted by Christopher at March 15, 2007 07:52 AMAnybody who supports Clinton and thinks she has their back on any issue is deluding themselves. Hillary is in it for Hillary, no one else.
And as for what the "60 percent want"- you can't run this country based on what polls say. That's always been the Clintons problem- they don't really believe in anything and will follow wherever "the polls" lead them.
Even the John Kerry camp nixed Le Hill as his Veep in 2004 because she's so radioactive.
Posted by Christopher at March 15, 2007 07:54 AMSad day.....no vote for Hillary from me. But it fits whit what I have been saying all along. America will never retreat from Iraq. It has been a success for those in power that see things much different from us. A foothold in the Middle East, control of vast oil resources, proximity to other key regions of the globe, corporate penetration, assistance to Israel and much more.
If you understand the history of this country, then you can understand the present moment. Very little surprise here.
Hillary and Bill are insiders, they have been indoctrinated into the club and the rules of the club dictate their conduct. We are just fodder and useful puppets.
She will get the nomination..
keep going, hillary. make it clear that your judgement before the war wasn't an anamoly but a preview of what to expect from your presidency.
keep going, we'll get a real nominee yet.
Posted by benjoya at March 15, 2007 08:08 AMHillary is bought and sold, so she will be promoted at whatever cost, and she does not mind that she is therefore in bed with all of Cheney's WHIG/PNAC/A*PAC/The Lobby pals.
No matter how much that gang and their Goebbels-like propaganda machine, the MSM, promotes her, Hillary is unelectable, because the great majority of Republican voters who might switch just will not vote for her.
It would be great if we all write to our representatives in both Senate and House and tell them that it is now Un-American to support Zionism, that we trust they will refuse bribes, sorry, lobbying money, from that foreign agency AIPAC.
Posted by maunga at March 15, 2007 08:24 AMThe Iron Lady, American style.
Hillary knows that jingoism is popular. She cares nothing about its consequences.
Posted by baked potato at March 15, 2007 09:32 AMI told you that Hillary had no intentions of getting us out. I've come to the conclusion that if we want a president who will get us out, we need to choose one who was smart enough to vote against the war in the first place. Anyone who voted for this war was too dumb and gullible to see the con and too afraid to be different---or was complicit. Those do not demonstrate the leadership qualities that are going to be required to get us out of this dangerous mess.
Hillary wants us to stay in Iraq and Hillary is NOT competent. Keep those two points in mind. What Hillary IS is ambitious-- very, very ambitious. I will not vote for her.
Posted by Julie at March 15, 2007 09:47 AMI survived Communist Cuba, lost many family members there so I don't appreciate Fatty Leggy Hillary Thatcher's working for an avowed Commie,Robert Truhaf while she was in college somewhere, where she probably cheated her way through. She isn't a big dissapointment to me. I always knew she was a dick for enabling her true Dick husband all those miserable years.
Posted by Mal Feasance at March 15, 2007 07:00 PM