Hillary’s Phased Withdrawal -- from her War Vote
A small group of Code Pink protesters interrupted the Iraq portion of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s speech at the DNC winter meeting. They didn’t stop Clinton from delivering a lengthy defense of her opposition to funding cutoffs or coining two new zingers to drown out the anti-war din.
Line 1: "If I had been president in October of 2002, I would not have started the war."
(Helpful historical note #1: As a senator with full voting rights on matters of war and peace, she did nothing to stop it. Neither did John Edwards, Joe Biden or John Kerry. Barack Obama was busy transacting the people’s business in the Illinois Senate at the time, and so couldn’t express his disapproval legislatively.)
Line 2: "If we in Congress don’t end this war before January 2009, as president I will." (Helpful historical note #2: By "end" the war, Clinton doesn't mean withdraw all of the troops. Unlike many Democrats, she believes the U.S. needs to maintain a robust, medium-term presence in Iraq, mainly to check the ambitions of Iran and beat back al-Qaida.)
Glenn Thrush
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Comments (1)
Her comments are very telling. Clinton is trying to re-write history (see the Congressional Record from October 10, 2002, pages S10288 through S10290). Among other things, Clinton told the American people:
"It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capability to wage biological and chemical warfare and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons. Should he succeed in that endeavor, he could alter the political and security landscape of the Middle East which, as we know all too well, affects American security" (page S10288).
If in 2002 Clinton reasonably concluded ("after careful and serious consideration" - page S10289) that Hussein was ultimately a threat to American security and interests, then her vote was the only responsible one. She recognized a potential threat and acted on it accordingly. That's called leadership.
I can only conclude that her attempt to now disown her 2002 vote is a disengenuous attempt to pander to a public wary from war. But it is neither credible nor sincere. And it is certainly not leadership.