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HILLARY ON IRAQ
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Hillary Clinton's Senate Record on the
War in Iraq: |
- October 2007: In a characteristic move of playing
both sides of an issue, Hillary signs onto Senator Jim Webb’s
bill that would prohibit the use of funds for military operations
in Iran. She is the first and only co-sponsor of a bill
unlikely to even be voted on. This largely empty gesture
is designed to quell criticism of her Kyl-Lieberman vote.
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September 2007: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
votes yes on the Kyl-Lieberman Amendment that effectively
labels the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps a “terrorist
organization.” Clinton was the lone Democratic presidential
candidate in the Senate to support this legislation that
many view as giving President Bush authority to launch
an air war against Iran.
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May 2007: Hillary votes NO on the war appropriations
bill that passes the Senate by a vote of 80-14. The Associated
press says that Presidential politics played a role in
the NO votes cast by Clinton and Obama, who are under
pressure from anti-war activists. CODEPINK's
eighteen-month Listen Hillary campaign is having an impact.
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May 2007:. Hillary Clinton votes YES on a procedural
motion to end debate on legislation sponsored by Senator
Feingold calling for a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq.
The motion is defeated, as has been predicted. The media
reports that during the day Clinton gives several different
answers about whether she will actually support the measure
if it comes
to a vote. The Associated Press quotes her as saying she
will not speculate on “what I’m going to be
voting on in the future.” Later in the day she says
she will support the legislation.
- May 2007: Under increasing pressure because of
declining public support for the war, Hillary Clinton signs
on as a co-sponsor of a bill that would revoke the
2002 War Authorization she voted for. The bill would allow
for continued funding of the war, having no discernable
practical impact, but is an attempt by Hillary to distance
herself from the increasingly unpopular occupation of Iraq
and to position herself as an “anti-war candidate.”
- March 2007: In an interview with the New York Times,
Hillary predicts a “remaining military as well as
political mission” in Iraq; she states that if
elected president, she would keep a reduced military force
there to fight Al Qaeda, deter Iranian aggression, protect
the Kurds and support the Iraqi military. The implication
is that there will be permanent bases and American boots
on the ground in Iraq far beyond the 2008 elections if Hillary
becomes president.
- January 2007: Hillary says that it was
President Bush’s “decision to go to war with an
ill-conceived plan and an incompetently executed strategy."
She adds, “We expect him to extricate our country from
this before he leaves office,” e.g., before 2009, but
she hedges when asked if this means troop withdrawal by
then. In short, Hillary once again makes it clear that her
ever-changing positions on the war are tied completely to
her domestic political calculations
- January 2007: Hillary places the blame
for the situation on the Iraqis themselves: "I don't
think we should continue to fund the protection for the
Iraqi government leaders or for the training and equipping
of their army unless they meet certain conditions…."
She opposes Bush's "troop surge" and calls for
a "cap" on troop levels, but refuses to call for
withdrawal or to support Senate measures that would restrict
funding for the war.
- December 2006: Hillary still doesn't
join John Kerry and John Edwards in apologizing for the
war authorization vote, but she does say: "Obviously,
if we knew then what we know now, there wouldn't have been
a vote and I certainly wouldn't have voted that way."
- October 2006: Hillary calls for the
firing of Donald Rumsfeld. "If we could get some adult
supervision right now in the administration with respect
to their war strategy, this could be handled," she
said. She's not against the war-she just thinks it's being
managed badly.
- September 2006: Clinton votes NO on
Senate Amendment 4882 sponsored by Diane Feinstein that
would ban the sale of cluster munitions for the use in heavily
populated civilian areas. The amendment is defeated 70-30.
- June 2006: Clinton votes NO on Senate
Amendment 4442 sponsored by John Kerry that would require
the redeployment of United States Armed Forces from Iraq
in order to further a political solution in Iraq. The amendment
is defeated 86-13.
- November 2005: A few days after Representative
John Murtha bravely calls for the redeployment of troops
currently in Iraq, Hillary offers this response: an immediate
U.S. withdrawal from Iraq would be "a big mistake."
- February 2005: Hillary makes the somewhat
dubious statements that much of Iraq is functioning well,
that elections there have succeeded and that the insurgency
is failing. Hillary says the US should not set a deadline
for troop withdrawal because it will "play into the
hands of the insurgents."
- April 2004: Hillary says she is not sorry
she voted for a resolution authorizing the president to
take military action in Iraq, but she does regret "the
way the president used the authority."
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October 2002: Clinton votes YES on House
Joint Resolution 114, "to authorize the use of United
States Armed Forces against Iraq." The measure passes
the Senate 77-23.
All voting records fromwww.vote-smart.org
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From
The Olympian, February 4, 2007: |
| “ |
In Iowa last weekend, Sen.
Clinton showed why she shouldn't - and I believe won't - be
president. She deliberately misled the audience about her vote
to authorize President Bush to use force against Saddam Hussein...
Last weekend in Des Moines, Sen. Clinton attempted to explain
her 2002 vote in favor of a Senate resolution "to Authorize
the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq" (S.J.
Res. 45): "I said that we should not go to war unless we
have allies. So (President Bush) took the authority that I and
others gave him and he misused it, and I regret that deeply.
And if we had known then what we know now, there never would
have been a vote, and I never would have voted to give this
president that authority."
Speaking to the left wing, anti-war organization, Code
Pink, on March 7, 2003, as can be found on YouTube,
Sen. Clinton tried to justify her pro-war vote: "There
is a very easy way to prevent anyone from being put into harm's
way, that is for Saddam Hussein to disarm. And I have absolutely
no belief that he will. I have to say that this is something
I've followed for more than a decade. If he were serious about
disarming, he would have been much more forthcoming. ... I ended
up voting for the resolution after carefully reviewing the information,
intelligence that I had available, talking with people whose
opinions I trusted, trying to discount the political or other
factors that I didn't believe should be in any way part of this
decision." |
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Read
the entire article at The Olympian |
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From
Washington Post, January 18, 2007: |
| “ |
Clinton Steps Up Criticism
of War in Iraq -- Senator Rejects Bush Strategy but Steers Clear
of Timetable for Troop Pullout:
Her long support for the war and past reluctance to break more
significantly with the administration have left her at odds
with many liberal activists, who will play an influential role
in the Democratic nomination battle. Yesterday, she stopped
short of embracing a timetable for withdrawing troops from the
conflict, an idea many activists support... |
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Read
the entire article at Washington Post |
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From
The Guardian, January 18, 2007: |
| “ |
Blow to Clinton campaign
as effort to win over Iraq critics falls short:
Although she is one of the front-runners for the Democratic
nomination and has already accumulated sizeable campaign funds
and an experienced election team, she is in danger of misjudging
the speed with which the public mood is shifting against the
war, and the strength of anti-war feeling in the Democratic
party... |
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Read
the entire article at The Guardian |
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From
The HuffingtonPost, July 13, 2006: |
| “ |
Elaborating on how Hillary
can overcome voter uncertainty by, as the story puts it, reintroducing
her values and biography to a national electorate," the
anonymous advisor says: "She will define herself, and we
have the money to do it. People have to get to know her, know
that she was once a Republican, that she's a big Methodist...
That will happen." So that's the winning strategy for 2008?
Run Hillary as a Goldwater girl and -- wait for it -- "a
big Methodist"?
Holy blatant red state pandering, Batman!" |
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Read
the entire article at The HuffingtonPost |
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From
The New York Daily News: |
| “ |
[Senator Clinton] has called abortion
"a tragic choice," sponsored a bill to make flag-burning
a crime, pushed for a crackdown on violent video games and supported
the war in Iraq.
Democratic eyebrows were raised again earlier this month when
it was revealed that Murdoch — whose conservative Fox News Network
regularly lambastes Clinton and her husband, former President
Bill Clinton — plans to sponsor a fund-raiser for her."
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Read
the entire article at nydailynews.com |
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From The New
York Observer: |
| “ |
Mrs. Clinton’s strategy [on Iraq]—as
pieced together from her public speeches and letters—amounts
to this: America should stay the course, but not at the cost
of lingering for too long. Troops should start coming home this
year, but enough should remain to maintain some semblance of
peace for a national unity government that will have to take
responsibility for Iraq’s future.
In the view of some leading members of the foreign-policy establishment,
Mrs. Clinton’s political caution has left her with something
that is not a long-term strategy at all." |
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Read
the full article, by Jason Horowitz, www.observer.com |
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Arianna Huffington on Hillary, May 14,
2006: |
| “ |
I've been trying to crack The Hillary
Code.
Unlocking the latest Clinton cryptex, we find not a papyrus
map but other kinds of symbolic clues: Making headlines with
her warm assessment of Bush. Partying with a Who's Who of the
GOP power elite, including Karl Rove, Karen Hughes, Tom DeLay,
and Bill Frist. Planning a fundraiser to be hosted by— wait
for it—Rupert Murdoch.
It doesn't take a dashing Harvard symbologist and a sexy French
cryptographer to figure this one out. Hillary Clinton is determined
to single-handedly remove every last vestige of authenticity
from American politics." |
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Read
the full article, http://www.huffingtonpost.com |
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Molly Ivins on Hillary: |
| “ |
I'd like to make it clear
to the people who run the Democratic Party that I will not support
Hillary Clinton for president.
Enough. Enough triangulation, calculation and equivocation.
Enough clever straddling, enough not offending anyone This is
not a Dick Morris election. Sen. Clinton is apparently incapable
of taking a clear stand on the war in Iraq, and that alone is
enough to disqualify her." |
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Read
the full article, www.freepress.org |
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