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Edited on Fri Oct-05-07 03:16 AM by ariesgem
In 5 years, she went from beating the Iraq wars drums (with no discussion of the consequences) to - "Bush started the war. He escalated the war." Her positions are all over the map. Is there a Clinton supporter here who can clarify her policy on Iraq (based on her quotes below) so that it makes sense to the rest of us? If I left something out, please add to it and provide a link. October 2002: "I ended up voting for the resolution after carefully reviewing the information and intelligence that I had available, talking with people whose opinions I trusted, trying to discount political or other factors that I didn't believe should be in any way a part of this decision. And it is unfortunate that we are at the point of a potential military action to enforce the resolution. That is not my preference. It would be far preferable if we not only had legitimate cooperation from Saddam Hussein and a willingness on his part to disarm and to account for his chemical and biological storehouses, but if we had a much broader alliance and coalition." http://clinton.senate.gov/news/statements/details.cfm?id=233783 ........... ........... June 2003: "I want to know, who were we relying on (for intelligence)? Who were the people giving us this information? Because this administration has taken a very aggressive posture. You know, they talk about preemption. Therefore, I'm concerned that when I'm given information, it is scrubbed and as accurate as it possibly can be, especially when I see an administration that is willing to go a little further perhaps to pursue what they view as appropriate means to achieve ends that I may or may not agree with." http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1300416 ........... November 2003: "The idea of giving our president authority to act in the global war against terrorism, if necessary in his opinion, against Saddam Hussein, was one I could support and I did so. In the last year, however, I have been first perplexed, then surprised, then amazed, and even outraged and always frustrated by the implementation of the authority given the president by this Congress ... "I think now it is clear that, for a combination of reasons, the administration gilded the lily, engaged in hyperbole, took whatever small nugget of intelligence that existed and blew it up into a mountain, in order, I suppose, to make the case more strongly and convincingly to the American people "There were some ... who said: 'Wait a minute. We are heading off in the wrong direction. We are jumping on the wrong horse.' (:thumbsup: Obama) "But for many of us, looking at the intelligence, being briefed continually about what the threats were, being told by the highest levels of our government in public and in private that we were facing an imminent threat, it certainly seemed like a bet on which nobody -- at least speaking for myself -- wished to be on the wrong side" of. http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getpage.cgi?position=all&page=S12827&dbname=2003_record ........... Dec. 7, 2003: "I regret the way the president used the authority. I believe in presidential authority to deal with threats ... I have no second-guessing about giving the president authority ... What I do regret and what I think has been unfortunate is the way that that process was short-circuited and the military action was taken without any adequate understanding or planning about what the aftermath would be." http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3660558/ ........... Dec. 15 2003: "I was one who supported giving President Bush the authority, if necessary, to use force against Saddam Hussein," she says. "I believe that that was the right vote. I have had many disputes and disagreements with the administration over how that authority has been used, but I stand by the vote to provide the authority because I think it was a necessary step in order to maximize the outcome that did occur in the Security Council with the unanimous vote to send in inspectors." http://www.cfr.org/publication.html?id=6600 ........... April 2004: "I don't regret giving the president authority, because at the time it was in the context of weapons of mass destruction, grave threats to the United States, and clearly, Saddam Hussein had been a real problem for the international community for more than a decade. What I regret is the way the president used the authority." "I believe strongly that after 9/11, we have to be prepared to take action to protect our country, to protect our friends and allies, American assets around the world ... Now that we're there, we're going to have to make the best of it. I think it could have been handled differently ... For the life of me, I don't understand how they had such an unrealistic view about what was going to happen." http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0404/20/lkl.00.html ........... November 2005: "I voted for on the basis of the evidence presented by the administration, assurances they gave that they would first seek to resolve the issue of weapons of mass destruction peacefully through United Nations sponsored inspections, and the argument that the resolution was needed because Saddam Hussein never did anything to comply with his obligations that he was not forced to do," Clinton writes. "Their assurances turned out to be empty ones, as the administration refused repeated requests from the UN inspectors to finish their work. And the 'evidence' of weapons of mass destruction and links to al-Qaida turned out to be false.
"Based on the information that we have today, Congress never would have been asked to give the president authority to use force against Iraq. And if Congress had been asked, based on what we know now, we never would have agreed, given the lack of a long-term plan, paltry international support, the proven absence of weapons of mass destruction, and the reallocation of troops and resources that might have been used in Afghanistan to eliminate Bin Laden and al-Qaida, and fully uproot the Taliban ...
"I take responsibility for my vote, and I, along with a majority of Americans, expect the president and his administration to take responsibility for the false assurances, faulty evidence and mismanagement of the war." http://www.clinton.senate.gov/issues/nationalsecurity/index.cfm?topic=iraqletter ........... September 2006: "I can only look at what I knew at the time because I don't think you get do-overs in life. I think you have to take responsibility. And hopefully, learn from it and go forward. I regret very much the way the president used the authority he was given because I think he misled the Congress, and he misled the country." "I understand that because certainly the feelings about Iraq are very raw and deep. And I share them. But I don't think that's responsible. And I've taken a lot of heat from my friends who have said, 'Please just, you know, throw in the towel and say let's get out by a date certain.' I don't think that's responsible, either. And it may be frustrating for some, but I don't think complicated situations in life or, frankly, in foreign policy and military affairs often lend themselves to answers that can be put into a sound bite." http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2006/09/hotline_after_d_83.html ........... ........... ...........
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