any wonder?
Posted on 08/03/2006 2:06:54 PM PDT by Havok
WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton excoriated Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at a Senate hearing Thursday, saying he is presiding over a "failed policy" in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Under your leadership there have been numerous errors in judgment that have led us to where we are," the New York Democrat said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. "We have a full-fledged insurgency and full-blown sectarian conflict in Iraq."
The showdown between Clinton, a potential presidential candidate in 2008, and Rumsfeld, the public face of the Bush administration's war effort, included the strongest criticism of the Iraq war she has made to date.
The defense secretary seemed briefly stunned by the intensity of her attack, exclaiming, "My goodness," before launching into a point-by-point defense.
He rejected some of her specific criticisms as simply wrong and said the war against terror will be a drawn-out process.
"Are there setbacks? Yes," said Rumsfeld. "Is this problem going to get solved in the near term? I think it's going to take some time."
The testy exchange between Clinton and Rumsfeld came after a top general told the panel violence in Iraq is probably as bad as he's ever seen it and the country may be descending into civil war.
Rumsfeld's popularity has suffered through the three-year Iraqi insurgency, but Clinton has faced critics within her own party furious about her vote in 2002 to authorize the invasion of Iraq and her continued support for the overall mission there.
A day before the hearing, Clinton pushed Rumsfeld to testify publicly before the committee, and when her turn came to speak, she laced into him.
"When our constituents ask for evidence that your policy in Iraq and Afghanistan will be successful, you don't leave us with much to talk about," said Clinton.
"We hear a lot of happy talk and rosy scenarios, but because of the administration's strategic blunders — and frankly the record of incompetence in executing — you are presiding over a failed policy," she said. "Given your track record, Secretary Rumsfeld, why should we believe your assurances now?"
Rumsfeld vehemently denied he'd ever glossed over the difficulties of the fighting in Iraq or elsewhere.
"There's a track record here," countered Clinton. "This is not 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, when you appeared before this committee and made many comments and presented many assurances that have frankly proven to be unfulfilled."
"Senator, I don't think that's true," Rumsfeld fired back. "I have never painted a rosy picture. I've been very measured in my words and you'd have a dickens of a time trying to find instances where I've been excessively optimistic. I understand this is tough stuff."
At that point, the Republican chairman of the committee, Sen. John Warner (news, bio, voting record) of Virginia, came to Rumsfeld's defense, saying his past comments had been balanced.
Clinton still shied away from two demands made by a growing number of Democrats: Rumsfeld's resignation and a deadline for withdrawing troops from Iraq.
The disagreement between the two extended to Afghanistan. The senator specifically faulted Rumsfeld for saying in 2002 that the Taliban was gone, noting that the extremist faction has grown stronger in recent months.
He conceded violence has escalated in Afghanistan, but added, "Does that represent failed policy? I don't know. I would say not."
The defense secretary said he expected the violence there to follow a seasonal pattern and decline as winter approaches.
Good one.
They're in her purse along with the FBI records
She is out there trying to score cheap political points. In any conflict there will be problems and mistakes and this administration has made its share. That's why hindsight is always 20/20 and we have historians to teach us what went wrong so we learn from it. Biatch is trying to cover her (substantial) flank here by criticizing the administration for things she and her rapist hubby have no clue about.
...I'll let the generals speak for themselves....they have enough on their plate without playing political "gotcha".. Besides...how do you know they think that??????
Listened to Rush on the way home from work.
Sounded like Donny Rumsfeld made Hillary Hildabeast look like what she is ....... an opportunist !!
Traslation of Hillary Clinton's remarks: "Hey Al Qaeda! You're winning! You're so effective we Democrats are going to rip the nation apart for cheap political gain, so keep the body bags coming! You've beat the USA and instead of pulling together as a nation during a time of national danger and realizing war has its ebbs and flows, we're just going to keep emboldening you with our divisiveness and message of 'we failed' in the war on terror!"
"From the clips I heard, Rummy handed her fat-ass right back to her on a platter."
Exactly. Rumsfield ran circles around her and made her look like an opportunist. How any American on Earth could vote for that childish beast is beyond me. She pushed him to testify, he changes plans to do so, and she pulls this crap.
Not even close to being Presidential.
Hillary's still angry that she didn't get asked to her Senior Prom. That was the beginning of her long road to becoming a lesbian.
Sen Clinton might be upset over the past two weeks in Lebanon. This upsetness could boil over into irrational rant on the Senate floor.
any wonder?
Don't leave out the ex Co-President's nuclear support of Kim Jong Ill! ...Maddie's boyfriend
I missed the beginning of her crap but Rummy's reply was as if he were correcting a student whining about homework
That's a good example while no senator, from either party will be president at least for another generation, thankfully.
It's a rather pathetic collective group of fools.
That was my impression, too. She sounded robotic. In fact, her tone was eerily reminiscent of her "I couldn't breathe" speech (when she claimed Bill had just told her about Monica, and that before that she didn't know anything about his infidelities). She's got one of the worst speaking voices I've ever heard.
lol
Hillary, under your reputed husband's "leadership," al-Qaeda was able to attack US interests with impunity, and without fear of reprisal, leading up to the horrific acts of 9/11.
Worth repeating, over and over again!
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