No it does not.
Posted on 08/04/2006 11:29:31 AM PDT by yoe
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton called Thursday for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, hours after excoriating him at a public hearing over what she said was a “failed policy” in Iraq.
“I just don't understand why we can't get new leadership that would give us a fighting chance to turn the situation around before it's too late,” the New York Democrat told the Associated Press.
“I think the president should choose to accept Secretary Rumsfeld's resignation.”
Clinton confronted Rumsfeld directly on Iraq and Afghanistan earlier in the day, and said his answers left her convinced he should go.
“The secretary has lost credibility with the Congress and with the people. It's time for him to step down and be replaced by someone who can develop an effective strategy and communicate it effectively to the American people and to the world.”
For months, Clinton has resisted joining the chorus of other Democrats demanding Rumsfeld's ouster. Her remarks Thursday were the harshest assessment yet from the woman considered her party's early front-runner for the 2008 presidential nomination.
The former first lady has come under attack from some in her own party for her 2002 vote for the war and her current opposition to a deadline for U.S. troop withdrawal.
“I am frankly tired of hearing the same stories from the administration's national security team,” Clinton told the AP. “The president changed his economic team, he changed his White House team - I think it's time for him to change his security and defense team.”
Clinton said her own view of the war has not changed.
“What's been clear is that despite my being a constant and persistent critic of how the president has conducted the war, it has not achieved the goals that he has set,” she said.
Earlier in the day, the senator wasted no time going after Rumsfeld when he testified in a morning hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“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 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.
“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 of Virginia, came to Rumsfeld's defense, saying his past comments had been balanced.
Clinton still shied away from a demand made by a growing number of Democrats: 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.
I think we'll get a chance to end her presidential ambitions in a couple of years.
Hiliary, the Junior Senator, from New York called for Sec. of Defense Rumsfeld's resignation...LOL.
"I think the president should choose to accept Secretary Rumsfeld's resignation."
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As if Rumsfeld is going to listen to her. Since when does President Bush follow directives from Hillary?
I can't believe Rumsfeld was dumb enough to go before that committee. Completely dumb...
Would anyone love how she handled trying to get government employees falsely jailed in the travel office fiasco?
Would they want to hire Hillary for President if they were aware of how her husband gave the Chinese the ability to fix their rockets and also gave them new guidance systems so they for the first time reach and nuke any city in the USA?
Can the people really handle hearing her speak for any length of time without wishing they had cotton in their ears?
Was anyone really fans of Hillary's attempt to destroy a seventh of the US economy in trying to create socialized medicine through the government to ruin the best medical care in the world?
I don't know... those dopes in New York elected her. Your litany is just a small sample too - what about Vince Foster?
- The FBI files at the White House?
- The missing Rose Law Firm records that suddenly turned up at the White House.
- Her husband's wholesale pardons his last month in office, one of which benefited a small precinct in New York which voted for here by over 90%.
- The pettiness of actually stealing furniture and other items from the White House and taking them to Chappaqua?
- Her brother Hugh's representation of plaintiffs who were also recipients of a presidential pardon
The list of her complicity in corruption and criminality is long and deep. She shouldn't have the political credibility of a skunk, yet the MSM fawns over her.
No it does not.
LOL! Good fnid.
"The proletariat will unite and throw off our chains...just as soon as Farmer Ivan milks us."
That foreign sounding congressman would say it so much better. "You dare to call yourself a Secretary of Defense? You're a pitiful spent manipulative, pompous old man! Why don't do the honorable thing for once in your life and shoot yourself in the head repeatedly with a worn-our BB gun! I'm waiting for your answer, but I don't think you have the courage to answer me, you snivveling evil, uncouth grandstander! I yield the balance of the remaining 2.25 seconds of my time to my honorable colleage from Massa"--BUZZZ!
Of course. :-)
LOL
She is the perfect example of why, if the Democrats make any gains whatsoever in the next election cycle, the violence plaguing the rest of the world will find its way once again to America's shores.
"It's time we recognized the nature of the conflict. It's total war and we are all involved. Nobody on our side is exempted because of age, gender, or handicap. The Islamofacists have stolen childhood from the world." [FReeper Retief]
"I want to know what I'm talking about".
Kinda says it all: She should have added: "I don't know sh** about the military and frankly I could care less, but this is about running for President and since I would be Commander in Chief, I have to make it look good".
Going after Rummy makes me look like I know something and ya know....people are so stupid, they'll believe me. Notice that I never told Rummy any alternatives just that he's "stupid".
Mrs. Bill Clinton:
- Former First Lady of Arkansas
- Former First Lady of United States, 1993-2001
- Currently in first term as U.S. Senator (D-NY)
IMHO, there actually is one reason, not well understood by many, that she claims the power granted her, and that is that she was the architect of Richard Nixon's fall...which gave us Jimmuh Carter......
I thought Rummy easily dispatched the over matched junior senator from NY. The media didn't give his responses much play, I think most of it went over their heads.
Or maybe, as Rummy had stated the day before, these public hearings are used by some senators for political posturing.
Naturally, the media reports the home-teams minor points no matter how badly they lost the overall game.
He's soooo good and showed us so well!! She accomplished NOTHING!!
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