" Oh Kumbaya there will be no war...Oh Kumbaya if a republican declares it...Oh Kumbaya I want to rule a socialist America...Oh Kumbaya and wear pants suits like the Chi coms..."
Posted on 02/10/2007 12:54:12 AM PST by Jim Noble
MANCHESTER – New York Sen. Hillary Clinton said yesterday her 2002 vote for a resolution authorizing the invasion of Iraq was "not a vote for a pre-emptive war," but instead a show of support for further United Nations weapons inspections.
The Democratic Presidential front-runner, who has been criticized by hard-line anti-war groups for not apologizing for the vote, emphasized that distinction in a telephone interview from Washington.
While fellow candidate John Edwards, a former senator, has apologized for his vote on the October 2002 resolution, Clinton again did not.
"I will let others speak for themselves," she said. "I have taken responsibility for that vote. It was based on the best assessment that I could make at the time, and it was clearly intended to demonstrate support for going to the United Nations to put inspectors into Iraq."
She said that when she explained her vote four years ago, "I said that it was not a vote for pre-emptive war."
A Clinton campaign spokesman later noted that on the Senate floor on Oct. 10, 2002, Clinton stated that her vote for the resolution "is not, however, a vote for any new doctrine of pre-emption, or for unilateralism, or for the arrogance of American power or purpose -- all of which carry grave dangers for our nation, for the rule of international law and for the peace and security of people the throughout the world."
In the interview, the former first lady said the Bush administration forced an end to the final round of weapons inspections and invaded prematurely. The administration is responsible for the current status of the war, she said, and for being "grossly misinformed" or for having "twisted the intelligence to satisfy a preconceived version of the facts" before the invasion.
"Either interpretation casts grave doubt on their judgment," she said. "If they were so intent on pursuing military action, a pre-emptive action, which I said at the time I opposed, against Saddam Hussein, then why on earth were they not better prepared and more competent in its execution?"
Clinton said Bush and his administration "have performed a great disservice to our men and women in uniform, to our country, to our vital national security interests in the region and to the ongoing struggle against Islamic extremists."
Clinton spoke with the New Hampshire Union Leader on the eve of her first campaign visit to the first-in-the-nation primary state. She is scheduled to talk to voters today in Berlin and Concord and tomorrow in Manchester, Nashua and Keene. She last visited the state in 1996.
Also yesterday, Clinton said she would campaign in New Hampshire even if the primary date set by Secretary of State William Gardner under a state law does not comply with the Jan. 22, 2008, date written into a new party rule by Democratic National Committee (see related story).
Clinton said she has proposed capping the U.S. military force in Iraq at the Jan. 1 level and has "voted for more than a year and a half to begin redeploying our troops out of Iraq."
She does not "at this time" support a cut in funding for American troops in Iraq. She backs instead a cut in funding for Iraqi troops.
"We have got to get their attention," she said of the Iraqi leadership. She said they "do not fulfill their promises" and make "worthless" assurances.
She predicted that if Congress were to approve a funding cut, Bush would veto it.
"I hate to say that," she said, "but I think that shows the level of stubbornness and rigidity that we are confronting with this President."
And what may have been veiled criticism of at least some of her Democratic opponents, Clinton said, "This is a very difficult situation we find ourselves in, and anyone who thinks there are easy answers or flip rhetoric that can be used is not fully appreciating the challenge that those of us confront who are trying to set up circumstances that will persuade the President to do what we all expect and want him to do."
Clinton did not say how she would have voted on New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg's proposed nonbinding Senate resolution simply opposing any cuts in troop funding. She said she backed a resolution by Republican Sen. John Warner and Democratic Sen. Carl Levin to oppose the Bush troop "surge" while also opposing a funding cut.
Bush, she said, "has proven impervious to the election results, so we are trying to get the political support we need in the Congress" to pass a strong anti-escalation statement in a nonbinding resolution.
She said the breakdown of efforts in the Senate this week to pass the Warner-Levin resolution was the result of "a Republican strategic decision to try to divert attention from doing that very straightforward task of sending a clear message to the White House."
She supported even stronger measures, saying, "The President should have to get a new congressional authorization if he is going to move down this path."
Clinton said that after the United Nations Security Council supported sending inspectors into Iraq in November 2002, "Saddam Hussein was contained and there was no reason not to let the inspectors finish their job to find answers to the questions many people had."
She said Congress' authorization a month earlier "did not necessarily require the President to short-circuit the process to launch the invasion," adding, "The abrupt conclusion of the inspection process, I think, was a mistake."
She said an earlier Bush mistake came when he "diverted attention from Afghanistan and the war against al-Qaida and the opportunity to build a strong international alliance against extremism and terrorism" and focused on Saddam.
She said had she been President, "I think I would never had asked for" authority to invade Iraq because she would not have begun the war.
Elaborating, she said: "But once a President asks for such authority, you either vote to give it to him or vote to withhold it from him. If you look at the options that were available, giving the President authority to make it very clear to the security council, to Iraq and to the world that we were serious about forcing Saddam Hussein to comply with his obligations under various United Nations' resolutions and the agreement he entered into at the end of the first Gulf War was a reasonable policy.
"What was not reasonable was manipulating the intelligence, which we now know occurred, and refusing to allow the inspectors under the edict of the United Nations to do their work."
The Washington Post reported yesterday that a Pentagon inspector general had found that intelligence provided by a former undersecretary of defense to buttress the White House case for the invasion included "reporting of dubious quality or reliability" that supported the political views of senior administration officials.
"This unfortunately confirms what we've been discovering in the last three years," Clinton said, "that the administration never intended to let the inspectors complete their work despite assurances to the contrary and that they gilded the lily on the intelligence they had."
Clinton said, "If we had known then what we know now about both the allegations concerning Saddam's intentions and capacity and about our own government's intentions, we would never have had a vote, and if there had been a vote, I certainly would never have voted to give the President authority," she said.
bttt
She's just another run-of-the-mill Focus Group driven politician, albeit an extremely dangerous one.
However, if she gets the nomination in '08, it will bring many more conservatives to the polls to vote against her.
If I knew then what I know now, I would have dumped my Cisco stock in March 2000.
Careful...
So she is shooting her mouth off this weekend in NH? Which event will the media choose...President Lincoln's announcement, Rudy in California, AN Smith, or the Pantsuit?
"These are the words of someone who is not even capable of following much less leading. "
"She couldn't push it forward and she wouldn't let anyone help her drag it along."
The above are two of the best quotes relating to Hillary I have ever read here on Free Republic.
The first one should be used as a BANNER that runs across the bottom of the screen whenever she is on TV.
Hillary isn't interested in following.
Hillary isn't interested in leading.
Hillary is only interested in RULING.
your so right.
Politicians kill me when they do this.
Yes.
Yes, you did vote for war.
No dependence on what 'did', is.
Face up to it, like a man, Hildebeast.
Now, now, it depends on what the definition of "is" is.
Post #7 well said, nailed it.
Sheesh....if it came down to her or Saddam, I'd vote for Saddam.
I know Al Gore, and you're no Al Gore!
That has to be the most imbecilic logic to begin any position statement with.
Except when used in this context.
If I had known then what I know now I would have never gotten married.
" Oh Kumbaya there will be no war...Oh Kumbaya if a republican declares it...Oh Kumbaya I want to rule a socialist America...Oh Kumbaya and wear pants suits like the Chi coms..."
It's become the Washington way--bilaterally--cringingly initiate halfway measures and hope for the best. Too bad. "Halfway measures avail us nothing." And as I said before, "Hope is not a strategy." Domestic catfighting will be the downfall of this nation.
I forgot to acknowledge the source:
#1 is my own (I was so sick of Germans saying to me "Bush is so arrogant - how could he say "you are either for us or against us?" that I had to find the evidence that the Euroweenies liberal hero Hillllllary actually said it first!)
#2-#10 were compiled in a recent WSJ piece and re-worded in a NewsMax recap of it.
Nothing beats a great pair of L'Eggs!
Without them it seems it is real easy for congress to walk away from their moral obligation to our troops.
Thanks.
It is not Congress that has the obligation - it's us.
Congress is merely a reflection of what we want at any given point in time.
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