Armed Services

Clinton Says Some G.I.’s in Iraq Would Remain

Mrs. Clinton made it clear that she believed the next president is likely to face an Iraq that is still plagued by sectarian fighting and occupied by a sizable number of American troops. The likely problems, she said, include continued political disagreements in Baghdad, die-hard Sunni insurgents, Al Qaeda operatives, Turkish anxiety over the Kurds and the effort to “prevent Iran from crossing the border and having too much influence inside of Iraq.”

“The choices that one would face are neither good nor unlimited,” she said. “And from the vantage point of where I sit now, I can tell you, in the absence of a very vigorous diplomatic effort on the political front and on the regional and international front, I think it is unlikely there will be a stable situation that will be inherited.”

On the campaign trail, Mrs. Clinton has repeatedly vowed to bring the war to a close if the fighting were still going on when she took office as president. “If we in Congress don’t end this war before January 2009, as president, I will,” she has said.

Clinton Says Bush Has No Authority ‘To Do Anything With Respect to Iran’

Yesterday, ThinkProgress interviewed Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and asked her about Sen. Jim Webb’s (D-VA) efforts to expressly prohibit President Bush from taking “unilateral military action in Iran without the express consent of the Congress.”

Clinton expressed her support for the position, saying, “I think that the President should not assume that he has any authority to do anything with respect to Iran.” Clinton said that Bush “needs to come to the Congress, and neither the resolution regarding Afghanistan or Iraq give him authority to take offensive action.”

Clinton Calls for GI 'Bill of Rights'

Hillary Rodham Clinton offered a new GI "Bill of Rights" for men and women in uniform, arguing that Democrats can do a better job of protecting and providing for U.S. troops than the Republican administration. "I am here to say that if the buck does not stop with this president, I assure you, it will stop with the next president," the Democratic senator said in excerpts of remarks prepared for delivery later Thursday.

Clinton was set to deliver the speech at noon at the Center for American Progress, a think tank run by former Clinton White House aide John Podesta.

Hillary: I didn't vote for 'pre-emptive war'

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton today insisted her 2002 vote for a resolution authorizing an invasion of Iraq was “not a vote for a pre-emptive war,” but was instead a show of support for further United Nations-directed weapons inspections.

The Democratic presidential front-runner has been criticized by hard-line anti-war groups for making that vote more than four years ago and for not apologizing now, as fellow candidate John Edwards has done.

“I will let others speak for themselves,” she said in a telephone interview from Washington.

U.S. troops will get enough armor, admiral tells Hil

The admiral nominated to lead U.S. forces in the Mideast pledged to Sen. Hillary Clinton yesterday that he will round up enough armor and equipment for the 21,500 additional troops President Bush is sending to Iraq.

Navy Adm. William Fallon told Clinton (D-N.Y.) at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that he will shift gears from his current Pacific Command to his new post at the Central Command covering Iraq and Afghanistan.

Clinton: Bush Refrain the 'Height of Irresponsibility'

Sen. Hillary Clinton, in a campaign swing through Iowa, rebuked President Bush for saying that the Iraq war will continue into the next administration, whoever wins the White House in 2008. That, said Clinton, was "the height of irresponsibility."

"We should expect him to extricate our country from this before he leaves office," she said of President Bush.

Clinton's comments at a fairgrounds in Davenport, Iowa, came after a patron at the Hickory Grove restaurant there addressed the issue that seems to be on so many minds in Iowa.

As Clinton breezed past her booth, the woman urgently implored, "Please stop this war. Do something."

Clinton kept moving but replied quickly, "We're trying. We're trying. We're working hard on that."

( categories: 2008 Election | Armed Services | In The News )

Clinton Defends War Vote, Touts Security

Pressed to defend her Iraq war vote, Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday there are no "do-overs in life" and Democrats need a presidential nominee who inspires confidence on national security.

In her first campaign swing through this early nominating state, the New York senator told party activists that Democrats in 2008 will face "someone on the other side who will be very tough and strong, even bellicose perhaps."

That likely was a reference to Arizona Sen. John McCain, who has taken a hard line in supporting more U.S. troops to Iraq, as President Bush has announced.

AP Interview: Clinton takes responsibility for vote on Iraq war

New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton blamed President Bush on Saturday for misusing authority given him by Congress to act in Iraq, but conceded "I take responsibility" for her role in allowing that to happen.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Clinton also said she would not cede black votes to Barack Obama and that she had proven as a U.S. senator that gender is irrelevant.

Of her husband, the former president, she said he would have a role in the campaign but "I'm the one running for president."

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton Explains Her Iraq War Vote

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton appears on CNN to discuss her vote on the Iraq war resolution. Sen. Clinton explains that she takes responsibility for her vote based on the intelligence material presented to the senate and the American people at the time.