The Experienced Candidate.... Posted by Ilan Goldenberg

Didn't have such a good week. 

Apparently the surge is working.

Maliki should be ousted even though the entire Intelligence Community agrees that doing so would paralyze the Iraqi government for months.

The Republicans are better on terrorism.

I try to stay out of Presidential politics on Democracy Arsenal. But when you have a consistent set of mistakes that are undermining what progressives are trying to do on national security and foreign policy I can't help but get annoyed.   Stay on Message!!!

Comments

[Bob Narus]

She is on message. Hers. And it's not a progressive one.

[Don Bacon]

Cheer up.

1. Clinton never said that the surge is working. Clinton: "we've begun to change tactics in Iraq, and in some areas, particularly in Al Anbar province, it's working." She's referring to the arming of various Sunni groups who have been previously killing US troops.

Clinton also said: "We may disagree about whether there is or isn’t a military solution to this war. Having been there, having studied it and having seen the heroism and the accomplishments of our troops, I do not believe that we alone can impose a military solution. The best way to honor their service is by beginning to bring them home, and when they come home we have everything ready for them.”

Clinton may know about an impending Pentagon/Bush rift:
"Top general to urge Iraq troop cut"
WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is expected to advise President Bush to reduce the U.S. force in Iraq next year by almost half, potentially creating a rift with top White House officials and other military commanders over the course of the war.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-pace24aug24,0,43964.story?coll=la-home-center

2. Regarding Maliki, perhaps Clinton sees a coup in Maliki's future. From Juan Cole:

A rumor is circulating among well-connected and formerly high-level Iraqi bureaucrats in exile in places like Damascus that a military coup is being prepared for Iraq. I received the following from a reliable, knowledgeable contact. There is no certitude that this plan can or will be implemented. That it is being discussed at high levels seems highly likely.

"There is serious talk of a military commission (majlis `askari) to take over the government. The parties would be banned from holding positions, and all the ministers would be technocrats, so to speak. . . [The writer indicates that attempts have been made to recruit cabinet members from the ranks of expatriate technocrats.]

3. Regarding the Repubs being better on terrorism, I think that when Clinton said "Republicans" she meant "the government" because an attack on America would always favor whomever is in power. Clinton sees herself (naturally) as the Dem candidate best able to deal with uncertainty, having put up with a philanderer all these years. She'll claify it later.

from the Concord (NH) Monitor:
Clinton argued that her political experience would equip her "to handle things I have no control over" in the general election.

Her remarks peeled back the curtain, ever so slightly, on the possible scenarios Clinton is considering in her general election strategy.

"It's a horrible prospect to ask yourself 'What if? What if?,' " Clinton said. "But if certain things happen between now and the election, particularly with respect to terrorism, that will automatically give the Republicans an advantage again, no matter how badly they have mishandled it, no matter how much more dangerous they have made the world. So I think I'm the best of the Democrats to deal with that as well."
http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070824/NEWS01/708240371/1043/NEWS01

[Jack]

Unfortunately it took segregationist Governor Wallace to reveal the truth that "there's not a dime's worth of difference between" Republicans and Democrats. The Democrats willingly went along with the War in Iraq, suspension of Habeas Corpus, detaining protesters, banning books like "America Deceived' from Amazon, stealing private lands (Kelo decision), warrant-less wiretapping and refusing to investigate 9/11 properly. They are both guilty of treason.
Support Dr. Ron Paul and end this WAR.
Last link (before Google Books bends to gov't Will and drops the title):
America Deceived (book)

[Bob Narus]

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