DEBUNKED: Hillary explanation for why she voted against the 2002 Levin Amendment

[jefferson_dem]

Last night, Hillary was asked why she voted against the 2002 Levin Amendment, which would have required more diplomacy before the US went to war against Iraq. She answered: “The way that amendment was drafted suggested that the United States would subordinate whatever our judgment might be going forward to the United Nations Security Council.

Here are the facts ---

Voting With Hawks

This was an important vote, and the New York Democrat lined up with the war hawks, a position she has successfully shed during this campaign. The reason she voted against the Levin initiative, she explained, is it would have given the UN ``a veto over American presidential power,'' which she said is inappropriate ``no matter who is president.''

It did no such thing, Levin said at the time and a spokesman reiterates now. The proposal's language explicitly required that Congress ``not adjourn'' before it ``promptly considers proposals related to Iraq if the United Nations fails to adopt such a resolution.'' Senator Joe Biden, a Delaware Democrat who, like Senator Clinton opposed the Levin amendment, said at the time the UN charge was ``specious'' and that this was a vote about supporting an invasion.

During the lengthy Senate debate on this measure, Clinton not only never uttered this standard conservative critique, she never spoke.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=agZ18RGY8wjM&refer=politics

[papau]

1. Not a "debunked" - "If UN" makes our decision dependent on UN -just as she said