As War Neared in 2003 -- Hillary Was Silent

[WillyT]

<snip>

Wherever you stand on the Obama/Clinton race, one thing nearly everyone agrees on is this: She voted for the war resolution in 2002, has not apologized for that vote since - but now says the resolution did not really authorize the war and calls the 2003 invasion a mistake. But what did she do in attempting to halt the war - which she felt she did not authorize -- in the two weeks before it began? Apparently, nothing.

With fifth-anniversary coverage now in full swing, I probed The New York Times' online archives today from March 6 to March 23 in 2003 (the war started on March 19), looking for evidence. Numerous articles involving the junior senator from New York turned up, but most related to subjects pretty far afield from the war: from abortion to the St. Patrick's Day Parade.

The only Clinton statement about the war in the Times - as the countdown arrived - came in a revealing roundup of local officials' views written by Joyce Purnick. She found several top New York officeholders strongly against the war (such as Rep. Rangel), and a few okaying it. But here is her summary of Hillary's views:

"The award for the most indefinite position has to go to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. When her press secretary, Philippe Reines, was asked her position, he sent a transcript of Mrs. Clinton's remarks last Friday on CNN and a news account of her comments on Monday during a visit to Watervliet, N.Y. (It seems that the senator, still a bit first ladylike, is reluctant to pick up the phone.)

"She said on CNN that the president ''made the right decision to go back to the United Nations''' and suggested that the country 'take a deep breath, deal with Iraq if we have to, understand exactly what we've gotten ourselves into, because in the briefings I've received, there's a lot of unknowables.'

"In Watervliet, the senator said, 'This is a very delicate balancing act.' And, 'I fully support the policy of disarming Saddam Hussein.' She also urged the administration 'to try to enlist more support.'

"A skeptic might conclude that Mrs. Clinton wants to appeal to her antiwar constituents in New York now, and to a broader base later -- if she runs for president. Or maybe she remains conflicted."

A little over a week later, on March 14, this letter appeared in the Times, from Susana Margolis of New York City: "It's increasingly evident that the likely invasion of Iraq is only secondarily about the variously offered objectives, from weapons of mass destruction to ''liberation.' Rather, it represents a historic change in United States foreign policy: the establishment of an American garrison to carry out policy goals in western Asia by military means.

"The president should come clean on the administration's true intentions, and it is the Senate's duty to debate the issue. Yet there's not a word. New York's senators, having voted for the resolution last year authorizing the use of force in Iraq, appear to have lost their voices entirely. History will record that when the country effected a sea change in its posture toward the world, Senators Hillary Clinton and Charles E. Schumer were nowhere to be found."

<snip>

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/as-war-neared-in-2003-_b_91747.html

These Iraq War 5th Year Anniversary retrospectives might just put the HRC Campaign back on its heels.

:shrug:

[mdmc]

1. My congressman M.Hinchey vocally opposed the war

Both of my rat worm senators were either silent or cheerleading an attack on Iraq. HRC was talking up the threat and was very hawkish.

[Faygo Kid]

2. Excellent. She was indeed "nowhere to be found."

Triangulating political strategy. That was her "position" on the war.

I will never forget how angry I was in 2002-03 as we so clearly moved towards war without even a scintilla of accountability. The death of Paul Wellstone was an unmitigated tragedy in so many ways, but the loss of his forceful voice against war was perhaps the worst. Certainly, Hillary did nothing to even subject the decision to scrutiny, let alone try to stop it.

Thanks for posting this.

[WillyT]

3. You Are Quite Welcome !!!

:hi:

[blm]

4. When Kerry stepped up to say the weapon inspections were WORKING to prove force was not

needed, it would have made a huge difference if other IWR supporters backed him up. Instead, they sided with Bush's decision and stayed on that side while leaving the Dem candidate and eventual nominee alone to take the hits from the RW and the media.

What a difference it would have made perception-wise throughout 2003 and 2004 if more prominent IWR supporters would have stood up WITH Kerry to denounce Bush's DECISION to invade while weapon inspections were working and proving war was NOT needed.

[WillyT]

5. Exactly !!!

They left him totally exposed.

:mad:

[bobthedrummer]

6. When the late Democratic Chair of the House Banking Committee Henry Gonzalez

was calling for the impeachment of George H.W. Bush as a result of his investigations into the secret arming of Iraq by the US, his discoveries had opened the doors on a black budget network that has only continued and expanded.

Despite what is known about what became called Iraqgate, it went down the memory hole for most people.

It is time to revive and review Iraqgate and its significance to current world events and campaign 2008.

Below is an archived LA Times article from October 27, 1992 that is helpful for background on Iraqgate.

"Iraqgate--A Case Study of a Big Story With Little Impact. Despite hundreds of news reports, no public outrage has erupted over secret U.S. aid to Iraq" by David Shaw (LA Times)
http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/food/la-me-shaw27oct27,1,6057214.story

The Gulf War Veterans Resources Web page has an archived article from The American Spectator by Kenneth R. Timmerman (November 1, 1996) that was posted August 12, 1997 that is much more detailed-and relevant to today.

"Whatever Happened to IRAQGATE"
http://www.gulfweb.org/doc_show.cfm?ID=527

Hillary Clinton was once a Director of the French corporation LaFarge, whos US component Kennametal was part of the covert system that supplied chemical weapons material to Iraq. Maybe she was unaware of that, but she has never given any answers about her relationship with LaFarge or Kennametal. That is some of the experience she would bring with her as President.

[blm]

7. Iraqgate was also peripheral to BCCI matters - deep-sixed by the Clintons to protect BushInc.

And every Democrat who had spent years uncovering and unraveling the crimes of BushInc at great risk to their lives and careers were pushed to the curb. Henry Gonzalez was one of the few American lawmakers working to expose the truth to the American people in his efforts to preserve an accurate historic record.

[bobthedrummer]

9. The Atlanta branch of the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro/BNL, Kissinger-what Gonzalez knew was ignored

just as what investigative journalists like Murray Waas, Douglas Frantz, Alan Friedman, Craig Unger, William Rempel, Henry Weinstein as well as the upthread linked Kenneth Timmerman and David Shaw (as well as many others) never "got traction".

BNL, Kissinger (who was the Decider's original choice to head the 9/11 Commission), the Iran-contra network--all these traitors, war criminals and war profiteers as well as the HISTORY that has led to today's current world events have been IGNORED and when brought up by a few of us that remember our HISTORY, well we used to be called tinfoil wearing lunatics-now we are called terrorist supporters or worse.

And there are those that think a Hillary Clinton Presidency will make everything better, while another US aircraft carrier group is headed to the Persian Gulf and Adm. Fallon was forced to resign as head of CENTCOM-yet the new leadership we the people elected in 2006 still ignore our urgent messages.

We are being governed by a culture of death.

Bomb bomb bomb
Bomb bomb Iran
:nuke:

[Drachasor]

8. She was silently disagreeing, behind the scenes

[bobthedrummer]

10. She's in bed with Will Marshall when it comes to Iraq and other neocon policies

Will Marshall is the co-founder of the Democratic Leadership Council/DLC, President of the DLC's leading think tank the Progressive Policy Institute/PPI as well as a PNAC signatory.

Will Marshall profile (from Right Web)
http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1295.html

PPI was funded (2000-2002) by the extreme RW/neocon Milwaukee-based powerhouse The Bradley Foundation

Third Way grants to support PPI (from Media Transparency)
http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=2355

The DLC leadership includes Hillary Clinton, President Clinton and many of his former cabinet/staff.

The DLC is a RW political machine within the Democratic Party that calls itself by many names.

"Inconvenient truths about the New Democrats, the Third Way, Democratic Leadership Council, etc."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2973191

[120cars]

11. Edwards was silent too

Since this post has nothing to do with Edwards' apology, let's just say he was silent when it counted. And we in DU loved him.

Go figure.

[bobthedrummer]

12. I've been here since 2001, you just became a member and post in GD-P

Hmmm.

I ran DU all candidate polls last fall that got over a thousand recorded votes, and yes here at DU Dennis Kucinich and John Edwards won all of them.

Yet this thread is discussing Hillary Clinton and related to her IWR vote.

Oh well-for me it's time to go figure many things and get this Willy T thread bttt.

[blm]

16. Edwards got his butt kicked, too, at the time. The difference with Hillary is

that she and Bill continued to side with Bush's decision long after Edwards altered his view publicly and took the hits for it, just as Kerry did.

[bobthedrummer]

26. Another T-stone in GD-P, blm, bye-bye to 120cars

[LSK]

43. 4 years later, Hillary is voting for Kyl Leibermann

She learned NOTHING.

[bobthedrummer]

44. I think it's worse than that-she's an intelligent educated person and knows what she's doing,

yep-you can take that to your local threatened bank.

[TheZug]

13. Let's just focus on moving forward . . .

. . . except when it serves her to focus on her so-called "experience."

[bobthedrummer]

14. "Have you ever been experienced? Have you ever been experienced?

Well, I have..."
sorry Jimi, but I know you can dig it

[bobthedrummer]

15. k

[youknowmenotdlc]

17. This is reason A#1 why Hillary is not deserving

of this nomination.

Spin it however you will, she had an opportunity to LEAD against this war and she didn't.

[PerfectSage]

18. Wow your right, I didn't realize it was the 5th year aniverary.

5 years ago I guessed: In all probabability this is going to turn into a quagmire like Viet Nam.

I'd make a better CinC than Hillary.

[hfojvt]

19. was she really "silent"?

She gave an interview on CNN with Judy Woodruff on Feb. 23 (I think) and said "Saddam is not co-operating with the inspectors". Basically making Bush's case for war. She spoke to Code Pink and Now in February, basically saying that "it is up to Saddam to prevent this war, by disarming or abdicating". On the day the war started, she did not criticize Bush, instead she promoted one of his chief talking points - "we all have to support the troops now".

The times she was not silent, she was promoting Bush talking points and enabling his rush to war.

[blm]

21. And Bill got on every network and DEFENDED Bush from the criticisms of 2004 Dem nominee

And did so for THREE WEEKS STRAIGHT during his high profile book tour in 2004.

[Major Hogwash]

27. Yeah, I don't know why people here think we forgot that.

It was the weirdest shit I ever saw, until I realized what "submarining" someone's candidacy would do for his wife - open the door for her own run.

[Tom Rinaldo]

28. Honest question

You wrote: "On the day the war started, she did not criticize Bush, instead she promoted one of his chief talking points - "we all have to support the troops now".

Can anyone list Democrats then in Congress or who had been in Congress who took a position blasting the invasion of Iraq after it began, rather than take some version of a "support our troops" stand once the war began?

[hfojvt]

39. here's one

Robert Byrd
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0319-04.htm

and another: Kucinich
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2003/09/030907-kucinich.htm

nothing from Kennedy until September 2003. On March 19, 2003 Al Gore was joining the board of directors of Apple. Feingold issued almost the same statement as Clinton

[dailykoff]

20. And she's got her blue dress ready for Iran

and Syria, and Libya, and whatever else her puppetmasters decide is best for "US security in the region."

[WillyT]

22. Kick !!!

:kick:

[WillyT]

23. Kick !!!

:kick:

[bobthedrummer]

24. bttt

[JVS]

25. Things were going her way. She had no need to speak.

[bobthedrummer]

29. k

[bobthedrummer]

30. .

[WillyT]

31. Kick !!!

:kick:

[Carolina]

32. K&R

[bobthedrummer]

33. k

[Liberal Veteran]

34. Yeppers, and I was participating in my first peace marches.

Funny that I could see it was wrong, but Ms. Experience couldn't.

[bobthedrummer]

35. k

[Oilwellian]

36. Here's another excellent article on the issue

Great post WillyT...I also found an article that gives a very good summary of Hillary's actions in the run-up to war.

Senator Clinton’s militaristic stance on Iraq predated her support for Bush’s 2003 invasion. For example, in defending the brutal four-day U.S. bombing campaign against Iraq in December 1998 – known as Operation Desert Fox – she claimed that “the so-called presidential palaces … in reality were huge compounds well suited to hold weapons labs, stocks, and records which Saddam Hussein was required by UN resolution to turn over. When Saddam blocked the inspection process, the inspectors left.” In reality, as became apparent when UN inspectors returned in 2002 as well as in the aftermath of the invasion and occupation, there were no weapons labs, stocks of weapons or missing records in these presidential palaces. In addition, Saddam was still allowing for virtually all inspections to go forward at the time of the 1998 U.S. attacks. The inspectors were withdrawn for their own safety at the encouragement of President Clinton in anticipation of the imminent U.S.-led assault.

Senator Clinton also took credit for strengthening U.S. ties with Ahmad Chalabi, the convicted embezzler who played a major role in convincing key segments of the administration, Congress, the CIA, and the American public that Iraq still had proscribed weapons, weapons systems, and weapons labs. She has expressed pride that her husband’s administration changed underlying U.S. policy toward Iraq from “containment” – which had been quite successful in defending Iraq’s neighbors and protecting its Kurdish minority – to “regime change,” which has resulted in tragic warfare, chaos, dislocation, and instability.

Prior to the 2003 invasion, Clinton insisted that Iraq still had a nuclear program, despite a detailed 1998 report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), subsequent studies that indicated that Iraq’s nuclear program appeared to have been completely dismantled a full decade earlier, and a 2002 U.S. National Intelligence Estimate that made no mention of any reconstituted nuclear development effort. Similarly, even though Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons programs had been dismantled years earlier, she also insisted that Iraq had rebuilt its biological and chemical weapons stockpiles. And, even though the limited shelf life of such chemical and biological agents and the strict embargo against imports of any additional banned materials that had been in place since 1990 made it physically impossible for Iraq to have reconstituted such weapons, she insisted that “It is clear…that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons.”

In the fall of 2002, Senator Clinton sought to discredit those questioning Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Vice-President Dick Cheney, and others who were making hyperbolic statements about Iraq’s supposed military prowess by insisting that Iraq’s possession of such weapons “are not in doubt” and was “undisputed.” Similarly, Clinton insisted that Secretary of State Colin Powell’s February 2003 speech at the UN was “compelling” although UN officials and arms control experts roundly denounced its false claims that Iraq had reconstituted these proscribed weapons, weapons programs, and delivery systems. In addition, although top strategic analysts correctly informed her that there were no links between Saddam Hussein’s secular nationalist regime and the radical Islamist al-Qaeda, Senator Clinton insisted that Saddam “has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members.”

The Lead-Up to War

Though the 2003 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq was inaccurate in a number of respects, it did challenge the notion of any operational ties between the Iraqi government and Al-Qaeda and questioned some of the more categorical claims by President Bush about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD). However, Senator Clinton didn’t even bother to read it. She now claims that it wasn’t necessary for her to have actually read the 92-page document herself because she was briefed on the contents of the report. However, since no one on her staff was authorized to read the report, it’s unclear who could have actually briefed her.

(much more with credible links)
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/4802

[WillyT]

37. k

ick

[bobthedrummer]

38. k

[barack the house]

40. Let alone she had better intel that BillClinton must of been aware of.

The whole Iraq thing was being debated in 02 Bill had only left office a year before.

[blm]

48. Bill was urging DC Dems to support Bush on Iraq just as he urged Tony Blair to stand with

the Bushboy solidly.

They wanted this war, too, and there is no doubt they approve of war with Iran, too. It's an agenda-driven warplan and Clintons are down with the Bushes and their fascist agenda.

[bobthedrummer]

50. There it is. eom

[bobthedrummer]

41. k

[bobthedrummer]

42. Time for another kick-bttt

[IsItJustMe]

45. ..

[boppers]

46. Evidence on video.

She met with code pink, and explained why she was rushing into war. She bought into the WMD/co-operation lie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYATbsu2cP8

She's also lying to code pink about having read all the evidence. (NIE, anybody?)

[Bread and Circus]

47. During that time, Hillary ADOPTED the rhetoric of Bush and Cheney...

it was worse than just being silent.

www.fpif.org for details.

[bobthedrummer]

49. KICK