Reading today's New York Times front page, eye-opening article, "Clinton, 'Smart Power' and a Dictator's Fall" reminded me of how exasperated and angry I felt when I was marching against going to war in Iraq and how sickened I felt when I listened to the vote to authorize military action. I heard Hillary Clinton's vote with a feeling of confusion and betrayal. If all the people I was marching with understood the 'unintended consequences', and we were by no means privvy to CIA intelligence or secret meetings with questionable emissaries, then how could Hillary Clinton and her colleagues in Congress, with all the information they had, misjudge this authorization of going to war?
Well, the answer, my friends, is in this New York Times article for those who prefer to deny the glaring reality that Hillary is a died-in-the-wool war hawk. A war hawk whose lack of judgment is downright scary as summed up in this quote: "Mrs. Clinton understood the hazards, but also weighed the costs of not acting, aides said. They described her as comfortable with feeling her way through a problem without being certain of the outcome." Of course, no one can be certain of an outcome, but this quote may as well have said, "Let's wing it!" and signals a rush to making decisions without serious and deep consideration of what is to come afterward. Vice President Biden was correctly concerned with "not the day after, but the decade after." You can't just 'feel your way' through such a monumental decision.
As for intelligence about Iraq, Derek Chollet, a State Department aide, said that "We, the U.S., did not have a particularly good handle on what was going on inside Libya." "American officials were relying largely on news reports." Comforting.
And disturbingly, "Mr. Ross, speaking generally, said she had frequently consulted her husband: "I'd say, 'Here's what I think we should do.' She'd say, 'That's what Bill said, too." I don't think Hillary Clinton has had an original idea in thirty years - currently, witness her appropriation of Bernie Sander's ideas as they morph into Hillary Clinton's ideas. And I most definitely do not want Bill Clinton as co-President. It's been interesting to watch the hashtag #whichHillary take on a life of its own. I would also ask #whoisHillary.
Hillary supporters will undeniably view this post as 'hating on Hillary' when my concern about Hillary has always been a question of character...nothing else.
Read the Times article. Perhaps you will see it differently but facts cannot be ignored. Unless you are a denier.
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