2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumThe five lamest excuses for Hillary Clinton’s vote to invade Iraq
Former senator and secretary of state Hillary Clinton is the only candidate for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination who supported the invasion of Iraq.
That war not only resulted in 4,500 American soldiers being killed and thousands more permanently disabled, but also hundreds of thousands of Iraqi deaths, the destabilization of the region with the rise of the Islamic State and other extremists, and a dramatic increase in the federal deficit, resulting in major cutbacks to important social programs. Moreover, the primary reasons Clinton gave for supporting President George W. Bushs request for authorizing that illegal and unnecessary war have long been proven false.
As a result, many Democratic voters are questioning despite her years of foreign policy experience whether Clinton has the judgment and integrity to lead the United States on the world stage. It was just such concerns that resulted in her losing the 2008 nomination to then-Senator Barack Obama, an outspoken Iraq War opponent.
This time around, Clinton supporters have been hoping that enough Democratic voters the overwhelming majority of whom opposed the war will forget about her strong endorsement of the Bush administrations most disastrous foreign policy. Failing that, theyve come up with a number of excuses to justify her October 2002 vote for the authorization of military force.
Here they are, in no particular order:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/01/28/the-five-lamest-excuses-for-hillary-clintons-vote-to-invade-iraq/
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)The vote was to give george war bush the authority to take action IF NEEDED. Turns out it was not needed, nor did anyone expect the invasion of that proportion. But at the time, it was common for both parties to support the President to give him leverage in international issues. Probably won't happen again. Plus once it was clear the resolution would pass, it was a lot easier to vote against it.
Lots of Democrats were reluctant, and didn't take long to realize it was a mistake. But, I do not believe the majority of Democrats were opposed to the IF NEEDED resolution that some hoped would give the president enough leverage to put pressure on Saddam and other middle eastern countries. The war -- and fact bush lied and killed more of our guys chasing those lies than died on 9/11 -- is squarely on bush and cheney.