I like Hillary Clinton's position this morning:

[Nimrod2005]

Before you flame away, you should know, she is not my # 1 choice for anything...And I am for Murtha's position on tropps...etc.

Knowing that this has been a very difficult position for all politicians to articulate, I like her view on it (so far):

She is in favor of LIMITING the number of troops in Iraq, while implementing a redeployment out of Baghdad, then all of Iraq. And, she is in favor of boosting troop levels in Afghanistan so that we can finish THAT job. Pretty sensible to me.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16669005/

[lojasmo]

1. Even a plastic bag blows where the wind goes. EOM

[racaulk]

7. And a stopped clock is right twice a day. n/t

[bigdarryl]

2. she's playing it safe as usual she also is not in favor of cutting funding she's...

in favor of cutting funding the Iraqi Army. what a crock of shit that is. cutting funding for iraqi troops if they do that then they can get money from Iran.

[blm]

3. Redeploying out of Iraq and putting them into Afghanistan has BEEN the position of other

Senators for some time now.

[Nimrod2005]

4. How about setting a limit, a cap, on the number of troops in Iraq

I really like that, because you can then say ok, there is enough funding for say 75K troops, no more will be authorized...etc. NO more will be sent in, do what YOU CAN DO, with the budget you have, forcing the hand of the policy makers...etc.

[bigdarryl]

6. how abut getting ALL troops out of that hell hole ASAP

[Nimrod2005]

10. I think her position is as good as ASAP, realistically we need

about 8-12 months to leave, we need to keep few thousands around in the area, near the borders or in Jordan or Kuwait...etc.

[mtnsnake]

26. She's against the surge, and the surge idea HASN'T been on the table that long

so this is new news, not old news.

[halobeam]

5. Do you know if she is against further funding of the war?

Then she'd have a very good position. If she is scared of what "they" will say, then I've another mark against her.

No more funding. It's like high school all over again for so many senators (Sen. Levin comes to mind), to let rumors/slander/name calling dictate their actions.

They need to grow the hell up.

edit: oops just saw post 2... guess that says it all.

response to post 4... very interesting about them getting the money elsewhere. If this admin. says they have the money to deploy these extra troops, then they can spend that to take care of the lesser number of troops there (by phasing out the majority in a responsible way) and start bringing our troops home.

[bigdarryl]

8. she's making the excuse that Bush has the authority and money already..

[halobeam]

9. see my edited post...

use the money they say they have. Exactly.

[karynnj]

11. Kerry and Feingold had that position on Afghanistan

last fall. Their positions on Iraq have been better or similar to this since 2005. (Remember that Kerry's Georgetown 2005 speech had as a major point getting the US out of search and destry and policing. American soldiers should never have been policing the streets of Baghdad.)

It is good that Hillary has seen the light and moved to where others were years ago. Maybe if she and other party leaders would have ignored the political calendar and welcomed a real debate on Iraq last summer - when Iraq had already been in civil war for at least 3 months.

[Nimrod2005]

13. Her position this morning included a time specific implementation, before a spring offensive by the

Taliban...I really like that. Not some kind of general view about us not getting Osama, finish the job there...etc.

[karynnj]

20. Kerry and Feingold had a bill last fall - it was specific

I'm not talking about 2 to 3 yr old campaign rhetoric.

[wisteria]

21. Can you believe her? She ran so far away from this in June without

even a consideration and a trip to Iraq first, now, after she takes a trip, her first since 04, she comes back and steals and yes I mean steals Kerry's and Feingold's ideas. Not to mention Murtha What a joke she is. So now that Hill has spoken, all of a sudden the idea is OK.

[YOY]

12. She has this habit of playing the populist

When as we all know, being the little boy who says "The Emperor has no clothes." is never the popular thing to do.

Sorry. Once a hawk, always a hawk.

Time for some fresh blood in the Democratic White House.

[Apollo11]

14. Hillary sees this is Nancy's party now

The bi-partisan pro-war pro-Bush cheerleading squad went out with Joe Lieberman ...

Most Democratic voters are right behind the Pelosi position on Iraq.

[Nimrod2005]

17. How true, very well put!

[Virginia Dare]

15. Correct me if I'm wrong, but...

this is very similar to what Wesley Clark has been saying to. Not flaming you, him or her, but it just seems very similar.

[karynnj]

22. True - Clark, Feingold, Kerry and even her husband

recommended this months ago.

Here is a Feingold link to an amendment on Afghanistan that he and Kerry co-sponsored.http://feingold.senate.gov/~feingold/releases/06/09/20060929.html

In his Real Secutity speech from last September, Kerry said:

"To avoid repeating the terrible mistakes of the past, we need to send significant reinforcements to Afghanistan: Start with at least five thousand additional American troops --more elite Special Forces troops, the best counter-insurgency units in the world; more civil affairs forces; and more experienced intelligence units. More predator drones to find the enemy, more helicopters to allow rapid deployments to confront them, and more heavy combat equipment to make sure we can crush the terrorists. And more reconstruction money so that the elected government in Kabul, helped by the United States, not the Taliban, helped by al Qaeda, rebuilds the new Afghanistan."



http://www.johnkerry.com/news/speeches/speech.html?id=12

[applegrove]

16. Afghanistan needs the troops or it will be lost too.

[Atomium]

18. Hillary

Clinton

[oasis]

19. Welcome to DU, Atomium.

:hi:

[Tellurian]

28. Yes, Welcome, Atomium.

My only criticism of Hillary's statement is, rather than using word phrases like,
"I think", "We should", "IF" "May", ... when referring to the IWR..

She has to use strictly declarative words and sentences like,
"We must", "I will", "We will", "Now", "Can Do"....designating a firm commitment.

[Auntie Bush]

30. Huh?

:hi: and welcome! But can you elaborate just a bit? I'm confused!

[EndElectoral]

23. How long has it taken her to arrive at that position? After 70% of the people want it!!!

[juajen]

24. I am interested in knowing what NEW strategy

there could be? Seems to me that all routes have been covered. So, she is in agreement, necessarily so, with somebody; unless, a troop of barbie dolls could be employed to heroically rescue the Middle East and solve all problems. Hillary's Barbies; um, has a ring to it.

[mtnsnake]

29. Notice how even when Hillary's in agreement, everyone's still pissed at her

lol

[laugle]

32. Reallly.....it boogles the mind!!!!!

Who thought of it first, second or third......what a non-issue!!!

[AtomicKitten]

34. damned if she does, damned if she doesn't

damn!

[AZBlue]

36. Oh yeah! They hate her just 'cause. But will applaud others for saying the exact same thing.

It's disgusting.

[bklyncowgirl]

25. Better late than never, that's what I say. Welcome to the club, Hillary.

Welcome to the "Out of Iraq club, Hillary."

Make yourself at home. You're among friends, here. You know Senators Feingold and Obama, Congressmen Murtha and Kucinich and of course Governor Dean--they've all been here since the beginning. Senators Kerry and Edwards here are long time honored members of course and Senator Biden's one of our newer members but he's been doing a great job lately. We have lots of members, in fact nearly all of your Democratic colleageues have already joined but you know what they say, better late than never.

Just get your bearings, dear. Senator Biden can fill you in on the proper framing of your about face. A nice flame throwing speech while questioning an adminstration official should help you get some street cred with the others--and of course the voters--they're way ahead of everyone here.

Just remember, it's escalation not surge and you'll do just fine.

[mtnsnake]

27. When Hillary talks, people listen

The lady packs clout. What can I say.

[laugle]

33. Excellent....simple and to the POINT!!!

[Az_lefty]

31. she waited until the polls were in...

nice job...but your no president, Hillary.

[AtomicKitten]

35. reminds me of a couple other prez contenders .....

who waited until the polls changed after the 2004 election to back down from their 'yes' vote on the IWR

Accusing politicians of suspicious timing is universal and can apply to just about every single one of them.

[leesa]

37. She's happy as long as we're blowing someone up somewhere.

What is our job in Afghanistan again? Oh yeah...protecting that trans-Afghan gas pipeline and our heroin crop.