In a major speech on Mar. 17, Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton laid out her plan for changing course in Iraq and bringing US troops home.
Clinton began her speech by laying the blame for the "mistakes in Iraq" at the feet of George W. Bush. She recalled that from "the decision to rush to war without allowing the weapons inspectors to finish their work or waiting for diplomacy to run its course" to other tactical decisions to send too few troops and too little equipment, to denying the emergence of the civil war in Iraq, the Bush administration laid the groundwork for failure in Iraq.
"The command decisions were rooted in politics and ideology, heedless of sound strategy and common sense," she said.
Clinton continued that bringing troops home and maintaining stability were the cornerstone's of her plan to end the war.
Clinton pointed to the failure of the more than year-long "surge" to provide the political framework for reconciling the political factions in Iraq. Citing Gen. Petraeus' recent admissions, Clinton pointed out that "no one, in either the US government or the Iraqi government, feels that there has been sufficient progress by any means in the area of national reconciliation."
Clinton also noted that the financial cost of the war could have better been used to implement a universal health care plan. The war has eroded US leadership and credibility, and has threatened to undermine efforts in Afghanistan, she said.
Clinton accused McCain of seeking to continue Bush's failed tactics. "They both want to keep us tied to another country's civil war, a war we cannot win," she stated. "That in a nutshell is the Bush/McCain Iraq policy. Don’t learn from your mistakes, repeat them."
Clinton linked McCain's promise to continue the war endlessly to Bush's failures. "Senator McCain and President Bush claim withdrawal is defeat," she added. "Well, let's be clear, withdrawal is not defeat. Defeat is keeping troops in Iraq for 100 years."
Sidestepping criticism of her vote for the war's authorization and her early support for it and the "surge," Sen. Clinton said, "Here’s what you can count on me to do: provide the leadership to end this war quickly and responsibly."
Clinton pledged to change course. "No more talk of permanent occupation," she noted, "no more policing a civil war, no more doing for the Iraqis what they need to be doing for themselves."
She sketched a plan to bring one to two brigades home each month, to improve access to veterans health care, to reduce the number and length of overseas deployments, and to order that before any new unit is deployed to Iraq, the Defense Department must certify its combat readiness.
Clinton took aim at the explosion of no-bid contracts under the Bush administration and the use of private contractors in Iraq.
Referring to criticism that she refuses to make public earmarks she has inserted into Defense Authorization bills, Clinton said, "no-bid contracts are ten times more costly than earmarks, and when I introduce my legislation to eliminate no-bid contracts, I could not get, at least as of this moment, Senator McCain’s support for that."
Clinton promised to pressure Iraqis to do more to achieve political stability and to call on the United Nations to reengage its mission in Iraq as well as to involve other countries.
