Hillary’s Highway Of Death
With nearly two years left until the 2008 election, many of the candidates will travel to key primary states to get an early edge, courting voters and making stump speeches. Hillary Clinton is no exception. She has had her eye on the White House for years despite numerous denials. A few years back, she made a strategic drift to the center, hoping to woo veterans and other segments of the conservative base by trying to appear hawkish on the war in Iraq. But now, sensing a sea change in America’s support for the war, she has reversed course and is listing to port once again.
Many conservatives are horrified at the prospect of another Clinton presidency, but I am more worried about potential shenanigans by the First Lady, should Hillary get elected. I don’t believe she will win the White House, although it’s too early to say what will happen. I also don’t believe there are many Americans who haven’t already made up their minds about Mrs. Clinton. She is far too polarizing a figure.She faced some tough questions from a cordial New Hampshire crowd. But in an example of what a media savvy politician can do to control their own message, when Roger Tilton from Nashua, New Hampshire asked if Clinton would acknowledge that her vote was a mistake, she deftly changed the subject. The focus immediately turned from her vote on Iraq to George Bush’s handling of the war. This political parry was met with copious applause. The truth is, Democrats have chosen to remain on the sidelines. There have been many opportunities for Congress to act in tangible ways to bring the soldiers home. Most of them have chosen not to do so, whether it be out of political survival or the desire to give the President the benefit of the doubt.
Mrs. Clinton is no exception to that rule either. But in her case, it’s the survival thing.
Every war the US has ever fought has been plagued with intelligence failures of one type or another. Many of these failures have even led to the deaths of US soldiers. Inability to predict something as simple as sandstorms led to the events that doomed Jimmy Carter’s failed hostage rescue attempt in Iran. Friendly fire killed many coalition troops in the first gulf war, and killed Pat Tillman in Afghanistan. Does that mean that Hillary Clinton would disavow every war in which the US has intelligence failures?
Over a dozen United Nations resolutions said Saddam Hussein indeed had WMD. The weapons programs may have been hidden or destroyed prior to our arrival in March, 2003, but they did exist. Saddam was hung for using them on his own people, among other things. In what can only be construed as a nod to terrorists, Mrs. Clinton said to her New Hampshire crowd “It’s very easy to go around and say ‘Let’s end the war.’ If we had a Democratic president, we would end the war.”
While Hillary Clinton panders to friendly crowds, terrorists salivate over the prospect of a Democratic president and Americans continue to die from attacks by the emboldened enemy. I’ve heard of presidential candidates promising to raise the minimum wage or to bring health care to America’s needy children, but not too often does a candidate promise to make tactical battlefield decisions that amount to a retreat. Some say Nixon did. He too, talked of ending US involvement by turning over control to an indigenous military that was incapable of completely defending itself and look what happened. I’m sure Hillary wouldn’t be too keen on that comparison.
Like many others, as the Iraq war began to stagnate, I wanted to see a change in tactics. The president delivered in early January. But before all of those soldiers can even be brought to bear against the enemy, Democrats led by Nancy Pelosi, Carl Levin and Hillary Clinton have chosen to prop up al Qaeda in Iraq with worthless, non-binding resolutions and harmful rhetoric in order to pummel the President.
Clinton once made the claim that she traveled Iraq’s “Highway Of Death”. The claim was false, but very prophetic. Prophetic in the sense that on the road to the presidency in 2008, she’ll need to travel in an up-armored Humvee with the pedal to the metal just to avoid the explosive charges and loaded questions now sure to be lobbed at her from both sides, due to her conflicting stances on the war.
