Back from her trip to Iraq, Hillary Clinton finally puts her stake in the ground regarding Iraq. Short version: she's cleaving to the Iraq Study Group:
WASHINGTON - The United States should cap the number of troops in Iraq, while increasing American forces in Afghanistan, Sen. Hillary Rodham said Wednesday.
Clinton, the expected front-runner for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, was quick to seize the spotlight the day after Illinois Sen. Barack Obama took a major step toward entering the race.
Appearing on network television and radio shows to discuss her recent trip to Iraq, the New York senator said she opposes President Bush's plan to increase U.S. troops in Iraq and favors redeploying troops out of Baghdad and eventually Iraq. She said she also favors conditioning economic aid to the Iraqi government's progress in meeting certain political goals.
Now, here's the pivot:
"The Bush administration has frankly failed to put any leverage on this government," Clinton told CBS "The Early Show." But she sidestepped questions on whether she would vote to block funding for Bush's troop increase.
So Hillary maintains a safe distance from the left, while positioning herself to the left of John McCain. Will it help stop the erosion in her base support (which, by itself, can do nothing to stop the Clinton juggernaut)? Well, let's dig a little bit deeper into that thar' pivot:
Sen Hillary Clinton said the US should cut funding for Iraq and its military if Iraq's leaders fail to give the minority Sunnis a greater role in government.
Clinton, a potential Democratic presidential candidate, also said she opposed President George W Bush's plan to add 21,500 US troops to Iraq, in part because it would siphon off US military strength from Afghanistan, where Taliban insurgents have been intensifying their attacks.
'He's taking troops away from Afghanistan, where I think we need to be putting more troops, and sending them to Iraq on a mission that I think has a very limited, if any, chance for success,' the New York senator said on NBC's 'Today' show.
Clinton, who visited Baghdad and Kabul last week, said previous attempts to cajole Iraq's Shi'ite Muslim leaders to compromise with the Sunni Muslims have failed.
'I don't think we should continue to fund the protection for the Iraqi government leaders, or for the training and equipping of their army, unless they meet certain conditions, including making the political compromises that have been called for now for more than two years,' she said.
So Hill's still the Iron Lady -- for the concept of fighting the "war on terror," but arguing that it's mainly in Afghanistan, not Iraq, and just ever so cleverly against the increasingly obviously sectarian and corrupt Iraqi government (that we installed).
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"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
