"There Is No Military Solution"
Firedoglake has the breaking news. Without further commentary:
firedoglake (looseheadprop)Damn.
Every year I go to a fundraiser luncheon sponsored by group called Eleanor Roosevelt’s Legacy Committee. It’s a group that raises money, recruits and trains Democratic women candidates and give campaign grants to those running in New York.
Hillary Clinton has been a patron of this organization from the beginning, and is often the keynote speaker. As you can imagine, the lunch this year was Hill chillin’ with her homegirls.
So, maybe it made her let down her guard? Or maybe she recognized that a group of politically active NY Dems is no place to advocate for residual troops, or maybe the polling after the last debate convinced her that being Joe Lieberman light is not playing well? Who knows?
What I do know, is that I heard her say that she would end the Iraq war immediately upon taking office. Lots of heads snapped up when she said that (and there was plenty of applause, even a little whooping) and the very politically plugged in person sitting next to me remarked that the statement was “completely new”. She went on to say that the troops had already done everything they had been asked to do: got rid of Saddam, created a situation where elections could take place, surged to create political stability so the elected Iraqi government could do some legislating and work out a political solution (which she said they have not done) and that it was unfair to ask our troops to stay in Iraq and “play referee to an Iraqi civil war.” She said there is no military solution.
I’m not a Hillary watcher, so somebody in the comments may want to contradict that, but it certainly is the first time I’ve heard that and is very different than what I heard her say in the last debate.
There's more...
Well damn.
I've got a big, huge grin. You go, Hillary.
Better late than never, and this is even better 'cause it throws down a gauntlet, a challenge right in the face of every Democrat.
The bar is raised in a way no candidate dare ignore. One week, max, and every Democratic candidate will be on board: "I too, once sworn in, will end the Iraq war immediately and bring the troops home."
Yeah baby! Make my freaking day.
Beautiful strategic move. A master-stroke.
(The New York Times reports an ordinary event. Were they not listening?)
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