Clinton also spoke to the urgency of stopping the flow of foreign fighters who return to their home countries “radicalized and battle-hardened”.
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Her emphasis on American leadership marks a shift in tone from the second Democratic debate on Saturday, where Clinton said that the battle “cannot be an American fight”.
Democratic USA presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at the Council on Foreign Relations in NY November 19, 2015.
The Democratic front-runner for U.S. president took a forceful position, calling for no-fly zones over Syria, more sustained air strikes and ground troops from allies to push back against IS. “It cannot be exclusively America’s fight”, said former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, adding that he thought the US should play a leadership role. Her biggest risk comes from being associated with Obama’s foreign policy, given that polls show the public is increasingly pessimistic about the president’s handling of world affairs.
Sanders said that he supported continuing to allow refugees to resettle in the United States from Iraq and Syria, given the current strong vetting process in place.
“It has been reported that Qatar will spend up to $200 billion on the 2022 World Cup, including the construction of an enormous number of facilities to host that event – $200 billion on hosting a soccer event, yet very little to fight ISIS”, he said.
During a question-and-answer session, Clinton was asked if the pressure to send in USA ground troops to Syria would be “unstoppable” if another terrorist attack were to occur in the U.S.
“We need to get people to turn against the common enemy of ISIS, and then we need to figure out how we put together a political outcome that provides enough autonomy, so that the separate communities within Syria will be able to re-create a Syrian state, even though it probably is unlikely it will be controlled by the Alawites from Damascus the same way it was before the civil war started”.
Yes, she called for more airstrikes, a no-fly zone over Syria and boots on the ground.
But if this is the sort of extraordinary behavior we need to defeat ISIS, our task is much tougher than Clinton’s upbeat remarks in NY suggested.
“Turning away orphans, applying a religious test, discriminating against Muslims, slamming the door on every Syrian refugee – that is just not who we are”, Clinton said. “We may have to give our own troops advising and training the Iraqis greater freedom of movement and flexibility, including embedding in local units and helping target airstrikes”, she said. “Let’s be clear though, Islam is not our adversary”, she said. She also called for more “flexibility” for US military advisers in Iraq to assist local forces. “It was good for the economy and it was a way to rebuke the terrorists who had attacked our country”, she said.
Clinton was considerably more detailed in her actual speech, but the air of unreality that infused Podesta’s buzzy abridgement hung over the talk. Her spokesman, Nick Merrill, said that the candidate “sees merit” in deploying the 50 special operations forces.
In a shot at Republicans who have criticized her for not using the phrase, Clinton said that denouncing “radical Islamic terrorism” amounts to giving “these criminals, these murderers, more standing than they deserve”.
Sanders is also open to USA partnerships with Iran and Russian Federation in the fight against the IS group, a move that would be complicated by Iran’s ties to extremist groups and Russia’s connections to Syrian President Bashar Assad. Turkey must stop bombing the Kurds, lock down its southern border and “become a full partner” in the US-led coalition against IS, Clinton told the audience at the Council on Foreign Relations in NY on Thursday. “Congress needs to make sure the necessary resources are provided for comprehensive background checks, drawing on the best intelligence we can get”.
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Clinton’s vote in favor of the Iraq War divided her and Obama in the 2008 election and was a decisive reason she lost the nomination.
