The former Secretary of State outlined the three main points of her strategy in front of an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations in NY.
Advertisement
“It would certainly grow but I think it would be a mistake”, she said, noting her support for sending in more us special forces, empowering USA trainers in Iraq and the use of an air coalition in the region.
Sanders runs more closely with the former secretary of State on questions such as “who cares the most about people like you” and who will fight the hardest for the middle class.
Her speech came a day after Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said more USA ground forces will be needed in Iraq in the wake of the Paris attacks.
Clinton is the first Democratic presidential candidate to propose an increased United States military effort against IS. Clinton also defended the plan. “The world’s great democracies”, she said, “can’t sacrifice our values or turn our backs to those in need”.
The US senator from Vermont said the idea has roots in the legacies of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. “But if Baghdad won’t do that, the coalition should do so directly”. That, too, sounds like Obama – but so far has proven tragically ineffective. Republican National Committee spokesman Michael Short said she “can’t walk away from President Obama’s failing ISIS strategy because she helped craft it and even praised it”. But it’s also very different from sparring with other candidates on the matter; in that light she hasn’t fared so well.
Hillary Clinton has shifted her focus regarding Syria: she is now urging Congress to pass a bill approving stronger military action against the Islamic State (IS).
She underscored that position again Thursday.
Clinton was asked by CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, who moderated a post-speech discussion, whether Obama erred in once referring to ISIS as the “JV” team – but she deflected.
“I think that there are many other reasons why it has in addition to what happened in the region, but I don’t think that the United States has the bulk of the responsibility”, she said.
Clinton criticized Republican Sen. “It actually plays into their hands by alienating partners we need by our side”.
Additionally, Clinton called for something the Obama administration has specifically declined – no-fly zones in Syria.
And she made news Saturday by saying that ISIS “cannot be contained; it must be defeated”. To support them, we should immediately deploy the special operations force President Obama has already authorized, and be prepared to deploy more as more Syrians get into the fight.
Clinton suggested this would help opposition groups who are fighting both ISIS and Syrian President Bashar Assad and would also ease the refugee crisis.
“If we have learned anything from 15 years of war in the Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s that local people and nations have to secure their own communities”, she said.
Speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations in NY on Thursday, Clinton sought to insulate the entire Muslim population from the notorious jihadist organisation. No religion is responsible for terrorism. And let’s not forget: She was the one who gave him that “reset” button. Clinton, however, said creating that kind of safe area would be a “strategic opportunity” that would reduce the refugee crisis in Europe by giving a haven to Syrians fleeing the country’s civil war.
On the campaign to defeat ISIS in the Middle East, Clinton said the U.S. should step up its efforts to deny ISIS territory in Syria and Iraq.
“From the failed reset with Russian Federation, to the weak nuclear deal with Iran, to her State Department’s refusal to add Boko Haram to its list of terror organizations, Hillary Clinton has demonstrated she is the wrong person to take on and defeat the growing threats facing the United States”.
“This is a time for American leadership”, Clinton says.
Advertisement
Citing the links between Syrian refugees and the killings in Paris, more than two-dozen governors oppose Obama’s plan to bring 10,000 of those refugees to this country. “I feel that ISIS is integrated with the refugees and we do not have the capabilities to properly vet the people, so at this point”.
