Hillary Clinton Watch: Immediate Iraq Exit a Mistake

U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-NY, delivers a speech during a Westchester Women for Hillary breakfast, Monday, Nov. 21, 2005 in Rye Brook, NY.

The ASSociated Press has Clinton: Immediate Iraq Exit a Mistake

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that an immediate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq would be “a big mistake.”

The New York Democrat said she respects Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa., the Vietnam veteran and hawkish ex-Marine who last week called for an immediate troop pullout. But she added: “I think that would cause more problems for us in America.”

“It will matter to us if Iraq totally collapses into civil war, if it becomes a failed state the way
Afghanistan was, where terrorists are free to basically set up camp and launch attacks against us,” she said.

At the same time, Clinton said the Bush administration’s pledge to stay in Iraq “until the job is done” amounts to giving the Iraqis “an open-ended invitation not to take care of themselves.”

So, true to her husband’s modus operandi Hillary blames someone else – this time, the Iraqis for being lazy and not taking care of themselves.

“Until they vote for a government, I don’t know that we will have adequate information about how prepared they are,” she said.

She blamed the problems facing the United States in Iraq on “poor decision-making by the administration,” but added: “My view is we have to work together to fix these problems.”

This translates into “Hillary does not have a different policy than the President”.