I'm going to post a series of short diaries about the candidates' comments on MoveOn's Virtual Town Hall on Iraq.
I'm writing this fast as each of the candidates speak, with quick reactions to each one. I hope others feel free to use the comments space for their own reactions. As a disclaimer, I'm an Obama leaner, but I also tend to like Edwards and some of the others a lot.
After an intermission, here's Clinton:
I don't typically support Hillary, but I like the way she starts out, talking about both what we should do now, and what she'll do in 2009 if elected.
She's talking up her bill to support our troops, defund the Iraqi gov't and convening an international summit on Iraq. I think this is good, bad, and ugly.
Good, to say that we need to start brining troops home, change their mission, and make sure (a la Murtha) that they're trained and supported.
Bad to put the blame for the disaster over there on the Iraqis. They've taken most of the brunt of casualties in this war, so I don't think it's fair to say they're being lazy and not trying to end the war.
Ugly because the summit thing is a sort-of pie in the ski idea, in that it's clearly a good idea, but won't work as long as the whole damn region blames us for the issues, and hates each other (just look at King Abdullah's comments).
She just got a tough question on permanent bases, long-term occupation, etc. She seemed to clarify a bit, although she wouldn't give any numbers of troops left behind, she made it clear they'd be for limited missions. I'm still awfully suspicious of talking about 'American interests' in the region, though, since I don't want more troops dying to defend oil companies. If she limited the mission to fighting Al-quaida, I'd be much more open to her leadership on the issues.
In general, she seemed to do ok, but I'm still not sold on Hil. How about you?
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