SpyridonOCA
4th February 2008, 08:38 PM
Hillary Clinton is running for president as the seasoned candidate, claiming her husband’s foreign policy experience as her own. No matter how much we’d like to romanticize the 90s, Bill Clinton was not an agent of diplomacy and peace. In the context of President Clinton’s record, we can understand why Mrs. Clinton not only voted for the Iraq war, but refuses to admit that her vote was a mistake. The Clinton record speaks for itself, no “vast right-wing conspiracy” is necessary.
From raiding aspirin factories in Sudan to striking Serbia on Easter Sunday, Mr. Clinton’s bloodlust could never be satisfied. President Clinton’s malice claimed the Iraqi people as its worst victim, with hundreds of thousands killed by routine bombings and the harshest economic sanctions in world history. In 1993, Mr. Clinton bombed Iraq for the alleged assassination attempt on former President Bush. Despite there being no proof of this attempt, and no threat to our national security, Mr. Clinton began with a bang his friendship with the Iraqi people.
In 1996, Mr. Clinton rekindled his passion for the Persian Gulf. This time, Mr. Clinton thwacked civilian and military targets without approval of the United Nations. (Sounds familiar?) President Clinton’s appetite for destruction left dozens of deaths and millions in damages. Again, there was no proof that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. While Mrs. Clinton shook hands with diplomats and kissed foreign ministers, Mr. Clinton resolved to maintain American hegemony.
In 1998, American-Iraqi relations reached a low point with Mr. Clinton’s signing of the Iraq Liberation Act. Drafted by Donald Rumsfeld and Ahmad Chalabi, the act declared regime change as the official U.S. policy, using force if necessary. To sway attention from another sex scandal, Mr. Clinton bombed Iraq once again, giving strength and hope to a suffering nation. “If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear,” Clinton said. “We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction program.” It is clear, however, that Mr. Clinton, not Saddam Hussein, was the aggressor in this campaign.
As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Mrs. Clinton joined the rush to war in October 2002. Mrs. Clinton voted against the Levin Amendment to the Iraq War Resolution, which called for U.N. weapons inspections to continue and required Congressional approval to unilaterally invade Iraq. “…Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program,” Mrs. Clinton claimed, “He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members.”
Mrs. Clinton voted for the Iraq war, and refuses to admit that her vote was a mistake, not because she was duped by President Bush. Her vote was the natural conclusion to her husband’s foreign policy. We cannot afford to have more of the same, electing a president who provides no clear alternative to Pax Americana. Barack Obama has rightly stated that we need not only end the Iraq war, but the very mindset which led us to war in the first place.
From raiding aspirin factories in Sudan to striking Serbia on Easter Sunday, Mr. Clinton’s bloodlust could never be satisfied. President Clinton’s malice claimed the Iraqi people as its worst victim, with hundreds of thousands killed by routine bombings and the harshest economic sanctions in world history. In 1993, Mr. Clinton bombed Iraq for the alleged assassination attempt on former President Bush. Despite there being no proof of this attempt, and no threat to our national security, Mr. Clinton began with a bang his friendship with the Iraqi people.
In 1996, Mr. Clinton rekindled his passion for the Persian Gulf. This time, Mr. Clinton thwacked civilian and military targets without approval of the United Nations. (Sounds familiar?) President Clinton’s appetite for destruction left dozens of deaths and millions in damages. Again, there was no proof that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. While Mrs. Clinton shook hands with diplomats and kissed foreign ministers, Mr. Clinton resolved to maintain American hegemony.
In 1998, American-Iraqi relations reached a low point with Mr. Clinton’s signing of the Iraq Liberation Act. Drafted by Donald Rumsfeld and Ahmad Chalabi, the act declared regime change as the official U.S. policy, using force if necessary. To sway attention from another sex scandal, Mr. Clinton bombed Iraq once again, giving strength and hope to a suffering nation. “If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear,” Clinton said. “We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction program.” It is clear, however, that Mr. Clinton, not Saddam Hussein, was the aggressor in this campaign.
As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Mrs. Clinton joined the rush to war in October 2002. Mrs. Clinton voted against the Levin Amendment to the Iraq War Resolution, which called for U.N. weapons inspections to continue and required Congressional approval to unilaterally invade Iraq. “…Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program,” Mrs. Clinton claimed, “He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members.”
Mrs. Clinton voted for the Iraq war, and refuses to admit that her vote was a mistake, not because she was duped by President Bush. Her vote was the natural conclusion to her husband’s foreign policy. We cannot afford to have more of the same, electing a president who provides no clear alternative to Pax Americana. Barack Obama has rightly stated that we need not only end the Iraq war, but the very mindset which led us to war in the first place.