Pentagon rebukes Clinton on Iraq ("reinforces enemy propaganda")

[Barrett808]

Source: Associated Press

Pentagon rebukes Clinton on Iraq
By DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has issued a stinging rebuke to Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton, arguing that she is boosting enemy propaganda by asking how the U.S. plans to eventually withdraw from Iraq.

Under Secretary of Defense Eric Edelman wrote a biting reply to questions Clinton raised in May, urging the Pentagon to start planning now for the withdrawal of U.S. troops.

A copy of Edelman's response, dated July 16, was obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

"Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia," Edelman wrote.

He added that "such talk understandably unnerves the very same Iraqi allies we are asking to assume enormous personal risks."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070719/ap_on_el_pr/clinton_iraq

[msongs]

1. so when are those iraqis going to "assume personal risks" like running their own country? nt

[billyoc]

2. Relax, boys, Hillary will never pull the troops out.

Hillary Wants Troops in Iraq for at Least 10 Years

On Monday, Ted Koppel offered a report / commentary on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" which can be found online with this headline: "A Duty to Mislead: Politics and the Iraq War," and this introductory text: "Democrats are telling voters that if they are elected, all U.S. troops will be pulled out of Iraq. But as Sen. Hillary Clinton privately told a senor military adviser, she knows there will be some troops there for decades. It's an example of how in some cases, politics can force dishonesty."

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/53865/

[rodeodance]

29. Have other DEM candidates said they would pull ALL troops out?

[billyoc]

34. I think Edwards might.

His position on Iran sucks, IMO, but he seems to favor complete withdrawal from Iraq
with no permanent American bases.

http://johnedwards.com/issues/iraq/

[saigon68]

3. unnerves the very same Iraqi allies we are asking to assume

LOL ass clown

[denverbill]

4. The Secretary of Defense is not the Pentagon, IMO.

He's a political appointee (hack). Nice of the AP to make it sound like the military was rebuking her.

[Malva Zebrina]

5. She voted for it. Now she wants to join the A train.

and there are Democrats who will work themselves to the bone to promote her and to defend her, in spite of her disasterous, hapless vote and subsequent attempts to cover it up. I can only shake my head and feel shame that anyone would propel a candidate into the highest office of the land, knowing and remembering, her speech before the congress, granting this boobyheaded power mad insane man, full permission to invade and occupy and destroy a country that was no threat at all to the US. Honestly, I just can't believe it when I look at the thousands upon thousands who were brutally bombed and killed and maimed--innocents all.

[Maribelle]

14. Ironic ... DU posters support threats to Nancy Pelosi to change her mind

yet here we see bashing of Hillary for doing exactly that.

I wonder if forked-tongue could possibly sound familiar?

[rodeodance]

30. Bingo

[LynnTheDem]

6. But it was OK WHEN GEORGE W. bUSH DID IT.

When GEORGE W. bUSH demanded a TIMETABLE OF TROOP WITHDRAWAL when the president had a (D) after his name.

Republics; biggest MFing hypocrites EVER.

[thecrow]

7. Oh really! Like the Iraqis will not notice when we pack up & leave.

kick!

[ohio2007]

8. Obama: Don't stay in Iraq over genocide ( ? )

SUNAPEE, N.H. - Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said Thursday the United States cannot use its military to solve humanitarian problems and that preventing a potential genocide in Iraq isn't a good enough reason to keep U.S. forces there.

snip


Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, said it's likely there would be increased bloodshed if U.S. forces left Iraq.

snip

The greater risk is staying in Iraq, Obama said.

"We have not lost a military battle in Iraq. So when people say if we leave, we will lose, they're asking the wrong question," he said. "We cannot achieve a stable Iraq with a military. We could be fighting there for the next decade."

Obama said the answer to Iraq — and other civil conflicts — lies in diplomacy.

snip

An opponent of the death penalty, Obama said he would make an exception for Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.

"The first thing I'd support is his capture, which is something this administration has proved incapable of achieving," Obama said. "I would then, as president, order a trial that observed international standards of due process. At that point, do I think that somebody who killed 3,000 Americans qualifies as someone who has perpetrated heinous crimes, and would qualify for the death penalty. Then yes."

snip

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070720/ap_on_el_pr/obama_ap_interview

dunno about this article. He is for staying in Iraq yet he is for getting out?
Feels genocide will take place when we leave but is against leaving?


He is against the death penality but........some killers deserve to die ?


just an odd mishmash of how not to take a stand .....just talk the talk?

[LeFleur1]

10. Blame Game

We all know Bush and the Republicans are not going to take the blame for their war. They are going to have to find someone to blame, as Bush has done his whole life.
This is a tactic they will use to shift the blame for this fiasco to the Dems, or to anyone who asks a question concerning their 'plan'.
They have no plan, they are not capable of a competent plan, so they have to figure out something else, and Hillary is running pretty strong, so they'll start with her.

After reading some of the replies to this thread, I guess it's' possible their tactic might be working.

[Maribelle]

16. They also do not want Democrats to get the credit for ending the war

And it seems their political quest of the season - - preventing the Democrats from ending the war - - supersedes all issues vital to our nation, including the lives of hundreds of additional troops that will die.

[DeepModem Mom]

9. K&R -- The subject of Keith Olbermann's latest Special Comment. He's outraged...

at this antidemocratic, politically-motivated rebuke of Senator Clinton, a Presidential candidate of the opposition party.

[ProudDad]

11. The Link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x42140

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[tabasco]

33. This was a civilian saying these things.

There are many military people on this board. Alerted.

[laststeamtrain]

13. NY DAILY NEWS: Hil helps enemies, sez Defense big

Hil helps enemies, sez Defense big

BY RICHARD SISK and KENNETH R. BAZINET
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

Posted Friday, July 20th 2007, 4:00 AM

WASHINGTON - A top Pentagon official and former aide to Vice President Cheney has accused Sen. Hillary Clinton of aiding the enemy for probing contingency plans for pulling troops from Iraq.

"Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia," Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman wrote in reply to Clinton's May inquiry.

Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines yesterday called Edelman's letter "outrageous and dangerous."

Although Edelman questioned Clinton's patriotism, political observers called the attack by Cheney's former deputy national security adviser "a gift." The barb from Edelman - who once worked for convicted liar Lewis (Scooter) Libby - could reassure some anti-war Democrats still irked by Clinton's early support for the Iraq War.

"This helps her. She will be seen as the lightning rod that the right attacks because she asks the tough questions. It's a badge of honor," said Baruch College political scientist Doug Muzzio.

The caustic letter was part of a major White House political pushback to buy more time for the Baghdad troop surge. To that end, the Pentagon hosted classified briefings yesterday for more than 100 senators and representatives.

<more>

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/2007/07/20/2007-07-20_hil_helps_enemies_sez_defense_big-1.html
*

Snazzy headline.

[Maribelle]

15. " it's important for the president to explain to us what the exit strategy is' G.W.Bush

I think it’s also important for the president to lay out a timetable as to how long they will be involved and when they will be withdrawn.

http://thinkprogress.org/bush-in-1999/


It seems the Pentagon gives both "enemy propaganda" and "the very same Iraqi allies we are asking to assume enormous personal risks" a higher priority than our own troops that will eat desert dirt and die because of the ineptitude of both the Pentagon and Bush.

[journalist3072]

17. Pentagon rebukes Sen. Clinton on Iraq

Source: AP via Yahoo News

Pentagon rebukes Sen. Clinton on Iraq

By DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press Writer
8 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon told Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton that her questions about how the U.S. plans to eventually withdraw from Iraq boosts enemy propaganda.

In a stinging rebuke to a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman responded to questions Clinton raised in May in which she urged the Pentagon to start planning now for the withdrawal of American forces.

-snip-

"Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia," Edelman wrote.

He added that "such talk understandably unnerves the very same Iraqi allies we are asking to assume enormous personal risks."

-snip-

Clinton has privately and publicly pushed Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Peter Pace two months ago to begin drafting the plans for what she said will be a complicated withdrawal of troops, trucks and equipment.

"If we're not planning for it, it will be difficult to execute it in a safe and efficacious way," she said then.

The strong wording of the response is unusual, particularly for a missive to a member of the Senate committee with oversight of the Defense Department and its budget.








Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070719/ap_on_el_pr/clinton_iraq_11

---

Sounds like the response to Sen. Clinton was written right out of Karl Rove's office, instead of the Pentagon.

[xchrom]

18. i imagine sen clinton can handle this.

she has certainly managed tough guys before this.

[DemoTex]

19. Underling of Defense Eric Edelman vs. Senator Hillary Clinton

I think Underling Edelman just made himself a shit sammich. And I think Senator Clinton will be making sure he eats every bit of that shit sammich over the next few days.

[rodeodance]

31. lets hope so----The bushies have been throwing out LOTS of s** lately

[wtmusic]

20. And just look how Vietnam went down the tubes after we left nt

[maximusveritas]

21. Edelman is scum

He's a Cheney disciple who first came up with the idea of leaking info to get revenge on Joe Wilson.

[Purveyor]

22. K. Olbermann's 'special comment' tonight will address this very issue... eom

[harun]

27. He did, and it was excellent, Kerry was on and chimed in as well (n/t)

[Placebo]

23. Edelman vs. The American People

The country wants us out of Iraq, not just Hillary Clinton. It's people like Cheney and Edelman who are the last of a dying minority of freaks who still want this occupation to continue.

[hedgehog]

24. This should have been headlined Undersecretary rebukes Clinton.

The Pentagon as in the professional military had nothing to do with this. This attack came from a civilian politico.

[Placebo]

26. Amen

It's just like this Obama/Sex Ed story. The headlines are so deceiving.

[Doctor_J]

25. Pentagon now reading Rove's memos

getting more like Nazi Germany every day.

[ShortnFiery]

28. IMO, all the political ruling elite of all political flavors won't protest too much as long as ...

Wall Street and their big money investors within the Military Industrial Complex are making "a killing." :wow:

Far too many POLITICOs of all strips are part of the waltz with the Pentagon in order to make us little people believe that they truly give a damn about something more than their political careers and investment portfolios. :grr:

[baldguy]

32. Good soldiers only do what they are told to do.

Normally, this would include developing contingency plans for any imaginable situation. We are occupying a foreign country - therefore we should have a plan on withdrawing from that country. I'm sure there are plans for withdrawal from Japan, S Korea, Germany and the 60 other countries with US military bases - yet they have not developed a plan to withdraw from Iraq. Why is that?

The obvious answer is that THEY WERE ORDERED NOT TO by the "civilians" in charge.