Obama vs. Clinton on Iraq – October 2002

[babylonsister]

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/22/6527/

Obama vs. Clinton – October 2002
by Stephen Zunes

In determining which of the two leading Democratic candidates would make the most competent and credible commander-in-chief, it is revealing to compare the public statements of U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and then-Illinois State Senator Barack Obama during October 2002, when Congress voted to authorize the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Former President Bill Clinton, at a recent rally on behalf of his wife, insisted that Senator Clinton and Senator Obama had had virtually identical records on the Iraq war and that Obama’s claim that he “had the judgment to oppose this war from the beginning” was “the biggest fairy tale I’ve ever seen.”

The record from that fateful month, however, shows that there were indeed major differences between the two presidential contenders, with Senator Clinton supporting the Bush administration’s push for war and its exaggerated claims about Iraq’s alleged military prowess while Obama was opposing a U.S. invasion of that oil-rich country and openly challenging the administration’s exaggerated claims of an Iraqi threat.

Though under no obligation as a state senator to make any public statements on foreign policy, Obama took the initiative to speak out against the prospects of war at an anti-war rally in Chicago.

snip//

Meanwhile, back in Chicago, Obama was observing how “even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences.” He also recognized that “an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of Al Qaeda.”

In summary, on the most critical political question of the decade, a freshman state senator from Illinois was able to figure out what an experienced member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee could not - that Saddam Hussein was no longer a threat and that an invasion of Iraq would harm America’s national security interests. Over the next few weeks, Democratic voters will have the opportunity to decide whether which of these two leading candidates has the best judgment to lead this country during this next critical period.

[MagsDem]

1. It's 2008

And in the meantime, he has voted yes on all funding bills for the Iraq war. He had some cred on that back in 2002, but it's all gone now as far as I'm concerned.

[Barack_America]

3. Post Hillary's voting history on Iraq...for fairness sake n/t

[MagsDem]

6. Why? I'm not a Hillary supporter

[MethuenProgressive]

2. Later, as Senator, he joined with Clinton and voted with her on every Iraq War Vote...

..all the while claiming he was against the war.

[tabatha]

5. Yes, because the lives and safety of the troops was what was important at that time.

Once the war had started, one has to weigh a different set of considerations.

[Blarch]

9. It seems the feeble brains of some

on DU can't grasp that simple concept.

[MagsDem]

11. Delete - dupe

[MagsDem]

12. Because it's complete BS

Nothing more than a bogus right wing talking point, that has been injected into our brains by the right wing media.

[MagsDem]

10. Sorry, that's complete BS

The pentagon gets half a trillion dollars a year BEFORE supplemental war funding. Defunding the war = stopping the war. It's disengenuous to say that our men and women in uniform would starve or something if they did'nt keep funding the war. In fact, it's basically a bogus right wing talking point.

[MethuenProgressive]

14. "To show I'm against this war I'll keep voting to fund it"?

Up is down in ObamaNation.

[BobRossi]

4. It wasn't rocket science...

Yet Hillarious continues to not only defend her voting record, but she continues to enable shrub.

[MagsDem]

7. As does Obama, which is why they both suck on the issue of Iraq

[Cha]

13. And her husband lies about it..

among other things.

[AtomicKitten]

8. The 2004 Obama comment that the Clintons hang their crown is conveniently clipped

In a recent interview, he declined to criticize Senators Kerry and Edwards for voting to authorize the war, although he said he would not have done the same based on the information he had at the time.

"But, I'm not privy to Senate intelligence reports,'' Mr. Obama said. ''What would I have done? I don't know. What I know is that from my vantage point the case was not made.''

http://mediamatters.org/items/200711110004

[Cha]

15. A whole bunch of Ignoreds

on this thread..I'm sure they added much to the debate.

bill clinton's a fucking pandering liar and I can't decide which of the clintons is the biggest whiner.

[babylonsister]

16. I'm accumulating quite a few myself; does wonders for the blood pressure! nt

[Cha]

17. Not only the bloodpressure but

they had their chance and it's always the same.. nothing interesting to add just pre-k, reactionary tantrums.