In her own words: Hillary Clinton on withdrawal from Iraq

[welshTerrier2]

source: http://www.vote-smart.org/speech_detail.php?speech_id=98865&keyword=iraq+withdraw&phrase=&contain=
(CNN interview: 5/26/05)

WOODRUFF: Very different subject, Iraq. Record numbers of Americans continue to die in Iraq. No end to the violence in sight that most people can see. When should the United States begin significant troop withdrawals?

CLINTON: Well, there's a preliminary question to that. And the preliminary question is, when will the United States have a strategy that can gain the confidence of the Iraqi people, support the new Iraqi government and protect our troops. And we haven't had that.

You know, I am not one who feels comfortable setting exit strategies. We don't know what we're exiting from. We don't know what the situation is moving toward.

I have said on many occasions, I regret deeply the way the president and the civilian leadership at the Pentagon pursued this action in Iraq. I think numerous mistakes were made. And I believe that it is unfortunate that the Congress, under Republican leadership, has been unwilling to hold the kind of oversight hearings that previous Congresses have done.

How do we know where we're headed, when we don't know where we are. And when we don't get anything but, sort of, a chorus of happy talk from the administration.