Reply #327: I have not consciously been ignoring your commentary Lena, honest

[Tom Rinaldo]

I didn't see your reply to me above until late last night and by that time, to be frank, I was not motivated enough to kick this thread against to reply since it had already fallen off the front page.

In reply to your question, here is something I just went back and pulled out of my DU Journal:

What counts for me is that knowing what she does not, had she known that then, she would not make that same vote. That's what counts for me also with the apologies that Edwards and Biden and Kerry and Dodd and Daschle etc. made. Not the "I'm sorry" part but the lesson learned part.

There are two reasons why Hillary doesn't make you all happy by saying "I'm sorry" too, and neither has anything to do with her being happy with the way things turned out, or with her being a cold and remorseless human being.

The first will sound like a meaningless technicality to many I am sure but I think it isn't to her. Hillary feels like the IWR gave the appropriate tools for a President to appropriately use in pursuing America's national security interests. The IWR was NOT a vote to go to war with Iraq, it was a vote that gave authority for the U.S. President to ultimately go to war with Iraq if Iraq did not allow U.N. Inspectors back into Iraq with the freedom needed to confirm that Iraq was complying with U.N. resolutions that forbid Iraq from having or acquiring WMD's. Had the IRW actually been a vote approving an invasion of Iraq I have no doubt that Hillary would apologize for that decision.

The fact is that the leverage that the IWR was designed to bring to bear on the U.N. to force Iraq back into compliance with U.N. resolutions worked as designed. Inspectors returned to Iraq and were well on their way to proving that Iraq had no WMD's. Technically Clinton thinks it was an appropriate policy that went to Hell when George W. Bush unilaterally threw that policy out the window and invaded Iraq anyway. The IWR in her opinion was a useful hard diplomacy tool that accomplished it's goal before Bush subverted the process.

The fact that Bush went ahead and subverted the process even though U.N. inspectors were in place with full access to anywhere they wanted for inspections and were finding no threat from Iraq is where the process jumped the rails. Knowing that now Clinton would not again make the mistake of allowing George Bush a chance to do that again if the clock could be reversed.

When we invaded Iraq we did so with a lot of powerful high tech weapons as well as a standing army put under the command of our President, that Congress voted to fund and/or acquire, passing multiple defense budgets AFTER Bush took office. Congress gave the Commander in Chief weapons that could kill millions because they were believed to be appropriate weapons to have in America's arsenal, knowing full well that George W. Bush was president and that he could use most of those weapons at a near moments notice if he decided to order that as Commander in Chief. There usually is a level of trust that our President won't subvert the best interests of our nation and the resolutions of Congress to recklessly use weapons of war unless they must be used. There never had to be an invasion of Iraq after the U.N. inspectors returned to that nation. Bush invaded anyway.

Clinton and Kerry and Biden and Edwards and Dodd and many other Democrats made the wrong judgment about George W. Bush, but none of them are sorry they passed a defense budget that gave him the means to wage war, though they are indubitably sorry that he misused them. Hillary Clinton regrets that George W. Bush misused the IWR, but knowing what she did then she feels her actual vote made sense at the time. Now she knows that it didn't.

The other reason is another that many may not agree with. I believe Clinton thinks that the Democratic candidate for President will match up better against McCain if s/he can argue "Sure, I understand that the U.S. has to be prepared to be strong in defense of our security. I voted for the right policy but the wrong president implemented it. When I am President I will be strong enough to keep the U.S. safe without starting wars that could and should be avoided.

All of the above is not my personal position, but I can understand it. I score one big one for Obama on the IWR and then I move on to looking at other considerations also. On whole I end up as a Clinton supporter.