Hillary's letter on Iran

[bcoylepa]

sent to a friend of mine

so very disappointing - sounds just like the bs on the buildup to the invasion of Iraq - I so want to support her if she is our candidate - but this is just garbage

Dear Ms.XXX

Thank you for contacting me with your concerns regarding Iran . Certainly, Iran is one of the most serious national security challenges facing our nation today. The Iranian President has made a series of outrageous comments questioning the Holocaust and calling for Israel to be wiped off the map. He has also been the leading spokesperson for Iran 's pursuit of the technology that could potentially allow it to build nuclear weapons.

United States policy in this regard must be clear and unequivocal. We cannot and must not permit Iran to build or acquire nuclear weapons. A nuclear Iran would pose a serious threat to Israel and others in the region. It would also pose a significant threat to the United States by combining access to nuclear materials and technology with support for terrorism. The Iranian regime's pro-terrorist, anti-American and anti-Israel rhetoric only underscores the seriousness of the threat we face.

While I have long said that we must keep all options on the table, I also believe we should engage with our enemies in order to learn more about them, what their objectives are, where the real power centers are, and what leverage we can bring to bear on them. Because we need our friends and allies to stand with us, I also want to send a message to the rest of the world - should we ever have to take more drastic action - that we have aggressively pursued all diplomatic options .

Thank you again for sharing your thoughts and concerns with me. You can be sure that I will continue to follow developments related to Iran with the utmost attention. For more information on this and other issues being discussed before the United States Senate, please visit my website at http://clinton.senate.gov .

Sincerely,

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton

[paulk]

1. looks like just another generic anti Hillary thread

speaking of garbage....

[bcoylepa]

6. absolutely not

there is a lot I like about Hillary and I would love to elect a woman but this language sounds to me that Lieberman could have written it

[paulk]

14. Any Democrat in the Senate could have written it

it's pretty standard boilerplate. Is there something in it that you specifically object to?

[MannyGoldstein]

15. Yes, It's So Unfair

to use a candidate's own words against them. Fantasy is much more honest.

[paulk]

18. then supply a reason why those words upset you

or is that asking too much from the Hillary haters?


"fantasy is much more honest"

Do you have a point to make, Mr. Goldstein? Or are generic smears, against both HRC and other posters on this board

just easier?

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. Hillary must be outsourcing her reply mail to AIPAC

[IndianaGreen]

9. She was bubby-buddy with Sharon and when she went to Israel

she shunned Israeli peace activists and Palestinian representatives. Joe Lieberman also went to Israel that same year and to his credit he met with everyone across the political spectrum.

[The_Casual_Observer]

13. The whole thing is about Israel, she's totally blunt about it, I'll

give her that much for candor.

[IndianaGreen]

16. No, she allies herself with the Israeli rightwing, while ignoring a crucial fact

about Israel: for all its faults, Israel is a vibrant democracy with widely divergent points of views. Unfortunately it seems that the most rightwing point of view is the one that gets all the attention in America. I think that American politicians that fall for the Israeli rightwing line share one thing in common with anti-Semites: they both think that all Jews are alike, and we are not!

[Jack Rabbit]

21. Well said, IG

:applause:

[Zhade]

3. She repeats the mistranslation lie about "wiping Israel off the map"...

...and repeats the "FEAR FEAR FEAR!" meme pushed by the neoconservatives about Iran.

No thanks.

[partylessinOhio]

7. I don't think the public is buying it.

How many villages have to be destroyed before she wakes up?

[partylessinOhio]

4. Looks like a WH/Neocon position paper to me.

Someone took the paper on Iraq and changed the keywords to Iran.

Next!

[IndianaGreen]

11. The DLC's Progressive Policy Institute is the flip side of the PNAC neocon coin

DLC's neoliberals are indistinguishable in their imperialism from the American Enterprise Institute neocons.

[MethuenProgressive]

5. Nice form letter. What's your problem with it, exactly?

"The Iranian President has made a series of outrageous comments questioning the Holocaust and calling for Israel to be wiped off the map. He has also been the leading spokesperson for Iran 's pursuit of the technology that could potentially allow it to build nuclear weapons.

United States policy in this regard must be clear and unequivocal."

I'm OK with what she's saying.


Gore/Clark '08!

[Zhade]

8. As much as Ahmanuttyguy is loathsome, he did not call for Israel to be wiped off the map.

He said it should fade from history.

She's repeating a lie.

[MethuenProgressive]

17. A distinction without a difference?

"...he did not call for Israel to be wiped off the map. He said it should fade from history."

I have no idea what was said in the original Farsi (Persian?), and who really knows much about all of what he's ever said anyway.
If what you say is true, and I have no doubt you think it is, there's not much difference in sentiment by my lights.

[doc03]

10. I clicked on Hannity for a few minutes today

he was showing recent clips of Hillary and then the ones from back in 2002. He showed several from 2002 and she was backing the war 110%, she was just as pro-war as LIEberman or Chenny at the time. I don't buy that if I knew then what I know now BS. George Bush Sr. said himself what a mess it would have made if we would have gone into Baghdad in the first war. Anyone with half a brain should have known what would happen.

[SaveElmer]

12. Comparing this to a neocon position is simply wrong...

What neocon is calling for talks with Iran...

The position she is taking is the appropriate one...and one that we rightly criticize Bush for not taking with Iraq...

With diplomacy and negotiation up front...

[Tom Rinaldo]

19. "we should engage with our enemies "

OK, that is Senator Clinton's wording. Today at kos Wes Clark did a live blogging session following his posting a Diary called:

"Is War with Iran Inevitable?"
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/2/12/122254/478

Clark was asked a question by a kos blogger:

"Short question: do you consider Iran to be an enemy of the United States?"

Clark replied:

"An enemy?

I wouldn't want to be branding people as enemies too soon. That was one of Bush's many mistakes. Iran is a nation we have many disagreements with...and that's why we should be discussing, not sabre rattling."

[Crunchy Frog]

20. She doesn't need your support, as long as she has AIPAC's.

If she's our candidate, she'll get nothing from me except my vote, and lucky to get that. She doesn't need anything from me anyway.

[calimary]

22. This is one statement she really can't make, as long as bush is callling

the shots in the White House:

"I also want to send a message to the rest of the world - should we ever have to take more drastic action - that we have aggressively pursued all diplomatic options."

Sadly, with him around, there is only one option we will be aggressively pursuing, and talking isn't it.