Blasphemy from Both Sides

Blasphemy from Both Sides

From the Left because she is saying things which make Bush look good. From the right because they are quoting the NY Senator in a positive light and praising it for her. It's a lose/lose for the politically fanatic.

Hillary Gets Tough

PRESIDENT BUSH has a surprising defender of his contention that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction--Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York. "The intelligence from Bush 1 to Clinton to Bush 2 was consistent" in concluding Saddam had chemical and biological weapons and was trying to develop a nuclear capability, Clinton said this morning. And Saddam's expulsion of weapons inspectors and "the behavior" of his regime "pointed to a continuing effort" to produce WMD, she added.

The senator said she did her own "due diligence" by attending classified briefings on Capitol Hill and at the White House and Pentagon and also by consulting national security officials from the Clinton administration whom she trusts. "To a person, they all agreed with the consensus of the intelligence" that Saddam had WMD.

Clinton isn't normally a defender of the Bush administration. And on other issues, especially Bush's handling of postwar Iraq, she was highly critical. But she agreed, with qualifications, that preemptive military action may be necessary in certain cases, as Bush has argued was the case with Iraq. . . .

On preemption--attacking an enemy before he attacks you--Clinton said the president shouldn't have announced it as a doctrine. "It's a strategy, it's a choice, it's not a doctrine," she insisted. But she said it would be justified in certain circumstances, citing a possible terrorist attack or proliferation of WMD.

If WMD are not found in Iraq, she said this would suggest a huge intelligence problem. And a probe would be needed to find what sources were being relied on and why the United States was "so misled, so wrong." . . . .

And she declined to discuss any similarities between Republican dislike of President Clinton and Democratic "hatred" of Bush. "I don't think that's a useful exercise," she said.