Sen. Clinton supports ``benchmarks'' for U.S. presence in Iraq

[sabra]

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--clinton-iraq0619jun19,0,4725754.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork

Sen. Clinton supports ``benchmarks'' for U.S. presence in Iraq

WOODBURY, N.Y. -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, criticized by some Democrats because of her refusal to call for a timetable for troop withdrawal from Iraq, said Monday that she favored setting a series of "benchmarks" for the Iraqi government to meet if the U.S. is to maintain its military presence in the war-torn country.

Speaking to reporters on Long Island, Clinton, a likely 2008 presidential contender, reiterated her contention that setting a deadline for troops to leave Iraq "is not smart policy."

But she said the Iraqi government must meet a series of requirements for preserving American military support, such as securing Baghdad within a "reasonable" time period and ridding the Iraqi army of sectarian militias and death squads.

"We have to set some benchmarks, have to put some requirements on the Iraqi government, so they know they have to reach certain goals for us to be supportive. And we have to redeploy our troops, as possible, so that we don't add to the problems there," Clinton said.

[endarkenment]

1. Oh goody how about we just resurrect this metric:

the body count. That was the standard progress metric back in the good old days of the last Real Bad F'ed Up War. It worked then to institutionalize quagmire do nothing politics, it should be perfectly suitable today.

One question: what is the Iraqi equivalent of the water buffalo?

[Mandate My Ass]

2. Iraqi leaders to US gov't: Please get out. Your presence is

contributing to the ongoing violence and instability.

Clinton to Iraqis: Clean up our mess and maybe we'll listen to you. :eyes:

[babylonsister]

3. There was a benchmark; to make Iraqi security forces many in

number, capable of defending themselves. How long have we been waiting for that to happen?
Get with the program, Hillary. Seems to me she's just trying to buy time, but for what I
don't know. She won't get my vote while she still supports anything other than getting out
of Iraq. And even if she should have a change of heart, too little, too late imo.

[Robbien]

4. What? Benchmarks? How many ways can one be a milquetoast.

If they every reach one of these benchmarks of hers, then what? Stay and pay dearly for them to reach the next one?

[Blue_In_AK]

5. Whatever, Hillary...

God, I hope she's not our candidate in 2008.

[ixion]

7. Second that...

I think it would be an enourmous mistake. She's obviously had too much Beltway Kool-Aid®.

[bluebottle]

22. Third that

... but it may be inevitable. Its all about trustworthiness, believability and "winnability" - methinks Hill on the "hill" has a high winnability factor and I guess it's screw trustworthiness and believability is in the hands of the spin-docs :(

[jedicord]

6. So if Iraq doesn't follow the benchmarks, the US will leave?

Start those benchmarks now! Iraq wants us OUTTA THERE!

What a great way and great excuse to get our men and women out of Iraq. We didn't cut and run, they didn't hold up to their responsibilities.

Half sarcasm/half realism.

[karynnj]

27. But do they have to reach the benchmark by a date?

If yes, this is a timeline. If no, when do we leave if they fail to do something?

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

8. Any computer nerd will tell you...

That benchmarks are just lies. ;-)

[leesa]

9. Oh, is THAT what we're doing...being supportive?? We launched an illegal

invasion and murdered over a hundred thousand people there and you are chastising them, you evil woman.

[arewenotdemo]

11. agreed

[Jacobin]

17. Oh yes. Ever so supportive

After blowing up their infrastructure, laying waste to their cities and creating the biggest debacle of this short century, she thinks we are being 'supportive'

My gawd, if this is the best democrats have to offer, we are truly and utterly screwed...to the fucking wall

[bluebottle]

24. Alas, thats the kind of rhetoric that's cited to justify further brutality

To be fair I think the "supportive" is from a standpoint that there are US troops and citizens in Iraq believing they are supporting US interests or just simply humanitarian aid. They are putting lives on the line in that belief - we really should support folk doing their "job" in good faith.

So lines like "the people in America say its an illegal invasion culminating in the murder of 100,000 people" translated by Al Quaeda in Iraq ato something like "It's OK to kidnap behead these murdering folk - even if they are easy-target humanitarian aid workers - they are still filthy foreigners supporting the occupation of ... um our well not actually our country"...

It seems statements like those are the terms described by Al Jazeera and used by insurgents when justifying the killing of Iraqi "conspirators" and beheading kidnapped foreigners. Ironic that most of the Iraqi Al Quaeda are themselves foreigners from Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Agreed its a stoopid war, we shouldnt be there, had the public known (or cared) then what we know now we would never have gone there, we should look the other way (who cares about a few 100,000 massacred Kurds), who cares if the UN is an oxymoron, who cares if the Middle East destabilizes into an all-out war, who cares if Iran finally manages to get some nukes rolling and there's an all-out Arab-Israeli conflict that leads to global destabilization.

Much as I support liberal ideals, there's the nagging question as to how long do we leave it before we care? When is it too late to do actually anything about it?

I'm one of the first in line to agree that war is dumb (unless you are an arms dealer), I'm one of the first in line for global disarmament but the reality is there's a whole ton of folk that truly believe the only way to win is to fire the first shot :(

Hmmm maybe we should take a cue from industry and outsource the invasion of trouble-making countries to China and India then we can wash our hands of the whole "support" thing :P

[VegasWolf]

10. Just like the "benchmarks" politicans supported in Vietnam? nt

[Jacobin]

18. Hey!! We 'vietnamized' them. Remember that?

The utter contemptible hubris of 'vietnamizing' the vietnamese...well, they got vietnamized alright, and they ran our asses out on a rail, which is going to happen in IraqNam as well

[pinniped]

12. This is stupid.

She has been reading too much PC World.

[Roland99]

13. What, like less than 20 dead per day or something?

GET A FUCKING CLUE HILLARY!!

[Javaman]

14. Hey hillary we already have benchmarks and they continue to be ignored...

500 - 1000 - 1500 - 2000 - 2500 - ????? according to asshole snow.

hillary grow a fucking spine and give us your own fucking opinion instead of the one that your toadies though polled well.

Until she comes our against this war and withdraws her support for the fucked up patriot act, she's just another joe lieberman in drag.

[Zhade]

15. Do you know why this will never work as intended?

One of the "benchmarks" to ending this ILLEGAL MURDEROUS WAR is to train Iraqis for security detail.

Except - surprise! :sarcasm: - every time we train, the Iraqis take the training and weapons and turn right around and USE THEM ON THE INVADERS (which is what I'd do if someone invaded my country, killed tens of thousands, if not more, of my fellow citizens, raped the oil fields, and tortured and murdered innocents).

[leftchick]

16. Hil, the war garb does not become you!

:puke:

[Jacobin]

19. What happened to her call 8 months ago to increase

troop strength by 80,000?

She is as stupid as the republican neo-cons if she thinks we will ever successfully get the Iraqis to agree to support a puppet government we installed

[Rex]

20. Benchmarks? Lady, they can't even get running water!!!

I DARE ALL of our Congress critters to go OVER THERE and BE WITH THE IRAQI PEOPLE! Just for a few days and NOT in the International Zone! DARE!

[leftchick]

21. I would love to tie her in her cushy senatorial chair and

read this to her over a LOUDSPEAKER! The whole fucking thing, so she gets half of a clue....


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2230672,00.html


<snip>

Horror show reveals Iraq’s descent

A morgue’s grim scenes testify to a disintegrating nation, says Hala Jaber in Baghdad


THE morning rush had begun at the health ministry’s morgue in Baghdad, and by 9.30am last Thursday 36 coffins already lined the street outside. A muffled wailing came from the minibuses parked nearby where women shrouded in black waited to go inside and search for loved ones, knowing too well what they would find.

The single-storey Al-Tub al-Adli morgue, whose nondescript appearance belies the horrors within, has become synonymous with the seemingly unstoppable violence that has turned Baghdad into the most frightening city on earth.

It is here that bodies from the nightly slaughter are dumped each morning. The stench of decaying flesh, mingled with disinfectant, hits you at the checkpoint 100 yards away.

Each corpse tells a different story about the terrors of Iraq. Some bodies are pocked with holes inflicted by torturers with power drills. Some show signs of strangulation; others, with hands tied behind the back, bear bullet wounds. Many are charred and dismembered.

So far this year, according to health ministry figures, the mortuary has processed the bodies of about 6,000 people, most of whom died violently. Some were killed in American military action but many more were the victims of the sectarian violence that US and Iraqi forces are struggling to contain.

[Rex]

23. Ugh! I read that story yesterday and it made me sick.

Torturers with POWER DRILLS! POWER FUCKING DRILLS! Okay, you and I both know not a ONE has the guts to go and take a chance in the streets of Iraq, so I will make this easier for our Congress crits; there is a site that has most of the beheadings that go on in Iraq in avi/mpeg form. The site is called

http://www.ogrish.com

I DARE you to go there (especially the ones who voted yea on IWR - take a look at YOUR handiwork!) and watch the videos of innocent people getting their head cut off! DARE!

[IndianaGreen]

25. Here is your benchmark Hillary;

When are you going to take a stand for something that really counts?

[BlueStater]

26. I'm so sick of hearing that Hillary is the frontrunner

How can a Democrat who still supports this widely unpoular war be the frontrunner for our party? It makes zero sense.