Hillary on bin Laden in Pakistan: "I would ensure that they were targeted and killed or captured."

[jefferson_dem]

IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN

Clinton, in an interview with the American Urban Radio Network, stressed the importance of the Pakistanis "taking the actions that only they can take within their own country."

But she did not rule out U.S. attacks inside Pakistan, citing the missile attacks her husband, then-President Bill Clinton, ordered against Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in 1998.

"If we had actionable intelligence that Osama bin Laden or other high-value targets were in Pakistan I would ensure that they were targeted and killed or captured," she said.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/8/2/worldupdates/2007-08-02T023102Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-287732-2&sec=worldupdates

[Colobo]

1. Obama leads again, Hill and John follow.

[rinsd]

2. Psssst Hillary has been talking about Pakistan for awhile now.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/07/27/top8.htm

[jefferson_dem]

5. True. However, this quote seems to be her latest position on the issue. ..

which speaks directly to the use of military force when necessary.

[rinsd]

15. Latest position?

C'mon now jeff-dem.

She has spoken about military force and Al Queda many times including recently at the Youtube debate.

Obama gave a good speech.

He doesn't deserve the feces being thrown his way but let's not start fights over silly shit.

[madrchsod]

9. i have criticized obama`s staff for their miscue on this subject

and now i read where hillary has a idea that on the surface would be a much better than obama`s.as hard for me to say i must admit hillary has the right idea.

[durrrty libby]

18. She is much more intelligent and thoughtful than BO

[SaveElmer]

3. I hope she stops there...

This kind of rhetoric is harmful in my opinion...not only does it dumb down our(as opposed to Republican) position on terrorism in that it provides the media with something juicy to latch onto excluding all else...but it is not helpful in terms of our anti-terrorism efforts...words that may be popular here, and may even be correct, are taken in a very different light by extremist factions in many countries including Pakistan...

Pre-announcing our intention to strike militarily is not a wise thing to do...I'm sorry Hillary felt like she had to go along...Bill Richardson took the most responsible position on this in my opinion...

[Colobo]

7. I'm glad Hillary agrees with Obama. It needs to happen more often.

[SaveElmer]

10. Well I think...

You couldn't slip a piece of paper between their positions on 99.9% of the issues...I'm sorry she agreed with putting military action against Pakistan as a prominent part of our anti-Terrorism efforts...it's a bad idea...

Bill Richardson was correct here...Obama and Hillary are wrong...

[jefferson_dem]

13. Don't forget Edwards.

It looks like the three "frontrunners" are all aligned on this issue...for better or worse.

[tularetom]

4. a day late, a dollar short

I'm not particularly enamored of either Obama or Hillary, but it appears that his campaign is consistently outmaneuvering hers with respect to these foreign relations stories. Somebody in the Clinton campaign is just not paying attention. If she is the nominee she had better make some replacements before the general election campaign begins because the repub dirty tricks will make Obama's statements look benign.

[jmp]

8. He maneuvered right off a cliff. (nm)

...

[MannyGoldstein]

17. Mrs. Clinton Can't Triangulate Until The Others Say Something

So, other than uttering absolutely nebulous words, Mrs. Clinton must wait for Obama to speak before she can speak. She's finding that there are two problems with this "triangulation uber alles" strategy:

1. Obama has been getting it right the first time. She can't improve on his position.
2. When she tries to triangulate between Obama and the Republicans, she's vulnerable to being called out as ideologically closer to Bush/Cheney.

Methinks Mrs. Clinton is in BIG trouble here - if she wants to avoid getting crushed, she'll actually have to state a tangible position before Obama does. However, Mrs. Clinton has zero political courage. Zero. She has never stuck her neck out politically, except for the disasterous HillaryCare.

This is going to be interesting...

[jmp]

6. I'm not sure what your intention was but ...

You are mischaracterizing that quote. In that quote she states that she would see to it that they were targeted and killed or captured ... not that we would be doing the killing or capturing.

I don't doubt that Hillary would indeed target al-Qaeda inside Pakistan ... but I doubt she'd be foolish enough to announce plans to launch an attack inside Pakistan.

[jefferson_dem]

11. Intention? I posted a direct quote of hers in the subject line. She said "ensure"...

Providing 'context" suitable enough for your understanding is not easy with the limited space in a DU subject line, silly.

The full context of the quote, at least in terms of the news report, is in the body of the OP.

[Adelante]

14. She would *ensure* they are killed or captured

If the Pakistanis didn't do it, she would see that it was done. Which is exactly the same as Obama's position.

[jmp]

16. That is not necessarily so.

She could turn to local tribesmen or turn to someone who can replace Musharef. We could pressure Musharef in a multitude of ways. We are a superpower ... we have more options than just dropping bombs.

[Connie_Corleone]

19. But, but, but, she didn't use the same exact words in the exact order as Obama.

So, you see. What Hillary said was completely different from what Obama said.

:sarcasm:

[liberalmuse]

12. She's said it better than Obama.

I don't want to hear 'terrorist'. That word has become meaningless during the Bush rule, and really, it could mean anyone. Hillary has put a face to the terrorists she would target. That is what people want to hear--'bin Laden'. I don't agree with a lot of her tactics or even some of her ideologies, but I am not a politcal strategist. All I know is she seems to be savvy and she has what it takes to win the Presidency. I wish we had a world or even country where men like Edwards or Kucinich could be President. As it stands, if we were facing a nuclear standoff, I would probably want Hillary at the helm.