Could Hillary REALLY have implied this?: Hillary to Troops: Support for War Fading
Saturday Nov. 29, 2003; 10:18 a.m. EST
[Note: Does anyone else wonder what the cost of Hillary's trip to Iraq for the American taxpayer is? And why she is there? Do all Jr Senators go to any war zone? Can all Senators, Congressmen and women go? Any budget for them?]
In a demoralizing message to U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq, visiting New York Sen. Hillary Clinton told them that Americans back home are growing increasingly skeptical of President Bush's decision to send them into battle.
Describing two meetings with G.I.s over turkey dinners in Baghdad, Sen. Clinton told reporters later that soldiers wanted to know "how the people at home feel about what we are doing."
Clinton said she told the troops, "Americans are wholeheartedly proud of what you are doing but there are many questions at home about the (Bush) administration's policies."
She also suggested that the U.S. could eventually lose the war in Iraq, contending, "We have to exert all of our efforts militarily, but the outcome is not assured."
Despite her sour pronouncements, the former first lady insisted that the soldiers were just as glad to see her as they were President Bush, whose surprise visit less than 24-hours earlier was greeted with standing ovations.
"It's a positive for the commander-in-chief to visit troops in the field," Clinton told reporters, adding, "the troops [also] seemed to appreciate seeing myself."
Speaking from a secure location just over the Kuwaiti border, Mrs. Clinton launched one verbal salvo after another at the White House, arguing that Bush officials had been "obsessed" with getting Saddam Hussein and saying the perception blinded them to the difficulties of deposing his regime.
"The Pentagon tried to make do with as few troops as possible, as light a footprint as they could get away with," Clinton said. "Now, we're playing catchup . . . Unfortunately, I don't think they fully appreciated the conditions we would encounter."
The top Democrat also reprised her charge that the White House is being less than candid when it comes to apprising the American people of the costs of the war.
"The obstacles and problems here are much greater than the administration usually admits to," she said, adding, "Everybody has to be honest."
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