i'd like a toke of whatever hillary's been smoking. i would say she is delusional.
Insists Clinton administration deserves credit for U.S. successes
In a foreign policy speech at a Washington think tank, Sen. Hillary Clinton chided President Bush for not thanking her husband for handing the current administration such a strong military.
The Democrat from New York told an audience at the Brookings Institution Bush is now engaged in "nation building" in Iraq, a concept he derided during his 2000 campaign.
"But from what I saw, the victories that we can look to in the post-conflict period in Iraq are largely due to the actions of our military," she said. "And not just our generals but, literally, all up and down the chain of command. And it has been an extraordinary display of American know-how and willingness to dig in and do some very difficult work, while still trying to engage the Iraqis and create a condition of stability and security."
Clinton then noted that during the 2000 campaign, Vice President Cheney said there is almost nothing you can do to improve the quality of a military force created by your predecessors.
Cheney, she pointed out, wrote a letter to former President Reagan "thanking him for building the military that fought so capably."
"Well, I don't know, but I don't think any letters have yet arrived on the desks of anyone associated with the Clinton administration," she said.
Critics, however, point to deep cuts in military spending during the 1990s and Clinton's personal loathing for the military, which they contend led to low morale among the ranks.
From 1990 to 1998, active Army ranks were reduced from 770,000 to 495,000. After the cuts, the Army had 10 active combat divisions compared to the 18 it had at the start of Operation Desert Storm in 1991. The following also were cut:
293,000 reservists;
two reserve divisions;
20 Air Force and Navy air wings along with approximately 2,000 combat aircraft;
232 strategic bombers;
13 ballistic-missile submarines with 3,114 nuclear warheads on 232 missiles;
500 ICBMs;
four aircraft carriers;
121 surface-combat vessels and attack submarines, plus all the support basing, transport and logistic access, tanks, armored fighting vehicles, helicopters, etc.
In her Brookings speech, Clinton also said she thought women in Iraq were better off under the Saddam Hussein regime because of their participation in the public arena.
Under Saddam, she said, women "went to school; they participated in the professions, they participated in the government and business and, as long as they stayed out of [Saddam's] way, they had considerable freedom of movement."
Now, however, the governing council has attempted to "shift large parts of civil law into religious jurisdiction."
She said Iraqi women told her they can't leave their homes and go about their daily business, "and there is a concerted effort to burn schools that are educating girls [and] to intimidate aid workers who are women."
Insists Clinton administration deserves credit for U.S. successes
In a foreign policy speech at a Washington think tank, Sen. Hillary Clinton chided President Bush for not thanking her husband for handing the current administration such a strong military.
The Democrat from New York told an audience at the Brookings Institution Bush is now engaged in "nation building" in Iraq, a concept he derided during his 2000 campaign.
"But from what I saw, the victories that we can look to in the post-conflict period in Iraq are largely due to the actions of our military," she said. "And not just our generals but, literally, all up and down the chain of command. And it has been an extraordinary display of American know-how and willingness to dig in and do some very difficult work, while still trying to engage the Iraqis and create a condition of stability and security."
Clinton then noted that during the 2000 campaign, Vice President Cheney said there is almost nothing you can do to improve the quality of a military force created by your predecessors.
Cheney, she pointed out, wrote a letter to former President Reagan "thanking him for building the military that fought so capably."
"Well, I don't know, but I don't think any letters have yet arrived on the desks of anyone associated with the Clinton administration," she said.
Critics, however, point to deep cuts in military spending during the 1990s and Clinton's personal loathing for the military, which they contend led to low morale among the ranks.
From 1990 to 1998, active Army ranks were reduced from 770,000 to 495,000. After the cuts, the Army had 10 active combat divisions compared to the 18 it had at the start of Operation Desert Storm in 1991. The following also were cut:
293,000 reservists;
two reserve divisions;
20 Air Force and Navy air wings along with approximately 2,000 combat aircraft;
232 strategic bombers;
13 ballistic-missile submarines with 3,114 nuclear warheads on 232 missiles;
500 ICBMs;
four aircraft carriers;
121 surface-combat vessels and attack submarines, plus all the support basing, transport and logistic access, tanks, armored fighting vehicles, helicopters, etc.
In her Brookings speech, Clinton also said she thought women in Iraq were better off under the Saddam Hussein regime because of their participation in the public arena.
Under Saddam, she said, women "went to school; they participated in the professions, they participated in the government and business and, as long as they stayed out of [Saddam's] way, they had considerable freedom of movement."
Now, however, the governing council has attempted to "shift large parts of civil law into religious jurisdiction."
She said Iraqi women told her they can't leave their homes and go about their daily business, "and there is a concerted effort to burn schools that are educating girls [and] to intimidate aid workers who are women."
:thinking: :shocked: :toast: 
