Hillary Clinton Backs Ramped-Up US Response to Islamic State

Just hours before the Paris attack, Obama claimed that ISIS had been “contained”.

There was only one weakness with Clinton’s speech, but it’s a big one and it undermines the effectiveness of everything else she said: She refused to support any serious deployment of US forces to accomplish the objectives she lays out.

“I don’t think it’s useful to go back and re-plow old ground”, she said. “Therefore we must choose resolve”.

Weaver and Sanders’ top campaign aides feel that while Clinton is very qualified on foreign policy, Sanders will still be able to draw contrast.

Clinton offered her views in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in NY.

When asked later if she would approve combat troops if the United States were attacked, Clinton again said no.

The former Secretary of State said in order to accomplish that objective the US must recognize that ISIS is “demonstrating new ambition, reach, and capabilities” which must stopped.

And at a moment of national consternation, Clinton seemed be trying to turn her hawkish instincts – often out of step with her party’s grass roots – into a political asset.

The former secretary of state reiterated her call for designated safe areas and the implementation of a no-fly zone, which many of her GOP rivals also support but President Obama opposes. She’s all but warning the left here that this war’s going to involve more boots on the ground.

Clinton’s remarks also drew a striking contrast with many of her Republican opponents who have advocated for a large-scale military mobilization, new measures to bar Syrian refugees from entering the country and a congressional declaration of war.

“Once and for all, the Saudis, the Qataris, and others need to stop their citizens from directly funding extremist organizations.”

She also warned that the encryption that technology firms such as Apple have embraced for mobile phones and other devices may be interfering with the government’s ability to prevent terrorist attacks. And if Baghdad fails to do so, Clinton said the United States and its allies would. How credible is her call for “a new phase” against ISIS, with “a broader target set”, “an immediate intelligence surge” and giving USA “troops advising and training the Iraqis greater freedom of movement and flexibility”?

“No, I am not a pacifist”.

But, she added, “I think it would be a mistake”.

More air power would come only in cooperation with allies like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – both of which have already ended their airstrikes against ISIS.

Clinton also dug in on the linguistic battle. And let’s not forget: She was the one who gave him that “reset” button.

“We are in a contest of ideas against an ideology of hate, and we have to win”, she said.

Since 2000, Hillary Clinton has raised $29.2 million from PACs and employees of major banks, hedge funds and securities firms for her Senate and presidential campaigns while her husband raised $39.7 million from Wall Street sources throughout his political career – or a total of $68.9 million.

And despite her lead in the polls, Clinton has not won the Democratic nomination yet, and accordingly framed her differences with Obama carefully as she courts dovish Democrats.

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said in a SC address Wednesday that the USA should send more troops to the Middle East to fight the IS group. “If we have learned anything from 15 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s that local people and nations have to secure their own communities”.

Clinton took the opportunity to bash Republican opposition to accepting refugees, even as later in the day the House with a few Democratic support passed a bill that would restrict Syrian refugees from coming to the US. “We are at war with people who have perverted Islam”. She called on Congress to “make sure the necessary resources are provided for comprehensive background checks, drawing on the best intelligence we can get”. And since there are no simple solutions to the problems presented by Isis, no presidential candidate wants to tell the American public that there’s nothing to be done – or that nobody knows what precisely to do. But she and America deserve a thoughtful, open-minded reading of her speech.