United States must push Arab leaders to confront IS: Clinton

Back in familiar territory three years after leaving her post as Secretary of State, Clinton’s understanding of the nuances in the Middle East were clear on Thursday.

Her remarks were a subtle change in tone from what Clinton said during Saturday’s Democratic debate, where she noted, “it can not be an American fight”.

Galston said Thursday’s speech signaled that Hillary Clinton’s style in managing foreign policy would be more like that of former president George H.W. Bush.

Airstrikes though, Clinton added, “will have to be combined with ground forces actually taking back more territory from ISIS”.

“This is their fight and they need to act like it”, she said. She called on the United Nations to update rules aimed at choking off finances to the terror group, said asked that other Arab allies including Saudi Arabia do more to prevent their citizens from funding extreme groups. In her time as Secretary of State, she called for more action to arm moderate Syrian rebels, and was a voice for more intervention in Libya.

Clinton wants to marginalize Russian Federation and exclude Iran altogether from the fight against ISIS in Syria, something that makes political sense given that neither country is very popular with the American public.

“That is just not the smart move to make here”, she said.

“But even as I was still there, which is publicly known, I thought we needed to do more, earlier” to help local Syrian fighters against leader Bashar al-Assad.

Yes, she called for more airstrikes, a no-fly zone over Syria and boots on the ground.

“So yes, we do need to be vigilant in screening and vetting any refugees from Syria, guided by the best judgment of our security professionals in close coordination with our allies and partners”, said Clinton.

She also said the USA should “ramp up our efforts to support and equip viable Syrian opposition units” and acknowledged that these groups “remain understandably preoccupied with fighting Assad”, referring to the embattled Syrian president.

In her speech, Clinton made clear that an expanded ground force does not mean a full-scale USA combat mission. Instead, she insisted, “Muslims are peaceful and tolerant people and have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism”. “It was good for the economy and it was a way to rebuke the terrorists who had attacked our country”, she said.

“We ought to be sending extra particular operators, we must be empowering our trainers in Iraq, we ought to be … main an air coalition, utilizing each fighter planes and drones”, she stated.

Newell argued that Clinton, in fact, is going further than many in her own party by “appropriating one of the right’s central talking points against government-funded universal health insurance: Think of the taxes!”

In a shot at Republicans who have criticized her for not using the phrase, Clinton said that denouncing “radical Islamic terrorism” amounts to giving “these criminals, these murderers, more standing than they deserve”. These voters express no appetite for a more forceful United States role in conflicts such as Syria. I don’t think we at war with all Muslims.

“We can not allow terrorists to intimidate us into abandoning our values and humanitarian obligations”, said Clinton.

Meanwhile, Republicans in Washington pushed legislation toward approval that would establish new hurdles for Syrian and Iraqi refugees trying to enter the U.S. Obama has promised a veto, but his top aides struggled Thursday to limit Democratic defections.

“We need to challenge our best minds in the private sector to work with our best minds in the public sector to develop solutions that will both keep us safe and protect our privacy”, Clinton said.

Sanders’ address at Georgetown University will be twofold: In a tribute to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, he will describe the philosophical underpinnings of his belief in “democratic socialism”.