Hillary talks tough.
Letting campaign rhetoric drift into foreign policy bragadaccio can be a dangerous thing:
- “A week ago, a senior Iranian army commander said Iran would “eliminate” Israel in response to any military attack from the Jewish state.”
- “I want the Iranians to know that if I’m the president, we will attack Iran,” Clinton said in an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them,” she said.
Jake Tapper points out that Clinton’s new tough rhetoric contradicts what she has said in the past about voicing commitments to use military force:
It would seem to me that her threat to Iran is a direct contradiction of her refusal last October to engage in speculation about when she would take military action against Iran, as well as a contradiction of her pish-poshing last August about engaging in foreign policy hypotheticals.
The saber-rattling rhetoric, though, does speak to Clinton’s judgment. Obviously she felt that this belligerent stance was necessary on the eve of the Pennsylvania primary and is meant to be bootstraped with her 3 a.m. prowess. The comments are out of step with what the American intelligence community has concluded, that the Iranians halted their nuclear weapons program in 2003 and demonstrate a willingness on Clinton’s part to say anything just to score points.
Her stance raises important questions. Such as, is there a pre-determined response if Iran were to attack Israel with conventional weapons? What if Israel is attacked with a suitcase nuke? Will she assume it was Iran and attack? Will her belicose attitude allow her to move forward with trying to find some common ground with Iran, such as in Basra? And, is this nothing but a new line of attack against Obama because he has been spending capital reaching out to Jewish voters in Pennsylvania?
Odds are that its the latter. For if Clinton has shown anything in this election, is that she will say anything if it means a bit of short-term gain regardless of the consequences in the long run.
