A Hillary Clinton presidency would shatter the glass ceiling for women in the United States, but it would leave intact the olā boysā military-industrial complex that has been keeping our nation in a perpetual state of war for decades.
As senator, Clinton voted for the Iraq war because she thought it was politically expedientāa vote she certainly came to regret when the war turned sour and Senator Barack Obama surged forward as the candidate opposed to it. That disastrous war plunged Iraq into chaos and opened the way for the Islamic State group to emerge. But Clinton didnāt learn the main lesson from Iraq. Instead of embracing diplomacy, she continued to champion ill-conceived military interventions as secretary of state.
In 2011, when the Arab Spring came to Libya, Clinton was the Obama administration’s most forceful advocate for overthrowing Muammar Gaddafi. She even out-hawked Robert Gates, the defense secretary first appointed by George W. Bush who was less than enthusiastic about going to war in Libya.
While House Republicans recently spent 11 hours relentlessly drilling Clinton about Benghazi and her personal email account, the larger disaster by far is the post-war chaos that left Libya without a functioning government, overrun by feuding warlords and extremist militants.
When it comes to Syria, Clinton has called for greater military intervention in that nationās civil war. Back in 2012 she advocated for arming Syrian rebels, long before the Obama administration agreed to do so. In her presidential bid, she has broken ranks with the White House on Syria by joining Republican Senators like John McCain and Lindsey Graham in supporting the creation of a no-fly zone. Clintonās position is not only at odds with President Obama but also with Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who warned that a unilateral U.S. no-fly zone in Syria could āget us more deeply involved in that horrible civil war and lead to a never-ending U.S. entanglement in that region.ā
On Israel, Clinton has distanced herself from President Obamaās feud with Netanyahu over the prime ministerās efforts to derail the Iran nuclear deal and his comments opposing the creation of a Palestinian state. Referring to Obamaās policy toward Netanyahu, Clinton said that ātough loveā is counterproductive because it invites other countries to delegitimize Israel. She has indicated to wealthy Jewish donors that she will be a better friend to Israel than President Obama. However, being a ābetter friendā to a regime that is occupying Palestinian lands and repressing the Palestinian people is no feat to brag about.
To the dismay of some of her major donors, Clinton did end up supporting the administrationās Iran nuclear deal, but her support came with a history of bellicose baggage. Back in April 2008 she warned that the U.S. could ātotally obliterateā Iran in retaliation for a nuclear attack on Israel. Ever since her days as secretary of state, she has insisted on keeping the military option on the table. Even after the nuclear agreement was sealed, she struck a bullying tone: āI donāt believe Iran is our partner in this agreement,ā Clinton insisted, āIran is the subject of the agreement,ā adding that she would not hesitate to take military action if Iran attempts to obtain a nuclear weapon.
Clinton has also criticized the Obama administration for not doing more to confront Russia since the 2014 annexation of Crimea. At a California fundraiser last year, she reportedly compared Russian President Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler. At a meeting earlier this year with London Mayor Boris Johnson, he said she faulted European leaders for being ātoo wimpyā about challenging Putin.
Contrast Secretary of State Clinton with Secretary of State Kerry. It was only after Clinton resigned as secretary of state and was replaced by Kerry that the agency moved away from being a Pentagon appendage to a body that seeks creative, diplomatic solutions to seemingly intractable conflicts. President Obamaās two signature foreign policy achievementsāthe Iran deal and the groundbreaking opening with Cubaācame after Clinton left.
There was a very telling moment about Clintonās attitude during the first Democratic debate when Anderson Cooper asked, āWhich enemy are you most proud of?ā
Alongside the NRA, Republicans, and health insurance companies, Clinton listed āthe Iraniansā ā which could mean either the Iranian government or the nationās 78 million people. In either case, it wasnāt a very diplomatic thing to say while her successor and former colleagues are trying to chart a new, more cooperative relationship with Iran.
When it comes to war and peace, it might not matter too much if a Republican or Hillary Clinton wins the White House. In either case, the winner will be the military-industrial complex President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned us about.
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1 Comment
Clinton’s foreign policy behavior and proposals re not all that different from the other leading Democrat, Bernie Sanders.
Though he voted against the Iraq slaughter resolution during the reign of Bush 2, he’s supported most of the “emergency” funding proposals since then that have turned that war of occupation into a permanent war of occupation.
The same is true of the permanent war of occupation in Afghanistan.
Clinton and Sanders are silent on the US-led occupation of the African continent and all that goes with it.
Like Clinton, Sanders is a Zionist who gives lip service to a “two-state” solution that keeps a Zionist government in Tel Aviv/Jerusalem and would render the remaining 28% of the nation as a satellite of the “Jewish” state.
Both Sanders and Clinton have been consistently silent on US military adventurism in Mexico, Central America and South America.
Nor have either of them said much about the torture-training camp at the School of the Americas.
Both Clinton and Sanders support the multi-trillion dollar F-35 boondoggle, the most costly military program in the history of humanity.
Both claim that the U.S. military must be the most powerful on Earth.
While Sanders calls for some democratic political and economic reforms domestically, he fails to state the obvious mathematical fact that choosing for maintaining a global military empire makes austerity in the “homeland” inevitable and permanent.
Both Clinton and Sanders have sworn fealty to the U.S. Democratic Party, one of the duopoly parties of business and global empire.
It is unclear why Benjamin leaves Sanders out of the discussion. Not really…