Rapid Response is back.
Remember Eric Edelman's slimy "aiding the enemy" attack on the Democratic front-runner? It didn't take long for Hillary to respond.
Follow me below the fold for AP's report.
WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton hit back Friday at a Pentagon aide who charged that her questions about Iraq withdrawal planning have the effect of helping the enemy — calling the accusation a spurious dodge of a serious issue.
Clinton, the Democratic front-runner for president, had asked the Pentagon to detail how it is planning for the eventual withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Iraq. She first raised the issue in May, pointing out that whenever troops leave, it will be no simple task to transport the people, equipment and vehicles out of Iraq, possibly through hostile territory.
Eric Edelman, the Defense Department's undersecretary for policy, offered a sharply worded response, saying such discussions boost the enemy.
"Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia," Edelman wrote.
Um.... name a SINGLE ALLY we had in Somalia, you stupid lickspittle dipshit. But that's beside the point.
A classic example of the Bush Administration's meretricious incompetence. God FORBID these morons should EVER plan ahead about ANYTHING. They failed miserably in their buildup to their illegal war, and now they're failing to protect and recover our troops should it be necessary to leave the country we conquered.
Clinton responded Friday in a letter to Edelman's boss, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, asking if he agreed with Edelman's charge.
The New York senator said Edelman had ducked her questions and "instead made spurious arguments to avoid addressing contingency planning."
"Undersecretary Edelman has his priorities backward," Clinton wrote, calling his claim "outrageous and dangerous."
She repeated her request for a briefing — classified if necessary — on the issue of end-of-war planning.
The senator's spokesman Philippe Reines said: "We sent a serious letter to the Secretary of Defense, and unacceptably got a political response back."
As she runs for president, Clinton has ratcheted up her criticism of the Bush administration's war effort, answering critics of her 2002 vote to authorize the Iraq invasion by saying she would end the war if elected president.
If Robert Gates has a shred of dignity, he'll deal with this issue adequately. However, his "minder" Edelman will probably veto any attempt by Gates to deal with Clinton in an adult fashion. How about it, MISTER Gates? Do you actually run your own office anymore?
Or has 41's minion drunk the Unitary Kool-aid and decided that the Defense Department is another fiefdom under Bush's all-encompassing Executive Privilege rubric?
This is what happens when Americans vote for people who function on the level of a third-grade schoolyard bully.
I'm not as scared about American Fascism from these people as some of our other estimable Recommended diarists are today. These people really are bone-ass STUPID.
What I was more concerned about was our Presidential candidates failing to step up to the plate and really confronting these people. The more she does this, the more effective she will be. That goes for ANY serious Democratic candidate.
Hillary is now doing that. Props to her.
***UPDATE*** Here's another line of attack. I'd recommend for any Democrat that they use Edelman's mindless statement as evidence that the Admiistration doesn't want to protect the troops, does not want to plan ahead, does not want to make sure they can be gotten out of harm's way in the event of a complete Iraqi meltdown. And keep hammering this point. Whether it's entirely true or not is beside the point. Logical contingency planning doesn't equate to anything other than logical adult behavior - except in loony little-boy Bushland.
I also recommend mockery. These guys are so ripe for it.