If it wasn't already clear that Hillary Clinton is far more hawkish than President Obama it was pretty evident in her foreign policy centric speech today.
Much was her speech was directed at Iran...
Clinton’s message to the Iranians was clear: “The U.S. will never allow you to acquire a nuclear weapon,” she said Wednesday. “I will not hesitate to take military action if Iran attempts to obtain a nuclear weapon.
And she made it clear she was much more willing to put the military option on the table than Obama.
While Obama has always insisted that military action against Iran remained on the table, he generally avoided issuing what could be construed as an outright threat.
But the key to successful implementation to the Iran deal, Clinton argued, is showing the Iranians the U.S. is serious. "We should expect that Iran will want to test the next president. They will want to see how far they can bend the rules," she said in the speech. "That won’t work if I’m in the White House."
To show her seriousness, the former secretary of state suggested deploying additional U.S. forces to the Persian Gulf region and recommended that Congress “close any gaps” in the existing sanctions to punish Iran for any current or future instances of human rights abuses and support for terror.
Clinton reiterated her support for arming Syrian rebels...
As secretary of state, Clinton was an early supporter of arming and training members of the Syrian opposition to fight Assad, a plan that faced resistance out of concern that it would be difficult to appropriately vet fighters and ensure that weapons didn’t fall into the hands of extremists. Today, the program is off to a slow start, with only 54 graduates from the first class, several of whom scattered after coming under attack by an al Qaeda affiliate in Syria. As commander-in-chief, Clinton would dramatically escalate the program, she said.
Hmm didn't we already do that in Afghanistan arming some rebels awhile back? How did that work out?
Hillary also sought to put some daylight between her and the President and joined in Republican criticisms leveled against Obama regarding Russia/Ukraine.
Clinton also criticized the Obama administration’s minimal efforts to contain Russia’s expansionist efforts in Ukraine since the 2014 annexation of Crimea. She put herself “in the category of people who wanted to do more in reaction to the annexation of Crimea," adding that the Russian government's objective is "to stymie, to confront, to undermine American power whenever and wherever they can."
More at
The Huffington Post....
It is very clear Hillary Clinton has no intention of continuing President Obama's level headed approach to foreign affairs. We've known for a long time of her hawkish tendencies but she's made clear she's not going to compromise that stance to satisfy progressives like she has on other issues.