[Peace-discuss] Liberals to the right of the administration

[C. G. Estabrook]

[While paleo-conservatives are correctly warning against the
criminal folly of an attack on Iran (I posted an example
earlier), Clinton is trying to out-do the administration in
belligerence (like Obama) -- and as usual saying shameful
things about the Palestinians.  It's a disgusting sight.  (An
editor of this story may have thought so, too: the web-version
carried the unexplained note, "This Web update is not part of
The Daily Princetonian's annual joke issue"...) --CGE]

  Dailyprincetonian.com
  Wednesday, January 18, 2006
  Sen. Clinton calls for sanctions against Iran: 'New vision
  and leadership' needed for U.S. policy in Mideast
  Ross Liemer
  Princetonian Staff Writer

    Repeatedly referring to a need for "new vision and
leadership" in U.S. policy toward the Middle East, Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) called Wednesday for United
Nations sanctions against Iran and further global advances in
women's rights, and urged optimism for a peaceful resolution
to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

    "We cannot and should not — must not — permit Iran to
build or acquire nuclear weapons," Clinton said in a speech
before a capacity crowd in Richardson Auditorium. (See full
text.) "In order to prevent that from occurring, we must have
more support vigorously and publicly expressed by China and
Russia, and we must move as quickly as feasible for sanctions
in the United Nations."

    Though never mentioning President Bush by name, Clinton
strongly criticized the current administration's policy toward
Iran. "I believe that we lost critical time in dealing with
Iran because the White House chose to downplay the threats and
to outsource the negotiations," Clinton said.

    The United States, which severed formal diplomatic ties
with Iran in 1980, has relied on the United Kingdom, France
and Germany to negotiate on its behalf in the standoff over
Iran's nuclear program. Tensions were ratcheted up last week
when Iran announced that it would resume uranium enrichment
research, saying it has a right to operate a civilian nuclear
program.

    The United States and European partners have joined
together in condemning Iran's latest action. "The Iranians
want to make this about their rights. It's not about their
rights," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said
Wednesday during a speech at Georgetown University. "It's
about the ability of the international system to trust them
with the capabilities and technologies that could lead to a
nuclear weapon."

    Like Bush, a tough-talking Clinton left open the
possibility of military action against Iran if it sought to
acquire nuclear weapons. "We cannot take any option off the
table in sending a clear message to the current leadership of
Iran that they will not be permitted to acquire nuclear
weapons," Clinton said.

    Clinton also criticized recent remarks by Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that questioned Israel's right
to exist and described the Holocaust as a "myth." Ahmadinejad
"is moving to create his own nuclear reality in line with his
despicable rewriting of history," she said.

    Clinton spoke as part the year-long 75th anniversary
celebrations for the Wilson School and the school's formal
announcement of the new S. Daniel Abraham Chair in Middle East
Policy Studies. Danny Abraham, who endowed the faculty
position, and Daniel Kurtzer, a former U.S. ambassador to
Israel and Egypt and the first holder of the chair (see
related story), were both present for Clinton's address.

    Clinton, believed to be a Democratic front-runner for the
2008 presidential election, peppered her speech with
references to the idealism of the President Woodrow Wilson
1879 and the founders of the University's Wilson School. The
United States today, Clinton said, needs "the ability to hold
fast to our core principles and to rise with new solutions to
the challenges of our time."

    "We need the founders' understanding that a stronger
America comes from strengthened bonds with other nations and
we need something else the Wilson School has always had: a
commitment to competence and common sense over ideology and
partisanship," Clinton said.

War in Iraq

    Addressing the Iraq war, Clinton said that while she does
not support an immediate withdrawal of troops, she also does
not believe in an "open-ended commitment without limits or end."

    If the newly-elected Iraqi government is successful, she
said, the military presence should be reduced to "a smaller
contingent in safe areas, with greater intelligence and
quick-strike capabilities."

    "This will help us stabilize the new Iraqi government. It
will send a message to Iran, that they do not have a free hand
in Iraq," Clinton said. "It will also send a message to Israel
and our other allies, like Jordan, that we will continue to do
what we can to provide the stability necessary to prevent the
terrorists from getting any further foothold than they
currently have."

    In a thinly-veiled barb against the Bush administration,
whose prewar intelligence on Iraq has been largely
discredited, Clinton said, "It will not further our common
goals or American ideals if we veer form evidence-based
decision making, substituting instead ideology and arrogance."

Israel-Palestine

    Turning to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Clinton said
the United States must guarantee both Israel's security and a
"better future" for the Palestinians.

    Though Clinton recalled a meeting with former Israeli
Prime Minister Shimon Peres when they discussed Israel's
responsibility to provide Palestinians with economic
opportunity, she reserved most of her criticism for the
current Palestinian leadership.

    "No more excuses for the Palestinians," Clinton said.
"They have to demonstrate clearly and unequivocally their
commitment to a peaceful future and they have to also
demonstrate their ability to deliver services to their people."

    Upcoming Israeli and Palestinian elections will be pivotal
to the region's future, Clinton added. But "what is not on a
ballot and cannot be put into question is Israel's right to
exist and exist in safety," Clinton said.

    Historical grudges present an unnecessary impediment to
lasting peace among the Israelis and Palestinians, Clinton
added. "What we have tried to do over the last 30 years,
starting with President Carter, moving through other
presidents including my husband, now this president, is to
send a uniquely American message: It can get better, just get
over it."

Women's rights

    Clinton also spent several minutes discussing women's
rights, which she described as essential for progress in the
Middle East. She was cautiously optimistic of advances in
women's rights in Afghanistan, Kuwait, Morocco, Bahrain and
Saudi Arabia, acknowledging that while progress had been made,
major obstacles to gender equity remained.

    "I remember speaking out against the mistreatment of women
by the Taliban in Afghanistan in the 1990s. It wasn't an issue
that demanded a lot of attention in our country because it
seemed so far away and disconnected form the everyday concerns
of most Americans," Clinton said.

    But, Clinton argued, sexism and misogyny are inextricable
from the ideology of the Al Qaeda terrorists who attacked the
United States on Sept. 11, 2001.

    And though the United States should seek to advance values
such as women's rights and democracy, the nation must act with
humility, Clinton said.

    "Any discussion of the Middle East, or really any part of
the world, requires that Americans educate ourselves and
understand the cultures with which we are dealing in order to
be successful in advocating for these common goals and
values," she said.

    The evening did little to dispel speculation that Clinton
will run for president in 2008.

    In her opening remarks, Wilson School dean Anne-Marie
Slaughter '80 quipped, "It is my honor and my pleasure to
introduce the first woman president ... of Princeton,"
eliciting laughter from Clinton and loud applause before
University President Shirley Tilghman took the stage to
introduce Clinton.

    After her speech, Clinton thanked students "for coming out
tonight in the midst of finals."

    "I don't mind at all being an excuse for procrastination,"
she joked, "but I can't keep going too much longer without
fear of being blamed for whatever may befall you if you do not
go back and study."



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