NYT: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton foresees a "remaining military as well as political mission" in Iraq, and says that if elected president, she would keep a reduced military force there to fight Al Qaeda, deter Iranian aggression, protect the Kurds and possibly support the Iraqi military.

In a half-hour interview on Tuesday in her Senate office, Mrs. Clinton said the scaled-down American military force that she would maintain would stay off the streets in Baghdad and would no longer try to protect Iraqis from sectarian violence — even if it descended into ethnic cleansing.

Related: "A struggle for power among sectarian groups and criminals is now the main feature of the Iraq war, the Pentagon said in a report released on Wednesday."

Related:  "The Bush administration, which issued a series of political goals for the Iraqi government to meet by this month, is now tacitly acknowledging that the goals will take significantly longer to achieve."

Comments

[PotatoStew]

"Mrs. Clinton said the scaled-down American military force that she would maintain would stay off the streets in Baghdad and would no longer try to protect Iraqis from sectarian violence — even if it descended into ethnic cleansing."

Is she insane? What kind of sense does that make? The troops in that situation would be ineffective and increasingly vulnerable. Sounds like the worst possible course of action. If you think we should get out, then get us out. If you think we should be there, then put enough troops in to do some good. But this sounds to me like half-assery or worse.

[Kirk D.]

I agree Stew. Seems like this plan will put them in harms way for sure and the potential benefits would probably be pretty small. I think this is another example of her trying to have it both ways. She's scared of offending the hawks to the point of total abandonment, and she doesn't want to fully admit to the left that she made a mistake on her Iraq vote.

The worst part of all of this is she will most likely win the Democratic nomination due to her ability to raise the most money and her connections. But even though that will happen, she will NEVER win the Presidency. There are just too many people that hate her to allow her to take office. I've said it before and I'll say it again, this is a good thing I think. We don't need another Clinton or Bush in the White House in 2008. Of course this means that Rudy, McCain and Romey have the field wide open and can pretty much do whatever they want and they will still walk away with the win. Depressing to feel like you've lost before its even started.

[Sam W]

Indeed. Hillary's plan is probably the worst one on the table. Either we go all out, or we leave. You can't do some luke-warm tactic and put politics over people's lives.

What really bothers me is the "even if its ethinic cleansing" part of the statement. This reaks of Rwanda, and we all know how that turned out for her husband.