Hillary Clinton likes to remind us that as senator she was on the Armed Services Committee and she circled the globe umpteen times as secretary of state and, oh yes, she was in the situation room when Osama bin Laden was taken out.
She believes that “experience” gives her license to criticize Donald Trump’s recent comment that if the Iranians continue to hassle our Navy in international waters they would be “shot out of the water.”
It’s time for a brief review of some of Madam Secretary’s miserable record in foreign policy and national security.
The feckless Obama administration foreign policy strategy, or lack thereof, has left us facing chaos across the Middle East, Europe and Asia. And remember it was Hillary, who supposedly would be the guiding light to a new president, who lacked foreign policy experience.
She failed to reset relations with Vladimir Putin in Russia, and her central role in the effort to topple the regime of Muammar Quadhafi failed in Libya with no follow-up strategy. ISIS has poked a finger in Uncle Sam’s eye and there’s strife from Yemen to Turkey.
Let’s not forget that red line in Syria, that she supported, and the embarrassment to the U.S. when there was no consequence for the use of chemical weapons.
She helped initiate the talks with Iran on the nuclear deal and we have seen the results of that one-sided agreement. North Korea continues to ignore our weak letters of condemnation, and has been exhibiting its expanding threat in the area. It was Hillary, who said during her 2008 campaign, that Obama’s vision for diplomacy with Iran and North Korea was “irresponsible and frankly naïve.”
Of course, Hillary is best known for her failure to provide security at our Benghazi compound before and after the terrorist attack that killed our ambassador and three other brave Americans. Many e-mails chronicling that event are still missing. Those that have surfaced, many of them classified, point to her mishandling and failure to protect our national security.
Not to be forgotten is the internal IG report of $6 billion (yes, billion) lost by the state department due to misplaced and lost contract filings.
Hillary will be hard-pressed to tell of success stories at State, and difficult for her to put distance between herself and Obama during the debates. Hopefully, Trump will be up for the challenge.
“I used to tell presidents, you have to be very, very cautious about drawing red lines or issuing ultimatums,” said former Defense Secretary Robert Gates. And we have seen the disrespect our enemies and allies have for Obama, who has failed to follow Gates’ advice.
Trump’s warning to Iran’s navy is meant to send a message to that rogue nation, just as he has threatened to revisit the nuclear deal, and that his leadership will be quite different. Some 160 generals and admirals, including several Medal of Honor recipients, came out in support of Trump yesterday.
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