FOCUS: Paul Gottinger and Andrew Stefan | A Hillary Clinton White House Will Likely Increase the Prospects for Terror in the West
Paul Gottinger and Andrew Stefan, Reader Supported News
Excerpt: "Hillary Clinton's policies have consistently helped sow the seeds for radical Islamic groups like ISIS."
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Paul Gottinger and Andrew Stefan, Reader Supported News
Excerpt: "Hillary Clinton's policies have consistently helped sow the seeds for radical Islamic groups like ISIS."
READ MORE
he impacts from the horrendous terror attacks in Paris are being felt across the US and Europe. The attack has already shifted the political discussion here in the US. Last night’s democratic debate had a renewed focus on issues of terrorism and national security. These are issues that Hillary Clinton, with her extensive foreign policy experience, tried to convince us she was best suited to handle.
Yet her record shows a different story. Hillary’s policies have consistently helped sow the seeds for radical Islamic groups like ISIS. Now, to be fair, the George W. Bush administration deserves the largest amount of blame for the creation of ISIS. The war in Iraq created the conditions from which ISIS emerged.
But Hillary Clinton voted for Bush’s war in Iraq when she was in the US Senate. This is a vote that she now regards as a “mistake.” A mistake, it would seem, is forgetting about dinner and burning the pot roast. Advocating for a war that killed one million people and created one of the most ruthless terror organizations in history is something a bit more than a mistake.
The war in Iraq also helped destabilize Syria. Al Qaeda in Iraq formed after the arrival of the US in2003 and moved over to Syria after the Arab Spring uprising against Bashar al-Assad in 2011. In the absence of functioning states in Iraq and Syria, ISIS has flourished.
In fact, in 2012 Clinton sided with the head of the CIA, Leon Panetta, arguing that the US should go to war in Syria to remove Assad. This would have transformed Syria into an even greater mess than it is now.
Mrs. Clinton backed arming rebels in Syria early on, and continues to back the idea. She holds this position even though arming the rebels has only added to Syria’s bloodbath and has most benefitted radical Islamic groups in Syria.
Unfortunately, Hillary Clinton’s hawkish positions on Iraq and Syria are far from her only ones. As secretary of state she was a very strong advocate of the NATO war in Libya. The air strikes began with the establishment of a “no fly zone,” but they quickly transformed into assisting with the removal of Muammar al-Qaddafi.
In the aftermath of the air strikes, Libya has become a country in complete chaos. As in Iraq and Syria, ISIS has stepped in to fill the void. In February, ISIS released a video of the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya. Libya has also become a hotbed of arms smuggling to radical groups since the overthrow of Qaddafi.
Mrs. Clinton, as secretary of state, pushed for continued close US relationships with Egypt’s military dictatorship. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the military strong-man currently in power in Egypt, has engaged in avicious crackdown on the free press, activists, and Egypt’s largest political party, which has resulted in a massive escalation of ISIS terror in Egypt. Just last week, ISIS is believed to have brought a Russian airliner down over the Sinai.
After listening to last night’s Democratic debate and hearing Hilary Clinton tell why she is best suited to tackle ISIS, we would do well to keep in mind the impact her political decisions have had on the world.
Judging from her past, a Hillary Clinton White House would be more hawkish than Obama’s. As a result, there would be increased instability in the Middle East and an increased likelihood for more terror attacks like the ones in Paris.
Paul Gottinger is a staff reporter at RSN whose work focuses on the Middle East and the arms industry. He can be reached on Twitter @paulgottinger or via email.
Andrew Stefan is a journalist in Washington, DC. He can be reached via email atandrewlstefan@gmail.com.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
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