Hillary’s New Gambit

Hillary Clinton has a new strategy for stopping the war: revoking the resolution that authorized President Bush to invade Iraq.

Her gambit is at least partly political.  She’s been suffering rebukes from liberals and competing presidential campaigns for not apologizing for her vote for war — OK, for war authorization — in 2002.  She doubtless hopes her new efforts will muffle the critics.

But forget politics for a moment.  Is there any substantive benefit to be had from her proposal?

At first blush, I don’t see it.  After all, the invasion of Iraq has already taken place.  We’re now in occupation mode — and we have been for some time.  Since the 2002 bill never envisioned or authorized an indefinite occupation, it can’t be the legal source (as if Bush thought one were needed) for our military’s continued presence in Iraq.  Thus, revoking the authorization wouldn’t bring the troops home.

What’s striking, though, is that Hillary herself seems to agree with this assessment:

Later, however, her aides said Mrs. Clinton was not seeking a total withdrawal of troops from Iraq, or a quick pullout that could put troops at risk. They said she had called for a phased pullout that would leave a reduced American force to pursue terrorist cells in Iraq, support the Kurds and conduct other missions — a position she continued to support, her aides said.

In other words, Hillary does not believe that withdrawing the 2002 authorization would mean that troops are no longer authorized in Iraq.  What, then, does she think her proposal would mean?  I’m really not sure.

From a Christian perspective — mine, anyway — the issue isn’t how Hillary’s proposal will play in the presidential campaign.  The issue is what will end a needless war that has led to casualties numbering in the thousands for Americans and hundreds of thousands for Iraqis.  That’s it. 

Hillary may well be the best candidate to end the war; we have a year’s worth of campaigning to figure that out.  But she cannot undo the undoable: she voted to authorize war in 2002, and whether it was the best decision at the time or not, the war is now over four years old.  Nothing can bring back the lives and treasure and moral standing that our nation has lost. 

If Hillary can make a compelling case for where our nation should go from here, the political rewards will follow.