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foreign policy experience?

Red Robin

Well-known member
Clinton errs on Pakistan

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was praised in the wake of the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto for demonstrating her command of the players and the issues at stake in Pakistan, even as another candidate, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, was criticized for stumbling over details.

But in two confident television appearances, on CNN and ABC, Clinton made an elementary error about Pakistani politics: She described President Pervez Musharraf as a "candidate" who would be "on the ballot."

In fact, Musharraf was reelected to the presidency in October. The upcoming elections are for parliament, and while Musharraf's party will be facing off against opposition parties, the president himself is not a candidate.

"He will NOT be on the ballot," said a Pakistan scholar at Columbia University, Philip Oldenburg, in an e-mail. "These are parliamentary elections, where the contests are for a seat in the national assembly.
The prime ministerial candidate typically fights for victory in a local constituency, as well as lead[ing] the party in a national campaign."

A spokesman for Clinton, Howard Wolfson, said Clinton was referring to Musharraf's party, not the president himself.
surrrrrre she was.
And Oldenburg said that "how well the PML-Q, the so-called 'King's Party,' does would in effect be a referendum on Musharraf."

But Clinton's words appear unambiguously to describe Musharraf himself as a candidate.

"If President Musharraf wishes to stand for election, then he should abide by the same rules that every other candidate will have to follow," she told CNN's Wolf Blitzer (.pdf) Dec. 28.

"He could be the only person on the ballot. I don't think that's a real election," she told ABC's George Stephanopolous December 30.

Her error was first noted by a conservative American commentator, Thomas Houlahan.[/b]
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said Tuesday he was unfamiliar with the National Intelligence Estimate that reported that Iran had not had a program to develop nuclear weapons since 2003, and he questioned the intelligence work behind it.

Asked by reporters if he had been briefed on the summary of the report, which was declassified and released Monday, Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, said "No." Informed of its content by reporters, he said he agreed with President Bush, who said that Iran remains a threat.

Huckabee's unfamiliarity with the NIE summary and his questioning of the conclusions reached by the 16 government agencies that prepared it could add to questions about whether the new GOP frontrunner in Iowa has the foreign affairs experience needed to serve as president—particular during a time of heightened Middle East tensions.

"I have a serious concern if they were to be able to weaponize nuclear material, and I think we all should," Huckabee said of Iran.

"I don't know where the intelligence is coming from that says that they suspended the program and how credible that is versus the news that they actually are expanding it," he said. "And then I've heard the last two weeks supposed reports that say that they are accelerating and could be having a reactor in a much shorter period of time than originally they thought."

Huckabee acknowledged that mistakes in intelligence over whether Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction, a major factor in the U.S. invasion, have created a higher standard of proof for any action against Iran.

"There's going to be a real anxiety for us to take any type of action without there being some very credible and almost irrefutable intelligence to validate our decision," he said. At the same time, Huckabee said its possible that the nation could show timidity toward taking action in Iran, if necessary, because of the failures of Iraq intelligence.

"That would be unfortunate if we actually knew we needed to take action but were fearful of doing so because of getting burned in the Iraq situation," he said. "That would be a serious challenge for us."

His ignorance was noticed by virtually every reporter in the US. :lol:
 
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Anonymous

Guest
In the words of Homer Simpson, after tutoring under GW, "Being President of the United States is easy...You just point the Army and shoot".... :shock: :(
 

Steve

Well-known member
ff
His ignorance was noticed by virtually every reporter in the US.

have you read the report?

I have read the released portion..and agree that:,... "Iran remains a threat."

In 2009 when the Iranians announce they have a nuke.. will it really matter that the liberal media ignored what was actually written in the report? (just so they could Make News... by bashing Bush, and undercutting his efforts to rein in a rogue nation)
 

backhoeboogie

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
In the words of Homer Simpson, after tutoring under GW, "Being President of the United States is easy...You just point the Army and shoot".... :shock: :(

It sure worked for Iran's nuke pursuit. They stopped. They saw what was happening next door. No need to point at this time.
 

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