WASHINGTON, July 19 (AP) — A Pentagon official has told Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton that questions she has raised about how the United States would withdraw from Iraq feed enemy propaganda.
The stinging wording of the message, from Under Secretary of Defense Eric S. Edelman, was unusual, particularly because it was directed at a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Mr. EdelmanÂ’s July 16 message, in response to questions Mrs. Clinton raised in May, was obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.
“Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq,” he wrote, “reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia.”
A Clinton spokesman, Philippe Reines, said the senator would respond to Mr. Edelman’s boss, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. Mr. Reines said military leaders should offer a withdrawal plan rather than “a political plan to attack those who question them."
Political types need to come up with constructive advice rather than trying to score points by "bringing the troops home" and leaving a mess to deal with later!
While Mrs. Clinton has pushed the Pentagon for information about withdrawal plans, so have others lawmakers, including Senator Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee.
Better to finish the job now than have mass chaos to fix later |