Clinton explains Iran vote
TODAY: (Updated: 8:43 p.m.) Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has sent a mail piece to Iowa households explaining a vote she made last month in favor of declaring Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization.
Both Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and John Edwards have criticized Clinton, a New York senator, for the Sept. 26 vote, arguing President Bush could use it as a pretext to take military action against Iran.
In the piece, which hit some mailboxes on Saturday, Clinton says she supported the amendment to a defense policy bill to clear the way for sanctions against Iran and and to push the country toward negotiations. She noted that 75 senators voted for the amendment.
Obama was campaigning that day and did not vote on the measure.
Clinton said in the mail piece that she nearly voted against the amendment, but that Senate Democrats worked to remove language “President Bush could have used to justify military action.”
“Only then did I and a lot of other Democrats vote for the resolution in order to pressure Iran by clearing the way for sanctions and pushing the President to get them to the negotiating table,” Clinton said in the flyer. “I was there, I exercised leadership, and I explained my vote at the time.”
Clinton has taken fire not just from her rivals for the vote, but also on the campaign trail. Two weeks ago, she exchanged words with an activist in New Hampton, Iowa, who was critical of the vote.
Clinton is leading the polls nationwide and in Iowa, but her 2002 vote to authorize the war in Iraq is a sore point with some activists. And her rivals, while exploiting that vote, have also recently pivoted to shift their attention to the Iran vote.
“Apparently, Senator Clinton feels she needs to explain to Iowans why she voted for an amendment that could be used to justify keeping our troops in Iraq and launching a strike on Iran. Instead of casting votes that give George Bush an excuse to escalate this war, we need to end the war in Iraq, stop saber rattling toward Iran, and start the kind of direct diplomacy that this administration refuses to conduct,” Tommy Vietor, an Obama spokesman, said Saturday.
Obama said a little more than a week ago that the resolution was “reckless” because it requires the United States to “structure our military presence in Iraq to counter Iran.”
A Clinton spokesman said Saturday the flyer is aimed at showing her strength and experience, and he reiterated her contention that it does not provide authority for a military strike. “She was one of the first senators to make clear that President Bush does not have the authority to use force in Iran,” said Mark Daley, the spokesman. “The right course is diplomacy.”
In the flyer, Clinton said she opposes the president taking military action in Iran without “full congressional approval.”
The piece also sought to back up her vote with quotations attributed to retired Gen. Wesley Clark and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., an Obama ally.
Durbin voted for the Iran measure, too, and the mail piece points to him telling Bloomberg News a little over a week ago that he disagreed with Obama’s assessment. “This sense of the Senate, I don’t believe gives any authority to the president of the United States to invade Iran or any other country,” Durbin said.
An original version of the Iran amendment contained language that said it should be U.S. policy to “combat, contain and roll back” Iran’s violent activities in Iraq. Critics said that was too expansive and the language was removed.
Ed Tibbetts can be contacted at (563) 383-2327 or etibbetts@qctimes.com.