Bill Clinton says U.S. must stay in Iraq

The Journal News
Nov. 21, 2005

VALHALLA — Former President Clinton said yesterday that the United States should wait until after mid-December parliamentary elections in Iraq to decide whether to set a timetable for troop withdrawal.

Clinton offered a lengthy assessment of the Iraq war as part of a wide-ranging talk at Westchester Community College for The President's Forum, a school fundraiser. It marked a rare local appearance by the former president, a Chappaqua resident.

Clinton, a Democrat who left office at the start of 2001, said he had personally never seen any intelligence linking Iraq to al-Qaida, and "no one I knew believed that was the case." But that doesn't mean President Bush, a Republican, lied or deliberately misled the country about the reasons for going to war, Clinton said. Bush probably believed the information he was relying on was right, Clinton said.

Now, Clinton said, what is good policy for both countries is the question. Clinton suggested that the recent vote on an Iraqi constitution went well, and the next test will be whether the once-dominant Sunni Arabs participate in the Dec. 15 elections.

If they do, he said, "this enterprise could still work," and "we could look at having a fairly substantial drawdown (of troops) next year." If the United States pulled out now, he said, "Sunni Iraq would become the very terrorist hotbed they were accused of being before."

Clinton also reacted to recent reports that the Bush administration has stashed some terrorist suspects in secret prisons abroad. He said his administration honored "rendition" treaties that involved sending prisoners to other countries, but "as far as I know, we had no place we could send someone so they could be tortured there but not here."

"I don't approve of that," he said.

At the same time, Clinton said, there were things done on his watch in the name of fighting terrorism "that I'm not entirely comfortable with." He cited the approval of a law that allows terror suspects to be held indefinitely without being charged if an indictment would reveal secret intelligence.

"Past a certain point, we have to stop that," he said.

Clinton offered praise for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who last week secured an agreement from Israel to ease restrictions on Palestinians crossing in and out of the Gaza Strip. The prospects for peace in that region are the best in five years, he said.

"I hope she'll do more of it," he said of Rice's diplomatic efforts. "She's a smart, gifted woman, and I'd like to see her over there juicing it up more."

Back to discussing the United States, Clinton offered a three-part platform for Democrats in 2006: Focus on national energy policy, including developing new jobs in energy conservation and clean energy; push an "aggressive health-care plan" that reconfigures the current Medicare prescription benefit; and promote "universal access to higher education."

In politics, Clinton said the past 25 years has seen a climate of "intensely negative personal attacks and partisanship, and I don't think it's particularly good for the country."

The former president said the success of politicians who ran on their records, including Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg in New York and Democratic Governor-elect Jon Corzine in New Jersey, suggested the tide could be turning — but it would be up to voters to stop rewarding nasty campaigns.

Clinton also had criticism for the influence of religious conservatives on national politics, saying, "I think there's no question that they've made an alliance with the political right and contributed to this politics of personal destruction.

"Anytime somebody says they're representing a religious force in politics and if you don't agree with them there's something wrong with your values, you should have a question," Clinton said.

Later he added, "I don't think they've done much good for us. And most people who claim to be righteous are really looking for more power in politics, that's what I think."

Clinton said current Bush Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito "seems to be a completely admirable person," but he hadn't evaluated him closely. In picking nominees, Clinton said, "There's a difference between having a philosophy and an ideology. You want someone who is more or less able to have a philosophical approach and have it tempered by the facts that come before him or her."

The event, which drew 700 people to the school's physical education building, was moderated by Lester Crystal, executive producer of "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer" and a member of the community college foundation's board. It was expected to bring in $125,000 for scholarships and faculty support.

Some guests paid $500 to see Clinton at a private reception beforehand, but all audience members could mingle with him after the talk; he lingered for more than an hour.