Clinton Defends Her Lieberman-Kyl Vote By Leslie on September 27, 2007 at 1:38 PM in Current Affairs
Last night during the Presidential debates, Hillary was rebuked for her yea vote on the Lieberman-Kyl amendment, which designated Iran’s military as a terrorist organization.
One of the sharpest exchanges came over a vote in the Senate on Wednesday on a resolution urging President Bush to designate the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group. Clinton supported the measure, Biden and Dodd opposed it. Obama did not vote. “I am ashamed of you, Hillary, for voting for it,” said former senator Mike Gravel of Alaska.
When Clinton defended the vote as something that could lead to sanctions against a group responsible for manufacturing weapons that are being used against U.S. forces in Iraq. But Edwards challenged her for that vote.
“I voted for this war in Iraq, and I was wrong to vote for this war,” he said. “And I accept responsibility for that. Senator Clinton also voted for this war. We learned a very different lesson from that. I have no intention of giving George Bush the authority to take the first step on a road to war with Iran.”
New York may have been most impacted by 9/11, and that’s probably why Hillary voted for this amendment. But Iraq and Iran had nothing to do with the attacks that day. It’s time to stop using 9/11 as an excuse for more war.
The Lieberman-Kyl amendment makes it easier to bring sanctions against Iran and anyone doing business with Iran. It also blurs the distinction between terrorists and another country’s military, which is dangerous in Bush/Cheney hands. As Brian Beutler says,
If Bush’s policy remains an unwillingness to distinguish between terrorists and the countries that harbor them, then he’s all but compelled to strike. There’s obviously no coherence here. It’s completely insane.
You’d think Hillary would’ve learned this by now. But, apparently, not!
P.S. I support Hillary Clinton, and will vote for her in the Presidential election. However, the thought of this amendment in Bushie hands is troubling, and it passed with a majority of bipartisan support.