Hillary Clinton Says America Must Lead an Urgent War Against ISIS
'This is a worldwide fight and America must lead it.'
Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton delivered a fiery foreign policy speech Thursday. Heavy on hawkish rhetoric but light on actual strategy, Clinton vowed to defeat ISIS, dismantle the organization's infrastructure, financing, and recruitment power, and bolster U.S. defenses against threats both external and internal.
The conflict with ISIS, "requires sustained commitment from every pillar of American power," she said. "This is a worldwide fight and America must lead it."
At the same time, Clinton doesn't think the U.S. should commit a massive ground force. She does, however, favor imposing a no-fly zone on Syria to protect U.S. allies from both ISIS and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. That's something the Obama administration has actively opposed, which shows that Clinton's reputation for being a relative hawk is well-deserved.
Indeed, if the Republican frontrunners are speeding down the highway to endless Middle Eastern intervention at 90 miles per hour, Clinton is cruising along at a comfortable 85.
She did, however, separate herself from the Republicans in one fundamental way: she refused to blame terrorism on Islam itself. "Muslims have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism," she said.
I understand the sentiment she's trying to express, but the best thing we could do for Muslims would be to stop bombing, invading, and destabilizing their countries. Their lives matter more than their feelings.
Watch the speech here.