Friday, December 20, 2013

Hillary, We've Got Your Back!

It is routine for news outlets that are less than objective to grasp at thoughtless remarks by centrists and loose canons on the other side of the political aisle.  That Newsmax swooped down on this ridiculous comment like a Spring robin on a worm is not surprising.  It is infuriating and reprehensible, however, that Zbigniew Brzezinski provided this fictional ammunition to those who are always at the ready to denigrate anything and everything Hillary Clinton does, has done,  or sets out to do.

Brzezinski: Hillary May Have Been Focused on 2016 as Sec. of State


Thursday, 19 Dec 2013 10:56 AM
By Wanda Carruthers
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may have been too focused on a potential run for president in 2016 to have effectively negotiated the recent peace deal with Iran or other matters, former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski suggested Thursday.
"You can't help but wonder, was she more cautious because she thought, would she have been comfortable negotiating the Iran deal going into 2016?" Brzezinski said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
"My point is, [if] she's being cautious because she's thinking of 2016, then she's thinking about the wrong things while being secretary of state," the former adviser to President Jimmy Carter added.

While there have been many times when it has been necessary to mount a defense here against right-wing and Tea Party operatives,  it is unusual to have to defend Hillary's record against someone supposedly on her side of the divide.  If this were coming from Jennifer Rubin (see refutation of her assessment of Hillary's legacy here), for example, I might have shrugged it off at this point since, like The Ancient Mariner, she continues repeating the same refrain ad nauseam.  It comes, however, from someone who should know better, has some credibility in some quarters, and therefore requires correction.

Hillary Clinton was never a shrinking violet on issues relating to Iran, not on their nuclear aspirations and not on their human rights record.  Here are some links that support this statement dating back to 2009.

Video: Secretary Clinton’s Remarks on Iran

September 24, 2009

Secretary Clinton: Further Remarks on Iran

September 26, 2009

Video: Secretary Clinton’s Remarks on Armenia, Iran, and Honduras

March 6, 2010

Three video shorts: Hillary Clinton in Estonia on Iran, Kyrgyzstan, and Syria

April 25, 2010

Videos: Hillary Clinton’s Remarks on North Korea and Iran

May 25, 2010

Secretary Clinton’s Remarks on the Anniversary of Iran’s Disputed Presidential Election

June 12, 2010

Secretary Clinton’s Statement on Passage of Iran Sanctions Legislation

June 25, 2010

Hillary Clinton Speaks Out For Sakineh, Gays, and Greens in Iran

August 10, 2010

Hillary Clinton Speaks Out Against Persecution of Religious Minorities in Iran

August 12, 2010

Secretary Clinton’s Statement on Deteriorating Human Rights Situation in Iran

February 24, 2011

Video: Secretary Clinton Announces Changes to Iranian Student Visa Validity

May 20, 2011

Secretary Clinton’s Statement: Repression in Iran and Syria

June 14, 2011

Secretaries Clinton & Geithner: Joint Statement on Iran Sanctions

June 23, 2011

Secretary Clinton Commends IAEA Resolution on Iran

November 20, 2011

Secretary Clinton: Measures to Increase Pressure on Iran **Video**

November 21, 2011

Hillary Clinton: Significant Reductions of Iranian Crude Oil Purchases

June 11, 2012

China and Singapore Earn Clinton Credit on Reducing Iranian Crude Imports

June 28, 2012

Hillary Clinton’s Statement on Iran

September 14, 2012
Clearly,  Hillary Clinton leaned hard on Iran throughout her tenure at the State Department.  To suggest that she was pussy-footing flies in the face of the record.  To say that as Secretary of State she calibrated her actions according to a distant future campaign that remains imaginary to this day badly insults her strong performance on many fronts, not just Iran.  That this comes from a voice perceived to be within her own camp and the party in power as she carried out these policies is treacherous and dangerous in that the audience receiving this message is inimical to the progress of the administration she represented in this position. 

A last, and important factor that Brzezinski failed to address is the transfer of power within Iran since Hillary stepped down.  She was dealing with Ahmedinejad.   Secretary Kerry inherited the groundwork she laid with a hard line on sanctions (that worked) and a new, reform leader whose openness to a kind of glasnost was apparent from the beginning.

It is facile and pointless to compare the performances of these two secretaries of state.  It borders on slander to design a scenario wherein Hillary Clinton was operating not out of loyalty to her oath but rather out of a political ambition imagined by someone purportedly on her own side of the fence. 

Brzezinski is dead wrong on this.  He is wrong about the facts, and he is wrong to have invented a back story the intent of which only could have been to tarnish the record of a fine public servant who deserves our thanks for her very dedicated, selfless work for all of us.  These were graceless remarks.  He should retract them and apologize for misrepresenting Hillary Clinton based on no fact and no knowledge whatsoever.

Hillary!  We've got your back!

12-06-13-Z-21a