WORLD VIEW : Challenging Hillary Clintons Iraq spin

AS WOULD BE Democratic Party presidential candidate  Hillary Clinton  fights for votes in the New Hampshire Caucus, where she is trailing  Senator Bernie Sanders, the Washington based Institute for Public Accuracy, has issued a damning  report challenging her spin  on her vote prior to the invasion of Iraq under George W. Bush.

The Institute said: Stepen  Zunes (professor of politics & coordinator of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of San Francisco)  said Thursday Feb.4: “Hillary Clinton did not vote to authorize the Iraq war in order to bring UN inspectors back in, as she claimed in last night’s [CNN] “Town Hall” meeting. She voted against the Levin Amendment, which would have authorized the use of force if Iraq refused to fully cooperate with UN inspectors. Instead, she voted for the Republican-sponsored resolution which gave President Bush the authority to invade and occupy Iraq at the time and circumstances of his own choosing. Hans Blix did not support the latter resolution, as she also claimed. Nor did Sen. Clinton object when Bush launched the invasion anyway five months later despite Iraq having been fully cooperating with the returning inspectors during that period.

“Clinton stated in her address on her Iraq war authorization vote on the Senate floor on Oct. 10, 2002 ‘In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort and sanctuary to terrorists, including Al-Qaeda members. … It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capability to wage biological and chemical warfare and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons. Should he succeed in that endeavor, he could alter the political and security landscape of the Middle East, which as we know all too well, affects American security.’ See video.

“ust last week, Hans Blix had an interview with Al Jazeera’s “UpFront” program in which he talked about the U.S. invasion altering the security landscape of the Mideast, see: “The former UN weapons inspector says ‘it is doubtful’ ISIL would exist if it were not for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.’ ” Zunes recently wrote the piece “The Five Lamest Excuses for Hillary Clinton’s Vote to Invade Iraq.”