Hillary Clinton weighed in on the escalating situation in Iraq while touring Canada. During an interview with CBC’s Peter Mansbridge Monday night on “The National”, the former Secretary of State indicated that she would “absolutely not” put ground troops in if she were still part of the administration, .
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She even shied away from the idea of using airstrikes, saying, “Not even that necessarily,” when asked pointedly about them. “I would not support any action unless there was a very clear understanding of what [Iraqi President Nouri al-]Maliki would or wouldn’t do, who was running the army and what third parties were going to be involved.”
Clinton added that she thinks the situation in Baghdad may have grown at least somewhat more positive in recent days, as the country’s security forces have rallied around the city. But what about Maliki? Mansbridge asked if it was simply time for him to go.
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“The bottom line is he was just re-elected,” Clinton said. “His party was just re-elected, and I think that was a good news/bad news story. I have made clear that I would not support any effort by the United States to back up his government unless the conditions we had been asking for for a number of years were finally met.”
As for another run for the presidency, Clinton said she was aware and touched by the expectations of many women. She said that a woman taking that seat would be breaking “the highest and hardest glass ceiling.” She went on to say that there are several women in the Democratic party who are qualified.
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She thinks that part of the reason there’s such a rallying cry of support behind her running again is because she’s already done it once.