Hillary Clinton

Transcript: Hillary Clinton during the second Democratic 2008 presidential primary debate (June 03, 2007) in New Hampshire

Senator Clinton, do you agree with Senator Edwards that this war on terror is nothing more than a bumper sticker; at least the way it's been described?

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D) NEW YORK: No, I do not. I am a senator from New York. I have lived with the aftermath of 9/11, and I have seen firsthand the terrible damage that can be inflicted on our country by a small band of terrorists who are intent upon foisting their way of life and using suicide bombers and suicidal people to carry out their agenda.

And I believe we are safer than we were. We are not yet safe enough. And I have proposed over the last year a number of policies that I think we should following.

BLITZER: Senator Clinton, you voted in favor of every funding for the U.S. troops since the start of the war until now. And some are accusing you and some others of playing politics with the lives of the troops. What is your response?

CLINTON: Well, I have the deepest respect for my friend, Senator Biden, and he and I have agreed on much of what we have attempted to do.

Unfortunately, we don't have a president who is willing to change course. And I think it was time to say enough is enough.

I thought the best way to support our troops was to try to send a very strong message that they should begin to come home. That is the best way to support them. And I thought that vote was an opportunity to do so.

Everybody on this stage, we are all united, Wolf. We all believe that we need to try to end this war. In two nights you're going to have the Republican candidates here. They all support the war. They all support the president. They all supported the escalation. Each of us is trying in our own way to bring the war to an end.

Senator Clinton?

CLINTON: And I think it's important particularly to point out: This is George Bush's war. He is responsible for this war. He started the war. He mismanaged the war. He escalated the war. And he refuses to end the war.

And what we are trying to do, whether it's by speaking out from the outside or working and casting votes that actually make a difference from the inside, we are trying to end the war.

And each of us has made that very clear. We have different approaches. I have a three-step plan to bring the troops how starting now, put pressure on the Iraqi government to take responsibility and cut off aid when they won't, and engage in intensive diplomacy, regionally and internationally.

BLITZER: All right.

CLINTON: The differences among us are minor. The differences between us and the Republicans are major. And I don't want anybody in America to be confused.

Senator Clinton, do you regret voting the authorize the president to use force against Saddam Hussein in Iraq without actually reading the national intelligence estimate, the classified document laying out the best U.S. intelligence at that time?

CLINTON: Wolf, I was thoroughly briefed. I knew all the arguments. I knew all of what the Defense Department, the CIA, the State Department were all saying. And I sought dissenting opinions, as well as talking to people in previous administrations and outside experts.

You know, that was a sincere vote based on my assessment that sending inspectors back into Iraq to determine once and for all whether Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and using coercive diplomacy was not an unreasonable act.

What I did not count on, and what none of us did who voted to give the president authority, is that he had no intention to allow the inspectors to finish their job.

Now, we can argue about the past, or we can answer the question you asked about the National Guard. Our troops did the job they were asked to do. They got rid of Saddam Hussein. They conducted the search for weapons of mass destruction. They gave the Iraqi people a chance for elections and to have a government. It is the Iraqis who have failed to take advantage of that opportunity.

BLITZER: So let me just be precise, because the question was: Do you regret not reading the national intelligence estimate?

CLINTON: I feel like I was totally briefed. I knew all of the arguments that were being made by everyone from all directions. National intelligence estimates have a consensus position and then they have argumentation as to those people who don't agree with it. I thought the best way to find out who was right in the intelligence community was to send in the inspectors.

If George Bush had allowed the inspectors to finish the job they started, we would have known that Saddam Hussein did not have WMD and we would not have gone and invaded Iraq.

Senator Clinton, you want to respond?

CLINTON: Well, I have said repeatedly that if I had known then what I know now, I never would have voted to give the president authority. And in the last debate, I said that, you know, it was a mistake to trust George Bush that he would do what he told all of us he would do.

He made it in speeches, he told us in private that he would put the inspectors in to determine whether or not the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Clinton administration, many other countries who thought that there were stores of chemical and biological weapons were true or not.

Now, I do not think that that is a necessarily wrong judgment at the time.

What was wrong is the way this president misused the authority...

BLITZER: All right.

CLINTON: ... that some of us here gave him. And that has been a tragedy.

Senator Clinton?

CLINTON: Wolf, let me add that we faced that in the Senate last year as to whether we would or would not vote for it.

The problem is that if it becomes official instead of recognized as national -- which indeed it is, it is our national language -- if it becomes official, that means in a place like New York City you can't print ballots in any other language. That means you can't have government pay for translators in hospitals so when somebody comes in with some sort of emergency there's nobody there to help translate what their problem is for the doctor.

So many of us -- I did, at least -- voted to say that English was our national language, but not the official language because of the legal consequences of that.

BLITZER: Senator Clinton, you've been involved in this issue -- as all of us remember -- for a long time. What do you think of Senator Obama's plan?

CLINTON: Well, I'm thrilled that universal health care is back on the national agenda. You know, as we remember, back in '93 and '94 we tried to come forward with a plan. We weren't successful. I have the scars to show for that experience.

But I am convinced that now when the Democrats all are coming forward saying, 'This has to be a national goal,' we then can try to get the political will.

The most important thing is not the plan. Because there are only a few ways to do this. And we're all talking pretty much about the same things. From my perspective, we have to lower cost, improve quality and cover everybody.

What's important, and what I learned in the previous effort is you've got to have the political will -- a broad coalition of business and labor, doctors, nurses, hospitals -- everybody standing firm when the inevitable attacks come from the insurance companies and the pharmaceutical companies that don't want to change the system because they make so much money out of it.

BLITZER: Senator Clinton, you can do that without raising taxes?

CLINTON: Well, Wolf, here's the challenge. I have put forth approximately $120 billion in savings from health care changes that can come; everything from electronic medical records to better management of chronic care. That is about in the ballpark of what all of us believe it will cost to cover everyone.

The challenge that I'm wrestling with is: How do we realize the savings? Now, I don't think there's any Democrat that is not going to let the Bush tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans expire. We're all going to do that. So that money will be available.

How, then, do we set forth the priorities that we want to address, including energy efficiency, dealing with global climate change and so much else?

Senator Clinton, you've said that it's time to allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the U.S. military and end the 'don't ask/don't tell' policy that was implemented when your husband was president. Was President Clinton's policy of 'don't ask/don't tell' a mistake?

CLINTON: It was a transition policy and it was an effort to try to deal with the reality that -- probably since the very beginning of our nation we've had gays serving in our military with distinction and honor on behalf of our country, as we do today.

And yet I have watched how 'don't ask/don't tell' has been implemented. And I've concluded that it is not the best way for us as a nation to proceed.

It has been in many instances implemented in a discriminatory manner. You know, after the first Gulf War there was a big flood of discharges of gays and lesbians because they let them serve and then after they finished the war, then they discharged them.

In this particular time period, we've had Arabic linguists discharged under 'don't ask/don't tell' when we are unfortunately so short of having people who speak the very language that our men and women in uniform have to understand in the streets of Baghdad.

So I believe we could change the policy to let gays and lesbians serve in the military and be covered by the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

So just like those who are not gays and lesbians, if there were conduct problems, then the conduct problems we looked at. But people would not be judged on who they are.

BLITZER: All right.

CLINTON: And I just want to end by saying Barry Goldwater once said you don't have to be straight to shoot straight. And I think he was right. (APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: And I believe we should open up our military.

BLITZER: Senator Clinton, the question was: Was your husband's decision to allow this 'don't ask/don't tell' policy to go forward -- he was president of the United States; he could have changed it -- was it a mistake?

CLINTON: No, it was an important first step, Wolf. I mean, you know, there's a certain -- I want to go back to my friend Joe Biden...

BLITZER: All right.

CLINTON: Because he's been around longer than any of us have in the Congress. (LAUGHTER) And you know, talking -- he's a young man. He started young. But talking about this as though there is a reality out there that a president or a Congress can change with a snap of a finger does a grave disservice to the American people.

We have a political process. There are checks and balances. And Joe remembers very well, the Congress was adamantly opposed at the time to letting gays and lesbians serve openly. 'Don't ask/don't tell' was the compromise policy.

BLITZER: Let her tell us -- if you were president, Senator Clinton, what would your husband do?

CLINTON: This is a fascinating question. They asked the Republicans, they asked the Democrats. And I think from -- irrespective of what you've already heard, I believe in using former presidents.

I think we should have everybody helping us to repair the damage of the last, by then, eight years. And when I... (APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: ... when I become president, Bill Clinton, my dear husband, will be one of the people who will be sent around the world as a roving ambassador to make it very clear to the rest of the world that we're back to a policy of reaching out and working and trying to make friends and allies and stopping the alienation of the rest of the world.

There's not a problem we face, from global terrorism to global warming or HIV/AIDS or bird flu or tuberculosis...

BLITZER: All right.

CLINTON: ... where we don't need friends and allies.

BLITZER: Thank you.

CLINTON: And he would be a tremendous help in our country's effort to redo that again.

QUESTION: Yes. That's particularly the reason why I have the question about Iran. I'd like to ask: How would you approach solving the problem we have Iran today? Would you use force or would you use diplomacy? And if you used diplomacy, what would you do?

BLITZER: All right, let's let Senator Clinton first respond to that.

CLINTON: Well, I am very concerned about Iran. And I believe that we should have been using diplomacy for a number of years now. I am, I guess, pleased that the administration is starting to talk to the Iranians, but it is way overdue. We have allowed the Iranians to begin their nuclear program, to imprison Iranian Americans as they are now, to send weapons across their borders to be used against our young men and women.

And we need a process of engagement. You know, the president's policy has been, we don't talk in this administration to people we don't agree with or that we think are bad. All during the Cold War, we always talked to the Soviet Union.

They had missiles pointed at us. They had leaders who said they would bury us. They waged wars around the world. We never stopped talking.

In my administration, diplomacy, patient, careful diplomacy, the kind of diplomacy that Bill Richardson did for my husband, that really gets people to stay with it over time.

Are you always going to get good results? No. But you've got to start the process. However, we still have to make it clear that Iran having a nuclear weapon is absolutely unacceptable. We have to try to prevent that at all costs. (APPLAUSE)

But we need to start with diplomacy in order to see what we can accomplish.

BLITZER: So what happens, Senator, if diplomacy, when all is said and done, fails?

CLINTON: Wolf, I'm not going to get into hypotheticals, because we've had an administration that doesn't believe in diplomacy. You know, they have every so often Condi Rice go around the world and show up some where and make a speech, and occasionally they even send Dick Cheney -- and that's hardly diplomatic in my view. So from what I... (LAUGHTER) (APPLAUSE)

We won't know until we get a president who is committed to diplomacy and will do things like use the great diplomats that have come up through our country -- use former presidents, use people like Bill Richardson. Only then will we be able to make a clear assessment.

I just hope we have enough time. Because, unfortunately, we have many months to go before this administration is done.

QUESTION: A number of the candidates have talked about alliance- building. I want to ask about a specific country. The U.S. has had close relations with Pakistan as part of the war in Afghanistan and part of the war on terror.

How do you reconcile our security interests with Pakistan with our interest in promoting liberal democracy? Pakistan is not a democratic country.

BLITZER: Let's ask -- let's throw that question to Senator Clinton.

CLINTON: Well, it's a really important question, because we have been supporting Pakistan through President Musharraf now for a number of years. And it is clear that he has not moved toward democracy, but has solidified his rule and become quite anti-democratic, with his removal of the chief justice and many of the other moves that he's taken.

At the same time, we depend upon him to try to control the tribal areas out of which come the resurgent Taliban and Al Qaida fighters who cross the border into Afghanistan.

Again, this is an area where I think the United States needs to be just focused, like the proverbial laser.

When I was in Pakistan and Afghanistan in January, I met with both President Karzai and President Musharraf. And I asked them if it would help to have a high-level presidential envoy working with both of them to try to figure out how we can move toward what are American interests and how we can keep Pakistan from undermining the war against the Taliban and Al Qaida.

BLITZER: All right.

CLINTON: And unfortunately when I got back and I called the White House and I made this suggestion, it fell on deaf ears. So there's a lot we need to do. And it's a very difficult, thorny problem how to address it.

BLITZER: I want everybody to raise their hand and tell me: If you agree that if the U.S. had intelligence that could take out Osama bin Laden and kill him, even though some innocent civilians would die in the process, would you, as president, authorize such an operation? If you would, raise your hand.

BIDEN: It would depend on how many innocent civilians...

CLINTON: Yes, I mean, part of this is one of these hypotheticals, Wolf...

EDWARDS: There's not information, not enough information.

CLINTON: ... that is very difficult to answer in the abstract. You know, my husband actually tried to take out bin Laden. You know, he did fire missiles at a training camp that we had intelligence that that's where bin Laden was. Because, by that time, bin Laden had already bombed our embassies; bin Laden had already demonstrated his hostility toward the United States. But you can't just -- you have to be very careful about how you proceed. So, you know, yes, if we could do it without a tremendous amount of collateral damage, I think, maybe with one or two exceptions, we would give the order to do it, knowing what a weighty responsibility that is.

BLITZER: ... no-fly zone, but very often, Senator Clinton, that could move on to other operations.

CLINTON: Well, but, we're not going to engage in these hypotheticals. I mean, one of the jobs of a president is being very reasoned in approaching these issues. And I don't think it's useful to be talking in these kind of abstract, hypothetical terms.

CLINTON: Well, I think it's important to remember that six years ago we had a balanced budget and a surplus. (APPLAUSE)

And we did that the old-fashioned way, by cutting spending and raising revenues. There is no free lunch. We're going to have to do that hard work again.

Now, my point is, when it comes to the tax questions that were asked, the benefits from the Bush tax cuts have gone disproportionately to a very small percentage of Americans. And 10 percent of Americans have realized about 50 percent of the increase in wealth that has happened in this country in the last six years.

We need to deal with the burden on the middle class. The alternative minimum tax has to be reformed, hopefully eventually eliminated.

But I think it's important to point out that we have done this before -- not in ancient history, but within our memory. And we can do it again once we have a Democratic president.

What would be, Senator Clinton, your top priority in the first 100 days?

CLINTON: Well, if President Bush has not ended the war in Iraq, to bring our troops home. That would be the very first thing that I would do.

2008 Democratic Candidates:

Joe Biden
Hillary Clinton
Christopher Dodd
John Edwards
Mike Gravel
Dennis Kucinich
Barack Obama
Bill Richardson