Hillary Clinton Smacks Obama for ‘Failure’ to Stop Jihadists in Syria

Evan McMurryAug 10th, 2014, 1:46 pm

In an interview with The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, former Secretary of State and presumed 2016 candidate Hillary Clinton used some of her strongest language yet to criticize President Barack Obama’s foreign policy, arguing that his reticence to support Syrian rebels early in their struggle against President Bashar al Assad had led to the resurgent Islamic radicals currently marauding across Iraq.

“The failure to help build up a credible fighting force of the people who were the originators of the protests against Assad—there were Islamists, there were secularists, there was everything in the middle—the failure to do that left a big vacuum, which the jihadists have now filled,” said Clinton, who argued in her recent book that she was a proponent of a more muscular U.S. role in Syria.

She also critiqued the unofficial Obama foreign policy of “Don’t do stupid shit,” which she said was inadequately proactive.

“Great nations need organizing principles, and ‘Don’t do stupid stuff’ is not an organizing principle,” she said.

Goldberg was quick to point out that Clinton had praise overall for Obama, but that on issues like Israel and Islamic militants she was taking her most visible step yet away from his policies.

[h/t The Atlantic]

[Image via Everett Collection / Shutterstock.com]

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