Judgement vs Experience

Since the start of the Presidential campaign surrogates and pundits alike have positively gushed over the former Secretary of States experience claiming that her tenure in this office makes her the most qualified candidate in the race. I'm not so sure and I have a few handy examples that will hopefully prove my case.

In Libya her ardent support for a no-fly zone and an air campaign in support of anti-government forces eventually won over a reluctant President Obama however as many predicted (including myself) the lack of a permanent cohesive factor between the various anti-government forces and deepening divisions across the country led to the situation devolving into a virtual civil war. As it stands large portions of the country are now under the effective control of IS and the nation poses a monumental threat to the security of Europe and North America.

After Libya Hillary Clinton also advocated for the establishment for a similar no-fly zone/bombing arrangement in Syria but this time found significant opposition for several reasons. Firstly it would have put the US in direct confrontation with the Russian government that backs the regime of President Assad, secondly it lacked comprehensive international support as several NATO allies had ruled out their involvement on such a mission and lastly the country was already a virtual quagmire. As in Syria various so-called moderate rebel groups had been caught sharing resources with radical terrorist groups and the fractal nature of the fighting made a repeat of the Libyan air campaign virtually impossible.

On Iran Hillary Clinton was quick to praise the work of Secretary Kerry in signing the nuclear agreement with the Islamic Republic but her relationship with Tehran during her tenure as Secretary of State was less than fruitful. In fact Shane Bauer, an American journalist once imprisoned in Iran said whenever he heard Hillary Clinton speak on the subject of Iran his "heart would sink" because her words often angered the government in Tehran. Since giving her approval to the nuclear agreement Hillary Clinton has also been heard saying that she would be "tougher and more aggressive" than Reagan was with the Soviet Union something that does not bode well for peace in the region given the potential for deadly proxy wars between Iran and the United States.

I originally planned for this article to include several other reasons why I can't support Hillary Clinton in the democratic primary but since Clinton has embraced praise and friendship from a war criminal I felt that I had to devote an article explaining how I believe the experience of Clinton counts for nothing when compared to her awful hawkish track record.