She voted for a $2 trillion war without reading the intelligence reports.



Senators Bob Graham and Patrick Leahy would later say that reading the classified version helped convince them to vote ‘no.’ And during a lunch two days before Clinton’s speech, according to Gerth and Van Natta Jr., Graham “forcefully” urged his Democratic Senate colleagues to read it. Few did. Using logs of who entered the secure room where the classified NIE was kept, The Washington Post reported that only six senators read it. When The Hill newspaper later polled senators, 22 said they had. Clinton has never claimed to be among them. When asked directly on Meet the Press in 2008, she sidestepped the question, declaring, “I was fully briefed by the people who wrote that.”

And yet even though she didn't read any of the intelligence reports, she didn't hesitate to make the claim that there was a Saddam Al Qaeda connection. This is from her speech justifying her unhesitating choice to start a $2 trillion war that would give us ISIS.



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, though there is apparently no evidence of his involvement in the terrible events of September 11, 2001. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity 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. Now this much is undisputed. The open questions are: what should we do about it? How, when, and with whom?

And that's hardly the only lie in there.

Other Democrats who voted yes thought this claim was totally bunk. Even Lieberman said it was't proven. And yet she stated it as fact.



Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., "actively assailed the reports of Al Qaeda in Iraq, calling them 'much exaggerated.' Senator Dianne Feinstein of California described any link between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda as 'tenuous.' The Democratic senator who came closest to echoing Clinton’s remarks about Hussein’s supposed assistance to Al Qaeda was Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut. Yet even Lieberman noted that 'the relationship between Al Qaeda and Saddam’s regime is a subject of intense debate within the intelligence community.'"

A majority of the Congressional Democratic caucus, including Bernie Sanders, voted nay.

We need someone who will hesitate before voting for war. Someone who will carefully review the intelligence and not make up lies to justify their decision.