Hillary Clinton on 2013

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"I will begin to bring our troops home as soon as I am president, because it is abundantly clear that President Bush does not intend to end the war."
-- Hillary Clinton, 10/30/07

Bill Richardson is the only major candidate who will not only begin to bring our troops home, he will finish by getting ALL of our troops out of Iraq -- and has pledged to do so by the end of his first year in office -- in 2009.

CLINTON RECORD

Refuses to Pledge to Get Our Troops Out by 2013, the End Of Her First Term

RUSSERT: Senator Clinton, Democrats all across the country believed in 2006, when the Democrats were elected to the majority in the House and Senate, that that was a signal to end the war, and the war would end.

You have said that will not pledge to have all troops out by the end of your first term, 2013. Why not?

CLINTON: Well, Tim, it is my goal to have all troops out by the end of my first term. But I agree with Barack. It is very difficult to know what we're going to be inheriting. You know, we do not know, walking into the White House in January 2009, what we're going to find. What is the state of planning for withdrawal?
-- From 9/26 DNC Debate at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Clinton: up to 60,000 Troops?

Clinton has stated that, "she would keep a reduced military force there to fight Al Qaeda, deter Iranian aggression, protect the Kurds and possibly support the Iraqi military."
-- From: "If Elected... Clinton Says Some G.I.'s in Iraq Would Remain." By Michael R. Gordon and Patrick Healy. The New York Times. 15 March 2007.

The kind of residual force Clinton describes is similar to that elaborated upon in reports by the Center for American Progress, and the Center for a New American Security, both that describe a residual force of 60,000 or so troops.
-- "Strategic Redeployment 2.0: A Progressive Strategy for Iraq." The Center for American Progress. By Lawrence Korb and Brian Katulis. May 2006.
-- "Phased Transition: A Responsible Way Forward Out of Iraq." Center for a New Ameican Security. By James N. Miller and Shawn W. Brimley. June 2007.

Additionally, Senator Clinton voted on September 21st in support of the Levin Amendment 2898 that Senator Levin himself estimates, if enacted would only, "cut troop levels in Iraq by more than half."
-- From: "Senate Blocks Bill on Iraq Combat Tours." By Anne Flaherty. Associated Press. 19 September 2007.