Clinton feels at ease talking policy issues as a political wonk
By: Jim Williams – Washington Bureau Chief News Talk Florida
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will face questions on military issues, national security and veteran’s affairs at NBC News’ Commander-in-Chief Forum Wednesday, hosted by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
The setting for tonight’s event will be the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City. NBC’s Matt Lauer, host of the Today Show, will be asking the questions.
Trump and Clinton see the world in many, many, many different ways. Plus, there can be no doubt that they have many different ways to combat, terrorism and deploy U.S. troops.
If you can’t see the live feed at 8 pm ET Click here. To hear the Forum you can click here.
For instance here is what Clinton told NBC about fighting ISIS.
“It is time to begin a new phase and intensify and broaden our efforts to smash the would-be caliphate and deny ISIS control of territory in Iraq and Syria. That starts with a more effective coalition air campaign, with more allied planes, more strikes, and a broader target set. A key obstacle standing in the way is a shortage of good intelligence about ISIS and its operations. So we need an immediate ‘intelligence surge’ in the region, including technical assets, Arabic speakers with deep expertise in the Middle East, and even closer partnership with regional intelligence services.” — November 19, 2015. Remarks on terrorism, Washington D.C.
How about committing troops to fight ISIS?
“Like President Obama, I do not believe that we should again have 100,000 American troops in combat in the Middle East. That is just not the smart move to make here. If we have learned anything from 15 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s that local people and nations have to secure their own communities. We can help them, and we should, but we cannot substitute for them.” — November 19, 2015. Remarks on terrorism, Washington D.C.
[“Trump has] talked about sending ground troops — American ground troops — well, that is off the table, as far as I’m concerned.” — August 15, 2016. Campaign speech, Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Some quotes used in this story came from NBC News and ASSOCIATED PRESS. VIDEO FROM NBC and CNN.