New York Sen. Hillary Clinton blasted the Bush administration on Thursday for sending too few troops and not enough military equipment to Iraq, saying the of lack of U.S. resources contributed to the attacks in Fallujah that killed four U.S. workers on Tuesday.
"It was heartbreaking and horrible to see the desecration of the four men who were killed in Fallujah," Clinton told Democratic Party radio host Al Franken.
Calling Fallujah "one of the epicenters of Saddam Hussein's support," Sen. Clinton said, "Clearly we have to increase our response and make it more effective."
She then reminded:
"Of course I've been saying for more than a year that we didn't send in enough troops in the beginning. I think the administration wanted to do both Afghanistan and Iraq with as few troops and as limited a commitment as possible. I think it was a mistake."
Clinton said that Bush had made a critical error by not eliminating al Qaeda before attacking Iraq.
"I believe that whether or not you agree with the action in Iraq, the timing of it diverted resources and equipment like the Predators and many of our Special Ops and intelligence personnel from Afghanistan prior to getting the job done there with respect to completely eliminating the al Qaeda presence in Afghanistan."
The former first lady also had words of praise for Bush terrorism policy critic Richard Clarke, saying he did a good job in exposing "our shortcomings as a nation."
"Mr. Clarke has, I think, come across very credibly and knowledgeably about what he saw as our shortcomings as a nation, which is a totally fair assessment because we had never been up against an enemy like this before - and what we should be doing to protect ourselves."
Mrs. Clinton noted that Clarke's complaints about the Iraq war mirrored her own, saying, "he has made a very important point about the diversion of time, attention and resources and commitment from Afghanistan, which he argues has undermined the overall war against terror."
"He has to be taken very seriously," she added.
While critical of the Bush war policy, she said her husband's administration deserved a big part of the credit for U.S. military success in Iraq.
"So much that had proved successful had been developed during the Clinton administration, tried out in Bosnia and Kosovo, and lessons learned in places like Haiti and Somalia," she told Franken. "And I'm very proud of the very positive record that the Clinton administration had in helping to prepare the military for the future."
