Hillary Speaks

Clinton, asked about President Bush's deployment of 21,500 additional troops in Iraq, said on NBC's Today Show this morning that: "I am opposed to it.'' Returning from a one-day trip to Baghdad, the senator said: "I talked to a number of our troops . . . as well as members of the Iraqi government. . . . I do not think this strategy has a very high level of success at all attached to it.'' Clinton, calling for a "cap'' on the numbers of U.S. troops in Iraq at the start of January, said she supports "the beginning of a phased redeployment'' out of Baghdad and out of Iraq. "I propose putting conditions on the funding that we provide to the Iraqis. . . . including making the political compromises that have been called for now for two years,'' said Clinton, suggesting that the Iraqi government is intent on maintaining its own dominance over a Sunni Muslim minority. "We are doing nothing to change the dynamic with the Iraqi government. They are waiting us out.'' Asked about cutting funding for the president's new deployment, Clinton said: "The president has enormous authority under our constitutional system to do exactly what he is doing. . . . He does have the money already appropriated in the budget.''