Hillary Clinton has been preoccupied with ISIS this weekend, focusing on the Islamic Caliphate both on Friday, at the Brookings Institute Saban Forum, and on her Sunday interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC.
On Friday, Hillary used ISIS as the stick part in a carrot and stick lecture to Israelis regarding their next door neighbor in Ramallah, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas—warning that the “alternative to Abbas might be ISIS.”
Then she said: “We need an Israel that is a bastion of stability. An Israel strong enough to deter its enemies and take steps in the direction of peace. We need an Israel whose pluralism is a rebuke to radicals across the nation.”
There, at that line, Clinton was able to do to Jewish radicals what she had been reluctant to do to their Muslim counterparts. Of course, she referred to radicals “across the nation” rather than use the J word, but it was clear which Abrahamic nation she was describing.
On ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” who used to work for her husband, Democratic presidential front runner Hillary Clinton continued to profess her reluctance to condemn “radical Islam.” She didn’t have anything new to say on the topic, but took a hit for making fine legal points in treating a spreading wave of Muslim murder sprees (the dialogue was edited for reading comfort).
Stephanopoulos: You’ve been reluctant to say we’re fighting radical Islam. And I wonder why not. Isn’t it a mistake not to say it plainly, that the violence is being pushed by radical elements in that faith?
Clinton: Well, that’s a different thing. Radical elements who use a dangerous and distorted view of Islam to promote their jihadist ambitions, I’m fine with that. I say it all the time and I go after Islamic radicals, too.
Stephanopoulos: So what’s the problem with radical Islam?
Clinton: Well, the problem is that it sounds like we are declaring war against a religion.
Stephanopoulos: Even though the qualifier “radical” is there?
Clinton: You know enough about religion, you’ve studied it. And there are radicals, people who believe all kinds of things in every religion in the world. I don’t want to [use the term] because, number one, it doesn’t do justice to the vast numbers of Muslims in our own country and around the world who are peaceful people. Number two, it helps to create this clash of civilizations that is actually a recruiting tool for ISIS and other radical jihadists who use this as a way of saying, “We’re in a war against the West. You must join us. If you are a Muslim, you must join us.” No. If you’re a law-abiding, peace-loving Muslim, you need to be with us against those who are distorting Islam.
But, as it turned out in her ABC interview, Hillary is not ready to declare war even against those absolutely and undeniably bad Muslims, a.k.a. ISIS.
Stephanopoulos: Is it time to declare war on ISIS?
Clinton: Well, declare war is a very legal term, as you know so well. I think what we want to do is make sure we have every tool at our disposal to, number one, destroy their would-be caliphate in Syria and in Iraq. Number two, do everything we can to dismantle this very effective virtual jihadist network that they are using on the Internet. And number three, do whatever is necessary to protect us here at home.
Stephanopoulos (a minute later): Can you say today that we’re winning the fight against ISIS?
Clinton: I could say today that we have a new set of threats. You know,— if you go back and look where we were with al Qaeda in 9/11, there’s no doubt bin Laden and his lieutenants were planning to carry out additional attacks, if they possibly could. And they did in places like Madrid and London, etc. So we have dealt with that threat. It doesn’t go away. We haven’t eliminated it, but we’ve dealt with it. Now, we have to turn our attention to the very sophisticated propagation of this new threat from ISIS.