Best Defense

Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Reporters should ask Hillary Clinton about the surge, not about invading Iraq

My friend Peter Feaver says the media is asking Hillary Clinton the wrong question.

WASHINGTON - JULY 16: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (R) and Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari speak to the media before a bilateral meeting at the State Department on July 16, 2009 in Washington, DC. The two discussed progress being made in removing American troops from Iraqi cities. (Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON - JULY 16: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (R) and Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari speak to the media before a bilateral meeting at the State Department on July 16, 2009 in Washington, DC. The two discussed progress being made in removing American troops from Iraqi cities. (Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON - JULY 16: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (R) and Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari speak to the media before a bilateral meeting at the State Department on July 16, 2009 in Washington, DC. The two discussed progress being made in removing American troops from Iraqi cities. (Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)

 

 

My friend Peter Feaver says the media is asking Hillary Clinton the wrong question. In an e-mail this morning, he wrote that, “why do the media keep asking Clinton about her 2002 position on Iraq?  She has answered that.  What she hasn’t answered is her 2007 opposition to the surge.  That is far more relevant to her suitability as commander-in-chief.”

Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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