On the July 19 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, guest host John King reported that the Pentagon issued “a stinging rebuke of Senator Hillary Clinton [D-NY]” in which Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman -- a former adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney -- accused Clinton of “promoting enemy propaganda by asking questions about the U.S. exit strategy in Iraq.” King added that the “Associated Press reports” that Edelman “sent that biting reply this week to Senator Clinton about questions she asked the Pentagon back in May.” But King did not report Clinton's response and gave no indication that he had attempted to contact Clinton. Clinton's response was readily available and included in the AP report King cited.
Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines called Edelman's accusation “at once outrageous and dangerous,” and added that "[r]edeploying out of Iraq with the same combination of arrogance and incompetence with which the Bush administration deployed our young men and women into Iraq is completely unacceptable, and our troops deserve far better."
The AP reported on July 19 that Edelman responded “to questions Clinton raised in May in which she urged the Pentagon to start planning now for the withdrawal of American forces” by telling “Clinton that her questions ... boost[] enemy propaganda.” Clinton had asked the Pentagon how it planned to prepare for what would eventually be, in the AP's words, “a complicated withdrawal of troops, trucks and equipment.” The AP reported that Edelman wrote in his response: “Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia.” The AP further reported that Reines “said the senator would respond to his [Edelman's] boss, Defense Secretary Robert Gates” and that “Clinton aides said the letter ignored important military matters and focuses instead on political payback.”
A later version of the AP report also noted that Republican Sen. Richard Lugar (IN) shared Clinton's concerns. According to the AP, Lugar “warned ... that if U.S. military leaders and Congress 'are not prepared for these contingencies, they may be executed poorly, especially in an atmosphere in which public demands for troop withdrawals could compel action on a political timetable.' ”
The AP noted that Edelman is a “one-time aide to Vice President Dick Cheney.” As Newsweek reported in Feburary, “During the run-up to the Iraq war, Edelman served as Cheney's foreign-policy adviser, directly under the vice president's then chief of staff and national-security aide I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby. After a two-year stint as ambassador to Turkey, Edelman was then nominated by President Bush in 2005 to replace [former Undersecretary of Defense Douglas] Feith, a key ally of the vice president's office in the often-contentious pre-war debates over Iraq intelligence.”
According to a July 20 AP report, Clinton personally “responded Friday [July 20] in a letter to Edelman's boss, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, asking if he agreed with Edelman's charge.” The AP reported that the letter asserted that “Edelman had ducked her questions and 'instead made spurious arguments to avoid addressing contingency planning.' ” The AP also reported that Clinton “repeated her request for a briefing -- classified if necessary -- on the issue of end-of-war planning” and that she called Edelman's “claim 'outrageous and dangerous.' ”
From the 4 p.m. ET hour of the July 19 edition of CNN's The Situation Room:
KING: Also from the Pentagon, a stinging rebuke of Senator Hillary Clinton. An undersecretary of defense reportedly argues the Democratic presidential candidate is promoting enemy propaganda by asking questions about the U.S. exit strategy in Iraq. The Associated Press reports Eric Edelman sent that biting reply this week to Senator Clinton about questions she asked the Pentagon back in May.