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Hillary Lashes Out at Cheney

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Presidential hopeful New York Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is hopping mad at Vice President Dick Cheney for charging her with "reinforcing enemy propaganda."

In a letter to supporters, Clinton recalls that after she wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates asking him to "provide Congress with briefings of contingency plans for withdrawal -- or an explanation of why no such plans exist," she got a response from Under Secretary of Defense Eric Edelman who told her that discussing plans for withdrawal of our troops from Iraq "reinforces enemy propaganda."

That, fumed Clinton, "was an outrageous response -- and a dangerous one. Planning for withdrawal isn't just common sense. It is vital to ensuring our troops return home safe."

Gates, she wrote, "quickly disavowed Edelman's letter, saying he encouraged congressional oversight and promising to respond to my original inquiry.

"But in an interview with Larry King that aired last night on CNN, Vice President Cheney said he agreed with Edelman's assertion that Congress asking the Pentagon to plan for our troops' safe return "reinforces enemy propaganda."

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In her own letter to supporters she asked them to join her in writing a letter to President Bush asking, "So which is it, President Bush? Do you support the safe return of troops from Iraq, or are you going to continue to play politics with their lives?

"So far, tens of thousands of people have signed my letter to President Bush, and I need you to add your signature today to help send a clear message to the administration. This issue is about one thing: making sure there is a plan to bring our troops home safely from Iraq. Together, we can make a difference for them."

As for the vice president, she added: "They can send Dick Cheney to attack me as much as they like, but I am not going to back down from this fight -- not while I've got you fighting with me."

Clinton failed to note that the Pentagon makes plans for all possible contingencies, including withdrawal of U.S. troops when that becomes necessary but, as Edelman suggested in his poorly worded response, making such plans public could damage U.S. Security interests and be helpful to the enemy.

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