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Hillary Clinton: US should take out Assad's air fields
Hillary Clinton: US should 'take out' Assad's air fields
Story highlights
- "That air force is the cause of most of these civilian deaths," Clinton said
- The former secretary of state advocated for a no-fly zone
(CNN)Hillary
Clinton called on the United States to take out Syrian leader Bashar
al-Assad's Air Force on Thursday, days after a chemical attack killed
more than 70 people in the war-torn country.
"Assad
has an air force, and that air force is the cause of most of these
civilian deaths as we have seen over the years and as we saw again in
the last few days," Clinton said in a speech at the "Women in the World"
summit in New York City. "And I really believe that we should have and
still should take out his air fields and prevent him from being able to
use them to bomb innocent people and drop sarin gas on them."
The
former secretary of state and Democratic presidential nominee against
Trump in 2016 reiterated her support for a no-fly zone over Syria and
more direct support for protesters.
Turkey: Syrian autopsies show sarin gas 01:50
"I
still believe we should have done a no-fly zone," she said, in a slight
knock against former President Barack Obama, whose Cabinet she served
in. "We should have been more willing to confront Assad."
US officials said Assad perpetrated the chemical attack this week that killed more than 70 people.
Trump
said Thursday that "something should happen" with regard to Assad,
after referring to the deadly attack as a "heinous" and "horrific" act
against innocent people the previous day.
Meanwhile,
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said it appears that Assad should have
"no role" in governing the Syrian people, and that "steps are under
way" for the United States - along with an international coalition -- to
remove the dictator.
"We
are considering an appropriate response for this chemicals weapons
attack," Tillerson said. "It's a serious matter. It requires a serious
response."
Clinton, even as
secretary of state, was a proponent of more direct action in Syria at
the time, despite Obama's apprehension about military action in the
country.
"I wish, obviously I wish
that the international community writ large had been able to rein this
in," Clinton said, while acknowledging that the decision was not an easy
one.
The Obama administration
asked Congress in August 2013 for authorization to launch a military
strike on Syria. That vote never happened after a preliminary agreement
was struck to remove chemical weapons from Syria.
Mattis to brief Trump on military options in Syria 03:22
In
light of the recent chemical attack, that agreement now looks moot and
Clinton nodded to the possibility that it could have failed on Thursday,
saying that they believed at the time "we had gotten rid of their
stock" of chemical weapons.
"Who knows whether they hid some or they bought more," she said. "We don't know. We just know the impact."
Clinton
blamed Russia for backing Assad, arguing that Russian President
Vladimir Putin "has basically weighed in, particularly with air power,
to support this fight-to-the-death policy that Assad has."
And in a bit of psychological analysis, Clinton compared Assad and the Russian president.
"He
is absolutely a prisoner of his family's expectations, his dead
father's looming presence and his delusion, that I believe he now
probably could pass a lie detector about, that everyone who opposes him
is a terrorist," Clinton said of Assad, before adding, "That is how
Putin thinks."
Clinton said that if
she were in power, she would have told the Russians they were "either
with us or against us on this no-fly zone."
"It
is time," Clinton said, "the Russians were afraid of us because we were
going to stand up for the rights, the human rights, the dignity and the
future of the Syrian people."
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