Clinton camp says citing progress doesn't equal endorsing surge
 Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-NY) comment that some new US "tactics" in Iraq are "working" should not be taken as an endorsement of President Bush's troop surge strategy, her campaign said Tuesday.
"She has said this before and was specifically referring to reports of increased cooperation from Sunnis leading to greater success against Al Qaeda in Al Anbar," campaign spokesman Phil Singer said in an e-mail to RAW STORY.
A headline that appeared on the Drudge Report early Tuesday said, "Hillary on Surge? 'It's Working'...". It linked to an Associated Press report on Clinton's comments Monday at the Veterans of Foreign Wars annual convention.
Clinton cited successes in Iraq's Al Anbar Province as an example of how changed tactics are "working," but her comments were not meant as an endorsement of President Bush's surge strategy as a whole, her campaign said.
Clinton believes there's been progress quelling violence in Iraq's Anbar province, but doesn't believe the overall troop surge has been effective and continues to argue there is no military solution to end US involvement in Iraq, Singer said.
"We've begun to change tactics in Iraq, and in some areas, particularly in Al Anbar Province, it's working," Clinton told the gathering of veterans in Kansas City, Mo., according to a New York Times account of the speech. "We're just years too late changing our tactics. We can't ever let that happen again. We can't be fighting the last war; we have to be preparing to fight the new war."
The Times said Clinton's remarks were "notable" because Republicans have been "seizing on signs of progress in Al Anbar Province in arguing against a troop withdrawal."
Unlike the Times, the AP paraphrased the first sentence of Clinton's quote, reporting that she " said new tactics have brought some success against insurgents, particularly in Iraq's Anbar province," before running a quote beginning with, "It's working."
Her comments referred specifically to increased cooperation from Sunnis in the area leading to progress against insurgents, but she still believes that extricating US troops from what many see as a festering Civil War is the best option. She has made similar observations before.
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