[Undertoad]

The big one: this was (and probably still is) an attempt to create a lawful, productive, pro-western nation containing US military bases, in the center of the middle east and directly bordering several "problem countries", without seeming in any way to declare war on Islam specifically in any way.

NYT: Hillary keeps the military bases even if the shit hits the fan

WASHINGTON, March 14 — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton foresees a "remaining military as well as political mission" in Iraq, and says that if elected president, she would keep a reduced but significant military force there to fight Al Qaeda, deter Iranian aggression, protect the Kurds and possibly support the Iraqi military.

In a half-hour interview on Tuesday in her Senate office, Mrs. Clinton said the scaled-down American military force that she would maintain in Iraq after taking office would stay off the streets in Baghdad and would no longer try to protect Iraqis from sectarian violence — even if it descended into ethnic cleansing.

Italics mine.

It's weird because she is not supposed to be moving to the center right now. She will lose the left and the netroots for this. She must believe that the surge is working.