Hillary Clinton rips Bush on Iran
Senator says U.S. 'lost critical time' in dealing with Iran because White House downplayed threat
Tough talk: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton issued a scathing attack on the Bush Administration, charging the U.S. government has wasted precious time in dealing with the looming Iranian nuclear threat.
"I believe that we lost critical time in dealing with Iran because the White House chose to downplay the threats and to outsource the negotiations," Clinton said during a speech at Princeton University, referring to American willingness to allow European powers to handle talks with Teheran.
"We cannot and should not - must not - permit Iran to build or acquire nuclear weapons," Clinton added. "In order to prevent that from occurring, we must have more support vigorously and publicly expressed by China and Russia, and we must move as quickly as feasible for sanctions in the United Nations."
'Enough with Palestinian excuses'
During her speech, Clinton also made it clear military action against Iran to curb the nuclear threat was an option.
"We cannot take any option off the table in sending a clear message to the current leadership of Iran that they will not be permitted to acquire nuclear weapons," Clinton said.
The senator and probable future presidential candidate also blasted Holocaust-denial remarks by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, charging the Iranian leader "is moving to create his own nuclear reality in line with his despicable rewriting of history."
Turning her attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Clinton said Israel's right to exist honorably must not be questioned and urged the Palestinians to do away with excuses and demonstrate their commitment to a peaceful future.
