RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Politics and Current Events Hillary in 2008

There is little in the senator's eight years as first lady, or her pre-White House days as a lawyer, from which to draw conclusions on her foreign policy or military views.

Her foreign trips as first lady were ceremonial or devoted to children's and women's issues. She also visited U.S. installations around the world.

Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines says one issue that has carried over from her White House years is a concern about quality-of-life issues — health care, housing, educational opportunities — for U.S. troops and their families.

In the Senate, Clinton has a fairly consistent record of support for the military — often with some of her GOP colleagues — and moderate foreign policy views. Some examples:

• She is the first New York senator to sit on the Armed Services Committee, where she has focused on improving pay and benefits for troops, both active and reserve. New York has the fourth-largest number of servicemen and women deployed in Iraq. Clinton visited Iraq in February in a much-publicized trip with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

• She introduced legislation last week, along with Democratic Sens. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Jack Reed of Rhode Island, to boost the Army by 80,000 soldiers over the next four years.

• She has co-sponsored bills to improve military health benefits with GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Jim Talent of Missouri. "I think that generally her work on the (Armed Services) committee has been very strong," Talent says.

• At an April Armed Services Committee hearing, Clinton won headlines after her persistent questioning led Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby, chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency, to admit that North Korea may now be able to arm missiles with nuclear warheads.

"The North Koreans have the ability to arm a missile with a nuclear device that can reach the United States," she said. "Put simply, they couldn't do that when George Bush became president, and now they can."
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