WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton said Friday the deteriorating conditions in Iraq could
have "global consequences."
Clinton said during an event for her
new book, "Hard Choices," that it was important that Iraq’s prime
minister be presented with a set of conditions for any discussion about
military support against a fast-moving Islamic insurgency.
"That’s
a delicate and difficult task for our government because we certainly
don’t want to fight their fight," Clinton said. "Because you’d be
fighting for a dysfunctional, unrepresentative, authoritarian government
and there’s no reason on earth that I know of that we would ever
sacrifice a single American life for that."
The potential 2016
Democratic presidential candidate said the turmoil in Iraq represented a
"recipe for a horrendous conflict." She spoke hours after President
Barack Obama said the U.S. would not be dragged into military action
without political reforms by leaders in Baghdad.
Clinton, who
served as Obama’s top diplomat, said the request by Baghdad for help was
being carefully considered by the Obama administration. "It is a …
serious potential crisis with broad regional and even global
consequences," she said.
Obama has ruled out the possibility of
sending in American ground troops to Iraq but said he was considering a
range of other options being developed by the Pentagon.