From the December 7, 2003, broadcast of NBC's Meet the Press:
TIM RUSSERT (host): When you stood up on the floor in October 2002, you said, "It's with conviction I support this resolution as being in the best interests of our nation. It's a vote that says clearly to Saddam, 'This is your last chance. Disarm or be disarmed.' " Do you now regret your vote giving the president the authority to go to war in Iraq?
CLINTON: No. I regret the way the president used the authority. I believe in presidential authority to deal with threats. I wish that the Congress had been, you know, more supportive of my husband when he did what he had to do in Bosnia and Kosovo and elsewhere. So I have no second-guessing about giving the president authority. And, in fact, in the immediate aftermath of that vote, he did exactly what I would have expected and what the White House told me they would do: going to the U.N., getting a Security Council resolution, going back in with inspections. What I do regret and what I think has been unfortunate is the way that that process was short-circuited and the military action was taken without any adequate understanding or planning about what the aftermath would be. And that's the consequence we're living with right now.
From Clinton's December 15, 2003, speech to the Council on Foreign Relations:
CLINTON: I was one who supported giving President Bush the authority, if necessary, to use force against Saddam Hussein. I believe that that was the right vote. I have had many disputes and disagreements with the administration over how that authority has been used, but I stand by the vote to provide the authority because I think it was a necessary step in order to maximize the outcome that did occur in the Security Council with the unanimous vote to send in inspectors. And I also knew that our military forces would be successful. But what we did not appreciate fully and what the administration was unprepared for was what would happen the day after.
From the February 13, 2004, edition of CNN's Inside Politics:
JUDY WOODRUFF (host): Senator Clinton, the same question. Would you have cast your vote the same?
CLINTON: You know, Judy, I regret the way that the authority that I voted for was used. Based on what was made available to us publicly, in classified briefings, I certainly had every reason to believe that there were weapons of mass destruction. And that given Saddam Hussein's track record of what I would consider aggressive, belligerent irrational behavior, you could never discount him as a threat.
But I do wish that the president had permitted the U.N. inspections to continue longer than he did, because maybe we would have found that out. And maybe then we would have adopted a different strategy.
From a November 15, 2005, statement:
As I have said in the past, I disagree with the way the President has used the authority granted to him and the way he has prosecuted this war. I am glad that the Senate today acted in a bipartisan manner to demand answers from the President. The time is long overdue for the Administration to give us the facts about their current and future plans for the war in Iraq. Our brave men and women who serve valiantly each and every day deserve nothing less.
From a January 30, 2006, New York Sun article:
Mrs. Clinton insisted that the vote was, in essence, about getting U.N. weapons inspectors readmitted to Iraq. She said she never expected Mr. Bush to go to war before the inspections were complete.
"I did vote to give the president authority based on what the president said he was going to use the authority for," the senator said. "I thought we did need to get inspectors back into Iraq.... I don't regret my vote. I regret the way he used the authority."
