Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton appeared to take a swipe at President Obama's Syria policy Tuesday, saying it might have been possible to defeat dictator Bashar al-Assad militarily a few years ago but not now.
Clinton made the remarks while discussing with CBS anchor Charlie Rose how she would engage Russia in fighting the Islamic State in Syria, which is racked by civil war and the violent regime of Assad, a Russian ally.
"You have a dog in this hunt now, because you're worried about what's happening in The Caucasus," Clinton said. "You're worried about ISIS [the Islamic State] spreading its ideology. Right now, we're not going to see a military defeat of Assad. That's not going to happen. It might have been possible a few years ago. It's not going to happen now."
Obama received fierce criticism in 2013 when Assad violated Obama's "red line" of using chemical weapons against his own people, but he still hedged on engaging in military action in response. He and other Obama administration members, including Clinton when she was secretary of state, have said throughout his presidency that Assad has no legitimacy and "has to go." However, the dictator has kept his grip on power in the war-torn country.
Clinton said there was a "false choice" between going after Assad and Islamic State, and she said she would bring the Russians in after the price they have paid from terrorist attacks. She said there would not be a situation of Russia violating any American "no-fly zone" in Syria like the recent situation where Turkey shot down a Russian fighter, as they would be "at the table" and kept fully informed.