Clinton: Iraq conflict a recipe for disaster

Hillary Clinton on Friday evening called mounting turmoil in Iraq a “recipe for a horrendous conflict,” and warned that any military assistance provided to the Iraqi government should come with conditions.

The potential 2016 Democratic presidential hopeful criticized Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who reportedly asked the U.S. to launch airstrikes against militants threatening to topple the nation.

{mosads}”That’s a delicate and difficult task for our government because we certainly don’t want to fight their fight,” Clinton said at George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium during an event for her new book, “Hard Choices.” 

“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.”

Clinton described unrest in Iraq, where Islamic militants are marching toward Baghdad, as a “serious potential crisis” that could have “global consequences.”

Her speech came hours after President Obama said the U.S would not send troops to Iraq, but would weigh other options.