Throughout the first Democratic primary debate after the San Bernardino attack, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton outlined her vision to defeat the Islamic State that included an international coalition, a no-fly zone and partnerships with the Muslim communities.
“We do have to form a coalition,” Clinton said at Saturday’s ABC News debate/ “I know how hard that is. I have formed them. I put together a coalition including Arabs with respect to Libya and a coalition to put sanctions onto Iran. And you have to really work hard at it.”
When initially asked about preventing an attack like the one in San Bernardino, Clinton reiterated her promise “not to contain” the Islamic State “but to defeat them.”
“The most important job of being president is obviously to keep our country safe and to keep the families of America safe,” Clinton said on Saturday’s ABC News debate, before touching on her platform of leading an American air-campaign in Islamic State territories and working with Arab and Kurdish ground troops.
Additionally, she highlighted the need to work with tech companies to address the Islamic State’s online influence, while also stressing — in light of the anti-Muslim rhetoric being inflamed in the GOP primary — reaching out to Muslim communities.
“We must work more closely with Muslim American communities,” Clinton said. “I met with a group of Muslim Americans this past week to hear from them about what they’re doing to try to stop radicalization. They will be our early warning signal. That’s why we need to work with them, not demonize them as the Republican have been doing.”
She returned to the topic again as foreign policy dominated the first half the debate.
“Bringing Donald Trump back into it, if you’re going to put together a coalition in the region, to take on the threat of ISIS, you don’t want to alienate the very countries and people you need to be part of the coalition,” Clinton said. “And so that is part of the reason why this is so difficult.”
