A Clinton moment in the Senate

By Marcella Bombardieri, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- Hillary Clinton jumped at the chance to take the microphone at an important Senate armed services committee hearing on Iraq this morning as her colleagues hurried off to take a vote on the Senate floor.

Junior senators -- even those who are running for president -- often have little chance to question witnesses or pontificate at important hearings, since they generally speak in order of seniority. But Clinton got to speak up while her colleagues were off voting, briefly leaving a distinguished military panel facing only the New York senator and a crescent of empty leather chairs.

General James Jones told the panel that Iraqi security forces are making major strides. Clinton pressed Jones on why Iraqi political leaders have not stepped up at the same time.

"If we take away deadlines, take away benchmarks, take away timelines, what is the urgency that will move them to act?" she said. "The administration and the Iraqi government keep moving the goalposts for success, and I am deeply concerned that we are not going to see any difference in 12 to 18 months.

"We'll see more American casualties and we'll see the opportunity costs of getting bogged down in Iraq," she continued, at the expense of tending to China, the Middle East, and other parts of the world.

Clinton also mentioned that she sent a letter Wednesday to President Bush asking him to answer 20 questions on Iraq. For the record, she then cut her questioning short to go get in her own vote.