Editing Samantha Power

Power is the United States ambassador to the United Nations. 
== On Iraq ==

“That’s what’s so great about the fall of Saddam Hussein. Now we can actually put our money and power where our might has been so far. We can demonstrate what we have claimed all along, that this war is about them,” 2003 in the LA TImes. [[http://fair.org/blog/2013/06/10/what-did-samantha-power-say-about-iraq-invasion/]]

"An American intervention likely will improve the live of the Iraqis. Their lives could not get worse, I think it’s quite safe to say...The issue, though, is whether the United States can be, in a sense, the unilateral guardian of human rights and whether the intervention itself won’t have destabilizing consequences, both in terms of our security, the very security in whose name we’re really launching this intervention, and in the name of international principles like human rights, international justice, international stability...It legitimates the go-it-alone approach and it sort of reinforces the impression of us as an outlaw nation, which is ironic because, of course, Saddam’s regime is far more an outlaw nation than ours." 2003 on Hardball. [[http://fair.org/blog/2013/06/10/what-did-samantha-power-say-about-iraq-invasion/]]

Hardball's Chris Matthews tried to get Power to take a definintive stance on Iraq. However, she evaded the question of whether it was a just war. 

MATTHEWS: Is this a just war, Samantha?

POWER: It will have a just result locally and probably a very unjust result…

MATTHEWS: Is it a just war?

POWER: I don’t think we can be the guardians of justice…

MATTHEWS: No, I–so it’s not a just war?

POWER: We haven’t fought it yet, Chris. I mean, you know, you can’t say whether…

MATTHEWS: Well, you have to decide about a war before you start it, not afterwards. Is this a just war…

POWER: No, you can’t weigh in on proportionality, on discrimination, on whether we actually follow through and actually look out for the rights of the Iraqis…

(CROSSTALK)

POWER: … after the war. We don’t know that now.

MATTHEWS: But in its outset, is it a just war?

POWER: It’s not being fought for human rights reasons. I don’t know who–why–I mean, it would be great if human rights were a necessary condition. [[http://fair.org/blog/2013/06/10/what-did-samantha-power-say-about-iraq-invasion/]]