Hillary Watch

Don't look now, but Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) is calibrating her Iraq position ever so slightly to the middle.

From the NYT:

In a 1,600-word letter that was e-mailed to thousands of New Yorkers, Mrs. Clinton used new verbiage to attack the White House's war planning from top to bottom, while also laying out her general vision for reducing troop levels. The letter came on the eve of an Iraq speech by President Bush, as well as one month after an antiwar crusader, Cindy Sheehan, denounced Mrs. Clinton's position on the war.

And:

She added, "Given years of assurances that the war was nearly over and that the insurgents were in their 'last throes,' this administration was either not being honest with the American people or did not know what was going on in Iraq."

With Democrats struggling to coalesce around their own plan of action for Iraq, prominent party members have staked out new ground in recent months. These include some Democrats, who, like Mrs. Clinton, are believed to be considering a presidential run in 2008.

And:

Mrs. Clinton, in her letter, did not insist on an absolute timetable to withdraw troops. Yet she was notably explicit about her emerging view that troops could be redeployed next year if coming elections in Iraq go well.

"I believe we are at a critical point with the Dec. 15 elections that should, if successful, allow us to start bringing home our troops in the coming year, while leaving behind a smaller contingent in safer areas with greater intelligence and quick strike capabilities," she wrote. "I call on the president both for such a plan and for a full and honest accounting of the failures of intelligence - something we owe not only to those killed and wounded and their families, but to all Americans."

Stay tuned.