With highest amount of donations from the arms industry of any presidential candidate, will Hillary Clinton, if elected, become a war whore to pay off her benefactors?

According to a report from The Independent, " So far, Mrs Clinton has received $52,600 in contributions from individual arms industry employees. That is more than half the sum given to all Democrats and 60 per cent of the total going to Republican candidates. Election fundraising laws ban individuals from donating more than $4,600 but contributions are often "bundled" to obtain influence over a candidate."

The nearly $53,000 collected by Clinton's campaign is a tiny fraction of the total amount raised so far - nearly $80 million - leaving some to pooh-pooh the idea she could be influenced by such a small sum.

But stranger things have happened and it bears watching.

Note this from The Independent:

After her election to the Senate, she became the first New York senator on the armed services committee, where she revealed her hawkish tendencies by supporting the invasion of Iraq. Although she now favours a withdrawal of US troops, her position on Iran is among the most warlike of all the candidates – Democrat or Republican.

This week, she said that, if elected president, she would not rule out military strikes to destroy Tehran's nuclear weapons facilities. While on the armed services committee, Mrs Clinton has befriended key generals and has won the endorsement of General Wesley Clarke, who ran Nato's war in Kosovo. A former presidential candidate himself, he is spoken of as a potential vice-presidential running mate.

Mrs Clinton has been a regular visitor to Iraq and Afghanistan and is careful to focus her criticisms of the Iraq war on President Bush, rather than the military. The arms industry has duly taken note.

Now we wonder: Which came first, the hawk, or the nest egg?