The idea was to vet the rebel groups and train fighters, who would be supplied with weapons. The plan had risks, but it also offered the potential reward of creating Syrian allies with whom the United States could work, both during the conflict and President Bashar al-Assad’s eventual removal.

Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Petraeus presented the proposal to the White House, according to administration officials. But with the White House worried about the risks, and with President Obama in the midst of a re-election bid, they were rebuffed.

I think somebody who is getting sexier every year is Hillary Clinton. Every year she seems better at whatever she’s doing. By the end of the millennium, she’s gonna have it locked down.

Clinton responded that one problem is that some human rights standards are “so foreign to other cultures.”

“If you’re someone, as I am, who believes strongly in the empowerment of women … in a lot of places, it’s just not understood,” she said.

“Of course, we take good care of our women,” Clinton told the audience, impersonating one of those foreign leaders. “We don’t let them out of the house, so that they never get into trouble. We don’t let them drive cars, so that they can never be taken advantage of. So we are protecting the human rights of our women.”

“You can imagine the conversations that I have,” she said.

In parts of Africa and Asia, she said, gay rights is “just a totally foreign concept.”

“I mean, the first response is, ‘We don’t have any of those here,’” she said, to laughter. “Second response is, ‘If we did, we would not want to have them and would want to get rid of them as quickly as possible. And it’s your problem, United States of America, that you have so many of those people. So don’t come here and tell us to protect the rights of people we don’t have or that we don’t want.’”

“It’s a very difficult conversation because it’s just not been one that people have had up until now,” she said.