Posted on 01/14/2007 12:08:11 AM PST by XR7
BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed doubt Saturday that Iraq's government would follow through with its promises to secure Baghdad as she met with top Iraqi officials and American commanders.
It was the third trip to Iraq for Clinton, a Democrat from New York who is considering running for president, and comes amid opposition from the Democratic-controlled Congress to President Bush's plans to send in 21,500 more troops to stop the rampant violence.
"I don't know that the American people or the Congress at this point believe this mission can work," she told ABC News in Baghdad. "And in the absence of a commitment that is backed up by actions from the Iraqi government, why should we believe it?"
Noting she had to travel wearing body armor and surrounded by soldiers and security guards, Clinton called the situation in Iraq "heartbreaking."
"This is my third trip here. I've seen the violence and security problems increase, not decrease," she said, calling on Bush to start withdrawing U.S. troops.
"That would really demonstrate to the Iraqis that we don't have an open-ended commitment," she said. "We are not going to be here providing protection for their leaders, which we do. We are not going to be here standing by and trying to be called in from time to time as they see fit. That is not in the cards."
Clinton, who was making a one-day visit to the country, spoke to ABC exclusively after meeting with the two top military commanders in Iraq, U.S. Gen. George Casey and Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, according to the network.
She was traveling with U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Indiana, who opted out of the 2008 race, and Rep. John McHugh, a Republican from upstate New York. They also planned to travel to Afghanistan.
The three, all members of armed services committees, also met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
"I'm skeptical that the Iraqi government will do what they have promised to do, and that I think is the concern of all of us who have heard this before," she said, referring to earlier security efforts that have failed to stop the sectarian attacks that have been increasing since the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra.
Clinton, who opposes Bush's plans to send more U.S. troops to Iraq, last traveled to Iraq in February 2005 with Sen. John McCain, a Republican presidential contender.
Clinton had planned to meet with the Army's 10th Mountain Division which is based in New York and deployed in both Iraq and Afghanistan at their base in Baghdad but the visit was canceled due to bad weather, the U.S. military said.
The Iraq Liberation Act
October 31, 1998
STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT
Today I am signing into law H.R. 4655, the "Iraq Liberation Act of 1998." This Act makes clear that it is the sense of the Congress that the United States should support those elements of the Iraqi opposition that advocate a very different future for Iraq than the bitter reality of internal repression and external aggression that the current regime in Baghdad now offers.
Let me be clear on what the U.S. objectives are: The United States wants Iraq to rejoin the family of nations as a freedom-loving and law-abiding member. This is in our interest and that of our allies within the region.
The United States favors an Iraq that offers its people freedom at home. I categorically reject arguments that this is unattainable due to Iraq's history or its ethnic or sectarian make-up. Iraqis deserve and desire freedom like everyone else. The United States looks forward to a democratically supported regime that would permit us to enter into a dialogue leading to the reintegration of Iraq into normal international life.
WILLIAM J. CLINTON
THE WHITE HOUSE,
October 31, 1998.
Soo, Hiltary spends a few hours in Iraq and she sees and knows all? C'mon Hill, your husband spends more time in hotels with hoes. You make me sick!
Oh, THAT'S real diplomatic. And she accuses the president of alienating our allies? **rolls eyes**
And she probably dreaded every minute of it. This witch must never be allowed the title, Commander in Chief!
Please -- God forbid!!
In a country with 25 million people as big as the state of California, I wonder where they took her. I mean really did she observe that the violence is increasing everywhere? How can you visit the whole country in one day?
.
NEVER FORGET
Long ago a Democrat Congress' 1st 'Cut & Run' Operation =
Pictures of a vietnamese Re-Education (SLAVE LABOR) Camp
http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1308949/posts
What price this time around, I wonder..?
12 Million suddenly missing Iraqi purple voting fingers..?
NEVER FORGET
.
ping.
.
NEVER FORGET
During South Vietnam's fight for Freedom long ago,
...here in a Free America HILLARY RODHAM & BARBARA BOXER actively supported Communist Terrorist North Vietnam's invasion of the Free South.
And WILLIAM CLINTON did the same while abroad in England, as he traveled to the Communist Soviet Union to pick up his funding for Anit-U.S. Anti-Freedom Demonstrations he was organizing for outside our U.S. Embassy in London, England.
For...
...the Enemy is now Within
...and always has been.
Signed:.."ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer
Veteran-1st Major Battles for Freedom of the Vietnam War 1965-66
(Vietnam War Photo Essay)
http://www.lzxray.com/guyer_collection.htm
NEVER FORGET
Affirmative...
What the media doesn't want to tell you is that several areas that once were hot spots are pretty calm now. Even the area around Mosul and Tal Afar where it used to be just absolutely nuts, has tamed down considerably.
In the Kurdish areas, Americans can walk in the streets, go to restaurants and shops, etc.
There have been vast improvements, but the media chooses to focus on areas that have heated up, such as Baghdad, and pass that off as representative of the entire country.
.
http://www.Freerepublic.com/~ALOHARONNIE
This time the Anti-Freedom U.S. Media MUST be stopped from purposely mis-reporting our fight to preserve the hard-won Freedom of the Iraqi people.
Or else something like this fate certainly awaits them, like it did the once Free South Vietnamese people:
Pictures of a vietnamese Re-Education (SLAVE LABOR) Camp
http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1308949/posts
Something like...
...12 Million suddenly missing Iraqi purple Voting fingers, perhaps..?
.
Thanks for your vigilence here. Let her "do her thing".
Our will is limited. Her will is boundless in crazy potential.
Let her do herself in...
Even the dopiest Soccor Moms will turn on her if she fouls a war zone with her Left wing craziness.
Have faith in the solidarity of the American public...even though the current lineup of Presidential hopefuls looks like a Gong Show for now.
Stay the course.
Thanks Allegra.
This is of course nonsense. Some time in the future Baghdad will be pacified by one means or another. Of that I am quite certain. The only question is who will benefit from the pacification. Syria, Iran and the islmofascists or the United States and our allies.
She looks and acts like a 'village' idiot. She is incapable of taking any decent questions on her stances and has her talking points. She's such a joke.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.