A day after Bush visits Iraq, Hillary Clinton calls for new U.N. role

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov 28, 2003 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- A day after U.S. President George W. Bush made a surprise trip to Baghdad, U.S. senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Jack Reed flew in Friday, saying it isn't too late to bring the United Nations back to Iraq.

The senators said the administration of Iraq - a huge expense - should be spread among a wider group of nations.

"I'm a big believer that we ought to internationalize this, but it will take a big change in our administration's thinking," said Clinton, a Democrat from New York. "I don't see that it's forthcoming."

Hours after Bush's 2 1/2-hour visit to Baghdad's airport, Clinton and Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island, spent a day meeting with military brass and troops, top officials of the occupation administration and aid workers.

Both senators cautioned that new plans to speed up the trasnfer of power to an Iraqi government is risky given the country's political and social upheaval. Reed said a "critical factor" for coalition authorities was securing the blessing of Iraq's majority Shiite Muslim community, especially Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, who has criticized the plan.

"We're caught in a dillema, possibly of our own making," Reed said. "A quick, hasty election might bring to power a person who doesn't share the values we're trying to encourage. But the more we wait, the more it looks like an occupation."

Clinton supported a resolution granting Bush congressional authority to wage war against Iraq. At the time, she said it was "the hardest decision I've ever had to make."

"I supported the US$87 billion. I thought it was neccessary," Clinton said. "I probably would have structured it differently. But the money is flowing."

But Clinton said the main purpose of her trip was to show support for U.S. troops.

"I wanted to come to Iraq to let the troops know about the great job they're doing," she said.

Reed, who voted against authorizing war against Iraq, said his opposition has been confirmed by his visit, as well as by an earlier visit in July.

He said the Bush administration was too hasty in dismissing the U.N. search for weapons that probably would have shown that Iraq represented no imminent threat to the United States. He said the links between Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network and Saddam also appeared to be exaggerated.

Lol!

Just one more serious reminder of the Clinton co-President legacy:

(July, '99 ) “The 6-year-old boy watched intently as his father dusted off his favorite possession, a leather-bound scrapbook of Osama bin Laden, pausing at a photo of the Saudi dissident with a semiautomatic rifle tucked in the folds of his trademark white robe. ''Osama!'' his son squealed excitedly. ''That's me!'' The boy, whose name was changed to Osama last year, is one of hundreds of Pakistani children named for bin Laden since Aug. 20, 1998 - the day the United States launched missile strikes against alleged terrorist camps run by the Saudi millionaire in eastern Afghanistan. The attack sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world. But the response was particularly heated in Pakistan, which sends thousands of Islamic guerrillas to similar training camps in Afghanistan. ''I love his bravery and gallantry,'' the boy's father, Niaz Ali Salar, said of bin Laden. ''He boosted the morale of Muslims throughout the world.'' The local leader of the radical Barelvi sect of Muslims, Salar said he hoped his son would ''live up to his name'' and lead the war against ''the enemies of Islam.'' In Mardan, a crumbling tobacco center 75 miles east of the Afghan border, Islamic priests deliver diatribes against ''evil America'' during Friday afternoon prayers.

~~~

In Pakistan, few buy Washington's vilification of bin Laden, whom it accuses of masterminding the Aug. 7, 1998, bombings of two US embassies in east Africa and several other terrorist attacks. ''He's a man on the run, whose only friends are the Taliban. How can he be a threat to the world's most powerful nation?'' said Sahib Zada Khalid Jan Binuri, head of Pakistan's most influential Islamic seminary. ''It's all spin control. If America tells me, `You are a terrorist,' what can I say?'' Link (character counts!)

On Dec. 18, 2000, the Electoral College officially elected George W. Bush President-elect.

On Dec. 19, 2000: Clinton went to Kofi Annan and demanded that the UN place tougher sanctions on Afghanistan if the Taliban didn't hand over Bin Laden in 30 days. Clinton and Annan both knew this would anger theTaliban and Bin Laden. Clinton's State Dept. had detailed info on known terrorist cells, their names, locations - history of terrorist activities. Kofi pulled the UN workers out of Afghanistan the day he announced the new threat - Dec.20, 2000...to go into effect in 30 days - just in time for GW Bush's Inaugeration Day:

"Today, the United Nations removed all its remaining relief workers from the country, fearing a backlash from the Taliban, who will be almost completely isolated diplomatically when the resolution takes effect in 30 days, a grace period during which the Taliban could avoid sanctions by meeting the Council's demands." - Tough Sanctions Imposed on Taliban Government Split UN, by Barbara Crossette, New York Times, Dec. 20, 2000.

~~~

"One morning at the nub end of Bill Clinton's presidency, Clinton chief of staff John Podesta walked into a senior staff meeting in the Roosevelt Room waving a copy of USA Today. Holding the paper aloft, Podesta read the headline out loud, "Clinton actions annoy Bush." The article detailed the new rules and Executive Orders the outgoing President was issuing in his final days, actions aimed in equal measure at locking in Clinton's legacy (in areas like environmental protection) and bedeviling his successor. "What's Bush so annoyed about?" Podesta asked with a devilish smile. "He's got four years to try to undo all the stuff we've done." Link.

"We laid a few traps," chirps a happy Clinton aide.....

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