Hillary: Iraqi Women Better Off Under Saddam

NewsMax ^ | 2/27/04 | Limbacher

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

Sen. Hillary Clinton said this week that Iraqi women were better off under Saddam Hussein, arguing that when the brutal dictator ran the country women were at least assured the right to participate in Iraq's public life.

In comments that went unreported by the mainstream press, the former first lady told the Brookings Institution on Wednesday that since Saddam's removal from power, Iraq's post war governing councils had engaged in "pullbacks in the rights [women] were given under Saddam Hussein."

Sen. Clinton noted that while Saddam had been "an equal opportunity oppressor," women were at least assured certain constitutional guarantees.

While ignoring reports about the brutal dictator's rape rooms and other forms of persecution that were routine for women under his regime, Sen. Clinton insisted: "On paper, women had rights."

And for Iraqi women, those paper promises translated into real benefits, she claimed.

"They went to school; they participated in the professions, they participated in the government and business and, as long as they stayed out of [Saddam's] way, they had considerable freedom of movement," Clinton insisted.

But since Saddam's removal, the plight of Iraq's women has taken a significant turn for the worse, she contended.

"Now, what we see happening in Iraq is the governing council attempting to shift large parts of civl law into religious jurisdiction," Sen. Clinton explained, saying the loss of Saddam's guarantees amounted to a "horrific mistake" for women.

During her trip to Iraq last November, Clinton said Iraqi women told her personally how they felt less safe since the U.S. deposed Saddam.

"Women tell me they can't leave their homes, they can't go about their daily business. And there is a concerted effort to burn schools that are educating girls [and] to intimidate aid workers who are women," the leading Democrat complained.

The former first lady called on President Bush to issue a statement that the U.S. "will not become the vehicle by which women's rights in Iraq are turned back."

A full transcript of Sen. Clinton's remarks is available on the Brookings Institution Web site at: http://www.brook.edu/dybdocroot/comm/events/20040225.pdf. Her remarks on the worsening plight of Iraqi women can be found on pages 36, 37, and 38.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Hillary: Iraqi Women Better Off Under Saddam

What an odd thing for the smartest woman in the world to say.

[cyncooper]

The "you knows" are beyond belief in the question and answer period. According to the transcript she is able to read her speech without inserting them, but once she's on her own, it is barely readable.

[johnb838]

They really seem to believe that none of us have any memory cells whatsoever.

[Carl/NewsMax]

Correction. Hillary's quotes can be found on pages 19 and 20 - not spread throughout the article as one poster said.

And anybody who takes the trouble to read those two pages in their entirety will see they were in no way taken out of context, as someone else suggested.

[johnb838]

Yeah and OBL has been out there for decades building roads, building hospitals, building schools, building day-cares.

[GigaDittos]

I guess riding through a woodchipper is better than living.

[GigaDittos]

Hillary with and without makeup.

[far sider]

For God's sake. She's a senator and Saddam is still alive. If she really believes that why doesn't she stand up in the Senate and demand that Saddam be reinstalled as president of Iraq?!!!

[Pagey]

For the Record: At her speech at the Council On Foreign Relations a few months ago, she used the phrase "you know" 19 times. Mostly during the Q+A. Whenever she goes off the script, she wavers on her verrrrrrry thin line of comprehensibility.

[GigaDittos]

CFR, my god she must fly in black helicopters!

[FR_addict]

Thanks!

I see you corrected the article on your site too.
Most of us just don't want to read 38 pages of Hillary's statements. Way too much punishment.

[MeekOneGOP]

Hey, thanks ! What a high compliment ! ;^)

But Mia is light years ahead of me. I'll never catch her ...

[NutCrackerBoy]

She's doing that Democrat trip of cashing in on any bad news, even if associated with an overall good thing. The world is better off without Saddam, and she wouldn't deny that (I think). There is indeed a problem in Iraq that the Islamic fundamentalists have more power than they did under Saddam. They seek to install Sharia in the civil law. It's a very bad idea that reasonable Iraqis do not want. But Bremer is walking a tightrope where he must be careful of outright defying these mullahs.

I don't mind Hillary drawing attention to this problem, but it is evident she is doing it in such a way as to hurt the general opinion of the Iraq War. Giving Democrats cover. She can't afford to be associated with a party that is utterly discredited on matters of foreign policy, so she must heap a little discreditation onto the Bushies.

[MeekOneGOP]

LOLOLOL !! ;^)

[rightwingcrazy]

Equality trumps freedom, in her mind.

[monday]

"Wasn't there a girls school burned before we got there...

with the girls STILL INSIDE?"

Actually the occurred in Saudi Arabia our ally.

[Toespi]

"They went to school; they participated in the professions, they participated in the government and business and, as long as they stayed out of [Saddam's] way, they had considerable freedom of movement," Clinton insisted.

Sounds pretty much like her marriage to Bill.

[OXENinFLA]

This one's a keeper.

CLINTON:We also have to do more on women's rights and roles. And I have been deeply troubled by what I hear coming out of Iraq. When I was there and met with women members of the governing councils and local--of the national governing councils and local governing councils in Baghdad and Kirkuk, they were starting to express concerns about some of the pullbacks in the rights that they were given under Saddam Hussein. He was an equal opportunity oppressor, but on paper women had rights; they went to school; they participated in the professions; they participated in government; and business and, as long as they stayed out of his way, they had considerable freedom of movement.

Freepmail me if you want on/off this ping list.

[StriperSniper]

This one's a keeper.

Yeah, I saw this before I went out. I hope somebody releases video. Everything is taped these days, it all depends on who has it.