Posted on 11/29/2003 1:50:02 AM PST by kattracks
WASHINGTON - Arriving in Baghdad hours after President Bush's star turn, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) said yesterday the troops were happy to meet her, too. "It's a positive for the commander-in-chief to visit troops in the field," Clinton said, yet "the troops [also] seemed to appreciate seeing myself" and Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) on their joint trip to Iraq and Afghanistan.Clinton and Reed, both members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, quickly turned from faintly praising Bush for his surprise Thanksgiving drop-in at Baghdad's airport to ripping his handling of the Iraq war and the transition to democracy.
In a conference call from the region, Clinton, who voted in the Senate for the Iraq war resolution, charged that Bush failed to commit enough troops for the invasion and the increasingly bloody occupation effort.
"The Pentagon tried to make do with as few troops as possible, as light a footprint as they could get away with," Clinton said. "Now, we're playing catchup."
She added that the government's Iraq policy was mishandled by Bush administration officials who have been "obsessed with [deposed Iraqi leader] Saddam Hussein for more than a decade."
"Unfortunately, I don't think they fully appreciated the conditions we would encounter," Clinton said.
Reed, who voted against the war resolution, renewed his call for more troops to be committed to Iraq and for more troops to be recruited for the war against terror groups in the future.
"There's no question in my mind we need a larger Army," said Reed, a West Point graduate and former paratrooper.
The two senators, who stayed in Kuwait last night but will visit U.S. troops in the Iraqi oil town of Kirkuk today, also questioned the Bush administration plan to hold elections for a new Iraqi government by June.
Clinton said the support of the majority Shiite community in Iraq was "still a big if. The obstacles and problems are much greater than the administration usually admits to."
The former First Lady said the morale of the troops she met from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division was high, but they were concerned about how their mission was perceived back home.
She said she told the troops "Americans are proud" of them, "but many question the administration's policies."
Originally published on November 29, 2003
Yeah, hillary!, they look thrilled.
Psst, hillary!, this is happy.
The world has changed, Beastgirl. Your useless lothario forced everyone else in Washington to learn how to manage a news cycle, and now you're all covered up and looking stupid to the people in DC that you went over there to impress. The Prez's people were all over you like turkey gravy, and now you're standing there holding a holiday schnitzel in your hand and looking foolish.
Considering that she and her co-president husband IGNORED the Iraqi people for 8 YEARS while Iraqi men, women and children were being murdered, rapped and tortured .. she has NO room to say a damn thing on how President Bush is handling this
He's craftier and smarter and much more shrewd than his father.
She got so horribly upstaged, that she will NOT run in 2004 as she originally planned. I bet she's actually afraid of Dubya at this point. Dubya just floored her with a judo move, and her morale is hurt.
When anybody you talk to mentions the UN and how they should have a greater role, just say one word, Rwanda.
You know what's even more amazing .. these are the same idiots that bypassed the UN in the Bosnia war
Clinton never went to the UN .. he declared article 51 of the UN charter to get around them and went to NATO instead
What a self-deluded vain old hag! ME ME ME ME ME...
She stuffed her face while soldiers tried to ignore her.
Yeah, they appreciated you, Hillary.
When you shut up and left.
Hillary does belong in a facility that has razor wire atop the walls. I'd suggust Gitmo, as she's an enemy combatant, intent on the destruction of the USA.
Only when she gets caught in the rain ....
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