Posted on 02/19/2005 11:03:06 AM PST by neverdem
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:01 p.m. ET
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday a string of attacks killing more than 50 Iraqis in two days were failed attempts to sow sectarian strife and destabilize the country.
Clinton, a New York Democrat, and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., were part of a five-member congressional delegation that met with U.S. officials and members of Iraq's interim government.
Both Clinton and McCain have been strident critics of the Pentagon's planning and management of the war in Iraq. But Clinton said Saturday that Sunni Muslim insurgents were failing in their efforts to destabilize Iraq through sectarian violence.
Her comments came as numerous suicide bombings and other insurgent attacks across Iraq killed dozens of people, Iraqi officials said, as Shiite Muslim worshippers celebrated their holiest day of the year. A U.S. soldier was among those killed in the attacks, the military said.
On Friday, insurgents staged five attacks killing at least 36 people and Shiites blamed radical Sunni Muslim insurgents for attacking them in a string of bombings, shootings and kidnappings.
Authorities had hoped to prevent a repeat of last year's attacks during the Ashoura festival when insurgent blasts killed at least 181 people in Karbala and Baghdad.
Clinton said insurgents had also failed to disrupt Iraq's landmark Jan. 30 elections, won by the Shiite clergy-backed ticket. The United Iraqi Alliance won 140 seats in the 275-seat National Assembly.
``Not one polling place was shut down or overrun and the fact that you have these suicide bombers now, wreaking such hatred and violence while people pray, is to me, an indication of their failure,'' she said.
``The results of the election are a strong rebuke to those who did not believe that the Iraqi people would take this opportunity to demonstrate their own commitment to their own future.''
But Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, said he did not believe the U.S. military would leave Iraq anytime soon.
``How long I don't know, but to leave too soon would be devastating to stay too long is unnecessary,'' Graham said. ``I ask the American people to be patient, because what happens here will affect our security back home.''
McCain said the U.S. military presence was tied to the numbers of casualties taken by American forces, but he was heartened by the Jan. 30 elections in Iraq.
``We have a long hard difficult struggle ahead of us and I'm far more optimistic now,'' McCain said.
In December, McCain said he had ``no confidence'' in Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, but he added that keeping Rumsfeld in the position was President Bush's choice, not his.
The delegation also was briefed by U.S. Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, who is leading the effort to create an independent Iraqi security force, McCain said.
The group had not left the Green Zone, home to Iraqi government institutions and the American and British embassies, because of the security situation, McCain said. They were expected to meet with U.S. troops stationed elsewhere in Iraq on Sunday.
At least 1,476 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
The five senators that flew into Iraq included Clinton, McCain, Graham, Maine Republican Susan Collins and Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold.
Oh, I see, a moderate is a pol who blasts the President of his own party at every opportunity. IMO, McCain is caught up in his own sore-loser vendetta.
You're most welcome, Bahbah. Glad to know you don't feel like NorCalRepub!
.. and he belongs in the "Sore Loser" party.
Damned right!
Hillary is the absolute, perfect personification of evil and the antithesis of everything that defines our country.
IMHO, she and her husband may well be the Anti-Christ.
McCain certainly doesn't mind at all being dragged out as token-Republican attack dog for the media. In fact, he revels in it.
Hillary appears to be in all out kingmaker mode. Partners (occasionally partners in crime) Kerry and McCain seem to be on her short list.
Thanks for the transcript link!
One of the things that I've noticed...( along with many others..) is John McCain appears to have never met a mike he didn't want to talk into. IF, he doesn't know that he's a "tool" for the MSM....then he needs to buy a clue.
All in my opinion, of course.
Oh.....I did indeed mean 80%.
FRegards,
I disagree that "he's better than any other interviewer". But hey...that's just me.
And "attempts" can be misses too.
FWIW-
You're welcome. The more people that find out about how sinister and dangerous John McCain is, the better.
I imagine it's an attempt to keep his enemies closer. I don't dispise McCain as I do his handler, John Kerry. I can at least feel some pity for McCain. The man was broken and remains so. However that's the reason I would never support him for president.
When was the "I'm sick and tired...!" speech given and on what topic? Help. Sean Hannity loves to play that clip. Was it during the primaries last year?
Off with her head!
Yes, the whole exchange was much more powerful, when you actually saw it, than when we just read the transcript.
;-}
I saw it. We will never forget McCain served on John Kerry's POW/MIA documentation shredding committee, which then rewarded Hanoi by killing the Viet Nam Human Rights Act and added insult to injury. Was THAT the act of a man who cares about our military?
Who do you think makes an honest attempt at fairness ? Please leave out anyone employed at Fox, Scarborough & Crowley. Bob Schiefer can sometimes be fair but the rest are dreadful.
Exactly. McCain also had no right to jump to Kerry's defense against the SBVfT. As they said, they earned their right to speak with their blood, they served with Kerry, McCain did not.
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