| Iraq (AP) -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday
This is what is meant by "liberal bias in the media." |
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.
Welcome to the bandwagon, you opportunistic bitch!
| Iraq (AP) -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday
This is what is meant by "liberal bias in the media." |
God save our precious country from her!
I'm not surprised. How do you think Slick Willy got elected in the first place. Say one thing during your campaign, then change your tune once elected.
Kind of like when you see a queer couple and wonder which one plays the husband and which one plays the wife....
Amazing to watch Hitlery.........she is NOW right of McCain and Lindsey........she knows what it will take to successfully travel that long and winding road to the WH, knowing full well the short-term memory lapses of the American people.
Thank GOD we followed Hillary's advice and kept up the pressure on those insurgents!
Hillary clearly understands packaging and presentation is an important part of getting into the white house. Unlike Kerry she will attempt to distance herself from unpopular allies. Note the Rabbi Lerner is not found anywhere near Hillary.
Hillary will not self destruct like Kerry. Our only chance is if her famous temper is displayed. In a national campaign she will not get softball questions.
McCain for vice president, of course. Hillary's the more ambitious. McCain would sell his sister's virginity to be elected dog catcher.
It didn't take much to get to the right of McCain.
WOO-HOO! If Hillary is saying that and that's the way the AP is reporting it; that means Hell just Froze over and ASU Sun Devils have a chance of getting in the Final-Four of Basket Ball. Can't wait to tell my son.
2008 nuff said
The 'old' unreinvented Hillary could never hope to be POTUS in '08, but by progressively muddying the waters with newfound moderation, she and her handlers seek to stem objection to her 'former' ways.
Be ye not decieved...The Hildebeast lurks within.
Aside from what Hillary said, consider this.
Why is Hillary headlined, when she is the most junior member of a five-person congressional junket?
I'm getting awfully tired of the way AP, the Times, and others act like lackeys and lickspittles for Democrat presidential candidates, even four years before the next election with an undeclared candidate.
What expertise does Hillary have on Iraq? That she's visited two or three times for photo-ops?
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Five United States Senators go to Iraq. The Associated Press immediately turns to the leading Democrat on the trip to explain what it all means.