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.
HilLIARy said this?? where's the pod?
The new Hillary Clinton knows the old Hitlery Rodham Clinton could never win an election.
One the eve of President's Day, we should remember the words of the Great Emancipator himself: "You can fool some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time".
John Kerry wanted American's to judge him only on 4 months he "visited" Vietnam, Hillary is going to ask them to judge her on the 4 year period from 2004-2008 only.
Triangulation?
Right on the money!
Hillary is real clever. The Clintons win by challenging the foundation of their opposition. They used Ross Perot to challenge G H Bush from the right on the budget deficit and military cutbacks. With conservatives demoralized and split, Bill Clinton slid into office with 43% of the vote.
Hillary's up to the same game. She will run to the right of our party leadership where they give her an opportunity (immigration, border security, defense spending.) Where Karl Rove and Bush don't give her an opportunity, she'll create one by using her status and connections in the MSM to create an illusion that a couple RINOs (Graham, McCain) speak for the entire Republican party. She'll be to the right of Lindsey Graham and John McCain on Iraq, and probably on Social Security pretty soon, as well. And the average voter will be so confused about the GOP position, their heads will be spinning. And they'll vote for a real Democrat over a fake/confused RINO.
But Hillary's dividing and conquering, and she'll exploit any division within our ranks to win.
I guess that Hildabest thinks that all Republicans are stupid and have short memories
---
Has she returned the silverware to the White House, yet?
My sympathies. May the Lord bless you come election time 06,08.
You nailed it.
With the MSM so fully committed to her run for POTUS, the "scandals of the past" will be summarily discounted as irrelevant and anyone who even brings them up will be dismissed. Forget about the past, when it comes to the Beast, there will only be the promise of the future. She'll get some tired, worn out 60's hit song that talks about love and togetherness, marginalize anyone who questions her, and the movement will be momentous. What has to happen between now and then is the further exposure to the idiot Paris Hilton, reality show watching morons of this nation the true intent of the mass media. That can only occur if their over the top actions, ala Dan Rather, etc. are fully revealed and capitalized upon by the "other forms of news and information" that so frightens them, such as the web, talk radio and movements on our side to expose the hipocritic pols who want to control our methods of information dispensation.
HILLARY, SHUT UP!
***Positioning herself to the right of everyone else in the Democrat party with Presidential aspirations.***
Can the Leopard change it's spots or the Etheopian his skin?
Can you who are acustomed to doing evil suddenly do good?
What a breathtaking grasp of the obvious on Her Heinous's part. She's just trying to make sure she isn't lumped publicly in with the 'hate the war' crowd. That would hurt her viability as a general Presidential candidate in 2008.
See, here's where I disagree with this mantra "Hilliary is the smartest..."
Being devious does not necessarily equate to intelligence.
Until people begin publicly calling terrorists "terrorists", they can all go hang out with the 'insurgents'.
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