Hillary Clinton Says U.S. Committed to Afghan Fight

[papau]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=4&u=/nm/20031127/ts_nm/afghan_usa_clinton_dc

Hillary Clinton Says U.S. Committed to Afghan Fight
Thu Nov 27, 9:38 AM ET By David Brunnstrom

KABUL (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton made a Thanksgiving visit to U.S. troops in Afghanistan on Thursday and said the United States would stay the course in the fight against "terrorists" in the country.

The former first lady, who has ruled out running in next year's U.S. presidential campaign but held out the possibility of doing so in 2008, stopped in Kabul to meet U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai before heading to the U.S. military headquarters at Bagram to the north of Kabul.

"I think there is not only the resolve, but there will be the resources and forces necessary," Clinton, a New York Democrat, told reporters. "And the message should go out that the Taliban and terrorists are fighting a losing battle." <snip>

"I come away very impressed and proud...but even more convinced that we have to stay the course and do everything that's necessary to be successful, not only for the people of Afghanistan, but for the region and the entire world, especially the United States. "We were attacked from forces at work here in a failed state in Afghanistan. We can't ever forget that and we can't ever let it happen again," she said, referring to the September 11 attacks in 2001 blamed on the Taliban's al Qaeda allies. <snip>

Earlier in Kabul, Clinton also said she was hopeful that women's rights would be appropriately recognized in a draft Afghan constitution due to be debated and approved next month, because this was essential to Afghanistan's future. She said she understood the concerns of women after meeting representatives of women's organizations in the morning, but added that it was matter for Afghans themselves to decide.

[BiggJawn]

1. Who cares? Bush dropped in on the troops to wish them "Happy Turkey"!

That's EXACTLY why they sobered the bum up and spent HOW many kilobucks of our money to have him "drop in " for a coupla hours...

Hillary has visiting the troops in Afghanistan (Bush: "Where?")and paying a courtesy call to the Mayor of Kabul (Karzai), and it drove Rove insane with jealousy.

Thousands of dollars spent to divert attention from Hill's visit and give those hand-picked Toby Keith-listening Ditto-heads who got to see him a suggestion on how to fill out their absentee ballots next year ...
"Prezident Bush? Hell yeah, man, he come and had turkey with us last year in Bag-Dad...Wonder if he's gonna come again this year? Wonder if I'm gonna get to go home next year?"

[LastTime2BeFree]

2. Cute commentary but how many swing voters will this diatribe bring over?

I'm guessing a negative amount proprotional to the negativity expressed. But what the hell...it's so much fun to be creative with the negativity. Know what I mean?

[Dr Fate]

3. Swing voters dont visit DU or Freepville, or research the news...

...most of them are more worried about Wacko-Jacko than EITHER of these visits...

[IndianaGreen]

4. Hillary doesn't know shit about Afghanistan

She is parroting the party line, completely oblivious to the fact that the Afghan people are worse off today than they were under the tyranny of the Taliban, as hard as that is to believe.

Just because she is Hillary, she should not get a free pass when we won't give one to the likes of John Kerry for saying the same shit.

There are two recent reports from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch about the rapidly deteriorating situation in Iraq, a situation that most Americans are blissfully ignorant about. Many of our compatriots are convinced that women and girls are doing better now than they were before we reduced that country to rubble. Nothing is further from the truth!

It is particularly sad when someone of the stature of a Hillary Clinton praises a useless undemocratic turd like Karzai and his fictional government.

Afghanistan: Warlords Implicated in New Abuses
Report Details Threats to Women's Rights, Freedom of Expression

(New York, July 29, 2003) - Afghan warlords and political strongmen supported by the United States and other nations are engendering a climate of fear in Afghanistan that is threatening efforts to adopt a new constitution and could derail national elections scheduled for mid-2004, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.

The report warns that violence, political intimidation, and attacks on women and girls are discouraging political participation and endangering gains made on women's rights in Afghanistan over the last year.

"Human rights abuses in Afghanistan are being committed by gunmen and warlords who were propelled into power by the United States and its coalition partners after the Taliban fell in 2001," said Brad Adams, executive director of the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch. "These men and others have essentially hijacked the country outside of Kabul. With less than a year to go before national elections, Afghanistan's human rights situation appears to be worsening."

http://hrw.org/press/2003/07/afghan072903.htm

"During the Taleban era if a woman went to market and showed an inch of flesh she would have been flogged, now she's raped."

Amnesty International, 6 October 2003

Afghanistan: No justice and security for women

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, 6 October 2003

Abuses perpetrated by armed groups against women and girls since the fall of the Taleban government in November 2001 include rape, abduction, and forced and underage marriage. The exact extent and prevalence of such abuses remains unclear owing to the reluctance of most victims to speak out and the limited capacity for monitoring. However, the opening of regional offices of the AIHRC is beginning to increase the amount of available information about such violence. The initial work by the AIHRC in this area indicates that the abuse of women by armed groups is so common that the body's research department has decided to maintain a separate category in its files for such incidents.

Amnesty International's research indicates a systematic pattern of abuse against women and girls in Mazar-e Sharif, and incidence of abuse in both Nangarhar and Bamiyan provinces. Human Rights Watch has reported on the occurrence of rape of women, girls and boys in southeast Afghanistan, including in Laghman, Ghazni, Gardez and Nangarhar provinces, and in Paghman district of Kabul province.

Incidents reported to Amnesty International included the rape of four girls by members of an armed group. The youngest, aged 12, was unconscious as a result of her injuries when brought to hospital by her parents. UNAMA has investigated a number of incidents of abuse of women and girls by members of armed groups, including incidence of forced marriage of girls as young as 12.

http://rawa.fancymarketing.net/ai-women2.htm

Full Amnesty International Report:

http://www.web.amnesty.org/library/index/engasa110232003

[sandnsea]

7. Kerry on Afghanistan/Terrorism

He doesn't just talk a tough military resolve line on Afghanistan or the Middle East. I don't think people understand him at all.

"I believe this is a war of ideas, and we need to be more engaged in that war with a more robust and aggressive foreign policy," Mr. Kerry said.

"Our own foreign policy, our own State Department, our own administration has not been sufficiently focused and energized in terms of building those relationships," Mr. Kerry said.

"Almost any observer will tell you that we're not rebuilding Afghanistan," Mr. Kerry said.

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20030518-114053-1460r.htm

"Draining the swamps of terrorists will require much greater involvement in the world. It must include significant investments in the education and human infrastructure of troubled countries. The globalization of the last decade proved that simple measures like buying books and teaching family planning can do much to expose, rebut, isolate, and defeat apostles of hate. These and other techniques are crucial to ensuring that children are no longer brainwashed into becoming suicide bombers and that terrorists are denied the ideological swamplands in which they thrive. Foreign aid must be increased and reformed to focus on education. We must give countries in the Middle East a reason to want peace. In the next few years, if changes aren’t made, the potential for violence in that region will only increase. If we fail to reach the children and the families wrecked by the violence of poverty and seclusion, the growing population of unemployed and unemployable kids will find in fanaticism a tragic answer to its problems. Americans’ security depends on helping the people of the Middle East see and act on a legitimate vision of peace.

It’s up to the United States to respond. Only the United States is in a position to lead the effort with other governments and private-sector partners to beat this pandemic; only the United States has the resources to make a difference. An American president once said, “We cannot . . . be content to rot by inches in ignoble ease within our own borders, taking no interest in what goes on beyond them, sunk in scrambling commercialism; heedless of the higher life, the life of aspiration, of toil and risk . . . We cannot sit huddled within our own borders and avow ourselves merely an assemblage of well-to-do hucksters who care nothing for what happens beyond.”

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/issue_marapr_2003/JKessay.html

[dreissig]

5. She Can Stay There

She's going to say the same thing in Iraq. Thanks for nothing, Hillary. For the record, I wasn't going to vote for you anyhow.

[Dr Fate]

6. Vote for her for what?

???