BAGHDAD (AP) — As 55 people died in Iraq on Saturday, the holiest day on the Shiite Muslim religious calendar, Sen. Hillary Clinton said that much of Iraq was "functioning quite well" and that the rash of suicide attacks was a sign that the insurgency was failing.
The five-member U.S. Congressional delegation arrived in Baghdad as a series of suicide bombings and explosions killed 55 people, including an American solder. Much of the violence was aimed at Shiite Muslims, commemorating Ashoura, the festival marking the death of the founder of their sect 14 centuries ago.
"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," Clinton said.
Today, security is so bad that none of the senators dared drive through Baghdad's streets, even in armored cars. Aside from the Green Zone, their only glimpse of the capital came from the relative safety of U.S. military helicopters that ferried them from the airport.
"It's regrettable that the security needs have increased so much. On the other hand, I think you can look at the country as a whole and see that there are many parts of Iraq that are functioning quite well," Clinton said.
(a brief reminder of the recent past...and, yes, that is the actual photo for the article)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2005-02-19-iraq-senators_x.htmDon't let anyone tell you that Clinton never learned anything from 35 years of experience. She was smart enough to remove any Congressional checks on Bush so that we went to the UN with a unified voice. She championed neo-con darling Ahmed Chalabi (for whom Mark Penn lobbied) and she made sure that Iran's military was considered a terrorist organization, just in case Bush had been given Congressional authority to conduct military attacks on any terrorist organizations.
She has a proven record and she is ready to answer that phone at 3 am. That's why she fought with Obama to make sure that nuclear weapons were "on the table" to fight terrorist cells in civilian areas.