From The Associated Press, 11/29/03:
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-iraq-hillary-clinton,0,1129609.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines
Hillary Clinton Meets With Iraq Officials
By BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press Writer
November 29, 2003, 9:19 AM EST
KIRKUK, Iraq --
U.S. senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Jack Reed met in this
oil-rich northern city Saturday with local officials who urged the
visitors to raise the problems of their city with U.S. officials back
home.
After the 90-minute private meeting, Kirkuk's governor Abdel-Rahman
Mustafa said the senators were briefed on the severe economic problems
and high unemployment facing the city.
Clinton and Reed arrived under tight security.
Their convoy, which included an armored personnel carrier and a
Humvee, was protected from the air by two Apache helicopters.
Kirkuk has some of Iraq's biggest oil fields, but former President
Saddam Hussein neglected the city and oppressed its large Kurdish
population.
Asked how could the senators help Kirkuk, Mustafa, a Kurd, said "by
making our voice reach the concerned sides" in the United States.
Also attending Saturday's meeting were the head of the City Council,
Tahsin Kahya, and an official from the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional
Authority, which is responsible for the administration of Iraq.
Clinton and Reed arrived in Iraq on Friday, a day after President Bush
made a surprise trip to Baghdad.
Clinton, a Democrat from New York, and Reed, a Democrat from Rhode
Island, spent Friday with military brass and troops, occupation
officials and aid workers.
They said Friday that the costs of rebuilding Iraq should be spread
among more nations.
"I'm a big believer that we ought to internationalize this, but it
will take a big change in our administration's thinking," Clinton
said.
"I don't see that it's forthcoming."
Both senators cautioned that new plans to speed the transfer of power
to an Iraqi government are risky given the country's political and
social instability.
Reed said a "critical factor" for coalition authorities was securing
the blessing of Iraq's majority Shiite Muslim community, especially
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, who has criticized the
plan.
"We're caught in a dilemma, possibly of our own making," Reed said.
"A quick, hasty election might bring to power a person who doesn't
share the values we're trying to encourage. But the more we wait, the
more it looks like an occupation."
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What a refreshing report after the silly Bush photo-op circus.
Harry
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