I think it's interesting about Ireland

[not_too_L8]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/20... winner:

Hillary Clinton's 'silly' Irish peace claims
By Toby Harnden in Washington
Last Updated: 9:30am GMT 08/03/2008Page 1 of 2


snip//

Hillary Clinton had no direct role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland and is a "wee bit silly" for exaggerating the part she played, according to Lord Trimble of Lisnagarvey, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and former First Minister of the province.

snip//
Mrs Clinton has made Northern Ireland key to her claims of having extensive foreign policy experience, which helped her defeat Barack Obama in Ohio and Texas on Tuesday after she presented herself as being ready to tackle foreign policy crises at 3am.

[BootinUp]

1. Did she claim a "direct role"? nt

[not_too_L8]

3. looks like it

snip//
Mrs Clinton has made Northern Ireland key to her claims of having extensive foreign policy experience, which helped her defeat Barack Obama in Ohio and Texas on Tuesday after she presented herself as being ready to tackle foreign policy crises at 3am.

[BootinUp]

4. coverage of this from January, Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/01/07/clinton_trumpets_role_as_irish_peace_facilitator/

snip

A similar anecdote does appear prominently, set in a different location and with another crucial difference - Clinton writes of her role as that of a supportive witness, not the key player who brought enemies together.

Indisputably, Clinton promoted peace in Northern Ireland during several trips there in the 1990s. Among those who followed the peace process, memories differ on whether her role was decisive. One activist from Northern Ireland recalls that Clinton did bring enemies together. A prominent journalist, however, doubts she could have brought foes together for the first time, as she describes.

More than an isolated stump speech snippet, her Northern Ireland story speaks to the larger issue of whether her travels around the world as first lady qualify as serious diplomacy. That experience is a crucial element of her argument that she is the most qualified presidential candidate, and it has drawn fire from her rivals.

"In those years in the White House I had a really extraordinary experience, because I was not only part of the domestic policy team and the diplomatic team we had in those years, but I was also able to help make some of those changes," Clinton said Saturday in Durham.

In that retelling, Clinton said she had hosted a meeting of enemies in the conflict. They had never been in the same room before, and "no one thought this was going to be a very good idea."

But then, a Catholic woman shared her daily fears that her husband wouldn't come home at night. Across the table, a Protestant woman described the same worry about her son.

"And for the first time they actually saw each other not as caricatures or stereotypes, but as human beings who actually had common experiences as mothers and wives and people," Clinton said. "One of the reasons why I'm running for president is to be constantly reaching out to try to bring people together to resolve conflicts and not let them fester and get worse."

In her book, Clinton describes hearing very similar sentiments from Protestant and Catholic women in Belfast in 1995. The difference: The women were already peace activists, not enemies who didn't recognize their shared humanity. "Because they were willing to work across the religious divide, they had found common ground," she wrote.

The story she told Saturday took place at Belfast's city hall, while the story in her book took place in a fish restaurant.

Her book does describe an event at Belfast City Hall on the same trip, a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony with President Clinton. Afterward, she said, leaders of the various factions stayed on separate sides of the room.

John O'Farrell, a former journalist from Northern Ireland who covered Clinton's visits there, said in a telephone interview that she promoted the involvement of women in politics and in the peace process, but he doubted that she had met with enemies who otherwise would not have spoken to each other. Rather, he said, she was working with people who were already promoting peace.

"Her heart was always in the right place, no one doubted that," said O'Farrell, who edited a magazine and did some freelance reporting for the Globe. "But the idea of her bringing together fiercely opposed combatants is a considerable exaggeration."

Asked about the differences between the account in Clinton's book and her description on the campaign trail, a Clinton spokesman referred a Globe reporter to two Northern Ireland activists who had worked with Clinton there. One of them, Monica McWilliams, a leading women's activist in Northern Ireland, said in a phone interview that she remembers Clinton on more than one occasion facilitating the kinds of discussions the senator has described on the campaign trail, although McWilliams did not recall any details of specific conversations.

"There would have been a lot of women who came together who would not have known each other," she said. "Hillary Clinton had an enormous influence on women in Northern Ireland. She was the real thing."

[not_too_L8]

6. From March

Mrs Clinton has made Northern Ireland key to her claims of having extensive foreign policy experience, which helped her defeat Barack Obama in Ohio and Texas on Tuesday after she presented herself as being ready to tackle foreign policy crises at 3am.

[BootinUp]

7. neato

so she has told a consistent story throughout the campaign and it has some merit.

[Hepburn]

15. So, she would claim an indirect role cuz....

....it evidences foreign policy experience???

LOL...:rofl:

[BootinUp]

16. Just trying to get some facts, here is another opinion from John Hume Nobel Laureate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4983939&mesg_id=4984060

[Splinter Cell]

2. It's like everything else...

She wants credit for her husbands presidency, but none of the negatives.

[NDambi]

5. Even Clinton's lead negotiator Mitchell said her role was minor...check it..

Hillary Clinton's Role in the Northern Ireland Peace — Minor. Senator George Mitchell, the Clinton administration's leading northern Ireland peace negotiator, said Hillary was "not involved directly" in the diplomatic negotiations that led to the landmark April 1998 Good Friday agreement on power-sharing. She took an "intelligent interest" in the issues and got acquainted with many of the key players.


Processblog.washingtonpost.com

[Yossariant]

8. Nobel Laureate: Hillary's Irish Legacy

"I am quite surprised that anyone would suggest that Hillary Clinton did not perform important foreign policy work as first lady. I can state from firsthand experience that she played a positive role for over a decade in helping to bring peace to Northern Ireland," said former SDLP leader and Nobel laureate John Hume in a statement responding to critical press reports.

"She visited Northern Ireland, met with very many people and gave very decisive support to the peace process. In private she made countless calls and contacts, speaking to leaders and opinion makers on all sides, urging them to keep moving forward," said Hume.

"Anyone criticizing her foreign policy involvement should look at her very active and positive approach to Northern Ireland and speak with the people of Northern Ireland who have the highest regard for her and are very grateful for her very active support for our peace process," Hume concluded in his defense of Hillary's Irish legacy."
http://www.irishecho.com/newspaper/story.cfm?id=18626

John Hume is regarded as one of the most important figures in the modern political history of Northern Ireland and one of the architects of the Northern Ireland peace process there. He is also a recipient of the Gandhi Peace Prize and the Martin Luther King Award, the only recipient of the three major peace awards.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hume

[BootinUp]

9. nice post nt

[Yossariant]

13. Thanks, the credit belongs to the poster, alamom, who posted it yesterday.

Itr is one heckuvan article.

[not_too_L8]

10. ???

snip//
Central to Mrs Clinton’s claim of an important Northern Ireland role is a meeting she attended in Belfast in with a group of women from cross-community groups. "I actually went to Northern Ireland more than my husband did," she said in Nashua, New Hampshire on January 6th.

snip//

There is no record of a meeting at Belfast City Hall, though Mrs Clinton attended a ceremony there when her husband turned on the Christmas tree lights in November 1995. The former First Lady appears to be referring a 50-minute event the same day, arranged by the US Consulate, the same day at the Lamp Lighter Café on the city’s Ormeau Road.

snip//

The "Belfast Telegraph" reported the next day that the café meeting was crammed with reporters, cameramen and Secret Service agents. Conversation "seemed a little bit stilted, a little prepared at times" and Mrs Clinton admired a stainless steel tea pot, which was duly given to her, for keeping the brew "so nice and hot".

[durrrty libby]

17. Look at this this way. Whatever she has done, it is 1000 times more than BO

Ya know Jack Squat? That's BO's influence

[Darth_Kitten]

11. Funny, don't remember her mentioning Ireland at all......

I must have missed it. :sarcasm:

[durrrty libby]

12. You need to learn more about Lord Trimble.My relatives

in Ireland say he is not what he appears. Don't believe him

[THUNDER HANDS]

14. she did stay at a Holiday Inn Express there once though

does that qualify?

[BooScout]

18. You do know the Telegraph is a Tory Rag don't you?

And do I have to explain who the Tories are to you too? :eyes:

[rodeodance]

19. and here is testimony form people who actually worked with here in Ireland:

Forum Name General Discussion: Primaries
Topic subject Our lovely Hillary and her Irish legacy
Topic URL http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4966883#4966883
4966883, Our lovely Hillary and her Irish legacy
Posted by Maribelle on Sat Mar-08-08 08:55 AM

Some of the senator's most vocal defenders have been women activists from Northern Ireland

In a series of statements compiled by labor and fair employment advocate Inez McCormack, Clinton was lauded for her "decade-long support" of the peace process.

In ‘The day that sparked my fights for rights’ Inez credits Clinton’s involvement

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/opinion/article3356525.ece


Not the stuff of drama, but of change

On the official blog, Inez said “I came to know her through her involvement in helping building peace in Ireland. I have also worked with her through the Vital Voices network in supporting women leaders around the world. Many of these women, like me, lived in narrow and contested space and her support has widened that space and enabled their work to thrive. The network has then reached out to others and is a growing vibrant example of how women can work together to create change across traditions and divisions. I was proud and delighted recently to join her in an event which affirmed her support for women acting as agents of their own change. She presented a Human Rights award on behalf of the American Labour Movement to Ela Bhatt, founder of SEWA. SEWA has now over 600,000 women members in India who work in the insecurity of the informal economy. Hillary Clinton has consistently supported the work of this unique women's union in developing their own financial, health, educational and employment resources.’

http://blog.hillaryclinton.com/blog/main/2007/03/08/215000


Prominent backers cite relevant role in peace process

"She used her immense influence to give women like me space to develop this work and validated it every step of the way. This approach is now taken for granted but it wasn't then. She told us that if we take risks for peace, she would stay with us on that journey. In my experience, it took hard work, attention to detail and a commitment of time and energy which she delivered steadily and where needed over the last decade," McCormack added.

http://www.irishecho.com/newspaper/story.cfm?id=18626


Irish Women for Hillary

In an unprecedented move, several of them came together this week to issue a statement on Clinton’s behalf. The move came after several newspapers, most notably The Boston Globe, raised questions over whether Clinton had played any significant role in the Irish peace process as she says she did.

The women of Northern Ireland certainly think so. Several key women leaders, long active in support of the peace process in Northern Ireland, lauded Clinton for her decade-long support.

Inez McCormack organized the tribute. McCormack is one of the most influential civil rights leaders in Northern Ireland. She was first female president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and played an important role in the peace accords.

She said, “We believe it is important for others to know the pivotal role Mrs. Clinton played in helping us in Northern Ireland at critical junctures in the peace process. She supported us over many years and we will always be grateful to her.”

“Hillary Clinton took risks for peace in asking me and others to bring women and communities from both traditions to affirm their capacity to work for common purpose and to assert, when there was no public dialogue which supported it, that working for common purpose on the basis of mutual respect was the core to effective peace building.”

Elaine Crozier, a community worker added, “Hillary broke the mold in terms of U.S. intervention in Northern Ireland. She came here, sat down with ordinary people, and rolled up her sleeves to see what could be done. She showed us an America that was open and fair, ready to listen and ready to help.”

Among the other women from across the divide issuing statements on behalf of Clinton’s work in Northern Ireland were Baroness May Blood, a member of the House of Lords who worked for many years as a community worker promoting economic development, better housing, health and education in the Shankill area of West Belfast.

Geraldine McAteer, chief executive of West Belfast Partnership Board which works towards the economic, social and physical regeneration of West Belfast, and Avila Kilmurray, head of the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland since 1994, also contributed.

http://www.irishabroad.com/news/irish-voice/intelligencer/Articles/Intelligencer020208.aspx


Editorial : Hillary Our Choice

Of the two candidates we prefer Senator Clinton. He record on issues of importance to the Irish American community is crystal clear. She was with her husband every step of the way during his intervention in the Irish peace process, without which there would never have been the successful resolution that we’re currently witnessing in Northern Ireland.

In her own right she played a significant role, visiting Ireland seven times and creating cross community goodwill which lasted long after her trips were over.

Clinton is also a clear advocate for immigration reform and attended three different rallies held by the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform, and spoke passionately on the subject.

http://www.irishabroad.com/news/irish-voice/niall-odowd/Articles/Hillary-Our-Choice020208.aspx


The president of the Irish American Democrats said ...

A precise accounting of Clinton's visits to Ireland and her work for Irish peace forms the basis for a book being published later this year by Stella O'Leary, Washington. D.C.-based president of the Irish American Democrats lobby group.

O'Leary has been one of Hillary Clinton's most fervent backers over the years and in a statement to the Echo took particular exception to a critical column penned by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann that took issue with recent campaign statements made by Clinton about her peace process initiatives.

The column, headlined "Hillary Had No Role in Irish Peace," characterized the statement as being tantamount to Walter Mitty-like dreams.

Anything but, countered O'Leary

"It will come as a huge surprise to the Irish, North and South, to hear Dick

Morris and Eileen McGann's claim that Senator Hillary Clinton played no role in the Irish peace process," said O'Leary.

"Starting with the Christmas visit to Belfast in 1995, Hillary Clinton recognized that the participation of women was critical in bringing about
an end to the conflict, and she set about inspiring women to become politically involved," O'Leary said.

http://www.irishecho.com/newspaper/story.cfm?id=18626

[rodeodance]

20. "she set about inspiring women to become politically involved,"