Accused Saddam Agent Says He Met With Hillary at White House

[Thepricebreaker]

In a 1997 interview with this reporter, Muthanna Hanooti said that at the meeting, Mrs. Clinton was "very receptive" to his request for an easing of the American sanctions on Iraq that were in place at the time. He said Mrs. Clinton "passed a message to the State Department" about the need to implement the oil-for-food deal, which was intended to allow Saddam to sell billions of dollars' worth of oil to pay for food for Iraqi citizens.

http://www.nysun.com/news/national/accused-saddam-agent-says-he-met-hillary-white-house

[Doctor_J]

1. So? Most of the * admin met with Saddam himself.

:shrug:

[Thepricebreaker]

2. I think its all the ease of sanctions...

[MidwestTransplant]

3. And this was after the gassing of the Kurds

[DemocratSinceBirth]

9. Let's At Least Be Consistent

I have been here since 03 and the consensus was that the sanctions were immoral and punishing the Iraqi people... I was agnostic on the question...

If Hillary opposed the sanctions most DUers would have applauded her...

I think the sanctions, the inspections, and the no-fly zone were infinitely preferable to an ivasion...

[Warren Stupidity]

12. The sanctions were a crime against humanity.

Why exactly were medical supplies embargoed?

"Some researchers say that over a million Iraqis, disproportionately children, died as a result of the sanctions, <6> although other estimates have ranged as low as 170,000 children. <4> <7> <8> UNICEF announced that 500,000 child deaths have occurred as a result of the sanctions.<9> The sanctions resulted in high rates of malnutrition, lack of medical supplies, and diseases from lack of clean water. Chlorine, was desperately needed to disinfect water supplies, but it was banned from the country due to the potential that it may be used as part of a chemical weapon. On May 10, 1996, Madeleine Albright (U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations at the time) appeared on 60 Minutes and was confronted with statistics of half a million children under five having died as a result of the sanctions. She replied "we think the price is worth it", though in her 2003 autobiography she wrote of her response (answering a loaded question): <10>"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_sanctions

Pick a number there: 1,000,000, 500,000 or the lowball 170,000 dead children. Ok with that?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

14. I Favored The No Fly Zones And Would Have Favored Sanctions That Punished The Regime Not The People

But I was pointing out the hypocrisy of criticizing Hillary for opposing something that most DUers adamantly opposed...Thank you for proving my point better than I can...

[MidwestTransplant]

25. I was pointing out that Rummy met with them right after gassing the Kurds. Not talking about HRC

[billybob537]

4. And during that same time Cheney was

lobbying for removal of sanction,s While Haliburton Subs were working in Iraq.

[Pirate Smile]

5. What a lame-assed attack on Hillary.

Boooooo

[Life Long Dem]

6. A few years later she saw differently, now didn't she.

Thanks for coming along Obama. We needed someone against this illegal war! Thank you again Barack Obama!

[Benhurst]

13. Yeah, thanks a lot, Obama, for saying you were opposed to the war.

Now if we could just find someone in the Senate with the courage to vote against funding it.

[Life Long Dem]

15. Won't happen. But of course you would like to say Obama is the only one who wouldn't fund the troops

[Benhurst]

17. It's not funding the troops, whose needs will be taken care of under the law in any event,

but funding the occupation. And, yes, it would be nice to be able say, contrary to the facts, that one of our candidates had the guts to stand up to the military/industrial complex.

[Life Long Dem]

19. It's how MSM will portray it.

[Benhurst]

20. Worrying about how the fascist corporate press is going to portray

something when it comes to taking a stand on a moral issue is what has left us with virtually no leadership and stripped of our historic Constitutional rights. The irony is the corporate media are going to go after whomever we nominate, no matter how accommodating and gutless their positions may be.

Come September, everything will be spun to war hero and man of experience John McCain's favor, no matter if its Clinton, Obama, Gore, whomever. It's past time for our leaders to grow a spine and vote on principal and not what is wrongly perceived as expediency.

[Life Long Dem]

24. Standing alone on this issue would be risky unless there is unity over this one.

Or Obama would have been torn apart on his own. And that's my response to the sarcastic comment of what did Obama do with funding.

[Benhurst]

26. And his voting to confirm war criminal Condoleeza Rice as Secretary of State?

Do you really think it would have hurt his career to vote against her, especially given his once-vocal opposition to the war?

As a native and property owner in Illinois, I contributed to his run for the U.S. Senate. I have been disappointed by his record, and was appalled by his albeit somewhat reluctant vote for the new and improved so-called "Patriot" Act. But I had hoped, given more years in the Senate, he might develop into the kind of progressive many of us thought he was.

He does talk a good line, though, especially when he eschews the touchie-feelie stuff.

And as for Clinton? Oh well. I'll still hold my nose and vote, whichever way the convention goes.

[Life Long Dem]

27. Obama's first vote in the senate. Hillary vote the same way. n/t

[Benhurst]

29. Yeah, aren't we the lucky ones.

[Warren Stupidity]

7. The sanctions were crap and so is your post.

So fucking what? Do you even have a clue that the sanctions were killing Iraq civilians?

[Thepricebreaker]

8. The public would look at it differently...

[Warren Stupidity]

10. Oh bullshit.

Obama has said, and quite correctly, that he will meet and talk with any leaders of any nation. This Iraqi delegation was invited to the White House, what should Hillary Clinton have done, stayed in the kitchen with her shoes off?

[merh]

11. was it an attack or showing her experience

I get so confused these days - and yes, I am being serious.

[KAZ]

16. This is an HRC plus in my book. The sanctions killed hundreds ...

.. of thousands of innocents.

[niceypoo]

18. And under occupation the number of starving children has DOUBLED

Increasing numbers of children in Iraq do not have enough food to eat and more than a quarter are chronically undernourished, a UN report says.

Malnutrition rates in children under five have almost doubled since the US-led invasion - to nearly 8% by the end of last year, it says.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4395525.stm

[izzybeans]

21. I'm glad she considered lifting the sanctions. They were a human rights travesty.

[Cha]

22. Yeah, that was real nice of

hilary to "consider it". That's going on her word, right?

[izzybeans]

23. I wouldn't know. She didn't really have any authority on the issue.

Still glad to see that she wasn't as out of touch as I thought it doesn't want to make me vote for her in this primary, but at least there is that.

[Kber]

28. Not sure of the point you are trying to make

1 - Saddam was (right or wrong) the ruler of Iraq and any request on behalf of the Iraqi gov't would have come from "an agent of Saddam".
2 - The food for oil program was designed to soften the worst of the sanctions and save lives. The fact that it was implemented poorly and in a corrupt manner is not Hillary's fault and I would applaud her for being receptive to the idea.
3 - Did she "pass a message" to State? Maybe, but even so, we'd have to know what that meant. Did she send a quick e-mail? Set up a meeting. Mention it to Bill over lunch one day.

Bottom line - more people besides Hillary were "receptive" to the idea, which was implemented in the end.

So what's the big deal here?

(and for the record, I support Obama for President, but I do not support making issues into more than they are)