Hillary's "foreign policy experience" = 1999 "Tour" of Kosovo Refugee Camp

[FrenchieCat]

I'm not sure how this help her on the phone, but she did go there.

Hillary Clinton hears Kosovars' tales of tears
May 14, 1999

SKOPJE, Macedonia (CNN) -- The wife of U.S. President Bill Clinton toured the refugee camps of Macedonia on Friday, listening to uprooted Kosovars' tales of a forced exodus from the Serbian province where they once lived.

Hillary Rodham Clinton called the refugees' stories "extremely disturbing," saying they brought up images that hadn't been seen in Europe since World War II.
<>
Mrs. Clinton toured the refugee camps at Stenkovec, where about 20,000 ethnic Albanians have huddled since being pushed out of Kosovo. Friday, for the first time in more than a week, Macedonian officials allowed refugees to cross the border without papers, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said.

Macedonia had closed its borders last week, hoping to prompt third countries to take in more refugees. The UNHCR said it evacuated fewer than 2,000 people from the region on Thursday, but it was trying to find a way to speed up the departures.

The UNHCR reported a sharp reduction in the number of refugees leaving Kosovo, with only one person crossing at the Morina, Albania, border post.
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9905/14/kosovo.refugees/

[babylonsister]

1. No way!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4827965

[FrenchieCat]

7. yep!

That's Red Phone Qualifications for ya! :shrug:

[AtomicKitten]

2. Maybe Rubin wasn't briefed.

[FrenchieCat]

3. Perhaps, Tours don't count!

I mean, guess as a First lady, one does get out!

[Dogmudgeon]

5. They don't look like refugees to me

They actually look like soldiers, not exactly happy to have to be in a Pickles' photo-op.

--p!

[FrenchieCat]

6. My point is that I have yet to see Hillary doing anything during her 35 years

that makes her so much more ready to pick up the Red phone on day one.

Can you?

[Breeze54]

13. She traveled to 79 countries in total while in the WH.

The Résumé Factor: Those 2 Terms as First Lady

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/26/us/politics/26clinton.html

snip-->

As first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton jaw-boned the authoritarian president of Uzbekistan to leave his car and shake hands with people. She argued with the Czech prime minister about democracy. She cajoled Roman Catholic and Protestant women to talk to one another in Northern Ireland. She traveled to 79 countries in total, little of it leisure; one meeting with mutilated Rwandan refugees so unsettled her that she threw up afterward.
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Doug Mills/Associated Press

Hillary Rodham Clinton flew to Uzbekistan in 1997 and was met by President Islam A. Karimov.

The Long Run
The White House Years

This is part of a series of articles about the life and careers of contenders for the 2008 Republican and Democratic presidential nominations.

Stanislav Peska/Associated Press

At a cafe in downtown Prague in 1998, the first lady met with the Czech president, Vaclav Havel, left.

But during those two terms in the White House, Mrs. Clinton did not hold a security clearance. She did not attend National Security Council meetings. She was not given a copy of the president’s daily intelligence briefing. She did not assert herself on the crises in Somalia, Haiti and Rwanda.

More...

[FrenchieCat]

4. Oh....and she gave a "speech" in India!

[Rosa Luxemburg]

8. didn't she make tea at the White House

and that was her experience in homeland affairs?

[bigbrother05]

9. Oh Frenchiecat what a find

[Liquorice]

10. Hillary was an extraordinary first lady. She used

her position in the most beneficial and powerful ways she could. I really think you are not seeing how fortunate democrats are to have her in our party. She gained a lot of experience during her eight years as Bill Clinton's top advisor and also as an advocate for many people around the world.

[Evergreen Emerald]

11. Well said

[babylonsister]

12. Top advisor?

Google her health care plan in 92 and how unbending she was, unwilling to compromise.

And please elaborate on her 'experience'. I'm all ears.

[Liquorice]

15. I think people are discounting Hillary's work in a way that

is very unfair. She tried her best to get universal health care, and no she didn't succeed, but I have never seen any other democrat even attempt it. You don't think it took courage to do that? As a democrat, I have a lot of respect for her for trying her best in a very difficult political climate. That she was unwilling to compromise is not necessarily bad. She wanted and still wants universal health care and believes anything less would be compromising a basic democratic value. I agree with her. She is clearly committed to UHC and has learned a lot from her earlier experiences.

It would be difficult for me to go over Hillary's many and varied experiences as first lady in any great detail. You can read about it all online if you choose. I will say that she used her position to the best of her ability and did an outstanding job. There are leaders all over the world who think very highly of her and her work. I'm very disappointed that there are people in her own party who do not see her in the same way.

[babylonsister]

16. Please read this about Hillary and her health care:

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_lessons_of_94

[Liquorice]

17. Thanks for the link.

It's a very interesting article. Klein seems to agree that it was a very courageous fight Hillary waged. I know she learned a lot by going through that process. I didn't know that Truman tried health care reform and was unsuccessful as well. I'm really glad the American people have become more enlightened on the need for UHC--maybe we will get it this time around.

[babylonsister]

18. She never compromised. But thank you so much for reading it. nt

[Liquorice]

19. I didn't say she compromised.

I said that it wasn't necessarily a bad thing that she didn't compromise. I don't know what those compromises would have ultimately led to, so I can't fully judge her unwillingness to go in that direction. We all know how republicans are--they would do just about anything to keep us from getting UHC. I know she made mistakes in trying to enact UHC, but she did give it her all, and I am proud of her for trying her heart out for the American people.

[babylonsister]

20. I'm not proud of her; she had no intention of compromising. What

does that say about her?

[Liquorice]

21. It doesn't really say anything negative about her, IMO.

Republicans like to compromise us to the death of our ideals. They're very good at it. I don't want compromise on UHC with republicans. Their job is to stop us from getting it. They know very well that if a democrat enacts UHC it will shift the country permanently to the left because nobody will ever give it up (if it's done right). They hate social security for the same reason and are always trying to 'privatize' it.

UHC is a losing proposition for republicans and they will fight it to the bitter end. They will call it socialized medicine and scare people into thinking they will be on waiting lists to get surgeries, etc. On this issue, we cannot compromise with them. The last thing republicans want is for a democratic president to institute an extremely popular health care program. It will really hurt them politically and they know it.

[babylonsister]

27. Then your perception is different than mine was. WTF? nt

[Liquorice]

31. Yeah, WTF is right! I don't see what you're not understanding. Oh well. nt

[Recursion]

25. The problem with the health care plan...

...was that she sat in a locked room with a bunch of industry wonks and presented a fait accompli to Congress that ended up looking mostly like a massive giveaway to the insurance companies. The GOP obviously attacked it from the right, but it was so corporately-tilted that the left felt no desire to stand up for it.

[babylonsister]

30. Not just the GOP. The guy who's now in Obama's camp was one

of the people who wanted a more comprehensive, bipartisan plan, but Hillary didn't. She bloached it imo. And I can't remember his name. I will, or google it...

[FrenchieCat]

14. I'm sorry, but Hillary Clinton did not have security Clearance during

her 8 years in the WH.

And she did not sit on any National Security meetings during that time either.

In other words, She was not near the Red phone, although she knows where the light switches are located.

[dogman]

22. Another view.

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/blog/32
Snip>After the war in Kosovo was over, she and the President flew in to meet the troops. I watched her engage with the privates, sergeants and the colonels. She knew the issues, she knew the personal aspects and she had their respect. In my talk with her, I could see she had followed the issues closely and was well in-tune with the military and diplomatic requirements. She could have been the Commander-in-Chief.<snip

[FrenchieCat]

23. Sorry Dogman, I'm looking at the actual press reports of the time.....

not the revised history as it currently sits on Wes Clark's website.

As we both know, Wes Clark was retired early as his thanks for his outstanding work in Kosovo. As so often it happens over and over again, the Clintons didn't lift a finger against those who stabbed Clark in his heart at the time....and so Wes Clark was retired early after winning the War for the Clintons.

I will be damned if Hillary gets any credit for Kosovo now.


Sorry, But I'm not gonna play that. :(

[babylonsister]

24. And you are/were a Clark fan iirc. Yea, sometimes, it gets out of hand. nt

[dogman]

26. Maybe his memory has failed?

Regardless of your perception of the Clark-Clinton relationship, he had a bird's-eye view. I don't think anyone is giving her credit for Kosovo, Clark is simply stating his opinion of her qualification for the job. Your link is just one snapshot of her time there, Clark has given another.

[FrenchieCat]

32. Well, here is her campaign spokeman

talking about what gives her the experience for handling the "red phone" -

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=99319&mesg_id=99319

[dogman]

34. This "spokesperson" is obviously not Wes Clark.

With out identifying this "spokesperson", this clip is irrelevant. Her introduction in Waco by Wes Clark, a real spokesperson, expressed a different view.
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node
Snip>Gen. Wesley Clark, a Clinton supporter and the former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, plugged the TV ad while introducing Clinton on stage and suggested that her tenure as First Lady prepared her to be president.

"She's been in the White House when the tough decisions were made," Clark said, looking over to Clinton. "I guess you've been at the bedside when that phone rang at 3 a.m. in the morning."

Clinton was joined at the event by three generals, including Clark, and a Navy Rear Admiral.<snip

[bridgit]

28. BO's foreign policy 'experience'...bringing reason to the Congo?

http://obama.senate.gov/press/071011-obama_asks_rice/">Obama Asks Rice to Address Violence Against Women in the Congo

[babylonsister]

29. Let me know Hillary's actual 'foreign policy experience', bridgit, and

then we might talk. She 'talks' about it but I don't know quite what it is. Please, enlighten me.

[FrenchieCat]

33. Here it is......her experience! I found it on youtube!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=99319&mesg_id=99319

[bridgit]

35. I hear what you've suggested and the case is rather made right up the middle...

Nei-ther-one-of-them has what could be considered by many to be viable foreign policy experience. Neither one of them. Sadly, for BO supporters, that includes BO. Pulling youtube uploads in response to a page right off BO's campaign site is too predictable.

For me, the stupidest part of all this shit is that people such as yourself become instantaneously rankled when their guy, their BO guy, is seen in any other light than the one he wants you to see him in. That's image control. That's product placement. That's a form of compliance auditing. That's the response you're supposed to have. Amongst others; I do that stuff for a living. And it has long since failed to surprise me, just how gullible Americans really are. So...

Neither one has the experience. Why chose BO? Cause he's cute? You like his smile? Like the way he 'gets down' on The Ellen Show? Like his views on NAFTA? He's already called the Canadians and told them not to pay any attention to his rhetoric as he has no intention of bailing out of NAFTA; which seems a heads-up call on his part after all in that that piece of paper is more complex than is possible for him to speak about of late. And he knows it. He's already flip-flopping on his own words and he isn't even in there yet. So why did he say those things, why did HRC? No...

You have two SUV's before you. They're both gas guzzlers. They're both big, black, and stupid, with tinted windows optional. So why did you pick the one you did? Don't bother telling me that you liked the jack & lug-nut wrench package that came with it. Cause the answer is advertising.

You may not have liked what you seen when HRC invited you to look into the "experience" she's claimed she's had from then to "Day 1" (a line I detest cause it reminds me of that 'Job 1' mantra out of Detroit some time back and yes...another Ad Line); but BO has not invited you to peer into his experience any deeper in fact it is less than encouraged.

You're encouraged instead to run all about the landscape, flick shit (well, maybe not you but some do and you cannot deny it) and find dirt on BO's opponent so he can keep his fingernails clean, maintain his relationship to plausible deniability, crack some jokes, receive the adoration of a thirsty nation trying their damnedest to *not* drink the sand again.

Either way that is for me too near to: Be True To Your School raw, raw, raw, raw, sis-boom-bah recess politics. That's the kind of shit that got bush in the WH and kept him there along side men that were far & away more experienced than he will ever be regarding foreign policy.

This primary season is noteworthy in that once again Americans are not asking the right questions.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

36. yup, BO has not invited you to peer into his experience any deeper in fact itis less than encouraged