Hillary Clinton will be a strong, effective Secretary of State in the new Obama administration.
I observed first hand her commitment to peace and justice during the presidency of Bill Clinton, when Jordan's King Hussein, my late husband, and I worked closely with the Clintons in an attempt to achieve a Middle East peace. When they take office next year, I know that President-elect Obama and she quickly will begin looking for ways to bring security to Israel and justice to Palestinians, including four to six million Palestinian refugees.
In the Senate, Mrs. Clinton has worked hard to protect other displaced populations, including those from Iraq and Darfur. Just two weeks ago, I was part of a delegation from Refugees International that met with Sen. Clinton to discuss the need for a comprehensive plan to deal with five million displaced Iraqis, one fifth of the country's population. Nearly two million of the displaced Iraqis have sought refuge in Syria and Jordan, while the rest have fled their homes and violence within Iraq.
I know the utter despair and hopelessness of both Palestinian and Iraqi refugee families, having lived and worked with both communities over the past 30 years through the Noor al Hussein Foundation and other Jordanian institutions.
Sen. Clinton has introduced legislation to help displaced Iraqis. In the Obama administration she and her colleagues will have to come up with a comprehensive plan to help Iraqis return to a safe and secure Iraq as U.S. troops withdraw. This will be a challenge, but she understands that displaced Iraqis threaten the stability of Iraq, as well as the stability of the region, and potentially beyond.
During the campaign both Sen Clinton and President-elect Obama called for more aggressive U.S. action, including the possible use of force, to stop the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. Their agreement on this point could open an opportunity for a diplomatic push to bring peace to Darfur, something the government of Sudan says it wants but has done little to promote. Any successful peace conference will be complex, requiring full participation by the government of Sudan, rebel movements, Sudanese civil society organizations, neighboring countries and economic stake holders, such as China. While the prospect of success is small, the cost of failure would be extremely high, particularly for the government of Sudan and the people of Darfur.
As Secretary of State, Mrs. Clinton will face many challenges, but I know from personal experience that she is up to them all.
Now as Secretary of State the "gold ring" is the establishment of a Palestinian State, the so called two state solution which will prove to be anything but a solution, and will condemn the world to a terrible war killing 2/3rds of those in your region and perhaps 1/3 of the rest of this world...as it progresses and spread world wide..
This is why you are wrong as to Hillary being such a great selection as Secretary of State...among others, and also why Henry Kissinger and many other neo cons and Bilderbergers and bankers who will profit from all this killing and death that will follow not so long after the creation of this two state disaster for mankind, are all for it as they will reap huge financial rewards from selling the arms for this next round of carnage we shall witness in the coming years...
A lie is egregious enough but she lied to make herself seem like an experienced diplomat. She lied at the expense of Americans who HAVE been shot at while in the service of our country.
I am certain that there are far better candidates who both have the training and skills necessary to do the job without bringing the hubris and narcissism that defines Hillary Clinton. I really feel that President Elect Obama made a serious mistake with this appointment. Democrats and the electorate at large would be better served by seeing an end to the Bush/Clinton era.
Hillary was elected to represent her state as a Senator and has spent the entire term campaigning for herself while missing votes on FISA and other important legislation. She ended a very poorly managed campaign with 20million in debt. This is not what she was elected to do and does nothing to support the idea that she can run an office as important as Secretary of State
In my book, any member of Congress who voted to invade Iraq is lacking in foreign policy credentials.
Time will tell.
But that's not good enough.
The opportunity that unfolds requires a new kind of representation and conversation from the other end - Palestine, Israel, Darfur, Iraq, refugees anywhere, the world.... This is a great time to change everything - regroup, redesign our semantics, syntax, tone and form towards crafting visions and taking actions for effective resolution for the good of humanity.
Who Mrs Clinton interfaces with, what they bring into the room and how the conversation engages everyone involved and anyone concerned will make all the difference. It's a great time to imagine new ways of working for human security while creating a dynamic multi-way dialog and harnessing capabilities of new voices and new efforts.
IMHO, the question I think the world should be asking now is not Clinton or not, but rather the who and the how from our end.
So...what will us Arabs choose, and can we imagine a better convo? It's about figuring out who we need to be for this journey....
Thank you for the decades you've spent bridging the gap between Western and Muslim cultures.
And thanks - very much - for your informed commentary. It's refreshing to read blogs from people who have actual experience in international and intercultural politics, rather than just poets, screenwriters, celebrities and the well-trained poodles of America's MSM and "alternative" presses.
It's nice to have an opinion that's related to actual on-the-ground fact, rather than dogma.
The Clintons are centrists who aren't above resorting to political maneuvering now and then, but I will take a conflict of interest involving Clinton's humanitarian foundation over Cheney's conflicts of interest with Haliburton and the prison industry, hands down. Granted, Cheney's not exactly in the running for Sec of State. but still :)
Thank you for blogging here.
Perhaps it is now time for the U.S. (and other nations) to seriously consider establishing a Department of Peace.
and poverty as well given that the poverty in the world creates a huge benefit to war for those in power and a recruiting tool for radical groups around the world.
Benefit to war?
yes, the money involve4d in war as astronomical and those in power usually reap huge profits and other rewards- they certainly aren't risking their own lives--- If they want to wage war they should go to the head and lead from the battlefield.
pffttt!
uh oh- I think I'm about to go on a rant, better leave fast.
;-)
It's probably going to be a long time before that happens.
It's the change in focus from war to peace that is important.
It need not take a long time. A year ago, who would have thought the U.S. would have a president elect Obama?
And, when the USA decided to defy the UN, it set an example ... if the USA can invade a country based on lies, if the USA can defy the UN and its weapons inspectors, then it's hard to expect others to do it.
Her candidacy was not rejected. what a silly statement- if it had been rejected she wouldn't have gone all the way- or have even been allowed to, many people did drop out if I remember correctly- and they were not rejected either for that matter, people voted for them- FOR them, not against them, meaning they were not rejecting them. To say HRC's candidacy was rejected discounts many Americans who voted FOR a candidate- Hillary, and there were many millions of them, not AGAINST someone else.
As far as HRC being "ruthlessly ambitious" who will blah blah blah--- how do you know this? do you know her personal;ly or are you just repeating the meme's that the neocon's started about her in the '90's?
Apparently you didn't do the research which doing would reveal a far different woman and public servant and leader than the neoleft's (taking its strategy from the neocon playbook) demonizing and your cartoon imagery portray.
If Obama believed your foolishness do9 you think they would be working together- or even friends- or does he recognize a kindred soul?
Personally I think he does- both ambitious as one has to be if they are to succeed to do the work they want to do in the world, and who have both said things during a PRIMARY that after they have both walked back on.
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AND:
I suppose if your main political information is HuffPo and Kos, and you do no research for yourself you don't subscribe to that kind of even handed and factual based opinions.
Yes, an OPINION is all you are giving based on some kind of fantasy rather than facts which Queen Noor, Barack Obama and so many others base their opinions on.
If you get universal health care, you can thank HRC for championing that at a time when it was truly a thankless job. Hell, now she's even being scapegoated for America's current health care failures. Truly, 1984-speak in action.
If a man did what she has done, I doubt he would experience the same attacks.