GERRY ADAMS: "Senator Clinton played an important role in the peace process."

:pals:

:hug: Still love you even though we support different candidates.

Though I notice that nobody has responded, I guess it doesn't fit their narrative.

The only specific activity is "countless calls and contacts, speaking to leaders and opinion makers". That could be critical networking and negotiating, or just friendly nudges.

Her involvement in N. Ireland is still confusing to me.

I just cant understand why it has taken so long for one of us to think to bring it to DU's attention.

I have read Hillary's biography and am in the midst of reading Bill's. Like his speeches, he has a lot to say and there's a lot to get through in the book. I truly believe that she would make a brilliant president.

"Dreams Of My Father" and "The Audacity of Hope". :shrug: Education rocks!

Its just that its taking me ages to get through Bill's.

They can't help it, it's who they are, it's what they do.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/01/clinton_and_northern_ireland.html

Clinton and Northern Ireland

The Facts

It is true that Hillary visited Northern Ireland more times than Bill. By my count, she went there six times between 1995 and 2000, while he went four times. But she accompanied her husband as first lady on those four occasions, so they were hardly "independent" visits. (She would sometimes fly in a day early to give a lecture.) She made two visits by herself to the province, in May 1999, when she was the keynote speaker to a women's conference, and a 12-hour trip in October 1997, when she gave a lecture at the University of Ulster.

These visits provide a useful insight into Clinton's first lady experience, and how helpful it will be to her if she makes it all the way back to the White House as president. I just spoke to Senator George Mitchell, the Clinton administration's leading Northern Ireland peace negotiator, who said that Hillary was "not involved directly" in the diplomatic negotiations that led to the landmark April 1998 Good Friday agreement on power-sharing. On the other hand, Mitchell credits Clinton with taking an intelligent interest in the issues and getting acquainted with many of the key players.

"She was very much involved in encouraging the emergence of women in the political process in northern Ireland, which was a significant factor in ultimately getting an agreement," Mitchell told me. Mitchell believes that Clinton's time in the White House enabled her to become "personally acquainted" with world leaders, which will help her if she becomes president.

Chris Thornton, a political reporter for the Belfast Telegraph, said that Hillary Clinton's visits to northern Ireland contributed to the "mood music" that made an eventual settlement possible, but were hardly key to reaching an agreement. "Would we have reached a settlement without that kind of stuff? Yes. Would we have got one without the intervention of Bill Clinton and George Mitchell? No."

Hillary is making a lot more of her Northern Ireland role on the campaign trail than she did in her memoir "Living History." As the Boston Globe recently noted, her stories of bringing Protestant and Catholic women together have become more dramatic with each retelling. The claim that she brought Catholics and Protestants together "for the first time" seems dubious. This would not be the first time that she has mixed up her chronology.
The Pinocchio Test

Hillary Clinton seems to be overstating her significance as a catalyst in the Northern Ireland peace process, which was more symbolic than substantive. On the other hand, she did play a helpful role at the margins, by encouraging organizations like Vital Voices, a women's group that takes a stand against extremism. One Pinocchio for exaggeration.

Gerry Adams is worth more than all the trees they cut down to print this rubbish.

Or is it your way only? :boring:

And I'm sure you could find lying contrary spin just about anywhere.

Enough said. The WaPo is only interested in maintaining the status quo of power in DC.

aren't exactly golfing buddies. It may not be surprising that Adams would seek to contradict him in public. That's not to say Adams in wrong and Trimble is right, just pointing out that they have their own agendas as well.

(and I have no idea how much of a role HRC played) but to say anything else would be stupid. After all, she may still be president one day, and only an idiot (like Trimble) would deliberately undercut her. It's called diplomoacy.