Dublin, Belfast agree Clinton did her bit for peace

Dublin, Belfast agree Clinton did her bit for peace

By Paul Hoskins - Analysis

DUBLIN (Reuters) - U.S. opponents of Hillary Clinton may be challenging her view that she helped bring peace to Northern Ireland, but on the streets of Dublin and Belfast she gets mostly a pat on the back for the part she played.

Clinton, in a tight battle with Barack Obama for the U.S. Democratic nomination for the White House, pushed the issue onto the agenda of U.S. politics by touting her involvement in helping end 30 years of bloodshed in the British province as one of her foreign policy achievements.

The Obama camp retorted by saying she had inflated her role and published a memo from Greg Craig, a former State Department official, who said her claim for even partial credit was "a gross overstatement of the facts".

The Clinton camp sought to validate her case by publishing a statement of support from Nobel Peace Prize winner and former leader of Northern Ireland's SDLP party John Hume.

He spoke of her "positive role" and the gratitude of Northern Ireland people for "her very active support".

Gratitude seems to be the primary response in Ireland among people who are only too quick to criticize their own politicians when they claim credit for securing peace.

Clinton's husband, Bill, helped broker the 1998 Good Friday peace accord that paved the way for a power-sharing government in Belfast and a greater role for Dublin.

She says she was actively involved in those efforts as first lady and continues to be engaged with leaders from Northern Ireland. Speaking on Saturday, she pointedly questioned whether Obama could lay claim to the same level of contact.

On Northern Ireland's Slugger O'Toole current affairs Web site the question "Did Hillary overstate her role in the peace process?" triggered 100 responses, mostly backing Clinton's version of events.

"She came here and listened to people as did her husband for all his faults," wrote one respondent called 'LURIG'. "They gave so much time to the North ... No, her input was not overstated."

http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed2/idUSL176138720080317?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=10112&sp=true

Has this been posted out in lala land? (gdp)