The Superb Hillary Clinton

To go, over the period of a single week, from the sublime to the abominable tries the hardiest of spirits. One weekend we were celebrating the storybook wedding of an American princess and the next mourning the senseless executions of wonderful, selfless, dedicated people trying to help unfortunate people in an unfortunate land.

The joy and the glow that we saw on last week's lovely MOTB had faded to a grim pallor on the cheek of our beautiful Secretary of State as she delivered in person, yesterday, the words she had issued as a press release on the weekend. In each of these roles, she was pitch perfect. Every word, expression, movement, every nuance ... perfect!

The superb Hillary Rodham Clinton provided us with just enough of a glance into the family's private, personal celebration last weekend seeming to know that her beloved internet was burning up with curiousity: The dresses? The make-up? The hair? The guests? We got our glimpses of the glamor and were grateful .

Our Superstar SOS returned to D.C. last Tuesday and delivered superbly an important, I would say, landmark speech in the best, and most vibrant of spirits. Comments from those who heard and/or read this speech indicated that the audience was electrified by her and by her words. The word is overused, but if you were to look in the dictionary for a definition of the word "awesome," this picture should be there.

Fast-forward to this past weekend, which began quietly enough, perhaps too quietly for some of us who were already nostalgic for the romance and excitement of the weekend before until the bombshell hit. The news broke and spread like blood over the media and the internet. Ten dedicated career relief workers providing all sorts of medical care to impoverished, disadvantaged people in war-torn Afghanistan had been captured and cruelly executed. The Taliban claimed "credit." It shocked. It hurt. It angered ... infuriated! It broke our hearts. And from the moment we heard, those of us who follow the work of Hillary Rodham Clinton knew a statement would be forthcoming.

Come, it did, and as always the words were perfect. I knew, like I know the back of my hand, that our SOS was grief-stricken, heart-broken by these senseless acts. I knew she was taking this hard. With Hillary Clinton, though, the harder she takes something, the harder she comes back, and come back she did.

Yesterday, in a brief but singularly impressive, somber appearance at the State Department, she delivered her words to the cameras with gravitas, determination, and strength. She did not shed a tear, although most assuredly she had, her voice did not tremble, her lip did not quiver. She looked into the lenses and said her piece, mesmerizing us with her presence, grace, and strength. You could see the pain in her eyes, but she struck a note and proceeded, as the leader she is, to set the tone of our appropriate response to the heinous actions of a barbaric, oppressive enemy of all decent people everywhere.

Yes, it was a week that went from the sublime to the abominable, and through it all Hillary Clinton, glamor-girl supreme last weekend, was, yesterday, the best leader I have ever seen in her life and mine.

Thank you so much, Mme. Secretary, for everything you do ... for working so hard, for leading us so well, for putting your life to the side for your country, for speaking with so strong and clear a voice, for being so consistent, for enjoying what you do, and for taking the time and the pains to look so beautiful doing it all. I appreciate all of that!

(Parenthetical post script: While she was directing the troops, setting the tone, representing our stance, the [s]elected guy was "governing" in Texas as he has been doing in Michigan and sundry other parts over the past 18 months. As far as we know, there has been no statement from the White House about these murders - I would call them assassinations.)

From Team Hillary Clinton:

Video & Text: Secretary Clinton's Statement on the Relief Workers Killed in Afghanistan

As we all expected, our Secretary of State was deeply affected by this cruel attack on kind, dedicated people who were only doing good. This actually appears to be the same statement that was released over the weekend, but if you missed them, here are her words.

Relief Workers Killed
in Afghanistan

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State

Treaty Room

Washington, DC

August 9, 2010

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Good afternoon. On Friday, Afghan police officers discovered the bodies of 10 medical aid workers who were killed in the northern Badakhshan Province. Six were Americans. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for this despicable act of wanton violence.

These men and women were in the region to deliver free medical care to impoverished Afghan villagers. They were doctors, dentists, translators, and technicians, and their mission was solely humanitarian and wholly independent from that of any government. Before their deaths, they had spent several days treating cataracts and other eye conditions in Nuristan Province. At their next stop, they planned to run a dental clinic and offer maternal and infant health care. They were unarmed. They were not being paid for their services. They had traveled to this part of Afghanistan because they wanted to help people in need. They were guests of the Afghan people.

At least two of the Americans had worked in Afghanistan for more than 30 years. They had worked under Soviet occupation. They had worked under the most difficult circumstances of internal conflict among various sectors of the country led by warlords, and they had worked under the Taliban time.

But according to the Taliban, they were stopped on a remote road, led into a forest, robbed, and killed.

We are heartbroken by the loss of these heroic, generous people. And we condemn in the strongest possible terms these vicious murders. We also condemn the Taliban’s transparent attempt to justify the unjustifiable by making false accusations about these aid workers’ activities in Afghanistan.

Terror has no religion, and these acts are rejected by people all over the world, including by countless Muslims here in our country, in Afghanistan, and everywhere else. As President Obama said in Cairo, the Quran teaches that taking one innocent life is like killing all humanity, and saving one innocent life is like saving all humanity. With these murders, the Taliban have shown us yet another example of the lengths to which they will go to advance their twisted ideology. Their cruelty is well-documented. Members of the Taliban have assassinated tribal elders, thrown acid in the face of young girls on the way to or from school, and earlier this summer, they accused a 7-year-old boy of being a spy and then hanged him.

The murdered medical volunteers, as well as the volunteers from many nations and the international coalition working to establish stability in Afghanistan, represent exactly what the Taliban stands against: a future of peace, freedom, opportunity, and openness, in which all Afghans can live and work together in safety, free from terror.

That is what the government and people of Afghanistan are working to achieve, that is what we are working to help them to achieve. As determined as the extremists are to spread their destructive view of the world, the Afghan people, along with their partners, including the United States, are determined to stop them. So as we mourn the loss of these brave aid workers, we will continue with our own efforts, and we will be inspired by their heroism, their compassion, and their love for the Afghan people.

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Press Availability On Relief Workers Killed in Afghanistan

Richard Holbrooke
Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan

Treaty Room

Washington, DC

August 9, 2010

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AMBASSADOR HOLBROOKE: Thank you, Madam Secretary. I’d be happy to take any specific questions you want.

QUESTION: How do you change the mindset of these people? I mean, there’s a lot of talk about trying to reintegrate and reconcile Taliban into society to have a one united Afghanistan with everybody working towards the future of the country. How do you change the mindset that this type of work is what the country needs and kind of build more bridges among these type of people that maybe don’t have opportunity, don’t see this way of life as the way that Afghanistan should be going?

AMBASSADOR HOLBROOKE: Elise, there’s a subtext in your question that seems to imply that this is a popular act, and I know you don’t intend that. The Afghan people want this kind of assistance. These people were particularly well-known and revered and beloved in those elements of Afghanistan that knew them.

The Secretary has just described quite clearly what they were doing there. This was an act of a small, ruthless minority, which is what the Taliban are. They do not represent the popular will in Afghanistan and every poll, every survey –I’d particularly bring your attention to the BBC/ABC/ARD poll of earlier this year – shows that their support is in the single digits. But entrenched, ruthless people have the ability to kill unarmed people who were coming back from a humanitarian mission. It’s not hard to do. It just illustrates the nature of the enemy.

But I don’t think in any way, shape, or form it shows that the people of Afghanistan support this – in fact, on the contrary. I just spoke to Ambassador Eikenberry and Ambassador Tony Wayne in Kabul and they said the shock and the reaction has been enormous on this. These were very popular people.

QUESTION: Ambassador Holbrooke, I’m wondering if you could tell us if the U.S. has any – has seen any evidence which actually backs up the Taliban claim for responsibility here? I know that in Kabul the – where the representatives for the aid group that these workers were with has said that the police are talking about bandits, there’s another group which is also possibly claiming responsibility. Why do we say now, outright, that we think the Taliban is behind this?

AMBASSADOR HOLBROOKE: Well, that’s an interesting question, and you’ll notice that the Secretary phrased it quite carefully on that score. But they took credit for it. And we now have our investigative people working with the Afghans to find out more about that. All we can say is the Taliban claimed credit for this action, which is in itself extraordinary. Let’s see what the detailed facts prove. That’s all we know.

QUESTION: Sir, how do you expect this attack to impact United Nations operations, UNAMA operations in Afghanistan, and already curtailed operations?

AMBASSADOR HOLBROOKE: I can’t speculate on that. I haven’t talked to Stefan di Mistura about it. But it’s clear that targeted assassinations, targeted murders of vulnerable civilians whether they are humanitarian workers or vulnerable government officials in exposed areas is a time-honored tactic of ruthless guerillas, insurgents, and terrorists. And that’s what we’re seeing and we all understand it.

QUESTION: Can I take you back a little south to Pakistan? How does the flood in Pakistan affect this war on terror, particularly because the Pakistan civilian government is being criticized by everyone in the country for its failure to deal with the situation and because the –

AMBASSADOR HOLBROOKE: I’m sorry – you’re asking how the flood affects the war against terror?

QUESTION: And how does the Pakistani civilian government’s failure to attend to it and the president’s absence from the country? How does it affect all these factors?

AMBASSADOR HOLBROOKE: Let me just say a word about the floods then. First of all, at least 14 million people have been affected. At least 1,400 have already died. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of other people are inaccessible – clinging to rooftops, swept away. The rains are continuing, the great dam above Sindh is in danger. If it breaks, the situation will reach an even more catastrophic level. It’s already exceeded in the number of people affected the 2005 earthquake, but not as many people dead – of course, that was 75,000. So the order of magnitude unkilled is one way, but the number affected is another. It’s destroyed crops. It is a major international humanitarian catastrophe.

The United States has responded with – in great detail. We have led the world. We have sent helicopters from Afghanistan. Today, Ambassador Haqqani and I talked. He is contact now with the Pentagon and the White House. We’re looking for ways to give additional helicopter support immediately. Although that’s tough, too, because of the weather conditions, very dangerous. We are rushing foodstuffs out of our Food for Peace program, some of which are forward-position in Pakistan, others are in the Gulf.

I came directly to this press conference from a meeting I had with my team. We’re having daily calls involving AID, the White House, State Department, and the Pentagon. We are calling on other governments – and when I say calling, I mean, I’m specifically calling some of our key allies, not just making a general statement, to do something about it. We have the special telephone number which Secretary Clinton demonstrated last week, which if you text S-W-A-T and then punch – send it to 50555, and then press yes, you will donate $10 on your cell phone, which I’ve already done. I know the Secretary did it. I hope you’ve done it, P.J., otherwise we’ll deduct it from your next paycheck. (Laughter.) And – but not on your official State Department phone, I’m afraid. This is very serious stuff. We did this for Swat last year. But so far, we’ve not raised as much money as we did for Swat. And I’m concerned that perhaps people think that it’s just another one of the endless tragedies that Pakistan endures.

So I want to say here today that it is a major international humanitarian crisis that the world must rally to, just as we did for Pakistan and Swat last year and in the earthquake five years ago. We are in the process of extended meetings to mobilize the business community, many of whom have said to us that they’re tapped out because of what they already did for Haiti. We understand that issue because Haiti is an ongoing problem and a very important issue. But we are focused right now on doing everything we can for Pakistan. And I stress to all of you, the waters are still rising. It’s still raining. The dams are in danger. This is not – this is not over. An earthquake happens and then you start rebuilding; this thing is still developing, and it is at the top of the agenda of the Secretary of State and Raj Shah and I and our colleagues are focused on, and the Pentagon.

MR. CROWLEY: Thank you.

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