February began on a rather grim note with a White House meeting to examine how the underwear bomber managed to get on a flight to the U.S. No one in that meeting looked happy.
On Febraury 4, Mme. Secretary spoke at the Prayer Breakfast.
She was all dolled up early the next morning to announce on video the Northern Ireland peace accord and told reporters to "enjoy the snow" just before the first wave of "snowpocalypse" hit DC. From what we could tell, she high-tailed it out of town and was home for the snowy weekend.
We did not see her again until the 10th when she hosted Israeli Defense minister Ehud Barak at the State Department. She was due to depart for the Persian Gulf the following Saturday. The East Coast was hit by another storm that Thursday, and while at a meeting at the White House on Friday, she was informed that her husband was hospitalized for emergency surgery. She left immediately for NY, and delayed her trip by a day. Leaving on Valentine's Day, she found her suite on her plane filled with roses from the guy who scared her so badly. Everyone thought that was very romantic and sweet.
She arrived in Doha, capital of Qatar on Valentine's Day wearing red, appropriately.
The next day she did an interview program for Al Jazeera. The pictures were lovely!
This is one of my all-time favorites.
The next day, she arrived in Saudi Arabia.
She met with King Abdullah. (Pretty ankles … just sayin’.)
She arrived in Jeddah on the 16th for a conference. Love the shawl!
And she spoke at Dar al-Hekma college for women the same day.
Back in DC, on the 18th, she received the Dalai Lama at the State Department.
February 22, introduced by Madeleine Albright, she delivered a speech on the future of NATO at the Atlantic Council in Washington.
This was followed by two days of testimony on Capitol Hill. First before the Senate Foreign Operations Subcommittee on the 24th.
Then before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the 25th.
She ended the month on the 26th once again hosting Ehud Barak at the State Department.
She also received South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-Hwan the same day.
I
February is never a long month, but for the Secretary of State, last February was packed with travel, testimony, interviews, and a personal scare all during the worst month for snow that anyone in DC could remember!
