Baghdad, Nov 29: Former American first lady Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton visited Baghdad hot on the heels of a lightning stealth visit by US President George W Bush, cautioning that Washington still faced a "big challenge" in the country. Clinton was spending one day in the insurgency-ridden Iraqi capital, during which she met top us civilian and military officials including US overseer Paul Bremer and ground forces commander Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez.
She also lunched with troops from her home state of New York in the dining hall at the former City Centre palace of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, which is now the seat of the US-led occupation administration.
Unlike the US President, who never left the main military camp at Baghdad airport during his two-and-a-half hour stopover, Clinton then left the heavily fortified complex around the palace to go and visit troops.
She also met Iraqi officials, including the sole woman member of the US-installed interim cabinet, public works minister Nasreen Mustafa Sadiq Barwari.
Clinton warned that the coalition still faced many enemies in Iraq and urged the US administration to change its reconstruction strategy to allow the United Nations a greater role in postwar Iraq.
Bureau Report