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
