October 29, 2009
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT is traveling with Secretary Clinton in Pakistan- as is MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell. Ms Dougherty needs to learn a little respect and get rid of the “she” and “her”. Does she call barry “him”?
(via telephone to American Morning): Kiran, the secretary is really trying to get across a message that the relationship between Pakistan and the United States goes way beyond just the fighting terrorism, although that’s a key part, of course, about the relationship.
But you would have to say that that attack in Peshawar, especially because it was a market where women and children were the main victims, really is having an effect. And so at almost every stop since that happened yesterday, she has been mentioning it, saying that we are with you. And so at the same time that she talks about this relationship going beyond terrorism, she has to return to it. It is a scene and many Pakistanis are worried that in working with and cooperating with the United States in this war and fighting against terror, that it’s actually making their lives less secure. And that’s what the secretary is trying to chip away at.
October 30, 2009
JILL DOUGHERTY did a videotaped interview with Secretary Clinton in Pakistan. Clinton says trust is a two-way street….it’s hard to believe that no one in the Pakistani government knows where al Qaeda is or how to get them….mentions the importance of meeting with as many non-government officials as possible and answering and asking tough questions.
DOUGHERTY: Quotes about al Qaeda. Are you saying someone in government is complicit with al Qaeda? Or not following through on getting al Qaeda?
HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: What I was responding to is what I’ve been really doing on this trip which is that there exists a trust deficit certainly on the part of the Pakistanis toward the United States, toward our intentions and our actions. And yet we have so much in common. We face a common threat. We certainly have a common enemy in extremism and terrorism.
And so part of what I’ve been doing is answering every single charge, every, you know, question. I’m going to continue today to put myself in as many different settings as possible because it’s not adequate just to meet with government officials.
But trust is a two- way street.
And I think it’s important if we’re going to have the kind of cooperative partnership that I think is in the best interest of both of our countries for me to express some of the questions that are on the minds of the American people. And I’m not prejudging the answer but I’m asking the question.
DOUGHERTY: But isn’t that your — is that your own question? Your own personal question?
CLINTON: Well, I’m an American and I think we have every reason to say, look, we are applauding the resolve you’re showing in going after the Taliban extremist who threaten you, but let’s not forget they are now part of a terrorist syndicate that in sort of classic syndicate terms would be headed by al Qaeda.
Al Qaeda provides direction and training and funding and there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that they are certainly encouraging these attacks on the Pakistani government, which are so tragic and which the Pakistani people are determined to beat back.
So even given the success of the Pakistani military’s operation, which has been extremely courageous in Swat and now in South Waziristan, success there is not sufficient. It is necessary because you have to take on these threats wherever they occur, but it’s not sufficient to eliminate the threat that Pakistan faces.
As long as al Qaeda can recruit and send forth suicide bombers, which we’ve seen in our own country with the arrest of Zazi who was clearly connected to al Qaeda, trained at an al Qaeda training camp in Pakistan – I just want to keep putting on the table that we have some concerns as well. And that’s the kind of relationship I’m looking to build here.
DOUGHERTY: Did you underestimate the level of anti-Americanism here?
CLINTON: No, because I’ve been following the research and the polling that’s gone on for a couple of years. I knew that we were inheriting a pretty negative situation that we were going to have to address and that’s one of the reasons I wanted to have a long enough time – three days is obviously a long trip for a secretary of state but I was committed to doing it and finding the time in my schedule because I wanted to have these interactions.
I don’t think it’s – I don’t think the way you deal with negative feelings is to pretend they’re not there. Or to gloss over them or to come just with happy talk.
That’s why I wanted to elicit all these questions from the Pakistani press and the people I met with because I wanted to demonstrate that, look, we are not coming here claiming that everything we’ve done is perfect.
I’ve admitted to mistakes by our country going back in time, but I’ve also reminded people that we’ve been partners and allies from the beginning of Pakistan’s inception as a country. Pakistan has helped us on several important occasions and we are very grateful for that so let’s begin to clear the air here.
We are not going to always agree. That never happens in any relationship that I’m aware of. But we are going to honestly set forth our areas of disagreement but then we’re also going to work on all that we agree on and we’re going to try to demonstrate results from our partnership that the people of Pakistan and the people of our country can see.
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Decisive action – not Kumbaya empty promises.
