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November 04, 2009
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is working toward resuming Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, defended the U.S. stance toward an Israeli settlement building on Wednesday, after the Arab community expressed its concerns about the decision.
Clinton says that Washington does not accept the legitimacy of the West Bank enclaves, and wants to see their construction halted "forever.
" The Israeli offer to restrain construction, Clinton says, represents "positive movement forward," even if they have not yet agreed to completely stop development.
Clinton met for an hour with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak during a stopover in the Egyptian capital in order to soothe Arab concerns that Washington may be backing off demands for an Israeli settlement halt.
Clinton said the positive reaction from Egyptian officials showed "the value of consultation and listening and sharing ideas and hearing the other side and putting forward your views and explaining."
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November 02, 2009
President Barack Obama's decision on whether to commit 40,000 more troops to the war effort in Iraq may have come sooner than planned, after Afghan President Hamid Karzai's remaining challenger withdrew from the country's runoff election.
Election officials ruled that Karzai supporters falsified hundreds of thousands of votes on his behalf in a first round of voting in August. Opposing candidate, and former Afghan foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah pulled out of the upcoming election against Karzai, citing the overwhelming fraud that marred previous voting.
Last week, Obama's administration delayed aid to Afghanistan, stating that they wouldn't provide further military support until an election decision had been reached. Karzai's camp then ruled out a coalition with Abdullah, dashing U.S. hopes that an amicable agreement might have reached.
A strong, legitimate Afghan government is central to the White House's strategy to calm rising Taliban violence. In light of new circumstances, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it is now up to Afghan officials to take the next step in the election process. "It is now a matter for the Afghan authorities to decide on a way ahead that brings this electoral process to a conclusion in line with the Afghan constitution," Clinton said. "We will support the next president and the people of Afghanistan, who seek and deserve a better future."
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Senator, lawyer, former First Lady. Hillary Diane Rodham was born on October 26, 1947 in Chicago and raised in Park Ridge, Illinois, a picturesque suburb located 15 miles northwest of downtown Chicago.
She was the eldest daughter of Hugh Rodham, a prosperous fabric store owner, and Dorothy Emma Howell Rodham. Hillary had two younger brothers, including Hugh, Jr. (born 1950) and Anthony (born 1954).
As a young woman, Hillary Rodham was active in young Republican groups and campaigned for Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater in 1964. She was inspired to work in some form of public service after hearing a speech in Chicago by the Reverend Martin Luther King and became a Democrat in 1968.
Rodham attended Wellesley College; she was active in student politics and was elected Senior Class president before she graduated in 1969. She then attended Yale Law School, where she met Bill Clinton. Graduating with honors in 1973, she also attended one post-graduate year of study on children and medicine at Yale Child Study Center.
Hillary worked at various jobs during her summers as a college student. In 1971, she first came to Washington, D.C to work on U.S. Senator Walter Mondale's subcommittee on migrant workers. In the summer of 1972, she worked in the western states for the campaign of Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern.
In the spring of 1974, Rodham became a member of the presidential impeachment inquiry staff, advising the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives during the Watergate Scandal. After President Richard M. Nixon resigned in August, she became a faculty member of the University of Arkansas Law School in Fayetteville, where her Yale Law School classmate and boyfriend Bill Clinton was teaching as well.
Rodham married Bill Clinton on October 11, 1975, at their home in Fayetteville. Before he proposed marriage, Clinton had secretly purchased a small house that she had remarked that she liked. When he proposed marriage to her and she accepted, he revealed that they owned the house. Their daughter, Chelsea Victoria, was born February 27, 1980.
In 1976, she worked on Jimmy Carter's successful campaign for president while husband Bill was elected Attorney General. He was elected governor in 1978 at age 32, lost re-election in 1980, but came back to win in 1982, 1984, 1986 (when the term of office was expanded from two to four years) and 1990.
Hillary joined the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock and in 1977 was appointed to part-time chairman of the Legal Services Corporation by President Carter. As First Lady of Arkansas for a dozen years (1979-1981, 1983-1992), she chaired the Arkansas Educational Standards Committee, co-founded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families and served on the boards of the Arkansas Children's Hospital, Legal Services and the Children's Defense Fund. She also served on the boards of TCBY and Wal-Mart. In 1988 and 1991, The National Law Journal named her one of the 100 most powerful lawyers in America. During the 1992 presidential campaign, she emerged as a dynamic and valued partner of her husband, and as president he named her to head the Task Force on National Health Reform (1993). The controversial commission produced a complicated plan which never came to the floor of either house. It was abandoned in September 1994.
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