WASHINGTON - Hillary Rodham Clinton insists her transition from presidential contender to secretary of state has been seamless, and in one respect, it is hard to argue with her: she still hustles like a candidate down a few points in the polls the week before Super Tuesday.

But in many other ways, Mrs. Clinton has shed her candidate's skin. Her campaign staff is largely gone, replaced by a broader circle of advisers. Her husband, who stood behind her at countless campaign stops this time last year, has resumed his globe-trotting life, seeing her on rare weekends at their home in Chappaqua, N.Y.

In this, the latest mutation in a career of many changes, Mrs. Clinton's days have become a whirl of diplomatic talks, White House meetings and foreign travel: 74,000 miles and 22 countries as of last Sunday, when she returned from Iraq and Lebanon.

By all accounts, Mrs. Clinton has worked hard to be a good soldier in an administration run by the man she spent much of last year trying to defeat. She and President Obama have developed a respectful rapport, several officials said, and she has emerged as an influential voice in the great policy debates of the day, notably Afghanistan and Pakistan.

But State Department officials, and others in the administration, say less-than-generous things about Mr. Obama's national security adviser, Gen. James L. Jones, suggesting there is some jockeying among the top officials around the president. General Jones, these people say, has struggled with his transition from Marine commander to senior staff person, speaking up less in debates than Mrs. Clinton and not pushing as hard for decisions.

Friends acknowledge that Mrs. Clinton herself was initially swamped by the challenge of taking over the sprawling State Department bureaucracy - management being one deficit in her career. She likens it to being "mayor of a good-sized small city."

But Mrs. Clinton has turned a corner in recent weeks, these people say, both as a manager and as a diplomat. Her stern public warnings about the recent Taliban offensive in Pakistan put her on center stage as the messenger of American unease.

"I love the job; I mean, it's really hard," Mrs. Clinton said in a recent interview. "We've inherited so many problems."

As a former first lady, senator, and presidential candidate, Mrs. Clinton enjoys rarefied status, even for a secretary of state. She has not hesitated to put this to use, whether in rock-star-like appearances in South Korea and Turkey, or in positioning herself at home.

Even before she was confirmed, Mrs. Clinton summoned Richard C. Hoolbrooke, now the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, for a fireside chat at her Washington home with Gen. David H. Petraeus, the commander who oversees the region.

In an unusual arrangement, Mrs. Clinton is protected by both the State Department's diplomatic security and by the Secret Service, which has protected the Clintons since 1992. As a candidate, Mrs. Clinton was criticized for poor management of her campaign. She appears determined not to repeat her mistakes. Mrs. Clinton said she had sought fresh voices; mindful that previous secretaries of state have been criticized for cloistering themselves on the building's seventh floor, she has made a point of dropping in at its bureaus.

Few of her campaign officials were offered posts, though Mrs. Clinton has brought over aides from the Senate and from her years as first lady. She has also drawn on veterans of the Clinton inner circle, like Cheryl Mills, who is her chief of staff.

"I don't know anybody in politics who doesn't have a group of people," Mrs. Clinton said. But she added, "A lot of people who I hired, I never worked with, and have just taken on faith and reputation."

There are other vestiges of Mrs. Clinton's political life: her Senate campaign committee remains in existence and will hold on to a list of donors to her presidential campaign, a tantalizing clue that she contemplates a use for them in the future.

Mrs. Clinton tries to get to New York once or twice a month, she said, but it has been hard because of her foreign travel. But she said she talks to Mr. Clinton regularly, and exchanges e-mail messages with her daughter, Chelsea, on her BlackBerry, which she is not allowed to use, for security reasons, at work.

Mrs. Clinton turned to her husband, the former president, in planning a recent trip to Haiti because he had been there two weeks earlier. But she said Mr. Clinton had also weighed in with advice to General Jones or Mr. Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emmanuel. "He's always value-added," she said.

These days, Mrs. Clinton has a regular Thursday afternoon meeting with the current president. People who have been in meetings with them say their relationship is comfortable, if not warm.

On a recent afternoon, at Mrs. Clinton's suggestion, the two moved their meeting outside to a picnic table on the South Lawn, next to a new swing set installed for Mr. Obama's daughters. "We just had the best time," she said.

Mrs. Clinton's influence as secretary has been somewhat obscured by the choice of highly visible emissaries for two of the world's hot spots: Mr. Holbrooke and George J. Mitchell as special envoy for the Middle East.

Some foreign-policy experts say the arrangement poses a long-term risk to Mrs. Clinton. "I understand the logic of creating an empire of talented envoys," said Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East peace negotiator. "But to be a consequential secretary of state, you must put yourself directly in the middle of the mix."

Mrs. Clinton, however, described the envoys as "force multipliers" and said that enlisting them "has bought us time." She also said she had the "highest esteem" for General Jones, according to her adviser, Philippe Reines, who added in a statement, "Anyone asserting otherwise is speaking for themselves, not the secretary."

In recent weeks, Mrs. Clinton has stepped up on key issues: warning Pakistan about the Taliban; orchestrating the first face-to-face contact between the Obama administration and Iran; and throwing Cuba off balance with warm words about restoring ties with Havana.

For Mrs. Clinton, the biggest challenge has been mental: absorbing a mountain of information on issues ranging from the Middle East to the race for fossil fuels in the Arctic Circle.

At 11 p.m. last Saturday, after 13 hours of meetings in Baghdad, Mrs. Clinton's aides dozed on the military transport plane flying back to Kuwait. She sat alone at the front of the plane's dimly lighted cargo bay, squinting as she plowed through a pile of briefing papers.

"I lug them everywhere," Mrs. Clinton said, noting that she had not had time to watch a movie or read a book in the last 100 days.




By Mark Landler, The New York Times, May 1, 2009

The Obama Administration is gravely concerned about North Korea's nuclear programme, which is far more advanced than Iran's. Yet its policy toward Pyongyang is little different than the course followed by George Bush in his second term and appears increasingly ineffective.

Laying out that policy on Wednesday during congressional testimony Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, urged North Korea to refrain from provocative acts and return to six-party talks, which Pyongyang abandoned in December.

Referring to the willingness of Russia, China, Japan, South Korea and the US to restart the talks, Mrs Clinton said: "I think the strong support that we see among the parties against what North Korea's doing will eventually yield fruit."

Yet many believe that there is very little the US can do to stop North Korea's programme, and its huge advances in developing a nuclear arsenal will only encourage Iran that it can - or should - follow suit.

In recent weeks, Pyongyang has expelled international nuclear inspectors and on April 5 it launched a rocket that analysts believe was part of its programme to manufacture a delivery system for a nuclear warhead.

Some in the US, such as Madeleine Albright, Bill Clinton's former Secretary of State, believe that North Korea's recent provocations have been attempts to push Mr Obama's Administration into bilateral talks. He has only gone so far as to say that he will seek bilateral engagement while continuing the six-party talks.

By Tim Reid, The Times, April 24, 2009

Can the president's philosophy of talking with the enemy keep Iran away from nuclear weapons?

Washington - Iran is shaping up to be the defining test of President Obama's engage-our-enemies diplomacy.

As Mr. Obama has pursued his foreign policy in the initial weeks of his presidency, he has begun to put his belief that America should talk to its adversaries into practice with countries like Cuba, Syria, Venezuela, and even North Korea. But with no country are the stakes of this approach higher than with Iran.

"Iran is a far higher priority, and the success or failure of the approach is far more consequential because of the nuclear issue, the volatility of the region, and Iran being sandwiched in there between Iraq and Afghanistan," says Wayne White, a former State Department policy planning official.

With Iran continuing to pursue - and offer boastful progress reports on - a nuclear program that Western countries believe is designed to deliver nuclear weapons, pressure is mounting on Obama to show that diplomacy can ensure Iran never possesses the bomb.

Israel, under conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is rumbling with rumors of possible military strikes on Iran's nuclear installations if the United States, which has agreed to join international talks with Iran on its nuclear program, cannot demonstrate progress soon. And Arab countries including Egypt, the Gulf states, and Jordan are letting US officials know of their growing nervousness over US engagement with Iran.

"[O]n Iran, Obama knows he has a ticking clock facing him," says Mr. White, now an adjunct scholar with the Middle East Institute in Washington. "This has got to take precedent strategically."

Talking as means, not end

With the stakes so high, and with so many domestic and foreign actors watching closely or jostling to influence the US position, the Obama administration is anxious to demonstrate that there is nothing weak or pie-in-the-sky about its approach to Iran.

In testimony before Congress this week, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed hope that the talks with Iran and four other world powers will succeed in ending Iran's pursuit of uranium enrichment - a process that can lead to production of fuel for a nuclear weapon.

But in comments to the House Foreign Affairs Committee Wednesday, she also stressed that by joining the talks, the US is "laying the groundwork for the kind of very tough ... crippling sanctions that might be necessary" if talks fail.

Reinforcing Obama's view that talking is not an end in itself but helps the US attain its goals, Secretary Clinton said, "[B]y following the diplomatic path we are on, we gain credibility and influence with a number of nations who would have to participate in order to make the sanctions regime as tight and crippling as we would want it to be."

However, some congressional leaders don't want the US to wait before applying more economic pressure. Proceeding from the position that tightening the economic screws now will make negotiations more attractive to Iran, a bipartisan group in Congress introduced Thursday the Iran Diplomatic Enhancement Act, which would extend existing US sanctions to companies involved in selling gasoline to Iran.

"Iran's reliance on imported gasoline to fuel its economy and military is the regime's Achilles' heel," said Mark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, in a statement supporting the legislation. "This legislation would give the Obama administration real leverage when it negotiates over the regime's nuclear weapons program."

The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Brad Sherman (D) of California and Rep. Mark Kirk (R) of Illinois, is the latest congressional effort to use Iran's dependence on foreign-refined gasoline to influence its behavior on its nuclear program.

But such legislation - despite its use of descriptions like "diplomatic enhancement" - is more likely to dampen prospects for Obama's diplomacy toward Iran, say some observers.

"When the Iranians see someone moving towards them, they often move a few steps back and play hard to get. And they are already doing that," says White, citing recent Iranian announcements of further progress on uranium enrichment as well as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech at a United Nations conference this week in which he again condemned Israel.

Any US legislation aimed at Iran's imported gasoline would thus provoke a further withdrawal, White says. The legislation is "exactly the kind of thing we're going to see in reaction to engaging with Iran," he says, "particularly from those people committed to keeping Iran in its box."

Moderate Arab countries concerned

The repercussions of Obama's efforts to engage Iran are not limited to the US, but extend deep into that region. The Middle East's uncertainty over US aims is reflected in Egypt's diplomatic row with Iran over the reported discovery of a Hezbollah cell in Egypt. Also, during the visit in Washington this week of Jordan's King Abdullah, he was thought to have raised concerns with US officials about Iran's threat to the region.

"The American desire to engage Iran, which has many positive sides, is causing a considerable amount of anxiety in the moderate camp in the Middle East, not just in Israel," says Asher Susser, senior research fellow at the Dayan Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Tel Aviv University.

Egypt, Jordan, and other moderate Arab countries are nervously watching how "engagement" plays out, Professor Susser said in a conference call with reporters Thursday organized by the Israel Policy Forum, a US group that advocates a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"If Obama's engagement with Iran means reduction and constraining of Iran's regional interests, it will be welcome. If it leads to acceptance of Iranian domineering, they [moderate Arabs] will be extremely anxious and concerned," he said.

In any case, no one expects much headway in talks with Iran until after the country's presidential election in June. In the meantime, White says, observers should watch Clinton for any sign of discord in the engagement process.

Citing her tough words to Congress on sanctions, he says, "We may be seeing a reluctance on her part to reach out [to Iran] as much as might be necessary."

By Howard LaFranchi, The Christian Science Monitor, April 24, 2009

Federal election laws barred President Barack Obama from writing a big check to help settle Hillary Clinton's gaping campaign debt, but he and other Clinton allies found another way to help the secretary of state pay most of the bills left over from her presidential campaign.

Obama's inaugural committee and a slew of other groups ranging from Bill Clinton's charitable foundation to Media Matters to the Democratic gubernatorial campaigns of Gavin Newsom in California and Terry McAuliffe in Virginia combined to pay nearly $2.1 million in the first three months of the year to rent the list of e-mail addresses Clinton assembled during her unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Clinton's presidential campaign received an additional $2.6 million from her still-functioning Senate campaign - which a source close to the campaigns said was to buy the presidential e-mail list outright.

The more than $3.6 million she received for the list, revealed in Federal Election Commission filings, is about four times the $938,000 donors gave.

To be sure, e-mail lists are valuable fundraising tools, and it's become standard practice for campaigns to rent or buy them from one another.

But the money came at an especially opportune time for Clinton, whose ability to raise money to repay her debts is limited by ethics rules and traditions that effectively bar diplomats from partisan political activity, including raising cash.

The income from the list's rental and sale - the latter cryptically listed in her FEC filings as "sale of assets" - allowed Clinton's presidential campaign in the first three months of the year to pay $3.7 million in leftover bills that were threatening to become an embarrassment to the Obama administration.

Longtime Clinton friend James Carville, for instance, raised eyebrows recently when he sent an e-mail to Clinton's list offering to raffle off tickets to the "American Idol" season finale or a day with former President Bill Clinton in exchange for donations to retire Hillary Clinton's debt, then jokingly said that he would "be all for" Clinton appearing in risque promotional advertising campaign in exchange for $1 million to pay off the debt, which still stood at $2.3 million at the end of last month.

By contrast, the list rental is a discreet, behind-the-scenes transaction.

But it has to be done carefully or it risks running afoul of federal election rules, said Larry Norton, a former FEC general counsel.




By Kenneth P. Vogel, Politico, April 24, 2009

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday compared the challenge of fighting climate change to her own struggle to lose weight.

Speaking to State Department staff on Earth Day, Clinton said more must be done to reduce the department's environmental footprint and conceded this was a big challenge, much like one of her personal battles.

"Often times when you face such an overwhelming challenge as global climate change, it can be somewhat daunting -- it's kind of like trying to lose weight, which I know something about," she said to laughter.

"You think, oh I only have to lose X numbers of pounds but it seems like such a far away goal," she added.

"It's kind of like world peace and so therefore why even try? Well, because we are called to try. That's who we are as human beings and that's especially how we think of ourselves as Americans."

By Sue Pleming, Reuters, April 22, 2009

BRUSSELS (AP) - Iran is preparing a set of new proposals aimed at restarting talks on the country's nuclear program, the country's foreign minister said Thursday.

European Union and French officials said Thursday they are working to set up the new talks, which would be the first international discussion on Iran's nuclear program since President Barack Obama took office in January.

The United States and some of its allies accuse Iran of secretly seeking to develop atomic weapons. Iran denies the allegation, saying its nuclear program is geared toward generating electricity not bombs.

"We do believe that this new proposed package would be a very good base for mutual cooperation on the international level," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters after attending an international donors' conference on Somalia.

He not elaborate on the proposals.

Mottaki's comments were similar to ones made earlier this month by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. On April 9, Ahmadinejad said Iran would present a new proposal for negotiations, saying "conditions have changed" - an apparent reference to Obama's election and Iran's own progress in its nuclear program since previous international talks were held last year.

On Wednesday, Iran welcomed a "constructive" dialogue with world powers over the program but insisted that it won't halt its uranium enrichment activities. The statement, carried by the official IRNA news agency, came in response to an invitation from the United States, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia for a new round of nuclear talks.

In Paris, a French official said Thursday that EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana had contacted Iranian envoys about organizing a new meeting of senior diplomats in coming weeks.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said the meetings would lay the groundwork for future discussions. He suggested they would be significant because they would be the first since recent American overtures toward Iran.

The Obama administration has been trying a different approach to Tehran by offering to engage in dialogue with the Iranians.

On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized the Bush administration for what she called a failed eight-year effort to isolate Iran that has only increased worries about Iranian influence.

In congressional testimony in Washington, Clinton said Bush's policy did not deter Iran "one bit" in its ambitions to acquire nuclear weapons and to support terror organizations like Hezbollah and Hamas.

By SLOBODAN LEKIC, The Associated Press, April 23, 2009

Progress on establishing a Palestinian state must go "hand-in-hand" with efforts to stem Iranian influence in the Middle East, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday, implicitly rejecting the emerging position of the new Israeli government.

Aides to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said this week that the Israeli government will not move ahead on the core issues of peace talks with the Palestinians until it sees progress in U.S. efforts to stop Iran's suspected pursuit of a nuclear weapon and limit Tehran's rising influence in the region. Netanyahu, who is skeptical of efforts to create a Palestinian state, plans to visit Washington next month; aides said he was preparing to outline his emerging policy to President Obama.

Asked about those comments during an appearance before a panel of the House Appropriations Committee, Clinton said she did not want to "prejudge the Israeli position until we've had face-to-face talks." But she then cautioned that Israel was unlikely to gain support for thwarting Iran unless there were visible efforts to achieve Palestinian statehood.

"For Israel to get the kind of strong support it's looking for vis-a-vis Iran it can't stay on the sideline with respect to the Palestinian and the peace efforts, that they go hand-in-hand," Clinton said.

Clinton noted that every Arab official she has met with "wants very much to support the strongest possible policy toward Iran." But, she said, "they believe that Israel's willingness to reenter into discussions with the Palestinian Authority strengthens them in being able to deal with Iran."

She said the Obama administration was seeking to coordinate the Arab and Israeli positions so the unusual dynamic of unity on Iran could be exploited. "We have to sort of get everybody together in one place, which hasn't yet happened, to figure out how that can proceed," she said.

Clinton took flak from some lawmakers about the administration's efforts to keep its options open regarding the creation of a Palestinian unity government. The government is split between Fatah, which controls the West Bank, and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. Hamas, which the State Department considers a terrorist group, won Palestinian legislative elections in 2006, but the United States has refused to deal with the group until it meets conditions, including recognition of Israel.

Clinton indicated that if a unity government is formed, the administration would be willing to deal with that government, even if it contained Hamas ministers, as long as the government agreed to those conditions, much as the United States currently deals with the elected Lebanese government in which the militant group Hezbollah controls 11 out of 30 cabinet seats. But several lawmakers, including Rep. Nita M. Lowey (D-N.Y.), chair of the foreign operations subcommittee, and Rep. Mark Steven Kirk (R-Ill.) indicated that the House may seek to restrict aid to the Palestinian Authority, which would limit the administration's flexibility.

By Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post, April 24, 2009

Marathon session mostly friendly to top US diplomat

WASHINGTON - House Republicans grilled Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday on renewed US support for abortion providers overseas and on recently released memos detailing harsh interrogation techniques against suspected terrorists in CIA custody, prompting frank and often feisty exchanges with the nation's top diplomat.

Clinton's first appearance before the House Foreign Affairs Committee was a five-hour, mostly friendly session, but it turned combative at points. Representative Dan Burton, an Indiana Republican, told Clinton that the harsh interrogation techniques - which included mock drownings known as waterboarding - "were cleared with the leadership of both the House and the Senate," apparently referring to classified briefings that some members received about the tactics. "We are deploying new approaches to the threat posed by Iran and we're doing so with our eyes wide open and with no illusions," Clinton told the committee.





By Farah Stockman, The Globe Staff, April 23, 2009

Clinton says the government in Islamabad is ceding more and more territory to the militants and is 'abdicating to the Taliban and the extremists' in some matters.

Reporting from Washington and Islamabad, Pakistan -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned in unusually bleak terms Wednesday that Pakistan's fragile government is facing an "existential threat" from Islamic militants who are now operating within a few hours of the capital.

Clinton told a House committee that the government in Islamabad is ceding territory and "basically abdicating to the Taliban and the extremists" in signing a deal that limits the government's involvement in the war-torn Swat Valley.

U.S. officials have grown increasingly critical about the deal giving control in Swat to militants, who intend to impose Sharia, or Islamic law, and the prospect that the militants will use the Swat Valley to press closer to the capital.

Before Clinton made her remarks, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, a religious party within the ruling coalition, told parliament on Wednesday that the Taliban was heading toward Islamabad.

"You talk about Swat and Buner, but according to my information they have reached much closer," he said. "And if they continue advancing, there will soon be only Margalla Hills between them [the Taliban] and Islamabad," he said. Margalla Hills is the dividing line between Islamabad and the North-West Frontier Province.

Also on Wednesday, the main opposition party, which had initially supported the Swat deal, openly criticized the agreement.

"The last few days show that gun-carrying Taliban are spreading to more areas and eventually want to capture the whole of Pakistan," said Khawaja Asif, a leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N.

U.S. officials are concerned as well about other developments, including a recent decision by the Pakistani Supreme Court to release Maulana Abdul Aziz, an anti-American cleric who is accused of ties to terrorists and has sought to impose Islamic law in the Islamabad region.

The country also has been shaken by a series of urban shootouts between authorities and militants. In March, militants attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team, and an assault on a police academy near Lahore left 20 people dead.

On the ground, analysts said, many Pakistanis in the lower and even middle classes have a romantic view of Sharia because they are increasingly worried about their personal security and have been badly served by government courts and police. These Pakistanis also don't tend to view the nation as out of control, said Fasi Zaka, an academic, journalist and critic living in Islamabad, because most still have enough to eat and don't have the luxury of worrying about conceptual threats.

The elite sector of society tends to be more pessimistic. But they also have the ability to move their families and savings overseas.

"And I think that's part of the problem," Zaka said. "Their ability to migrate capital without suffering helps explain why the elite, businessmen, civil servants are letting go and not doing their jobs, not making tough decisions, which would entail sacrifice."

Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, said Clinton's assessment was incorrect.

He said in a CNN interview that the Swat Valley is ringed by mountains and isolated. He said the government was trying to bring peace by reaching accommodations with tribal groups, just as the U.S. forces did in Iraq.

"To think that that strategy somehow represents an abdication of our responsibility towards our people and towards the security of our country and the region is incorrect," Haqqani said.

But Clinton's concern was echoed by Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Valley Village), the committee chairman, who said he was alarmed by predictions "that Pakistan could collapse in as little as six months."

Clinton called on Pakistanis, Pakistani Americans and others in the diaspora to "speak out forcefully" in an effort to change the attitudes of the Pakistani government.

"I don't hear that kind of outrage or concern coming from enough people that would reverberate back within the highest echelons of the civilian and military leadership," she said, in her first appearance before the committee since her confirmation hearing this year.

U.S. officials have been trying to strengthen their ties with Pakistani officials. Last week, they presided at a donor conference in Tokyo that raised as much as $5 billion in aid for Pakistan. Next month, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari will travel to Washington to meet with President Obama.

"If you talk to the people in Pakistan, they don't believe the state has a judiciary system that works," she said.

She said that if the government doesn't set up a functioning system, it will lose out to militants who "claim they can solve people's problems and then they will impose this harsh form of oppression on women and others, which we find unacceptable."

Testifying on another subject, Clinton signaled that the administration was in no hurry to further ease relations with Cuba, despite the flurry of seemingly positive signs between the two countries.

"We're going to proceed very carefully in this process," she said, recalling that the Cuban government had abruptly ended a thaw during the Clinton administration by shooting down two unarmed private American planes that were distributing anti-Castro leaflets.

She said the administration wanted a "change in attitude" from the Cubans, and "so far we don't really see any movement."




By Paul Richter and Mubashir Zaidi, Los Angeles Times, April 23, 2009

Before she became secretary of state, Hillary Clinton's Senate fundraising committee paid $2.6 million to the remains of her presidential campaign as it struggled to pay down debt.

On Jan. 19, the day before President Barack Obama's inauguration, Clinton's Senate committee paid for a "purchase of assets," according to a report filed with the U.S. Federal Election Commission. The payment represented almost half of the $5.6 million that Clinton's presidential committee took in during the first quarter of this year.

When Clinton, 61, ended her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination last June, Obama pledged to help her raise money to address the remaining debt. Late last year, the New York Democrat formally wrote off $13.2 million that she lent the campaign, yet still owed $6.4 million to vendors as of Nov. 30.

Thanks in part to the purchase made by her Senate committee, Clinton had whittled the presidential debt down to $2.3 million by the end of March. She owed the whole sum to Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, the firm of her former chief strategist, Mark Penn, owned by London-based WPP Plc.

Penn's handling of the campaign and potential conflicts with his business drew criticism, and he gave up the role of chief strategist in April of last year.

Clinton adviser James Carville kicked off the most recent effort to pay off the remaining presidential debt on April 9 with an e-mail to her supporters offering them a chance to win a day with her husband, former President Bill Clinton, attend the American Idol season finale or talk politics with Carville and another Clinton adviser, Paul Begala.

Senate Campaign Spending

Clinton's Senate campaign filing shows continued spending even after she was confirmed as secretary of state on Jan. 21. Among other disbursements, the committee paid $13,743 on March 13 to Occasions Caterers for use of a venue and catering, $5,000 to Mantz Advisory Group LLC on March 16 for consulting and fundraising and thousands of dollars for travel expenses.

In addition to the income from the Senate committee, Clinton's presidential campaign got thousands of dollars from renting out its list of supporters and contacts. Obama's inaugural committee paid $274,297, as did the William J. Clinton Foundation, the charitable group her husband formed after leaving office. Hillary Clinton's leadership political action committee, Hillpac, paid $822,492 to rent the list.

Phone and e-mail messages left for State Department officials weren't immediately returned. The directory-assistance number for Clinton's Senate campaign committee, Friends of Hillary, is disconnected.

Campaign committees often outlast a candidacy, often spending money on administrative needs and handling outstanding bills. Former Ohio Senator John Glenn's 1984 Democratic presidential campaign committee was still submitting FEC reports through the end of 2005.

Clinton was first elected to the Senate in 2000 and won re- election in 2006.

By Kristin Jensen, Bloomberg, April 22, 2009

At a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing this afternoon, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton defended her boss's foreign policy views in a way that seemed to suggest that she personally holds a different view than does President Obama, but that he beat her in the Democratic presidential primaries, so his view wins.

The remark came after Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., challenged Clinton on "the issue of the president being photographed with the virulent anti-American socialist dictator of Venezuela," President Hugo Chavez.

Pence called Chavez "a Castro wannabe" who has "oppressed the media,... bullied economic interests,... (and) blacklisted political opponents."

The Indiana Republican quoted remarks then-Sen. Clinton, D-N.Y., made in July 2007 regarding potential meetings with the leaders of North Korea, Venezuela, or Cuba: "I will not promise to meet with the leaders of these countries during my first year. I don't want to be used for propaganda purposes."
Pence asked: "In light of your previously stated insight, isn't it true that having the president of the United States be seen on the world stage warmly greeting a virulent anti-American socialist dictator that intentionally or unintentionally our president was used 'for propaganda purposes,' to borrow the phrase that you used?"

Said Clinton: "President Obama won the election. He beat me in a primary, in which he put forth a different approach. And he is now our president, and we all want our president, no matter of which party, to succeed, especially in such a perilous time."

The Secretary of State also said that the U.S. "spent eight years trying to isolate Chavez, and what has been the result? I don't think it's been in America's interest. So we're going to try some different things."

She also said she recalled, during the Cold War, "virulent anti-American communist dictators threatening our country on a regular basis, and I remember our presidents meeting with them, shaking their hands, and negotiating. They did not do so without conditions or without strong principles, but they did so ... Your strong feelings about Hugo Chavez are certainly understood, because he has clearly been someone who has behaved in ways that don't accord with our values and our principles, but so were the Soviet leaders, and so did so many others with whom we eventually created an environment in which we could see some changes that benefited the United States of America."

Concluded the former first lady, "my bottom line is, I am here to serve my country, which I have loved ever since I was a little girl. And I'm going to support my president, because he is committed to doing whatever he can in the time he is given to serve to make this a better, safer, more secure world. So I appreciate your strong feelings, but I think that we are pursuing a course that may very well open up some additional opportunities that we hope will be in our interests, and advance our values, and protect our security."

By Jake Tapper, ABC News, April 22, 2009

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the U.S. won't give in to North Korea's "unpredictable behavior" after Kim Jong Il's regime said it quit nuclear disarmament talks.

The U.S. has made it clear it is prepared to resume the negotiations, also involving China, Russia, Japan and South Korea, Clinton told the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington yesterday.

"The North Koreans have not demonstrated any willingness to resume the six-party process," Clinton said. "I think we have to be strong, patient, persistent and not give in to the kind of back-and-forth, the unpredictable behavior of the North Korean regime."

North Korea vowed to permanently quit the six-party talks last week after the United Nations condemned its April 5 test of a suspected ballistic missile. The communist state said it would resume reprocessing spent atomic fuel at its Yongbyon plant, the source of its weapons-grade plutonium, and consider building new reactors. Kim's government also expelled inspectors from the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency.

By Heejin Koo, Bloomberg, April 23, 2009

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Russia launched a mission Thursday to try to get North Korea back into international disarmament talks, sending its top diplomat to Pyongyang after the North announced it would restart its nuclear program.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in North Korea for a two-day visit that could include a meeting with leader Kim Jong Il. The North's Korean Central News Agency reported Lavrov's arrival in Pyongyang in a brief dispatch.

North Korea last week expelled all international monitors of its plutonium-producing facilities, vowed to restart them and quit six-nation disarmament talks, after the U.N. Security Council condemned its April 5 rocket launch.

Pyongyang says the rebuke is unfair because the liftoff was a peaceful satellite launch. But the U.S. and others believe it was a test of long-range missile technology.

Lavrov is expected to focus on trying to persuade the North to return to the nuclear negotiating table. South Korean and Russian media reports said he could meet with the North's reclusive leader and deliver a letter from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei said earlier this week that the North could restart its nuclear facilities within months — a move that could lead to production of weapons-grade plutonium.

North Korea's relations are not as close with Russia as they were during Soviet times, but the two sides maintain cordial ties. Moscow is a member of the six-party nuclear talks and usually avoids openly criticizing Pyongyang.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said the U.S. is working on trying to get Pyongyang's decision reversed.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told a House hearing that Washington is ready to resume the nuclear talks and that she thinks "strong support that we see among the parties against what North Korea's doing will eventually yield fruit," according to Yonhap news agency.

"We have to be strong, patient and consistent and not give in to the kind of back and forth and the unpredictable behavior of the North Korean regime," Clinton was quoted as saying.

Lavrov also plans to visit South Korea on Friday after the North Korean trip.

Tensions on the divided peninsula have been also been running high. The two sides held their first official dialogue Tuesday since Seoul's conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office last year, but the meeting ended without progress.

North Korea rejected the South's request for the release of a Seoul worker being held at a joint industrial zone in Kaesong, just north of the border, for allegedly denouncing Pyongyang's political system. The North also demanded the South pay more to use the factory park.

Relations between the two Koreas have frayed badly as North Korea has denounced the South Korean government's tougher stance. It cut off reconciliation talks and suspended key joint projects, leaving the industrial zone as the only major remaining project.

Under a 2007 six-party deal, North Korea agreed to disable its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon north of Pyongyang in return for 1 million tons of fuel oil and other concessions. In June 2008, North Korea blew up the cooling tower there in a dramatic show of its commitment to denuclearization.

But disablement came to halt a month later as Pyongyang wrangled with Washington over how to verify its past atomic activities. The latest round of talks, in December, failed to push the process forward.

By JAE-SOON CHANG, The Associated Press, April 23, 2009

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkey and Armenia have agreed on a roadmap for normalizing relations and reaching reconciliation, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Wednesday, but it wasn't immediately clear how they would tackle their bitter dispute over Ottoman-era killings of ethnic Armenians.

Turkish officials would not discuss that issue and the ministry statement said only that the two countries had worked out a framework for reaching a solution that would satisfy both sides. There was no immediate comment from Armenia's government.

Armenia says 1.5 million Armenians were slain by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I in what Armenians and several other nations recognize as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey vehemently rejects the allegation, saying that the death toll was inflated and that Armenians died in civil unrest as the Ottoman Empire collapsed.

The announcement came just weeks after President Barack Obama, during a visit to Turkey, called on his hosts to come to terms with the past, resolve its dispute with Armenia and reopen the border. The European Union has also put pressure on Turkey, which is seeking to join the bloc.

Obama avoided the term "genocide" when he addressed Turkish lawmakers. But he said, in response to a question, that he had not changed his views on the question. As a presidential candidate, Obama said the killings amounted to genocide.

His call on this U.S. ally and predominantly Muslim country heated up debate over what course Turkey should take in relations with Armenia. The government had already been working to improve ties with Armenia while facing deep-seated domestic antagonism toward its neighbor over the genocide charge.

Turkey has long proposed to Armenia to establish a joint group of historians to study the bloodsheds, saying it has opened its archives for research.

The accord was announced hours after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton praised what she described as bold reconciliation efforts between Turkey and Armenia.

In its statement, the Foreign Ministration said the two nations "have recorded solid progress and reached mutual understanding to normalize ties in a way to satisfy both sides, agreeing on a comprehensive framework. Within this framework, a roadmap has been determined."

Turkey wants its talks with Armenia to advance in parallel with negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan over disputed territory controlled by Armenia.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia during that nation's conflict with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Turkey backs Azerbaijan's claim to the disputed region, which has a high number of ethnic Armenian residents but lies within Azerbaijan's borders.

Clinton said the United States had assured Azerbaijan it would intensify efforts to resolve the dispute.

By SELCAN HACAOGLU, The Associated Press, April 23, 2009

The administration is preparing tough sanctions in case offers of diplomacy are rejected or ineffective with Iran, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says.

"(We) are more than willing to reach out to the Iranians to discuss a range of issues, assuming they're willing to reach back," Clinton told the House Foreign Affairs Committee Wednesday. "As the president said in his inaugural address, we'll hold out our hand. They have to unclench their fist."

However, "we are also laying the groundwork for the kind of very tough ... sanctions that might be necessary in the event that our offers are either rejected or the process is inconclusive or unsuccessful," she said.

Clinton said the administration's diplomatic efforts to engage Iran on its nuclear aspirations and other issues would put it in a position of strength if additional sanctions are necessary. The United States already has committed to group negotiations with Iran on its in nuclear work.

"We actually believe that by following the diplomatic path we are on, we gain credibility and influence with a number of nations who would have to participate in order to make the sanctions regime as tight and crippling as we would want it to be," she said.

Concerning Iranian-American freelance journalist Roxana Saberi, sentenced to eight years on spying charges, Clinton said Saberi was being held in "an arbitrary and terribly unfair, unprecedented, unjustified way, she should be able to come home."

United Press International, April 22, 2009

MOSCOW (AP) - A Russian news agency says Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will travel to Washington next month for talks on nuclear nonproliferation with U.S. counterpart Hillary Rodham Clinton.

RIA Novosti cites Foreign Ministry official Igor Neverov as saying the talks will take place May 7.

U.S. President Barack Obama has made curbing the nuclear threat a top priority. The current agreement between Washington and Moscow to limit nuclear arsenals, known as the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, expires Dec. 5.

Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have set a nominal July deadline for the substitute treaty. That date would coincide with Obama's first presidential visit to Russia.

The Associated Press, April 23, 2009

House Republicans today tried to pummel Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton with questions about the administration's decision to release Justice Department memos permitting tough interrogation techniques of detainees, but she gave no ground.

At one point during Clinton's hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) cited former vice president Richard Cheney, who has claimed that the administration is suppressing documents that show a more positive picture of the effectiveness of techniques and also that the Bush administration tried to correct problems as they arose.

"It won't surprise you that I don't consider him a particularly reliable source of information," Clinton shot back.




By Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post, April 23, 2009

The Pakistani government "is basically abdicating to the Taliban and to the extremists," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told Congress yesterday in an unusually blunt statement that reflects the unease within the Obama administration about an agreement authorized by President Asif Ali Zardari last week.

The agreement would permit sharia, or Islamic law, in the Swat Valley -- just 100 miles west of the capital, Islamabad -- and was reached after the Pakistani military failed to rout Taliban fighters there.

Clinton, appearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, tempered her remarks by saying that the Pakistani government needs to improve its delivery of justice and services -- precisely what leaders there aim to do with billions of dollars in new U.S. assistance.

"Look at why this is happening," Clinton said, referring to the Swat Valley agreement. "If you talk to people in Pakistan, especially in the ungoverned territories, which are increasing in number, they don't believe the state has a judiciary system that works. It's corrupt. It doesn't extend its power into the countryside."

Saying Taliban and extremist advances posed "an existential threat" to Pakistan, Clinton urged Pakistanis worldwide to speak out against the government's ceding of ground to insurgents who she said intended to overthrow the government of a nuclear-armed country.

Responding to Clinton's comments, Husain Haqqani, the Pakistani ambassador to the United States, told CNN: "Yes, we have a challenge. But no, we do not have a situation in which the government or the country of Pakistan is about to fall to the Taliban."

Clinton's testimony before the committee marked the former senator's first appearance on Capitol Hill since her confirmation hearings. She answered questions for four hours, charming even skeptical Republicans with offers to work together but brushing aside tough questions on abortion rights and interrogation practices with sharply worded answers.

At one point, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) cited former vice president Richard B. Cheney, who has claimed that the administration is suppressing documents that show a more positive picture of the effectiveness of interrogation techniques and also that the Bush administration tried to correct problems as they arose.

"It won't surprise you that I don't consider him a particularly reliable source of information," Clinton shot back.

Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) challenged Clinton on President Obama's handshake with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, noting that during the presidential primaries, she had knocked Obama for expressing a willingness to consider such meetings. "President Obama won the election. He beat me in a primary in which he put forth a different approach," she replied. "And he is now our president and we all want our president, no matter of which party, to succeed, especially in such a perilous time."

On Pakistan, the dilemma for the administration is that the more the Zardari government makes deals like the Swat agreement, the more difficult it becomes for Congress to do what the administration wants on Pakistan.

Rep Howard L. Berman (D-Calif.), the committee chairman, has introduced legislation authorizing $7.5 billion in economic and development aid and $3 billion in military assistance over the next five years -- exactly what the administration wants. But the bill includes a list of conditions and reporting benchmarks that both the administration and the Pakistanis consider onerous. The administration would prefer a Senate version that would contain fewer and vaguer conditions.

By Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post, April 23, 2009

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday the United States would not deal with or fund a Palestinian government that includes Hamas unless the Palestinians meet three international conditions.

"We will not deal with nor in any way fund a Palestinian government that includes Hamas unless and until Hamas has renounced violence, recognized Israel and agrees to follow the previous obligations of the Palestinian Authority," Clinton told the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs committee.

Clinton said she has made the U.S. position clear during conversations with Arab and other allies. The United States has pushed for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, where an independent Palestinian state exists alongside Israel.

"We want to leave the door open" to including Hamas, Clinton said.

"From everything we hear, there is no intention on the part of Hamas to meet those conditions, but these are not just American conditions. These are the conditions that were adopted by the quartet," she said.

"These are actually the conditions ... in the Arab peace initiative," she said.

President Barack Obama on Tuesday urged Israel and the Palestinians to "step back from the abyss" and invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for separate talks in early June.




By Sue Pleming and John Whitesides, Reuters, April 22, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) - By trying to talk Iran out of its nuclear program, the U.S. is in a better position to organize tougher international sanctions in the event that diplomacy fails, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday.

"We actually believe that by following the diplomatic path we are on, we gain credibility and influence with a number of nations who would have to participate in order to make the sanctions regime as tight and as crippling as we would want it to be," Clinton told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Iran denies that its nuclear program is intended to develop weapons.

The official Iranian news agency IRNA reported Wednesday that Iran welcomes a "constructive" dialogue with world powers over its nuclear program, but insisted that it won't halt its uranium enrichment activities.

The Iranian report was in response to an invitation from the United States, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia for a new round of nuclear talks. No date has been set.

Clinton said the administration is confident that with the help of international partners, it can put together a comprehensive sanctions regime against Iran, "should we need it." She said it would be needed "in the event we are unsuccessful or stonewalled in our other approach."

The House hearing was Clinton's first congressional testimony since her confirmation hearing in January, and the questions were mostly friendly. Panel members initially focused mainly on Iran, the Islamic extremist threat in Pakistan and U.S. policy toward Cuba. Some Republicans pressed her on the administration's release of formerly classified documents on detainee interrogation methods used during the Bush administration, but she deflected those inquiries, saying it was not a matter for her to discuss publicly.

Clinton said Iran and its nuclear program are one of the administration's highest foreign policy priorities.

"We are deploying new approaches to the threat posed by Iran and we're doing so with our eyes wide open and with no illusions," she said.

"We know the imperative of preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons," she added. "After years during which the United States basically sat on the sidelines, we are now a full partner" in international talks on Iran.

The committee chairman, Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., asked Clinton how much time it would take to get results on Iran. She did not reply directly but said the administration believes it has set the stage for progress by interacting more directly with allies and by reaching out to the Iranian authorities.

"It is going to be a more successful engagement if our partners around the world understand they must work with us," including on consultations aimed at imposing tougher sanctions on Iran, Clinton said.

"The fact that we are engaging ... actually gives us more leverage with other nations."

Clinton was asked about the case of Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent from Coral Springs, Fla., last seen on Iran's Kish Island on March 8, 2007. He disappeared while investigating cigarette smuggling for a client of his private security firm. Clinton complained that "there has been nothing coming out of the Iranian government" on Levinson and said the administration would not give up on the case.

In her opening remarks to the panel, Clinton said the core goal of President Barack Obama's anti-terror strategy is to defeat al-Qaida and prevent its return to Afghanistan.

Berman said the panel is concerned about Islamic extremists gaining momentum in Pakistan. The California Democrat said the U.S. cannot allow the extremists to take over Pakistan or to operate with impunity on Afghanistan's border.

Clinton asserted in response that the international community is working closely together to address the problem of extremism in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

By ROBERT BURNS, The Associated Press, April 22, 2009

USA TODAY's Ken Dilanian is covering Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton today in her first appearance before Congress as the nation's top diplomat.

He files these excerpts from her testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs:

-- Clinton said the Obama administration has "put forward a new diplomacy powered by partnership, pragmatism and principle." She said the administration is reaching out to Iran, but "we are also laying the groundwork for the kind of very tough, crippling sanctions that might be necessary in the event that our offers are rejected."

-- At one point, Clinton had a sharp exchange with Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who blasted her for recently praising Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood. Smith called Sanger "an unapologetic eugenicist and racist."

Clinton's response: "Congressman, I deeply respect your passionate concern and views. ... We obviously have a profound disagreement. When I think about the suffering that I have seen of women around the world ... I've been in African countries where 12 and 13-year-old girls are bearing children ... denying access to services actually increased the rate of abortion. ..."

-- Regarding the possible prosecution of Bush administration officials who produced the legal justification for using enhanced interrogation techniques against detainees, Clinton restated President Obama's recent comments on the issue:

"No one will be prosecuted who acted within the four corners of the legal advice that was given ... however, those who formulated the legal opinions and gave those orders should be reviewed."

-- Speaking to Rep. Dana Rohrbacher, R-Calif., she said of former vice president Dick Cheney, who has criticized the Obama administration actions on the interrogation issue: "It won't surprise you that I don't consider him a particularly reliable source."

-- Clinton called on the Pakistani diaspora to "speak out forcefully" against the Pakistani government's policy of "ceding more and more territory to the insurgents and the Taliban." She said they are not doing enough.

"I think that we cannot underscore the seriousness (enough)," she said, adding that "a loosely confederated group of terrorists and others who are seeking the overthrow of the Ppakistani state" are "now within hours of Islamabad."

By Doug Stanglin, USA Today, April 22, 2009

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday the Obama administration is prepared to push for tough sanctions against Iran if the new dialogue fails.

In her first testimony to Congress since her confirmation as the US chief diplomat in January, Clinton also defended President Barack Obama's overtures to communist Cuba, a regime she said is ending, and voiced fears over Taliban advances in Pakistan.

Clinton sought to reassure Howard Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who backed dialogue with Tehran but asked if Washington could garner enough support to impose "crippling sanctions" if it fails.

She said the Obama administration had "more leverage with other nations" through its role in negotiations with the other four UN Security Council members -- Russia, China, France and Britain -- plus Germany.

Its additional decision to invite Iran "as I did, to the conference in The Hague on Afghanistan increases even further our ability to ask more from other nations," she added.

Iran must reciprocate or face the consequences, she said during a hearing in which Democrats showered her with praise for boosting the image of Washington abroad after eight years under Republican president George W. Bush.

"But we are also laying the groundwork for the kind of very tough, I think you said crippling, sanctions that might be necessary in the event that our offers are either rejected or the process is inconclusive or unsuccessful," she told Berman.

The UN Security Council has already imposed three rounds of sanctions on Iran, though they are not as strong as Washington wants amid resistance from Moscow and Beijing.

Iran said on Wednesday it is ready for "constructive dialogue" with world powers on its nuclear drive, after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad welcomed the US policy shift towards Tehran.

But Iran refuses to halt its nuclear program, which Western nations fear could be a cover for efforts to build an atomic bomb, despite Tehran's insistence that it is aimed only at generating electricity.

Clinton also said Taliban advances pose "an existential threat" to Pakistan and urged Pakistanis worldwide to speak out against a government policy ceding ground to militants bent on overthrowing the nuclear-armed state of Pakistan.

Pakistani officials said Wednesday that Taliban militants in Pakistan's Swat valley have moved closer to Islamabad in a bid to broaden their control despite a deal designed to allow sharia law to end extremist violence.

Indications of a spread of Taliban activism will likely fuel criticism of the accord for Swat agreed by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari earlier this month, which the United States said amounted to capitulation.

Clinton added later that the Pakistan government is "basically abdicating to the Taliban and the extremists."

On the Middle East, Clinton defended the administration's push for a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians, after one lawmaker suggested Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas was too weak to lead a state.

Clinton defended US efforts to improve ties with Cuba as the country faces a transition.

"You can see there is beginning to be a debate," Clinton said, referring to differences between President Raul Castro and his older brother, Fidel, the ailing longtime leader, over Obama's overture.

"I mean this is a regime that is ending. It will end at some point," Clinton said.

The secretary of state also called for a new approach to President Hugo Chavez's Venezuela, which has been a thorn in the US side, after saying previous attempts to isolate him had not worked.

At times Clinton slapped down Republican lawmakers who took the administration to task over its policy to engage former foes and abandon the harsh interrogations of terror suspects.

"It won't surprise you that I don't consider him a particularly reliable source," she said, dismissing former Vice President Dick Cheney's claim that classified documents prove that such interrogations yielded key intelligence.

AFP, April 22, 2009

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is telling representatives from 16 major world economies that the United States is moving quickly to address global warming.

At an international forum on energy and climate change Monday, Clinton said the U.S. is fully engaged and no longer doubts the urgency or magnitude of the climate change problem.

She cited the recent finding by the EPA that six greenhouse gases pose threats to human health and welfare as a sign that the Obama administration was taking action.

The Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate Change was announced in March by President Barack Obama. Its goal is to work toward a successful new international agreement to curb climate-changing pollution.

By DINA CAPPIELLO, Associated Press, April 27, 2009

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton completed a three-day Middle East trip intended to reassure Arab allies of U.S. support as the Obama administration begins to pull forces out of Iraq and engage with Iran and Syria.

Clinton's message in Lebanon, Iraq and Kuwait was consistent: President Barack Obama will stand against sectarian violence and attempts by neighboring states to destabilize the region, and won't hurt old friends while trying to build bridges to Mideast adversaries.

In Beirut yesterday, Clinton called for the June 7 parliamentary elections in Lebanon to be "without the specter of violence or intimidation, and free of outside interference."

Syria and Iran support and fund Hezbollah, an influential militant Shiite group and political party that may emerge from Lebanese elections as part of the dominant coalition.

Clinton also pledged that U.S. efforts to thaw ties with neighboring Syria, whose forces once occupied Lebanon, won't be at the expense of Lebanese safety or sovereignty.

In Baghdad on April 25, Clinton promised U.S. support for "a stable, sovereign, self-reliant Iraq" even as the U.S. begins a phased withdrawal of troops starting with the pullout from Iraqi cities by June 30.

Baghdad Bombings

Clinton arrived unannounced in the Iraqi capital after two days of bombings there that killed more than 150 people, many of them Iranian Shiite pilgrims. Clinton said she didn't believe the attacks augured a return to the Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence that engulfed Iraq in 2006 and led President George W. Bush to send military reinforcements.

Iraqi politicians from all sects have condemned the latest violence and urged restraint rather than reprisals.

The Iraqi people and their leaders have been firm in refusing to let the violence "set Iraqi against Iraqi, which is obviously one of its intended goals," Clinton said at a press conference with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.

Zebari said he doesn't believe the attacks "will derail government determination to pursue its plans to stabilize the country," and to "ensure there is no vacuum" during the American troop withdrawal.

Clinton said the U.S. believes "some of the recent suicide bombers most likely came across the border through Syria," and that the U.S. and Iraq were raising their concerns with Syrian authorities. The use of Syria as a gateway into Iraq for insurgents has been a persistent concern of the U.S.

Her Confidence

Clinton demonstrated her confidence in the security situation in Iraq by not wearing body armor over her flame-red blazer.

"I read the intelligence reports, and I didn't think it was necessary," she said in a brief aside. "I think we want to send a different message." Clinton said she did wear protective armor on two previous trips, in 2003 and 2007.

Obama, in a visit to Iraq on April 7, encouraged Iraqi leaders to push toward political unity. Obama this month requested an additional $75.8 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for the rest of this fiscal year.

At each of her stops, Clinton heard concerns from Arab allies about the direction of American efforts to engage Syria and Iran.

A U.S. official said that in Kuwait City on April 24, Clinton privately gave Kuwaiti officials a message that she has delivered to other oil-rich allies: they will be consulted as the U.S. reaches out to Iran. Persian Gulf allies are deeply suspicious of Iran's ambitions and influence with extremist groups in the region.

The U.S. and its European allies are seeking to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, while Iran insists its nuclear aims are peaceful and lawful.

Planned Talks

The Obama administration has agreed to join planned talks with Iran on the dispute. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on ABC television's "This Week" program that his government is preparing to offer the U.S. and European nations an updated version of a one-year-old proposal for talks about its nuclear program.

Clinton's brief visit to Beirut coincided with the fourth anniversary of the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon.

"The United States will never make any deal with Syria that sells out Lebanon or the Lebanese people," Clinton said. "It is only right that you are given the chance to make your own decisions."

Hezbollah's campaign so far has emphasized anti-corruption and consensus governance. The group's leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, has said it would form a government of national unity in the interests of stability.

Christians and Muslims

From 1975 to 1990, Lebanon was wracked by a civil war that primarily pitted Christians against Muslims. Under Lebanon's political system, the 128-seat legislature must be half- Christian and half Muslim. The pro-U.S. coalition, mostly Sunnis with Christian and Druze allies, has 70 seats.

Hezbollah and its allies have one-third of the seats in the Cabinet.

Since 2006, the U.S. has given more than $1 billion to Lebanon, including $410 million to the country's security forces. The steps followed Hezbollah's month-long war with U.S. ally Israel in 2006.

After meeting with President Michel Suleiman in the Baabda Palace, Clinton visited Martyrs Square and laid a wreath at the tomb of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. The U.S. withdrew its ambassador to Syria in 2005 following Hariri's assassination, which investigators linked to Syria. The Syrian government has denied any role in the attack.

U.S. diplomats and lawmakers have met with Syrian officials in Damascus during the past two months, in a sign of warming ties.

By Indira A.R. Lakshmanan, Bloomberg, April 27, 2009

BEIRUT - Ahead of an election that could oust the U.S.-backed Beirut government, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday that Washington supports "voices of moderation" and never will make a deal Syria that "sells out" Lebanon's interests.

The June 7 vote could boost the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its allies, possibly paving the way for renewed Syrian influence over Lebanon.

"The people of Lebanon must be able to choose their own representatives in open and fair elections without the specter of violence or intimidation and free of outside interference," Clinton told a news conference after meeting with President Michel Suleiman.

"Beyond the elections, we will continue to support the voices of moderation in Lebanon and the responsible institutions of the Lebanese state they are working hard to build. Our ongoing support for the Lebanese armed forces remains a pillar of our bilateral cooperation," she added.

Syria dominated Lebanon for nearly three decades before it was forced to withdraw its tens of thousands of troops four years ago in the wake of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. There have been concerns among anti-Syrian factions in the pro-U.S. parliamentary majority that the Obama administration's talks with Syria could weaken American support for Lebanon.

In a possible sign of a new diplomatic openness between the U.S. and Syria, American officials noted that Clinton's Air Force plane flew to Lebanon from Kuwait directly through Syrian airspace, instead of bypassing it as such flights usually do.

Clinton returned to Washington on Sunday night.

Clinton said she delivered a letter from Obama to Suleiman expressing strong support for a free, sovereign and independent Lebanon. She said U.S. attempts to engage Syria and Iran are not being done at the expense of that support.

"There is nothing that we would do in any way that would undermine Lebanon's sovereignty," Clinton said. "I want to assure any Lebanese citizen that the United States will never make any deal with Syria that sells out Lebanon and the Lebanese people. You have been through too much and it is only right that you are given a chance to make your own decisions," Clinton said.

"It's a complicated neighborhood you live in and you have the right to your own future," she added.

Hezbollah spokesman Ibrahim Mussawi said Clinton's visit could have a negative impact on the pro-U.S. factions in the country. Speaking on the group's Al-Manar TV after Clinton arrived, Mussawi said it was too early to tell whether the Obama administration has reassessed its policy.

But, he added, American "interference in the past was never positive." He also criticized what he termed a "double standard and deception," when the U.S. calls for Islamic factions to participate in elections and then refuses to accept the results if they win.

Clinton first trip to one of the most volatile countries in the Middle East lasted a little less than three hours. She would not speculate on the results of the election and what the U.S. would do if Hezbollah wins, stressing a free and fair elections.

U.S. officials have said they would review aid to Lebanon, including military assistance, depending on the composition of the new government. The United States has provided $1 billion in aid since 2006, including $410 million in security assistance to the military and the police.

Although the U.S. and Israel regard Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, the militant Shiite group shares power in Lebanon's current government and along with its allies, has veto power on major decisions. A strong showing by Hezbollah would further boost Iranian and Syrian influence in the Mideast and could harm Arab-Israeli peace efforts.

While urging free and fair elections, the Obama administration is treading carefully. The Bush administration encouraged the Palestinian legislative elections in 2006 and then saw the radical Hamas movement win handily and badly damage efforts to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

Reflecting that concern, Clinton met during her brief stay with just one senior official, Suleiman.

U.S. officials say her meeting with Suleiman only is because the U.S. doesn't want to be seen as taking sides in the elections. Suleiman is considered a consensus leader and neutral in the political struggle.

Even if it wins, Hezbollah cannot rule alone because of Lebanon's complex, sectarian power-sharing system in which the major of the 18 sects must be represented in parliament and the Cabinet.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah says the group knows that trying to dominate Lebanon's politics would destabilize the country. In the past four years, Lebanon has nearly tumbled into a repeat of the 1975-90 civil war as the pro-Syrian and pro-U.S. camps struggled for the upper hand.

Hezbollah has taken the strategy of a low-key election campaign with a moderate message, aiming to show that a victory by its coalition should not scare anyone. Nasrallah has even said that if the coalition wins, it would invite its opponents to join in a national unity government to ensure stability.

Before leaving Lebanon, Clinton stopped at Hariri's grave to lay a wreath. She renewed U.S. support for an international tribunal based in the Netherlands to try his killers. "There needs to be an absolute end to an era of impunity for political assassinations in Lebanon," Clinton said.

By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press, April 26, 2009

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she had raised the case of ailing Libyan political dissident Fathi al-Jahmi when she met Libya's national security adviser on Tuesday.

The United States has repeatedly urged Libya to release Jahmi, a former provincial governor who has been held since 2002 on a series of charges, including trying to overthrow the government and insulting Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

"We did raise human rights issues and specifically the case you referenced with the security adviser today," Clinton told reporters, referring to her talks with Mutassim Gaddafi, the son of the Libyan leader.

Jahmi, whose family says he is in deteriorating health, was first arrested in 2002 after he criticized Gaddafi and called for open elections, a free press and the release of political prisoners. He was released in March 2004 and re-arrested the same month after repeating his criticism of the Libyan leader.

U.S.-Libyan relations have dramatically improved since Tripoli's December 2003 decision to give up its weapons of mass destruction programs. The United States has ended its major economic sanctions on Libya and has dropped it from a State Department blacklist for "state sponsors of terrorism."

However, some Libyan officials believe their country has not been sufficiently rewarded by the United States, which continues to have concerns about Libya's human rights record.

In its annual survey of human rights, the State Department called Libya's record "poor," described it as an "authoritarian regime" and cited reports of disappearances, torture, arbitrary arrest and official impunity.

State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters that Clinton and the national security adviser had a "productive" meeting in which they discussed security cooperation and expanding the relationship between their countries.

"We are trying to move forward with our relationship," Wood said. "The secretary looks forward to working with the government of Libya on improving our bilateral relationship and dealing with some of these thorny issues where we disagree."

Reuters, April 21, 2009

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Tuesday for stronger ties between the United States and its former foe Libya, during a meeting with a son of Colonel Moamer Kadhafi, the Libyan leader.

"We deeply value the relationship between the United States and Libya," Clinton told reporters as she received Mutassim Kadhafi, who serves as his father's national security adviser.

"We have many opportunities to deepen and broaden our cooperation and I am very much looking forward to building on this relationship," the chief US diplomat said before shaking the young man's hand.

Speaking again later with journalists, Clinton said she had discussed with the younger Kadhafi the issue of alleged human rights violations in Libya, including the case of Fathi al-Jahmi, who has been seriously ill.

"We did raise human rights issues, and specifically the case you referenced," Clinton told a reporter who asked about Jahmi. She did not elaborate.

Jahmi has been held since 2004 after publicly calling for democracy, criticizing Moamer Kadhafi's regime and meeting with a foreign official.

In 1981, the United States cut diplomatic ties with Libya, which it accused of supporting terrorism.

That set the stage for more than two decades of clashes and tension before US-Libyan ties were restored in early 2004, a few weeks after Kadhafi announced Tripoli was abandoning efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction.

In 2006, the United States announced a full normalization of ties, dropping Libya from a State Department list of state sponsors of terrorism and raising diplomatic relations to the level of ambassadors.

Ties however were not fully normalized until late last year following a US-Libyan deal to compensate victims of terrorism as well as of US attacks on Libya.

In a letter published April 3 in The New York Times, Libya's ambassador to Washington, Ali Aujali, complained that Libya had not benefited enough from its decision to scrap weapons of mass destruction.

"Our experience sends the opposite signal to countries like Iran and North Korea," he said.

"Washington never considered whether our two countries could forge a new relationship that would positively influence how other proliferators calculate the costs and benefits of parting with their weapons of mass destruction," he said.

"The United States needs to send a stronger message that Libya has made the right decision," he wrote.

In November, the US Senate confirmed the appointment of career diplomat Gene Cretz as the first US ambassador to Libya in 36 years.

AFP, April 21, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) - The State Department says it is looking for ways to expand cooperation with Libya.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met Tuesday in Washington with Mutassim Gadhafi, the son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. The younger Gadhafi is the country's national security adviser.

State Department spokesman Robert Wood called the meeting productive and focused on security cooperation. He would not say if Clinton raised human rights issues.

Relations between Libya and the United States have warmed since Moammar Gadhafi renounced terrorism in 2003 and gave up efforts to develop nuclear weapons. The move ended years of international isolation.

The Associated Press, April 21, 2009

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned Wednesday that Pakistan's government is "basically abdicating to the Taliban" by agreeing to let them implement Islamic law in the Swat region last week. Instead of putting down their weapons, as the government had hoped, the insurgents have since moved fighters into the neighboring Buner region, local lawmaker Istiqbal Khan said.

President Asif Ali Zardari has blamed the Taliban for a wave of assassinations in Swat in recent months, and he condemned a recent video that showed militants flogging a young woman they accused of having an improper relationship.

Rehman Malik, the head of Pakistan's interior ministry, told parliament Wednesday that Zardari will not allow militants to take control of the nuclear-armed country. "If there is no peace, the government will use force," he said.

The Taliban is gaining strength in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, where they ruled until the U.S. invasion in 2001. President Obama has ordered an additional 21,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan before the end of the year and has called on Zardari to crack down on areas such as Swat that could be used as bases for terrorists plotting to strike the U.S. Clinton told Congress that Pakistan "poses a mortal threat to the security" of the U.S. and the world.

Even some in Pakistan's relatively peaceful cities now feel unsafe. "The whole country is under threat," said Zahoor Ahmed, 41, a security guard.

The militants' actions have stirred a backlash among some. Hard-line cleric Sufi Muhammad, who brokered the Swat deal on behalf of the Taliban, called this week for Islamic law to be enforced nationwide - drawing condemnation even from conservatives. Muhammad "should not make these statements," said Sayed Munawar Hasan, the head of a major religious party.

Perceptions that the government has surrendered to the militants in Swat are "a misunderstanding," said Shoaib Bhutta, a journalist and confidant of Zardari's. By cutting the Swat deal, the president "wanted to show ... supporters of the militants what kind of people they are," Bhutta said.

Now, he says, the Pakistani public is finally realizing that "supporting this evil, which is eating our own people, would be a sin. If there is war, the public will support the government."

By Paul Wiseman and Zafar M. Sheikh, USA TODAY, April 21, 2009