ABC’s Jim Sciutto: Team Clinton Trying to Soften Hillary’s Sharp Comments
EmailABC's Jim Sciutto reports from Islamabad: Tonight, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's spokesman, Assistant Secretary of State PJ Crowley, was trying hard to put her blunt comments today into some sort of diplomatic context. It was the quote of the day, Hillary Clinton speaking to a roundtable for Pakistani newspaper editors: "I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they (Al Qaeda leaders) are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to.” Crowley explained that part of the message this trip has been "If this is going to be a partnership, it's going to be a two-way process.” And he cited some other examples of things the secretary called her Pakistani counterparts on. The example he mentioned was the country’s very low income tax rate, even as the US is pouring billions of its own dollars into the country. When I told him there’s a pretty wide chasm between criticizing a country’s tax rate and accusing its leaders of harboring terrorists, he said, “It was a slightly caveat-ed statement. She wasn't necessarily pointing the finger. She did say he may not be gettable” (which she did). But he added, “From our standpoint, this is something very important to us.”
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Soften what ? Tell them like it is…They keep getting billions from us..they know their mountain ranges and their territory.,..they preobably do know but the money will stop flowng so freely if they tell….. either that or Iran has something to do with hiding him. Either way Clinton is right and it needs to stop.
Posted by: jimbo | October 29, 2009, 3:21 pm 3:21 pm
Wow for once in my life I agree with a Clinton, even Hillary! I back her 100% don’t sugar coat it. It’s the truth.
Posted by: Big Daddy | October 29, 2009, 3:35 pm 3:35 pm
It takes a woman to get at the truth
Posted by: jwald | October 29, 2009, 3:37 pm 3:37 pm
Go get em Hillary! I’ve agreed with you more than Big Daddy… but if he’s on your side, you’ve got some real support! No offense Big Daddy…
Posted by: Head Scratcher | October 29, 2009, 3:50 pm 3:50 pm
GO Clinton GO !! Tell them what’s what . We know it , Obama knows it , they TOO know it , where’s Bin ? It’s time to put up , or shut up .
Posted by: Dwight | October 29, 2009, 3:54 pm 3:54 pm
I feel the tough comments are necessary to let the world we are not going to stand idly buy and let the Taliban & Al Qaeda continue hiding in their territory to kill more US soldiers, Afghanistan & Pakistani citizens. I know many diplomats like kid gloves & such, but sometimes you need to use some sort of shock factor to get your point across.
Good Girl Hillary.
Posted by: Rob | October 29, 2009, 3:58 pm 3:58 pm
Obama can smile and give pretty speeches *because* he carries some pretty pointy sticks in his administration. Clinton wasn’t saber rattling, she was telling the truth and giving voice to a real American sentiment – not Democrat, not Republican, but American opinion. Also, while she accused the Pakistanis of harboring terrorists, she also spoke to them as equals with an assumed level of competence.
Posted by: jhw539 | October 29, 2009, 4:09 pm 4:09 pm
I agree with Hillary l00%. They know.
She called them on it while Crowley smoothed their feathers. It was a good move.
We need to call Afghanistan on a few things as well.
Posted by: ddg | October 29, 2009, 4:40 pm 4:40 pm
Hillary’s comments were perfect and right on. Why try to change anything. She did a great job of getting to the crux of the matter and the terrorists are horrible people. Killing innocents just to make a point, for what? Oh, I forgot, they are too stupid to speak intelligently. My mistake…So, they certainly can’t articulate anything that is bothering them.
Posted by: Sharon | October 29, 2009, 5:49 pm 5:49 pm
Don’t try to soften anything! Somebody should have said this to them a long time ago.
Posted by: Kevin | October 29, 2009, 5:51 pm 5:51 pm
Why should Hillary’s message be sugar coated? The Pakistani government has been less than helpful re: Al Qaeda – now I’m sugar coating it. If I wrote what I really thought, this message wouldn’t get posted.
You go Hillary!
Posted by: Mary Ann | October 29, 2009, 5:53 pm 5:53 pm
Hmmm, just a note to the neo-cons hawking the board it is not the job of a diplomat to speak in brutally frank terms, in fact it completely undermines the premise of diplomacy. The Pakistani’s have endured far more at the hand of Al Qaeda, and while there is the danger of a government with nuclear weapons possibly falling prey to these cretins, I find it awkward that the Secretary of State would be as clumsy to attack that government publicly and with an obvious tone of dismissive certainty.
Posted by: kirk | October 29, 2009, 6:04 pm 6:04 pm
Those people over there dont respect women anyway so why would anybody want to soften or sugar coat her comments run for president in 2012.
Posted by: earl | October 29, 2009, 7:03 pm 7:03 pm
Good for her! Pakistan is getting billions in aid from the American taxpayers, and they are doing little to deal with the enemy in their midst. And they’re feelings are hurt? Everything Hillary said was true, and it is way past time for Washington to get tough.
Posted by: Susan | October 29, 2009, 7:15 pm 7:15 pm
Why soften the truth??
Posted by: Monica Morton | October 29, 2009, 7:18 pm 7:18 pm
Sounds good to me. They better get their act together! Hillary is right.
Posted by: Dc4 | October 29, 2009, 8:52 pm 8:52 pm
I am agreeing with Mrs. Clinton. They handled as like stupid. Americans go home and let these folks fight for their own interest. Muslins are that Muslins. We are Christians may be bad, but we have reached a civilization status what the Muslins come not out from the primitivism.
Posted by: Gotthard Dillier | October 29, 2009, 9:40 pm 9:40 pm
Why do we keep mollycoddling these regimes? Of course they could do so much more to help root out the these radicals, but they are playing both ends against the middle. They are taking our money and supporting the insurgents at the same time, knowing that if the insurgency is eliminated so will be the perceived need for us to keep sending them the billions of dollars. Wake up! America! For once I support Hillary 100%
Posted by: suerol | October 29, 2009, 10:58 pm 10:58 pm
Well, I was never a Hillary fan but I certainly admire her forthrightness in speaking the truth to people who are not accustomed to hearing it. Rather than censure her or try to change what she meant, let the truth be told. We have no allies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, only those who pretend to be our allies only to enrich themselves.
More power to Hillary and the truth.
Posted by: kahuna606 | October 29, 2009, 11:05 pm 11:05 pm
so let me get this straight, we (pakistanis) are delibertaely harboring al qaeda while at the same time our citizens are dying in suicide blasts and are soldiers are losing their lives in wazirstan fighting taliban.
yeah makes perfect sense.
Posted by: commonsense | October 29, 2009, 11:07 pm 11:07 pm
The average citizen is caught in the middle.
If they know anything, they are afraid to say it.
Pakistan and Afghanistan’s government remind me of a bad l930′s spy movie.
Nothing is as it appears to be.
Posted by: the mirrors are causing the broken glass | October 30, 2009, 1:32 am 1:32 am
Bravo for Hillary. This was her finest hour as Sec. of State so far. She told it like it is to the Pakistanis. We’re pouring billions into their government, and they’ve allowed Bin Laden and Al Qaeda to set up shop on their territory for 8 years. Something’s got to give. The link between the Taliban, Al Qaeda and the Pakistani Intelligence Services lies at the heart of our struggle here.
Nice words and lots of money isn’t getting Pakistan to root out the terrorists on their land so give ‘em hell Hill. What good will it do to pour more troops and resources into Afghanistan if Pakistan is still a safe haven for terrrorists?
Posted by: hopesprings52 | October 30, 2009, 1:34 am 1:34 am
Years of gentle diplomacy have NOT worked…doing the same thing over & over, and expecting a different result is foolish.
Time to try a different approach!
Thanks Hillary!
Posted by: Ed | October 30, 2009, 6:45 am 6:45 am
This will further enrage the Pakistani people. I’m not saying Hillary is wrong, but the Pakistani’s think the US is telling them how to run their country. And we are. We do give them a lot of foreign aid, but the populace views the current civilian government as a puppet of the US and this reinforces their view. It will push Pakistan further toward civil war as moderate and extreme factions come to blows. It’s hard to tell what Hillary’s comments will do to the mix over there. I’m sick of the Pakistani’s reserving the right to attack India, harbor militants that attack other countries and then getting all sensitive when called on it. Maybe a nice nuke would help the situation in northern Pakistan.
Posted by: JL | October 30, 2009, 9:25 am 9:25 am
Pakistan has arrested or killed more Al-Qaeda than any other country. Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, Abu Zubaydah, Binalshibh, and hundreds of others.
Pakistan has lost over 2000 soldiers in this fight, more than any other US ally, and more civilians than any other US ally. Not one of the american commenters here has bothered to acknowledge the sacrifices.
US drone strikes have killed innocent Pakistani citizens, women and children among them, outraging the Pakistani public.
Why is it so hard to believe that Pakistanis dont know where OBL is. By all accounts, the man is paranoid and painstaking about security. One unknown loyal supporter with a private house — that’s all it takes. Why is it so “hard to believe”?
Pakistan has a democratically elected government, and the pro-US ruling party does not have a majority in Parliament, so it needs public support to avoid a no-confidence motion and stay in power.
Ms. Clinton’s ill-advised remarks have increased the likelihood that the PPP government will be toppled and an anti-US government elected in its place.
As for your billions, please keep them. Under GWB, they amounted to less than one cent per Pakistani per day. Now the Obama administration has tripled that to about two cents a day for each Pakistani. Big whoopity-doo! The war has cost Pakistan 43 billion dollars. No mention of that in the oh-so-informative American news media.
80% of all military and civilian supplies to Afghanistan pass through Pakistan’s ports and borders. Pakistan should start charging for the substitution value of those supplies. That will vastly exceed the paltry aid coming from the US.
Posted by: PakPOV | November 5, 2009, 10:59 am 10:59 am