As Syria Conflict Rages On, Hillary Clinton's Rhetoric Intensifies

Win McNamee/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- From calling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a reformer to saying he must go and criticizing Russia directly for its support of the Syrian regime, 16 months of comments from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the crisis in Syria have seen her rhetoric intensify, as the bloodshed in Syria continues.

The U.N. estimates as many as 14,000 people have been killed since the conflict began, and shows no signs of slowing, with some officials now saying the country has descended into civil war.  But the hope that Assad could meet the needs of his people was not out of line more than a year ago, says Tamara Wittes, the director of the Saban Center for Middle East policy at the Brookings Institute.

"When the uprising first began, there was a question of how [Assad] was going to respond," Wittes told ABC News.  "Well, he chose to respond with violence and denial and de-legitimation of his own citizen's aspirations.  So yes, the U.S. position evolved in response."

Over the last several months the harshest rhetoric has shifted from being directed to not only Assad but to Russia, with Secretary Clinton and other U.S. officials calling out the country for its continued support of Syria, including the shipment of weapons.  Wittes says that reflects an acknowledgement that Assad will not likely change his mind on his own.

"For him this is now an existential battle," says Wittes.  "He knows, just of all of his know that there is no future for Syria with him in charge."

But Wittes says a focus on pressuring Russia won't likely be enough to force Assad to step down, and in the meantime the violence continues to spin out of control.

"While it may be helpful to put pressure on Russia, it can't be the sole focus of American diplomacy," says Wittes.  Given the changing sectarian nature of the violence, Wittes says the United States and its allies on Syria need be "focused on what they can do to manage what's taking place on the ground today."

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Hillary Clinton Charges Russia of Supplying Syria with Attack Helicopters

MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- The Obama administration has accused Moscow of providing attack helicopters to Syria to battle opponents of President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

In a fiery denouncement, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a think-tank in Washington on Tuesday, "We are concerned by the latest information we have that there are attack helicopters on the way from Russia to Syria, which will escalate the conflict quite dramatically."

If the reports turn out to be true, this would bolster Clinton's earlier assertion that Russia has been "propping up" al-Assad's government while at the same time, claiming to help find a peaceful solution to the crisis entering its 16th month.

Even as the Pentagon could not confirm the State Department's information, Clinton told the Brookings Institute, "There's no doubt that the onslaught continues, the use of heavy artillery and the like.  We have confronted the Russians about stopping their continued arms shipments to Syria."

America's top envoy expressed doubt about Russia's intentions in the conflict, saying, "They have from time to time said that we shouldn't worry, that everything they're shipping is unrelated to their actions internally.  That's patently untrue."

Later, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Clinton is "concerned about helicopters on the way.  That's a different matter than whether there are already Soviet-made helicopters or Russian-made helicopters that are being used by the regime."

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Al Qaeda Offshoot Offers Camels for Obama's Head, Hens for Hillary Clinton's

Mukhtar Robow and Mohamed Khalaf (Rewards for Justice)(NEW YORK) -- The al Qaeda affiliate in Somalia has mocked the new $33 million bounty on its top leaders’ heads by offering its own bounty for President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton – 10 camels for Obama and 20 chickens for Clinton.

"Anyone who helps the Mujahideen find the whereabouts of Obama and Hillary Clinton will be rewarded with 10 Camels for the information leading to Obama and 10 hens and 10 cocks for Hillary," said senior Shabaab commander Fuad Mohamed Khalaf in a statement reported on numerous websites.

Earlier this week, the U.S. offered a total of $33 million through the State Department's Rewards for Justice Program for information leading to the capture of seven different Shabaab leaders, including Khalaf.

The U.S. offered $7 million for founder and commander Ahmed Abdi Aw-Mohamed, AKA Godane or Mukhtar Abu Zubeir, $7 million for Khalaf and three other men, and $3 million apiece for two other leaders.

The announcement of the U.S. bounties came as Somali and other African military forces have begun to squeeze Shabaab into a smaller and smaller section of Somalia. In a statement, the Somali government said the rewards would help crush the al Qaeda affiliate.

"The announcement from the U.S. government . . . will certainly help the Somali government's efforts to end al Qaeda's reign of terror in Somalia," said Somalia's transitional government in a statement Thursday. "This is an important juncture in Somali history, where the possibility of full recovery from years of chaos is within reach."

In his response to the U.S. rewards, Khalaf said that "infidels" offering bounties for Muslims was "nothing new."

"There is nothing new in the fact that infidels pay to have Muslim leaders killed," said Khalaf. "They already did that by offering camels for the head of Prophet Mohammed, and the dollar is the camel of today."

Khalaf was referencing a passage in the Koran in which 100 camels were offered for the Prophet Mohammed as he fled Mecca for Medina.

"I can assure you that these kinds of things will never dissuade us from continuing the holy war against them," said Khalaf.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Sec. Clinton: Russia's Support of Syria 'Has Strengthened the Assad Regime'

Win McNamee/Getty Images(OSLO, Norway) -- Speaking to reporters Friday in Oslo, Norway, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hit back on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claims that weapons Russia continues to ship to Syria are not being used in the country’s conflict.

“We know that there has been a very consistent arms trade, even during this last year of violence in Syria, coming from Russia to Syria,”  said Clinton who reiterated her statement Thursday about Russian support strengthening the Assad regime.  “We also believe that the continuing supply of arms from Russia has strengthened the Assad regime.”

But Putin denied claims that his country is providing any support to the Assad regime or the the violence in Syria.

“Those who say that Russia unilaterally supports the Assad regime are mistaken. We and Syria have maintained good relations for years, but we do not support either party from which a civil war threat emanates,” Putin told reporters at a press conference Friday after meeting with German Chancellor Merkel.
 
He also defended Russia’s massive arms deals with the embattled country, which have continued over the past year, saying: “Russia is not shipping weapons that could be used in a civil conflict.”

Clinton admitted that the U.S. cannot “speak with accuracy” as to what the arms Russia continues to supply are being used for, but still chastised Russia for continuing to trade with Assad. “The fact that Russia has continued to sustain this trade in the face of efforts by the international community to impose sanctions and to prevent further arms flowing to the Assad regime and in particular the Syrian military has raised serious concerns,” she said.

Putin said Friday that he still believes a political resolution is possible, adding that he does not believe it can be settled by force. He pledged Russia’s support to find a peaceful solution to the crisis and said the Annan plan is the only way forward. He said Russia is not prepared to take any unilateral steps to end the conflict.

At the same time, Clinton said the U.S. and its allies are willing to work with Russia to get all parties in Syria to implement Kofi Annan’s six point peace plan.

"If Russia is prepared, as President Putin’s remarks seems to suggest, to work with the international community to come together to plan a political transition, we will certainly be ready to cooperate,” Clinton said Friday.

Clinton confirmed that she spoke with Annan two days ago and will be speaking again with Russia’s Foreign Minister soon.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Secretary Hillary Clinton: We Hacked Yemen Al Qaeda Sites

SAUL LOEB/AFP/GettyImages(TAMPA, Fla.) -- In a rare glimpse into cyber warfare tactics, a top U.S. official has explicitly acknowledged that the U.S. government hacked into websites run by al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen, changing advertisements that boasted about killing Americans into advertisements that underscored the deaths of Muslim civilians in al Qaeda terror attacks.

During her keynote speech at the Special Operations Command gala dinner in Tampa, Fla., Wednesday night, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that State Deptartment specialists attacked sites tied to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) that were trying to recruit new members by “bragging about killing Americans.”

“Within 48 hours, our team plastered the same sites with altered versions of the ads that showed the toll al Qaeda attacks have taken on the Yemeni people,” said Clinton. “We can tell our efforts are starting to have an impact because extremists are publicly venting their frustration and asking supporters not to believe everything they read on the Internet.”

It had been suspected that the U.S. government played some role in shutting down several jihadi Web forums earlier this year, but officials from the CIA and counterterrorism community had previously denied any involvement.

Highlighting the government’s use of “smart power” to fight extremists, Clinton said that military and civilian specialists around the world are focused on pre-empting, discrediting, and outmaneuvering extremist propaganda. Calling them “a digital outreach team,” Clinton said the specialists are fluent in Urdu, Arabic and Somali. The group is “already patrolling the Web and using social media and other tools to expose al Qaeda’s contradictions and abuses, including its continuing brutal attacks on Muslim civilians.”

Secretary Clinton also said that under her tenure the State Department has become more active in working with the Defense Department and the intelligence community to use diplomacy as a tool to fight terrorism of all forms and extremist propaganda.

The Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, according to Clinton, was created to find ways for civilian diplomats and experts to better aid military operations in hot spots. Clinton said the bureau sent a team of experts ahead of the Special Operations mission in Central Africa to talk to village leaders and rebels who would be open to defecting or helping the U.S. find the warlord Joseph Kony.

Clinton said the State Department’s Counterterrorism Bureau is currently spearheading a diplomatic campaign around the world working with local governments and leaders to squeeze any funding venues for al Qaeda and its affiliates.  She said the State Department trains nearly 7,000 police, prosecutors and counterterrorism officials from more than 60 countries.

“We’re expanding our work with civil society organizations in specific terrorist recruiting hot spots -- particular villages, prisons, and schools -- to disrupt the process of radicalization by creating jobs, promoting religious tolerance, and amplifying the voices of victims of terrorism,” said Clinton.
 
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Secretary Clinton Says ‘Oui’ to New French President

AAMIR QURESHI/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that she welcomes the new French president, Francoise Hollande, and is looking forward to working with him. In an interview with USA Today, Clinton said even though Hollande, who is a socialist, will have very different policies from conservative predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy, she believes the strong relationship between France and the United States will continue.

“Different voices may be louder on growth than they have been, but the overall approach of how we support Europe’s recovery hasn’t changed,” Clinton told USA Today. “It’s been our view that there needed to be some adjustments to just austerity, so that there could be growth, both for economic reasons and for political reasons.”

As the two largest and most stable economies in the eurozone, France and Germany have been the stalwarts during the ongoing economic crisis. Both have helped bail out other eurozone countries in trouble, but also set strict austerity requirements for countries to remain part of the euro. Some, such as Greece, have balked at the forced cuts, causing domestic political turmoil and sending global markets into a tailspin.

The Obama administration has taken the position that Europe cannot solve its economic problems with austerity measures alone. Similar to the U.S. with its stimulus packages, Europe should also have a plan for growth that will stimulate the economy and provide jobs for the continent’s unemployed youth, which makes up more than 22 percent of the 18- to 24-year-old population. "We’ve been delivering that message, publicly and privately, for some time,” said Clinton.

It’s a message that’s likely to resonate with Hollande, who beat incumbent president Sarkozy by campaigning against Sarkozy’s deeply unpopular economic cuts.

Hollande reiterated his "pro-growth” economic plans in his acceptance speech last week and warned that France and Europe are headed for a shift. “Europe is watching us,” he said to cheering crowds. “Austerity can no longer be the only option.”

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Chen Guangcheng Phones Congress, Requests Meeting with Clinton

State Department photo(WASHINGTON) -- Chen Guangcheng told Congress Thursday that he wants to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton face to face and he requested to have his “freedom of travel guaranteed” as he looks to leave China with his family and come to the United States.

“I want to meet with the Secretary Clinton,” Chen said over speakerphone as a translator conveyed his words in English. “I hope I can get more help from her. I also want to thank her face to face.”

The blind Chinese activist, who generated international headlines after he took refuge in the U.S. embassy in Beijing ahead of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s attendance at a summit in China this week, phoned into a congressional hearing Thursday to report to Congress the latest details of his predicament.

Chen, calling from a hospital room in Beijing, said he “really fears for my other family members’ lives” and suspected that all of the villagers who helped him escape house arrest and get to the embassy "are also receiving retribution."

“I’m most concerned right now is the safety of my mother, my brothers and I really want to know what’s going on with them,” he said. Bob Fu, the founder and president of China Aid Association and a close friend of Chen’s, connected Chen on the phone and translated his words into English for the panel.

Concluding the phone call, Chen said he wanted “to thank all of you for your care and for your love.”

Despite neither body of Congress being in session this week, Rep. Chris Smith, the chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, convened a hearing Thursday to examine Chen Guangcheng’s quandary as he seeks safe travel out of China.

“It was a great relief that I and millions around the world learned of his escape and his reaching safety at the American Embassy in Beijing on Friday morning.  Yet it is with equally great concern that I convene this hearing of the China Commission today,” Smith, R-N.J., said before Chen called into the hearing. “Chen has, since leaving the American Embassy in Beijing, expressed an earnest desire to gain asylum for himself and for his family. Questions indeed arise as to whether or not Chen was pressured to leave the U.S. compound.”

Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., said that Chen’s case “is not an anomaly” but “symptomatic of pervasive human rights abuses committed by the Chinese government” against its own citizens. Wolf said he will formally request a congressional review of all cable traffic, classified or otherwise, that surrounded the negotiations for Chen to leave the embassy.

“It is hard to comprehend why the administration would accept at face value assurances that Chen would be safe upon exiting U.S. protection.  You wonder if there were other forces at work,” Wolf said. “Had word come down from on high to resolve the Chen situation, no matter what, prior to the arrivals of Secretaries [Hillary] Clinton and [Tim] Geithner, who were headed to Beijing this week for high-level economic and foreign policy talks?  Was there even a hint of coercion?  Was there any coercion, subtle coercion, forced coercion or pressure involved?  What were the internal State Department and White House deliberations?”

Smith said he intends to convene another hearing of the commission on Chen in order to hear testimony from Obama administration witnesses.

“There are many questions, and there are even more concerns.  How will the United States-China agreement on Chen and his family’s safety be enforced?  What happens if Chen or any member of his family suffers retaliation?” Smith asked. “The eyes of the world are watching to see that his wishes are honored by the Chinese government.”

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

US Defends Deal as Chen Guangcheng Begs to Leave with Clinton

STR/AFP/GettyImages(BEIJING) -- United States officials are defending the deal they reached with the Chinese government concerning the fate of blind human rights activist Chen Guangcheng, while the dissident is now begging to leave the country with Hillary Clinton when she departs Beijing.

After escorting Chen, who sought protection from the U.S. after making a daring escape from extrajudicial house arrest, to a Beijing hospital on Wednesday where he is receiving medical treatment and was reunited with his family, the U.S. believed it had succeeded in reaching an unprecedented diplomatic agreement. All sides agreed Chen would be allowed to remain in China with his family to pursue a course of study at a Chinese university.

But within a matter of hours, Chen claimed he had a change of heart.

"I wanted to stay in China in the beginning," he told ABC News. "But now I have changed my mind."

He is now begging to be allowed on Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's plane when she departs Beijing, saying that his fervent hope is to for him and his family "to leave for the U.S. on Hilary Clinton's plane."

U.S. officials in Washington and Beijing confirm the Chinese conveyed the message that they would not allow his family to remain in Beijing if Chen did not leave. He was informed of this and soon after agreed to the deal and said he was ready to go. State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland said that at no time did a U.S. official speak to Chen about physical or legal threats to his wife and children.

"He was never pressured to leave," U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke said on Thursday in Beijing. He added that Chen was asked at one point if he wanted asylum and he said no.

But a picture is emerging of a vulnerable man who may have inadvertently compromised a deal several U.S. officials say was the very best they could do, given the desire Chen expressed to stay in China.

Several sources within both the dissident network of Chen's supporters and on the U.S. side say that Chen remained supremely focused on remaining in his home country with his family where he believed he could continue to fight for his cause.

Chen became best known for his 2005 campaign again the forced abortion and sterilization of rural women in China as part of the country's One Child Policy. He served four years in prison for disturbing public order and was then placed under what he has called a brutal house arrest, including constant surveillance, isolation and abuse.  

Because he was injured during his escape and is blind, U.S. officials say they agreed to pick him up in an embassy vehicle and escort him onto embassy grounds. En route to the rendezvous point, the Americans noticed they were being tailed. Turning into an alley, Chen was pushed out of one car and pulled into the other before it sped away. What followed were direct meetings with the Chinese up to three times a day, according to details provided by the U.S. Embassy.

In the final hours of negotiation, Chen had asked that his family be brought to Beijing as an act of good faith by the Chinese government.

The Chinese put his wife, Yuan Wiejing, and two small children on a high speed train to Beijing. When she arrived the two were able to speak for the first time since his escape. And as the clock ticked down, it was Yuan who urged him to leave.

Chen agreed, and photos released soon afterwards show a smiling team of U.S. Officials surrounding an exuberant Chen. But the celebration would not last long.

Whether the U.S. can or is willing to seek further negotiations is unclear, but unlikely given China's public statements on the matter thus far. A Foreign Ministry spokesman has demanded that the U.S. apologize for the incident for the good of relations.

Secretary of State Hilary Clinton addressed a conference in Beijing on Thursday where she emphasized the importance of a partnership between the U.S. and China on global issues, but did not mention Chen by name. Chen remains at the hospital in Beijing with his family. Online reports by his friend Teng Biao released by the State Department say he has been in touch with U.S. officials.

Speaking to ABC News Thursday morning, Chen said, "If I can leave China, I will."

Whether that is even a possibility at this point remains unclear.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Hillary Clinton Recounts Bin Laden Death: No One 'Could Breathe'

FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images(ANNAPOLIS, Md.) -- Hillary Clinton spoke bluntly about Syria, North Korea and the death of Osama bin Laden at the U.S. Naval Academy on Tuesday, where as the keynote speaker at the close of a foreign policy conference she revealed that none of those watching the operation that killed the al Qaeda leader last year “could breathe for 30-35 minutes.”

The secretary of state prepared remarks on the U.S. strategy in the Asia-Pacific region for the conference, but later took questions from the young future officers about any topic.

Though most of the evening focused on current global challenges to American foreign policy, the secretary’s most poignant words were about the man responsible for the largest loss of life on American soil in modern history -- Osama bin Laden.

When a student asked Clinton to reflect on bin Laden’s death and the process leading up to the Navy SEALs mission that killed him last May, Clinton began by talking about her time as a senator from New York during 9/11, and how many of her constituents were affected by the terror attack.  She said even all those years ago, she didn’t believe there wasn’t “anybody in Pakistan who doesn’t know where bin Laden is.”

As she gave a play-by-play account of the day bin Laden was killed, she recalled how none of the officials in the room watching the operation, including President Obama, “could breathe for 30-35 minutes.”

Clinton also shared how moved she was when she saw the spontaneous gathering of young people, mostly college students, at the gates of the White House as Obama announced bin Laden’s death.  She reflected on what that announcement meant to those constituents who lost so much on 9/11.

“They could think about the future in a way they hadn’t been able to before,” Secretary Clinton told the students, smiling as she said that closure made her very pleased.

Earlier, one of the midshipmen asked Clinton her thoughts on the diplomatic efforts to resolve the violence in Syria.  Describing the continued stand-off with Russia as “frustrating,” Clinton said she expected the G-8 conference beginning on Wednesday, featuring foreign ministers from eight of the world’s largest economies, to be a “rough couple of days” given Russia’s deep ties to Bashar al-Assad's regime and it’s unwillingness to stop supporting Syria. 

Clinton threatened that the U.S. and other allies may go back to the U.N. Security Council and force Russia to either veto or abstain on a new resolution condemning the violence.

“There doesn’t seem to be any other pass than that one right now,” Clinton said, vowing to keep pushing for a resolution, particularly one allowing humanitarian action into the country.

It’s estimated up to 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict in Syria, which continues as a deadline for a truce set by U.N. Special Envoy Kofi Annan passes.

“We are not going to give up until we can get some action,” Clinton said.

The secretary of state’s keynote speech centered on U.S. Asia-Pacific policy and she called North Korea’s impending satellite launch a provocation that threatens the security of the region.

Clinton said the U.S. along with Japan, South Korea, Russia and China will work in “sending a clear message to Pyongyang that true security only will come from living up to its commitments and obligations.”  But in contrast, Clinton praised Myanmar, which she refers to as Burma, as a country that was once rogue but is now engaging with America and the world, and is better because of it.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Hillary Clinton Mixes Hollywood, Politics at Screening of "The Lady"

Astrid Riecken/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was “thrilled” to introduce the screening of The Lady, a Hollywood movie based on the life of Burma democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi.

Clinton thanked the film’s star Michelle Yeoh and director Luc Besson on Monday for managing to get her a copy of the movie to watch ahead of her historic trip to Myanmar last December, where she met Suu Kyi.  Clinton’s trip to the Asian country was the first for a U.S. Secretary of State in 56 years.

“This is a terrific movie,” said Clinton.  ”This film portrays a woman whose story needs to be in theaters and living rooms across the world.”

Yeoh, best known for her performance in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, was on a panel along with the film’s director and U.S. Special Representative for Burma, Derek Mitchell.  The award-winning actress called the secretary’s endorsement of the film her “proudest moment.”  Yeoh spent nearly a year preparing to play the human rights icon, including learning Burmese.

The screening, hosted by the Motion Picture Association of America, was not just a film premiere -- it provided an opportunity to reflect on the current state of politics in Myanmar.  Mitchell, who is expected to be named as the new ambassador to the formally rogue nation,  noted that while the movie focuses on Suu Kyi’s decades of detention fighting for democracy, the Nobel Peace Laureate will soon take her place as an elected official in Myanmar’s Parliament.

Both Mitchell and Clinton acknowledged that the country continues to have human rights issues that will need to be addressed before Myanmar will truly be a democracy, but they praised the progress that’s already been made.

Clinton joked that she told Suu Kyi that “she’s moving from an icon to an elected official.  Having made sort of the same journey to some extent I know that that’s not easy.  Now you go to parliament and you start compromising.  That is what democracy is all about.”

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