What exactly was her contribution, Trinity?
Those involved in Ireland Peace (nobe prize winners called bs on her).
No. Ireland's Nobel Peace Prize Winner John Hume Endorses Hillary Clinton in Interview
Hillary traveled to Northern Ireland seven times between 1995 and 2004, and gave what Northern Irish leader and Nobel Laureate John Hume recently described as decisive support to the peace process in Northern Ireland. She focused especially on encouraging the emergence of women in the political process. In addition, Hillary's work at the grass roots and behind-the-scenes helped cultivate the conditions necessary for the peace to take hold and last.
As political leaders on all sides of the process have attested, Hillary made important contributions in a wide variety of ways. She made private calls to the negotiating parties on all sides and at all levels to encourage them towards peace. She gave advice and technical assistance to Northern Ireland leaders on a range of governance issues. She used the bully pulpit to inspire and to challenge at a major address in 1998 before leaders from the contending sides.
In 1998 under the auspices of the U.S.-led Vital Voices Democracy Initiative, established by Hillary and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright the previous year Hillary brought together 400 women in Belfast, Northern Ireland to foster their rise to prominence and leadership and to ensure that their success helped support peace. She met with community workers and with women politicians in Northern Ireland to encourage them to take on a larger role. She carried a pledge to the government of Ireland that the United States would remain a partner in the peace process.
Senator George Mitchell said that She was very much involved in encouraging the emergence of women in the political process in Northern Ireland, which was a significant factor in ultimately getting an agreement.
Hillarys efforts have continued as Senator. She visited the Republic of Ireland on her first trip during her Senate term, and Northern Ireland on her second trip, where she spoke with all of the major leaders in Northern Ireland.
Every year, she meets with the Taoiseach and other party leaders from Ireland. She continues to take calls from all parties to provide help behind the scenes and to keep the process moving forward. And she has held meetings in her office at the request of Northern Irish officials on job creation, trade, agriculture, autism, policing, economic development and of course reconciliation.
In December 2007, when Martin McGuiness and Ian Paisley were in Washington, they met with President Bush and Hillary, thanking Hillary for her contribution to the peace process.
Testimonials:
Statement from John Hume former MP MEP, founder of the SDLP and an architect of the Good Friday Agreement. He is the only person to win the Nobel Prize for Peace, the Ghandi Peace Award and the Martin Luther King Peace Prize.
I am quite surprised that anyone would suggest that Hillary Clinton did not perform important foreign policy work as First Lady. I can state from firsthand experience that she played a positive role for over a decade in helping to bring peace to Northern Ireland.
She visited Northern Ireland, met with very many people and gave very decisive support to the peace process. There is no doubt that the people of Northern Ireland think very positively of Hillary Clintons support for our peace process, due to her visits to Northern Ireland and her meetings with so many people. In private she made countless calls and contacts, speaking to leaders and opinion makers on all sides, urging them to keep moving forward.
Anyone criticizing her foreign policy involvement should look at her very active and positive approach to Northern Ireland and speak with the people of Northern Ireland who have the highest regard for her and are very grateful for her very active support for our peace process.
Inez McCormack, first female president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions:
"Hillary Clinton took risks for peace in asking me and others to bring women and communities from both traditions to affirm their capacity to work for common purpose and to assert, when there was no public dialogue which supported it, that working for common purpose on the basis of mutual respect was the core of effective peace building. She used her immense influence to give women like me space to develop this work and validated it every step of the way. This approach is now taken for granted bit it wasn't then. She told us that if we take risks for peace, she would stay with us on that journey. In my experience, it took hard work, attention to detail and a commitment of time and energy which she delivered steadily and where it was needed over the last decade."
Baroness May Blood of the House of Lords, who worked for many years as a community leader in the Shankill area of West Belfast
"The First Lady sent the message that the work and influence that grassroots women were undertaking within their communities was just as important as anything else that was taking place. I witnessed her building new confidence in women at the grassroots level and their stature grew within Northern Ireland as a consequence. All of a sudden they were being taken more seriously. The message we were also told by Hillary Clinton was that this work needed a political focus."
Geraldine McAteer, Chief Executive of West Belfast Partnership Board
"As First Lady, Hillary Clinton was extremely supportive of the peace process in Northern Ireland, and in particular, of the women who live here. In her visits during the peace process negotiations she met with women from a range of backgrounds and she recognized there was a real need to strengthen and support the voices of women in the post conflict context and get the needs of women and communities to the forefront of the new political agenda. She recognized that this would be best done through building the skillls of women here. Through her Vital Voices Conference in September 1998, I and others were able to develop our skills for the betterment of our communities."
News reports:
2007: Hillary honored for her work on the Northern Ireland Peace process. Irish American Magazine named Hillary Person of the Year, celebrating her work on the Northern Ireland peace process. [Irish American Magazine, April/May 07]
2007: Hillary met with Irish leaders who wanted to 'pay their respects to Hillary' for her work on behalf of peace in Northern Ireland. Martin McGuinness and Ian Paisley recently traveled to Washington on behalf of the fledging Northern Ireland government, and they specifically requested two personal meetings: one with President George W. Bush and one with Senator Hillary Clinton. They wanted to pay their respects to Hillary for her long and varied role in promoting and working for peace in Northern Ireland. [Guardian, December 8, 2007]. As McGuinness put it, these are wonderfully exciting times for all of us back home, not least because of the contributions made by President Clinton and Mrs. Clinton. [AP, December 7, 2007].
1999: Northern Ireland Secretary: Hillary is one of the essential reasons Ireland had peace. An August 1999 issue of Talk Magazine quotes Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam: "Hillary is one of the essential reasons we've had 18 months of relative peace. Without her we would have no economic boom."
1999: Hillary made frequent trips to Northern Ireland where she was 'not just in the humdrum affairs of state
but in the nitty gritty of the political scene' A few years back the notion of an American First Lady speaking out on any aspect of life in Northern Ireland would have been taboo. Now it is accepted that not just this First Lady but also her husband make frequent trips to the North, and that they become involved not just in the humdrum affairs of state such as opening a new training center or mouthing niceties at a conference, but in the nitty gritty of the political scene too." [Irish Voice, May 25, 1999]