Post by RedFlag32 on Apr 28, 2007 18:28:35 GMT
Clinton refuses to back ex-INLA man's fight against deportation
[Published: Friday 27, April 2007 - 11:04]
By Sean O'Driscoll
Former US President Bill Clinton has declined to back a campaign for
former Republican paramilitaries after being questioned by an ex-INLA
prisoner.
President Clinton was speaking at a $$4,500-a-head fund-raiser for his
wife's presidential campaign at the New York home of actor Gabriel Byrne.
After inviting questions from the crowd, one member of the audience
introduced himself as Malachy McAllister, who was jailed in the early
1980s for the attempted murder of an RUC officer.
McAllister, who has been fighting for years to stop his deportation back
to Northern Ireland, asked what another Clinton presidency could do for
his campaign.
However, President Clinton side-stepped the question, talking off the need
to overcome sectarian divides and speaking at length about the current
situation in Rwanda.
"Is there anyone here from Rwanda?" he asked, to laughter from the almost
exclusively Irish-American audience.
However, President Clinton suggested that Mr McAllister take his case to
Senator Clinton's office.
Asked by a younger member of the audience what his wife's presidency could
do for young people, President Clinton said that America's first female
president would make the fight against global warming a priority, which
would affect young people around the world more than anyone else.
Senator Hillary Clinton was not at the event as she had to fly to South
Carolina for the first debate among the eight Democratic presidential
candidates.
Byrne welcomed President Clinton to his four-storey Brownstone home in an
affluent area of Brooklyn.
The event was expected to earn over $$200,000 for Senator Clinton's
presidential campaign.
President Clinton reminisced about his time in Northern Ireland while
meeting the 200 guests.
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/article2489519.ece
[Published: Friday 27, April 2007 - 11:04]
By Sean O'Driscoll
Former US President Bill Clinton has declined to back a campaign for
former Republican paramilitaries after being questioned by an ex-INLA
prisoner.
President Clinton was speaking at a $$4,500-a-head fund-raiser for his
wife's presidential campaign at the New York home of actor Gabriel Byrne.
After inviting questions from the crowd, one member of the audience
introduced himself as Malachy McAllister, who was jailed in the early
1980s for the attempted murder of an RUC officer.
McAllister, who has been fighting for years to stop his deportation back
to Northern Ireland, asked what another Clinton presidency could do for
his campaign.
However, President Clinton side-stepped the question, talking off the need
to overcome sectarian divides and speaking at length about the current
situation in Rwanda.
"Is there anyone here from Rwanda?" he asked, to laughter from the almost
exclusively Irish-American audience.
However, President Clinton suggested that Mr McAllister take his case to
Senator Clinton's office.
Asked by a younger member of the audience what his wife's presidency could
do for young people, President Clinton said that America's first female
president would make the fight against global warming a priority, which
would affect young people around the world more than anyone else.
Senator Hillary Clinton was not at the event as she had to fly to South
Carolina for the first debate among the eight Democratic presidential
candidates.
Byrne welcomed President Clinton to his four-storey Brownstone home in an
affluent area of Brooklyn.
The event was expected to earn over $$200,000 for Senator Clinton's
presidential campaign.
President Clinton reminisced about his time in Northern Ireland while
meeting the 200 guests.
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/article2489519.ece
