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Bill Clinton's Strange U.N. Visit Stewart Stogel UNITED NATIONS -- Former President Bill Clinton on Thursday made his first visit to new United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon.
The 45-minute meeting, called at Clinton's request, touched on a host of topics, including the continuing human tragedy in Africa, especially in the Darfur region.
The Middle East, the conflict in Iraq and Iran's nuclear standoff with the U.N. were also on the agenda, as well as the continuing HIV-AIDS crisis, explained U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe.
While the U.N. labeled the meeting as an "official" visit, the Clinton entourage insisted the meeting was "private."
As such, a strange game of "cat and mouse" followed.
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The Clinton "team" repeatedly tried to maneuver the former president around the U.N. compound in such a manner that made it almost impossible for the press to ask any questions.
Several phony decoy press "stakeouts" led U.N. reporters on "wild goose chases" looking for the former commander-in-chief.
"He (Clinton) does not want to be seen by or photographed by the press," one U.N. correspondent insisted.
One Clinton aid asked, "the man (Clinton) is a private citizen, why can the press not respect it?"
The question among the U.N. reporters was "what's going on?"
At one point, Clinton actually sequestered himself in a small meeting room behind the podium of the General Assembly hall for almost 30 minutes, hoping to throw a throng of press and paparazzi off his scent.
Eventually, the former president made a dash to his motorcade, but before he hit the streets of midtown Manhattan, he spoke briefly and exclusively to NewsMax.
Ironically, Clinton had more praise for the new U.N. secretary-general than anything coming out of the Bush White House, which had been instrumental in putting Ban in the U.N.'s top post.
"We just wanted to have a visit. You know we have talked about the work I did for the U.N. before [tsunami aid relief]. We talked about all the issues. And, I invited him to come to the Clinton Global Initiative during the opening of the U.N. General Assembly, in September 2007. We talked about a lot of things. I think he has got a good handle on his new job. I think he will do just fine."
While the United States mission to the United Nations had no comment on the Clinton visit, members of Ban's staff expressed "satisfaction" with the first encounter.
© NewsMax 2007. All rights reserved.
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