During her Thanksgiving weekend visit two years ago, Mrs. Clinton got into trouble while responding to a group of soldiers who asked how the people at home felt about what they were doing.

Clinton told reporters later that she replied: "Americans are wholeheartedly proud of what you are doing, but there are many questions at home about the [Bush] administration's policies."

She warned the troops that it was possible the U.S. could eventually lose the war in Iraq, explaining, "We have to exert all of our efforts militarily, but the outcome is not assured."

The former first lady also insisted that the soldiers were just as glad to see her as they were President Bush, whose surprise visit less than 24 hours earlier was greeted with standing ovations.

"It's a positive for the commander in chief to visit troops in the field," Clinton explained to reporters, adding, "the troops [also] seemed to appreciate seeing myself."

After she returned from Iraq, Clinton was taken to task by NBC's "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert, who asked, "If someone suggests you're undercutting morale by criticizing the commander in chief to these soldiers in Iraq, it doesn't trouble you?"

Hillary shot back, "Well, I don't think that's what I did." Instead, she said, the brouhaha had been ginned up by the vast right-wing conspiracy.

"You know, I find it so interesting that this has now become an issue, largely fueled by a lot of the talk shows and the other sort of right-wing apparatus," she told Russert.

But it won't be easy for even a chastened Sen. Clinton to hold her tongue. Just last week, while accepting a media award in Germany, she reminded her audience that she considered the decision to invade Iraq "misguided."

"I understand that most in Europe and certainly most in Germany believe that the Iraqi military action was a misguided enterprise," Clinton told the group. "And I have been on record at home speaking to that issue."

Clinton told the Europeans that the war "would have been seen by the Iraqi people as having more legitimacy" if the Bush administration had built a broader coalition.

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