Northern Valley Beacon

It is understandable that George W. Bush left for Asia with a grudging whimper about Democrats pointing out what a mess he has made of the country. But it was the former president, Bill Clinton, who went to Jordan after the triple bombing of hotels and exhibited the kind of diplomatic concern that can counteract the shattered international relations that the war on Iraq has caused for the U.S.

The New York Times has an account of Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton visiting Jordan:

AMMAN, Jordan, Nov. 13 - As former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, walked into the bombed-out ballroom of the Radisson SAS Hotel here Sunday night, the sound of broken water glasses and chandelier shards could be heard crunching beneath their feet. The walls were pockmarked with holes from the nails and ball bearings that had been packed into the bomb to make it deadlier.

Then, at Jordan Hospital and Medical Center, they visited some of the survivors of last week's suicide bombings in three hotels here, which killed 57.

The Clintons, along with their daughter, Chelsea, paid an unannounced visit here on Sunday night to see the damage firsthand and to express their sympathies to King Abdullah II and Queen Rania.

At the hospital, Mr. Clinton played with Ammar Abdel Rahim Keilani, a 4-year-old boy who has not spoken since a piece of shrapnel entered his head during the bombing. The boy sat silently in his bed, clutching a toy Hummer and spinning its rear wheel.

Click the headline to this post to link to the story.