McCain-Led Senate Delegation Heads to Baghdad for Talks with Iraqi Officials

A five-member US Senate delegation was set to arrive in Baghdad on Saturday, according to an American embassy source who spoke to reporters on Friday, 18 February 2005.

Arizona Republican John McCain led the group. A longtime critic of the administration's conduct in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion, McCain had also been a primary challenger to President George W. Bush.

The delegation included senators Hillary Clinton, Russ Feingold, Susan Collins, and Lindsey Graham. Clinton, a Democrat from New York, is the wife of former president Bill Clinton.

The senators planned meetings with Iraqi government officials and members of the country's national assembly, whose seat allocation had been formally certified by the electoral commission the day before.

Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in February 2005, in its own words.