Hillary Clinton's Role in Northern Ireland Peace Process Questioned

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Mover and Shaker?

Former Northern Ireland First Minister William David Trimble — who shared a Nobel Prize for his peacemaking efforts in Northern Ireland — is contradicting Hillary Clinton's statements that she played an instrumental part in the peace process there, calling her claim "a wee bit silly."

Clinton said Wednesday, "I helped bring peace to Northern Ireland." She has used the example to try to bolster her foreign policy credentials as she tries to draw a contrast with Barack Obama.

But the Daily Telegraph reports Lord Trimble says of Clinton, "I don't know there was much she did apart from accompanying Bill (Clinton) going around... being a cheerleader for something is slightly different from being a principal player."

Just a Job

The 8-year-old girl in the now-famous Clinton "3 a.m." campaign ad is at present a 17-year-old high school senior named Casey Knowles who supports Barack Obama. The ad was credited with helping Clinton win the Texas and Ohio primaries last week. But the footage of the girl was actually shot years ago for a railroad company advertisement and was purchased by the campaign from the film owner.

Knowles says she is actually a big Obama fan, was a Democratic precinct captain for the state's caucuses and would like to be a delegate to the National Convention.

Knowles says she would like to make what she calls a "counter ad" with Obama and that the Obama campaign has already been in touch.

Just Business

Disney CEO Robert Iger is defending the decision to not release on DVD the controversial docu-drama "The Path to 9/11." Iger says it was based purely on business considerations and had nothing to do with politics. He did not elaborate further.

Disney owns ABC, which aired the miniseries that lays much of the blame for 9/11 on the Clinton administration.

The Hollywood Reporter writes that Iger was challenged last week at a shareholders meeting about why the company has not marketed the show in an effort to recoup some of its $40 million investment. The questioner accused Iger — who has donated thousands to Hillary Clinton's campaigns over the years — of protecting the senator's presidential efforts — at the expense of shareholders.

And the questioner noted the company did release to video the Michael Moore documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11," which blames the Bush administration for the attacks. That DVD made a profit of $46 million.

Bad Choices

Al Qaeda commander in northern Iraq Abu Turab Al-Jazairi is admitting that the terror group's position in Iraq is "very difficult" and acknowledging some serious tactical errors.

The Middle East Media Research Institute reports Al-Jazairi recently told a Qatari newspaper that indiscriminately murdering civilians has harmed Al Qaeda's reputation: "Some were motivated by financial considerations, and got carried away with murdering and executing futile attacks, which killed a lot of unfortunate individuals."

Al-Jazairi says Al Qaeda needs to expel the elements that have harmed the organization's good name and emphasize quality over quantity in its membership.

— FOX News Channel's Martin Hill contributed to this report.