A must see ad. Video at link.
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/polit...outs_tough.htmlNew Richardson ad touts tough rescue missions
by Jill Zuckman
If there is one thing New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson can point to that his rivals for the Democratic nomination for president cannot, it's his international life of danger, negotiating with dictators and other "bad guys" to release Americans held captive overseas.
Today, the Richardson campaign goes up on the air in Iowa and New Hampshire with a television ad touting that experience. The ad recounts one of his solo diplomatic missions to Iraq in 1995, trying to free Iowa native Bill Barloon and his colleague David Daliberti, both mechanics for McDonnell Douglas in Kuwait at the time.
Barloon and Daliberti were driving to visit a friend at a U.N. observation post near the border of Iraq when they accidentally crossed into the country - controlled then by Saddam Hussein. They were arrested for entering Iraq illegally, found guilty, and sentenced to eight years in prison.
"He was the only one willing to, to leave his family, his wife behind, travel to a dangerous section of the world, for two men he didn't even know,'' said Kathy Daliberti, David's wife, in footage originally shot for Richardson's 2002 campaign for governor. (David Daliberti has since died, according to a spokesman for Richardson.)
Barloon's eyes well with tears as he remembers Richardson saying "you guys are going home.''
Over the years, Richardson has developed a steady sideline as he deals with leaders of non-Democratic nations to free Americans, including The Chicago Tribune's Paul Salopek from Darfur. Earlier this year, he traveled to North Korea to obtain the remains of six American servicemen who died in the Korean War.
It's one of his key calling cards as he campaigns for president in Iowa and New Hampshire.
"I stood toe-to-toe with the world's bad guys, Saddam Hussein, North Korea, the Sudan, Fidel Castro, (Omar) al-Bashir (Sudan)," Richardson said in Iowa recently as part of his standard remarks to voters. "President Clinton used to say, 'We have problems in our foreign policy. There are bad dictators. Bad people like Richardson so we'll send him there.'"