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Clinton: White House Uranium Flap Understandable
President Bushâs erroneous reference to an Iraqi-Africa uranium link was understandable, former President Clinton said Tuesday, in part because Saddam Husseinâs regime had not accounted for some weapons by the time Clinton ended his term in 2001.I was waiting for Bill to put his two cents in on this. Clintonâs comments reinforce one of the pillars of Bushâs defense of the war in Iraq — that his Democratic predecessor was never satisfied that Saddam had rid himself of weapons of mass destruction. "When I left office, there was a substantial amount of biological and chemical material unaccounted for," Clinton said during a televised interview. Clinton said he never found out whether a U.S.-British bombing campaign he ordered in 1998 ended Saddamâs capability of producing chemical and biological weapons. "We might have gotten it all, we might have gotten half of it, we might have gotten none of it," he said. We know, thatâs why we had to go in and clean up. In his State of the Union speech in February justifying the planned war in Iraq, Bush referred to British intelligence reports that Saddam had tried to purchase uranium for nuclear weapons production. His administration says it now believes those reports were based in part on forged documents. The British still insist the story is true, their sources were separate from the forged documents. Clinton confined his remarks to biological and chemical weapons, and did not say whether he would consider credible any report that Saddam had wanted to build a nuclear weapons program. Nonetheless, he suggested that Bushâs mistake was par for the course — and that it was time to move on now that Bush had acknowledged the error. "You know, everybody makes mistakes when they are president," he said. "I mean, you canât make as many calls as you have to without messing up once in a while. The thing we ought to be focused on is what is the right thing to do now." "And if anyone knows about mistakes, itâs me." Clinton said ending tensions in Iraq should be the priority now — another echo of the current White Houseâs talking points. "We should be pulling for America on this. We should be pulling for the people of Iraq." And why is Bill supporting Bush on this? Because he sees how well we are doing in Iraq, he had access to the same intel while he was president, and because it undercuts the other Dummycrate candidates. You havenât heard anything from Hill on this, have you? The more they look like fools, the better for her. Clinton made his remarks as a call-in guest on a program observing the 80th birthday of Bob Dole, his rival for the White House in 1996. Happy Birthday, Bob.
Posted by: Steve 2003-07-23 |
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