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| Iraq | |
| Clinton: White House Uranium Flap Understandable | |
| 2003-07-23 | |
| President Bush’s erroneous reference to an Iraqi-Africa uranium link was understandable, former President Clinton said Tuesday, in part because Saddam Hussein’s 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. Clinton’s comments reinforce one of the pillars of Bush’s 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 Saddam’s 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, that’s 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 Bush’s 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 can’t 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, it’s me." Clinton said ending tensions in Iraq should be the priority now — another echo of the current White House’s 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 haven’t 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.
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| Posted by:Steve |
| #8 There has been a pretty strong bipartisan tradition of ex-presidents NOT criticizing the current office-holder, regardless of party. It's rare enough that Carter's letter on Iraq was considered a breach of protocol. I would assume Bill is sticking with that tradition. Heck, it's entirely possible Dubya takes his calls and vice versa; Clinton used to get advice from *Nixon*, after all. |
| Posted by: Dan Hartung 2003-7-24 2:47:22 AM |
| #7 Maybe Hillary is still looking at making a run in '04 and sees the suicidal path the others dem hopefuls have taken..... |
| Posted by: debbie 2003-7-23 10:17:12 PM |
| #6 Maybe Hillary is still looking at making a run in '04 and sees the suicidal path the others dem hopefuls have taken..... |
| Posted by: debbie 2003-7-23 10:17:11 PM |
| #5 Maybe Bill understands that the Dems can't win the next years' elections by calling a referendum on a successful war.Clinton is not doing this for Bush,he's just trying to stop the Democrats from heading off a cliff. |
| Posted by: El Id 2003-7-23 2:58:40 PM |
| #4 nyah! nyah! nyah! |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2003-7-23 11:27:46 AM |
| #3 LH, Can we send the 3rd ID in to investigate whether these allegations (that Bill Clinton is harbori...errr...holding these principles hostage)are true? |
| Posted by: mjh 2003-7-23 11:23:25 AM |
| #2 LH? Bwahahaha. Stop it, you're killing me here |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-7-23 10:45:27 AM |
| #1 "And why is Bill supporting Bush on this?" And maybe, just maybe, he is a patriot. Maybe, just maybe, he puts his concern for the people of Iraq, and all the people of the middle east, including Israel, above partisanship. I would note that since leaving office Bill has also been a truth teller about what happened at Taba, undercutting the Arafat apologists. Maybe, just maybe, this self-indulgent, undisciplined, squirelly man, has some real core beliefs about improving the world. Maybe when he said "Shalom, chaver" at Rabin's funeral, he really meant it. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2003-7-23 10:27:20 AM |