Sniper Fire, and Holes In Clinton's Recollection

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: Sniper Fire, and Holes In Clinton's Recollection
Saturday, March 22, 2008; Page A05

Hillary Clinton has been regaling supporters on the campaign trail with hair-raising tales of a trip she made to Bosnia in March 1996. In her retelling, she was sent to places that her husband, President Bill Clinton, could not go because they were "too dangerous." When her account was challenged by one of her traveling companions, the comedian Sinbad, she upped the ante and injected even more drama into the story. In a speech earlier this week, she talked about "landing under sniper fire" and running for safety with "our heads down."

There are numerous problems with Clinton's version of events.

THE FACTS

As a reporter who visited Bosnia soon after the December 1995 Dayton peace agreement, I can attest that the physical risks were minimal during this period, particularly at a heavily fortified U.S. air base, such as Tuzla. Contrary to the claims of Hillary Clinton and former Army secretary Togo West, Bosnia was not "too dangerous" a place for President Clinton to visit in early 1996. In fact, the first Clinton to visit the Tuzla Air Base was not Hillary, but Bill, on Jan. 13, 1996.

Had Hillary Clinton's plane come "under sniper fire" in March 1996, we would certainly have heard about it long before now. Numerous reporters, including The Washington Post's John Pomfret, covered her trip. A review of nearly 100 news accounts of her visit shows that not a single newspaper or television station reported any security threat to the first lady. "As a former AP wire-service hack, I can safely say that it would have been in my lead had anything like that happened," Pomfret said. According to Pomfret, the Tuzla airport was "one of the safest places in Bosnia" in March 1996 and "firmly under the control" of the 1st Armored Division.

Far from running to an airport building with their heads down, Clinton and her party were greeted on the tarmac by smiling U.S. and Bosnian officials. An 8-year-old Muslim girl, Emina Bicakcic, read a poem in English. An Associated Press photograph of the greeting ceremony...shows a smiling Clinton bending down to receive a kiss. "There is peace now," Emina told Clinton, according to Pomfret's report in The Post the next day, "because Mr. Clinton signed it. All this peace. I love it."...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/21/AR2008032102989.html?nav=most_emailed

[dkf]

1. As with so many other assertions in this campaign, Hillary is making stuff up.

How are we supposed to trust her?

Lets say she goes to Iran, and tells us she got shot at, when she didn't. Isn't that really really bad?

[mod mom]

5. What I don't get is didn't she know there were other witnesses? that it would be fact checked?

She's been speaking like * in that it's directed at folks who will believe her despite the facts-they will take her word and think the "liberal media" is out to get her. It frightens me that she is taking this approach-does she hope in the end that all the fact challenged folks of both parties will unite to follow her?

I think it's time for a president based in reality and facts. Enough of the parsing, misinformation and propaganda.

[Cha]

23. That is the way she tells lies..bald faced and dares

anyone to call her on it. I'm surprised this more factual account has surfaced..but, I'm liking it.

hilary and her henchjackals are putting her out there for all the world to grasp what a world class liar she is..how could anybody believe her excuses for voting for the IWR now?

[TwilightGardener]

2. Why is she allowed to invent shit out of whole cloth, and Obama

is raked endlessly over the coals for controversial statements someone else made?

[tabasco]

3. The image Hillary is trying to plant in gullible people's heads.

Head down. Running for cover. Must get to the base!!

[guruoo]

10. One of is , for sure.

[tabasco]

13. Kerry was a combat veteran and war hero.

Comparing the exposure of Hillary Clinton's phony "combat experience" to the scurrilous smears against John Kerry's war record is stupid to the extreme.

[guruoo]

18. Same motivation.

[guruoo]

4. Same thing they did to Gore, Kerry.

[Buzz Clik]

7. It's really important to be able to provide some level of documentation for the tales you tell.

Otherwise, they remain tales and subject to scrutiny.

Are you totally satisfied with Kerry's stories about his dabbling with the CIA in Vietnam and neighboring countries? I voted for Kerry without hesitation, but his ability to stand behind those stories was really marginal.

Now, before you get pissed off -- the actions of the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth was unforgivable. They lied and distorted repeated for political and monetary gain.

[guruoo]

8. I believe most people can still recall it well enough

[Buzz Clik]

14. Which part of it?

[guruoo]

20. All of it.

[Buzz Clik]

22. That's not helping me understand the point you're trying to make.

[tabasco]

11. Kerry was an actual war hero and combat veteran. Silver Star winner.

The republicans denigrated his service in a scurrilous rotten smear.

Clinton has never been near combat or "under sniper fire", and her bogus claims denigrate the service of our troops who face sniper fire every day.

[Buzz Clik]

6. Did she ever take a boat into Cambodia over Christmas?

Jesus, this has a familiar ring.

:scared:

[guruoo]

9. Yes, RW fingerprints all over this author's story

edit: (the one in the OP)

[Buzz Clik]

17. I'm keep hearing from the Clinton camp that all the previous left-leaning media have gone rightwing.

Olbermann, The Washington Post, MSNBC, Jon Stewart, and on and on and on.

Remarkably, Clinton staffers keep criticizing the Obama campaign on known rightwing outlets. Care to explain?

[guruoo]

19. I believe the source influence is the same in both cases

IMO, it originated from RW trolls posing as Obama supporters earily on.
What's really sad is seeing how easily legit BO supporters were sucked into
their game.

[Buzz Clik]

21. Fascinating. I consider myself a "legit" Obama supporter, and I've been sucked into nothing.

The criticisms leveled against the Clinton campaign by me are based on her actions and her words (or Bill's) as well as those of Clinton staffers acting in an official capacity.

[guruoo]

24. Now where have we heard that before....

[Buzz Clik]

25. ? Where have you heard what before?

[Rageneau]

15. Did you ever take a trip to Free Republic?

It sure looks like it -- since that's where criticism of Kerry's story about his trip into Cambodia was originally concocted, and where is still packaged for take-out, so that Freepers (like you?) can carry the nasty lie away with them for posting on other websites.

Like this one.

You claim support for Obama. But by making fun of the military service of a loyal Democrat and former Party nominee (not to mention Obama-supporter) Kerry, you reveal a snide and ungrateful attitude toward our veterans that I have previously only seen at right-wing websites.

Like Free Republic.

Where you apparently get your information.

[Buzz Clik]

16. Let's put emotionalism to the side and discuss issues only.

Seeing how calling someone a Freeper here at DU is expressly against the rules, you might want to reconsider the construction of your post.

Now, let's get past your silly accusations and get to the substance of your complaint: Clearly both of us have heard Kerry's story about working with the CIA and the rightwing claim that he cannot document it/he was lying. I guess we both get our information from the same source, right? Or maybe it was simply smeared all over the Internet for the past 4 years, and only the dead have missed it.

The biggest vulnerability with Kerry's story is that it was impossible to verify. Why he assumed that everyone would take it at face value is beyond me; I had no reason to doubt him, but he certainly had a huge group of loud and persistent detractors. The parallels with the Clinton story are clear: she has put forward some pretty amazing claims that not only are unlikely, they are inconsistent with the recollection of others. (Why would anyone allow the First Lady to be sprinting across a landing field while being fired upon by snipers?)

==================

The above argument was simply rebuttal to the thin substance of your post. However, I will not let your hyperbole and illogic to slide:

You claim support for Obama. But by making fun of the military service of a loyal Democrat and former Party nominee (not to mention Obama-supporter) Kerry, you reveal a snide and ungrateful attitude toward our veterans that I have previously only seen at right-wing websites.

1. Please quote for me the exact text in which I made fun of Kerry's service. Be very, very specific, and don't forget the "making fun" part.
   
2. Tell me exactly how any part of my post can be extended to veterans (which includes me and all the males in my family).

I look forward to your reply.

[Kahuna]

12. This story is fodder for a Swiftboat attack. Toooo easy. nt