Clinton's Bosnia Trip Claims Scrutinized
A 12-year-old report by CBS News' Sharyl Attkisson has been making the rounds following scrutiny of Hillary Clinton's claim that she and her party landed "under sniper fire" and were told to "run to our cars" during a 1996 trip to Bosnia. Clinton also said there was "no greeting ceremony."
Video: Attkisson's report seems to contradict Clinton's assertion. In it, Clinton is seen waving as she arrives in Bosnia. She is greeted by the country's acting president as well as an eight-year-old girl. You can watch the report by clicking on the video box at left.
On Sunday, the Washington Post wrote that there are "numerous problems with Clinton's version of events," which have been challenged by the comedian Sinbad, who accompanied her on the 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," writes the Post.
Attkisson has now written her own take on the events, which has just gone up over at the Couric & Co. blog. There, Attkisson reports that while the trip was dangerous – it was "easy to imagine we may be narrowly escaping enemy bullets," she writes – "we had no known incidents of enemy fire on our aircraft."
"To be sure, it was not the 'safest' trip for a First Lady to take: there were serious risks in traveling to Bosnia, even for the President's wife under the vigilant protection of the US military," she concludes. "It took some guts for her to go. But I don't recall, and did not note, any close calls on this trip with sniper fire or any other dangers."
Below, a Clinton's speech from March 17th in which she discusses the trip.
Update: In a conference call with reporters this afternoon, Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson answered questions about Clinton's assertions, allowing that it is possible she "misspoke." Wolfson: "The facts are clear from contemporaneous news accounts that she was entering a potentially dangerous situation. She has written about this before, she has talked about this before and there you have it. Now, is it possible that in the most recent instance in which she discussed this that she misspoke, with regards to the exit from the plane, but there's no question that I hope everyone is clear about this in the reporting, there is no question if you look at these contemporaneous accounts that she was going to a potential combat zone, that it was by the front lines and the first person since Eleanore Roosevelt to do that and she was going into a hostile military environment."
Popular in Politics
- Obama forgets to salute while boarding Marine One Play Video
- Obama prom pictures surface 131 Comments
- IRS' Lerner was asked to resign, refused: GOP Sen. 176 Comments
- GOP Rep.: Obama elected because of Reagan's immigration reforms
- Is President Obama ending the war on terror? 287 Comments
- Petraeus biographer regrets affair
- Pelosi ties bridge collapse to sequester
- Now, some unions upset over Obamacare
Posted by hhkeller at 12:21 AM : Mar 25, 2008"
Wow, you rally do have a talent for taking a stupid remark and making it even stupider....now that''s a skill!
As soon as one of these candidates becomes a President-elect, opinions will change and all conjecture will succumb to reality. There is so much tha will be inherited by the bad Bush administration - there is much serendipity about the future of Iraq, economy, American jobs, housing, and the other unforeseen nightmares that will be uncovered once someone else is living at the White House - we should all be thinking about not who WE can align ourselves behind - but who will align themselves behind the people, the choices available through Congress, and the Legislature and getting through Congressional Gridlock. That''s just my opinion though.
Hillary was actually bending over to treat the little girl for a shrapnel wound behind the shoulder. In the next photograph she is seen to roll out of that crouched position and navigate through mortar fire impacts - she circled around back of a Serbian position to take out a machine gun nest. Later she cooked everyone in camp a home-made turkey stew (her aunts recipe) - she stirred it with her rifle butt and served it into the helmets of those starving beside her. - She really is an amazing spouse of a former President. -
um...did it take guts to bring her daughter, a guitar player and a comedian too?...if there were "serious risks in traveling to bosnia" what were they along for?...was she going to use them as a shield? was sheryl crow going to sing kumbaya and hope the fighting would stop? was sinbad going along to keep the mood light?...this spin doctoring is just unbelievable...will the american public ever make LYING by our public officials a major issue? these idiots are betting no.
They should get some credit for being braver than Hillary.
The Serbs would still be killing folks if it wasn''t for Obamas superior bravery.
"but there''s no question that I hope everyone is clear about this in the reporting, there is no question if you look at these contemporaneous accounts that she was going to a potential combat zone, that it was by the front lines and the first person since Eleanore Roosevelt to do that and she was going into a hostile military environment"
I covered the bosnian war as a reporter, and by the time Clinton and her daughter were visiting,the war had been over for more than 4 months. There was no combat lines, no front lines, no hostilities in spring 96 in Bosnia. At that time, we were covering the political rebuilding of the country. it would be more dangerous to board an american airliner in NY today, than it was to fly to bosnia in spring 96.
What a spin by her spokesman!
ade
toronto