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Clinton, Snipers, And The Power Of Words

This column was written by CBS News Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith.


Words matter…or do they? Senator Hillary Clinton delivered an important speech last Monday. She's been working hard to burnish her foreign policy credentials. I mean, what would she do if the phone rang at three in the morning?

In the speech, she spoke about going to Tuzla in Bosnia at the end of the war. How they had to hustle off the plane, with their heads down. She talked about sniper fire. Battle tested and ready, you'd think.

Problem is, there were CBS reporters and photographers and entertainers on the same trip, and it didn't happen that way. The tarmac ceremony went off without a hitch. Sinbad said the only thing they worried about was when they were going to eat. Mrs. Clinton has made Barack Obama's words a major issue in the campaign. She has warned us not to trust the rhetoric.

So what is the Tuzla story? Literary license, or a lie? And had it really been so dangerous would she have brought her daughter…and Sheryl Crow?


Harry's daily commentary can be heard on many CBS Radio News affiliates across the country.
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