THERE WAS ONLY ONE C17 LANDING. ONE SCHEDULED GREETING CEREMONY PER HER SCHEDULE AND IT WENT OFF WITHOUT A HITCH. THE SNIPER FIRE IS IN HER HEAD.
Reporter: There have been different accounts of your trip to Bosnia, and I was wondering if you could clarify. You recall ducking under sniper fire but Sinbad, in his account, who was on the trip, he says the most dangerous part was remembering where he was going to eat next.
Hillary: Sinbad's a comedian... He's a comedian.
Reporter: So do you actually recall fleeing gunfire?
Hillary: When we were flying into Bosnia we had to uh, part of the reason we were in the C-17 is because part of it is armored. I was moved up into the cockpit. Everyone else was told to sit on their bullet proof vests. We came in in an evasive maneuver. Those of you who have been on a C-17 or C-130 know that one of their great characteristics is that they can take off very quickly and they can maneuver agilely to avoid incoming fire. There was no greeting ceremony and we were basically told to run to our cars. Now that is what happened.”
Let's be clear. There was
ONE C-17 landing into Bosnia. The only place that had a landing strip large enough to land was Tuzla so that invalidates any CYA lie that there were multiple C-17 landings. There were two short
15 minute trips to Camp Alicia and Camp Bedrock, per her schedule, but they were by helicopter and there were no greeting ceremonies scheduled at those camps. THE only greeting ceremony scheduled was at Tuzla, immediately upon landing and getting off the C17 so it's clear where the lie is. There's NO wiggle room on this one.
LIE
Reporter: So do you actually recall fleeing gunfire?
Hillary: When we were flying into Bosnia we had to uh, part of the reason we were in the C-17 is because part of it is armored. I was moved up into the cockpit. Everyone else was told to sit on their bullet proof vests. We came in in an evasive maneuver.
Uh huh.
FACTAP reported that on the plane into Bosnia from Germany: "Mrs. Clinton chatted with journalists and crewmen during the 90-minute flight,
wandering around the spacious plane in a black pantsuit — a contrast to the blue jeans and other road-ready clothes worn by most everybody else on the plane.
"The first lady spent quite a bit of time in the cockpit, with pilot Cheryl Beineke, one of just four female C-17 pilots in the U.S. Air Force."
http://www.kansascity.com/445/story/535119.html "Moved into the cockpit" because the situation was so dangerous. :rofl: We can stick a fork in that one.
Here are two articles from the time.
...
According to the first lady’s personal schedule detailing the trip, just two of the more than 11,000 official pages of personal
schedules released today, this is what the day looked like:
Clinton landed at Tuzla Air Base at 8:45 a.m. on March 25, 1996. She was greeted by Bosnian officials and a seven-year-old
Bosnian girl whose name was redacted, and a 7th grade class. The girl read Clinton a poem. Clinton and her aides had a 10-minute
meeting with acting Bosnia President Ejup Ganic and his aides. There was an hour-long “notables roundtable” moderated by then-
Ambassador John Menzies followed by a 30-minute closed-door meeting with the heads of unnamed non-governmental
organizations, and a 30-minute closed door meeting with military officials.
The first lady also toured Camp Alicia, ate lunch with the troops, toured Camp Bedrock, attended the USO show where the
aforementioned Sinbad and musician Sheryl Crow (misspelled “Crowe” in the schedule) performed, followed by an hour visit at the
general’s house before it was wheel’s up at 5:45 p.m. and Clinton was on her way to Italy. The schedule doesn’t indicate Sinbad
was with Clinton at any of the meetings or events outside of the USO performance. There is no mention of security threats.
...
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/03/19/clintons-schedule-doesnt-settle-sinbad-dispute/?mod=googlenews_wsj
Response by G.I.'s Mixed As Hillary Clinton Visits
By MIKE O'CONNOR
Published: March 26, 1996
Hillary Rodham Clinton charmed American troops at a U.S.O. show here, but it didn't hurt that the singer Sheryl Crow and the
comedian Sinbad were also on the stage.
In her appearance at Tuzla Air Base, the First Lady told a couple of thousand of the 19,300 Americans serving in Bosnia that they
were using military power to advance United States interests and values. She said they were part of "the kind of peacekeeping
mission every American should be proud of and support."
...
At another camp, named Alicia, from where 600 soldiers in the First Squadron, Fourth Cavalry patrol the zone of separation between
the Bosnian Government and Bosnian Serb armies, many soldiers crowded in to see Mrs. Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea.
When they walked through the camp, there was an almost constant clicking and whirring as soldiers took photographs.
...
Another soldier said he thought that it was all right for Mrs. Clinton to visit, but "everyone really wants to see Sheryl Crow and
Sinbad."
Mrs. Clinton's message that American interests and moral values are at stake in Bosnia is not universally accepted among the
people she came to thank.
Some soldiers, especially those living in the worst conditions or those whose duties do not allow them to see many of the Bosnians
who benefit from their efforts, say they do not fully understand the objective here.
"I joined the Army to defend my country," said Sgt. Michael Tucker, one of the friends of Sergeant Kennedy. "There's no one
threatening America here, and we don't have a fight here."
...
Asked what he would like to tell Mrs. Clinton about his assignment, Specialist Ingersoll, of Williston, N.D., said, "I wouldn't talk to her, because I'd probably say something rude."
"Unless she can get us sent back home, there's not much she can do for us," he said, wiping rain from his face. "When she leaves,
she'll go back to her family, maybe have a drink, and relax. We can't do any of that."
Specialist Johnavan agreed: "That's right. She'll be there and we'll be here."
...
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE3D61139F935A15750C0A960958260 The soldiers who were there are having a field day with this whopper!
...
Ever since Barack Obama suggested Hillary Clinton's eight years as first lady were a glorified tea party a few days back, she's
looked for an opening to strike back.
On Saturday night in Dubuque she pounced, arguing she risked her life on White House missions in the 1990s, including a hair-
raising flight into Bosnia that ended in a "corkscrew" landing and a sprint off the tarmac to dodge snipers. ...
It turns out that Clinton wasn't quite flying solo into harm's way that day.
She was, in fact, leading a goodwill entourage that included baggy-pants funnyman Sinbad, singer Sheryl Crow and Clinton's
daughter, Chelsea, then 15, according to an account of the March 1995 trip in her autobiography "Living History."
I noticed a couple of things right off the bat. First, she has the year wrong. I was an MP in the Army during that time and
happened to be assigned to 2nd Platoon, 501st MP CO which supported the 1st Armored Division in Baumholder, Germany. Her trip
couldn't have taken place in March, 1995 because we didn't go into Bosnia until December 1995. The
Dayton Peace Accords opened up the door for us to go in. Then
President Clinton came to Baumholder in December to deliver his message that he was sending us in and that we were to lose Christmas, which
is exactly what we did.
Madam Clinton and her group actually came to Baumholder on their way down range and it was in March of 1996.
Regarding her claim of "dodging sniper fire", the airbase she landed at was Eagle Base located in Tuzla Bosnia. At the time it was
the most fortified compound in the country. She flew onto the airbase in a C-17 and snipers where the least of her, or anyone elses
problems. She even took the time to give a speech (presumably after she dodged the snipers)
This transcript is from PBS and is a discusion panel debating her
image, and whether the trip helped it any. There was a clip shown on the show and here remarks are excerpted below (again, notice
the date)
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton got a break last week from the slings and arrows of
Whitewater and other misfortunes. She took a nine-day trip to Germany, Bosnia- Herzegovina, Italy, Turkey, and Greece with her
16-year-old daughter, Chelsea. After touring remote outposts in Bosnia, the First Lady thanked cheering U.S. soldiers in Tuzla for
providing a good example to the Bosnians.
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON: There is no better example in the world of what a multiethnic, multiracial, multicultural team means
in the United States military. You look around at the men and women in this room, you're letting people who have hated each other,
who have killed each other know there is another way. Look to America. And that's what I thank you for. (cheers and applause)
The cheering soldiers, by the way, were ordered to be there.
http://www.mangledcat.com/archives/000511.html
And to top it all off? It's all confirmed in the newly released "First Lady Schedules" she didn't want released. The trip went without a hitch and stayed on schedule the entire time. Here's the
schedule for that trip.