Bill Clinton on Bush uranium line: 'Everybody makes mistakes' (July, 2003)

[jefferson_dem]

Bill Clinton on Bush uranium line: 'Everybody makes mistakes'
Former president accepts explanation on State of the Union

WASHINGTON (CNN) --The White House, attacked by critics for a now-retracted line about Iraq seeking uranium from Africa in President Bush's State of the Union address, has gotten some surprising support from former President Clinton.

"I thought the White House did the right thing in just saying 'we probably shouldn't have said that,' " Clinton told CNN's Larry King in a phone interview Tuesday evening.

"You know, everybody makes mistakes when they are president," Clinton said. "I mean, you can't make as many calls as you have to make without messing up once in awhile. The thing we ought to be focused on is what is the right thing to do now. That's what I think."

Clinton had called King to honor his guest, former Republican Sen. Bob Dole, on Dole's 80th birthday.

Clinton's comments took other Democrats by surprise, many of whom have questioned whether the Bush administration misled the public about the threat from Saddam Hussein. The uranium claim was made at a time Bush was trying to rally world support for military action against Iraq and was used to suggest that Saddam was acting on his nuclear ambitions.

<SNIP>

But former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright didn't sound so sure. "The most important thing is to move forward," she said. "I agree with President Clinton on that."

The three came to the Capitol Wednesday to present a foreign policy paper at the request of Senate Democrats.

Clinton also said Tuesday night that at the end of his term, there was "a substantial amount of biological and chemical material unaccounted for " in Iraq.

"So I thought it was prudent for the president to go to the U.N. and for the U.N. to say, 'You got to let these inspectors in, and this time if you don't cooperate the penalty could be regime change, not just continued sanctions.'"

Clinton told King: "People can quarrel with whether we should have more troops in Afghanistan or internationalize Iraq or whatever, but it is incontestable that on the day I left office, there were unaccounted for stocks of biological and chemical weapons."

<SNIP>

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/07/23/clinton.iraq....

[Cha]

1. Blast from our Past..

You're rePissing me all over again! Fucking bill..what did he think..that the War On Iraq was going to go all shiny and sparkly and he wanted to be in the winner's circle? And, incidently, have his wife there too?

[jefferson_dem]

2. Exactly.

Sadly, with the Clintons...it's *always* about the political calculations of the moment. Such wasted talent.

[Cha]

6. It is a waste..it's

a failing. Brilliant people taking the wrong path..it happens all the time.

[Kahuna]

16. Riiiiiight!

[pscot]

3. I'm not ready for 8 more years of Bill Clinton

I want him to just go away.

[sandnsea]

4. They believed the lies, pushed the lies

were part of the lies, have covered up for the lies...

and now they want us to believe they were big time fighters of the Bushies all along.

[AtomicKitten]

5. Memories.

[JDPriestly]

7. And then there is the video in which Hillary shows Code Pink what she thinks about

the war: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Code+Pink+H...

Take your pick from the videos showing Code Pink warning Hillary about the War in Iraq and Hillary stating why she supported it. Sickening in my view.

I used to be a Hillary supporter -- back in the now forgotten days of It Takes a Village. Where did that Hillary disappear to?

[saracat]

9. too.I actually defended her against Code Pink! I still think they ciould conduct themselves better

better but they are correct in philosophy! I too wonder wher that Hillary went?????

[PresidentObama]

8. Yeah, Bill....everyone does make mistakes. IE, NAFTA.

[lumpy]

10. When I first heard that Bill Clinton was supporting NAFTA, I really

was overcome with a queasy feeling. That's when I began to question Clinton's abilty to show good judgement. Of course Nafta has been an economic disaster for us peasants. His glad-handing the Bush boys shows a certain weakness; he has to be liked no matter by whom or under what circumstances.

[silverojo]

12. NAFTA and welfare DE-form

Now, the govt. pays women to breed irresponsibly, while responsible people who realize they can't afford children are the ones who aren't eligible for ANY welfare assistance.

Thanks a lot, Bill. Now go retire somewhere and take Hillary with you.

[DCKit]

11. WTF? Are thinking people supposed to support HRC when WJC covers for BushCo's criminal lies?

I used to admire Bill Clinton, but this is so far over the line I can't even comprehend the distance.

[Enrique]

14. Joe Wilson endorsed her

it's weird I know.

[ClarkUSA]

13. I remember when he said this.

It was a definite

[AzDar]

15. No F&%king thanks, Bill. I've never understood WHY he repeatedly attempts to

gloss over/shrug off the crimes of Poppy and Junior......
But I certainly DO know that this country can't afford another 8 years of those in power 'looking the other way 'while law after law is broken.

[PATRICK]

17. Courtesy of kings

Part of his undoing was letting all Bush I did go by the boards. That same respect has never been accorded him except not trying too hard to put him in jail when Bush II came in.

In any case, this seems to me to make absolutely set in stone the attitude that will be shown the present administration if Hillary takes over. All, all, all water under the bridge. You can only hope and pray they make SOME move to remove the entrenched cronies and reverse the illegalities and precedents and laws. By starting out with a awesomely absurd pretense of a "clean" slate you have something worse than Ford's pardon of Nixon, a complete whitewash of the significance of criminality. Excusing the little fib or "mistake" of yellow cake is an appalling open door to forget, by privilege of office alone, ALL the monstrosities that will simply not be allowed to be scrutinized.

This is part of the price that will be paid for a Clinton presidency and the payoff to the Clintons this time- the suckers- will be less than ever and likely catastrophic as they quite possibly take the party down with them. Starting with officiously whitewashing the worst crisis in American history opens the doors for nothing but more of the same. Healing, continuity, magnanimity all a joke by these privileged false equations and clubbish protections. Why if he(she) went after Bush they might come after his(her) head! If we just play nice it will all go away and everyone will like us.

Bye bye, American law. Bye bye truth and justice. How much blindness can any person stand?

[blm]

18. Yes - he defended Bush on his war and terrorism decisions straight through 2006

but Bill was at his WORST during his June 2004 book tour where he boasted of his consistent defense of Bush's decisions and that Bush was right in the decisions he made.

That was GREAT for the Dem nominee who was criticizing Bush and trying to gain support for his own positions on those issues that were based in DECADES of efforts to track terror networks and their funding and to assure wars that are fought are JUST wars.

Bill Clinton apparently had a brain freeze for those weeks and couldn't remember that John Kerry was the lawmaker in DC who understood terror organizations and their financial networks the BEST. He even forgot to mention it in his book.

[bunnies]

19. Bill should know. *ahem* al-shifa *cough* nt