Clinton admits to error over sniper fire claim during Bosnia visit

[pescao]

Source: The Guardian

Ewen MacAskill, Washington, Wednesday March 26 2008

Hillary Clinton has had to admit that she exaggerated her claim of coming under sniper fire during a visit to Bosnia in the 1990s, after video footage showed the then first lady walking calmly from her plane.

The Clinton campaign played down the episode as a "misstatement" and a "minor blip". But it was seized on by supporters of her rival for the Democratic nomination, Barack Obama, as further evidence of Clinton inflating her foreign policy experience during her time in the White House.

The row centres on remarks she made during a campaign stop in Washington DC last week. Keen to talk up her experience, she spoke vividly of what seemed a harrowing and dangerous trip she made in March 1996 to Tuzla airport in Bosnia.

...

At a press conference in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, yesterday, she said: "So I made a mistake. That happens. It shows I'm human, which for some people is a revelation."

...

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/26/hillaryclinton.barackobama

---

had a look around LBN but couldn't see an active thread on this topic - if it's a dupe, could the mods please add a link to the active thread when they lock. clearly this does count as Latest Breaking News as (a) this piece was only published two hours ago, way under the 12-hour limit and (b) this event - hillary admitting a "mistake" - only happened today! people may have been saying for a few days that she misrepresented the bosnia visit, but the news is that she admitted today, for the first time in her campaign, that she was in the wrong. that's the news, that's what happened today, so please don't lock it for not being Latest Breaking News, as happened with http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3241869 - many thanks x

[HereSince1628]

1. IOW Clinton minimizes sigificance of a major gaff.

I've seen Judges just tear defendants new assholes in response to such thing

[pescao]

4. i think she really remembers it that way

that's the "mistake" she's talking about - in her head, she's this brave, patriotic fighter on the front line!

[Zhade]

12. If so, she's delusional and entirely unfit for office.

You don't mistake not being under fire for... being under fire.

She's a total fucking liar - as we knew long ago.

Thank goodness she's losing the nomination!

[hill_win_2008]

28. It's not like she doesn't talk alot!

The woman made a mistake and admitted it! I swear there are some people that will not give an inch. These are the same people that turned Judas on the Clintons.

Isn't it better to admit a mistake than carry on as if it is the full truth? Hillary talks a lot more than any of us. A LOT! So there are bound to be mistakes along the way. I say this is getting overblown. Let's move on.

[Zhade]

31. You're fucking kidding, right? This wasn't a mistake. It was a lie.

It is literally impossible to mistake NOT being shot at for being shot at.

Give it up. NO ONE is stupid enough to buy the horseshit you're shoveling.

[Greetings]

33. Please don't beleive that

I'll admit I make as many mistakes as anyone - but you never meet anyone who mistakes their life being in danger.

I won't urge you not to vote for her, please do as you wish.

I'm just saying this was is a way different class than the mistakes most of us make.

[LoveHC]

2. Wow, the same story breaks

every 5 minutes!

[mitchtv]

3. and the breaking news?????????????????????

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

[pescao]

6. it only happened today!

surely that counts as LBN. if it's a dupe, please give me a link to the active thread - i've had a look around but can't find anything in this forum, thanks.

[Gman]

5. Not LBN

over 12 hours old.

[pescao]

7. nope, it's the news piece itself that has to be under 12 hours old

this one was posted less than two hours after publication - and the paper isn't even on sale in the streets yet!

[jordi_fanclub]

15. It's LBN... unless we can't post here FACTS about Clinton!

Some hours ago I posted the referenced LBN about Hillary Clinton admitting that her repeated claim of coming under hostile fire in Bosnia 12 years ago was untrue.
At the time I posted the NEWS had less than 1 hour-old. In fact I posted some MINUTES after published by Associated Press (please, compare time/date in the link provided).

Strangely the obvious LBN was dismissed by a moderator as "not-LBN". When:
The news IT'S NOT about Clinton's LIE... IT'S about she's ASSUMING she LIED!

As a PROOF of LBN, here is the 8-hour old Reuters article:
Hillary Clinton calls Bosnia sniper story a mistake
Tue Mar 25, 2008 8:01pm EDT
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN2540811420080326

[defendandprotect]

8. "Exaggerated" . . . ?? You're either under fire or you're not . . .

It's not like she was fired on and made it seem worse --- !!!

SHE WASN'T FIRED ON --- SHE HAD A CALM GREETING --- NO PROBLEMS . . .

How in the hell do you confuse that with being fired upon --- ???

This "mistake" doesn't show that "she's human" . . .

it shows that she's a serious liar --- and I think that's dangerous --

I mean if you can't even be truthful of something this much in the open . . .

what might you be doing with things we can't check on????

[Zhade]

13. You don't. She's a liar. Anyone now supporting her after this endorses liars.

There's no debating this.

[earthlover]

24. Maybe she just had a psychotic episode and saw snipers lurking behind post boxes?

In that case she was not lying.

Her attempt to minimize it was dreadful. Shows she is human. She is almost making it sound like a good thing.

One thing I DON'T hear coming from Hillary is a sense of remorse for what she said. Not exactly much in the way of an apology.

Sorta like I'm sorry I got caught. Shows I am human. Some may be surprised to find I am human. BS

[nbcouch]

9. Clinton invited this type of scrutiny

when she declared that she (and McCain) had passed her mythological commander-in-chief test. She set herself up for this big time. My question is, did she ever come under sniper fire, at any time, anywhere? When and where would that have been?

I don't think this is in any way an exaggeration, or a remembrance of something that actually happened but mistaking the time and/or place. I think she fabricated the whole thing thinking she could get away with it. She lied in a most egregious fashion to make herself look good and to back up her ridiculous claims to some level of experience that uniquely qualifies her - among Dems, anyway - for the presidency. It wasn't a mistake. It was a deliberate lie.

People get fired all the time for resume padding.

[proud2bamerican2]

10. Agreed

Yesterday, I saved a dozen children's lives from a burning school bus...Oh wait, I'm sorry, I made a mistake -- actually, yesterday, I worked out, cooked some spaghetti, and then went to work. Hey, I'm human, I don't have a perfect memory. =)

[Zhade]

11. ERROR? ROFL! It was a straight up fucking LIE!

What a conniving scumbag!

[0rganism]

14. Look on the up-side: SHE ADMITTED TO MAKING A MISTAKE!

The significance may seem to pale in comparison to the brazenness of the lie itself, but it's a HUGE step in the right direction.

[Zhade]

16. It would be great, if the admission of a "mistake" wasn't compounding the lie.

She lied. Not a mistake. NO one mistakes NOT being in danger of their lives for being in danger of their lives. Does not compute.

Maybe she's delusional. Either way, unfit for office.

[skepticscott]

20. No, that's not what she did

She and her handlers tried to spin the situation only AFTER she'd been exposed as a blatant liar by incontrovertible evidence.

[jhrobbins]

29. Re: the Hillary/Bosnia debacle –

here is a reasonable response from a fairly non biased view (ie erstwhile Edwards enthusiast). If Hillary made up her experience in her capacity as a First Lady from over a decade ago and nothing like the situation in Bosnia EVER occurred, then she should be censured for this statement. If, however, there was some similar situation in the general time frame and general region of the world, and she merely conflated the experiences, then she should be given the latitude due any human that could easily make this type of mistake.

[Laughing Mirror]

17. a lie she kept repeating, as if repeating it would somehow make it true

What does a liar do when caught? Shift the blame to the person who caught her. And if that doesn't work, to the person's pastor. And if that doesn't work ...

[Fedja]

19. This bothers me on 2 levels

The first being the "she lied bit". Call me a cynic, but her being a professional politician... I'm not too shaken by the discovery.

The second is different. She shows BLATANT disrespect for anyone who's ever been under sniper fire, namely American kids on patrol in Iraq. Anyone who has ever been even close to sniper danger considers it a lifechanging experience.



I can only corroborate this with another personal account. My uncle (once removed) lived in Sarajevo during the 90s, and was out one day in sniper alley getting water. Yes, "sniper alley". As many days before, ducking and weaving between the SFOR APCs, he did the route, when the person on the same trip in front of him suddenly fell flat on their face. My uncle, a seemingly unaffected person in the shooting, changed that day. His hair over a short time went completely white, his thoughts cycle from those of the legal scholar to lapses of infantile naive enthusiasm, and back again. He has been left scarred in ways that transcend a physical wound.

He was under sniper fire. Most american troops in Iraq face sniper fire daily. The danger of imminent and unpreventable death is a traumatic experience that is beyond words.

That's what I'll never be able to forgive her, and if she really did visit bosnia, she knows goddamn well what "sniper fire" is and what it represents to those that have endured it. This was not a slip.

[NM Independent]

18. An error?

No!

If she wants to be the first woman POTUS, then she needs to be a woman and call a lie a lie.

If she doesn't, then I'll never be able to respect her again. If she somehow gets the nomination, she will certainly lose. Never-the-less, I'll still vote for her and it will be the most painful, stomach turning vote of my entire life.

If she hurts Obama so badly that he can't win, then she will be to blame and will never be forgiven. She needs to stop. I can't believe what she's doing to herself, Obama and the party aside.

I just can't believe this crap :shrug:

[Solly Mack]

21. I remember the clip being shown when it happened...I saw it then

So...knowing the clip was out there...knowing, as the wife of a sitting President...a president that draws great attention and being a first lady who also draws attention.........always subjected to the media...on a PR mission to begin with....with first-daughter by her side.....how do you even think telling such a story won't come back to bite you in the ass?

No matter how anyone spins it...it looks bad.

[AmericanUnity]

22. BBC Shredded CLINTON over TUSLA, NAFTA, No. IRELAND tonight - VIDEO

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7310000/newsid_7313500/7313536.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&asb=1&news=1&bbcws=1

Note Lord Maginnis, who headed the Good Friday Peace accord in No. Ireland.

He looks disgusted by her.

So am I

Her whole premise for CiC is a fabrication

[Mr Creosote]

23. From an English perspective

the only thing that can be said in her defence is that this was a stupid lie rather than a dangerous one - unlike the ones that the geriatric nut-job has been telling about Iran.

[JTFrog]

25. Who else have I heard this from recently? Oh yeah....

John McCain tries to do damage control on his ridiculous photo op in the Baghdad market that required a small Army to show us that it was safe there. His visit required 100 American soldiers, with three Blackhawk helicopters, two Apache gunships overhead, hidden snipers and bulletproof vests. His excursion included a Rug Shopping Spree at an Iraqi street vendor with Senator Lindsey (”I bought 5 rugs for 5 bucks“) Graham (R-SC) and Rep. Mike (”like a normal outdoor market in Indiana“) Pence (R-IN).

McCain said he regrets comments he made after a tour of Baghdad last Sunday, when he said he could see progress and the American people were not being told the “good news” about the war, according to excerpts of his comments and a press release provided by “60 Minutes.”

…”Of course I am going to misspeak and I’ve done it on numerous occasions and I probably will do it in the future,” said McCain, according to “60 Minutes”. McCain acknowledged in this “60 Minutes” interview that he had been accompanied by heavy security during his trip.

[Vinca]

26. How many ways can you parse the word "lie?"

This, to me, was one of the most embarrassing things I've ever seen a political candidate do . . . and she related the war story more than once. The tape of her telling the story was absolutely disturbing because she went so far to make the story "real." Then, later in the day, she appears in front of cameras looking as if she'd just rolled out of bed and resurrects Rev. Wright in order to deflect attention from her fabrication. The time has come, Hillary. If you have any self-respect left, please leave.

[TheCowsCameHome]

27. Why do these people do this STUPID stuff?

Better to say nothing than make up dumb stories that aren't true.

That applies to any and all of them.

[sam sarrha]

30. i had a couple really episodic girlfriends in th past..had to leave the state because of one of them

and go hide out in in the deep woods of WA for 6 years....

[Greetings]

32. The other really weird Clinton thing

Two things have really make me believe she's not a genuine person (even relative to politicians):

1) Snipergate

2) How she started speaking like a black person when addressing a black audience a while back. Yes I know it's easy to fall into speech idioms of people around you but when you watched the video it was more than that - it was just very odd and disturbing. Like the sniper lies.