Clinton "misspoke" about Bosnia trip (Wizbang Politics)

After several eyewitness accounts and still photos contradicted her claim to have landed "under sniper fire" on a trip to Bosnia, Hillary Clinton admits "misspeaking" now that a video of the landing is making the rounds. Ann Sanner reports for the Associated Press:

Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign said she "misspoke" last week when she said she had landed under sniper fire during a trip she took as first lady to Bosnia in March 1996. The Obama campaign suggested it was a deliberate exaggeration on Clinton's part.

Clinton often cites the goodwill trip she took with her daughter and several celebrities as a part of her foreign policy experience.

During a speech last Monday about Iraq, she said of the trip: "I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base."

Read the rest at the link above. Of course, Hillary has been making this claim for months, despite the fact that Chelsea was on the trip with her and a group of children greeted her upon landing. The base in question has been described as "the most well-fortified place in the Balkans" by some who served there.

The phrasing is peculiar, too. If memory serves, the term "misspoke" was introduced into the American political lexicon by Nixon's Press Secretary, Ron Ziegler (who also debuted the wonderful phrase, "That statement is no longer operative"). I would think any modern politician would scrupulously avoid using any of the terms popularized during Watergate.

But then, Hillary and scruples seem uncomfortable bedfellows . . .

UPDATE: In comments, mantis links a video with clips of Hillary's harrowing and heroic arrival at Tuzla:

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Comments (8)

Heh, indeed.<a hre... (Below threshold)

1. Posted by mantis | March 24, 2008 5:17 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)

mantis:

Heh, indeed.

Hillary in Tuzla: The Tale of Bosnian Sniper Fire

Posted on March 24, 2008 17:17

Good one! - I've added it t... (Below threshold)

2. Posted by Jim Addison | March 24, 2008 5:40 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)

Jim Addison:

Good one! - I've added it to the main post.

I was particularly impressed with the way Hillary bent over the little girl, shielding her from the barrage of sniper fire.

Also, for future trivia contests, I learned that Bosnian snipers used silencers. I did not know that . . .

;-)

Posted on March 24, 2008 17:40

She has "misspoke" about ev... (Below threshold)

3. Posted by DoubleU | March 24, 2008 6:43 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)

DoubleU:

She has "misspoke" about everything that has happened since 1975.

Posted on March 24, 2008 18:43

Makes one wonder what else ... (Below threshold)

4. Posted by COgirl | March 24, 2008 6:46 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)

COgirl:

Makes one wonder what else she has "misspoken" about. Perhaps the 35 years of experience she also claims?

Posted on March 24, 2008 18:46

What I don't understand is ... (Below threshold)

5. Posted by mantis | March 24, 2008 7:20 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)

What I don't understand is why she even decided to lie about this. Apparently it was supposed to bolster her foreign policy credentials, but going to a dangerous place on a troop morale building mission is not foreign policy. Scarlet Johansen went to Iraq for the same purpose recently. Does that mean she should be signing treaties? It's just strange.

Oh, btw, there's more

Sen. Clinton has said on a number of occasions that she was "the first, you know, high- profile American to go into Bosnia after the peace accords were signed because we wanted to show that the United States was 100 percent behind the agreement."
But this also seems to incorrect.

According to some quick research we did, it turns out that Madeleine Albright, then UN Ambassador, then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs John Shalikashvili, then-Sec Def Bill Perry, various members of Congress and President Clinton himself had all visited Tuzla a few months earlier.

Posted on March 24, 2008 19:20

It's pure conjecture on my ... (Below threshold)

6. Posted by Jim Addison | March 24, 2008 9:36 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)

It's pure conjecture on my part, but I can see how they may have warned her on the trip about the potential for sniper fire on landing. Over the years, in the retelling it grew ever more dangerous until she, in her own mind, was dodging mortar shells and diving into foxholes on the way to the motorcade. Sort of like Bill Richardson's story of "being drafted as a pitcher by the Kansas City Athletics."

Naturally, no one on her staff would "vet" her own story, because being caught just trying to do that would get them fired.

Posted on March 24, 2008 21:36

Was it was 'seared, seared'... (Below threshold)

7. Posted by _Mike_ | March 25, 2008 9:03 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)

_Mike_:

Was it was 'seared, seared' into her memory ? :)

Posted on March 25, 2008 09:03

If Hillary can not remember... (Below threshold)

8. Posted by Jack Sparks | March 25, 2008 3:07 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)

Jack Sparks:

If Hillary can not remember the diffrence between a poem and sniper fire and then tells us she "Misspoke".
Is this who should be the leader of the "Free World"
I think NOT !!!!!

Posted on March 25, 2008 15:07