Bill Clinton has sold them out.
Clinton appeared on Larry King Live last night and had this to say about Iraq, WMD, and the SOTU speech:
First of all, the White House said -- Mr. Fleischer said -- that on balance they probably shouldn't have put that comment in the speech. What happened, often happens. There was a disagreement between British intelligence and American intelligence. The president said it was British intelligence that said it. And then they said, well, maybe they shouldn't have put it in.Let me tell you what I know. When I left office, there was a substantial amount of biological and chemical material unaccounted for. That is, at the end of the first Gulf War, we knew what he had. We knew what was destroyed in all the inspection processes and that was a lot. And then we bombed with the British for four days in 1998. We might have gotten it all; we might have gotten half of it; we might have gotten none of it. But we didn't know. 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.
He goes on to say:
We should be pulling for the people of Iraq. We can have honest disagreements about where we go from here, and we have space now to discuss that in what I hope will be a nonpartisan and open way. But this State of the Union deal they decided to use the British intelligence. The president said it was British intelligence. Then they said on balance they shouldn't have done it. You know, everybody makes mistakes when they are president. I mean, you can't make as many calls as you have to make without messing up once in awhile.
There you have it from the big dog himself. The "16 words" were based on British intelligence, which the Brits still stand by.
Bush didn't lie. Clinton left open the question of whether it was poor judgment to use the intel, but that is a valid point of contention.
Posted by Rich at July 23, 2003 6:50 PM | TrackBackSo sorry to hear about you and your friends impending layoff and addition to the ranks of the unemployed.
Let me know if there is anything I can do to help.
As far as Clinton's remarks at Bob Dole's birthday bash on Larry King go: Well I guess now that the Republicans regret going so far out of their way to discredit anything that he and Hillery say. I for one am amazed that Bill isn't a bit more vindictive. He certainly does not receive equal treatment from the opposition.
In my mind that makes it a dark day for Republicans not Democrats. Republicans look like vicious unforgiving fools for not laying off an ex-president while Clinton looks positively Christian for covering for Bush.
But that is how it has usually been in the land where the Republicans are the who to blame and what to fear party of division.
Bill Clinton may deserve a medal for his constraint, but that doesn't deter me one bit from wanting to exact some revenge on this administration that has put Rich Hailey and friends on the unemployment lines. 8^)
Looks like Clinton sold out Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel too...
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/07/20/sprj.irq.wmd.investigation/
Posted by: Manish on July 23, 2003 9:15 PMThanks for the kind thoughts Barry, but not to worry, yet. The lay off may come tomorrow, but is more likely at the end of the year, and a lot can happen between now and then. I'm trying to make myself indespensible to the big bosses right now, so we'll see what happens. If the worst comes, well, the company will be giving us a very generous severence package, one which will keep me in beans and bacon while I look for a new job. That's one nice thing about the decommissioning business; there's always work somewhere.
As for Pres. Clinton, while I didn't say so directly in the post, I too admire his willingness to step up for Bush, particularly after the harsh treatment he received at the hands of republicans. Granted, he earned some of it, but many of the reps went way overboard. The sad thing is I see dems making the same mistake with Bush. Some are still so outraged over the prosecution of Clinton that they're playing the same game the right did, attacking Bush for everything, real or imagined.
The worst part of that to me is that when there are valid criticisms of the Bush agenda, they are lost in the noise. They're screaming so loudly about the SOTU that legitimate concerns about the Patriot Act etc are getting lost.
Posted by: rich on July 23, 2003 9:26 PMMore than a few of the Conservative's must be upset at this editorial by a conservative icon.
Is Bush a Conservative?
It may have more impact among conservative purists than Clinton would ever have among liberals.
There is a link in the post above but I cannot see it until I run my cursor over it.
Why is that?
could be your browser settings. I can see it, but it's white instead of black. That's a template problem I need to fix.
And I've seen the article, and it makes an interesting point. Bush is far more centrist than right wingers like, or lefties give him credit for.
Posted by: rich on July 24, 2003 7:55 AMI don't think there is anything centrist about Bush. He is in the far upper right hand quadrant of the political compass where "conservatives" should be closer to dead center.
Of course, Barry's compass came out of a box of Lucky Charms
Posted by: on July 24, 2003 1:46 PMClinton destroyed the WMD
The true story of Operation Desert Fox.
Clinton was smart like a Fox to say what he said on Larry King Live and this will tell you why.
Posted by: Barry Bozeman on July 24, 2003 9:20 PMThat certainly is a possibility. But as Clinton himself daid the other night, we had no way of knowing one way or the other. It is possible that Hussein was running a bluff, that a significant portion of his WMD were detroyed.
But there was no proof; as admitted by the Commander in Chief at the time. When you run a bluff, you run the risk of having it called.
Despite your headline, while it is a possibility, it is definitely not a certainty.
Posted by: rich on July 24, 2003 11:54 PMHow Smart are Clinton and Gore?
Another take on the whole affair
Posted by: Barry Bozeman on July 25, 2003 4:19 PM