« Previous | Main | Next »

Bill Clinton Rewrites History on Iraq?

Share

November 27, 2007 7:19 PM

ABC News' Teddy Davis, Eloise Harper, and Nancy Flores Report: Former President Bill Clinton portrayed himself as having been against the Iraq war "from the beginning" while campaigning Tuesday for his wife, Senator Hillary Clinton, in Iowa.

"Even though I approved of Afghanistan and opposed Iraq from the beginning," said Clinton, "I still resent that I was not asked or given the opportunity to support those soldiers."

Clinton has long been critical of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and called it a "big mistake" as far back as November of 2005.

But like his wife, the former president supported giving President Bush the authority needed to go to war.

"I supported the President when he asked the Congress for authority to stand up against weapons of mass destruction in Iraq," said Clinton in 2003 while delivering commencement remarks at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Miss.

Early opposition to the Iraq war is one of the sharpest dividing lines between Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., who voted to authorize force in 2002, and Democratic presidential rival Barack Obama, D-Ill., who was not in Congress at the time but spoke out against it.

A spokesman for Bill Clinton tried to downplay the former president's comments by distinguishing between the authority to go to war, which both Clintons supported, and President Bush's decision to use that authority when he did.

"As he said from the beginning and many times since," said Clinton spokesperson Jay Carson, "President Clinton disagreed with taking the country to war in Iraq without allowing the weapons inspectors to finish their jobs."

November 27, 2007 in Tancredo, Tom | Permalink | User Comments (292)

User Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

Hahahaha.... The man behind the be-pantsuited socialist running for president now on whom she will consult with. No wonder she's going to win the democrat nomination. Bill can see it now... He's really close to being able to start dating again!

Posted by: TexBork | Nov 27, 2007 8:55:06 PM

Here is Hillary Clinton's statement on October 10, 2002 addressing the Senate on the use-of-force resolution:

"The facts that have brought us to this fateful vote are not in doubt," she declares, citing Saddam's record of using chemical weapons, the invasion of Kuwait, and his history of deceiving U.N. weapons inspectors. "As a result, President Clinton, with the British and others, ordered an intensive four-day air assault, Operation Desert Fox, on known and suspected weapons of mass destruction sites and other military targets," she continues, adding that Saddam "has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members."

Posted by: bob | Nov 27, 2007 8:55:45 PM

The book Terry Reed wrote(Compromised) goes back to the 1980s and details what scum the Bush and Clintons have been and will always be.Their abuses of power need to be exposed for the entire world to see.

Posted by: Luis Rodriguez | Nov 27, 2007 8:58:14 PM

Many here are arguing that its okay for Bill to lie, because Bush is a bigger liar. That is like one inmate complaining that he shouldn't be in jail for killing one man because his cell mate killed 10 men. He is still a murderer!
And Bill is still a liar.

Posted by: dijo | Nov 27, 2007 8:59:32 PM

It's only revisionist if you don't understand that when presidents ASK for the authorization to go to war, it's not a blank check to go to war. WHy do folks have a problem understanding that?????

Posted by: Denise | Nov 27, 2007 9:06:05 PM

"We are not stupid Bill, you don't give authorization unless you expect it to be used."

no,actually, you ARE pretty stupid if you don't understand that when you give the president to authorization to go to war you TRUST that he will NEVER USE IT unless he has solid hard evidence AND there is no way around war. Bush had NEITHER!!!

Posted by: Denise | Nov 27, 2007 9:09:08 PM

During Clintons presidency he applied a ruthless sanctions campain against Iraq, resulting in the deaths of ovr 1/2 million Iraqi children. He subjected Iraq to the biggest bombing campaign since the Vietnam War to protect the no-fly zones. He ordered US warplanes to destroy Iraqi intelligence centers in retaliation for the attempted assassination of Bush Sr. In December 1998 he launched a massive 4 day bombing campaign on Baghdad becausae as he said they wouldn't cooperate with weapons inspectors. YEAH THIS LIAR WAS AGAINST THE WAR!

Posted by: kenny | Nov 27, 2007 9:11:02 PM

Granting authority to ONE PERSON to decide on war is horribly, horribly wrong and unconstitutional. PERIOD !! Nevermind that the Attack on Iraq was despicable. Everybody could foresee all through 2002 that Bush was determined to go to war against Iraq. Iraq was in BushCo's crosshairs. So for anyone to claim that they didn't know that Bush was planning his war is too stupid to be president. Or maybe these politicians making such absurd claims think that WE are too stupid and that we actually might consider voting for them. Hah!

Posted by: Virginia from Virginia | Nov 27, 2007 9:11:06 PM

Here is more Hillary-the-chameleon:

On October 2004 Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York said, "The intelligence from Bush 1 to Clinton to Bush 2 was consistent" in concluding Saddam had chemical and biological weapons and was trying to develop a nuclear capability . The senator said she did her own "due diligence" by attending classified briefings on Capitol Hill and at the White House and Pentagon and also by consulting national security officials from the Clinton administration whom she trusts. "To a person, they all agreed with the consensus of the intelligence" that Saddam had WMD".

Posted by: bob | Nov 27, 2007 9:12:28 PM

john Kerry is another one who gave a long speech when he voted for authorization for the war and he kept saying over and over, this is NOT something we need to do under the evidence we have now, he specifically said Saddam is NOT an imminent threat, he reminded bush that JFK NEVER needed to go to war with an even more ominus threat but basically, the president said he needed this, he promised he'd only use it if it was absolutely necessary, so what can I do???? this is a vote as to whether we trust our president or not....well, sill us. We trusted him. honestly, we should have known better. Very bad precedence that we cannot trust the president of hte united states, but clearly, in this case, we should not have.

Posted by: denise | Nov 27, 2007 9:12:51 PM

I saw Clinton (Bill) speak in Nov. 2002 in Atlanta. He said it was important to get the inspectors back in but said a war would be problematic. He also said that the invasion would be easy because Saddam's military was so weak. He said the problems would start later because there was so much enmity between Shiites and Sunnis. I don't think he specifically addressed the resolution in Congress but he clearly indicated the war was a bad idea.

Posted by: Jonathan Goldberg | Nov 27, 2007 9:13:39 PM

Do show us a quote where Bill clinton said that we should ATTACK IRAQ and go to WAR with Iraq!!!! good luck trying to find it!!! He never did. PERIOD!! end of story. WE all trusted bush when bush ASKED For authority to go to war just like JFK Did!!!! Why does NO ONE who claims that voting to give bush authority to go to war equals war comment on how JFK did NOT go to war when there was a REAL WMD Threat!!! Even IF there was a REAL WMD threat...STILL that does NOT automatically mean war unless you have NO BRAIN and have no capacity to imagine a way around it!!! I take it all of you who can't imagine a way around are simply too simple of mind to get that other things HAVE WORKED during REAL crises and that in doing so, in being intelligent enough to do so, saved hundreds of thousands of lives.

Posted by: denise | Nov 27, 2007 9:17:16 PM

I know Clinton supporters are not going to want to hear this but down the road when they rank presidents Clinton will be near the bottom. Look at the other two presidents who got impeached, both near the bottom. What exactly did Clinton do as president? He had a good economy, but a good economy doesnt make you a good president, near the end of it we fell into a recesion. He never once met with his CIA head by himself and you see where that led too. It always seemed like when something major happened Clinton wouldnt do anything. Clinton did so little that when a movie that wasnt pro him came out he had to have it edited.....because he was worried about his legacy! How pathetic is that?

Posted by: Dan | Nov 27, 2007 9:19:24 PM

Dick Cheney said the same thing eight years before, and all his reasons were still valid when bush launched this war. Strife between sunnis and shiites would still be problem. Disbanding the army only made them worse. Why cheney decided he was wrong back in Bush1's term, who knows. He got the stupid bug that seems to permeate the Bush whitehouse??? maybe. But bill NEVER said we should "GO TO WAR"!!!! Those THREE WORDS. only "GO TO WAR" means "GO TO WAR". having wmd, beign dangerous..NONE Of that means "GO TO WAR". NEVER did Bill or HIllary say we should "GO TO WAR". Apparently they had other ideas of how to handle hte crises, had either one of htem been i n office, war would not hav been their option.

Posted by: denise | Nov 27, 2007 9:22:05 PM

Republicans are always saying Bill Clinton was impeached. The extreme right wing tried to impeach him but were unsuccessful. I guess their simple minds forgot he served a complete eight years.

Posted by: MrVegan | Nov 27, 2007 9:23:21 PM

Ask Joe Biden and he'll still tell you that if he had it to do again he would vote the same way-I bet Dodd would agree-Even though the far left won't listen-a President needs to be given authority- 2002 & 2003 the media and the American people (in the high 70's) agreed. Revisionist history is not remembering this feeling of threat- Many of us "knew" that we couldn't trust Bush but we did not have the responsibility or the intel (including thee part time state senator Obama) American President's need to be trusted -that is why we mustn't let the media and pundits twist the storyline so that we vote for someone inexperienced and unprepared to handle the stress and responsibilities of the job. Uniter not divider, Jesus Christ as someone they would like to have dinner with, work across the aisle-all sounds familiar- we've heard it before- We can't be fooled again.

Posted by: veritas | Nov 27, 2007 9:25:17 PM

Everyone always has something to say, whether it is about Bush or Clinton or any other president that made a foul mistake. Yes Bill messed up and he did good, as well as ole' W. We as a people have except what we elect. There sure is a lot of complaining for someone we chose to put into office. So ultimately isn't the fault on us?

Posted by: HLWomack | Nov 27, 2007 9:25:38 PM

Its funny how when war goes bad those who bail out when voting for it abandon their first beliefs.If the war had gone peachy keen then Bush would be the hero and all those who didnt bail would be going "Yeah!"All this politico still amongst the population still breeds contempt for one side or the other.I myself believe a dream of where the people take back from those we hired.With the ever expanding European theater and its monetary system.I think we have much bigger issues on the table than the near ending war.Which by no means or way is unimportant, but it will end soon and the real threat of a nations return to the nineteen thirties and possible subject to foreign rule deems a threat far larger death toll than the war.It may be hard to even fathom this but recent trends and policies by European nations as well as the dollar dropping out of existance and more Americans and other nations of the world buying Euros seems to hold this view intact.A lot of foreign investment in America is in large companies that employ many.I could go on but im treading off the path off the issue which is old policos attacking the present.I believe it keeps us offgaurd to the real issues at hand.Bringing the troops home,resolving our thought that an emerging power from the east is in our backyard and our lack of recognition of it and a no plan for escaping its grip.Politico endeavours are just argueing sides which solves nothing. Results ? Thats whats needed.

Posted by: Michael | Nov 27, 2007 9:26:57 PM

Authorization to use force against a country we already had agreements in place to use force against was not a big deal. Invading them with Shock and Awe was a big deal and was not what the AUMF was about.

People who think Bill Clinton agreed with the decision to start a unilateral war of aggression are the liars here. Disgraced, downhearted, downtrodden lying losers. Stings don't it?

Posted by: Mr Blifil | Nov 27, 2007 9:28:34 PM

, I think the characterization of Bill Clinton, as one who favored a war with Iraq is just plain wrong. Anyone who knows anything about how Washington works will tell you that giving the authority to the president to go to war if he deems it necessary is something that is granted by congress as a quasi executive prerogative. To now say that Bill Clinton is being inconsistent is disingenuous to say the least. But that's the MSM for you

Posted by: kosmotropic | Nov 27, 2007 9:29:18 PM

Post a comment