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The Emperor Fabulous
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Apolyton's Resident Actor-in-Training
Aug 1999
time: 00:36
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quote:
(CNN) -- Former President Clinton has revealed that he continues to support President Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq but chastised the administration over the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison.
"I have repeatedly defended President Bush against the left on Iraq, even though I think he should have waited until the U.N. inspections were over," Clinton said in a Time magazine interview that will hit newsstands Monday, a day before the publication of his book "My Life."
Clinton, who was interviewed Thursday, said he did not believe that Bush went to war in Iraq over oil or for imperialist reasons but out of a genuine belief that large quantities of weapons of mass destruction remained unaccounted for.
Noting that Bush had to be "reeling" in the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001, Clinton said Bush's first priority was to keep al Qaeda and other terrorist networks from obtaining "chemical and biological weapons or small amounts of fissile material."
"That's why I supported the Iraq thing. There was a lot of stuff unaccounted for," Clinton said in reference to Iraq and the fact that U.N. weapons inspectors left the country in 1998.
"So I thought the president had an absolute responsibility to go to the U.N. and say, 'Look, guys, after 9/11, you have got to demand that Saddam Hussein lets us finish the inspection process.' You couldn't responsibly ignore [the possibility that] a tyrant had these stocks," Clinton said.
Pressed on whether the Iraq war was worth the cost to the United States, Clinton said he would not have undertaken the war until after U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix "finished his job."
Weapons inspectors led by Blix scoured Iraq for three and a half months before the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 but left after President Bush issued an ultimatum to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to leave the country.
"I want it to have been worth it, even though I didn't agree with the timing of the attack," Clinton said.
Clinton blamed the Abu Ghraib prison abuses on poorly trained National Guard personnel and higher-ups in the Bush administration.
The former president said he was not surprised by the abuses committed by U.S. forces at Abu Ghraib but that he was surprised by their extent.
"There is no excuse for that," Clinton said.
Clinton blamed the abuses on the higher echelons of the Bush administration.
"The more we learn about it, the more it seems that some people fairly high up, at least, thought that this was the way it ought to be done," he said.
Implying that the United States should lead by example, Clinton said of the abuses, "No. 1, we can't pull stunts like that, and No. 2, when we do, whoever is responsible has to pay." |
I can't believe this hasn't been posted yet (unless I missed it).
While I loved Clinton as a leader (a better uniter than either Bushes), his moderate tendancies have shown that, while a decent enough Democratic leader, his ideals should not be those of the Democratic party. The simple fact that he says that he defended Bush "against the left" makes me again wonder about my faith in the American political system (which is good when compared to, like, Zimbabwe.)
Michael Moore was right...perhaps Clinton was the best Republican president of the 20th century.
Perhaps it is due to Clinton that the Democrats don't have a definite leader.
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Harry Tuttle
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of the Hoople Heads
Mar 2003
time: 00:36
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And now an example of how the media distorts the facts:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...id=519&ncid=716
quote:
Clinton: Timing of Iraq Attack Was Wrong
1 hour, 18 minutes ago Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!
NEW YORK - The Bush administration made a mistake by invading Iraq (news - web sites) before United Nations (news - web sites) weapons inspectors finished their work, former President Bill Clinton (news - web sites) said in advance of Tuesday's release of his memoir, "My Life."
In an interview to be published in Time magazine, he said that even though he didn't agree with the timing of the attack, he wants the Iraq invasion "to have been worth it."
"I think if you have a pluralistic, secure, stable Iraq, the people of Iraq will be better off, and it might help the process of internal reform in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere," Clinton said.
Terrorism festering in Iraq could make the lives of Iraqis worse than they had been under Hussein, Clinton said in a "60 Minutes" interview to be broadcast Sunday.
U.N. inspectors were pulled from Iraq just before the war began in March 2003, as senior U.S. officials offered assurances Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) was hiding weapons of mass destruction. Months later, retired chief U.S. weapons inspector David Kay concluded Saddam did not have stockpiles of forbidden weapons, although he was conducting programs related to producing such weapons.
Asked whether he agrees with Bush that removing Saddam from power has made the world safer from terrorism, Clinton said, "I think the Iraqis are better off with Saddam gone, if they can have a stable government.
"There have been more terrorists move into Iraq in the aftermath of the conflict. I still believe, as I always have, that the biggest terrorist threat by far is al-Qaida and the al-Qaida network," Clinton said in the CBS interview.
Infinity Broadcasting aired excerpts of the book Saturday in which the former president described his reaction to hearing Martin Luther King's stirring call for unity in his "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963, when the future president was 17.
"I started crying during the speech and wept for a good while after Dr. King finished," Clinton said. "More than anything I ever experienced, except perhaps the power of my grandfather's example, that speech steeled my determination to do whatever I could for the rest of my life, to make Martin Luther King's dream come true." |
Now this is a different story, using a small part of Clinton's actual stance. Only this time, the story, which is on the Front Page of Yahoo!, focuses on the negative and glosses over his support for the action.
Selective reporting anyone?
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All times are GMT. The time now is 05:36.
Apolyton Time is 00:36. |
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20-06-2004 10:49
for Cut and Paste Man: it seem, much like cutting and pasting, he is stuck with repetavive posts.
You know, the funniest case of pwoning is when you called me a liar for making a mistake about the last recession, then you said something utterly wrong, then I burried you under the obvious evidence of you being wrong and you ran from the thread like a little girl...now that was funny
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