Handy Guide to Hillary Clinton's Bosnian Lie: The Faux Heroine of Tuzla

[zulchzulu]

Hillary, The Faux Heroine of Tuzla



On March 17, 2008, Hillary Clinton said she "misspoke" when she repeated a harrowing description of her arrival in Bosnia 12 years ago, recounting a landing under sniper fire and that her group "ran with our heads down" from the plane to avoid sniper fire at the Tuzla Air Base.

She had actually repeated this story several times on the stump while campaigning in 2007 in Iowa and in prepared statements that can be found on her web site:

I certainly do remember that trip to Bosnia, and as Togo said, there was a saying around the White House that if a place was too small, too poor, or too dangerous, the president couldn't go, so send the First Lady. That’s where we went.

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.

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/speech/view/?id=6553

CBS exposes Hillary Clinton's lie in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BfNqhV5hg4

Another video analyzes the "story":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOsGo_HWP-c

In another incident, Hillary Clinton repeated the lie:

“I certainly do remember that trip to Bosnia,” she said last week. “There was a saying around the White House that if a place was too small, too poor, or too dangerous, the president couldn’t go, so send the First Lady.

“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.”

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB97_FMYVC4

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/24/clinton-misspoke-about-bosnia-trip-campaign-says/

Looking for any kind of excuse, Howard Wolfson pulled this comment from his usual location:

“It is possible in the most recent instance in which she discussed this that she misspoke in regard to the exit from the plane, but there is no question if you look at contemporaneous accounts that she was going to a potential combat zone, that she was on the front lines.”

- Howard Wolfson, Clinton spokesman

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/24/clinton-misspoke-about-bosnia-trip-campaign-says/

It wasn't the first time Hillary Clinton had a "misstatement" episode. She made mention of it when campaigning in Texas when she was rolling out the "3AM ad":

At the rally, she belittled the idea that Mr. Obama’s 2002 speech “at an antiwar rally” prepared him to serve as commander in chief. She said he was “missing in action” on the recent Senate vote on Iran and as chairman of a subcommittee responsible for NATO policy in Afghanistan.

Contrasting that with her own experience, she evoked foreign battlefields, recalling a trip to Bosnia as first lady, when the welcoming ceremony “had to be moved inside because of sniper fire.” She said she had traveled to more than 80 countries and was “on the front lines” as the United States made peace in Bosnia and Northern Ireland and helped save refugees from ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. She has served on the Armed Services Committee for five years and was also part of a Pentagon committee to plan for the military of the future.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/01/us/politics/01campaign.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

She had brought up the lie when campaigning in Iowa in 2007:

Hillary on the stump in Iowa, 2007:
"We used to say in the White House that if a place is too dangerous, too small or too poor, send the First Lady."

Her most dangerous experience, by her own admission, was when she touched down in Tuzla Airport, Bosnia, in March, 1996 with comedian Sinbad, in tow. Hillary, using the vocabulary of a general, has frequently remarked on that turbulent C17 arrival, landing under enemy sniper fire, that befits the battle-hardened prestige of someone aspiring to to be our next commander-in-chief.

http://wizbangblue.com/2008/03/22/hillarys-bosnia-trip-under-sniper-fire.php

Other people were on that trip such as the comedian Sinbad, who chimed in:

Sinbad, along with singer Sheryl Crow, was on that 1996 trip to Bosnia that Clinton has described as a harrowing international experience that makes her tested and ready to answer a 3 a.m. phone call at the White House on day one, a claim for which she's taking much grief on the campaign trail.

Harrowing? Not that Sinbad recalls. He just remembers it being a USO tour to buck up the troops amid a much worse situation than he had imagined between the Bosnians and Serbs.

In an interview with the Sleuth Monday, he said the "scariest" part of the trip was wondering where he'd eat next. "I think the only 'red-phone' moment was: 'Do we eat here or at the next place.'"

Sinbad added: "“What kind of president would say ‘Hey man, I can’t go ’cause I might get shot so I’m going to send my wife. Oh, and take a guitar player and a comedian with you.”

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/sleuth/2008/03/sinbad_unloads_on_hillary_clin.html

Who else is upset by Hillary Clinton's Tuzla lie? Ask the girl that Hillary kissed and gave flowers to, apparently under sniper fire:

The Bosnian girl who famously read a poem to Hillary Rodham Clinton during her 1996 visit to the war-torn country is shocked - and her countrymen infuriated - that the former first lady claimed to have dodged sniper fire that day.

Emina Bicakcic, now 20 and studying to become a doctor, told The Post she stood on the tarmac at the air base in Tuzla, greeted Clinton and even had time to share the lines of verse she’d written - all without fear of attack from an unseen enemy.

“I was surprised when I heard this,” Bicakcic said, referring to Clinton’s assertion that she braved snipers upon landing, ducking and sprinting to military vehicles.

Other Bosnians said they had one of two reactions to Clinton’s debunked action-hero account of her visit: laughter or anger.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03312008/news/worldnews/from_bad_to_verse_for_hill_104288.htm

Other Bosnians let their feelings be known:

Sema Markovic, 22, student: "It is an ugly thing for a politician to tell lies. We had problems for years, and I don't like when someone lies about them. It makes us look bad."

29-year-old Midhat Efendira: "It was a horrible lie."

Sead Numanovic, deputy editor-in-chief of Bosnia's largest newspaper: "We don't have space for someone's lies. Why is she so stupid?"

http://gawker.com/374052/bosnians-on-hil-we-cant-stanza

More video links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMu9x8M1jp0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pef5AUt-tic

A spoof video on the event and story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHVEDq6RVXc

An absolute skewering of the event by C. Hitchens:
http://www.slate.com/id/2187780/