Clinton accused of 'war-story' fibbing

Mon, 10/19/2009 - 10:39am

Europa Hotel, Sept. 22, 2008 | thumbnail, Joe Fox/Getty ImagesAn article in the Belfast Telegraph has accused Secretary Clinton of a fib that has "echoes" of her "blooper" last year when she said she dodged sniper fire in Bosnia in 1996.

In a speech in Northern Ireland last week, Clinton said, "When Bill and I first came to Belfast, we stayed at the Europa Hotel, as I have again this time, even though then there were sections boarded up because of damage from bombs."

The article states that the last successful bomb attack on the Europa Hotel was in 1993 and that renovations to the hotel, seen at left, were completed in January 1994, 22 months before the Clinton's 1995 visit. Hotel sources told the Telegraph that there's "no way" any boards were visible during the Clintons' stay at the hotel, which has been described as the "most-bombed hotel in Europe."

Clinton's spokesman Ian Kelly told the Telegraph: 

I think what Secretary Clinton was trying to do was draw contrasts between contemporary Belfast, which I know has changed hugely from the Belfast of 1995.

"We [are] not talking about the same thing [as misspeaking about Bosnia]. Secretary Clinton was simply contrasting."

There might be clarifying information we don't know about -- maybe Clinton confused the hotel with another boarded building -- but it sounds like she got carried away and embellished during her speech. I'm willing to forgive her, but I hope it doesn't happen again.

Photo: thumbnail by Joe Fox/Getty Images

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I'm having problems posting

by Roseann on Mon, 10/19/2009 - 3:13pm

I'm having problems posting and had access denied once already

Is it because I've rightfully pointed out the demeaning,
posts about Clinton?

Clinton accused of "war story" fibbing

by alinosof on Mon, 10/19/2009 - 6:01pm

I am little bit perplexed as to to the point of this post. If you had done a little bit of research instead of playing the stenographer for some right wing websites out to demean Clinton, you would have found that, work was being done in some sections of the hotel while Hillary was visiting in 1995.It's possible that this is an honest mistake from her part instead of a sinister plot about "war story" .Context is every thing or haven't you learn that at your journalism school? Since you're scrapping the barrel looking for fringe stories about SOS Clinton, I am awaiting your post on balloon dad calling Clinton a "shape shifting reptilian". Your readers deserve better that this.

very dissapointed with your

by motherearth on Mon, 10/19/2009 - 8:14pm

very dissapointed with your latest coments about Hillary Clinton. Very demaining. Not sure is you are with or against her. Not reading your posts anymore. We deserve better.

This site demeans Hillary.

by hrc2012 on Tue, 10/20/2009 - 8:08am

I agree - I have written several comments over the last ten months about the demeaning stories, and questioning why this site feels the need to repeat them. I continue to hear that this site is run - at least in part - by strong Obama supporters. Is this a way to attempt to discredit Hillary - who is by far the most hard working, compassionate, and dedicated public servant that this country has to offer?

There are so many things to say about her work and her progress - why are these type of stories always included on this site when other stories about her successes are not included? Makes you wonder, huh?

I've been sitting on a jury

by Carolyn-Rodham on Fri, 10/23/2009 - 8:11am

I've been sitting on a jury for the past month so haven't been able to visit this site often, but I think people are being a little unfair to Preeti who, for the most part, has been even-handed in reporting Hillary news. At least Preeti is posting SOMETHING about Hillary which is more than I can say for the majority of the MSM.

Regarding the "sniper fire" issue, a review of the news stories at the time suggests that, twelve years after the events took place, then Sen. Clinton was perhaps conflating her C-17 landing at the US base in Tuzla that day with her helicopter landing at an off-base post outside Tuzla later that same day where -- I gather from reports -- “Riflemen rushed to the brush line as the helicopter landed and surrounded her as she walked into the post,” and where, apparently, “sniper fire had been reported in the hills behind the post several days earlier” [as reported in the Charleston Gazette, 3/26/96]

Well, excCCCCUUUUUUUse me!

She gets no credit, of course, for ignoring security advice and flying to Goma, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, to highlight the region's rape crisis and focus the world's attention on the issue of women's rights around the globe. It seemed every article about her visit to the African continent had to include a paragraph about her "angry" response to "what she perceived as a sexist question" during a town hall meeting in Congo.