CLINTON BACKS BUSH?

James Joyner | Wednesday, July 23, 2003

Via John Cole of Balloon Juice comes this rather unexpected report from Fox News:

President Bush’s erroneous reference to an Iraqi-Africa uranium link was understandable, former President Clinton said Tuesday, in part because Saddam Hussein’s regime had not accounted for some weapons by the time Clinton ended his term in 2001.

Clinton’s comments reinforce one of the pillars of Bush’s defense of the war in Iraq — that his Democratic predecessor was never satisfied that Saddam had rid himself of weapons of mass destruction.

“When I left office, there was a substantial amount of biological and chemical material unaccounted for,” Clinton said during a televised interview.

Clinton said he never found out whether a U.S.-British bombing campaign he ordered in 1998 ended Saddam’s capability of producing chemical and biological weapons. “We might have gotten it all, we might have gotten half of it, we might have gotten none of it,” he said.

Interesting.

Clinton said ending tensions in Iraq should be the priority now — another echo of the current White House’s talking points. “We should be pulling for America on this. We should be pulling for the people of Iraq.”

Indeed.

About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.

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FYI, I've translated the statement.

Posted by Xrlq | July 24, 2003 | 06:20 pm | Permalink

 

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