Bill Clinton Claims He Opposed Iraq War from the Start
November 28, 2007
Campaigning for his wife in Iowa, former President Bill Clinton told supporters that he “opposed Iraq from the beginning.” Some are calling this a flip-flop, though, citing a quote from 2003 in which he stated, “I supported the president when he asked for authority to stand up against weapons of mass destruction in Iraq,” and again in 2004: “So, you’re sitting there as president, you’re reeling in the aftermath of (Sept. 11), so, yeah, you want to go get (Usama) bin Laden and do Afghanistan and all that. But you also have to say, ‘Well, my first responsibility now is to try everything possible to make sure that this terrorist network and other terrorist networks cannot reach chemical and biological weapons or small amounts of fissile material. I’ve got to do that.’ That’s why I supported the Iraq thing” (TIME Magazine). According to the Washington Post, Iowan Democrats are largely against the war in Iraq.
This comes at a time when Senator Hillary Clinton’s campaign has been experiencing a bit of a downturn. The latest polls have shown Senator Barack Obama taking the lead in Iowa, and gaining ground in New Hampshire. This has led to some recent talk about whether Senator Clinton’s nomination is as inevitable as many have thought. When CBS’s Katie Couric asked her how disappointed she would be if she didn’t get the nod, Senator Clinton responded, “Well, it will be me.” Whether the voting public sees this as confidence or hubris is yet to be seen.
