Clinton Camp Responds to Bill Clinton's Statements on Supporting War
From spokesman Jay Carson: "As he said from the beginning and many times since, President Clinton disagreed with taking the country to war without allowing the weapons inspectors to finish their jobs."
More info from the campaign:
Also this Clinton endorsed ‘one last shot' at resolution setting timeline for Iraq's disarmament. Former US president Bill Clinton yesterday endorsed British compromise proposals for a new UN Security Council resolution as the only chance to get Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to disarm without a war. Speaking in New York, Mr Clinton said the US and other nations on the deeply divided council should take "one last shot" at trying to rally behind a resolution that would set Iraq a tight deadline to meet up to six specific disarmament demands or face attack. "If we did, there is a chance that he will go on and disarm without war," Mr Clinton told an audience at the 92nd St Y, a Jewish community centre in Manhattan.” [Courier Mail, 3/15/03]
"So I think we have to try to give the sanctions one more chance. He's not going to live forever, there are options for regime change short of bombing the living daylights out of them. And we know that these... we know that the inspectors have gotten a ton of stuff out of there. But the effort of trying will bring us together." [The Atlantic, 10/21/02]
Former President Clinton: ‘I would not have done it until after Hans Blix finished the job.' In an article in Time magazine, Clinton was quoted as saying, "I would not have done it until after Hans Blix finished his job. Having said that, over 600 of our people have died since the conflict was over. We've got a big stake now in making it work. I want it to have been worth it, even though I didn't agree with the timing of the attack." [Time.com, 6/24/04 <http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,994507,00.html> ]
Former President Clinton: ‘I thought that we should not have gone in there until we let the UN Inspectors finish their job.' On the Situation Room, Clinton said, “Well, at the time, Wolf, I thought that we should not have gone in there until we let the U.N. inspectors finish their job. That was, after all, the understanding the Senate had when it was asked to vote to Congress to give the president authority to go in.” [CNN, The Situation Room, 8/11/05 <http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0508/11/sitroom.01.html> ]
Former President Clinton: ‘I don't agree with what was done when it was done.' On CNN Clinton said, “The question is, what's now best for the American people, for the war on terror, and for the people of Iraq, and the stability of the Middle East? We don't want to set a fixed timetable, if that led to chaos, the establishment of permanent terrorist operations in the Sunni section of Iraq, and long-term greater instability in the Middle East. So, whether you are for it or against it, it seems to me you should all be praying that it succeeds. I am. And so -- and I didn't agree with what was done when it was done. But we are where we are.” [CNN, 12/1/05]
Clinton: ‘I have supported all these steps to work through the UN.' While on Larry King, Clinton said, “I think that the Iraq issue, as I've told you, is serious. And I think -- so far, I have supported all these steps to work through the U.N., but to get tougher, but it is by no means, or in my view, the most serious security problem facing the country. I think al Qaeda is No. 1. I still believe that. And I still believe over the long run having North Korea making nuclear bombs and big missiles with nothing to do, but sell them, knowing that if they'll use them they'll be incinerated...”[Larry King Live, 2/6/03]
