As has been reported, Mrs. Clinton?s trip to Bosnia included a U.S.O.
component with the comedian Sinbad and the singer Sheryl Crow. The
helicopters that carried them to performances at American base camps
zigzagged just above the trees to avoid potential ground fire, according
to Carey Cavanaugh, who was then a State Department official traveling
with Sinbad, and helicopters flew alongside to deal with the threat of
anti-aircraft fire or snipers. These facts explain why many of us,
including the first lady, believed that the conditions on the ground
were precarious. We were worried about sniper fire and were prepared to
rush off the tarmac when we landed.
In their single-minded focus on the landing in Tuzla, reporters and
commentators have omitted any discussion of what Mrs. Clinton
accomplished on her trip. In addition to showing support for our troops
and for the peace accords in Bosnia, Mrs. Clinton met with Bosnian
religious leaders, women and community activists and, when she returned
to Washington, was able to give administration officials her firsthand
assessment of the nascent reconstruction effort.
After leaving Bosnia, she met with leaders of Turkey and Greece and in
those countries promoted efforts on behalf of international development
and democracy. In Istanbul, five years before 9/11, Mrs. Clinton
presciently convened representatives of some of the world?s major
religions to advance a dialogue about religious reconciliation and ways
to counter religious extremism.
The video of her arrival on the tarmac in Bosnia may be great theater
and easy fodder for commentators, but it shouldn?t be allowed to obscure
what else was happening on this important trip when the cameras weren?t
rolling.
Lissa Muscatine was the chief speechwriter and Melanne Verveer was the
chief of staff for Hillary Rodham Clinton when she was first lady. Ms.
Muscatine is an adviser to Mrs. Clinton?s presidential campaign.
Factcheck.org: Hillary's Adventures Abroad
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But not everyone agrees. Trimble, for instance, remembers things differently, saying that Clinton's role was mainly that of "cheerleader" and not one of "principal player." One of Hume's aides – perhaps inadvertently showing why the peace process really did need to have more women involved – opined that Clinton was active "in a classic woman politicky sort of way," although he said that Clinton was "certainly investing some time." And an Irish historian who has written extensively about the peace process told the Tribune that Clinton's work was "nice" but also "ancillary to the main thing."
Key players agree that Clinton was an active behind-the-scenes supporter of the peace process and that she was an important player in getting women involved in the negotiations. Getting parties to the table is a crucial part of any peace process. But we note that many could claim foreign policy credentials for bringing principal figures together, including U2's Bono – who convinced Hume and Trimble to appear together for the first time during the referendum campaign and whose photo with the two Irish politicians has been called "one of the enduring images of the peace process."
Dodging Bullets with Sinbad
Clinton has also touted her March 1996 visit to war-torn Bosnia as evidence of her foreign policy experience, and her campaign has made references to a Washington Post article that described the visit as "the first time since Roosevelt that a first lady has voyaged to a potential combat zone." In a December campaign stop, Clinton recounted a harrowing trip, with her aircraft engaging in a tight corkscrew landing to avoid potential sniper fire. As Clinton explained, the unofficial White House policy was, "If it's too dangerous, too small and too poor, send the first lady."
We can't speak to what may or may not have happened on the military transport that delivered Clinton to Bosnia. She is right, though, that she visited a potential combat zone. But what she fails to mention is that the Dayton Peace Accords – which officially ended a year-and-a-half of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina – had been signed in December 1995. So by the time of Clinton's March 1996 visit, the war itself had been over for three months. Indeed, the accords were so successful that by June 1996 Anthony Lake, a member of President Clinton's national security team, could say with confidence that predictions of "renewed fighting" in Bosnia had turned out to be unfounded. Clinton also correctly quotes the Post. But she leaves out the part of the article that discusses Pat Nixon's visit to a Saigon field hospital in 1969 and Barbara Bush's Thanksgiving celebration with American troops in Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm.
Moreover, Clinton's visit was part of what the New York Times described as a "good-will tour." Other stops included a meeting at Baumholder Army Base in Germany with the families of military personnel who were deployed to Bosnia and meetings in Turkey and Greece to promote women's rights. Chelsea Clinton, then 16, accompanied her mother on all the stops; on the Bosnian leg of the tour, they were joined by singer Sheryl Crow and the comedian Sinbad, who came with a host of donated items, including a big screen TV and candy bars, designed to boost the troops' morale.
Rwandan Pillow Talk
At a campaign stop in Iowa in December 2007, Bill Clinton told a gathering of potential caucus-goers that Hillary advocated the use of U.S. troops to stop the genocide in Rwanda. When asked whether it was true, Hillary Clinton replied with an unequivocal, "It is."
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