Posted on 03/26/2008 7:27:00 PM PDT by red flanker
The Clinton campaign has cited newspaper accounts, including one in The Washington Post, to bolster the senator's claim that her now-famous March 1996 trip to Bosnia was the first visit to a "war zone" by a first lady since World War II. She is overlooking a trip to Saigon by Pat Nixon at the height of the Vietnam War as well as a trip by Barbara Bush to Saudi Arabia two months before the Persian Gulf War began.
THE FACTS
Just because something has appeared in a newspaper does not mean that is entirely accurate. The Clinton camp has circulated a March 26, 1996, quote from a Post article describing Clinton's Bosnia trip as "the first time since Roosevelt that a first lady has voyaged to a potential combat zone." The article went on to say that "other first ladies have visited troops abroad but never in front-line positions," citing the examples of Bush and Nixon.
How these factoids got into the Post story is unclear, but they offer a somewhat misleading picture of the relative risks being run by the three first ladies. By almost any measure, the Nixon trip to Saigon in July 1969 should surely count as the most dangerous of the three visits. Unlike Bosnia in March 1996 and Saudi Arabia in November 1990, South Vietnam was an actual, not "potential," war zone in the aftermath of the 1968 Tet offensive, according to retired Army Lt. Col. Gene Boyer, the Nixons' chief helicopter pilot.
"This was a combat mission," Boyer said yesterday, noting that more than 2,000 U.S. helicopter pilots were shot down and killed in Vietnam. "There were no front lines. Everything outside of Saigon was a war zone."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Ain't that the truth!
I find this so offensive that I can’t imagine it won’t torpedo her campaign. I’m proud of my military service, but I readily admit that I never served in combat and my entire military career was spent stateside. I can’t imagine insulting the sacrifices our combat troops have made by trying to oversell my personal military experience as more dangerous than it was for my own ego. It really shows how out of touch she is, and how little regard she has for our men and women in harms way. I wouldn’t have thought my opinion of Hillary could be lessened, but she found a way.
You know, I am beginning to think the media are overkilling this story, just like they did the Wright story, to minimize it’s long term effect.
Eventually much of the public becomes totally desensitized to the story, and it’s impact evaporates.
I have to disagree with you there. The media ARE overkilling this story all right. Because they want to KILL Hillary’s candidacy once-and-for-all.
Nothing must stand in the way of the New Messiah.
Good I hope they are successful.
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