Hillary Clinton, describing her 1996 trip to Bosnia in her speech today:
“I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.”
Hillary Clinton, describing the same trip in December 2007:
“We landed in one of those corkscrew landings and ran out because they said there might be sniper fire.”
Somehow, the snipers have gone from potential to actual.
I could be mistaken, but my understanding of “corkscrew landings” was that they were a precaution against an anti-aircraft missile; a traditional take off or landing in a straight line makes for an easier target as the trajectory of the aircraft is predictable.
Sinbad the comedian, who was on that trip, expressed incredulity when he heard that Hillary was discussing the danger on that trip. “What kind of president would say, ‘Hey, man, I can’t go ‘cause I might get shot so I’m going to send my wife…oh, and take a guitar player and a comedian with you.’”
Even if we accepted the possibility that the personnel involved with the security decisions on that trip would be willing to expose the First Lady to potential sniper fire… are we to believe they would they make the same calculation of risk with the life of then-16-year-old Chelsea Clinton?