Aide: Bill Clinton was briefed by Bush WH on Iraq war plans and "said he supported the invasion"

[ClarkUSA]

From today's Washington Post front page:

A former senior aide to then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice disputed Bill Clinton's statement this week that he "opposed Iraq from the beginning," saying that the former president was privately briefed by top White House officials about war planning in 2003 and that he told them he supported the invasion.

Clinton's comments in Iowa on Tuesday went far beyond more nuanced remarks he made about the conflict in 2003. But the disclosure of his presence in briefings by Rice -- and his private expressions of support -- may add to the headaches that the former president has given his wife's campaign in recent weeks.

Hillary Mann Leverett, at the time the White House director of Persian Gulf affairs, said that Rice and Elliott Abrams, then National Security Council senior director for Near East and North African affairs, met with Clinton several times in the months before the March 2003 invasion to answer any questions he might have. She said she was "shocked" and "astonished" by Clinton's remarks this week, made to voters in Iowa, because she has distinct memories of Abrams "coming back from those meetings literally glowing and boasting that 'we have Clinton's support.' "

Leverett, a former career foreign service officer who said she is not involved in any presidential campaign, said the incident affected her because of her own doubts about the wisdom of an attack. "To hear President Clinton was supportive really silenced whatever questions I had," she recalled. Leverett, who worked in the same office as Abrams at the time, said Rice and Abrams "made it a high priority" to get Clinton's support, meeting with him at least twice. Abrams was tasked to answer Clinton's questions and "took the responsibility very seriously," Leverett said. "Elliott was then very focused on making sure that we followed up on Clinton's questions to keep Clinton happy and on board."

One of the specific questions Clinton asked, Leverett recalled hearing, is what the United States would do if Iraq's "military used chemical weapons against our Gulf allies."

She recalled being told that Clinton made it clear to Rice and Abrams that they could count on his public support for the war if it was necessary.

Rice's spokesman, Sean McCormack, said that "she is not going to comment on past conversations with former presidents in either capacity as or secretary of state." White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe declined to comment on behalf of Abrams.

Leverett added that the White House at the time had little concern about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's support for the war and "they discussed inviting her to various White House events as a sort of reward for her support."

Leverett and her husband, Flynt Leverett, also a former top Rice aide, have become critics of the Bush administration since they left the White House, accusing the administration of trying to censor their writing because of their criticism of Iran policy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/28/AR2007112802485.html?nav=rss_print/asection

Curiouser and curiouser.

[puerco-bellies]

1. Washington Post, now that's a neutral reliable source.

[MethuenProgressive]

18. ClarkUSA left out: "Republican" Aide...

Not on purpose, of course.

[karynnj]

23. She has NO first hand information!

Read her comments - Rice and Abrahms went to the meetings. The WH has her responding because she has more credibility, but she is likely beiung used. She is a career foreign service person. It says that she and her husband have been critical of Bush. It is right to be suspicious, but she MAY not be Republican. Having watched various people in the state department testify at SFRC hearings, some like Abrams and Rice are Bushies, others like Nikolas Burnes seem to be very good, honest and professional.

It also may be that Clinton took neither a complete "do not go to war" position or a "I'm supporting the President" position, and people are spinning his grey position as either black or white. We KNOW he did not take a public Al Gore position in Sept/Oct 2002. The disturbing thing here is that this is 2003. (I have always thought that as a party, the Democrats should have emphasized that the decision to go to war in March 2003 was substantially worse than voting yes in 2002.)

There is one comment here that might explain things - she refers to Eliott Abrams (who should have gone to jail for Iran/Contra) as coming out of meeting saying they had Clinton's approval. If her comment is based ONLY on second hand information - Dooes anyone here trust Abrams? Could he have lied or even just cherry picked Clinton's responses?

[MethuenProgressive]

30. That won't stop certain DUers from using this GOP source.

:shrug:

[Tellurian]

36. hahaha! And Condi has a Hillary bumpersticker on her car!

:rofl:

[ClarkUSA]

35. The story doesn't say that Leverett is a registered Republican - and she's a critic of Bush policy

And since they have been strong critics of the Bush WH Iran policy, I hesitate to assume anything. Do you know that Hillary Leverett is a Republican?
The story does describe her as a career state department official, though.

Career state department officials are often Democrats, too. For example, Joe Wilson was a career state department official under Bush I and he is a
Democrat who has endorsed Hillary recently.

[MethuenProgressive]

37. "A former senior aide to then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice"

Yeah. I'm sure she's a flaming liberal. :rofl:

[terisan]

2. Support based upon same lies told to public and Congress? Repups are trying to blame Dems for war.

Incredible nerve actually-invade a country based on lies, destroy american economy, rack up debt, and then say its the fault of party out of power????????

[gateley]

3. Is Bill Clinton really that cozy with the Bush Administration - that he would

be privately briefed about war plans?

[ClarkUSA]

4. Good question.

An adviser to the former president said that, while Clinton recalled meeting with Rice before the war, it was strictly an
informational session about technical war planning..."

[gateley]

5. That just seems odd to me - why would a former President meet with the

current SOS (from a different party) for an "informational session about technical war planning." Is that SOP?

[aquart]

9. My question exactly.

[ClarkUSA]

10. Who knows?

Sounds like that's what happened here, though.

[karynnj]

24. I'm not a Clinton fan, but why not?

Clinton had 8 years of experience including being CiC at the time of the Balkan Wars. The only other person who had that type of experience was GHWB. It would have made sense for Bush to use both as sounding boards to his plans. (In addition to the military and foreign policy experts.) I don't know where the quote originates, but people from Dick Lugar to John Kerry have spoken of how politics ends at the water front. (Kerry mostly in the context of arguing that Bush has broken with that tradition and has not had a bipartisan foreign policy.)

There is one comment here that might explain things - she refers to Eliott Abrams (who should have gone to jail for Iran/Contra) as coming out of meeting saying they had Clinton's approval. If her comment is based ONLY on second hand information - Dooes anyone here trust Abrams? Could he have lied or even just cherry picked Clinton's responses?

[Reno.Muse]

27. I am sickened beyond belief

[Scriptor Ignotus]

32. Bill Clinton was President and Commander in Chief for 8 years

I would think the Bush Admin would at least like to hear what he had to say about the invasion. That he met with Team Bush does not shock me at all.

Still, I'd like to hear what Elliot Abrams has to say about all this before jumping to any conclusions.

[DFW]

6. This is a non-story

Someone is reporting on "what she heard" from people who met with Clinton, who may or
may not have been skewing what CLinton said to suit their purposes. That seemed to be
the whole tactic for leading up to the invasion int he first place. Cheney "heard" from
Langley that WMD were real, too. Some people in the Bush White House "heard" that Bush
was a great president, too, no doubt.

Plus, Clinton is said to have told them, "they could count on his public support for the war if it was necessary."

IF IT WAS NECESSARY. Obviously it was NOT necessary. Bill Clinton will probably tell you he is for
mobilizing every able man, woman and child into a paramilitary force IF the Martians invade, too.

The necessity of invading Iraq was as real as the Martian invasion. Repeat: a non-story.

[aquart]

8. Good point.

Especially since the people privy to this are the ever-truthful Condi, one of her aides, and the vicious traitor Elliott Abrams who should have been executed for Iran Contra.

[karynnj]

28. Worse, not just sombody, but Eliott Abrahms.

[aquart]

7. I'm sorry. WTF briefs ex-presidents? ESPECIALLY of the other party.

Is this routine? How many times has it happened and WHY?

The Democrats in Congress (including the DLC) were completely cut out of the information loop but Bill Clinton was briefed???? Someone who didn't need to know ANYTHING?

This is so distressing. I'm going to have to believe Bill's wonky heart wasn't letting oxygen get to his brain. Why else would an intelligent man believe the WMD lies?

But how pathetic of the Bush WH to get all happy that they had Bill's support.

[ClarkUSA]

11. I'd like to know, too.

That's why Democrats desperately need to consider the issue of transparency in government before they vote for a candidate this time around.

[hayu_lol]

14. Gee ClarkUSA, I guess thats why Clinton and Gore spent a lot of time...

briefing Bush(who shelved the files and disregarded the info passed)and also why Clinton invaded Iraq before leaving office.

Surely wish you would quit your efforts to rewrite history.

[ClarkUSA]

33. Apples and oranges. And I'm not the one trying to rewrite history -- I'VE always been antiwar.

Unlike Bill Clinton and his wife.

[Adelante]

16. Consulting ex-presidents is something that is done

Kennedy briefed Eisenhower at times.

[wyldwolf]

12. isn't this the same group from Rice's office who said they were never warned about bin Laden?

[BootinUp]

13. Who gives a fuck what the puke says nt

[earthlover]

15. Clinton made public his early support for the war

"I supported the president when he asked for authority to stand up against weapons of mass destruction in Iraq"

."It is...illogical to believe that stocks would not get into the wrong hands," Clinton said just days after the war began. "It's easier to deal with the production and spread of this stuff than deal with the aftermath."
"I don't think it will be a big military problem if we do it."

In a June 2004 article in Time magazine, Clinton also suggested that he would have acted the same way Bush did.
"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," he is quoted telling the magazine.


===============

That's. Why. I. Supported. The, Iraq, Thing.

[flyarm]

20. yes and thousands of us dems were writing him daily begging him to either shut up his support or

tell the damn truth..that this war was not about wmd..

now this revisionism..makes me puke!

between Bills revisionism and roves..i expect any day they will blame the war protestors for the war!

enough..

who does Bill and rove think they are fooling??

well i guess there are fools that will excuse this bullshit !

fly

[BeyondGeography]

22. Hey, it depends what your definition of "thing" is

[flyarm]

26. ? :)..eom

[flpoljunkie]

17. Flynt Leverett on C-Span: What The White House Doesn't Want You To Know About Iran

Flynt Leverett on Washington Journal: What the White House Doesn’t Want You To Know About Iran

By: Nicole Belle on Wednesday, October 24th, 2007 at 5:15 PM - PDT



CSpan’s Washington Journal had Flynt Leverett on to discuss his latest article in Esquire Magazine ” The Secret History of the Impending War with Iran That the White House Doesn’t Want You to Know“

In the years after 9/11, Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann worked at the highest levels of the Bush administration as Middle East policy experts for the National Security Council. Mann conducted secret negotiations with Iran. Leverett traveled with Colin Powell and advised Condoleezza Rice. They each played crucial roles in formulating policy for the region leading up to the war in Iraq. But when they left the White House, they left with a growing sense of alarm — not only was the Bush administration headed straight for war with Iran, it had been set on this course for years. That was what people didn’t realize. It was just like Iraq, when the White House was so eager for war it couldn’t wait for the UN inspectors to leave. The steps have been many and steady and all in the same direction. And now things are getting much worse. We are getting closer and closer to the tripline, they say. … (read on)

You may recall Flynt Leverett from when he and his wife Hillary Mann, who co-wrote the now infamous redacted NYT Op-Ed and its corresponding “What We Wanted to Tell You About Iran” which linked to already published sources for all of the redacted info the White House was desperately trying to keep hidden, which Raw Story followed up on with their “The redacted Iran op-ed revealed.” Much of Leverett and Mann’s work helped form the basis for an amazing PBS Frontline Special which aired Tues night, ” Showdown with Iran” which you can watch online. Look for us to be bringing you more on that later here at C&L.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/10/24/flynt-leverett-on-washington-journal-what-the-white-house-doesnt-want-you-to-know-about-iran

[flyarm]

19. former First Lady Barbara Bush “announced us. And she said she has started to call me son.

from a comment on Palasts article page..i had heard this when it was said on CBS ..but can't find the original story in my files..and too busy today to keep looking..fly

oh and this is a great Greg Palast article...


http://www.gregpalast.com/hillarys-mother-fing-tour-business/

Former President Bill Clinton discussed his relationship with President Bush’s father last night on CBS LATE SHOW.

Clinton: “I think we’re good friends. I like him very much. I’ve always liked him. When he was vice president, I was still a governor. We worked together on a number of things. He hosted the governors, in 1983…at Kennebunkport.”

When they made an announcement about raising funds for Tsunami relief in Houston former First Lady Barbara Bush “announced us. And she said she has started to call me son. I told the Republicans there, I said don’t worry, every family has one, you know, the black sheep. I told them, this just shows you the lengths the Bushes would go to get another president in the family. I wish I could get them to adopt Hillary.”

[Colobo]

21. It's so sad both Clintons supported this war.

[flyarm]

25. i believe they both do and i believe they both believe in the new world order! ..

just my 2 cents..but that is what i believe and no one will change my thoughts on it but them..


But Hillary already proved herself to me on that front signing the Liebernam /Kyl amendment..i need no further proof of where Hillary stands and it is polar opposite of where i stand.

fly

[blm]

38. Both Clintons were on the exact same page as Lieberman till he lost his primary race

in 2006. Only THEN did they adjust their rhetoric to the left on Iraq. I clearly recall Hillary attacking Kerry-Feingold withdrawal bill on the senate floor because she believed timetables were wrong. Then Joe lost his primary. Then Hillary changed her tune on timetables.

[geek tragedy]

29. "I have repeatedly defended President Bush against the Left on Iraq."

William Jefferson Clinton.

[desi]

31. And now we are supposed to believe Elliott Abrams

pardoned by GHW BUSH along with other Iran/Contra war criminals who eventually ended up in the present JUNTA. See how many other criminals who are/were members/advisers of/to the bush/cheney JUNTA you can find to quote.

http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/summpros.htm

http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/

Elliott Abrams -- Pleaded guilty October 7, 1991, to two misdemeanor charges of withholding information from Congress about secret government efforts to support the Nicaraguan contra rebels during a ban on such aid. U.S. District Chief Judge Aubrey E. Robinson, Jr., sentenced Abrams November 15, 1991, to two years probation and 100 hours community service. Abrams was pardoned December 24, 1992.

[ClarkUSA]

34. Hillary Mann Leverett is quoted in the article. She and her husband have been Bush WH critics.

It's a classic case of she said, he said.

It is interesting to know that Bill Clinton was in on the preemptive Iraq war planning sessions, though -- he isn't denying that, either.
I guess he wasn't opposed to the Iraq war "from the beginning," after all.