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Bosnia flap a reminder of Clinton character issues

By Scott Tibbs, April 14, 2008

Recently, Hillary Clinton claimed that she landed under sniper fire during a visit to Bosnia 12 years ago, a claim that was quickly debunked and ridiculed across not only the Internet, but by the mainstream media as well. The controversy had been dying down until her husband, disgraced ex-President Clinton, raised the issue last week with yet another falsehood:


But the former president's defense of his wife - that she had made the comment late at night after long hours of campaigning - was itself refuted by CBS News correspondent Jim Axelrod, who showed the New York Senator making her remarks early one morning after a day of rest.

Bill Clinton has been known for his character problems. The perjury and subornation of perjury that got Mr. Clinton impeached in 1998 came from the Monica Lewinsky scandal, but there were questions about his character well before that. Lewinsky may be the most remembered, but was not nearly as important as other Clinton scandals.

There are two scandals which are of the greatest concern. First is the "filegate" scandal, where the Clinton Administration illegally gathered about 900 FBI files on Republicans. Then we have allegations that Mr. Clinton misused the Internal Revenue Service to harass conservative groups opposed to the President. It is frightening to consider the President of the united States abusing the immense power of federal law enforcement for partisan political ands, especially as the "war on crime" and the "war on drugs" have chipped away at the rights of the accused and given more power to law enforcement.

In November 2001 and May 2003, I raised concerns about the "Patriot Act", reminding people about the Clinton Administration's abuse of power and making the point that we do not want someone like disgraced ex-President Clinton having the expanded powers of the 2001 anti-terrorism law. The Clinton Administration proved in Waco, Texas in 1993 that it did not have a problem with using military force on American citizens. Now, with Mrs. Clinton running for president, these concerns are front and center again, and should be a significant part of the campaign.

There were other scandals as well. Hillary Clinton's lucrative cattle futures deal, her tenure with the Rose law firm and questions about their billing records, and the shady Whitewater land deal all point to problems with her character. All of these scandals need to be re-examined should Clinton win the Democrat Party's nomination.