Bill Clinton, the 42nd president, talks about wealth and politics, foreign policy and marijuana legalization, the Middle East, and former Vice-President Dick Cheney’s recent critique of the Obama administration.
During the Meet the Press interview held at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting, David Gregory brought up Republican efforts to Hillary to the attack in Benghazi, Clinton tore Cheney’s assessment of Obama and Iraq as well as Republican’s selective outrage over Benhazi.
DAVID GREGORY: I want to ask you about global leadership in the world. Iraq is back, unfortunately. A terror threat from this group known as ISIS is back and perhaps poses the biggest threat we’ve seen to the West and to the United States since Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
The former vice president, Dick Cheney, said of President Obama in an op-ed that claims that Al Qaeda is decimated is clearly not true. That, in fact, Al Qaeda is on the march, the argument that America is less safe under President Obama. Do you believe Dick Cheney is a credible critic on these matters?
PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: Well, I believe, you know, if they hadn’t gone to war in Iraq none of this would be happening. So I think they–
DAVID GREGORY: It wouldn’t be happening in Syria? There wouldn’t be–
PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: Well, it might be happening–
DAVID GREGORY: –terrorist actors?
PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: –in Syria, but what happened in Syria wouldn’t have happened in Iraq. Iraq would not have been, in effect, drastically altered, as it has been. But Mr. Cheney has been incredibly adroit for the last six years or so attacking the administration for not doing an adequate job of cleaning up the mess that he made. And I think it’s unseemly. And I give President Bush, by the way, a lot of credit for trying to stay out of this debate and letting other people work through it.
DAVID GREGORY: Let me ask you this: One of the issues about America’s role in the world is if we pursue a lighter footprint going into places, intervening, then that which we leave behind can become chaotic. And so it becomes a question of what responsibility does the United States have to be part of that future of a country?
This goes to Iraq. I’ve always believed that is the larger question about Benghazi. But you understand the political question about Benghazi, in many ways. Some have tried to make it about Secretary Clinton and her tenure. Rand Paul, on the program– he may run for president in 2016– called it disqualifying for Secretary Clinton. You have a response for that?
PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: Well, let’s go back to the first question because it’s serious. That’s not a serious comment; doesn’t deserve a serious question. Rand Paul, when ten different instances occurred when President Bush was in office where American diplomatic personnel were killed around the world, how many outraged Republican members of Congress were there? Zero.
You can watch the full interview below, from NBC. The segment on the Middle East begins around the 7 minute mark.
- Source Links – August 29, 2020
- About Pat Warde: Eulogy Tribute by Eleanor Hughes – April 1, 2019
- Editorial Note – January 15, 2019
You must be logged in to post a comment Login