# Hillary and Sniper Fire in Bosnia: What's the Defense? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 24, 2008, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-and-sniper-fire-in-bosnia-whats-the-defense/442581 "2008-03-24T20:25:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-and-sniper-fire-in-bosnia-whats-the-defense/442581/21 "2008-03-25T01:29:42Z")
[QUOTE=levdrakon] How absolutely ridiculous. Every time she or any other important person ducks into a Secret Service car they’re dodging assassins. Doesn’t matter one wit if there’s actually an assassin gunning for them. Why on earth do you think there are Secret Service agents? Why on earth do you think there are armored aircraft? She flew on one and was told to duck. Seriously, how far backwards do you want to bend to turn this into something it’s not? [/QUOTE] I really can’t tell if you are being serious or not. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-and-sniper-fire-in-bosnia-whats-the-defense/442581/22 "2008-03-25T01:35:08Z")
[QUOTE=Anomalous Reading] Ok, so… You’re aware that Obama has Secret Service too, then? Because if having them is proof of readiness… that’s something. If ACTUALLY running a risk of getting shot is more of preparation… that could make sense… I just don’t see it. [/QUOTE] Am I missing something? Did she say she was actually dodging gunfire, or did she say the people in charge of her security told her to keep her head down because there’s gunfire in a general sense? There was danger you know. She wasn’t disembarking at Disneyland. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-and-sniper-fire-in-bosnia-whats-the-defense/442581/23 "2008-03-25T01:39:56Z")
[QUOTE=levdrakon] Did she say she was actually dodging gunfire, or did she say the people in charge of her security told her to keep her head down because there’s gunfire in a general sense? [/QUOTE] Where have you been? She said very specifically that she remembered landing under sniper fire, and that the welcome ceremony was canceled because of the threat. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-and-sniper-fire-in-bosnia-whats-the-defense/442581/24 "2008-03-25T01:43:11Z")
[QUOTE=levdrakon] Am I missing something? Did she say she was actually dodging gunfire, or did she say the people in charge of her security told her to keep her head down because there’s gunfire in a general sense? There was danger you know. She wasn’t disembarking at Disneyland. [/QUOTE] Woosh, woosh, wooshity woosh. Must be …right? ---
**Author:** ![Anomalous\_Reading](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Anomalous\_Reading](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anomalous_Reading)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-and-sniper-fire-in-bosnia-whats-the-defense/442581/25 "2008-03-25T01:44:22Z")
[Here - a youtube of her statement (if this isn’t a woosh)](http://youtube.com/watch?v=ozQe72pJOdQ) ---
**Author:** ![the\_PC\_apeman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac8455/32.png) [@the\_PC\_apeman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_PC_apeman)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-and-sniper-fire-in-bosnia-whats-the-defense/442581/26 "2008-03-25T01:44:59Z")
Hillary was pregnant at the time too - you know, in a general sense. ---
**Author:** ![Anomalous\_Reading](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Anomalous\_Reading](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anomalous_Reading)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-and-sniper-fire-in-bosnia-whats-the-defense/442581/27 "2008-03-25T01:49:06Z")
[QUOTE=the PC apeman] Hillary was pregnant at the time too - you know, in a general sense. [/QUOTE] And damned if she didn’t have to make that run in heels! ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-and-sniper-fire-in-bosnia-whats-the-defense/442581/28 "2008-03-25T01:58:18Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] Where have you been? She said very specifically that she remembered landing under sniper fire, and that the welcome ceremony was canceled because of the threat. [/QUOTE] Don’t know about you, but I’m working of the OP’s link. A reporter ASKED her about dodging sniper fire. She explained she flew in on an armored military plane and: [QUOTE=HillaryClinton] There was no greeting ceremony. We were basically told to run to our cars. Now that is what happened. [/QUOTE] Is it your assertion this didn’t happen, and it’s a lie? Since when is a reporter’s question evidence of lying? Wow, what a field day we could have with that. Actually, what a field day the Hillary Haters **are** having with that. Hey Hillary, ARE you still a child molester? ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-and-sniper-fire-in-bosnia-whats-the-defense/442581/29 "2008-03-25T02:05:47Z")
[QUOTE=levdrakon] > [@](#): > > There was no greeting ceremony. We were basically told to run to our cars. Now that is what happened. Is it your assertion this didn’t happen, and it’s a lie? [/quote] Yes. This is what I and many others are asserting. Are we clear on this? She was not told to run for cover and there was a greeting ceremony. Even she admits this now. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-and-sniper-fire-in-bosnia-whats-the-defense/442581/30 "2008-03-25T02:08:42Z")
[QUOTE=RTFirefly] Sinbad [contradicted her claim](http://blog.washingtonpost.com/sleuth/2008/03/sinbad_unloads_on_hillary_clin.html) on March 11, with his now-infamous line about guitar players and comedians. Yet [six days later](http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/03/hillarys_balkan_adventures_par.html), she was still claiming her story was true, and disparaging Sinbad’s account due to his profession. [/quote] Yeah, but isn’t Sheryl Crow a _bass_ player? I think Sinbad’s testimony may be suspect. Seriously, the best I can do for Hillary is either that she mixed it up with some other occasion (but I think _any_ occasion where the First Lady had to duck sniper fire would have gotten wallpaper coverage) or (more plausible), that the Secret Service, being as hyper cautious as they are, had heard reports that there might possibly be some chance of sniper fire at the airport, so they told Hillary they were going to scoot on inside as quickly as possible as a precaution. Hillary may have gotten an exaggerated sense of how much danger there really was and has in the intervening years built this into a bigger and bigger, more harrowing personal anecdote – something blown up for effect at cocktail parties and White House dinners and in the Senate dining room until she now actually believes she had to sprint through enemy fire like she was in _Black Hawk Down_. That’s the best I can do for her. I do think something like that is slightly more plausible than sheer, intentional fabrication, seeing as how she knows better than anybody that the media will fact check _everything_ a candidate says. These days, you better be right about how many pieces of toast you had with breakfast or you’ll get “LIAR, LIAR” headlines. She must have thought somehow, someway that she would be able to defend this story as having some factual basis. Inventing it out of wholecloth would be _stupid_, and we know she’s not stupid. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-and-sniper-fire-in-bosnia-whats-the-defense/442581/31 "2008-03-25T02:09:59Z")
[QUOTE=levdrakon] Is it your assertion this didn’t happen, and it’s a lie? [/QUOTE] Yes. That is a lie. The video shows the greeting ceremony, shows the little girl greeting her. Shows that there was no sniper fire and no running to the cars. Shows her calmly deplaning with her 16 year old daughter on this “dangerous mission” into a region that had been at peace for three months and that was actually a good will tour with only traditional First Lady duties. I swear I feel a breeze. ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-and-sniper-fire-in-bosnia-whats-the-defense/442581/32 "2008-03-25T02:10:44Z")
[Here’s](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=459377) another thread about Hillary’s claims. And another [cite](http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/hillarys_adventures_abroad.html). Quoting for those who don’t want to risk being rickrolled. > [@](#): > > Clinton has repeatedly referenced her “dangerous” trip to Bosnia. She fails to mention, however, that the Bosnian war had officially ended three months before her visit – or that she made the trip with her 16-year-old daughter and two entertainers. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-and-sniper-fire-in-bosnia-whats-the-defense/442581/33 "2008-03-25T02:13:58Z")
[QUOTE=levdrakon] Don’t know about you, but I’m working of the OP’s link. A reporter ASKED her about dodging sniper fire. She explained she flew in on an armored military plane and: Is it your assertion this didn’t happen, and it’s a lie? Since when is a reporter’s question evidence of lying? Wow, what a field day we could have with that. Actually, what a field day the Hillary Haters **are** having with that. Hey Hillary, ARE you still a child molester? [/QUOTE] Didnt you watch the video with the greeting ceremony she claims didnt happen? of her calmly walking of the plane not covering her head and not dodging sniping fire? she got caught in a blatant lie and tried to play it off by describing the damn plane. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-and-sniper-fire-in-bosnia-whats-the-defense/442581/34 "2008-03-25T02:17:16Z")
[QUOTE=Biggirl] Yes. This is what I and many others are asserting. Are we clear on this? She was not told to run for cover and there was a greeting ceremony. Even she admits this now. [/QUOTE] Do you have a cite proving she wasn’t told to “basically run to her car?” I saw no caption under her supposed “greeting ceremony” video stating the date or whether it occurred right after she stepped off the plane or whether it took place is a safer location. I’m quite sure she’s had greeting ceremonies all over the world. **DigitalC** , she never said she dodged sniper fire. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-and-sniper-fire-in-bosnia-whats-the-defense/442581/35 "2008-03-25T02:24:17Z")
[QUOTE=levdrakon] Do you have a cite proving she wasn’t told to “basically run to her car?” [/QUOTE] Yes. An eyewitness. Sinbad. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-and-sniper-fire-in-bosnia-whats-the-defense/442581/36 "2008-03-25T02:28:20Z")
[QUOTE=Biggirl] Yes. An eyewitness. Sinbad. [/QUOTE] But would Sinbad necessarily Know what _Hillary_ was told? I would assume the security for the First Family is a little more stringent than it is for the entertainment. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-and-sniper-fire-in-bosnia-whats-the-defense/442581/37 "2008-03-25T02:31:38Z")
[QUOTE=Biggirl] Yes. An eyewitness. Sinbad. [/QUOTE] Ah yes. Sinbad the comedian who recalled through a reporter the most dangerous part was figuring out where he was going to eat next. Well, obviously he was distracted. He is a very big boy. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-and-sniper-fire-in-bosnia-whats-the-defense/442581/38 "2008-03-25T02:33:47Z")
[QUOTE=levdrakon] Ah yes. Sinbad the comedian who recalled through a reporter the most dangerous part was figuring out where he was going to eat next. Well, obviously he was distracted. He is a very big boy. [/QUOTE] Yeup, that’s the guy. ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-and-sniper-fire-in-bosnia-whats-the-defense/442581/39 "2008-03-25T02:39:40Z")
Lev, I feel your defense has just become [moot](http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/03/24/clinton-campaign-says-she-misspoke-did-not-land-under-sniper-fire/). > [@](#): > > Hillary Clinton’s campaign backed off Monday from a disputed campaign claim, saying Clinton “misspoke” when she said she landed “under sniper fire” during a 1996 trip to war-torn Yugoslavia. Note. She’s not denying that she said she landed under sniper fire. She’s backing off the statement. And here the statement is. > [@](#): > > Last week, during a speech at George Washington University in Washington, she said she remembered “that trip to Bosnia. … There was a saying around the White House that if a place was too small, too poor, or too dangerous, the president couldn’t go, so send the First Lady. That’s where we went. > > "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.” So you’re pretty much wrong here. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-and-sniper-fire-in-bosnia-whats-the-defense/442581/40 "2008-03-25T02:40:01Z")
And let me add: If **levdrakon** is giving us an example of Team Hilary’s response, I’d go back to the drawing board if I were them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-and-sniper-fire-in-bosnia-whats-the-defense/442581.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-and-sniper-fire-in-bosnia-whats-the-defense/442581.md?page=3)