Clinton accused of ‘war-story’ fibbing
Europa Hotel, Sept. 22, 2008 | thumbnail, Joe Fox/Getty Images An article in the Belfast Telegraph has accused Secretary Clinton of a fib that has “echoes” of her “blooper” last year when she said she dodged sniper fire in Bosnia in 1996. In a speech in Northern Ireland last week, Clinton said, “When Bill and I ...
An article in the Belfast Telegraph has accused Secretary Clinton of a fib that has "echoes" of her "blooper" last year when she said she dodged sniper fire in Bosnia in 1996.
In a speech in Northern Ireland last week, Clinton said, “When Bill and I first came to Belfast, we stayed at the Europa Hotel, as I have again this time, even though then there were sections boarded up because of damage from bombs.”
The article states that the last successful bomb attack on the Europa Hotel was in 1993 and that renovations to the hotel, seen at left, were completed in January 1994, 22 months before the Clinton’s 1995 visit. Hotel sources told the Telegraph that there’s “no way” any boards were visible during the Clintons’ stay at the hotel, which has been described as the “most-bombed hotel in Europe.”
Clinton’s spokesman Ian Kelly told the Telegraph:
I think what Secretary Clinton was trying to do was draw contrasts between contemporary Belfast, which I know has changed hugely from the Belfast of 1995.
“We [are] not talking about the same thing [as misspeaking about Bosnia]. Secretary Clinton was simply contrasting.”
There might be clarifying information we don’t know about — maybe Clinton confused the hotel with another boarded building — but it sounds like she got carried away and embellished during her speech. I’m willing to forgive her, but I hope it doesn’t happen again.
Photo: thumbnail by Joe Fox/Getty Images
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