Clinton advisor wanted a sitting duck for Hussein

Old Trooper sends us this link from Newser‘s John Johnson who has had the time to read part of Hugh Shelton’s new book, Without Hesitation: The Odyssey of an American Warrior;

In 1997, one of Bill Clinton’s Cabinet members suggested that Shelton order a US plane to fly low over Baghdad so Saddam would shoot it down and, ta da, give America instant justification for war. “I was so mad I was about to explode,” recounts Shelton, thinking about the sacrificial pilot.

Salon quotes more about the moment;

I looked across the table, thinking about the pilot in the U-2 and responded, “Of course we can …” which prompted a big smile on the official’s face.

“You can?” was the excited reply.

“Why, of course we can,” I countered. “Just as soon as we get your ass qualified to fly it, I will have it flown just as low and slow as you want to go.”

The official reeled back and immediately the smile disappeared. “I knew I should not have asked that….”

By the process of elimination, Salon posits that the second ugliest Secretary of State Maddy Albright was the official who made the suggestion, although Shelton doesn’t name her. Salon and Huffington Post defend the suggestion because the call for eliminating Hussein was at a fever pitch in the Clinton White House, but somehow dissipated in the following years.

Another book for my reading list – hope it’s on Kindle.

Category: Liberals suck, Military issues