Clinton says Cheney misrepresented her in interview Nick Juliano

Published: Wednesday August 1, 2007





Print This Email This Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) accused Vice President Dick Cheney of misrepresenting her and spreading "inaccuracies" during a televised interview he gave Tuesday night. Clinton was responding to Cheney's decision to publicly side with his former aide who cited fears of 'reinforc[ing] enemy propaganda' in rejecting Clinton's request for a briefing on troop-withdrawal contingency plans. "I believe it is not only important, but imperative that Congress actively oversee the administration's Iraq policy," Clinton wrote Wednesday in a letter to the vice president, copied to RAW STORY . "That is why I feel it is necessary to respond to several comments and inaccuracies you put forward in your most recent interview with CNN." Cheney also impugned Clinton's position when he accused her of trying to reveal operational military plans in requesting information about troop-withdrawal planning, the Democratic presidential candidate said. "Your contention that I asked to reveal operational plans is a misrepresentation," Clinton wrote. "In fact, as a result of my inquiry, the Pentagon will be briefing the Senate Armed Services Committee tomorrow on this topic, without fear that operational security be imperiled." In an interview with CNN's Larry King, Cheney endorsed the implications of a letter to Clinton from Defense Undersecretary Eric Edelman. Cheney said contingency plans "might" be shared with Congress when they are ready to be executed, but should remain unseen by lawmakers until then. "We always have got a lot of contingencies, where we're going to start shedding those to respond to political charges, such as those Senator Clinton made, I think that would be unwise," Cheney said Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in a follow-up letter to Clinton, backed off Edelman's assertions that briefing Congress on withdrawal plans would be unwise. "Your comments, agreeing with Under Secretary Edelman, not Secretary Gates, have left me wondering about the true position of the Administration," Clinton wrote, adding she would ask President Bush to "set the record straight about the Administration's position regarding the role of Congress in oversight of the war."



