Former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton says she did not tell her husband about the military operation that ultimately led to the death of Osama bin Laden, saying: “We couldn’t tell anybody.â€
Clinton described waiting for the Navy Seal operation that weekend in May three years ago during a speech and question-and-answer session at a Toronto Region Board of Trade luncheon on Monday afternoon.
Moderator and former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna asked Clinton about that night, saying: “You were in on it, and the president was in on it. But you didn’t tell your husband, the former president and commander in chief?â€
“No,†she replied, to laughter.
“This was one of those operations that had a very small group that was considering the intelligence and reviewing options and making recommendations to the president, and we couldn’t tell anybody,†Clinton said.
“And after it was over, President Obama made calls to all the former presidents and when he got to Bill he said, ‘Well, I suppose Hillary’s already told you but we had a successful operation against bin Laden.’ And he said, ‘No, she didn’t.’â€
Asked how the former president felt about that, Clinton replied: “I can tell you what he says publicly. He says, ‘Well, nobody will ever doubt that you can keep a secret.’â€
Clinton was in Toronto Monday as part of a promotional tour for her latest memoir, “Hard Choices,†which was released last week.
In a wide-ranging speech and then a talk with McKenna, Clinton discussed a variety of issues, including the growing violence in Iraq, her fight to advance the rights of women and girls around the world, and her decision to put aside her profound disappointment in having lost the Democratic nomination to Obama in 2008 to agree to be his first secretary of state.
“It was a very difficult time. We had gone to the very bitter end. The longest, most exhausting primary campaign certainly that anybody could remember,†she said. “I lost and he won and it was time to close ranks. But that didn’t mean I was less disappointed or less exhausted.â€
She says she was looking forward to returning to the Senate when Obama asked her to meet him in Chicago, where he was preparing for his inauguration.
Describing the meeting as being like “an awkward first date,†Clinton says Obama told her that he wanted her to help him deal with the pressing global issues their nation was facing. Still, she wanted to say no, but Obama would not take no for an answer.
In the end, she said, if the tables were turned she would have wanted him to work with her.
And when the president asks you to serve, “You say yes,†she said.
When she called Obama to accept the post, he said to her: “’Contrary to reports, I think we can become good friends.’ And indeed that is what happened.â€
Keystone debate ‘a very deep disagreement’
Clinton opened her talk by saying that Canada is the United States’ “indispensable partner†on the world stage, and praised the unique relationship between the two countries, calling it “an effective model†for global partnerships.
But in the question-and-answer session, she acknowledged that the debate over the proposed Keystone XL pipeline has strained the relationship.
Both opponents and advocates of the project are “making arguments in good faith,†she said, adding that “it’s a very deep disagreement.†But she warned against allowing that disagreement to become a “proxy for the (Canada-U.S.) relationship.â€
“It is one pipeline,†she said, adding that the two countries should be working together to create a joint approach to climate change issues and move away from non-renewable energy sources.
“I believe that we can make a transition that will actually end up being an economic plus,†she said. “And I particularly believe that North America, including Mexico, that we could form a unity of clean, renewable energy, energy efficiency efforts that would position us to be the energy powerhouse of the 21st century."
Presidential speculation
Clinton’s book tour coincides with the growing speculation south of the border about who will run for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations ahead of the 2016 election.
Clinton has yet to formally declare whether she will once again seek the Democratic nomination after losing to Barack Obama in 2008. But she is considered a front-runner for the nod.
McKenna left those questions to the end of the event, first asking what the husband of a female president would be called.
“Speaking hypothetically,†she joked, before naming some of the suggestions that she has heard, including First Man and First Mate. “I hope someday our country has an opportunity to figure that out.â€
Asked more directly about whether she was prepared to not only shatter the glass ceiling of the White House but break right through the front door, she joked: “Gosh, Frank, I don’t think we should be talking about coups.
“I’ve been in and out of there a lot. I’m not sure that kicking down the front door is an appropriate metaphor for the changes that we need to make.â€
She went on to lament the current political climate in the U.S., where “people are talking about issues without listening to each other,†and failing to compromise.
“We need to summon a unity of purpose in our country again,†she said. “However that’s done, I think it’s going to take some time to try to get into the right balance once more between our high regard for individualism and our deep yearning for community, and how we once again embed that in our national politics.â€
Whatever she chooses to do in the future, she said, she “will continue to work for that.â€
‘I made a mistake’
Clinton was also asked about her admission that she made a mistake when she voted in support of the George W. Bush administration’s decision to invade Iraq following the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Clinton noted that within the Democratic Party, it became a “smart decision†for politicians to distance themselves from Bush. But she feared sending a message to soldiers that she no longer supported them.
“I made a mistake when I voted to give President Bush authority with respect to Iraq,†she told McKenna. “And even though I thought I had made the best decision I could under difficult circumstances, I later came to just be absolutely regretful, if not dumbfounded, by the way that the administration implemented that decision.â€
She wanted to make clear in her book that she “made a mistake and I’m very concerned about where we are right now.â€
Asked whether the U.S. invasion of Iraq a decade ago is to blame for the current growing violence there, Clinton acknowledged that it has to be included on the list of contributing factors.
However, many other issues are to blame, she said, including decisions by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, such as his “failing to create an inclusive government.â€
Asked about the situation in neighbouring Syria, Clinton called it a “wicked problem,†and said she had advocated for her country offering support for the moderate opposition against President Bashar al-Assad. She devised a plan with then-CIA director and retired general David Petraeus to present to Obama, but in the end he opted not to send U.S. assistance.
And on the subject of autocratic world leaders, Clinton was asked about comments Russian President Vladimir Putin made about her, saying that “weakness isn’t the worst quality in a woman.â€
“He and I have traded a lot of verbal volleys. He wasn’t the first male leader to say something so sexist as that, and he probably unfortunately won’t be the last,†she said.
Clinton accused Putin of “looking to the past for Russia’s future†in how he has annexed Crimea and is trying to isolate neighbours that want closer relations with Europe and North America.
“He’s a very intriguing character,†she said. “He does have a thin skin, and he does unfortunately conduct policy by looking in the rear view mirror.â€
Hillary Clinton sits down with Canada AM in an interview set to be broadcast on Tuesday, June 17 on CanadaAM, CTVNews.ca, Â鶹´«Ã½ GO, Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel and CTV.
