ABC Honors Bill Clinton with Interview on 'His Work to Save a Continent'
By Tim Graham | July 20, 2007 - 12:19 ET
ABC’s Good Morning America interviewed Bill Clinton on Thursday morning, and while he made the news for saying Iraq is hopeless ("There is no military victory here"), the interview was also notable as another opportunity for ABC to honor Clinton as a global statesman and ask him softball questions for almost nine minutes. Co-host Diane Sawyer reported he was in Africa to see Nelson Mandela and do his AIDS work: "And President Bill Clinton weighs in, speaking out on the war, his work to save a continent and Senator Hillary Clinton’s campaign. An exclusive interview."
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The ABC graphic during the interview was "Bill Clinton One on One: On the War And His Mission." Sawyer’s first question was on Iraq. She included the note that generals Peter Pace and Raymond Odierno are seeing some progress in Iraq as she introduced her taped interview:
Sawyer: "Mr. President, so good to have you with us this morning. Thank you. If you were still president and these were your generals, these were your generals, saying give me more time, would you give them more time?"
Former President Bill Clinton: "I think the problem is, first of all, I think there is some evidence that changes from day to day. But while the violence is going up in many places, where we have more soldiers and where the Iraqis are fighting the outside insurgents like the al Qaeda insurgents in the Sunni areas, we've had some evidence of progress. The point is, that there is no military victory here. And there is no evidence that, whether we have a good or bad day in a particular community or region in Iraq, that we have either the political reconciliation process within the country working or any diplomatic process that's got a chance to help with the neighbors. That, it seems to me, is the larger point."
Sawyer: "So there's nothing General Petraeus could be saying in September that would convince you of anything, but start pulling the troops out?"
Clinton: "Well, I believe that General Petraeus is a very able man. And I don't have any doubt that they'll win some battles. And I hope this works. I think every American hopes this works. But it can't work beyond winning a few battles. It has to, it has to be accompanied by, and he has a few weeks, the Iraqis have a few weeks to do it, it has to be accompanied by progress on the political front. The President has weathered the challenge in the Senate because of the filibuster. As long as he can hold more than 40 senators, he can stop the Senate from voting for a change in course. But in the end, September will come, and it won't be long."
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2007/07/20/abc-honors-bill-clinton-interview-his-work-save-continent