Think About It

Bill Clinton and the Strange Article in Vanity Fair

I never thought I would be defending Bill Clinton, but I question the journalistic integrity of Vanity Fair’s upcoming article, titled The Comeback Kid.  According to the author of the article, Bill Clinton has been doing some late night one on one campaigning.  Supposedly, old friends and aides are anxious over Clinton’s recent escapades that include dubious and secretive business dealings, jetting around with a skirt-chasing posse and all-round bad behavior.  The tenor of the article would suggest that Bill Clinton is out playing while Hillary is occupied with her campaign for president.  Oh, a word about the author of the article.  It was written by the husband of Dee Dee Myers, who was Clinton’s White House press secretary.

When I first heard about the Vanity Fair article, I looked forward to reading it.  I was disappointed; instead of a well-documented look into Bill Clinton’s nocturnal forays, it was long on gossipy rumor and short on verifiable facts.  A sample: “Bill Clinton.   He had come to the City of Light (Paris) with the motley crew that constitutes some of the post-presidential rat pack to celebrate the marriage of Douglas Band, the man who for the last decade has been his personal aide, gatekeeper, enforcer, and—more recently—counselor in the multifarious business, philanthropic, and political dealings that keep Clinton restlessly circling the globe.”

According to the article, Bill Clinton is a close “bachelor buddy” of Ron Burkle, the California supermarket billionaire.  Burkle reportedly jets around the world in his converted Boeing 757 that Clinton calls “Ron Air” and Burkle’s circle of young aides privately refer to as “Air Fuck One.”   If one didn’t read carefully, the reader would think Bill Clinton flew to Paris with Burkle, but Clinton flew in with Steve Bing, a real estate heir and Democratic donor.  The article rambles on for several more pages of innuendo.  A strange article.

The timing of this article is interesting to say the least.  The story is breaking just as Hillary Clinton is the last throws of her campaign for President or as some think, Vice-President.  Lots of questions on this one.

Questions:

Was the article a deliberate hatchet piece or just another expose?

Was the timing of the article coincidental?

Are Obama’s people behind it?

Why did Vanity Fair run a piece that didn’t include verifiable sources?

How does Dee Dee Myers figure into this scenario?

Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Africa

Last night,     I watched the movie, Beyond the Gates, a movie about the genocide in Rwanda in 1994.  An estimated 800,000 Tutsis were killed by the ruling Hutus while the West looked on.  All of this happened on the watch of President Bill Clinton.  The UN did send a pitifully small force of 5,000 troops, most of whom did not arrive until the genocide was over.  Even then their mandate was not to fire on the Hutus unless fired upon first.  The frustrated UN soldiers were finally pulled out.

Fast forward 14 years to 2008, an International Criminal Tribunal  has put Callixte Kalimanzira, a former Rwandan cabinet minister on trial for taking part in the 1994 genocide.  The UN set up the  ICTR in the Tanzanian town of Arusha, in 1997, to try the most high-profile genocide cases.  Thirty-three people have been tried so far with 28 people being convicted and five acquitted.

Now, for today’s news: “Darfur School Bombed from the Air.”  The Islamic government of the Sudan has been busy carrying out, for the past 5 years, religious and tribal genocide, which has killed an estimated 300,000 people in Darfur.  There are now as estimated 2 million homeless people, thanks to the Sudanese government.  The UN, who has yet to fully deploy its peacekeeping force of 26,000, said the bombings were "unacceptable acts against civilians".  African Union troops make up about 1/3 of the troops deployed in Darfur.  Like Rwanda, the bulk of the genocide had been carried out before the UN managed to get a few token troops on the ground.  This happened on the watch of President George W. Bush.

The point is this, whether it’s a Democrat in office or a Republican, none in the West or anywhere else for that matter are outraged enough to do more than send token forces to help with humanitarian aid and to set up refugee camps. 

This leaves us with some questions:

Is the U.S. being hypocritical when we are quick to intervene in countries where there are “U.S. Interests,” yet do little when there is an ongoing genocide occurring under our noses?

Should “Peace Keeping” duties be taken away from the U.S. and given to NATO?    Would that change anything?

When our presidential election is held in November, will the new President do anything differently when it comes to Africa?

What should the West do when a “Darfur” or “Rwanda” situation breaks out?