New book reveals Bill Clinton’s rogue diplomacy against the Iraq War

Andrew S. Ginsburg ?@GinsburgJobs 4h4 hours ago
New book reveals Bill Clinton’s rogue diplomacy against the Iraq War

It was March 2003, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair had summoned his friend Bill Clinton to Chequers Court, his country home in England, to make an urgent request: Could the former president quietly help corral U.N. Security Council members to back a resolution aimed at slowing or, according to Blair, even stopping the Iraq War?

The events that followed show Clinton taking an unprecedented and un­or­tho­dox role in the foreign policy of his successor, George W. Bush, according to a new book, “Man of the World: The Further Endeavors of Bill Clinton,” written by liberal journalist Joe Conason.

Clinton’s activism came months after his wife’s vote in October 2002 in favor of authorizing Bush to use military force in Iraq — a decision that, according to the book, Bill Clinton counseled her to make. And the former president acted without the express approval of the White House.

The 13-year-old incident highlights the 42nd president’s outsize role in foreign affairs even after he left Washington. It is an exception to the pattern of Clinton’s post-presidential diplomatic work, which was usually done at the request of his successors — such as his trip to North Korea in 2009 to help rescue imprisoned journalists at the request of President Obama...


read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/new-book-reveals-bill-clintons-rogue-diplomacy-against-the-iraq-war/2016/09/06/66f9d8a0-6ad3-11e6-8225-fbb8a6fc65bc_story.html?postshare=3441473250325460&tid=ss_tw