It wasn't in Bagdad - it was in the
former Yugoslavia, just after the war. Her "detailed story" amounted to this quote from 2008:
"There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base," she said in 2008 [12 years after the event].
All the "bullets whistling overhead" stuff appears to be embellishments by critics.
In 2008, a CBS reporter who was on the plane in '96
wrote:
"Due to the possibility of sniper fire, our pilots used what we were told are 'assault take-offs and landings.' In short, the climb and descent are very fast, and very steep to minimize exposure to hostile fire on the ground."
"It's exciting and frightening and, in the midst of it all, wearing our helmets and bulletproof vests, it's easy to imagine we may be narrowly escaping enemy bullets."
"In reality, we had no known incidents of enemy fire on our aircraft."
To be fair, however, Attkisson did note in her 1996 CBS report that the "frontline outpost" that Clinton and Chelsea visited was "one of the most dangerous places where US forces are operating."
A Clinton speechwriter (not a totally unbiased source, but...)
said:
"I was on the plane with then First Lady Hillary Clinton for the trip from Germany into Bosnia in 1996. We were put on a C-17 - a plane capable of steep ascents and descents - precisely because we were flying into what was considered a combat zone. We were issued flak jackets for the final leg because of possible sniper fire near Tuzla. As an additional precaution, the First Lady and Chelsea were moved to the armored cockpit for the descent into Tuzla. We were told that a welcoming ceremony on the tarmac might be canceled because of sniper fire in the hills surrounding the air strip.
In her book (which came out before her statement),
Clinton said:
"Security conditions were constantly changing in the former Yugoslavia, and they had recently deteriorated again. Due to reports of snipers in the hills around the airstrip, we were forced to cut short an event on the tarmac with local children, though we did have time to meet them and their teachers and to learn how hard they had worked during the war to continue classes in any safe spot they could find."
Would any of that stick in
your mind if you went through it?
Now look again at her original statement,
12 years after the event:
"There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base"
Yes, it was an embellishment. But she was going into an area considered a war zone (with her child!), they had been given reports of sniper fire in the area, they were put in flak jackets, did a military-style rapid landing, and told while there was supposed to be a greeting on the tarmac, they might have to skip or limit it due to security.
To me, it was a stretcher, but not the Lie, LIE, LI3!!!! folks try to make it into. Your opinion may vary.