Now Reading: Clinton used decoy plane for Pakistan visit over al-Qaeda threat
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Clinton used decoy plane for Pakistan visit over al-Qaeda threat
Clinton used decoy plane for Pakistan visit over al-Qaeda threat
White House reporter Susan Page revealed after 26 years that the Clinton administration used a decoy aircraft for President Bill Clinton's high-risk visit to Pakistan in 2000. Page, then chief of the…
The Story in Brief
White House reporter Susan Page revealed after 26 years that the Clinton administration used a decoy aircraft for President Bill Clinton's high-risk visit to Pakistan in 2000. Page, then chief of the White House Correspondents' Association, was briefed off-the-record about the security measure, which included an unmarked jet landing in Islamabad while a plane with Air Force One markings arrived first. The ruse became obvious when Clinton disembarked from the unmarked aircraft.
Historian Taylor Branch later wrote that intelligence had indicated al-Qaeda marksmen were positioned in Islamabad to assassinate Clinton, though the White House did not publicly cite this threat at the time. The revelation follows a recent report that President Donald Trump secretly switched aircraft in Turkey due to an Iranian threat, without informing journalists. Trump told reporters: 'But if I go, you go. Right?'
The Indian Opinion
Two presidents, two decoy planes, two different standards of transparency. The Clinton administration briefed the press pool in advance; the Trump administration did not. A convenient narrative pits a golden-age honour code against modern secrecy, but the reality is simpler. In 2000, the decoy was already obvious on arrival, so secrecy was moot. In 2025, the White House kept journalists in the dark about a threat that put them at risk. The test for any administration is not whether it uses decoys, but whether it tells the press enough to do its job. How many more such episodes are still off the record?"
Sources (2): rediff.com, hindustantimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources.
