"Yeah," Replies Bill Clinton

Yesterday, I chanced upon this article from the Straits Times:

Jun 29, 2010
Navy may need to blow well
WASHINGTON - THE US Navy may have to blow up a ruptured well gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico if efforts to cap the leak with relief wells fail, former US President Bill Clinton said on Monday.

'This is a geological monster,' the former president told CNN. 'That is one heck of an oil well. There's more oil down there than I ever dreamed.'

Mr Clinton said the 'most important thing is to fix the leak,' followed by the need to keep the oil from reaching shore, minimise the damage and then 'figure out what went wrong and hold them accountable, whether it was somebody in British Petroleum or someone in the US Government'.

Asked if he was concerned that the two relief wells currently being drilled may not work, Mr Clinton said 'yeah' and said blowing up the well 'may become necessary'. 'The navy could probably stop it, but there are all kinds of consequences that would have to be considered,' Mr Clinton said. 'You could stop that well, but what else might you do that might upset the ecostructure of the Gulf?'

The navy would not need to use a nuclear weapon, Mr Clinton said, explaining that the navy could simply 'blow up the well and cover the leak with piles and piles and piles of rock and debris'. Mr Clinton expressed concern that there was little else the federal government could do if BP's experts failed.

'Unless we're going to do all that, we're dependent on the technical expertise of these people at BP,' Mr Clinton said. Mr Clinton insisted that BP is 'trying to do the right thing' and should be given more time to plug the leak. He also defended President Barack Obama who has been criticized for failing to show sufficient emotion when dealing with this and other disasters. -- AFP

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/World/Story/STIStory_547078.html

Wow. I never knew that the Straits Times ever published anything so entertaining to read! To me (and one of my colleagues) at least, this news is actually Onion-worthy! I don't usually read the papers, but if they are going to print amusing articles like that every day, I will definitely make Straits Times-reading a daily habit!

Just to clarify matters, the article with its link is posted up there to show it actually exists; currently (30 Jun 2010), the article is still there, accessible by the link, but is no longer linked on the side bar with the other articles.

And am I worried about the Straits Times hunting me down for plagiarism issues? Nahhhhhhh.... This is such a minuscule blog; nobody can be bothered with us. Googling for "The navy would not need to use a nuclear weapon, Mr Clinton said, explaining that the navy could simply 'blow up the well and cover the leak with piles and piles and piles of rock and debris'." turns up many exact hits, including sites like

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?c=AME&s=TOP&i=4691384 and

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/29/2939851.htm.

=P.