Former President Bill Clinton is under scrutiny for claiming he opposed the Iraq war “from the beginning.” Clinton made the claim Tuesday while campaigning for his wife Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in Iowa. But a look at Clinton’s public statements from 2002 on reveal he never unequivocally opposed the war and at times voiced nuanced approval. In March 2003, Clinton criticized France for opposing the invasion and defended British Prime Minister Tony Blair for taking part. Meanwhile, a former senior administration official is now claiming White House officials personally briefed Clinton in the lead-up to war and that Clinton voiced his support. The official, Hillary Mann Leverett, is the former White House director of Persian Gulf affairs. She says she was “shocked” and “astonished” at Clinton’s claim to oppose the war. Leverett says former administration official Elliott Abrams emerged from one pre-war meeting “glowing” after Clinton promised he would publicly support an Iraq invasion.