Bill Clinton: “Oh, I don't know about ranking. It was important to me. Once I realized that there was something the United States could…”

“Oh, I don't know about ranking. It was important to me. Once I realized that there was something the United States could do, which probably happened somewhere in late 1991, long before I was elected, I decided I would try. And I just hope it succeeds. I believe that--at the end of the cold war, I think the United States has a particular responsibility, that goes beyond my personal passion for the Irish question, to do two things. One is to do whatever we can, wherever we can, to try to minimize the impact of ethnic and religious and tribal and racial conflicts. And we're in this position of responsibility there because of where we find ourselves at the end of the cold war. In addition to that, I think we have a particular responsibility to try to organize the world against the new security threats of the 21st century, the terrorism and narcotraffickers, the potential for the spread of weapons of mass destruction. And I have tried to do that. I don't suspect that either of those jobs will be completely done in 2001 when I leave office, but at least the world will be on the way to having a framework to deal with both the opportunities for peace and the challenges to security. And I think you have to see the Irish question in that context, apart from my personal feelings about it. Because if you, all of you--the Prime Minister of Great Britain and the Taoiseach and the Irish party leaders--if you're able to make this peace go, as I said in Armagh yesterday, then we can say to the places--to the Middle East, we can say in the Aegean, we can say in the Indian subcontinent, we can say in the tribal strife of Africa, ``Look at this thing that happened in Northern Ireland. There's the Troubles for 30 years, but there were conflicts for hundreds of years. This can be done.'' And so the potential impact of resolving this could wash over many more people than just those that live on this island. Military Action Against Terrorist Sites”