Bill Clinton: “We have always said, if you go back to the beginning of this administration, that we had no interest in trying to…”

“We have always said, if you go back to the beginning of this administration, that we had no interest in trying to persecute anybody. President Aristide himself agreed on an amnesty proclamation as part of the agreement we had last year. The military leaders broke that agreement. We are still looking at any number of options to try to restore democracy to Haiti so that that troubled country can begin to have some economic growth and the people who have been so oppressed by the military dictators can escape their oppression. So we have a number of options under consideration. What happens to those who violate the law, I think, depends in part on what the democratic government decides to do. But President Aristide all along has said that he was interested in honoring the original conditions of the Governors Island Agreement. It was the other side which broke them. Health Care Reform [Following a commercial break, it was announced that the President would take questions from persons outside the studio. A participant then asked if an additional tax would be used to help small businesses pay for health care.]”