Bill Clinton: “Oh, absolutely. I'll do what ever I can to help. You know, this means a lot to me. It means a lot to the American…”

“Oh, absolutely. I'll do what ever I can to help. You know, this means a lot to me. It means a lot to the American people. We have tens of millions of Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants who are deeply invested emotionally, and many of them financially, in Northern Ireland, and would like to be more involved. And I also believe, as I have said many times, that if this can be resolved--if we can get over this next hurdle and go forward--I think it will give courage to the advocates of peace in the face of religious and ethnic problems in other parts of the world. You know, we're just getting off the ground with our efforts in Kosovo. There are many difficulties there, and the accumulated grievances there, from mass killing and mass uprooting, are deeper, if you will, just in terms of human loss than all the things that have happened in Ireland. But people have this sense that the divisions in Ireland go back such a long time, that if they can be overcome, I think it would give great heart to the proponents of peace in the Balkans and Africa and the Middle East, because--the new Prime Minister is about to announce a government there; we have a chance again to make progress and peace in the Middle East. And I think that from my point of view, as someone who's interested in not only the country of my roots but the rest of the world, I think that it's hard to overstate; it's hard to overstate the impact a positive or a negative outcome could have on such actions in the rest of the world. Mr. Devenport. Finally, Mr. President, there's only so much that you or, indeed, the British and Irish Prime Ministers can do to coax people along. Is this the time when Northern Ireland's political leaders have to stand on their own two feet?”