Bill Clinton: “Thank you very much, General Clark, General Jackson, General Craddock, Colonel Ingram, ladies and gentlemen of the…”

“Thank you very much, General Clark, General Jackson, General Craddock, Colonel Ingram, ladies and gentlemen of the United States military. And as nearly as I can tell, we've got a few of our British counterparts back there and at least two Spanish officers over here somewhere. And I just want to say, first of all, I am proud to have the soldiers, the marines, the air men and women, the naval forces of the United States of America serving in NATO. I am proud that we're part of KFOR. I'm proud that we're serving under an able commander like General Jackson. I am proud of Wes Clark. You know, General Clark and I went through the agony of Bosnia together. He lost three good friends, who fell off a mountain because Mr. Milosevic wouldn't let them take the safe road to try to negotiate a peace. And we watched for 4 years while reasoned diplomacy tried to save lives and a quarter of a million people died and 2\1/2\ million refugees were created before NATO and our friends on the ground in Croatia and Bosnia forced a settlement there and ended the horror there. This time we didn't wait. And it took 79 days, but that's a lot better than 4 years. And I hope the people of the world, when they see these horrible, horrible stories coming out, the mass graves and all of that, just imagine what it would have been like if we had stepped to the side and not done what we did for the last 3 months.…”