Bill Clinton: “If that's what he said, he's not right about that. Look at where we are today. The United States is still the…”

“If that's what he said, he's not right about that. Look at where we are today. The United States is still the indispensable nation in the aftermath of the cold war and on the brink of the 21st century. I have worked to support our country as the world's strongest force for peace and freedom, prosperity and security. We have done the following things: Number one, we've managed the aftermath of the cold war, supporting a big drop in nuclear weapons in Russia, the removal of Russian troops from the Baltics, the integration of Central and Eastern European democracies into a new partnership with NATO and, I might add, with a democratic Russia. There are no nuclear missiles pointed at the children of the United States tonight and have not been in our administration for the first time since the dawn of the nuclear age. We have worked hard for peace and freedom. When I took office, Haiti was governed by a dictator that had defied the United States. When I took office, the worst war in Europe was waging in Bosnia. Now there is a democratically elected President in Haiti, peace in Bosnia. We have just had elections there. We have made progress in Northern Ireland and the Middle East. We've also stood up to the new threats of terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, organized crime. And we have worked hard to expand America's economic presence around the world with the biggest increase in trade, with the largest number of new trade agreements in history. That's one of the reasons America is number one in auto production again. Mr. Lehrer. Senator. Senator Dole. Well, I have a different view again. I've supported the President on Bosnia. And I think we were told the troops would be out in a year. Now I understand it's been extended till sometime next year. But let's start with Somalia, where they dragged Americans through the streets and where 18 Americans were killed one day because they didn't have--they were pinned down for 8 hours, the Rangers; they didn't have the weapons; they didn't have the tanks. They asked for the tanks. They didn't get the tanks from this administration, because we were nation building. It's called mission creep. We turned it over to the United Nations. The President didn't have much to do about it. Look at Haiti, where we've spent about $3 billion, and we got an alarm call there about 2 weeks ago: ``You've got to send down some more people because the President has found out there are death squads on his own property, so we need more protection from America.'' Bosnia, Northern Ireland--there is no cease-fire in Bosnia. I think there are still lots of problems in Bosnia. We agreed to train and arm the Muslims so they could defend themselves--the policy you had when you ran in 1992. We haven't done that. We're way behind, which means Americans can't come home. Americans shouldn't have gone there in the first place, had we let them defend themselves as they have a right to do under Article 57 of the United Nations Charter. Mr. Lehrer. Mr. President.”