Bill Clinton: “Well, I wanted to come here to look into their faces and into the faces of their wives, their husbands, and their…”

“Well, I wanted to come here to look into their faces and into the faces of their wives, their husbands, and their children because I think they are about to do a very noble and important thing for our country and for the world. And I wanted to come here and directly say to them, ``Here is why I want you to go, and here is what you will be doing and what you will not be doing. We have done everything we could to minimize the risks, but there still are some, and here is what we expect to do about that.'' I wanted to give them those straight answers. I wanted to look at them--you know, I spent quite a long time there today and I talked to several hundred of them briefly today, and I frankly was very moved by the responses they gave. I think they understand it's not a risk-free mission, but I believe they understand its importance and the fundamentally honorable nature of it. Once again, the United States has no hidden or dark motives here. We simply want to restore peace and democracy and a decent life to those people. Thank you.”