Bill Clinton: “Well, as you know, Senator Dole has just come back from Kosovo, also I think quite frustrated. The real problem, of…”

“Well, as you know, Senator Dole has just come back from Kosovo, also I think quite frustrated. The real problem, of course, is--I don't want this to be misinterpreted. There is no, in my view, moral equivalence between what has been done by the Serbs and what has been done by the Kosovar Albanians to try to secure the autonomy which was unlawfully stripped from them a decade ago. But it is clear that in this interim period, when they went home from Rambouillet and they're arguing about whether they should take this peace agreement, there are a lot of tensions and crosscurrents. The consensus among our NATO Allies now is that in the next few days we should be doing everything we possibly can to get these people on both sides to realize that this is--it is crazy for them to go to war, to kill each other, to compromise their children's future, when they have an agreement which, from the point of view of Mr. Milosevic, only requires him to do what the law requires him to do anyway, to respect the autonomy of the Kosovar Albanians; which, from the point of view of the Kosovars, avoids a bloody war and gives them a chance to establish the mechanisms of self-government without foreclosing or guaranteeing a future of independence, to see how they do in the next 3 years. It seems to me that a present war is the worst of all circumstances. Now, if the prospect of the agreement were totally destroyed by an outright military offensive, I would be the first to argue that our NATO Allies have to take action and take action now. But the situation is, frankly--even though you're absolutely right; there have been some actions by the Serbs--the situation is sufficiently murky and the present status of the peace agreement and whether either side can bring itself to agree is sufficiently shaky that all the NATO Allies at this moment on this day believe that we should devote all of our energies trying to get the agreement. But I can speak for myself and, I believe, at least for most of my NATO Allies, that if this thing come apart at the seams, we still have a commitment. And I'm determined to honor our commitment.”