Bill Clinton: “And I just want to mention one other thing, too. I want you to think about these points: Number one, at the end of World…”

“And I just want to mention one other thing, too. I want you to think about these points: Number one, at the end of World War II, we established NATO, recognizing that we would try to stay together dealing with common security concerns. Admittedly, at the time, we thought those concerns might play themselves out in Central Europe in the contest between what was then the Soviet Union and the Western bloc, the NATO bloc. But we understood that we had shared concerns that would manifest themselves first on the Continent of Europe but could become much more immediate for us. Now, the NATO powers have voted among themselves to work with others through the United Nations and on our own in brokering this peace agreement and trying to implement it. This is consistent with what we have done since World War II. The second thing I'd like to ask every American is how you would have felt--I would like to ask every American how would you have felt when President Bush sent out the call for help in Desert Storm, which was a war, not a peacekeeping measure, if they said, ``You handle that. You have more money, more soldiers, more interests there. You're concerned about the oil. You waste more oil than the rest of us do. You guys handle that''? Or think about all the countries that helped us in Haiti who didn't say, ``I'm sorry. That's not our problem; that's your problem. You have the refugees in the United States. We don't have them. They're on your shore. They're your problem. We can't be bothered with that.'' But instead, we have had dozens of countries rally to the United States to work with us in common cause when their values were violated by things that were of more immediate concern to us. That's what they did in Desert Storm. That's what they did in Haiti. And I will say, every day, every day for almost 40 years, there has been a citizen of Ireland in some distant country working for peacekeeping in places where the United States did not go. And they did not ask, ``What is the immediate interest of the people of Ireland in doing that?'' So I think the United States has been very well-served by countries that have been willing to stand up with us, to stand up for good things and right things that also affect our interest. And I believe we should do this now. Prime Minister Bruton. Thank you. We must respect the timetable. I'm sorry. Thank you very much, indeed. Thank you.”