Bill Clinton: “Well, for me it's a big thing. It's a big thing because I think countries--I think all countries--I think the United…”

“Well, for me it's a big thing. It's a big thing because I think countries--I think all countries--I think the United States has done this, too. None of us are--you know, we all make our mistakes, and we all have our memories, but I think when a great country, because of an inaccurate reading of the facts of a situation or being in the grip of a historical nightmare, makes an error, the consequences can be quite severe. For example, it took us 2 years and a few months to get the American public to the point, and our allies to the point, that we could go in and end the Bosnian war. Now, a lot of people looking from the outside in said, ``Look at this terrible situation in Bosnia. Why don't they just go and do something about it? Why are they taking 2 years?'' Well, the people who say that didn't live through the experience that our military and our people did in Vietnam. Bosnia was not Vietnam for a lot of different reasons. An outsider could say to all of us, ``America, why don't you understand this is not Vietnam?'' But it took us a while to work through, as a people, and with our allies, why it wasn't, what it was, and what we had to do, what our clear moral responsibility was, what was in our national interest. We did the right thing. And in the lifetime of a country, 2 years is not very long to take to do that but it took--it was a lot of hard work. And you would be amazed in the debates and the discussions, if you just go back and read things that were in the public in the beginning there were a lot of people who were afraid, ``Oh, this is Vietnam all over again.'' So I am--I've developed some patience in working on this. I'm impatient to get the results, but I understand what it's like to try to change the mindset of a nation, the psychology of a nation, when it has deeply embedded historical experiences that become a part of the way the leaders of a nation look at everything that happens thereafter. Korean Peninsula”