Bill Clinton: “Well, what I will acknowledge is that I underestimated the difficulty of putting a coalition together, all agreeing on…”

“Well, what I will acknowledge is that I underestimated the difficulty of putting a coalition together, all agreeing on one policy. Her question to me was right if she were to ask me, do I think it took too long for all of us to get together? Yes, I do. But we worked at it very hard from the beginning. I don't think it's fair to say we've gone back and forth. We tried one area; it didn't work; we try another. There were people who said to me, ``Don't get involved in Bosnia. Leave it alone. Let it go. It's a sinkhole. You can have no influence. Walk away from it. If you try to do something, you can't dominate it; you'll just be attacked for that.'' I thought that was bad advice. The United States sometimes has to try to make a difference where it cannot control events but can influence them. That is the situation with Bosnia. We are not in control; we have some influence, we're doing our best to exercise it, and I think we're better off. I think during the campaign, when I made it clear that I didn't think we could or should send ground forces in unless there was an agreement, I underestimated the difficulty of getting broad agreement through NATO and then getting the U.N. to use the NATO force. I did underestimate that. It took longer than I wish it had. But if you think about what an unprecedented action NATO has taken, the first time we have ever acted together out of the NATO area, I think still it's something that's remarkable and very much worth doing. Poland and NATO [A participant from Poland asked about the denial of NATO membership to Poland.]”