Political Quotes

“I rise today both to congratulate the Clinton administration for having taken the lead in the search for peace in the former Yugoslavia and, at the same time, to offer words of caution, even warning. Mr. President, Benjamin Franklin once wrote. "There never was a good war or a bad peace." These sentiments are indeed seductive, for no one who has seen the carnage of war could wish for anything more fervently than an end to the bloodletting. Yet, for all his wisdom, Franklin was ultimately wrong. There are good wars. The American Revolution that gave birth to our country was but one example. And there are bad peace settlements. Most historians agree that the Versailles Treaty that ended World War I was fatally flawed and was one of the fundamental causes of World War II. The point obviously is that a good, sensible peace settlement that eliminates the root causes of conflict--or at least ameliorates the worst injustices--can prevent future war.”