Bill Clinton anti-christ? Note this article.
DUBLIN (Reuters) - President Clinton (news - web sites) strode tall through the streets of Dublin Tuesday, hailed as a Northern Ireland peacemaker come back to ensure the quest went on.
Supping a pint of Guinness and doing some Christmas shopping in between formal appearances, Clinton's message to the people of divided Ireland was to stay with it because the price of failure was too terrible to consider.
Clinton, who arrived in Dublin on a three-day mission that also includes Belfast and London, said he wanted to exorcise British-ruled Northern Ireland's last demons.
Thousands of Dubliners ignored rain and bitter winds to cheer Clinton when he went shopping on the streets of the Irish capital several hours after arriving from Washington.
The president urged parties outside the 1998 Good Friday peace pact, mainly extremist paramilitary groups, to join up, not wreck hopes.
``I think we have to keep going. I don't think reversal is an option,'' Clinton said.
``I think the leaders just have to find a way through the last three or four difficult issues and I think it can be done. I'll do what I can.''
``Stay with it,'' was Clinton's message to Irish politicians at a reception.
Clinton was a prime mover behind the scenes in the 1998 accord which sought to end 30 years of sectarian strife between the British-ruled province's Protestant majority and Catholic minority.
Home Rule Government Bogged Down
But Northern Ireland's home rule government has become bogged down in rows over how to reform the predominantly Protestant police force and get guerrillas to disarm.
Making possibly his last official foreign visit, while still not knowing who will succeed him as president, Clinton said success in Northern Ireland would send a message around the world.
The president, accompanied by his wife Hillary and daughter Chelsea, was near to tears several times as Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern and other politicians lauded the role he had played on the Irish question.
``Every time we needed you, you had the time to make the call,'' Ahern told a reception at the headquarters of Guinness, makers of Ireland's famed drink.
``It should be regarded as part of your legacy as peacemaker and we'll never forget it in this country.''
There had been hopes that Clinton might stay involved in peace talks after his presidency ends on January 20.
However Clinton appeared to pour cold water on the idea.
``I think the new president, whoever it may be, will want to have a new team in place. And I want to support that. I will support whatever decision the new administration makes...and if I can be a resource, I will,'' Clinton said.
Clinton is regarded equally highly by Britain, and its Northern Ireland Minister Peter Mandelson added his voice from across the border in Belfast.
Clinton A Computer With Charisma
``I think he is a one-off. He is a cross between a thoroughly charming and charismatic human being and a political computer,'' Mandelson said in a radio interview.
It is the third time Clinton has visited Ireland during his eight-year-long presidency.
After his visit to Dublin, Clinton went to the border town of Dundalk before spending Tuesday night in Belfast.
In Dundalk, center of the Irish border's bandit country Clinton planned to directly challenge extremists who have refused to lay down their weapons.
Northern Ireland mediator George Mitchell will join him in Belfast Wednesday for talks with the province's key leaders.
Mitchell chaired meetings of the divided politicians through 22 months of ultimately successful talks, doggedly keeping them at the negotiating table with a mixture of optimism, calmness and fairness which won him the respect of both the Protestant and Roman Catholic communities.
The former Senate majority leader oversaw the signing of the Good Friday accord in April 1998 only to be called back in for a successful, 11-week rescue mission in late 1999.
When he visits London later Wednesday, Clinton will meet Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace. He returns to Washington Thursday.
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