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Bill Clinton regards Good Friday agreement as his greatest foreign policy achievement says aide

New radio program highlights contribution of 1995 visit

PATRICK COUNIHAN,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Sunday, January 20, 2013, 8:03 AM

Updated Sunday, January 20, 2013, 8:03 AM

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Former US president Bill Clinton

President Bill Clinton considers the Northern Ireland Peace Process his greatest foreign policy achievement according to a new radio documentary.

The former US leader was one of the main architects of the Good Friday agreement and is immensely proud of his involvement according to White House aide Susan Brophy.

She makes the remarks in the radio documentary presented by Hillary Clinton’s former White House Chief of Staff Ambassador Melanne Verveer.

The BBC website reports that the Radio Ulster documentary - Christmas with the Clintons - looks back at their 1995 visit to Northern Ireland and catches up with those who the Clintons met on the day.

Brophy accompanied the President on the historic trip which followed on from an interest in Ulster politics which had developed during his time at Oxford University.

Presidential aide Brophy told the program: “I guarantee you that he considers it probably the top foreign policy achievement of his presidency which says a lot - he was a very successful President.”

Clinton visited a number of areas in Belfast and also visited Derry, Armagh and Omagh on the 1995 trip.

He famously shook hands with Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams on his visit to the Falls Road, a significant gesture according to the Republican leader.
Adams told the BBC: “There had to be some signal, particularly on the back of the IRA cessation, that things had changed.

“The actual handshake on the Falls Road was resisted by the British government right up to the very hour or two before it occurred.

“My colleague Richard McCauley had a feeling they would block any photograph, so he put a photographer and arranged a video above the shop.

“They brought the President walking down the Falls Road but kept the press back, so thanks to Richard’s ingenuity, the moment wasn’t wasted.”

The Clintons also made a trip by helicopter to Derry where they met 10-year-old local boy Mark Sheridan at the City of Derry airport.

He recalled: “I was the first person President Clinton had to head for to start with. I was wearing a secret service hat which one of the guys who’d been over in one of the previous weeks had given me, and he aimed directly for me when he came out of the helicopter.

“He pointed at the hat and said ‘I wear that hat when I’m jogging’ and I was amazed at the time that this guy who was on TV every day of the week, and had such an important job in the world, would come over and speak to me.”

The Clintons rounded off their day when they switched on the Christmas lights outside Belfast City Hall.

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair also comments in the program on the commitment of the Clintons to the peace process.

He said: “It was something of a mission all the way through for Bill Clinton during those days. I phoned him virtually at every point of the day and night; he immediately got what the politics was. I don’t know how many calls he made to the various leaders but you know they were crucial really.”

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EphraimKibbey | Jan 22, 2013, 02:24 AM EST

Seanmor - My view of the troubles has been from the safety of America but I view them in the light of history and my Christianity. I grieve with you for all the innocent lives lost in all the years of unjust subjugation but I believe meeting violence with violence is wrong morally and counter-productive pragmatically. I look at what was achieved in India by Gandi and in America by the Civil Rights marches. India is on the rise while England declines. Here the rule by old white males declines while youth, color and womanhood thrive. I look at what was achieved in the World by Christ compared to what was achieved by the Jewish Sicarii Revolt just a few years after his crucifiction. Christianity has long outlived the Roman Empire but not before it destroyed the Jewish homeland in a rage over the revolt. Meeting deaths with more deaths just loses you the moral high ground and support from within the ranks of your adversary and others. You still end up getting crushed by the powerful. Peaceful diobedience is the ONLY successful tactic that the weak have against the powerful and sadly it costs innocent lives everytime and takes great patience. When their country men and women kill in revenge for the lost lives of peaceful protestors, the moral outrage over their sacrifices is diminished. Look how long it took for everyday, non-Irish Americans to finally realize that the IRA was not the only group killing people. If you are going to start shooting back or setting bombs, you better be sure you are strong enough to beat your adversary or they will destroy you all the more quickly.

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Seanmor | Jan 21, 2013, 05:08 PM EST

Ephraim: The vast majority in the North of Ireland took place after Derry's Sunday (late Jan. of 72), when 13 peaceful Civil Rights marchers were shot dead by Brititsh 'security forces'. These 13 weren the first innocent victims of British agression in during the recent 'Troubles. On the 2nd weekend of August, 1971, 9 local civilianswho protested Internment were put to death by the forces of occupation. The deat included a mother of 9 children, also a Catholic priest. Fr. Hugh Mullan. Nine months later, 5 more were shot dead in Belfast, including Fr. Noel Fitzparick, a boy aged 16, a boy aged 15 and Margaret Gargan aged 13.To my knowledge, there wasn't a murmur of protest against these killings form political leaders, bishops or journalists in the South. Were it NOT for the shooting deaths of these priests and children, the Provos may never have reached the strength to fiercely resist the forces of occupation in their corner of Ireland.

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aloistmartin | Jan 21, 2013, 02:43 AM EST

Who needs Predator Drones, when you got William Jefferson Clinton ?

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curtisjohnson | Jan 20, 2013, 10:30 PM EST

IrelandNorth “British imperialism and Irish democracy are mutually exclusive.” Yes, an eternal axiom (particularly given that even internally britain’s “democracy” has only ever been a pro-forma farce under that “unwritten constitution” of theirs).

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pilib04 | Jan 20, 2013, 08:28 PM EST

Bill and Hillary Clinton committed the U.S. Government to the peace talks and the eventual peace agreement. It was the single most important foreign policy action since the Camp David meetings between Sadat and Begin.

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EphraimKibbey | Jan 20, 2013, 04:55 PM EST

I pray that ALL of Ireland has learned that violence is counter-productive. The freedom to talk frankly, the ability to really listen and the committment to real compromise, where no-one gets all that they want but everyone gets some of their needs satistied, are the tools of diplomacy and progress and they lead to better lives for all. The ability to forgive one's adversaries for the things they have done to you is also essential. That is probably the hardest lesson that Christ taught. Are YOU listening American Congress?

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IrelandNorth | Jan 20, 2013, 01:15 PM EST

As unique as their contribution was/is, sooner or later people have to stand on their own two feet, and not expect perpetual babysitting. And to not descend into terrible two's temper tantrum when they loose a transitional object (or constitutional teddybear). British imperialism and Irish democracy are mutually exclusive.

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