Word: northerners
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Northern Ireland, where the painstaking peace process has been rocked by horrible killings in the past few months, hardly seems a promising destination for a politician searching for a bit of uplift and optimism. But last week after two fruitless days in Moscow, President Bill Clinton flew into Belfast to a warm welcome from cheering crowds and to celebrate what, despite bombings and burnings, still looks like a major foreign policy triumph for his Administration. "The people of Northern Ireland," said British Prime Minister Tony Blair in welcoming Clinton, "owe you a deep debt of gratitude. No President...
...President stepped off the plane, there was another sign of progress. National Security Adviser Sandy Berger dashed up to Clinton and handed him a newspaper that carried a banner headline announcing that David Trimble, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party and the First Minister of the new Northern Ireland Assembly, had agreed to hold a one-on-one meeting this week with Gerry Adams, the president of Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army. "This is the headline we wanted to see," Berger told a beaming Clinton...
...following day Adams said that Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein's chief negotiator and a hard man, with an impeccable reputation with the top command of the I.R.A., would become the liaison between the I.R.A. and the international commission that is to arrange the disarming of Northern Ireland's paramilitary forces in accordance with terms of the Good Friday agreement. "In a few months' time," said Adams, "when the Assembly is up and running, people will say none of this would have been possible without the President's trip...
...hope that some good can be salvaged from an evil act is a painful and recurring theme in Northern Ireland. Clinton touched on it when, out of the sight of cameras, he--along with the First Lady, Blair and his wife Cherie--visited the injured survivors of the blast in Omagh and then unveiled a plaque to the dead that said simply, "May their memories serve to foster peace and reconciliation...
...underestimate the impact you can have on the world," Clinton said. "Thank you for the springtime of hope you have given the world. Thank you for reminding us of one of life's most important lessons--that it is never too late for a new beginning." With American help, Northern Ireland has begun again. No doubt Clinton would like to have that chance...