    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
    [December 15, 1997]
    [Pages 1766-1767]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Exchange With Reporters Following Discussions With Prime Minister Bertie
    Ahern of Ireland
    December 15, 1997

    Northern Ireland Peace Process

        Q. Mr. President, do you feel that your meetings are helping with
    the peace process, and do you feel that it will be staying on track for
    its timeframe, the way it's figured now for a May referendum?
        The President. Well, I'm very impressed by what's been done and very
    encouraged. And I can tell you just two things: One is, I intend to stay
    personally involved in this in however ways I can be helpful. I will do
    anything I can. But the second thing is, it's time to get down to
    details now. There's a very ambitious timetable. It can be met. I think
    the people would like it to be met, the Irish people. And so the
    political leaders will have to get down to the details, and the devil is
    always in the details. There are difficult, difficult decisions that
    have to be made, but that's what people who occupy positions of
    leadership are hired to do, and the time to do it is now. And I will do
    everything I can to help. And the Taoiseach and I have had a great
    meeting today, and I'm encouraged by the reports that he's given.
        Q. Is there anything specific, Mr. President, that the Taoiseach
    asked you to do?
        The President. Just that he asked me to stay involved, and he said
    that anything I could do to encourage all the parties to be part of an
    evenhanded process--and I believe George Mitchell is doing his best to
    be evenhanded--was important. And then, of course, early next year we'll
    be getting into the details, and then I expect we'll be talking in a
    more regular way. By the time he comes back here for St. Patrick's Day,
    we'll all be up to our ears in it, I would imagine.

    Bosnia

        Q. Mr. President, going to Bosnia, are you signaling an intention to
    keep U.S. forces there beyond deadline?
        The President. Well, you know I'm going to have several
    opportunities to talk to you over the next few days, and I'll have a
    statement about that soon. I'm proud of what our people have done there;
    I'm proud of what the Irish have done there, all the people who are
    involved. And a great deal of progress has been made. A great deal more
    work needs to be done.
        The main thing I'm doing is going to Bosnia to thank the American
    military personnel for being there and for spending their Christmas
    there and for the sacrifices they've made to bring peace to Bosnia, and
    to tell them why it's important. That's the main reason I'm going.

    [[Page 1767]]

    Iran

        Q. Do you see new flexibility from Iran in statements made in the
    past few days?
        The President. Well, I was quite encouraged by Mr. Khatami's
    statement, and it was welcome. And I will say again, I would like
    nothing better than to have a dialog with Iran, as long as we can have
    an honest discussion of all the relevant issues. We remain concerned
    about the sponsorship of terrorism, about the violent attacks on the
    peace process, about the development--their acquisition of weapons of
    mass destruction. And we will continue to be concerned about those
    things. But I was quite encouraged by the President's statement, and I
    think that the American people should be.

    Northern Ireland Peace Process

        Q. Taoiseach, could I ask your impressions of your meeting with the
    President? How did it go?
        Prime Minister Ahern. Well, first of all, I'm delighted to be here,
    and I'm very grateful that the President has afforded part of his
    horrendous schedule some time for us to be here. We had an excellent
    discussion, where we were able to go back over what has happened over
    the last number of months, and I had an opportunity to brief the
    President on all of the moves since the peace process and the real talks
    started on the 24th of September, right up to what's happening in
    Belfast and the castle buildings today.
        The most important thing for us is that the President has continued
    to be so involved and so committed, so personally involved. The
    President has at all times helped, during the summer when things were
    scrappy, and he afforded me a number of phone calls, which I greatly
    appreciated, and of course, some of his most key people are actively
    involved in trying to bring us all to a balanced, comprehensive
    settlement.
        And this morning we had an opportunity of going through what are the
    factors of the talks, the three strands, and how we can see ourselves
    working into the springtime to try to get to a comprehensive settlement.
    And that he liked the meeting that I had with Tony Blair the other day;
    the President is in full agreement and is urging me that we must now get
    into the detail and that we have to try to put together the
    comprehensive settlement that the people will be allowed to vote on and
    that is balanced and for all sides. And that's precisely what we'll do.
    And as the President has said, by St. Patrick's Day, hopefully I can
    report back some progress in that area.

    President's New Dog

        Q. Mr. President, what news on the puppy? [Laughter]
        The President. He's here, and we had a great weekend. More later.
    [Laughter]

    Note: The exchange began at 10:45 a.m. at the Northwest Portico at the
    White House. In their remarks, the President and the Prime Minister
    referred to George J. Mitchell, Special Assistant to the President for
    Northern Ireland; President Mohammad Khatami of Iran; and Prime Minister
    Tony Blair of the United Kingdom.