Hillary "played a positive role...to bring peace to Northern Ireland" John Hume
Submitted by Nick Kelly on March 10, 2008 - 4:22pm.
Conflict Resolution | Diplomacy | Foreign Policy | Good Friday Agreement | Hillary Clinton | Ireland | International
Bertie Ahern, Ireland's Taioseach (Prime Minister), is on record that Hillary gave very important assistance to the Irish peace process. It's also wonderful to see this video of Hillary with Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness, two leaders who deserve our greatest respect for the way they are working together to secure long-term peace in Northern Ireland. Hillary's commitment to diplomacy and peace, as well as her experience dealing with the many causes and effects of asymmetric warfare, are very amply demonstrated by her many outstanding contributions to the peace process in Northern Ireland.
The Facts: Hillary and Northern Ireland
3/8/2008
3:12:25 PM
Hillary traveled to Northern Ireland seven times between 1995 and 2004, and gave what Northern Irish leader and Nobel Laureate John Hume recently described as “decisive support” to the peace process in Northern Ireland. She focused especially on encouraging the emergence of women in the political process. In addition, Hillary's work at the grass roots and behind-the-scenes helped cultivate the conditions necessary for the peace to take hold and last.
As political leaders on all sides of the process have attested, Hillary made important contributions in a wide variety of ways. She made private calls to the negotiating parties on all sides and at all levels to encourage them towards peace. She gave advice and technical assistance to Northern Ireland leaders on a range of governance issues. She used the bully pulpit to inspire and to challenge at a major address in 1998 before leaders from the contending sides.
In 1998 under the auspices of the U.S.-led Vital Voices Democracy Initiative, established by Hillary and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright the previous year – Hillary brought together 400 women in Belfast, Northern Ireland to foster their rise to prominence and leadership and to ensure that their success helped support peace. She met with community workers and with women politicians in Northern Ireland to encourage them to take on a larger role. She carried a pledge to the government of Ireland that the United States would remain a partner in the peace process.
Senator George Mitchell said that “She was very much involved in encouraging the emergence of women in the political process in Northern Ireland, which was a significant factor in ultimately getting an agreement.”
Hillary’s efforts have continued as Senator. She visited the Republic of Ireland on her first trip during her Senate term, and Northern Ireland on her second trip, where she spoke with all of the major leaders in Northern Ireland.
Every year, she meets with the Taoiseach and other party leaders from Ireland. She continues to take calls from all parties to provide help behind the scenes and to keep the process moving forward. And she has held meetings in her office at the request of Northern Irish officials on job creation, trade, agriculture, autism, policing, economic development – and of course reconciliation.
In December 2007, when Martin McGuiness and Ian Paisley were in Washington, they met with President Bush and Hillary, thanking Hillary for her contribution to the peace process.
Testimonials:
Statement from John Hume former MP MEP, founder of the SDLP and an architect of the Good Friday Agreement.
He is the only person to win the Nobel Prize for Peace, the Ghandi Peace Award and the Martin Luther King Peace Prize.
I am quite surprised that anyone would suggest that Hillary Clinton did not perform important foreign policy work as First Lady. I can state from firsthand experience that she played a positive role for over a decade in helping to bring peace to Northern Ireland.
She visited Northern Ireland, met with very many people and gave very decisive support to the peace process. There is no doubt that the people of Northern Ireland think very positively of Hillary Clinton’s support for our peace process, due to her visits to Northern Ireland and her meetings with so many people. In private she made countless calls and contacts, speaking to leaders and opinion makers on all sides, urging them to keep moving forward.
Anyone criticizing her foreign policy involvement should look at her very active and positive approach to Northern Ireland and speak with the people of Northern Ireland who have the highest regard for her and are very grateful for her very active support for our peace process.
Inez McCormack, first female president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions:
Hillary Clinton took risks for peace in asking me and others to bring women and communities from both traditions to affirm their capacity to work for common purpose and to assert, when there was no public dialogue which supported it, that working for common purpose on the basis of mutual respect was the core of effective peace building. She used her immense influence to give women like me space to develop this work and validated it every step of the way. This approach is now taken for granted bit it wasn't then. She told us that if we take risks for peace, she would stay with us on that journey. In my experience, it took hard work, attention to detail and a commitment of time and energy which she delivered steadily and where it was needed over the last decade.
Baroness May Blood of the House of Lords, who worked for many years as a community leader in Shankill area of West Belfast
The First Lady sent the message that the work and influence that grassroots women were undertaking within their communities was just as important as anything else that was taking place. I witnessed her building new confidence in women at the grassroots level and their stature grew within
Northern Ireland as a consequence. All of a sudden they were being taken more seriously. The message we were also told by Hillary Clinton was that this work needed a political focus.
Geraldine McAteer, Chief Executive of West Belfast Partnership Board
As First Lady, Hillary Clinton was extremely supportive of the peace process in Northern Ireland, and in particular, of the women who live here. In her visits during the peace process negotiations she met with women from a range of backgrounds and she recognized there was a real need to strengthen and support the voices of women in the post conflict context and get the needs of women and communities to the forefront of the new political agenda. She recognized that this would be best done through building the skillls of women here. Through her Vital Voices Conference in September 1998, I and others were able to develop our skills for the betterment of our communities.
News reports:
2007:
Hillary honored for her work on the Northern Ireland Peace process.
Irish American Magazine named Hillary “Person of the Year”, celebrating “her work on the Northern Ireland peace process”. [Irish American Magazine, April/May 07]
2007: Hillary met with Irish leaders who wanted to 'pay their respects to Hillary'for her work on behalf of peace in Northern Ireland.
Martin McGuinness and Ian Paisley recently traveled to Washington on behalf of the fledging Northern Ireland government, and they specifically requested two personal meetings: one with President George W. Bush and one with Senator Hillary Clinton. They wanted to “pay their respects to Hillary” for her long and varied role in promoting and working for peace in Northern Ireland. [Guardian, December 8, 2007]. As McGuinness put it, “these are wonderfully exciting times for all of us back home, not least because of the contributions made by President Clinton and Mrs. Clinton.” [AP, December 7, 2007].
1999: Northern Ireland Secretary: ‘Hillary is one of the essential reasons’ Ireland had peace.
An August 1999 issue of Talk Magazine quotes Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam: "Hillary is one of the essential reasons we've had 18 months of relative peace. Without her we would have no economic boom."
1999: Hillary made frequent trips to Northern Ireland where she was 'not just in the humdrum affairs of state…but in the nitty gritty of the political scene'
“A few years back the notion of an American First Lady speaking out on any aspect of life in Northern Ireland would have been taboo. Now it is accepted that not just this First Lady but also her husband make frequent trips to the North, and that they become involved not just in the humdrum affairs of state such as
opening a new training center or mouthing niceties at a conference, but in the nitty gritty of the political scene too." [Irish Voice, May 25, 1999]
around the world, but she has done it so quietly that very few Americans are aware of it. In fact, she's been so effective to some extent because she hasn't sought publicity for her work. She instead has typically given all the credit to the people she is helping.
I know what she did in Ireland. I was never with her; but I was in the very same neighborhoods numerous times; and I can attest that the ordinary people as well as the brightest of the political leaders there really appreciated all that she did.
Nick Kelly
Wes Clark could still secure America as a national security candidate.
I posted your blog at the main Yahoo! group for the benefit of the Obama fans who think he has more experience than Hillary has.
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
Wes Clark -- Make America All It Can Be!
Hillary's quiet diplomatic achievements deserve to become much better known. Her work in Ireland may be but a small part of it all, but it is a very significant part because there are lessons to be learned from the ongoing resolution of that long and very bitter conflict. And you can bet that she has learned them.
Nick Kelly
Wes Clark could still secure America as a national security candidate.
To both Hillary, for a job well done, and to Nick, for bringing all these lovely tidbits to the CCN blog in her behalf. :)
Here's a reason I will miss Tucker. Of Chris Matthews, Tucker, and Olbermann, only Tucker brought on a guest who read part of Hume's statement (Jamie Rubin). Watch it here and then on "Clinton: Peacemaker or exaggerator?"
Look...I don't care how big or small role Hillary played in resolving the Irish problem. The fact that she was there repeatedly, met the players, and probably was at least "helpful" puts her head and shoulders ahead of whatever Obama has done in foreign relations and policy.
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
Wes Clark -- Make America All It Can Be!
David Trimble's negative view of the Irish Peace process and his negative view of Hillary Clinton's positive role in that process are both heavily influenced by the same biased and blinkered nature that caused Lord Trimble to hold up the entire peace process for several years and ultimately caused him to lose the office of First Minister as well as the confidence of the majority of Unionists in Northern Ireland.
When the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 (GFA) was finally hammered out between representatives of the British and Irish governments and representatives of most of the major political parties in Northern Ireland, David Trimble refused to support it without a separate assurance from PM Tony Blair that PM Blair would guarantee to modify that international agreement should the results not work out to the liking of Mr. Trimble and his Ulster Unionist Party. That was just the beginning of his effort to forestall full implementation of the GFA until, in his ugly words, he had "house-broken" the very Irish Republican group that had pursued peace since the early 1980's and had accepted the GFA in full (Sinn Féin).
Once he had secured a letter from PM Blair assuring him that he would get what he demanded, Mr. Trimble agreed to share power with Ireland and the Irish people (including representatives of Sinn Féin) per the provisions of the GFA. However, at very nearly the same time, with the help of most of the media, he began to spread the false notion that the GFA required the IRA to disarm before Sinn Féin could participate in power-sharing.
In addition, for the next several years, each time the British government attempted to proceed with devolving power and set up the new power-sharing institutions, Mr. Trimble (with the luck of the "British", some wags might say) fortuitously benefited from one after another false-flag crisis with which to smear Sinn Féin. Consequently, he was repeatedly able to excuse his UUP from its duty to share power with his Irish Republican political opposition.
Meanwhile, Hillary and Bill Clinton were amongst the many world leaders who were firmly in support of full implementation of the GFA as quickly as possible. So, too, was Sinn Féin.
Eventually, David Trimble's strategy to isolate and eliminate Sinn Féin from power sharing backfired when Sinn Féin's vote in Northern Ireland grew larger than the vote for his previously dominant Ulster Unionist Party. At the same time, Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party picked up many Unionist votes that had previously gone to David Trimble's UUP.
So, today we finally do have the long-awaited power-sharing government in Northern Ireland. It is co-lead by First Minister Paisley, and Deputy First Minister McGuinness of Sinn Féin. So, instead of isolating and eliminating Sinn Féin, Lord Trimble's repeated refusals to share power per the explicit terms of the GFA effectively helped Sinn Féin to obtain significantly more power than they had in 1998.
And so it is that those who are truly familiar with what has happened during this long process will rightly think Lord Trimble's peevish, jealous, and un-called for remarks much more than just "a wee bit" silly, themselves.
Nick Kelly
Wes Clark could still secure America as a national security candidate.
3/11/2008
Hillary Accepts Invitation To Irish American Presidential Forum
The Clinton campaign today announced that Hillary Clinton would attend the Irish American Presidential Forum. The event is an opportunity for presidential candidates to address the Irish-American voters and answer questions important to the community, including Northern Ireland and immigration.
"I’m excited to participate in this important forum. I have worked on issues important to the Irish-American community for many years and look forward to discussing my plans as President," said Clinton. "I want to thank John Dearie and the other organizers of this event for the invitation and encourage Senator Obama and Senator McCain to accept it as well. By doing so, voters will have an opportunity to examine our records and compare our plans to continue moving the peace process in Northern Ireland forward."
The campaign is working with the organizers to confirm a date and location for the forum.
Hillary traveled to Northern Ireland seven times between 1995 and 2004, and gave what Northern Irish leader and Nobel Laureate John Hume recently described as "decisive support" to the peace process in Northern Ireland. One of her key areas of focus was encouraging the emergence of women in the political process. In addition, Hillary's work at the grass roots and behind-the-scenes helped cultivate the conditions necessary for the peace to take hold and last. She became intimately familiar with the major players in the process and spoke with them often to serve as a sounding board and to push the negotiations forward.
It's a forum that could work for mutual benefits for both Ireland and US foreign policy. There is still work to be done where we can help in Ireland. At the same time, a good number of the key Northern Ireland participants in the long peace process there have been reaching out for some time to other areas of conflict in the world. I think they would welcome a new President Clinton and Irish-American peace process leaders to that endeavor.
Nick Kelly
Wes Clark could still secure America as a national security candidate.
...one quibble.
Ian Paisley was anything but a great man.
Doesn't take anything away from what Hillary did in Northern Ireland, but Paisley was one of the most divisive parties in the process. A real horror.
"It's not all about words and math. It comes down to who can win."
power with Sinn Féin, which is something that David Trimble did everything he could to avoid.
Nick Kelly
Wes Clark could still secure America as a national security candidate.
It infuriates me when opponents try to diminish Hillary's diplomatic and foreign policy work.