November 30, 1995
Web posted at: 7:50 p.m. EST (0050 GMT)
From Correspondent Wolf Blitzer
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (CNN) -- President Clinton came to the Mackie metal plant in Northern Ireland on Thursday to make a point -- that the nearly 16-month cease-fire can be expanded into real peace. The point was movingly underlined by two children of plant workers -- one Catholic, the other Protestant -- who introduced the president.
Catherine Hamill, whose father died in the "the troubles" -- as the decades old conflict between Protestants and Catholics is called -- said that the day of her father's death was her saddest. But now, she said, "it is nice and peaceful." (740K QuickTime movie)
"My Christmas wish is that peace in Northern Ireland will last forever," she said. (213K AIFF sound or 213K WAV sound)
Clinton is making history as the first U.S. president to visit Northern Ireland. Joined by a large bipartisan Congressional delegation, he promised that the United States will help the peacemakers. And he rejected those who oppose peace.
"They will never escape the dead-end street of violence," he said.
Clinton's schedule was carefully planned to show that he is not taking sides. He and the first lady moved even-handedly between largely Protestant and Catholic sections.
And the president did not steer clear of Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein, the Irish Republican Army's political wing. Many believe that Clinton's decision to grant Adams a U.S. visitor's visa two years ago got the peace initiative off the ground.
Clinton mentioned Adams, along with Loyalist leaders David Irvine and Gary McMichael, in his Mackie plant speech, saying they "helped to silence the guns on the streets."
On his drive to Belfast Thursday morning, the president stopped by a fruit shop and bought some mandarins and apples. It was a seemingly routine photo opportunity, but one that would have been potentially dangerous only 16 months ago.
Decades of hatred and tensions remain in Northern Ireland, and real peace is still a long way off. But things are changing.
Clinton, for example, is staying at the Europa Hotel, which was bombed 37 times during the troubles. The president's point: That was then, this is now.
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