POLITICS-US: Clinton Focuses on Terrorism

By Farhan Haq Reprint | | Print |

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 21 1998 (IPS) - U.S. President Bill Clinton, whose grand jury testimony aired across the nation on television showed him embarrassed and remorseful, left his zealous persecutors behind in Washington Monday and received a warm welcome at the United Nations.

Even as millions of TV viewers viewed the President’s testimony in the Monica Lewinsky scandal, taken on Aug 17, Clinton responded to an enthusiastic greeting in New York by avoiding discussion of most of the pressing disputes faced by Washington and the United Nations.

Instead, Clinton focused his address to the U.N. General Assembly on his concern that “terrorism is not fading away with the end of the twentieth century.”

He announced plans to propose to Congress this week that emergency funding be provided to repair the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam attacked on Aug. 7 and to help the Kenyan and Tanzanian people harmed by the twin bombings. The wouldwide fight against terrorism also would be expanded.

“Terrorism has a new face in the 1990s,” the US president contended, arguing that new technologies – including the Internet – allow for terrorists to operate in various regions with greater ease than ever.

No area is immune from terrorism today, Clinton said, noting incidents as wide-ranging as the sarin gas attack in Tokyo’s subway system, the bombing of Israel’s embassy in Buenos Aires, attacks on civilians in Sri Lanka and Kashmir and the recent bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.

“We are often a target,” Clinton said in reference to the U.S. embassy bombings. “We know many people see us as a symbol of a system and values that they reject.”

At the same time, the president took pains to deny the idea, first proposed by political theorist Samuel Huntington, of a “clash of civilisation” pitting Western countries against Islamic ones. “Americans respect and honour Islam,” Clinton said, noting the existence of some six million Muslims and 1,200 mosques and Islamic centres in the United States. “We share the same hopes and aspirations to live in peace and security.”

Despite his focus on terrorism – and his ordering of missile strikes on Sudan and Afghanistan last month, which were viewed warily by Muslim states – Clinton remained popular among both Muslim governments and UN member states in general. “We see Clinton as being more sympathetic to Muslim concerns” compared to his US predecessors, Pakistani Communications Minister Mushahid Hussein said.

Some of Clinton’s concerns were echoed by other leaders. “Africa forcefully condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” said President Blaise Compoare of Burkina Faso, promising a regional discussion of the matter.

Although Clinton won applause from the leaders of the 185 U.N. member states gathered for the opening of the Assembly’s 53rd plenary session, and was greeted with a standing ovation even before he spoke, his appearance underscored how his authority has waned.

Perhaps the most powerful symbol of that decline could be seen in the U.N. hallways, where diplomats were divided between watching Clinton’s Assembly speech on TV screens and his sexually explicit testimony concerning an affair with White House intern Monica Lewisnky being shown on other channels. All networks began broadcasting Clinton’s four-hour taped testimony before a Washington grand jury 60 minutes before he began his U.N. address.

More importantly, Clinton’s focus on terrorism was itself a reminder of the many UN-related topics he did not discuss: issues ranging from the nonpayment of Washington’s UN dues to a landmines ban and the future International Criminal Court (ICC).

On all the above issues, Clinton has been hemmed in by the Republican-led Congress and Pentagon, with Congress blocking plans to pay at least some of the 1.6 billion dollars in unpaid U.S. dues and defense officials weighing in against US approval of either last year’s Ottawa Convention on landmines or this year’s establishment of the ICC.

With the United States lagging behind its allies on those key concerns, one UN official argued, on condition of anonymity, “What else can Clinton talk about besides terrorism? He can’t mention dues, or landmines, or (last year’s Kyoto treaty on) climate control. There’s nothing else for him to say.”

Prior to Clinton’s address, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan brought up the dues problem again, complaining of the “starvation diet” forced upon the world body.

“I appeal once again to those few member states who have fallen seriously behind with their contributions to follow the good example set by others,” Annan said pointedly. “There can be no substitute for full and timely payment of what is due.”

Clinton, however, merely mentioned U.S. support for U.N. agencies, not the main Secretariat over which Annan presides, and mildly took note of “the importance of all countries, including the United States, in paying their fair share”.

Washington is in fact running out of time, following Clinton’s veto this summer of a Congressional bill which conditioned a partial dues payment on the adherence to restrictive abortion language for groups the government financially supports. The veto in turn has all but guaranteed Congress will not make any new efforts to pay the US dues – which every year account for one- quarter of UN regular budgetary costs – this year, said Marc Thiessen, spokesman for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

According to UN guidelines, any nation which falls behind its dues commitments for two years’ worth of payments will lose its voting rights in the General Assembly – a fate Washington may suffer as soon as next month. It is not a fate officials here relish, with some worrying that the loss of the Assembly vote could sour US-UN relations still further.

Clinton lacks even a prestigious U.N. ambassador to push Washington’s concerns through or mend fences with other nations. Two weeks ago, the previous ambassador, Bill Richardson, formally ended his job here to become the U.S. Energy Secretary.

Richardson’s intended replacement, diplomat Richard Holbrooke, has had his application held up amid concerns in Congress that he may have improperly maintained government contacts shortly after ending a previous stint in the US State Department. While Holbrooke’s application is in limbo, the U.S. mission is headed by Richardson’s deputy, Peter Burleigh.

For all that, Clinton’s reception within the United Nations appeared likely to be warmer than that outside its portals. The president increasingly has confronted calls for him to resign and the solid support of more than 60 percent he has enoyed from the general public, showed signs of slipping Monday – according to some polls.