Clinton Urges Hewing to Peace Process in N. Ireland

[onehandle]

Source: New York Times

BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Fourteen years ago, Hillary Rodham Clinton stood next to her husband at the Victorian city hall here, as a crowd of 70,000 gathered to watch President Bill Clinton light a Christmas tree.

On Monday, Mrs. Clinton, now the secretary of state, addressed a more select audience of 100 lawmakers in the imposing chamber of North Ireland’s Stormont assembly, exhorting them to stick with a peace process that the Clintons have made something of a family project.

“No one ever said it was going to be easy,” Mrs. Clinton said to the Protestant and Catholic leaders who are part of a power-sharing arrangement worked out during talks pushed by the Clinton administration. “This is not easy in any legislature, under the best of circumstances.”

Mrs. Clinton was one of the first foreign government officials invited to speak at Stormont, and she recalled the role of the Clinton administration in pushing the negotiations that resulted in the Good Friday peace accord in 1998 and led to the restoration of this body.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/world/europe/13diplo....

[joeycola]

1. The speech was among the most heartfelt Mrs. Clinton has delivered

.....Mrs. Clinton said the United States did not want to meddle, but she gently prodded both sides to settle their differences.

“My hope is that you will achieve what you set out to do, to complete the process of devolution,” she said. “Please know that the Obama administration and the United States are committed to helping you finish your journey.”

The speech was among the most heartfelt Mrs. Clinton has delivered as secretary of state, and it was well received.

Martin McGuinness, the Catholic deputy first minister of the Northern Ireland government and a former I.R.A. commander, described it as inspirational. “Quite clearly, Secretary Clinton is intellectually, emotionally, and politically engaged in the process,” he said.

[Captain Hilts]

2. And some unionists walked out.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6871414...

[11cents]

3. "Some" = two, according to that article.

[Captain Hilts]

4. Yes, two. nt