At U.N., Clinton Urges a Campaign Against Terrorism

President Clinton declared terrorism “a clear and present danger” and called Monday for the United Nations’ 185 members to launch a common campaign against it.

On one of the most peculiar days of the modern American presidency, Clinton was given a rare standing ovation by the General Assembly of the United Nations while television sets across the country--and here at the United Nations--were tuned to the raw tape of his testimony 35 days earlier in the Monica S. Lewinsky affair.

“Terrorism is not fading away with the end of the 20th century,” Clinton said. “Terror has become the world’s problem.”

At the same time, the president reached out to the Muslim world, often linked to terrorist attacks, emphasizing that a campaign against terrorism is not a campaign against Muslims. “Americans respect and honor Islam,” Clinton said.

The timing of the speech, set by the United Nations, presented opportunities both gained and lost for the White House. By occurring on the same day the videotapes of Clinton’s grand jury testimony were made public by the House of Representatives, it was certain to come in second in the battle for Americans’ attention. But it also drew a spotlight, however pale, to Clinton as he performed in the role of statesman.

He spoke in the familiar spare setting of the U.N. General Assembly: the pale green marble behind the lectern, the gold and blue walls, the bas-relief logo of the globe towering behind him. All of that gave him an internationally recognized aura of diplomacy at the same time that the American public was viewing on tape some most undiplomatic moments.

Before him were arrayed perhaps 600 diplomats sent here to tackle the vast index of international problems, from economic chaos to terrorism; many of those assembled had watched the Lewinsky affair unfold with a combination of disbelief and morbid fascination. The prevailing attitude within the U.N. is bafflement.

“There’s an incredible witch hunt going on,” said one veteran Latin American delegate. “Between Starr and the Congress, they’ve lost sight of what’s important in society.”

When Clinton ascended the green-carpeted podium, the tapes had been rolling for one hour and 48 minutes and had just reached a point at which a peeved president reminded his interlocutor that his job presented him with a wide range of duties beyond responding to the sort of questions being posed in the White House Map Room.

The 36-second ovation that greeted him in the General Assembly was described by longtime U.N. officials as extraordinary. They said the last national leader greeted in such a fashion was Nelson Mandela on his first appearance here as president of South Africa, in 1991.

Delegates said afterward that the applause was intended as a message of personal support for the embattled chief executive.

“It was an expression of support from decent people,” said a European ambassador.

Clinton’s reception was all the more remarkable given the complaints the United States faces here over its failure to pay its dues--the largest assessed by the international organization.

“I was very moved,” Clinton told a reporter as he left the building. “You’ll have to ask them what they meant by it, but I was very touched by it.”

In his speech, the president called for all nations to “put the fight against terrorism at the top of our agenda.” He offered little in the way of specific approaches but said the world’s nations have common obligations: to withhold support, sanctuary or financial aid from terrorists and to pressure those who sanction them.

At the center of the speech was the theme that the fight against terrorism is not one between cultures. While some may believe that a clash is inevitable between Western civilization and its values and those of Islam, the president said, “this view is terribly wrong.”

“False prophets may use and abuse any religion to justify whatever political objectives they have--even coldblooded murder. Some may have the world believe that almighty God himself, the merciful, grants a license to kill,” he said, using a common Islamic construction in his reference to the deity. “But that is not our understanding of Islam.”

He added: “When it comes to terrorism, there should be no dividing line between Muslims and Jews, Protestants and Catholics, Serbs and Albanians, developed societies and emerging countries. The only dividing line is between those who practice, support or tolerate terror and those who understand that it is murder, plain and simple.”