1st Lady Defends NATO Airstrikes in Yugoslavia
U.S. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, preparing on Thursday for the second leg of her goodwill trip to North Africa, defended NATO military strikes against Yugoslavia.
“The United States and its NATO allies have acted to stop the brutal killing of people in Kosovo and avert a broader humanitarian crisis,” she said at a women’s clinic in Luxor, Egypt, before flying to Tunisia.
“We are hoping and praying that the brave men and women in the military action who have undertaken this mission will be able to carry it out safely and will bring it to as swift an end as possible.”
Drawing a contrast between the work of the clinic and the armed confrontation over Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s refusal to accept a peace deal for Kosovo, she said: “Today we are in a place that is celebrating life.”
On the fifth day of her 12-day North African goodwill journey Thursday, Mrs. Clinton emphasized women’s rights, after advocating religious tolerance and closer ties with the Islamic world during a stay in Egypt that began Sunday.
At the clinic in Luxor, she said women needed to have choices over birth control and other health issues, and hailed an Egyptian government effort to involve clinics in other activities such as literacy programs.
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