Bill Clinton's Foreign Policy

• Bill Clinton, the 42nd U.S. President elected in 1992, initially planned to focus on domestic policy, only altering foreign policy to improve the American economy.
• Clinton advocated for increasing free market democracies, known as the 'policy of enlargement,' and supported open trade, including NAFTA and the WTO.
• Clinton's presidency was frequently marked by U.S. military actions worldwide.

Middle East

• As an enforcer of UN directives against Iraq, the U.S. under Clinton faced continued interference from Saddam Hussein, leading to multiple U.S.-led missile strikes, including Operation Desert Fox, which targeted Iraqi WMD capabilities.
• In 1993, Clinton brokered the Oslo Accords between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, but the agreement collapsed due to mutual dissatisfaction and the assassination of the Israeli Prime Minister.

Haiti

• Continuing Bush administration policy, Clinton maintained economic sanctions against Haiti's military regime that overthrew the democratically-elected president in 1991.
• In October 1994, Clinton planned an invasion of Haiti, but the military government capitulated, restoring President Aristide's original government; Clinton continued the policy of returning Haitian refugees.

Africa

• Clinton inherited the U.S. mission in Somalia, initially a humanitarian effort to distribute food but which escalated after Black Hawk helicopters were shot down, resulting in U.S. troop deaths and desecration.
• Facing political opposition, Clinton withdrew all U.S. forces from Somalia in March 1994 and later regretted not intervening in Rwanda's civil war, where 800,000 Tutsis and their supporters were massacred in three months.

The Balkans

• The Clinton administration hesitated to act in the Balkans in 1991, but orchestrated a NATO bombing campaign in Bosnia in 1995, leading to the Dayton Peace Accords, which were upheld by 20,000 U.S. troops.
• In 1998, after fresh conflict erupted in the Balkans, a 77-day bombing campaign forced Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic to capitulate, ending the violence.

Terrorism

• During Clinton's presidency, terrorist attacks increased, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which led to the discovery of a larger plot to bomb other New York landmarks.
• The Clinton administration treated the 1993 World Trade Center bombing as a criminal act and pursued suspects through the judicial system and the administration took no military action following the car bombs that targeted U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia in 1995 and 1996, and the attack on the U.S.S. Cole in 2000.
• In 1998, simultaneous car bombings at U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, linked to Osama Bin Laden, resulted in missile strikes against training camps in Afghanistan and a chemical factory in Sudan.
• The 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people, was found to be perpetrated by American terrorists, not foreign terrorists.

Diplomatic Intervention

• In 1994, North Korea halted its nuclear program under threat of economic sanctions.
• The Clinton administration used economic pressure to persuade Russia to withdraw its troops from Estonia and Latvia in 1994.
• The U.S. supported Russia's transition to a free-market democracy, providing financial assistance and legislation to secure former Soviet nuclear sites, and bailed out Mexico's peso in 1995, which stabilized their economy.
• Clinton considered his work in Northern Ireland among his greatest successes, helping to negotiate the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, which led to home rule, power-sharing, and a path to lasting peace.