2o0w6d0y's Journal

Hillary saw the case as a child advocate and a...
Hillary saw the case as a child advocate and a parent: she backed our decision to reunite the boy and his father

Early in the month Juan Miguel Gonzlez came to America hoping to take custody of his son, in accordance with a federal court orderA couple of weeks later, after Janet Reno had tried for several days to secure the voluntary surrender of the boy, a group of four leading citizensthe president of the University of Miami, a highly regarded lawyer, and two respected Cuban-Americanssuggested that the Miami family hand over custody to the father in a secluded place where they could all be together for a few days to ease the transitionOn Good Friday evening, I talked to Reno at midnight and they were still negotiating, but she was running out of patienceAt two oclock Saturday morning, John Podesta called to say the talks were still going onAt quarter to five, Podesta called again and said the Miami family was now refusing even to recognize the fathers custody rightsThirty minutes later, at five-fifteen, I got another call from John saying it was overReno had authorized a pre-dawn raid on the great-uncles house by federal officialsIt lasted three minutes, no one was hurt, and Elin was returned to his fatherA small boy had become a pawn in the never-ending struggle against Castro

Photographs of an obviously happy Elin with his father were published, and sentiment shifted miu miu coffer markedly in favor of the reunificationI was confident we had followed the only course open to us, but I was still concerned that it could cost Al Gore Florida in NovemberJuan Miguel and Elin Gonzlez remained in the United States a few more weeks, until the Supreme Court finally upheld the lower courts custody orderGonzlez could have stayed in the United States, but he wanted to take his son home to Cuba

In May, I toured schools in Kentucky, Iowa, Minnesota, and Ohio to push our education package; hosted a state visit for Thabo Mbeki, who had just been elected president of South Africa; and promoted the China trade bill, which was necessary for Chinas admission into the WTOPresidents Ford and Carter, along with James Baker and Henry Kissinger, came to the White House to promote itThis turned out to be a very difficult legislative fightan especially tough vote for Democrats who depended on labor supportand I brought groups of a dozen or so members down to the residence for several weeks in an intensive effort to explain the importance of integrating China into the global economy

On May 17, I gave my last service academy speech to the UCoast Guard Academy in New London, ConnecticutIn eight years I had now spoken to each of the service academies twiceEvery class filled me with pride in the quality of young men and women who wanted to serve our country in uniformI was also proud of the chanel earrings fake young people who came to our service academies from all over the worldThis class included graduates from our Cold War adversaries Russia and Bulgaria

I spoke to the new officers about the fateful struggle in which they would be engaged between the forces of integration and harmony and those of disintegration and chaos, a struggle in which globalization and information technology had magnified both the creative and destructive potential of humankindI discussed the attacks that Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda had planned for the millennium, which were thwarted through hard work and domestic and international cooperationTo build on that work, I said that I was allocating another $300 million to our anti-terrorism budget; on top of the $9 billion request I had already sent to Congress, it amounted to an increase of more than 40 percent in three years

After discussing other security challenges, I made the best case I could for an activist foreign policy, cooperating with others in a world in which no nation was protected any longer by geography or conventional military strength

In late May, just before I left on a trip to Portugal, Germany, Russia, and Ukraine, I went to Assateague Island, Maryland, to announce a new initiative to protect our coral reefs and other marine treasuresWe had already quadrupled funding for national marine sanctuariesI signed an executive order to create a devil wears prada chanel necklace national protective network for our coasts, reefs, underwater forests, and other important structures, and I said we were going to permanently protect the coral reefs of the northwest Hawaiian Islands, more than 60 percent of Americas total, stretching over 1,200 milesIt was the biggest conservation step I had taken since preserving 43 million roadless acres in our national forests, and a needed one, since ocean pollution was threatening reefs the world over, including the Great Barrier Reef in Australia

I went to Portugal for the annual meeting between the United States and the European UnionPortuguese prime minister Antonio Guterres was serving as president of the European CouncilHe was a bright young progressive who was a member of our Third Way group, as was EU president Romano ProdiWe saw eye to eye on most things, and I enjoyed the meeting, as well as my first visit to PortugalIt was beautiful and warm, with friendly people and a fascinating history

On June 2, I went with Gerhard Schroeder to the ancient city of Aachen to receive the Charlemagne PrizeIn a sunny outdoor ceremony in a public space near the medieval city hall and the old cathedral holding Charlemagnes remains, I thanked Chancellor Schroeder and the German people for giving me an honor shared by Vclav Havel and King Juan Carlos and rarely awarded to an AmericanI had done everything I could to help Europe become chloe paddington handbag united, democratic, and secure, to expand and strengthen the transatlantic alliance, to reach out to Russia, and to end ethnic cleansing in the BalkansIt was gratifying to be recognized for it

The next day Gerhard Schroeder hosted another of our Third Way conferences in BerlinThis time Gerhard, Jean Chrtien, and I were joined by three Latin AmericansHenrique Cardoso of Brazil, President Ricardo Lagos of Chile, and President Fernando de la Ra of Argentinaas we outlined the kinds of progressive partnerships leaders of developed and developing countries should formTony Blair wasnt there because he and Cherie, already the parents of three children, had recently brought a fourth into the world, a boy they named Leo

I flew into Moscow for my first meeting with Vladimir Putin since his electionWe agreed to destroy another thirty-four metric tons each of weapons-grade plutonium, but could not reach accord on amending the ABM Treaty to enable the United States to deploy a national missile defense systemI wasnt too concerned about that; Putin probably wanted to wait to see how the UThe Republicans had been enamored of missile defense since the Reagan era, and many of them wouldnt hesitate to abrogate the ABM Treaty in order to deploy itAl Gore basically agreed with mePutin didnt want to have to deal with this twice

At the time, we didnt have a missile defense system reliable enough to louis vuitton wien depl