a1354: Clinton criticized recent curtailment of press freedoms inHaiti and Venezuela (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Stanley Lucas <slucas@iri.org>

Clinton Praises Bush's Performance
Mon Mar 18,11:31 PM ET
By ISMAEL TORRES, Associated Press Writer

LA ROMANA, Dominican Republic (AP) - Former President Clinton (news - web sites) backed his successor's work in dealing with the war on terrorism in a discussion with journalists Monday.

Photos

AP Photo


"I have to defend the president and our government," Clinton said at a meeting of the Inter-American Press Association. "We have never sustained a wound like this, with the exception of Pearl Harbor, and the psychic shock was enormous."

Following the Sept. 11 attacks and the war in Afghanistan (news - web sites), Clinton said the return to other priorities would take time.

The five-day conference at the Casa de Campo resort on the southeast coast of the Dominican Republic has focused on the safety of journalists and laws curtailing free speech.

"Democracy is more than majority rule; it is minority rights and free speech and a free press," Clinton said.

He criticized what he described as recent curtailment of press freedoms in Haiti and Venezuela, and he also touched on his own experiences with the media.

"I have learned through trial and error that more access to information by the press is better than less and more press freedom is better than less, and as you will have noticed, I have gotten a lot of bad press, most of which was blatantly false, and printed by people who knew it was false at the time," Clinton said.

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On the Net:

Impunity Committee: http://www.impunidad.com

Inter American Press Association: http://www.sipiapa.org

(kd-maf-imj)