PRESIDENT Clinton cast night defended his foreign policy record, claiming among other things the US role in the Irish as one of his successes. He also cited US success in Bosnia and the Middle East.
However, the bulk of his attention was directed against the Republicans' recent proposals for an anti missile defence system, plans which were dropped last night on the grounds of cost.
Warning against what he described as a neo isolationist trend among the Republican majority in Congress, President Clinton spoke of the need for military intervention in certain instances. Addressing the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, he said: "We cannot withdraw into a fortress America. There is no wall high enough to keep out the threats to our security or to isolate ourselves from the world economy.
He rejected the Republican sponsored anti nuclear missile, proposal as too costly, but proposed an alternative to be in place by 2003.
The Republican plan "would waste money, weaken our defences and violate arms control agreements that make us more secure," Mr Clinton said.
The president's attack on Republican anti missile plan is part of his reelection and has embarrassed his opponent, Senator Bob Dole in a week when his proposal was to come before Congress. The Republican plan was originally costed as adding an extra $5 billions (£3.3 billion) to the Pentagon budget over the next five years. But the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), an independents body, has said it would cost between $31 billion and $60 billion on the basis that it would involve both ground and space based weapons.
As a consequence, the Republicans have been forced to withdraw their proposed legislation. But they complained that the CBO reached its estimate using "the most expensive, technologically challenging approach" going beyond the proposal for a ground based system.
Such a system would protect the US only against limited strikes from "rogue" states, such as North Korean or Libya, against accidental missile launches. Last year Mr Clinton vetoed an earlier Republican anti missile system on the grounds that it could violate a 1972 anti ballistic missile treaty with Russia.
Yesterday he said that the US must be prepared to defend itself against terrorists and rogue nations but "it cannot withdraw from other nations in the world in order to do so".
Making peace in the Middle East has been a top priority for the administration and Mr Clinton issued a special reassurance to Israel in his address.
"We must be with you every step of the way until there is a comprehensive, lasting peace in the Middle East. Now is not the time to turn back," he said.
Turning to Bosnia, he said: "The co operation between our troops in Bosnia proves that we can have a strong partnership with Russia and with Europe. The main battleground for the bloodiest century in history, Europe, is finally coming together in peace."
. Mr John Kornblum, the leading US official dealing with Bosnia, yesterday urged President Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia to oust the Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic, from power or face a return to sanctions. Speaking in Belgrade after a meeting with Mr Milosevic, Mr Kornblum said he had demanded the removal of Dr Karadzic an Gen Ratko Mladic.
. More than 120 government are developing techniques for crippling enemy defences by disrupting computers in wartime, senators were told yesterday. Congressional investigators said computer hackers stole secrets from US Air Force air combat computers two years ago and were now trying to get into military computers at a rate of 250,000 times a year.