Clinton unveils his own statue in Kosovo
Thousands of Albanians on Sunday jammed into Pristina's main square to welcome former US President Bill Clinton, the guest of honor at his statue-unveiling ceremony commemorating his role in the brutal bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, the first step towards the unilateral secession of Kosovo nine years later.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Tuesday, November 03, 2009
"I never expected that anywhere, someone would make such a big statue of me," Clinton told the cheering crowd after removing a red cover over the monument, revealing a bronze likeness of himself. thus proving that not all commissioned works of art are awarded posthumously.
The visiting former US president then drew attention to his wife Hillary Clinton, the U.S. Secretary of State.
"This morning when I talked to my wife, she said I had to make a photograph in front of it [the statue] and send it to her to make sure it was true and I didn't make the whole thing up."
The bronze statue, which stands 3.5 meters (11 feet) and sits on the Bill Clinton Boulevard, depicts the former American president with his left arm raised while holding documents bearing the date when NATO launched its aerial bombardment of Yugoslavia - 24 March, 1999.
Thousands of people were killed in the bombings, which NATO carried without UN Security Council approval, serving as a precedent for subsequent US invasion of Iraq.
In the moments leading up to the NATO attack, Bill Clinton was fighting for his political life amidst an embarrassing sex scandal involving a young intern named Monica Lewinsky.
