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an amazing thing.
The second thing I would like to say is that he really was driven not by the title he had but by the responsibilities it bore. And he was ennobled not by the title, but by the strength of his own character and his vision and his spirit. It was unbelievable to me when we talked right before we started this last round of peace negotiations at Wye, and I knew how ill he was. He said, "Well, I would be willing to come down there if you think it would help." I said -- (laughs) -- "If I think it would help?" I said, "This whole thing's about to come apart. Of course it would help." I said, "If you come down, they won't have the courage to walk away here without an agreement." And so he did. And he took a house, and some days he could only work 30 minutes or an hour, but every day we needed him in that long Wye peace accord, he was there. Every day he was needed, he was there, no matter how sick he was, no matter how bad he felt.
And his son, the new king, told me tonight, he said, "You know, the truth is it put some days on his life, because he was doing what he believed in." And all the icy atmosphere of those tense talks would immediately disappear when Hussein walked in the room, because all the differences and animosities and grievances seemed small in the face of this very large presence. And it was almost as if the more frail his body became, the more powerful the essence of his spirit was.
Every Jordanian citizen can be proud of that -- can be proud the on every continent and every country of the world, people said, "That is the sort of person we all ought to be."
The last point I would like to make is that I would like to join the previous speakers in saying that I have great confidence in the young king of Jordan. I had a very good meeting with him today. He clearly unders ane
