[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
[May 23, 1991]
[Pages 544-547]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Announcing the Reappointment of General Colin L. Powell as 
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a News Conference
May 23, 1991

    The President. Well, today I announce with great pleasure my 
decision to reappoint General Colin Powell as Chairman of the Joint 
Chiefs for a second 2-year term when his term expires.
    Look, he has done a fantastic job, and I'm taking this step now to 
demonstrate my great confidence in his ability and the tremendous 
respect that I have for him. And it's personal, and it's professional. 
And the military advice that he provided me under pressure for our 
operations in Panama and Liberia, Somalia and, of course, most 
important, in the Gulf was absolutely remarkable. And the confidence I 
have in him is reflected in the confidence the men and women of our 
Armed Forces have in General Powell. And I've seen it firsthand, and it 
has not diminished in any way.
    In the years ahead, we're going to be making important changes in 
the military, in its size, in its structure, and in its orientation. And 
General Powell and I and Secretary Cheney have been talking about this 
over the months. These decisions are not easy, but he's been at the 
forefront of planning for this critical restructuring, and I can think 
of no one more qualified to lead our Armed Forces as we prepare them for 
the challenges of the 21st century.
    And so, Colin, I am delighted that you are willing to re-up and to 
take on another term in this very onerous, taxing job. I think of Alma 
and your family. I think of the alternatives and the options, but your 
sense of service to country is just unquestioned. And I am delighted 
that you are willing to undertake this.
    General Powell. Thank you, Mr. President.
    The President. We have a rebuttal here. [Laughter]
    General Powell. Thank you, Mr. President. I am very honored and 
privileged that you would offer me a second term as Chairman. I, of 
course, accept it gladly because it gives me the opportunity to stay in 
uniform and to continue serving a nation, serving you, but most 
importantly, serving the great young men and women who volunteer to 
serve in their Nation's Armed Forces.
    The next 2 years will be full of many challenges, but I'm sure with 
the great national security team that you have working for you, we will 
meet these challenges and come out the other end with a strengthened 
Armed Force, ready to discharge any responsibilities and any problems 
that may come its way and to ensure that the Nation continues to be 
well-defended and that we are a solid arm of your policy team, and that, 
when called upon, the Armed Forces will acquit themself as well as they 
have over the past 20 months.
    Thank you, Mr. President.
    Q. General?
    The President. Brit [Brit Hume, ABC News] wants to ask you a 
question.
    Q. General, would you care to comment on the recent account of the 
Gulf War suggesting that you had, at a minimum, serious misgivings about 
the use of force option, at least at one point, and give us your sense 
of how that happened?
    General Powell. No, I really am not going to start commenting on any 
accounts or

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books that are out on the subject. The President knows what advice I 
gave to him, so does the Secretary. It's a pleasure working within a 
team that you can give advice on all options. We were all together 
throughout this entire exercise, and efforts to suggest that there was 
distance between the President and his other advisers are incorrect.
    The President. And let me add something, Brit. We had a lot of 
meetings. And General Powell leveled with me, and Admiral Jeremiah 
leveled with us, and Norm Schwarzkopf leveled with us. And to the degree 
they were not rushing to commit our young men and women to battle, 
that's exactly the way they should have been. And I wasn't rushing to 
commit our young men and women to battle. And he gave me sound advice. 
He gave me straightforward advice. I never had any concern about where 
he stood. I expect the Secretary of Defense feels exactly the same way.
    And I just want to be on the record as saying that he spoke his 
mind; he did it openly. And then when we had to get together in meetings 
and figure the next steps, he was a constructive force all the way along 
the line. And it was Colin Powell, more than anyone else, who I think 
deserves the credit for the time we had to--after all options, in my 
view, were exhausted--draw the line in the sand. It was he that 
suggested to me, sitting right up here in that office.
    And so, I feel that he did what any general officer should do. He 
told me the risks; he told me what was at stake in human life. He told 
me what his view is to how it would go, which was always very positive, 
if we had to commit forces. And I am unhappy about revisionistic views 
of things.

Soviet Union

    Q. President Gorbachev is apparently requesting $100 billion in 
economic help and would like to come to the London economic summit. Are 
either of those possible? And what share would the United States be 
willing to take in the $100 billion?
    The President. Well, as I said yesterday, we're still talking to our 
allies about this. President Gorbachev has not presented me with this 
proposal. We will be having Mr. Primakov and another gentleman here--I 
think it's this week--to discuss this, or to discuss what Gorbachev told 
me would be some new ideas on economic reform. But what I want to do--
and I expect this is true of President Mitterrand, I know it's true of 
Kohl and certainly of John Major--is to get together, talk about it, and 
see what we can do to help genuine reform in the Soviet Union.
    So, I'm not prepared to comment on a proposal that has not been 
brought to my attention.
    Q. Are we closer to a summit in Moscow after the visit of General 
Moiseyev here in Washington?
    The President. Well, I defer to our experts, Secretary Cheney 
standing here, Brent Scowcroft there, and the Secretary of State. And it 
is my view--I think I said this yesterday--that there is some room for 
optimism on working out these remaining problems on arms control. And if 
that's true, there will be a summit.
    Q. Before the end of June, sir?
    The President. Well, I can't help you on the timing. That was our 
hope, you remember, to have it in the first half of the year. But I have 
not sat down with our experts to understand what progress they have 
made. I think they felt progress was made by the Moiseyev visit. You 
want to add anything to that, Dick?
    Secretary Cheney. No, sir.
    Q. Mr. President, you said what you ought to do is get together with 
the allies and sit down and talk about economic reform in the Soviet 
Union. Are you talking about the forum like an economic summit or some 
other kind forum to have an allied discussion?
    The President. No, I'm talking about a lot of diplomacy between now 
and the economic summit.
    Q. You mean individual----
    The President. Yes, Not a big meeting of any sort, although with the 
sherpas meeting, I expect this subject will come up. But I'm not--you're 
asking about me personally, and I don't plan any pre-summit head-of-
state meeting.
    Q. Why would you not favor just doing this at the economic summit 
with Gorba-

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chev? What's the downside to that?
    The President. We don't want to look--I don't want to have something 
come out of the summit that's negative. What I want to have come out is 
positive.
    Q. Mr. President, President Gorbachev said yesterday that it is in 
the West's interest to put some significant sums of money behind 
economic reforms in the Soviet Union--billions of dollars. Do you think 
that the West, and the United States in particular, ought to be willing 
to put some significant sums of money behind that cause?
    The President. The Soviet Union is a great power. And we deal with 
them with respect. We have problems with them. But it is in our 
interest--it is in the national security interest of the United States, 
and I think in every other interest, to have a reformed Soviet Union, 
particularly one that's going to prove to be more democratic. And I've 
never believed that President Gorbachev had given up on reform. And 
certainly he's not given up on openness, glasnost. So, my answer would 
be, let's look at it. But nobody's talked to me about numbers. Nobody's 
talked to me about details. As I said, we're receiving a delegation at 
Gorbachev's request, just as he received our agricultural delegation at 
my request. So, it's mutual, and we will work constructively with our 
allies--$100 billion is a large piece of change still.
    Q. Have you made a decison on the question of more grain export 
credits?
    The President. No decision.
    Q. Mr. President, as far as the London summit is concerned, is there 
some possibility that you might consider some kind of an option where 
Mr. Gorbachev would come in an observer status or perhaps to view in an 
informal way rather than be a formal participant?
    The President. I think all options are open. None closed. But, 
again, what's going to help? What's going to help bring the West closer 
on terms that are reasonable? I think President Gorbachev knows that we 
have understandable concerns about credit worthiness. And I think he 
understands--I hope he understands that I and the other allied leaders 
want to move forward.
    Q. So you think there's a real possibility still that he might be in 
London in some way or another?
    The President. Well, as I said, Carl [Carl P. Leubsdorf, Dallas 
Morning News], I'm not going to go into it beyond--I tried to answer the 
question vaguely as possible--[laughter]--until we know more about it. 
You can't pin me down on it.

Israel

    Q. Mr. President, do you share Secretary of State Baker's 
frustration with the new Israeli settlements in the occupied 
territories? And how much of an impediment to a peace process are these 
settlements?
    The President. Secretary Baker reiterated the long-standing policy 
of the United States Government, not just in our administration but, as 
General Powell and Secretary Cheney know, of previous administrations. 
And so, I didn't see anything particularly new in what he said. I have 
appealed to the Soviet Union--I mean, to Israel not to move forward with 
more settlements. They know it's our policy. And I can understand the 
Secretary's concern and perhaps frustration by this. However, Israel's 
moving in some ways that I will not discuss with you. And so, I have no 
reason to be totally pessimistic. The settlements have been and will 
continue to be a difficult problem for us.

Soviet Union

    Q. Mr. President, it was clear that Gorbachev yesterday was moving 
to press the West for commitments on aid. Is it your concern at this 
point that without his reforms actually in place and fully implemented 
that it would be premature or a possible waste for the West to commit 
large sums of credits or invite him to the summit in London?
    The President. Norm [Norman Sandler, United Press International], I 
just go back to the answer I've given--about three different answers, 
same question--nicely disguised as a new question. But I really--I think 
I've answered the question. I honestly believe it. I'm not going to get 
out there----
    Q. It seems there are some reservations on your part. Is that true?
    The President. My only reservations are,

[[Page 547]]

will it help? Will it be true--will it encourage reform? I'll tell you, 
there is something that's positive there, and that is that Yeltsin and 
Gorbachev appear to be in communication. Gorbachev has reiterated to me, 
which he didn't have to do, his continuing commitment to reform. And you 
see these agreements that are worked out between the Republics--I think 
it's called the ``nine-and-one'' agreement. And these are positive 
things. So, I want to look at it positively. But we also have to look at 
it realistically. And President Gorbachev knows this.
    This is the last--this is the final question, the very final one, 
right over here.

Fast Track Legislation

    Q. How do you stand this morning about Fast Track? Do you think it's 
going to pass in both Chambers?
    The President. That's a slow ball, and the answer is yes. Okay. 
Thank you for asking. It's very, very important to us. And not just to 
the administration; it is important to the workers in this country. It's 
important to the environmentalists in this country. A more prosperous 
Mexico, for example, can do a lot more on border problems, environmental 
problems, and labor wage problems. And so, I'm excited about the 
prospect of being able to negotiate without our hands tied for a Uruguay 
round continuation, for a satisfactory conclusion of Uruguay round and 
for the Mexican FDA.
    This is the last one now.

Middle East Peace Talks

    Q. Mr. President, given that Secretary Baker portrayed the Israel 
new settlements every time he went back there as something of an insult, 
a thumb in the eye, and given the fact that U.S. aid generally props up 
Israel, are you willing to now use that lever to pressure Israel?
    The President. What I want to do--I'm not pressuring anybody. What I 
want to do is get people to talk in that part of the world where they 
haven't talked before. And what I want to do is take the credibility 
that I believe the United States has now in Israel and in the Gulf 
countries and in the other countries in the Middle East to try to be a 
catalyst for peace. So, we're not talking about pressure. And what 
Secretary Baker was doing was reiterating a long-standing policy of the 
United States.
    Thank you all very much. A follow-on; no more new ones.
    Q. Do you agree with Secretary Baker that those settlements were the 
main impediment to success on his trip?
    The President. I would want to read his testimony, but new 
settlements do not enhance the prospects for peace.

                    Note: The President's 84th news conference began at 
                        9 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White House. In 
                        the news conference, the following persons were 
                        referred to: Chairman Powell's wife, Alma; Adm. 
                        David E. Jeremiah, Vice Chairman of the Joint 
                        Chiefs of Staff; Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, 
                        commander of the U.S. forces in the Persian 
                        Gulf; Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney; 
                        President Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union; 
                        Yevgeniy Primakov, Soviet Presidential Council 
                        member and envoy for President Gorbachev; 
                        President Francois Mitterrand of France; 
                        Chancellor Helmut Kohl of Germany; Prime 
                        Minister John Major of the United Kingdom; Gen. 
                        Mikhail Moiseyev, Chief of the General Staff of 
                        the Soviet Union; Brent Scowcroft, Assistant to 
                        the President for National Security Affairs; 
                        Secretary of State James A. Baker III; and Boris 
                        Yeltsin, President of the Republic of Russia.