    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
    [September 8, 1993]
    [Page 1455]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1455]]

    Remarks and an Exchange With Reporters Prior to Discussions With
    President Alija Izetbegovic of Bosnia
    September 8, 1993

        Q. Mr. President, are you going to ask President Clinton for air
    strikes?
        President Izetbegovic. I have to thanks to Mr. President Clinton to
    receiving me, on behalf of me and of my colleagues here, and then thanks
    to the United States and to the peoples of the United States for the
    support, for the very beginning of the independence of the Bosnia-
    Herzegovina.
        And just now, I have thought to say that I have some issues to
    discuss with Mr. President, but one point is of essential importance for
    us. It's we are now hard working for the peace, to make a peace, to
    reach an agreement about peaceful solution in Bosnia-Herzegovina. But
    one point is very important: It's a problem of guarantee for the
    agreement. We will ask and request from the President Clinton that the
    United States participate in these guarantees, of course, between NATO
    forces and so on. But for us, it's essential, of essential importance
    that the United States participate in these guarantees.
        President Clinton. I'd like to make a brief statement, in view of
    what President Izetbegovic has said. First of all, I want to welcome him
    again to the White House and to express, as I have so many times in the
    past, my admiration for the leadership that he has shown in this very
    difficult period. I want to encourage the peace process. The United
    States has done what it could to mobilize the forces of NATO to stop the
    attempt to overcome Sarajevo and the areas in the east and to push the
    Serbs and the Croats to make reasonable decisions in this peace process.
        If they can reach a fair agreement, I would support, as I have said
    since February, the United States participating along with the other
    NATO nations in trying to help keep the peace. Of course in the United
    States, as all of you know, anything we do has to have the support of
    the Congress. I would seek the support of the Congress to do that. But I
    think these people that the President represents--the Vice President was
    here, others have been very courageous and brave, and they're trying to
    now make a decent peace. And I think we ought to support that process,
    if there is an agreement that is not forced on them but one that is
    willingly entered into and is fair. And if we can get the Congress to
    support it, then I think we should participate.
        Q. Would you agree to a date certain, Mr. President, by which the
    Serbs would have to withdraw from Sarajevo, free the city, after which
    you would use air strikes?
        President Clinton. I believe that all that has to be part of the
    negotiating process. I don't think the United States can simply impose
    an element of it. I think they know what the conditions are that NATO
    has imposed and that we have certainly taken the lead in for avoiding
    air strikes. They know how to avoid the air strikes. And so far they've
    done that, and I presume they will continue to do that.
        Q. Are you willing to go along with the President's request for a
    guarantee?
        President Clinton. I've been willing to do that since February. But
    in order to do it, we have to have a fair peace that is willingly
    entered into by the parties. It has to be able to be enforced or, if you
    will, be guaranteed by a peacekeeping force from NATO, not the United
    Nations but NATO. And of course, for me to do it, the Congress would
    have to agree.
        But I'm glad that the President has said what he has said, and I
    think the Congress and the American people need to know that the Bosnian
    government would look to the United States to be a part of any attempt
    to guarantee the peace.

    Note: The President spoke at 5:25 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House. A tape was not available for verification of the content of these
    remarks.