[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.