    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
    [September 16, 1994]
    [Pages 1561-1562]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks and an Exchange With Reporters on Haiti
    September 16, 1994

        The President. Thank you for coming in; I'm glad to see you. I
    wanted to make three quick points. One is, we had a detailed briefing
    this morning from General Shalikashvili, and I feel good about the
    extraordinary work and preparation that our military leaders have done.
    Second, we're up to 24 nations now participating in the coalition, and I
    feel very good about that. I think there will be more; I think we'll
    have more before very long. And the third thing that I want to say is,
    I've seen a copy of the remarks that President Aristide is going to
    deliver today, and I'm pleased with that. I think it is very important,
    in light of all the things that have occurred from the time he was
    elected forward, that this message of reconciliation be genuine,
    sincere, and straightforward. And I think it will be, and I feel good
    about that.
        And I know some of you have been somewhat skeptical of that. And I
    would remind you that there's one event which has occurred in recent
    times which I think will reinforce it, and that is the meeting in Paris
    which got together the proposed aid package for Haiti to create the
    economic opportunity for the Haitians, which I think is clearly premised
    on the right sort of spirit of going forward down there and the whole
    promise of reconciliation being realized. So I feel good about it. And
    Admiral Miller's done a marvelous job. I thank you, sir, for what you've
    done.
        Anyway, I didn't mean to interrupt the briefing--[laughter]--see so
    many----
        Q. Are you nervous?
        The President. Am I nervous? No, I feel good about it. I don't know
    if good is the right word. I think the policy is right, and I think that
    I have done the best I could to present it to the American people and we
    have done the best we could to prepare. And I have enormous confidence
    in the work that others have done. I think they have done the best they
    could.
        We don't live in a risk-free world, and there are risks associated
    with anything we did or didn't do. But I think we're doing the right
    thing, and I think we have the right people doing the right thing.
    That's all I could ever ask for. And I've made the decision, so if it
    doesn't go right, I'm responsible.
        Q. Secretary Christopher says that he expects more public support
    and more support on the Hill now, Mr. President. Do you expect to get
    fairly strong support in Congress now?
        The President. I don't know; I can't answer that. I hope so. But he
    may know more about it than I do. All I can tell you is I've done the
    very best I could, and I hope they'll be supportive for it. I'm
    encouraged by the indications that the American people are more
    supportive. My sense is that the important things to a lot of Americans
    about last night were--first of all, I think more and more are learning
    about the human rights abuses and how that reinforces the arguments we
    made about immigration and democracy. But I think most of the people are
    focused on that.
        But the two things I think that a lot of Americans got last night
    from an informational point of view were, one, the extraordinary efforts
    we have made in the diplomatic area and the patience we've shown and the
    rebuffs we've received over a long period of time. And two, I think a
    lot of Americans had forgotten about the Governors Island Agreement and
    that it was broken. And most Americans think when you make a deal with
    this country, you ought to

    [[Page 1562]]

    keep it. And so I feel--all I can tell you is I feel good about it.
        Q. Why did you wait so long to make your case to the American
    people?
        The President. Well, I've been talking about this all along, you
    know. I waited so long to make an Oval Office address because you can
    only make--I mean, it's only appropriate to make one Oval Office address
    on a subject like this. And we have done the best we could. We exhausted
    all other alternatives. I thought this was the right time. I did the
    best I could with it.
        Adm. Paul Miller. Mr. President, before you leave, can I just report
    one thing to you? Yesterday I was at Fort Drum up in New York; that's
    the 10th Mountain. And one of the commanders mentioned that a battalion
    of troops are going to be involved. There was 50-some that could leave
    the Army before the projected time was up, and 21 of them said, ``We
    want to stay.'' So that shows support from the uniformed side, from the
    practitioner, the youngster. They want to be there, and that's what the
    call to duty was. I just wanted to mention that.
        The President. Thank you very much. Two young men--when we were in
    Berlin a few months ago and cased the colors of the Berlin Brigade and I
    met with some of the young soldiers there, two of them asked me to
    please delay any action in Haiti until they got home so they could go.
    That's very rewarding. Thank you, sir.
        Goodbye.

    Note: The President spoke at 12:02 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the
    White House. Adm. Paul D. Miller was Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic.
    A tape was not available for verification of the content of these
    remarks.