    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
    [December 2, 1995]
    [Pages 1830-1832]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Following Discussions With Chancellor Helmut Kohl of Germany and
    an Exchange With Reporters in Baumholder
    December 2, 1995

        The President. Good afternoon. I have just finished a very good set
    of briefings from our military commanders about the plans to deploy in
    Bosnia to enforce the peace agreement. And I have received a report from
    General Joulwan about the meeting of the North Atlantic Council which
    has, in essence, approved the military plan for implementing the peace
    agreement, which I signed off on just a few days ago in the Oval Office.
        So I feel very good about what I have seen, about the morale of our
    troops. As you saw, I shook hands with several hundred of them, and I
    then had lunch with a significant number of them. I think their morale
    is high. They are well aware that they have been very well-trained. They
    are very supportive of the rules of engagement which give them the tools
    they need to do their job.
        But I would say more than anything else, the men and women with whom
    I spoke today are committed to the humanitarian mission of saving the
    lives of the children and innocent civilians. And they understand that
    they are going there not in war but in peace, to facilitate a peace
    agreement, and that this is very different from having been involved in
    a conflict.

    [[Page 1831]]

    And so we're working hard, and I feel good about where we are.
        I also had a wonderful extended visit with Chancellor Kohl on the
    way down here, and he shared a lot of his thoughts with me. And of
    course, Germany has been a great partner in this and in some ways has
    borne perhaps the heaviest financial burden of the Bosnian war because
    of the many hundreds of thousands of refugees which have been taken in
    and sustained by the German people.
        So I would like to ask Chancellor Kohl to make whatever comments he
    would like to make, and then we'll have questions.
        Chancellor Kohl. Mr. President, I would like to bid you once again a
    very warm welcome here to our country. This has been a very impressive
    day that we shared here today. And I must say that I'm gratified that
    I'm yet again able to say this here in Baumholder, to say once again
    what, for us here in Germany, the Alliance has meant these past four
    decades.
        The Alliance for us meant peace and freedom for our country. It
    meant that we were given the opportunity, together with our American
    friends, to overcome the division of our country and to win unity for
    Germany. And I don't think there's any other place where one is in a
    better position to say something like that than here. Because, Bill, I'm
    confident that when this message is being sent here from Baumholder to
    the United States, then hundreds of thousands, even millions of
    Americans will remember the days when they themselves as soldiers or
    relatives spent time here in Baumholder. And I would like to state
    clearly that we have not forgotten what our American friends have done
    for us.
        And it was a very impressive day for me, too, because it brought
    home to me the determination of the President of the United States and
    of the people of the United States to make, through their mission,
    possible that peace finally comes to Bosnia and that the agreement is
    being implemented.
        And I would like to say to the mothers and fathers who send their
    sons and their daughters out with this mission out to Bosnia, that they
    send out their sons and their daughters in order to assure peace and to
    safeguard peace. And that is the best possible mission for any army in
    the world.
        And I would like to use this opportunity here, Bill, to thank you,
    to thank the President of the United States for the determination to act
    that they have shown here. You are in a proud American tradition in so
    doing, a proud tradition that has always said that the United States
    should not look away but that they should show leadership and become
    active.
        Obviously, I would never dare to interfere in American domestic
    politics. But I would like to know as many Americans as possible that we
    hope for the broadest possible support of the people of the United
    States of America for the President and the Army in this important
    endeavor.
        We, ourselves, have made a decisive step in the right direction;
    4,000 German soldiers will go, will be sent to the region. And I would
    like to wish all of the troops going into the region--American troops,
    British troops, French troops, German troops, from whatever nation they
    may be sent--I would like to wish them Godspeed and a safe return back
    to their families.
        And I must say that I came away very much impressed from the
    luncheon, where I had the opportunity to talk to family members as well,
    impressed by the calm and the steadfastness of the wives and the
    relatives--the wives obviously being afraid, which is very
    understandable under the circumstances, but showing a quiet resolve to
    support their husbands and seeing how important this mission is.
        Thank you.

    Bosnia

        Q. How many Americans will be spending Christmas in Bosnia?
        The President. You'll have to ask General Joulwan that. I don't know
    that. We will--obviously, under the peace agreement, deployments have to
    begin shortly after the signing of the agreement. But it will take some
    considerable amount of time for a full buildup. So I would think there
    would be probably fewer than half of the total force could be there by
    Christmas, maybe even less than that. That's a question you should ask
    General Joulwan. Right now it's strictly a matter of military planning.
        Q. Mr. President, have you approved the execute order for the
    deployment of U.S. troops? And also, you have said many times that it's
    expected that it would be one year for the U.S. troops. Does that also
    pertain to other NATO troops? How long would they be there?

    [[Page 1832]]

        The President. The timeframe is for the military mission, not
    specifically for the American troops. It is the military mission.
    Because of the specific functions delegated to the military, as opposed
    to the civilians--keep in mind, what the military is supposed to do is
    maintain the cease-fire, separate the forces, create the zone of
    separation, supervise the transfer of property and the redeployment of
    forces, and then maintain a secure environment so there can be free
    movement throughout the country, so the refugees can go home and the
    reconstruction can begin and the elections can be held. It is believed
    by all of our planners and agreed to by the people who signed the peace
    treaty that that should be done in about a year. And it's completely
    different from the civilian practices.
        The answer to your first question is, no, I have not, but I will as
    soon as it's presented to me. I have given a prior general approval to
    our military planners, as I announced to the Congress, to send a small
    force in to do the planning work in anticipation of the signing of the
    treaty and no adverse developments between now and the treaty signing on
    the 14th in Paris. But that is all I intend to do before Congress has a
    chance to speak its mind. I believe that I have no alternative. So I
    have not done it now, yet, but I will as soon as presented with the
    decision.
        Any German press have a question? No----
        Q. Mr. President, as Commander in Chief, how difficult is it for you
    to look into the faces of these young men and women who are about to go
    into a dangerous situation to carry out your orders?
        The President. Well, I wanted to come here to look into their faces
    and into the faces of their wives, their husbands, and their children
    because I think they are about to do a very noble and important thing
    for our country and for the world. And I wanted to come here and
    directly say to them, ``Here is why I want you to go, and here is what
    you will be doing and what you will not be doing. We have done
    everything we could to minimize the risks, but there still are some, and
    here is what we expect to do about that.''
        I wanted to give them those straight answers. I wanted to look at
    them--you know, I spent quite a long time there today and I talked to
    several hundred of them briefly today, and I frankly was very moved by
    the responses they gave. I think they understand it's not a risk-free
    mission, but I believe they understand its importance and the
    fundamentally honorable nature of it.
        Once again, the United States has no hidden or dark motives here. We
    simply want to restore peace and democracy and a decent life to those
    people.
        Thank you.
        Q. Mr. President, Chancellor Kohl expressed the hope that you would
    have the American people behind you. Do you think you do have the
    American people's support for it?
        The President. I think that the support is building in the United
    States, and I think that the support for the troops and their mission
    will be universal. It always has been, and I believe it will be now.

    Note: The President spoke at 3:40 p.m. in the Rheinlander Building at
    the Baumholder Army Base. A tape was not available for verification of
    the content of these remarks.