    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
    [June 29, 1996]
    [Pages 991-997]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's News Conference in Lyons
    June 29, 1996

        The President. It's really beautiful, isn't it? Please sit down.
    Well, the weather has certainly cooperated for our summit.
        Ladies and gentlemen, this summit made real progress in the three
    areas that we came here to address: the fight against terrorism and
    crime, strengthening the peace in Bosnia, and advancing our common
    agenda for economic growth.
        I thank the leaders for sharing our outrage at the cowardly attack
    in Saudi Arabia and for agreeing to intensify the fight against
    terrorism. We resolved to take a range of concrete steps that will
    extend the efforts we are making at home. These steps will help us to
    achieve four key objectives. First, terrorists and criminals must have
    nowhere to hide. For example, we must cooperate to speed up extradition
    and prosecution of those who practice terror and then leave the country
    in which they commit their acts. Second, we must dry up the resources
    terrorists use to fund their violence. Third, we must do a better job of
    defending our national borders to keep the terrorists, the criminals,
    and the illegal weapons out. And finally, we must stop terrorists from
    misusing the high-tech communications that we all rely on for commerce
    and cooperation.
        Even more can be done. That's why we directed our senior officials
    to meet as soon as possible to recommend additional measures.
        As to the bombing in Dhahran, we will do everything in our power to
    discover who was responsible, to pursue them, and to punish them. We
    must also make sure we have taken all reasonable steps to protect our
    own people. To that end, I am announcing today that General Wayne
    Downing, former Commander in Chief, U.S. Special Operations Command,
    will lead a full assessment of the facts surrounding the bomb attack in
    Dhahran. General Downing will also evaluate all policies and measures at
    other facilities in the entire Central Command which includes the
    Persian Gulf and Middle East regions. He will recommend any further
    steps necessary to prevent similar attacks. And he will submit his
    report to the Secretary of Defense within 45 days.
        But let me be clear: Just as no enemy could drive us from the field
    in World War II and the cold war, we will not be driven from the
    frontiers of our fight against terrorism today.
        We devoted a good deal of time to our work on Bosnia. We shouldn't
    forget that since our last meeting in Halifax, we've helped achieve
    something many thought was impossible: Bosnia has moved from the horror
    of war into the hope of peace.
        Here we laid the groundwork for more progress in the next 6 months.
    We committed ourselves to full support for the elections in September
    and accelerating the civilian reconstruction that is now underway. Even
    as we support these efforts, we're also making it clear to the parties
    in Bosnia that they must live up to their obligations under the Dayton
    accords, spelling out what steps they must take to prepare for the
    elections and to move the reconstruction along.
        Today I'm also proud to announce three new American initiatives to
    help that peace take root. First, we will devote $15 million to train
    demobilized soldiers to clear the estimated 3 million landmines still in
    Bosnia. Until that happens, no child will be able to walk in safety and
    life cannot return to normal.
        Second, we are establishing an international commission on the
    missing in the former Yugoslavia, to be chaired by former Secretary of
    State Cy Vance. This group will work to resolve the almost 12,000 cases
    of missing persons, to reduce the anguish of their families and lessen
    the tension between the parties.
        Third, we will contribute $5 million to the work of the Bosnian
    women's initiative. After

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    a past in which so many men were killed in the fighting, Bosnia's future
    may depend more than ever upon its women. We will provide training and
    loans to help women find jobs and create businesses so they can support
    their families and get their nation going again. I want to recognize and
    thank our Ambassador to Austria, Swanee Hunt, for helping to create this
    initiative. Women today are meeting in Bosnia--today--on this issue.
    Muslim, Croatian, and Serbian women are meeting in Bosnia today in a
    multiethnic, cooperative determination to regenerate the capacity of the
    Bosnian economy through the efforts of its women. This has real
    potential to make a difference.
        Finally, let me just note that the environment of this summit was
    very different than the first one I attended in Tokyo in 1993. Then we
    were not in a strong position to lead, and our partners kept telling me
    that we had to get our house in order. And frankly, they were right.
    When I took office, our budget deficit was at an all-time high,
    unemployment was more than 7 percent, we had the slowest job growth
    since the Great Depression. But since that time, we have cut our budget
    deficit in half, and our economy has reduced unemployment to 5.6 percent
    and produced 9.7 million new jobs. Inflation is near a 30-year low,
    interest rates are down, and business investment is up by 30 percent.
    Our country is now the number one exporter and the most competitive
    nation on Earth again.
        So here I was pleased, and I know the American people will be, to
    see that our partners recognize this and ask for our suggestions about
    what we could do together to promote more economic growth around the
    globe, to generate jobs out of that economic growth, and to make those
    jobs good jobs so that people would have the tools to make the most of
    their lives and to build strong families.
        Finally, there was a lot of very serious conversation about how we
    can grow the economy and sustain our environment. And we resolved to
    work harder on that in the year ahead and to make that a central focus
    of our meeting next year in Denver.
        We know we have to work on these problems together. That's the last
    point I want to drive home to the American people. We know that when we
    do cooperate, we can make a positive difference for our own people in
    maintaining our leadership in the world and meeting our challenges and
    protecting our values. I found that this summit was very helpful in all
    those regards.
        Helen [Helen Thomas, United Press International]?

    Bosnia and Middle East Peace Process

        Q. Mr. President, I'd like your views on two points--foreign policy
    points of tension in the communique. One, are you prepared to reimpose
    sanctions against Yugoslavia if the Serb leader in Bosnia does not step
    down from his government functions by, say, Monday? And two, in terms of
    the Middle East peace process, does the United States have any leverage
    to persuade Israel to abide by previous agreements on land for peace?
        The President. Well, first of all, let's talk about the sanctions
    issues. Under the Dayton accords, both Mr. Bildt and the IFOR commander
    have the ability and the responsibility to impose sanctions if the
    accords are violated. We want Mr. Karadzic, in the words of the
    Secretary of State, out of power and out of influence. And we think that
    is very important. We want all the other parties to help us achieve what
    is clearly required by the Dayton accords and the Paris peace agreement.
    And, therefore, we will support appropriate action by Mr. Bildt.
        Although I have to say I have no information, Helen, that there is
    in fact a Monday deadline that would operate against Serbia, as opposed
    to the Bosnian Serbs or anyone else. I do not know that there will be a
    Monday deadline. But you should just know that both the IFOR commander,
    Admiral Smith, and Mr. Bildt have the authority and the responsibility
    under the Dayton accords to reimpose the sanctions. And under the right
    circumstances, they would be bound to do so and we would be bound to
    support them.
        Yes, sir?
        Q. Mr. President, what did Prime Minister----
        Q. What about the second part of the----
        The President. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry--the Middle East. I
    apologize. It's been a long 3 days.
        On the Middle East, we all agree that the commitments Israel has
    made to date should be kept. And Mr. Netanyahu has said that he expects
    Israel to keep those commitments.
        I think it's fair to say that we also all agree that the Israeli
    Government is recently constituted, just getting its bearings, and it's
    going

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    to work. And we believe it's quite important that both sides in the
    Middle East, the Arab parties and the Israelis, give each other some
    room here. A little time needs to pass. And we hope that no one,
    including those of us who are third parties here, will say or do
    anything which would make the peace process more difficult down the
    road. We just--we need to honor the commitments that have been made and
    then go forward.
        In that connection, today we talked a lot about development
    assistance and the importance of doing more in that area, and I tried to
    make a strong point that we have seen in the Middle East a substantial
    increase in the capacity of the Palestinian Authority under Mr. Arafat
    to provide law and order and to run the daily operations of life in Gaza
    and the West Bank. And I think we need to support that as much as
    anything else if we want to preserve the gains of the past and make sure
    that this peace process continues to have integrity and effect.
        Yes, go ahead.

    Russia

        Q. Mr. President, what did Prime Minister Chernomyrdin tell you
    about President Yeltsin's health and his ability to govern, and how
    concerned are you? And also, is the fact that Mr. Yeltsin was not here
    the reason why there wasn't a whole lot in today's communique dealing
    with relations and aid to Russia in the future?
        The President. Mr. Chernomyrdin said that President Yeltsin was in
    good health, but that he had a sore throat--something I can identify
    with right before an election--and that he had determined that he ought
    to take the day off from any kind of public speaking or public
    appearances. But he said he'd talked to him yesterday and he was doing
    fine.
        I'm not sure that this communique would have had more in it about
    Russia even if President Yeltsin had been here, because we basically
    talked about the subjects of the meeting here, and we tried to have a
    more limited communique that didn't just go all over every issue.
        I want to emphasize that in these G-8 political meetings we consider
    Russia to be an integral partner here in all our deliberations. The
    Russians are cosponsors with the United States in the Middle East peace
    process. The Russians are our partners in IFOR. So we value Russian
    participation for issues that have nothing to do with Russia.
        Yes?

    Bosnia

        Q. Mr. Karadzic today was reelected head of his party. He says he
    doesn't acknowledge the authority of the War Crimes Tribunal. And at
    some point do you reach a point where, if it's not a deadline this
    Monday, there has to be a deadline and that the IFOR forces would have
    to move into Pale and simply escort him out?
        The President. Well, I guess the short answer to that is no, in the
    way you asked it, because there was an explicit decision made in the
    Dayton accords that the mission of IFOR would not be a police mission,
    that is, to actually go in with the purpose of apprehending Mr. Karadzic
    or anybody else suspected of war crimes.
        On the other hand, I can say that the number of patrols has been
    increased in the region. And the responsibility of IFOR is, if they run
    into anybody who is wanted by the War Crimes Tribunal, they have to
    apprehend them. So I suppose the chances of his being apprehended or
    some others who may be wanted being apprehended have been increased by
    the fact that the number of patrols has been increased.
        But it is not a part of the mandate of IFOR to actually be the
    police agency to go in and arrest him. That's one of the reasons that
    Mr. Bildt has been talking about the sanctions.
        Q. Should there be a deadline?
        The President. Well, the deadline, in effect, will present itself in
    terms of the integrity of the elections. But we'd like to see something
    done well before then because we want other political leadership to
    develop among the Bosnian Serbs, people who believe in the rule of law
    and don't believe it's legitimate to kill large numbers of other people
    just because they're of a different ethnic group.

    Terrorist Attack in Saudi Arabia

        Q. Mr. President, regarding the bombing, what can you say to
    American families about servicemen now serving in that area of the
    world, in the Middle East, to reassure them? You mentioned that you'd
    appointed this commission to report back in 45 days, but what about
    tonight, what about tomorrow, and this week? Are some steps being taken
    now?

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        The President. Well, first of all, I think it's fair to say that
    everybody's on extra alert. But remember, when the warnings came out
    before this last incident--to be fair to the people who were involved
    there--they increased lookouts, they increased patrols, they increased
    training of people involved, they put more barriers up. And each and
    every one of those steps actually contributed to saving lives. The
    fatalities would have been much greater if those things had not been
    done.
        But the plain fact is that they did not believe that, based on past
    terrorist practice, that a bomb that big could be exploded--could be put
    together and delivered and exploded at that point. That's frankly what
    happened. So we're--everybody is assessing what their short-term and
    their long-term options are, and they're taking all the possible steps
    they can to see what should be done. But we want General Downing to take
    a bigger and longer look at this. Meanwhile, we'll be doing everything
    we can to protect our people, of course.
        Yes, Wolf [Wolf Blitzer, CNN]?

    FBI Files of White House Passholders

        Q. Mr. President, if I could just turn the subject to a domestic
    issue. You've been described by your aides as being very angry when you
    first heard about the FBI file matter in the White House, and you
    initially said that this was a bureaucratic snafu, a simple bureaucratic
    mistake. But now that Anthony Marceca, who is an Army civilian detailee
    to the White House, has decided to take the fifth and not testify, are
    you still sticking by that assertion that this was simply a mistake, a
    simple bureaucratic mistake?
        And the second part, I wonder if you'd care to comment on these
    other allegations by this former FBI agent who had worked in the White
    House of all sorts of sordid deeds going on? So just the two-part
    question.
        The President. Well, first of all on the--Mr. Marceca testified in
    the first hearings. I don't know why he decided not to testify in the
    second ones.
        Let's go back over what I said. I value the privacy that every
    American is entitled to, and I have done my best as President to protect
    the individual rights of the American people, their rights to free
    speech, to religious liberty, to association, and certainly to privacy.
    Secondly, from my earliest days as a young man being interested in
    public life, one of the things that has most appalled me is any kind of
    abuse of public authority that tramples on the liberties of individual
    citizens. And I believe my career shows a consistent pattern of
    opposition to that. So I'm concerned about it.
        What I said was that based on the evidence we had, there was no
    evidence that anyone had intentionally acquired the papers wrongly or
    had used them wrongly once they were acquired. I repeat that to the best
    of my knowledge that's what the evidence showed. Now, I understand there
    was some testimony yesterday from the Secret Service and from others
    which may offer an explanation about how the wrong lists were acquired.
    I was told that the Los Angeles Times had an article about it today, but
    I have not had an opportunity to read it.
        So what I'm saying is, I've told everybody I want to cooperate with
    the special counsel. I want to cooperate with the congressional
    committees. I want to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible.
    And I would encourage everyone else to do the same thing. Meanwhile, I
    don't want to prejudge anybody to go beyond what the evidence shows.
    That's the only thing I said.
        As to that other thing, I mean, I hardly even know how to comment on
    that. I mean, I hardly know what to say. I feel bad for the FBI.
        Q. This new book by the ex-FBI agent says that Craig Livingstone was
    hired through the sponsorship of the First Lady. Is that true? And if it
    isn't true, can you tell us definitively today who brought Craig
    Livingstone into the White House?
        The President. Can I tell you what?
        Q. Can you tell us who brought Craig Livingstone into the White
    House if it is not true, that the First Lady did not bring him in?
        The President. The answers to your two questions are no and no. Now,
    I know for a fact that is not true. But I don't know that anything in
    that is true. I don't know, but----
        Q. [Inaudible]--ask who hired this person?
        The President. I have, and I don't think he knows. But let me tell
    you--what we decided to do was not to raise any questions about how this
    thing had been handled, but instead to cooperate with outside forces who
    are looking into it. I think that's the best way to do it. So we just
    instructed everybody to cooperate, first with--we thought the FBI was
    going to look into it, and then when there was a delay there--

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    I think if that happened this whole thing would be resolved by now, and
    I'm sorry it didn't. But since the FBI didn't look into it, from our
    point of view, then we had to wait for the congressional committees and
    the special counsel. But we are going to fully cooperate with them, and
    I expect them to be able to answer all relevant questions.
        Yes, Peter [Peter Maer, NBC Mutual Radio]?

    Terrorism

        Q. Mr. President, getting back to the terror issue at this summit,
    almost every one of these summits has included tough talk on terrorism--
    those that you've attended and those before. Yet the attacks have
    continued in the Middle East and in Saudi Arabia and even at home. Is
    there any reason to believe that those you have described as people who
    live to kill are impacted at all by what you all say at these summits?
        The President. I don't know if they're impacted by what we say, but
    they're certainly impacted by what we do. I mean, let me remind you that
    there is--the people who did the World Trade Center bombing were
    arrested and tried. There was an intense effort after Oklahoma City to
    apprehend the suspect, and there's now going to be a criminal justice
    process working its course there. We have extradited suspected
    terrorists in the United States from all over the world. And I can tell
    you, perhaps even more importantly, we have succeeded in preventing
    planned terrorist incidents. And I have learned from working in the
    Middle East so intensely the last 3 years that in spite of all the
    horrible things we read about there, there are still more incidents that
    are planned that are prevented and averted than there are which are
    carried out.
        So I don't expect our words to have any impact on these people. But
    if our words are put into action, just as we did in the United States,
    for example, in passing the antiterrorism legislation, we will acquire
    greater capacity to prevent these incidents, and to catch and punish
    people severely when they do, and to tie them to their sponsors, if they
    have sponsors beyond their own little cells. And those are the three
    things that I want to do. So I don't expect them to be moved by my
    words. But they need to know that I'm going to do my best to put our
    words into action.

    Russia

        Q. Mr. President, if Boris Yeltsin is reelected on Wednesday, are
    you personally confident that he will continue on the path of reform in
    a second term? And are there specific steps you would urge him to take
    to confirm from the start that he intends to govern as a democrat and as
    a reformer?
        The President. Well, I do believe he will continue because that's
    the path that he's followed to date, first of all. And secondly, let me
    just say, everybody ought to take a deep breath next week and consider
    that you are literally observing something that has not happened in
    1,000 years of Russian history. Since what we now know of as modern
    Russia geographically united, this has never happened. They not only had
    one election, they are about to have another election which basically
    confirms their commitment to democracy. You remember President Aristide
    said the second election is the most important. So you're--in the
    context of Russia and all those affected by them, you're going to
    witness something when that election occurs that has never occurred in
    1,000 years.
        And I think that--President Yeltsin and I once had a talk, and I
    don't want to betray any private confidences, but he--if you go into the
    Kremlin and they have these statues of the great czar reformers, Peter
    the Great and Catherine the Great and Alexander, who freed the serfs,
    and Nicholas, who had the parliamentary government before the Russian
    Revolution--the difference between what they're doing now and what those
    other Russian reformers did, and the reason I think reform has a chance
    to survive now when it always failed before, is that the czars never
    created anything that was greater than they were.
        And the whole purpose of democracy is to make sure that none of us
    are indispensable. That's against my self-interest, since I'm facing an
    election, to say that. But if you think about it, the whole purpose of
    democracy is to create a system in which the people and the rules and
    laws under which they live are more important than any one individual.
    And the ultimate legacy of President Yeltsin and Prime Minister
    Chernomyrdin and all those who have been part of this is that they have
    for the first time in Russian history created something that is greater
    than any individual, that supersedes them. And I think they're quite
    mindful of that, and I think

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    that's one big reason they'll stay on the path of reform.
        I also think, on a purely human level, they know that there are
    still a lot of people in Russia having a tough time. And they want all
    the people in Russia to have the benefits that reform has brought to so
    many. They won't be satisfied until a lot of the people that won't vote
    for them this week--or next week--feel the benefits that so many feel
    today.

    Economic Growth and Job Creation

        Q. You and the other leaders gather at a time when Europe is facing
    near record unemployment levels. I wonder if you could tell me what
    specific actions you took here that will help that? And what actions did
    you take here that will help Americans who are having a tough time as
    well?
        The President. Well, actually, what we talked about here on that
    point was what the Europeans could do to create jobs when they have
    economic growth. The frustrating thing for a lot of the Europeans is not
    only that they've had slow growth but that even when they've had growth,
    they haven't necessarily been able to create jobs.
        And Prime Minister Major discussed that in some length, because
    Great Britain has of late had some pretty good success in bringing their
    unemployment rate down. And the highest job growth countries in the G-7
    are the United States and Canada, so we talked a lot about what we
    thought the relationship of low interest rates and no barriers to small
    business formation and expansion and affirmative help for small business
    could have. Because it's very interesting, even in all the European
    countries, most of their jobs are being created by small and medium-
    sized businesses, the same as in America. But there isn't the same
    almost obsession that exists in our country both to clear out barriers
    to small business formation and expansion and to take affirmative steps
    to accelerate it. So we talked a lot about that from their point of
    view.
        From our point of view, we talked a lot about how we could reduce
    the inequality and the wage stagnation that affects some of the people
    in the bottom half of the wage earners. And we talked about whether--the
    extent to which we could integrate into our systems some of the things
    that work in Europe and still keep our ability to create jobs. And
    that's what we're trying to do, for example, with the apprenticeship
    programs, the school-to-work programs, giving everybody access to 2 more
    years of schooling after high school, and trying to accelerate the rate
    at which we retrain the existing work force, and also trying to provide
    some more security in terms of access to movable retirement and health
    care benefits.
        What we're both trying to do, if you will, is to create dynamic
    economies in which we can generate jobs that are good jobs, but also
    give people who are working hard the necessary conditions and tools they
    need to build a stable life and a stable family life. So in that sense,
    the Europeans like a lot of the security that a lot of their working
    people have, but they want to be able to create more jobs. We like the
    fact that we create a lot of jobs, but we want our people to be able to
    live with all the upheavals of the modern economy. So we basically
    decided we needed to try to find how we could learn from one another.

    Russian General Aleksandr Lebed

        Q. I wonder what your reaction was to General Lebed's remarks about
    Jews and Mormons, and if you asked Prime Minister Chernomyrdin for an
    explanation, and what did he tell you?
        The President. Well, I had a very negative reaction to the remarks.
    We've been dealing with these church burnings in America, and I know how
    dangerous any kind of religious slur can be. So I had a very negative
    reaction to the remarks. I like some of the things I've seen from
    General Lebed; he's a very impressive fellow in many ways, but I didn't
    like that at all. And I said so to the Prime Minister.
        But I also noted that President Yeltsin has had a good record on
    issues relating to religious liberty. And he told me that he expected no
    change in the administration's positions, the Yeltsin administration's
    positions on religious liberty after this next election.

    Terrorism

        Q. Mr. President, in the aftermath of this tragedy in Saudi Arabia,
    a lot of commentators and some officials have said that one of the
    problems and frustrations is that experts end up fighting the last war,
    and that the next time, as you say, it comes in a little different--the
    bomb is bigger than you thought or whatever. To what degree is that a
    part of the General's mandate--is to look at, try to predict how the

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    next incident might come and steps that can be taken? And is that
    something that you and the leaders discussed as well?
        The President. Well, yes, although that's a lot of the work that the
    rest of our national security team will be doing, too, including making
    sure our intelligence networks are more attuned to that. I think it's
    fair to say that--if you remember, these things have sort of gone in
    waves, you know. We had this huge wave of terrorism in the eighties; it
    primarily involved something other than bombs, although we had that
    awful incident in Lebanon. And we just learn as we go along. And I'm
    sure that there will be times in the future when murderous forces
    outsmart those of us that are trying to stop them. But I believe we will
    learn something from this, and I believe we will be able to continue our
    mission.
        The main thing I'd like to say to you, though, is--and, yes, it will
    be part of General Downing's mandate, but it's also a big part of what
    the Secretary of Defense and the director of our intelligence operations
    and all our national security operations should be doing. The main thing
    I would like to say, though, is that for all those families of the
    people who were lost and all those who are still laid up in the hospital
    that were cut up so bad by the glass, we can't make all the problems of
    the world go away. And our generation's time is going to be increasingly
    occupied with dealing with the terrorists and the people who try to
    proliferate dangerous weapons--chemical, biological, small-scale nuclear
    weapons--the drug smugglers and others who try to kill people in this
    way. It's not the cold war, it's not World War II, but it's an important
    part of our struggle to make this a civilized and sane world. And we
    have to continue to do it. And I'm very proud of those people that
    served, and I grieve for those who died and their families.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President's 126th news conference began at 4:18 p.m. on the
    terrace at the Pavillon du Parc. In his remarks, he referred to Carl
    Bildt, United Nations High Commissioner for Bosnia; Bosnian Serb leader
    Radovan Karadzic; Adm. Leighton Smith, USN, Commander in Chief, Allied
    Forces Southern Europe; Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of Israel;
    Chairman Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Authority; Prime Minister
    Viktor Chernomyrdin and President Boris Yeltsin of Russia; former
    President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti; Prime Minister John Major of
    the United Kingdom; and retired Lt. Gen. Aleksandr Lebed, security
    adviser to President Yeltsin.