[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
[March 12, 1996]
[Pages 435-436]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Exchange With Reporters Prior to Discussions With King Hussein of Jordan 
Aboard Air Force One
March 12, 1996

President's Health

    Q. How's your cold?
    The President. It's okay. Like I said, Hillary had a cough and then 
Chelsea was sick and I sort of got it. It'll be gone in a day or two. 
It's just a head cold, it's not any big deal--just from the neck up.
    Q. Does it bother your ears?
    The President. No.

Air Force One

    Q. You know--[inaudible]--is a certified pilot of this aircraft.
    The President. Right. Well, he was up there on takeoff. I don't know 
if he lifted us off or not.
    King Hussein. I watched and was very impressed by the wonderful, 
professional team up there.

Middle East Peace Process

    Q. What are you guys going to talk about?
    The President. A lot of--[inaudible].
    Q. Any surprises coming out of this summit, Mr. President? What do 
you expect?
    The President. I don't know. I think a very strong statement will 
come out of it and that we may have some pretty good ideas come out of 
it for what we can all do together. I hope so. But I thank His Majesty 
for standing up for the right thing in the Middle East and helping to 
get so many other countries involved in this. He's got quite a 
remarkable array of people actually coming together on short notice.

[[Page 436]]

    Q. What would make the meeting a success?
    The President. Well, I think a strong united stand for keeping the 
peace process going and standing against the terror as a precondition of 
that, because unless people are secure they can't go forward. I think 
that's the most important thing. And then, obviously, we want to come 
out with some more concrete steps. We've taken some already; we intend 
to take some more.
    Q. Anything on Iran?
    The President. Well, wait a minute, we've got to have the meeting. 
We haven't had the meeting yet.
    Q. What about Syria? What about the lack of Syrians present?
    The President. Well, I wish they were there, the Syrians. I wish 
they were there. But I believe that in terms of continuing the peace 
process and keeping commitments, that President Asad will do that. And 
that's very important, very important.
    I hope you all get some sleep.
    Q. You, too.
    The President. It's 10 minutes after 10 Egyptian time--[laughter]--
so watch a movie and go to bed. It's real important. You're going to 
have a hard day tomorrow.

Note: The exchange began at 10 p.m. In his remarks, the President 
referred to President Hafiz al-Asad of Syria. A tape was not available 
for verification of the content of this exchange.