    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
    [September 15, 1996]
    [Pages 1574-1575]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the Elections in Bosnia and an Exchange With Reporters
    September 15, 1996

        The President. Good morning. A year ago Bosnia was racked by the
    bloodiest war in Europe since World War II. Yesterday Bosnians went to
    the polls in peace to cast their votes for their future. The road ahead
    will be hard, but yesterday was a remarkable step forward. The Bosnian
    people, the international community, and the American people should be
    proud.
        Our observer delegation, led by Ambassador Richard Holbrooke,
    reports that the elections generally were orderly and calm. Close to 70
    percent of Bosnia's registered voters cast a ballot freely at one of
    4,400 polling places all across the country. And nearly 80 percent of
    the registered refugees abroad voted by absentee ballot.
        I want to thank IFOR, the international police task force, and the
    more than 1,200 international election monitors for helping so many
    Bosnians take part in these elections. By voting yesterday, the Bosnian
    people gave life to the institutions of national government: a
    presidency, a parliament, a constitutional court, key government
    agencies. These institutions can bring the country together instead of
    driving it apart. Now we have to get them up and running and help the
    Bosnian people in the hard work of building a unified, democratic, and
    peaceful Bosnia.
        Our commitment to Bosnia does not end with these elections. We will
    continue to do our part to hold Bosnia's leaders to their commitments
    and to turn the promise born 9 months ago at Dayton into a reality.
        Thank you.

    Iraq

        Q. Mr. President, there are reports that Iraq has fired more
    missiles at U.S. planes. Do you know if those reports are true, and if
    so, do you plan to respond?
        The President. I can't confirm that now.

    [[Page 1575]]

        Q. Mr. President, what do you say to criticism by House Speaker Newt
    Gingrich, especially in light of the confusion with the ground troops,
    U.S. ground troops, potentially going to Kuwait, now waiting? He says
    our policy over there makes no sense, that it's a typical muddle.
        The President. That's just election year talk by Mr. Gingrich.
        Q. Mr. President, is Kuwait at all delaying or not approving the
    deployment of U.S. ground troops?
        The President. No. We have no information to that effect. I think
    that what I would do is just let the orderly processes that are always
    followed in these kinds of cases go forward. I think that there is no
    problem here, based on what I know. I think that what happened was that
    the decision on the movements that we had made actually became public
    before we had done our regular consultation and the Kuwaitis had done
    their regular review. As far as I know, there is nothing irregular or
    troubling here.
        Q. Mr. President, what do you think of Senator Nunn saying that
    Saddam is stronger now, and are you all set to retaliate again if
    something happens?
        The President. Well, I believe that he's in better shape than he was
    the day after the Gulf war in 1991, but strategically I do not believe
    he is stronger because of the expansion of the no-fly zone. I think the
    expansion of the no-fly zone was designed to do one thing and one thing
    only: to increase our capacity to monitor and to limit his ability to
    threaten his neighbors in light of his increased aggressiveness. And I
    think that we will achieve that and I think we are achieving that and
    that was exactly what we set out to achieve.
        But he was not taken out of office in the Gulf war. He has managed
    to survive, and he is still in power. But the important thing for the
    United States is that he not be able to threaten his neighbors and to do
    what was done in 1991 in the Gulf war. We don't want to have to do that
    all over again, and that's what we're trying to avoid. And I believe we
    have taken an appropriate step to do that.
        Q. Is there a breakdown in communications between you and Capitol
    Hill? They act like they don't know what's going on.
        The President. Well, I can't comment on that. We've done our best to
    keep them very carefully informed, and I expect to have some personal
    consultations in the next few days, and we'll see about that. But I
    believe we did the right thing, and I think it was the appropriate
    course. And I will do everything I can to answer whatever questions any
    Member of Congress has.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:45 a.m. on the South Lawn at the White
    House, prior to his departure for Des Moines, IA. In his remarks, he
    referred to President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.