    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
    [April 4, 1997]
    [Pages 387-389]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Calling for the Ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention
    and an Exchange With Reporters
    April 4, 1997

        The President. Thank you. Thank you very much, Senator Boren, for
    your words and your presence here today. We were laughing before we came
    out here. Senator Boren and I started our careers in politics in 1974
    together, but he found a presidency that is not term-limited--
    [laughter]--and I want to congratulate him on it.
        Mr. Vice President, Secretary Albright, Secretary Cohen, Secretary
    Baker, Senator Nancy Kassebaum Baker, General Shalikashvili. Let me
    thank all of you who have spoken here today for the words you have said,
    for you have said it all. And let me thank all of you who have come here
    to be a part of this audience today to send a clear, unambiguous, united
    message to America and to our Senate.
        I thank General Colin Powell and Senator Warren Rudman, former arms
    negotiators Paul Nitze, Edward Rowny, and Ken Adelman; so many of the
    Congressmen who have supported us, including Senator Biden and Senator
    Levin who are here; the truly distinguished array of military leaders,
    leaders of businesses, religious organizations, human rights groups,
    scientists, and arms control experts.
        Secretary Baker made, I thought, a very telling point, which others
    made as well. This is, in the beginning, a question of whether we will
    continue to make America's leadership strong and sure as we chart our
    course in a new time. We have to do that, and we can only do that if we
    rise to the challenge of ratifying the Chemical Weapons Convention.
        We are closing a 20th century which gives us an opportunity now to
    forge a widening international commitment to banish poison gas from the
    Earth in the 21st century. This is a simple issue at bottom, even though
    the details are somewhat complex. Presidents and legislators from both
    parties, military leaders, and arms control experts have bound together
    in common cause because this is simply good for the future of every
    American.
        I received two powerful letters recently, calling for ratification.
    One has already been mentioned that I received from Senator Nancy
    Kassebaum Baker, Senator Boren, and former National Security Adviser
    General Brent Scowcroft. The other came from General Powell, General
    Jones, General Vessey, General Schwarzkopf, and more than a dozen other
    retired generals and admirals, all of them saying as one: America needs
    to ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention, and we must do it before it
    takes effect on April 29th.
        Of course, the treaty is not a panacea. No arms control treaty can
    be absolutely perfect, and none can end the need for vigilance. But no
    nation acting alone can protect itself from

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    the threat posed by chemical weapons. Trying to stop their spread by
    ourselves would be like trying to stop the wind that helps carry their
    poison to its target. We must have an international solution to a global
    problem.
        The convention provides clear and overwhelming benefits for our
    people. Under a law Congress passed in the 1980's, we were already
    destroying almost all our chemical weapons. The convention requires
    other nations to follow our lead, to eliminate their arsenals of poison
    gas and to give up developing, producing, and acquiring such weapons in
    the future. By ratifying the Chemical Weapons Convention, as Secretary
    Cohen said, we can help to shield our soldiers from one of the
    battlefield's deadliest killers. We can give our children something our
    parents and grandparents never had, broad protection against the threat
    of chemical attack. And we can bolster our leadership in the fight
    against terrorism of proliferation all around the world.
        If the Senate fails to ratify the convention before it enters into
    force, our national security and, I might add, our economic security
    will suffer. We will be denied use of the treaty's tools against rogue
    states and terrorists. We will lose the chance to help to enforce the
    rules we helped to write or to have Americans serve as international
    inspectors, something that is especially important for those who have
    raised concerns about the inspection provisions of the treaty.
        Ironically, if we are outside this agreement rather than inside, it
    is our chemical companies, our leading exporters, which will face
    mandatory trade restrictions that could cost them hundreds of millions
    of dollars in sales. In short order, America will go from leading the
    world to joining the company of pariah nations that the Chemical Weapons
    Convention seeks to isolate. We cannot allow this to happen.
        The time has come to pass this treaty, as 70 other nations already
    have done. Since I sent the Chemical Weapons Convention to the Senate
    3\1/2\ years ago, there have been more than a dozen hearings, more than
    1,500 pages of testimony and reports. During the last 3 months, we have
    worked very closely with Senate leaders to go the extra mile to resolve
    remaining questions and areas of concern. I want to thank those in the
    Senate who have worked with us for their leadership and for their good-
    faith efforts.
        Ratifying the Chemical Weapons Convention, again I say, is important
    both for what it does and for what it says. It says America is committed
    to protecting our troops, to fighting terror, to stopping the spread of
    weapons of mass destruction, to setting and enforcing standards for
    international behavior, and to leading the world in meeting the
    challenges of the 21st century. I urge the Senate to act in the highest
    traditions of bipartisanship and in the deepest of our national
    interest.
        And let me again say, the words that I have spoken today are nothing
    compared to the presence, to the careers, to the experience, to the
    judgment, to the patriotism of Republicans and Democrats alike and the
    military leaders who have gathered here and who all across this country
    have lent their support to this monumentally important effort. We must
    not fail. We have a lot of work to do, but I leave here today with
    renewed confidence that together we can get the job done.
        Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

    [At this point, the President greeted the guests and later took
    questions from reporters.]

        Q. What about King Hussein--that the very terrorists who Secretary
    Cohen was talking about are the ones who are most likely to get hold of
    these weapons and who really are not going to be prohibited by this
    treaty?
        The President. But this will require--I have two responses. Number
    one, this will require other countries to do what we're already doing
    and destroy their stockpiles, so there won't be as much for them to get
    ahold of. Number two, it will make it much more difficult for the
    component parts that make bigger--are used to make chemical weapons to
    get into the hands of terrorists, because we'll have much stricter
    controls on them. So those are the two answers there. That's why all
    these people are for this.
        Q. They really are the people, though, who can get these without
    being regulated. I mean, you know----
        The President. Yes, but as Madeleine Albright said, that's the
    argument you make against drug trafficking. In other words, criminals
    will always make an effort to evade the law; that's what they do. But if
    you have--if you destroy the chemical stockpiles, and you make it more
    difficult for the agents to make the chemical weapons to get into the
    hands of terrorists, you have

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    dramatically improved the security of the world. Yes, there will still
    be people who will try to do it. Yes, there will still be people in home
    laboratories who can make dangerous things. This does not solve every
    problem in the world, but it will make the world much safer.
        Q. Why do you think you had to do this today? Why did you have to
    come out and do it today?
        The President. Because we're going to have to work like crazy to
    pass the thing.
        Q. You don't have the votes right now?
        The President. No, but we'll get there. I don't know yet, but we'll
    get there. I feel very much better because of this broad bipartisan
    support, but I've been working with Senator Lott since the first of the
    year on this. He knows how important it is to me, and he's dealt with us
    in good faith. And we've worked with Senator Helms. We've worked with
    everybody, and we agreed that we would start the highly public, visible
    part of this campaign at about this time. So we're getting after it.
    We've got a month to deliver. We're going to try to do it.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:01 a.m. on the South Lawn at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to former Senator David L. Boren,
    president, University of Oklahoma; and retired generals Colin L. Powell,
    David C. Jones, and John W. Vessey, Jr., former Chairmen, Joint Chiefs
    of Staff, and H. Norman Schwarzkopf, former Commander in Chief, U.S.
    Central Command. The exchange portion of this item could not be verified
    because the tape was incomplete.