    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
    [July 11, 1997]
    [Pages 947-950]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 947]]

    Excerpts From an Exchange With Reporters Aboard Air Force One
    July 11, 1997

    Visit to Romania

    [The President's remarks are joined in progress.]

        The President. ----but also, what if anything can be learned.
        Q. When you looked down on that crowd, is it the same feeling you
    had in Ireland? Was it the same feeling you had in Ireland? Is it
    different?
        The President. No, different but wonderful. In Ireland it was--you
    know, my feeling there was about what was then a very much alive peace
    process, involving the people from whence I came, and all the hope of
    peace between two warring factions. You know, what I saw today was
    different, which is, this was the country which in the end of the
    Communist era was the most depressed. I mean, they never went through
    anything like Stalin's purges where he killed millions, but at the end
    of the Communist era, they were the most depressed. And to see the
    passion they have for their freedom and the way they honor the people
    who stood up for it in that square and the feeling they have about
    America, even though they know quite well that it was our judgment that
    they shouldn't come into the first tranche of NATO, I mean, it was
    overwhelming.
        And you know, these people, too--keep in mind, it's not like Poland,
    where Poland was--and I'm not denigrating--but Poland is now the success
    story of the former Communist countries. And 3 years ago, we didn't do a
    public event in Poland; I don't know how many people would have been
    there. I can't say. But the point is, Romania is now where Poland was 3
    years ago, maybe even longer, economically. They're still getting--what
    I said in my speech today--they're still going through the painful
    transition, the growing pains of going through a market economy where
    their economy is not growing. And they still came out to say, you know--
    that was an enormous expression of national conviction and self-
    confidence. I mean, they were confident. You know, those people, you
    don't--100,000 people don't show up and stand in the sun unless they
    believe in what they're doing, unless they believe in themselves and
    their future and they believe they can keep going and they can weather
    this storm.
        You know, it was an extraordinary thing to see people who are having
    those kinds of economic difficulties believing they can come out of
    them, having no doubt that they can be full partners in the Western
    alliance, showing--they're also--I think Romania deserves a lot of
    credit. I mean, it is a Balkan country, and they just basically made a
    deal with the Hungarians and put them in the government to solve their
    border disputes, their problems with Ukraine and Hungary, which required
    enormous self-restraint, you know, because a lot of what is now in
    Moldova--Moldavia--and Ukraine was once a part of Romania. This is a
    country that has really, in a matter of months, just blossomed and is
    thinking about itself in terms of the future in ways that, of course,
    you know, I believe everybody said--so I'm thrilled.
        Q. That's policy. But on a personal level, do you ever get used to
    100,000 people hearing you?
        The President. No. I mean, personally, what I thought there--that
    this was--the three biggest crowds I believe I've had since I've been
    President, I believe--we were just talking about it--were this one,
    Dublin, and Berlin. There were probably 100,000 people when I was the
    first President to speak on the east side of the Brandenburg Gate. Of
    course, in Dublin and here, I'm much more involved in the events. There,
    I was going to ratify what others had done, in effect, what the Germans
    and others had done. But in each case, to me--on a personal basis, I
    thought, this is not me, this is the United States. This is what people
    think of America, and this is a tribute to what we have stood for, what
    we have worked for. And the other thing I thought was, this is an
    enormous responsibility. No other country could draw this sort of
    response at this moment in time.

    [At this point, a portion of the exchange was omitted from the
    transcript.]

    ``Mars Pathfinder'' Spacecraft

        The President. I just had to keep watching. No, right after the
    landing and they brought me the first pictures, color pictures of the
    vehicle there, still in sort of its thing, it was just

    [[Page 948]]

    exhilarating. And now, you know, everywhere I am I turn on--and last
    night I was dying to go to sleep, and there was this Polish language--
    well, I mean the Polish was sort of dubbed over the English and all the
    pictures, and I couldn't hear the English. I couldn't turn it off. I
    could not turn it off. I just had to keep watching it.
        Q. It's making more headlines than the trip, sir.
        The President. It's just thrilling, isn't it?
        Q. But it did make history in press relations. It's the first time a
    President of the United States has been asked, ``What do you hear from
    Mars?'' and actually answered the question. [Laughter]
        The President. I know it.
        Q. Well, John Glenn wants to go.
        The President. Yes, I think it would be a great thing. And I do
    think the argument that he could be helpful in analyzing not only the
    effects of space travel on a normal person but also what, if anything,
    could be learned about weightlessness and that sustained experience that
    might help us back home to deal with the increasing health challenges of
    our aging population, I think all that's really important.
        Q. It could be ironic because it was President Kennedy's order----

    [A portion of the exchange was omitted from the transcript.]

    Prime Minister Jean Chretien of Canada

        Q. [Inaudible]--Mr. Chretien. [Laughter]
        The President. Yes. You know, look, first of all, he is a superior
    human being; he is a very fine man. And he's a great leader, and he has
    been a fabulous ally of ours in Bosnia, in Haiti where they're carrying
    most of the load now, in many different ways. And we have no more strong
    ally. You know, this is just not going to bother me. I'm just not going
    to let this be static on our radar screen. We can't afford to do it.
    There's too much between our two countries. That's the most important
    thing. And there's too much between us personally. You've got to blow
    something like that off.
        Q. Is it a basic rule of politics that you should always assume
    microphones are on?
        The President. Yes. But you know, you remember when that happened to
    President Reagan when he was doing the radio address?
        Q. ``We start bombing in 10 minutes''?
        The President. It's happened to me before. It happened to me in '92,
    do you remember?
        Q. Yes--Jesse Jackson.
        The President. I had a particularly embarrassing incident in '92. It
    happened to other people in the primary in '92 were with me. If you do
    this business long enough and you operate under enough pressure and you
    have enough short nights where you don't get enough sleep, you're going
    to say something to somebody you wish you hadn't said that will wind up
    being a public statement. If you do it long enough, it's going to happen
    to everybody. And it's just not a big deal to me. He's a terrific human
    being and a great leader, and they're our great ally.
        Q. But you are going to beat him on the golf course?
        The President. Yes, I will try to get even on the golf course. The
    last time--the last two times I've played with him, I didn't play very
    well, and I haven't beat him like I should. So I'm going to try to do
    better next time.

    [A portion of the exchange was omitted from the transcript.]

    Assassination Investigations

        Q. [Inaudible]--instruct them how we can--[inaudible]?
        The President. First of all, I'm very interested in this, but I
    literally know nothing about it. All I know is what you said to me in
    your question. So I need to get back and really study it because
    obviously I'm very interested in it, not only from a forensic point of
    view but just because the assassination of Martin Luther King was one of
    the most traumatic events of my youth. I remember it like it was
    yesterday--April 4, 1968.
        Q. Do you think Oswald killed Kennedy?
        The President. Yes.
        Q. You've read the report, and you believe it?
        The President. I'm satisfied that they did a pretty good job on
    that. They did a good job. I think they----
        Q. Why do you think Ruby killed Oswald? Why do you think Ruby then
    killed Oswald? Did they want to shut him up?
        The President. I don't know.

    [A portion of the exchange was omitted from the transcript.]

    [[Page 949]]

    Bosnia

        Q. Mr. President, can I ask--[inaudible]?
        The President. No, no--the statement we put out is the truth. There
    were sealed indictments; these guys were indicted. And they were within
    the SFOR mandate; that is, they were in regular contact with SFOR
    soldiers. And so they almost--in the British sector they felt they had
    an obligation to try to apprehend them because they were in regular
    contact with them. And we agreed to help because of the need, because
    there were--you know, because there could be problems and we had to get
    them out and get them to The Hague as soon as possible.
        Q. Mr. President, I think we're trying to figure out is whether it's
    that circumstance or a conscious decision to change--[inaudible].
        The President. Well, if you look at the statement, I don't think
    that's so much--let me say, if you look at the statement made by the
    foreign ministers at Sintra and if you look at the statement that came
    out of the Group of Eight and the NATO meeting itself, the statement we
    issued, we basically believe that we have to make an effort to save the
    Dayton process.
        And there are lots of elements in the Dayton process. This one
    obviously is, at the moment, the most compelling, especially since
    unfortunately the man fired on the troops and therefore was killed. But
    if you go back over this, there are several elements to Dayton. There's
    what we now call SFOR and its predecessor. There's local police, train
    local police. There's municipal elections. There's setting up the shared
    institutions. There's the arms controls provisions. There's the
    infrastructure. And then there's the economic development. I think
    that's all--there are basically eight separate elements. And what we
    admitted to ourselves--and one of the most interesting things at the
    Group of Eight was that because SFOR was keeping anything bad from
    happening, if you will, there was too much focus being given to what
    happens in June of '88 and too little focus being given to each of these
    other elements.
        So I think it would be a fair conclusion for you to draw that we
    made a commitment in each of these places--the Sintra meeting, the NATO
    meeting, the G-8--that every element should be given greater attention.
        We also got a new guy in there on the civilian side, Westendorp, and
    with a very aggressive American aide named Klein we think a lot of; he
    did a good job in Eastern Slavonia. And we have a very competent NATO
    Secretary General in Solana. And we're about--and a commander, George
    Joulwan, who's been great, is about to leave and be replaced by Wes
    Clark, who was our military man when Dayton was negotiated.
        Q. Are you going to talk--[inaudible]?
        The President. He's doing what he should be doing. He is----
        Q. [Inaudible]--General Joulwan?
        The President. Yes, I know. He wants to retire.
        Q. You can't talk him--did you try?
        The President. No, I don't discuss that.
        Q. I'm sorry. All right.
        The President. But he is fabulous.
        Press Secretary Mike McCurry. We've got to go.
        Q. But wait, he didn't tell us what he thinks of the Berger----
        Q. It is not a change in the mission. It is a determination to
    execute it more forcefully and more----
        The President. It would be fair for you to conclude that we have
    decided we should try to save Dayton, and to save Dayton, all the
    elements had to be implemented. And that it's too easy for everybody
    involved to lean on SFOR as a crutch. But it also would be wrong to
    conclude that there was a decision to basically totally reform the
    mission. This was clearly within the mission.
        Q. [Inaudible]
        The President. That's right. Properly read, this was plainly within
    our mission.
        Q. Right.
        Q. Are they under indictments?
        The President. Yes. Yes, they are.

    Note: The President spoke at approximately 8:35 p.m. aboard Air Force
    One en route to Copenhagen, Denmark. In his remarks, he referred to
    Senator John Glenn, a former astronaut; Bosnian Serb war crimes suspects
    Milan Kovacevic, who was apprehended, and Simo Drljaca, who was killed
    after firing on peacekeeping forces; Carlos Westendorp, High
    Representative, and Jacques Klein, Principal Deputy High Representative,
    for Implementation of the Peace Agreement on Bosnia and Herzegovina;
    NATO Secretary General Javier Solana; and Gen. George A. Joulwan, USA,

    [[Page 950]]

    and Gen. Wesley K. Clark, USA, outgoing and incoming Supreme Allied
    Commanders, Europe, respectively. A tape was not available for
    verification of the content of this exchange.