    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
    [December 22, 1997]
    [Pages 1817-1819]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the Troops in Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina
    December 22, 1997

        The President. Thank you for your laid-back welcome. [Laughter]
    Thank you, General Ellis. Ladies and gentlemen, I have come here with a
    great delegation of Americans, including the Secretary of State, the
    Secretary of the Army, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the
    Supreme Allied Commander in Europe; many other distinguished military
    officials and officials from the White House; and a truly astonishing
    delegation from Congress, of both Democrats and Republicans together.
        We have Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska; Senator Joe Biden of
    Delaware; Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut; Senator Dan Coats of
    Indiana; Representative John Kasich of Ohio; Representative Jack Murtha
    of Pennsylvania; Representative Ike Skelton of Missouri; Representative
    Elijah Cummings of Maryland; Representative Mac Collins of Georgia--
    anybody from Georgia? [Cheers] Representative John Boehner of Ohio; and
    Representative Steve Buyer of Indiana--anybody here from Indiana?
    [Cheers] I'm proud of all of them.
        And let me say, we came here for two reasons today. We came here,
    first of all, to say thank you to all of you, to say what you are doing
    for your country is a good and noble thing. You are doing it well, and
    we are grateful. We know it's tough to be away from home at Christmas
    time. We know it's hard to be away from your families. But you are doing
    something profoundly important.
        The second reason we came here was so that we could go to Sarajevo
    and see the leaders of the Muslims, the Croatians, and the Serbs, and
    tell them that they made an agreement at Dayton that we are doing our
    dead-level best to help them enforce, and they promised that they would
    live and work together and build one country without ethnic prejudice or
    unfairness to any group; that we would not only end a war, that they
    would build a peace together; and that we in the United States were
    determined not only to do our part but we expected them to do theirs.
    And these good people in Bosnia, these little children, who have
    suffered so much, they deserve leaders who honor the commitments they
    made at Dayton and build a better, brighter future.
        And we wanted to do that with one voice, without regard to party. So
    I want to say a special word of thanks to Senator Bob Dole and Mrs.
    Elizabeth Dole for coming. And I would like to give--Senators talk like
    this all the time; I don't quite know how to do it, but I think this is
    called yielding a portion of my time. I'd like for Bob Dole to come up
    here and say a few words.

    [At this point, former Senator Bob Dole made brief remarks.]

        The President. Thank you, Senator Dole. Thank you for not reading my
    speech. [Laughter] I like the one you gave.
        Let me first of all say that I'm delighted to be here with the Iron
    Soldiers of the 1st Armored Division, with the 2d Armored Calvary and
    all of the other units of Task Force Eagle. But I also want the people
    back home to know, through our friends in the press who are here, that
    there are a lot of National Guardsmen and Reservists here. And I thank
    all of you.
        Now, Hillary and I, along with the phone time that you all get--I
    hope you enjoy that hour on the telephone. I know you're all sitting
    there thinking, ``Am I going to use it all at one time or am I going to
    divide it up? Am I going to call four people or just one?'' Decisions,
    decisions!
        We were able to bring some school supplies over here with us, some
    toys as well. And I know you're going to be able to distribute those to
    children here who are needy and deserving. I want to thank especially
    Lieutenant Colonel Mark Little, who started the program to take care of
    these children who have been so hurt

    [[Page 1818]]

    in this war and who's given thousands of Americans the chance to serve
    through it.
        A few moments ago we gave some of those presents to some Bosnian
    children, and I wish all of you could have been there with me. I wish
    all of you could have been with Hillary and Chelsea and me earlier today
    when we sat around a table in a coffee shop in Sarajevo and talked to a
    dozen young people, Muslims, Serbs, Croats, all from Bosnia. And I said,
    ``You know, I'm going to see our soldiers today, and if we could do one
    more thing for your country, what would you like us to do?'' And every
    one of them, it was like a chorus, they said, ``Stay. Stay just a little
    longer. We can't--we're not ready yet, but the young people want peace.
    We don't understand why we're supposed to hate each other. We don't want
    that kind of future. Please stay.''
        And then we walked outside this coffee shop in Sarajevo, and there
    were three American soldiers, who happened to be from Virginia across
    the street, standing in front of a church. And Hillary and Chelsea went
    over there, and I got out, and I went over and shook hands with them.
    And they said, ``We are really proud to be here because we are doing a
    good thing.'' You are doing a good thing, and I hope you are proud to be
    here. America is proud of you.
        I also want to tell you that I have enjoyed sort of sampling your
    life, walking in the mud--[laughter]--imagining what it would be like to
    spend 6 months in those beautiful tents. [Laughter] I like those Kevlar
    seats in the Humvee. [Laughter] I have heard all about the wonderful
    cuisine. We're going to have dinner, and who knows, maybe I'll even get
    near-beer and vegetable lasagna. [Laughter]
        We're having a good time, and we're all cheering. But I want you to
    be serious with me just for a minute. And when you go to bed tonight,
    and you wonder what you're doing here, I want you to think about this.
    These people, for nearly 4 years in this country, fought the bloodiest
    war in Europe since the end of World War II; massive numbers of people
    displaced from their homes, huge number of children made orphans, lots
    of young people walking around without limbs, horrible things happened
    to people. And because of what you and our other allies did--our NATO
    allies and our allies from Russia, from Poland, from other non-NATO
    countries--you know that the country has stayed on the path of peace
    instead of going back into bloodshed. Without you, that would not have
    happened. Without you, the warring parties never would have disengaged,
    and more than--listen to this--more than 370,000 of them were combatant
    troops. They've gone back to civilian life now. Without you, there would
    still be mortars and cannons firing. Now, more than 6,500 heavy weapons
    have been destroyed and the rest put under international supervision.
    Because of you, free and fair elections have been held. There is freedom
    of movement; police reform has begun. A lot of the airwaves now are
    filled with information instead of vicious, partisan hatred.
        Bosnia is no longer the powder keg at the heart of Europe because of
    you. And I cannot thank you enough. Your children and your grandchildren
    will look back on this moment and know that you have done something not
    only of surpassing importance but something that is profoundly good.
        We gave you a mission, and you delivered. So when you go to bed
    tonight, thank God that you were given the chance to do something like
    this. A lot of people live their whole lives and never ever, ever are
    able to give something so profoundly important to others as the gift you
    have given to the children of Bosnia. Thank you, and God bless you for
    it.
        Let me also say that even though this has been a remarkably
    nonviolent mission, it has not been free of risks. I was thinking today
    coming here to Tuzla that in August a couple of years ago, when we were
    working on the peace process, we lost three remarkable people, Bob
    Frasure, Joe Kruzel, and Nelson Drew, who were part of our team trying
    to make a peace agreement. And their vehicle crumbled on a weak road,
    and they were killed in a horrible accident. We had a couple of other
    accidents on the road. We lost one soldier who was killed when he walked
    over to a mine and just kneeled down and started dealing with it.
        But the most important thing I was thinking about today, from a
    purely personal point of view, is that it wasn't so very long ago that
    my good friend, the Secretary of Commerce, Ron Brown, was here in Tuzla.
    He spent the last day of his life here before his plane crashed. And I
    want to tell you, I've seen the pictures. He had a very happy last day
    because he was here with the men and women of the United States Armed
    Forces, glorying in and participating in this mission.

    [[Page 1819]]

        I also want to say to you that in spite of all you have done, I
    think it is imperative that we not stop until the peace here has a life
    of its own, until it can endure without us. We have worked too hard to
    let this go.
        I thank the Members of Congress from both parties who have come here
    out of concern for you and your work. I want to say a special work of
    thanks again to Senator Dole. He said something to me on the phone the
    other day; he says so many things that are funny and pithy that if I
    start stealing his lines without attribution, I'll get in trouble. So I
    want to tell you--he said this to me. We were talking about Bosnia, and
    he said, ``Look, it's worked.'' He said, ``I didn't necessarily agree
    with everything you did, but on the whole this thing has worked. And
    this is like being in a football game, and we're ahead. It's the fourth
    quarter. Who wants to walk off the field and forfeit the game? We ought
    to stay here, finish the game, and take home the win for the world and
    for freedom.'' And that's exactly what I intend to do, thanks to what
    you have proven that America can stand for and that we can accomplish.
    And again I say, thank you very, very much.
        One other thing, just for my information. How many of you here are
    on your second tour here? [Cheers] I met a young man today; I said,
    ``How long have you been in the Army?'' He said, ``I've been in the Army
    5 years.'' And he said, ``The last time I saw you, I was in Haiti.'' He
    said in 5 years he's done two tours in Haiti and one tour in Bosnia.
    Just sort of laying around, you know. [Laughter]
        I don't think many Americans understand exactly how deep the burdens
    are on our men and women in uniform today. Because we have downsized the
    military in the aftermath of the cold war, when we take on these
    responsibilities, it is very hard for a lot of people. We rotate these
    missions a little more rapidly than we would like to. We draw out
    Reservists and Guardsmen more often than we would like to. But you have
    always done what you were asked to do. And you have always delivered for
    America.
        So on this Christmas season I ask the American people, who will see
    this on television tonight or tomorrow, to remember what we owe to the
    soldiers, the sailors, the airmen, the marines of the Armed Forces at
    home and around the world, in the Persian Gulf, on the DMZ in Korea,
    here in Bosnia. Our Nation is at peace and our people are secure because
    of you. Our country can grow stronger and more prosperous. Our people
    can live out their dreams. Our children can sleep well because of you.
    Your sacrifice makes this possible.
        I think that one of the things that you may wonder is whether people
    back home know you're here and appreciate what you're doing. Since
    you've done it so well, there aren't any visible problems, and you make
    it look easy.
        I got a fascinating letter the other day from the mother of a
    soldier stationed in Camp Eagle, Specialist Christina Campbell. And the
    mother said, ``So as you get busy spreading holiday cheer, don't forget
    the peacekeepers and those they hold dear.'' And Specialist Campbell
    actually wrote a poem. So I want to tell you, I took just a little bit
    out of it, because I want you to know that at this Christmas you are in
    the hearts of the American people. And her words are your words. Listen
    to these; she says, ``No, this is not our soil, and it's not our own
    fight. But if you've seen what I have, then you know that it's right.''
        God bless you all, and God bless America.

    Note: The President spoke at 5:30 p.m. at Club 21. In his remarks, he
    referred to Maj. Gen. Larry R. Ellis, USA, commander, 1st Armored
    Division.