    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
    [June 12, 1999]
    [Pages 935-937]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the Illinois Air National Guard in Chicago
    June 12, 1999

        Thank you very much. General Keistler, General Rezac, General
    Austin, ladies and gentlemen, it's a great
    honor for me to be here today with the men and women of the 126th Air
    Refueling Wing and its supporting units, the 217th Engineering and
    Installation Squadron, the 264th Combat Communications Squadron, the
    566th Air Force Band, with all the families and friends.
        I know this is an emotional day for you. This has been a very
    important installation to the people of Chicago. And when I told
    Hillary what I was doing today, she
    was very jealous that she couldn't be here with me, but she's in
    California bringing our daughter home from
    school. Those of you who've had your children go off to school know
    that's a pretty big day. But I am profoundly honored to be here at your
    final coming together before the Wing goes to Scott Air Force Base and
    others go to Peoria and to Springfield.
        I wanted to come here more than anything else to thank you for your
    many years of service. I know the people of Chicago will miss you and
    that they, too, are especially grateful for their Chicago Air Guard. You
    have been a very important part of the life of this city, as well as the
    defense of your country. I know many of you must be relieved that the
    transition is almost over, not to have to make the umpteenth trip
    between here and Belleville. But I wanted to say that as difficult as it
    might be, this move, I believe, will work out well for all concerned. It
    will clearly be good for the economy of the city of Chicago, for the Air
    National Guard, and for our military because, as all of you know, in
    order to maintain the quality of life of our service personnel and to
    have adequate funds for modernization to keep our forces ready to defend
    freedom, we have to streamline our infrastructure.

    [[Page 936]]

        I wanted to come here to help mark this turning point for you,
    again, mostly to say thanks but especially to do so now, when you and
    other Air Guard members all across America have done so much to help our
    operation in Kosovo succeed. Thank you so much for a job very well done
    there. You should be proud of yourselves.
        I sometimes think the American people don't understand as much as
    they should about the role the Air Guard and our Reserve forces play in
    the defense of our country. You are an essential component in our total
    force. And in this case, once again America called on you, and you
    delivered.
        No one should be surprised. I think it is fitting to recall a little
    history at this last meeting. The 126th has risen to security challenges
    for generations. Your predecessor unit went to France in World War I and
    served with the American Expeditionary Force there. You provided vital
    air defense in World War II. You were the first Air Guard unit in
    America to take up the challenge of air refueling. You took to the skies
    in Desert Shield and Desert Storm. You supported our efforts for peace
    in Bosnia and contributed to humanitarian relief operations. For more
    than two decades you have had aircraft on full alert, ready to go
    anytime, anywhere, to provide refueling and airlift support. In
    Operation Allied Force, you did the job once again, readying these KC-
    135 Stratotankers, flying sortie after sortie, fueling NATO's efforts.
        Some of you may know that yesterday I went to Whiteman Air Force
    Base in Missouri to thank our B-2 pilots there. And all the B-2 pilots
    and their crews said repeatedly, ``We could never have done this if it
    hadn't been for the people who ran the refueling operations.'' So again
    I say, thank you, thank you, thank you.
        We prevailed in Operation Allied Force because of units like yours
    and the others in the United States military and those of our Allies.
    But I would like to say today to you what I said yesterday in Whiteman.
    In addition to your power, I appreciate the power of your example.
    Troops from all across our NATO nations speak different languages; from
    different ethnic and religious backgrounds they come; they stand side by
    side for a world of justice and tolerance. But especially the American
    military reflects the kaleidoscope of peoples, the races, the tribes,
    the ethnic groups, the religious convictions that are increasingly being
    brought into closer and closer contact in this world.
        Here in Chicago it is very important for me to say again, we have no
    quarrel with the Serbian people. They were our allies in World War II,
    and they fought bravely. And this country has been immensely enriched by
    the contributions of Serbian-Americans. I know and am very proud of the
    fact that in this very Wing you have ethnic Serbs and ethnic Albanians,
    some with relatives in Kosovo. You have people of Serbian and Albanian
    descent flying together, proving that we do find strength in our
    diversity and we come together for the common good. That should not only
    make us proud to be Americans, it should convince us that the same thing
    can and should happen in the Balkans, in the Middle East, in Northern
    Ireland, in South Asia, wherever today people still find themselves
    bedeviled by their hatred of one another because of their different
    races, because, in the case of Africa, their different tribes, because
    of their different ethnic groups, because of the different ways in which
    they worship God.
        I want you to think about that tonight and be especially proud. We
    want--we want--the people who live in the Balkans to be able to work
    together the way the people in this unit who come from the Balkans work
    together. We are all children of God, endowed with certain inalienable
    rights and entitled to mutual respect. And you do that, and I thank you
    for that.
        Thanks to you and others, today our NATO troops entered Kosovo, the
    British, the French, and the Americans beginning. Eventually, there will
    be troops from nearly 30 nations there. We are working now with the
    Russians to ensure that we can work together with a unified command
    structure, as we have done so well in Bosnia. I think this is important,
    because if we can work there with the Russians as we have in Bosnia, we
    will demonstrate clearly our commitment as Americans to protect all the
    civilians of Kosovo, the Serbs and the Albanians alike. That is what we
    have pledged to do; that is what we intend to do.
        But today in the camps in Albania and Macedonia, in the villages and
    in the hills of Kosovo where so many innocent people have had to hide
    and forage for food, among the Kosovar Albanians who have taken refuge
    elsewhere including here in the United States, people are getting ready
    to go home. They will go back

    [[Page 937]]

    to their homes and their lives with safety and self-government.
        And the United States will have stood for the proposition that we
    can't expect everyone to get along; we can't expect people never to
    fight; but we do expect that when we can stop it, innocent civilians
    will not be slaughtered, burned out of their homes, have their houses of
    worship blown up, have their personal records destroyed, have their
    children abused. We will not tolerate ethnic cleansing and killing. It
    should not be a part of the 21st century world, thanks to you.
        And so let me say just one last time, as you prepare to leave
    O'Hare, to retire or head for your new homes and duties, the whole world
    is grateful to you. You have ended this chapter in the history of your
    Wing and your units on a truly triumphant note. You have helped to end
    this century, which has seen so much bloodshed and hatred, not with a
    feeling of helpless indignation at yet another travesty but instead with
    a ringing reaffirmation of the dignity of all human beings. You did it.
    It's quite a way to close out your stay here.
        Thank you. God bless you, and God bless America.

    Note: The President spoke at 3:30 p.m. in Hangar 30 at Chicago O'Hare
    International Airport. In his remarks, he referred to Brig. Gen. Harold
    E. Keistler, USAF, Commander, 126th Air Refueling Wing; Brig. Gen. Frank
    D. Rezac, USAF, Commander, Illinois Air National Guard; and Maj. Gen.
    Richard G. Austin, Illinois National Guard, Adjutant General, State of
    Illinois.