    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
    [June 10, 1999]
    [Pages 909-912]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the Military Technical Agreement on Kosovo and an Exchange
    With Reporters
    June 10, 1999

        The President. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I have just
    spoken with NATO Secretary General Solana,
    who, as you know, has determined that the Serb forces have begun their

    [[Page 910]]

    withdrawal from Kosovo, an essential step toward meeting NATO's
    conditions and restoring peace.
        Accordingly, NATO has suspended its air campaign against Serbia. An
    International Security Force, including American troops, is preparing to
    enter Kosovo. I will address the Nation this evening, but I would like
    to make a few points now.
        We and our Allies launched our campaign in the face of Serbia's
    brutal, systematic effort to remove Kosovars, ethnic Albanians, from
    their land, dead or alive. From the beginning, we had three clear
    objectives: the withdrawal of Serb forces, the deployment of an
    international security force with NATO at the core, the return of the
    Kosovars to their home to live in security and self-government. Serbia
    now has accepted these conditions, and the process of implementing them
    is underway.
        The Kosovars have been victims of terrible atrocities. Their only
    hope was that the world would not turn away in the face of ethnic
    cleansing and killing, that the world would take a stand. We did, for 78
    days. Because we did, the Kosovars will go home.
        Our policy was designed to achieve our objectives in Kosovo and to
    do so in a way that advanced other important interests:
        First, to prevent the violence from spreading to other nations in
    southeastern Europe and undermining the progress they have made toward
    deeper democracy, greater ethnic and religious tolerance, and broader
    prosperity. They felt the greatest strain, but they never wavered. And I
    thank them for that.
        Second, to achieve our aims as an alliance, 19 democratic nations,
    with 780 million people, working together in the first sustained
    military operation in NATO's history, the Alliance did stay together. It
    is now stronger and more united than ever. And I thank my fellow leaders
    in the Alliance for their fidelity and their fortitude.
        Third, to act in a manner that would strengthen, not weaken, our
    vital relations with a democratic Russia. Russia played an important
    role in achieving this peace, and we hope that, as in Bosnia, it will
    join us in securing the peace.
        There are so many people to thank: first, Secretary General
    Solana and General Clark, who were steadfast and effective, our NATO Allies--I have
    spoken already with Prime Minister Blair and have
    calls out to many others. I hope to speak at least to President
    Chirac, Chancellor Schroeder, Prime Minister D'Alema,
    Prime Minister Chretien, Mr. Kok, Mr. Aznar, and many others.
    They were all--all 19 held together so well.
        I want to thank President Ahtisaari and
    Mr. Chernomyrdin for their diplomatic
    mission, which played a critical role in this. I want to thank President
    Yeltsin for his strong instructions to his
    team to resolve these matters so that we can go forward.
        I want to thank our allies in Congress in both Houses and both
    parties for believing in America's mission in Kosovo. I want to thank
    our team very much, those who are not here: the Vice President, who played a large role in putting together the
    Chernomyrdin-Ahtisaari team; Secretary Albright, whose passionate commitment to this cause is well-known;
    and Deputy Secretary Talbott, who was pivotal
    in the diplomatic efforts. I want to thank Secretary Cohen and General Shelton,
    who persevered with great confidence and calmness amidst criticisms and
    the early rough going to achieve the victory that they have achieved.
        And I want to say a special word of thanks to Mr. Berger, who has barely slept for the last 3 months and who
    has done a superb job. He and Mr. Podesta
    and Mr. Steinberg, our entire national
    security team has done a very, very good job.
        And finally, let me say I am enormously proud of our men and women
    in uniform, and those of our Allies, who have performed with tremendous
    skill and courage, striking at Serbia's military machine and aiding the
    refugees. I am profoundly grateful for what they have done. I am very
    grateful that the loss of life was limited to the tragedies in the two
    training incidents and that we only lost two planes in the combat
    operation.
        And I am grateful to the American citizens, who felt enormous
    compassion for the suffering of the people in Kosovo and understood the
    importance of standing up to the war crimes involved in ethnic cleansing
    and killing, and the kind of ethnic and religious bigotry and violence
    we have seen against innocent civilians.
        Now we are waiting for the United Nations to pass a resolution that
    the G-8 nations have embraced. We expect the Security Council to adopt
    it shortly.
        We must be mindful that even though we now have a chance to replace
    violence with

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    peace, ethnic and religious hatred with a democratic future, a bloody
    century in Europe with a Europe undivided, democratic, and at peace,
    there is still quite a lot to be done:
        First, we have to make sure that the Serbs keep their commitments.
    That means the forces must rapidly and peacefully leave Kosovo under the
    agreed timetable, 11 days from yesterday. NATO's air campaign is
    suspended. It is not formally terminated, and Secretary General
    Solana retains the authority to resume strikes
    if Serbia violates its commitments.
        Second, we face challenges and risks in bringing home the refugees
    and restoring stability. With determination and cooperation, an
    International Security Force of roughly 50,000 troops, including 7,000
    Americans, can give the people of Kosovo the confidence to return, to
    lay down their arms, to heal their wounds, to live in peace. But there
    are operational difficulties with this, as well, which you will see over
    the next few days as we come to grips with them.
        Finally, we face the broader challenge of preventing future crises
    by promoting democracy and prosperity in this region which has been so
    troubled. With our Allies and partners, we must intensify these efforts.
    In the past 4 months, we have seen some of the worst inhumanity in our
    lifetime, but we've also seen the bravery of our troops, the resolve of
    our democracy, the decency of our people, and the courage and
    determination of the people of Kosovo. We now have a moment of hope,
    thanks to all those qualities. And we have to finish the job and build
    the peace.
        Thank you.

    KFOR Timetable

        Q. Mr. President, sir, is there anything you can tell the American
    people as to how long the NATO peacekeepers will have to be in Kosovo,
    including the American forces?
        The President. I don't think we should put a timetable on it. We
    will define our objectives and proceed to implement them.

    Serbian Leadership

        Q. Can you see the NATO peacekeeping force leaving Kosovo with Mr.
    Milosevic still in power?
        The President. Well, I would put it in a different way. What I would
    like to see is all the nations of southeastern Europe built up. I'd like
    to see them coming closer together, and then I'd like to see them
    becoming more integrated with the economic and security structure of
    Europe, so that we will see them growing and prospering the way Poland,
    Hungary, and the Czech Republic did after the fall of communism, for
    example. And I don't see how Serbia can participate in that unless they
    have a leadership that is committed to a multiethnic, multireligious
    democracy and to genuine democracy and human rights.

    Success of Airstrikes

        Q. Do you feel vindicated against the criticism that the air war
    would not work, sir?
        The President. Well, I think--again, I would say, I think that our
    people in uniform performed superbly, and they performed risking their
    lives. We regret the fact that there were any civilian casualties, but
    our pilots risked their lives to minimize those casualties. And there
    were far fewer here, for example, than there were in the Gulf war--far,
    far fewer.
        And I think it's a tribute to Secretary Cohen and to General Shelton and
    the others who believed that, given these facts--given these facts--and
    given the capacity of our forces, that this strategy could work. We
    never took other options off the table; we had planned and thought about
    them. But I think that our people in uniform, starting with our
    Secretary of Defense, are the ones that have been vindicated by this.
    And I'm grateful for what they have achieved.
        But in terms of America, the United States should feel vindicated
    when the people go home and when they're safe and when we can say that
    we, as a nation, have played a role in reversing ethnic cleansing.
    Because if we do that, after what we have done in Bosnia and the work we
    have been doing in Africa to set up a crisis response team to try to
    prevent a Rwanda from ever occurring again, then we will be able to see
    the world go into the 21st century with a more humane future, not able
    to stop all conflict, not able to stop all ethnic conflict, but at last
    able to prevent this sort of thing.
        Q. Why do you think he gave in now, Mr. President?
        Q. Apart from the air campaign, was it also the indictment as a war
    criminal; was he getting pressure from his own people, from his
    military?
        The President. They paid quite a high price for this; they were hurt
    very badly.

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    Reconstruction of the Balkans

        Q. Mr. President, sir, it's going to cost a lot of money to
    reconstruct Kosovo, and also the neighboring countries are going to need
    a lot of aid. How much is the United States willing to put up, and will
    this be a European endeavor with help from the United States?
        The President. Well, as I said, I would expect that most of the
    money would come from Europe because most of the costs of this campaign,
    the air campaign, have been borne by the United States. I don't quarrel
    with that. We had the capacity, and we did what we should have done.
        But I don't want us to get into a haggling situation, either. We
    should do this because it's the right thing to do. And it will be--let
    me say this, it will be far less expensive--far, far less expensive--for
    us to make a decent contribution to the long-term development of these
    people than it will be to wait around for something like this to happen
    again and run the risks, all the risks we had to deal with this time
    that it might spread and all of that.
        So I hope that we will be forthright. I hope the international
    institutions will do their part. And I think we need to focus on this
    because this is the last big challenge.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:15 a.m. in the Briefing Room at the
    White House. In his remarks, he referred to NATO Secretary General
    Javier Solana; Gen. Wesley K. Clark, USA, Supreme Allied Commander
    Europe; Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom; President
    Jacques Chirac of France; Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany; Prime
    Minister Massimo D'Alema of Italy; Prime Minister Jean Chretien of
    Canada; Prime Minister Wim Kok of The Netherlands; President Jose Maria
    Aznar of Spain; President Martti Ahtisaari of Finland; former Prime
    Minister and Special Envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin and President Boris
    Yeltsin of Russia; and President Slobodan Milosevic of the Federal
    Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro). The President also
    referred to the Military Technical Agreement Between the International
    Security Force (KFOR) and the Governments of the Federal Republic of
    Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia.