[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 26 (Monday, July 1, 1996)]
[Pages 1142-1143]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Exchange With Reporters Prior to Discussions With Prime Minister John 
Major of the United Kingdom in Lyons

June 27, 1996

Terrorist Attack in Saudi Arabia

    Q. Mr. President, what do you do if you discover that there was a 
state sponsorship behind the Saudi Arabian incident? What happens?
    President Clinton. Well, I will take whatever action I believe is 
appropriate based on what the facts are. But let's wait until we see 
what the facts are.
    Q. [Inaudible]--has said that there was intellectually a very strong 
case for the bombers. What is your reaction to that?
    Prime Minister Major. I haven't seen the context of what he said, 
but I can see no case, intellectual or any other sort of case, for the 
sort of activity in Dhahran. It is indefensible by any tenet.
    Q. Do you think there are further measures which you can agree here 
jointly with the other leaders to combat both the sort of terrorism you 
saw in Dhahran and also that we saw in Manchester from the IRA last 
week?
    President Clinton. I do.
    Prime Minister Major. So do I.
    Q. Like what?
    Prime Minister Major. Well, we have some----
    President Clinton. Well--go ahead, please.
    Prime Minister Major. We had some ideas discussed. We had some 
British ideas. I understand there are some American ideas. We will 
discuss them bilaterally, I'm sure, and we will discuss them with our 
colleagues. But I think we will probably unveil them after the 
discussions.
    Q. Mr. President, you were going to talk about your ideas?

[[Page 1143]]

    President Clinton. No, I was just going to say that we have already 
agreed on a number of things that we will do together to deal with the 
problems of international crime that specifically bear on terrorism. And 
we may come up now with some other things that we can do together.
    But I think all of us understand that terrorism is a problem from 
which no one can hide and on which we must all cooperate. We have had 
terrorism in the United Kingdom, we have had terrorism in the United 
States, had this awful attack in Dhahran, had the problem in the Tokyo 
subway. This is the security challenge of the 21st century, I'm afraid, 
and we have to get after it.

Extraterritorial Impact of Sanctions

    Q. Mr. Prime Minister, are you concerned about the U.S. efforts to 
impose sanctions on foreign companies that deal with Iran and Libya and 
Cuba? Is this a problem you're discussing----
    Prime Minister Major. I don't think that's a--I don't think that's 
particularly a G-7 subject. It's a matter I have no doubt will come up 
in discussions at some stage.

Note: The exchange began at 4:21 p.m. at the Sofitel Hotel. A tape was 
not available for verification of the content of this exchange.