[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 27 (Monday, July 8, 1996)]
[Pages 1152-1159]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
<R04>
The President's News Conference in Lyons, France
June 29, 1996
The President. It's really beautiful, isn't it? Please sit down.
Well, the weather has certainly cooperated for our summit.
Ladies and gentlemen, this summit made real progress in the three
areas that we came here to address: the fight against terrorism and
crime, strengthening the peace in Bosnia, and advancing our common
agenda for economic growth.
I thank the leaders for sharing our outrage at the cowardly attack
in Saudi Arabia and for agreeing to intensify the fight against
terrorism. We resolved to take a range of concrete steps that will
extend the efforts we are making at home. These steps will help us to
achieve four key objectives. First, terrorists and criminals must have
nowhere to hide. For example, we must cooperate to speed up extradition
and prosecution of those who practice terror and then leave the country
in which they commit their acts. Second, we must dry up the resources
terrorists use to fund their violence. Third, we must do a better job of
defending our national borders to keep the terrorists, the criminals,
and the illegal weapons out. And finally, we must stop terrorists from
misusing the high-tech communications that we all rely on for commerce
and cooperation.
Even more can be done. That's why we directed our senior officials
to meet as soon as possible to recommend additional measures.
As to the bombing in Dhahran, we will do everything in our power to
discover who was responsible, to pursue them, and to punish them. We
must also make sure we have taken all reasonable steps to protect our
own people. To that end, I am announcing today that General Wayne
Downing, former Commander in Chief, U.S. Special Operations Command,
will lead a full assessment of the facts surrounding the bomb attack in
Dhahran. General Downing will also evaluate all policies and measures at
other facilities in the entire Central Command which includes the
Persian Gulf and Middle East regions. He will recommend any further
steps necessary to prevent similar attacks. And he will submit his
report to the Secretary of Defense within 45 days.
But let me be clear. Just as no enemy could drive us from the field
in World War II and the cold war, we will not be driven from the
frontiers of our fight against terrorism today.
[[Page 1153]]
We devoted a good deal of time to our work on Bosnia. We shouldn't
forget that since our last meeting in Halifax, we've helped achieve
something many thought was impossible: Bosnia has moved from the horror
of war into the hope of peace.
Here we laid the groundwork for more progress in the next 6 months.
We committed ourselves to full support for the elections in September
and accelerating the civilian reconstruction that is now underway. Even
as we support these efforts, we're also making it clear to the parties
in Bosnia that they must live up to their obligations under the Dayton
accords, spelling out what steps they must take to prepare for the
elections and to move the reconstruction along.
Today I'm also proud to announce three new American initiatives to
help that peace take root. First, we will devote $15 million to train
demobilized soldiers to clear the estimated 3 million landmines still in
Bosnia. Until that happens, no child will be able to walk in safety and
life cannot return to normal.
Second, we are establishing an international Commission on the
Missing in the Former Yugoslavia to be chaired by former Secretary of
State Cy Vance. This group will work to resolve the almost 12,000 cases
of missing persons, to reduce the anguish of their families and lessen
the tension between the parties.
Third, we will contribute $5 million to the work of the Bosnian
women's initiative. After a past in which so many men were killed in the
fighting, Bosnia's future may depend more than ever upon its women. We
will provide training and loans to help women find jobs and create
businesses so they can support their families and get their nation going
again.
I want to recognize and thank our Ambassador to Austria, Swanee
Hunt, for helping to create this initiative. Women today are meeting in
Bosnia--today--on this issue. Muslim, Croatian, and Serbian women are
meeting in Bosnia today in a multiethnic cooperative determination to
regenerate the capacity of the Bosnian economy through the efforts of
its women. This has real potential to make a difference.
Finally, let me just note that the environment of this summit was
very different than the first one I attended in Tokyo in 1993. Then we
were not in a strong position to lead, and our partners kept telling me
that we had to get our house in order. And, frankly, they were right.
When I took office, our budget deficit was at an all-time high,
unemployment was more than 7 percent, we had the slowest job growth
since the Great Depression. But since that time, we have cut our budget
deficit in half, and our economy has reduced unemployment to 5.6 percent
and produced 9.7 million new jobs. Inflation is near a 30-year low,
interest rates are down, and business investment is up by 30 percent.
Our country is now the number one exporter and the most competitive
nation on Earth again.
So here I was pleased, and I know the American people will be, to
see that our partners recognize this and ask for our suggestions about
what we could do together to promote more economic growth around the
globe, to generate jobs out of that economic growth, and to make those
jobs good jobs so that people would have the tools to make the most of
their lives and to build strong families.
Finally, there was a lot of very serious conversation about how we
can grow the economy and sustain our environment. And we resolved to
work harder on that in the year ahead and to make that a central focus
of our meeting next year in Denver.
We know we have to work on these problems together. That's the last
point I want to drive home to the American people. We know that when we
do cooperate, we can make a positive difference for our own people in
maintaining our leadership in the world and meeting our challenges and
protecting our values. I found that this summit was very helpful in all
those regards.
Helen [Helen Thomas, United Press International]?
Bosnia and Middle East Peace Process
Q. Mr. President, I'd like your views on two points--foreign policy
points of tension in the communique. One, are you prepared to reimpose
sanctions against Yugoslavia if the Serb leader in Bosnia does not step
down
[[Page 1154]]
from his government functions by, say, Monday? And two, in terms of the
Middle East peace process, does the United States have any leverage to
persuade Israel to abide by previous agreements on land for peace?
The President. Well, first of all, let's talk about the sanctions
issues. Under the Dayton accords, both Mr. Bildt and the IFOR commander
have the ability and the responsibility to impose sanctions if the
accords are violated. We want Mr. Karadzic, in the words of the
Secretary of State, out of power and out of influence. And we think that
is very important. We want all the other parties to help us achieve what
is clearly required by the Dayton accords and the Paris peace agreement.
And, therefore, we will support appropriate action by Mr. Bildt.
Although I have to say I have no information, Helen, that there is
in fact a Monday deadline that would operate against Serbia, as opposed
to the Bosnian Serbs or anyone else. I do not know that there will be a
Monday deadline. But you should just know that both the IFOR commander,
Admiral Smith, and Mr. Bildt have the authority and the responsibility
under the Dayton accords to reimpose the sanctions. And under the right
circumstances, they would be bound to do so and we would be bound to
support them.
Q. Mr. President, what did Prime Minister----
Q. What about the second part of the----
The President. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry--the Middle East. I
apologize. It's been a long 3 days.
On the Middle East, we all agree that the commitments Israel has
made to date should be kept. And Mr. Netanyahu has said that he expects
Israel to keep those commitments.
I think it's fair to say that we also all agree that the Israeli
Government is recently constituted, just getting its bearings, and it's
going to work. And we believe it's quite important that both sides in
the Middle East, the Arab parties and the Israelis, give each other some
room here. A little time needs to pass. And we hope that no one,
including those of us who are third parties here, will say or do
anything which would make the peace process more difficult down the
road. We just--we need to honor the commitments that have been made and
then go forward.
In that connection, today we talked a lot about development
assistance and the importance of doing more in that area, and I tried to
make a strong point that we have seen in the Middle East a substantial
increase in the capacity of the Palestinian Authority under Mr. Arafat
to provide law and order and to run the daily operations of life in Gaza
and the West Bank. And I think we need to support that as much as
anything else if we want to preserve the gains of the past and make sure
that this peace process continues to have integrity and effect.
Yes, go ahead.
Russia
Q. Mr. President, what did Prime Minister Chernomyrdin tell you
about President Yeltsin's health and his ability to govern, and how
concerned are you? And also, is the fact that Mr. Yeltsin was not here
the reason why there wasn't a whole lot in today's communique dealing
with relations and aid to Russia in the future?
The President. Mr. Chernomyrdin said that President Yeltsin was in
good health, but that he had a sore throat--something I can identify
with right before an election--and that he had determined that he ought
to take the day off from any kind of public speaking or public
appearances. But he said he'd talked to him yesterday and he was doing
fine.
I'm not sure that this communique would have had more in it about
Russia even if President Yeltsin had been here, because we basically
talked about the subjects of the meeting here, and we tried to have a
more limited communique that didn't just go all over every issue.
I want to emphasize that in these G-8 political meetings we consider
Russia to be an integral partner here in all our deliberations. The
Russians are cosponsors with the United States in the Middle East peace
process. The Russians are our partners in IFOR. So we value Russian
participation for issues that have nothing to do with Russia.
Yes?
[[Page 1155]]
Bosnia
Q. Mr. Karadzic today was reelected head of his party. He says he
doesn't acknowledge the authority of the War Crimes Tribunal. And at
some point do you reach a point where, if it's not a deadline this
Monday, there has to be a deadline and that the IFOR forces would have
to move into Pale and simply escort him out?
The President. Well, I guess the short answer to that is no in the
way you asked it because there was an explicit decision made in the
Dayton accords that the mission of IFOR would not be a police mission,
that is to actually go in with the purpose of apprehending Mr. Karadzic
or anybody else suspected of war crimes.
On the other hand, I can say that the number of patrols has been
increased in the region and the responsibility of IFOR is, if they run
into anybody who is wanted by the War Crimes Tribunal, they have to
apprehend them. So I suppose the chances of his being apprehended or
some others who may be wanted being apprehended have been increased by
the fact that the number of patrols has been increased.
But it is not a part of the mandate of IFOR to actually be the
police agency to go in and arrest him. That's one of the reasons that
Mr. Bildt has been talking about the sanctions.
Q. Should there be a deadline?
The President. Well, the deadline, in effect, will present itself in
terms of the integrity of the elections. But we'd like to see something
done well before then because we want other political leadership to
develop among the Bosnian Serbs, people who believe in the rule of law
and don't believe it's legitimate to kill large numbers of other people
just because they're of a different ethnic group.
Terrorist Attack in Saudi Arabia
Q. Mr. President, regarding the bombing, what can you say to
American families about servicemen now serving in that area of the
world, in the Middle East, to reassure them? You mentioned that you'd
appointed this commission to report back in 45 days, but what about
tonight, what about tomorrow, and this week? Are some steps being taken
now?
The President. Well, first of all, I think it's fair to say that
everybody's on extra alert. But remember, when the warnings came out
before this last incident--to be fair to the people who were involved
there--they increased lookouts, they increased patrols, they increased
training of people involved, they put more barriers up. And each and
every one of those steps actually contributed to saving lives. The
fatalities would have been much greater if those things had not been
done.
But the plain fact is that they did not believe that based on past
terrorist practice that a bomb that big could be exploded--could be put
together and delivered and exploded at that point. That's frankly what
happened. So we're--everybody is assessing what their short-term and
their long-term options are, and they're taking all the possible steps
they can to see what should be done. But we want General Downing to take
a bigger and longer look at this. Meanwhile, we'll be doing everything
we can to protect our people, of course.
Yes, Wolf [Wolf Blitzer, CNN]?
FBI Files of White House Passholders
Q. Mr. President, if I could just turn the subject to a domestic
issue. You've been described by your aides as being very angry when you
first heard about the FBI file matter in the White House, and you
initially said that this was a bureaucratic snafu, a simple bureaucratic
mistake. But now that Anthony Marceca, who is an Army civilian detailee
to the White House, has decided to take the fifth and not testify, are
you still sticking by that assertion that this was simply a mistake, a
simple bureaucratic mistake?
And the second part, I wonder if you'd care to comment on these
other allegations by this former FBI agent who had worked in the White
House of all sorts of sordid deeds going on? So just the two-part
question.
The President. Well, first of all on the--Mr. Marceca testified in
the first hearings. I don't know why he decided not to testify in the
second ones.
Let's go back over what I said. I value the privacy that every
American is entitled to, and I have done my best as President to protect
the individual rights of the American
[[Page 1156]]
people, their rights to free speech, to religious liberty, to
association and, certainly, to privacy. Secondly, from my earliest days
as a young man being interested in public life, one of the things that
has most appalled me is any kind of abuse of public authority that
tramples on the liberties of individual citizens. And I believe my
career shows a consistent pattern of opposition to that. So I'm
concerned about it.
What I said was that based on the evidence we had, there was no
evidence that anyone had intentionally acquired the papers wrongly or
had used them wrongly once they were acquired. I repeat that to the best
of my knowledge that's what the evidence showed. Now, I understand there
was some testimony yesterday from the Secret Service and from others
which may offer an explanation about how the wrong lists were acquired.
I was told that the Los Angeles Times had an article about it today, but
I have not had an opportunity to read it.
So what I'm saying is, I've told everybody I want to cooperate with
the special counsel. I want to cooperate with the congressional
committees. I want to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible.
And I would encourage everyone else to do the same thing. Meanwhile, I
don't want to prejudge anybody to go beyond what the evidence shows.
That's the only thing I said.
As to that other thing, I mean, I hardly even know how to comment on
that. I mean, I hardly know what to say. I feel bad for the FBI.
Craig Livingstone
Q. This new book by the ex-FBI agent says that Craig Livingstone was
hired through the sponsorship of the First Lady. Is that true? And if it
isn't true, can you tell us definitively today who brought Craig
Livingstone into the White House?
The President. Can I tell you what?
Q. Can you tell us who brought Craig Livingstone into the White
House if it is not true that the First Lady did not bring him in?
The President. The answers to your two questions are no and no. Now,
I know for a fact that is not true. But I don't know that anything in
that is true. I don't know, but----
Q. [Inaudible]--ask who hired this person?
The President. I have, and I don't think he knows. But let me tell
you--what we decided to do was not to raise any questions about how this
thing had been handled, but instead to cooperate with outside forces who
are looking into it. I think that's the best way to do it. So we just
instructed everybody to cooperate, first with--we thought the FBI was
going to look into it, and then when there was a delay there--I think if
that happened this whole thing would be resolved by now, and I'm sorry
it didn't. But since the FBI didn't look into it, from our point of
view, then we had to wait for the congressional committees and the
special counsel. But we are going to fully cooperate with them, and I
expect them to be able to answer all relevant questions.
Yes, Peter [Peter Maer, NBC Mutual Radio]?
Terrorism
Q. Mr. President, getting back to the terror issue at this summit,
almost every one of these summits has included tough talk on terrorism--
those that you've attended and those before. Yet the attacks have
continued in the Middle East and in Saudi Arabia and even at home. Is
there any reason to believe that those you have described as people who
live to kill are impacted at all by what you all say at these summits?
The President. I don't know if they're impacted by what we say, but
they're certainly impacted by what we do. I mean, let me remind you that
there is--the people who did the World Trade Center bombing were
arrested and tried. There was an intense effort after Oklahoma City to
apprehend the suspect, and there's now going to be a criminal justice
process working its course there.
We have extradited suspected terrorists in the United States from
all over the world. And I can tell you, perhaps even more importantly,
we have succeeded in preventing planned terrorist incidents. And I have
learned from working in the Middle East so intensely the last 3 years
that in spite of all the horrible things we read about there,
[[Page 1157]]
there are still more incidents that are planned that are prevented and
averted than there are which are carried out.
So I don't expect our words to have any impact on these people. But
if our words are put into action, just as we did in the United States,
for example in passing the antiterrorism legislation, we will acquire
greater capacity to prevent these incidents and to catch and punish
people severely when they do, and to tie them to their sponsors, if they
have sponsors, beyond their own little cells.
And those are the three things that I want to do. So I don't expect
them to be moved by my words. But they need to know that I'm going to do
my best to put our words into action.
Russia
Q. Mr. President, if Boris Yeltsin is reelected on Wednesday, are
you personally confident that he will continue on the path of reform in
a second term? And are there specific steps you would urge him to take
to confirm from the start that he intends to govern as a democrat and as
a reformer?
The President. Well, I do believe he will continue because that's
the path that he's followed to date, first of all. And secondly, let me
just say, everybody ought to take a deep breath next week and consider
that you are literally observing something that has not happened in a
thousand years of Russian history. Since what we now know of as modern
Russia geographically united, this has never happened. They not only had
one election, they are about to have another election which basically
confirms their commitment to democracy.
You remember President Aristide said the second election is the most
important. So you're--in the context of Russia and all those affected by
them, you're going to witness something when that election occurs that
has never occurred in a thousand years. And I think that--President
Yeltsin and I once had a talk, and I don't want to betray any private
confidences, but he--if you go into the Kremlin and they have these
statues of the great czar reformers, Peter the Great and Catherine the
Great and Alexander, who freed the serfs, and Nicholas, who had the
parliamentary government before the Russian Revolution--the difference
between what they're doing now and what those other Russian reformers
did, and the reason I think reform has a chance to survive now when it
always failed before, is that the czars never created anything that was
greater than they were. And the whole purpose of democracy is to make
sure that none of us are indispensable. That's against my self-interest
since I'm facing an election to say that.
But if you think about it, the whole purpose of democracy is to
create a system in which the people and the rules and laws under which
they live are more important than any one individual. And the ultimate
legacy of President Yeltsin and Prime Minister Chernomyrdin and all
those who have been part of this is that they have for the first time in
Russian history created something that is greater than any individual
that supersedes them. And I think they're quite mindful of that, and I
think that's one big reason they'll stay on the path of reform.
I also think on a purely human level they know that there are still
a lot of people in Russia having a tough time. And they want all the
people in Russia to have the benefits that reform has brought to so
many. They won't be satisfied until a lot of the people that won't vote
for them this week--or next week--feel the benefits that so many feel
today.
European and U.S. Economies
Q. You and the other leaders gather at a time when Europe is facing
near record unemployment levels. I wonder if you could tell me what
specific actions you took here that will help that? And what actions did
you take here that will help Americans who are having a tough time as
well?
The President. Well, actually, what we talked about here on that
point was what the Europeans could do to create jobs when they have
economic growth. The frustrating thing for a lot of the Europeans is not
only that they've had slow growth but that even when they've had growth,
they haven't necessarily been able to create jobs.
And Prime Minister Major discussed that in some length, because
Great Britain has of late had some pretty good success in bring-
[[Page 1158]]
ing their unemployment rate down. And the highest job growth countries
in the G-7 are the United States and Canada, so we talked a lot about
what we thought the relationship of low interest rates and no barriers
to small business formation and expansion and affirmative help for small
business could have. Because it's very interesting, even in all the
European countries, most of their jobs are being created by small and
medium-sized businesses, the same as in America. But there isn't the
same almost obsession that exists in our country both to clear out
barriers to small business formation and expansion and to take
affirmative steps to accelerate it. So we talked a lot about that from
their point of view.
From our point of view, we talked a lot about how we could reduce
the inequality and the wage stagnation that affects some of the people
in the bottom half of the wage earners. And we talked about whether--the
extent to which we could integrate into our systems some of the things
that work in Europe and still keep our ability to create jobs. And
that's what we're trying to do, for example, with the apprenticeship
programs, the school-to-work programs, giving everybody access to 2 more
years of schooling after high school, and trying to accelerate the rate
at which we retrain the existing work force, and also trying to provide
some more security in terms of access to movable retirement and health
care benefits.
What we're both trying to do, if you will, is to create dynamic
economies in which we can generate jobs that are good jobs, but also
give people who are working hard the necessary conditions and tools they
need to build a stable life and a stable family life. So in that sense,
the Europeans like a lot of the security that a lot of their working
people have, but they want to be able to create more jobs. We like the
fact that we create a lot of jobs, but we want our people to be able to
live with all the upheavals of the modern economy. So we basically
decided we needed to try to find how we could learn from one another.
Russian General Alexander Lebed
Q. I wonder what your reaction was to General Lebed's remarks about
Jews and Mormons, and if you asked Prime Minister Chernomyrdin for an
explanation, and what did he tell you?
The President. Well, I had a very negative reaction to the remarks.
We've been dealing with these church burnings in America, and I know how
dangerous any kind of religious slur can be. So I had a very negative
reaction to the remarks. I like some of the things I've seen from
General Lebed; he's a very impressive fellow in many ways, but I didn't
like that at all. And I said so to the Prime Minister.
But I also noted that President Yeltsin has had a good record on
issues relating to religious liberty. And he told me that he expected no
change in the administration's positions, the Yeltsin administration's
positions on religious liberty after this next election.
Terrorism
Q. Mr. President, in the aftermath of this tragedy in Saudi Arabia,
a lot of commentators and some officials have said that one of the
problems and frustrations is that experts end up fighting the last war,
and that the next time, as you say, it comes in a little different--the
bomb is bigger than you thought or whatever. To what degree is that a
part of the General's mandate--is to look at, try to predict how the
next incident might come and steps that can be taken? And is that
something that you and the leaders discussed as well?
The President. Well, yes, although that's a lot of the work that the
rest of our national security team will be doing, too, including making
sure our intelligence networks are more attuned to that. I think it's
fair to say that--if you remember, these things have sort of gone in
waves, you know. We had this huge wave of terrorism in the eighties; it
primarily involved something other than bombs, although we had that
awful incident in Lebanon. And we just learn as we go along. And I'm
sure that there will be times in the future when murderous forces
outsmart those of us that are trying to stop them. But I believe we will
learn something from this, and I believe we will be able to continue our
mission.
The main thing I'd like to say to you, though, is--and, yes, it will
be part of General Downing's mandate, but it's also a big
[[Page 1159]]
part of what the Secretary of Defense and the director of our
intelligence operations and all our national security operations should
be doing. The main thing I would like to say, though, is that for all
those families of the people who were lost and all those who are still
laid up in the hospital that were cut up so bad by the glass, we can't
make all the problems of the world go away, and our generation's time is
going to be increasingly occupied with dealing with the terrorists and
the people who try to proliferate dangerous weapons--chemical,
biological, small-scale nuclear weapons--the drug smugglers and others
who try to kill people in this way. It's not the cold war, it's not
World War II, but it's an important part of our struggle to make this a
civilized and sane world. And we have to continue to do it. And I'm very
proud of those people that served, and I grieve for those who died and
their families.
Thank you.
Note: The President's 126th news conference began at 4:18 p.m. on the
terrace at the Pavillon du Parc. In his remarks, he referred to Carl
Bildt, United Nations High Commissioner for Bosnia; Bosnian Serb leader
Radovan Karadzic; Adm. Leighton Smith, USN, Commander in Chief, Allied
Forces Southern Europe; Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of Israel;
Chairman Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Authority; Prime Minister
Viktor Chernomyrdin and President Boris Yeltsin of Russia; former
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti; Prime Minister John Major of
the United Kingdom; and retired Lt. Gen. Alexander Lebed, security
adviser to President Yeltsin.