    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 13 (Monday, April 5, 1999)]
    [Pages 571-574]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks on the National Economy and Kosovar Refugees and an Exchange
    With Reporters

    April 2, 1999

        The President. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to make some
    fairly brief comments today about the situation in Kosovo and the
    humanitarian issue, and also about the good news today we received on
    the domestic economy. Let me make the economic remarks first, and then I
    will talk about Kosovo and refer to the folks from the administration
    who are here to my right.
        As I think all of you know by now, it was reported today that last
    month the unemployment rate in the United States dropped to 4.2 percent,
    the lowest in this long expansion and the lowest monthly unemployment
    rate the United States has enjoyed since 1970. This is also an expansion
    that is widening the circle of opportunity. We had, among other things
    in this last monthly report, the lowest Hispanic unemployment rate ever
    recorded. Now we know also that real wages went up last year at the
    highest rate in two decades.
        Now, these economic indicators are more than just economic
    indicators; they mean wider opportunity and a better chance for millions
    of Americans to have stronger families and give their children a better
    chance. It is a reminder of the gains we have made because we have done
    the right things economically for the long run.
        And now we must act to extend that prosperity. That means, among
    other things, we have to be very, very smart about how we deal with the
    question of the surplus. In the coming months, I will continue to insist
    that a substantial portion of the surplus--the majority--as I have
    outlined since the State of the Union, be set aside in a way that will
    save Social Security and Medicare and will enable us to pay down the
    debt, to keep interest rates low, to keep investment high, to keep this
    economy going.

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        I hope that today this good news on unemployment will remind us of
    how we got here and not make us forget how we got here.
        Now, let me say a few words about Kosovo, and in particular, the
    humanitarian situation. I am glad to be joined by the folks to my
    right--Hattie Babbitt, the Deputy USAID Administrator; Julia Taft, the
    Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration;
    General John McDuffie, the Chairman's Director for Logistics of the
    Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Eric Schwartz, who is our Director for
    Multilateral and Humanitarian Affairs at the NSC.
        The humanitarian situation, as all of you know, remains grave in
    Kosovo. Since last year, nearly one in three people there have been
    pushed from their homes.
        I met this morning with representatives of humanitarian
    organizations that are leading relief efforts in the area. They are
    doing courageous work under difficult circumstances. We want to support
    them in every way we can.
        I can tell you that I was very impressed that they reported that the
    refugees coming out strongly support the action that NATO has taken and
    clearly understand that that action did not provoke the attempt to
    remove them from their homes, that that is part of an operation that has
    been going on since last year, that there were 40,000 troops and nearly
    300 tanks--Serbian troops and tanks--massed in and around Kosovo at the
    time the peace talks in France broke up. And they are quite clear that
    what has happened to them was what was planned for quite a long while.
    And I appreciate the support--and the great difficulty of maintaining
    it--of these people who have suffered so much.
        Now, what are we doing about this? This week I authorized an
    additional $50 million in emergency aid to augment our contributions to
    the UNHCR and to the other relief organizations and to ensure that our
    military can do more to help them get aid to the people in need.
        Today NATO agreed that its forces in Macedonia should support the
    relief effort there by providing transport, shelter, and logistical
    support.
        While many people are arriving in neighboring countries, and
    Macedonia and Albania are especially burdened, we are able to provide
    help there--although we need more countries to join us in providing help
    there. We must be increasingly concerned about the plight of displaced
    people who are actually trapped inside Kosovo and are under attack or
    certainly vulnerable to attack by Serbian forces.
        That is why our airstrikes are now increasingly focused on military
    targets there. There's no doubt that what Mr. Milosevic wants to do is
    to keep the land of Kosovo and rid it of its people. We cannot let that
    happen with impunity.
        I said yesterday in Virginia to our troops, and I want to say again,
    we must be determined; we must be persistent; we must be patient if we
    expect to see this mission through. And I am absolutely determined to do
    that.
        We have to make sure that Mr. Milosevic pays a heavy price for this
    policy of repression. We have to seriously diminish his capacity to
    maintain that policy. Ultimately, we want to make it possible for the
    victims to return home, to live in security, and enjoy self-government.
        Let me also reaffirm what I said yesterday about the three Army
    infantrymen who were seized on Wednesday as they were carrying out a
    completely peaceful mission in Macedonia. There was no basis for them to
    be taken; there is no basis for them to be held; there is absolutely no
    justification for putting them on trial or displaying them in public in
    violation of the Geneva Convention. As long as they are detained, they
    have the status of POW's and are entitled to all the protections that
    come with that status.
        As I made clear yesterday, we will hold President Milosevic and his
    government responsible for their safety and well-being.

    Ground Troops

        Q. Mr. President, is Kosovo lost, sir?
        Q. Mr. President, those same refugees you just cited a moment ago
    are, by and large, also saying that they believe that only NATO ground
    forces will be able to get them back into their country. Do you still
    feel the same way you do about ground forces?
        The President. I still believe that we have a good possibility of
    achieving our mission

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    with the means that we have deployed. Remember, we have been at this for
    a week. I see all of you, and I don't blame you for doing this because
    everybody it trying to get their hands around a very complex problem,
    referring to Desert Storm or other historical analogies. Is this like
    the Persian Gulf; is this like Vietnam; what is it like? Is it like what
    happened in World War II?
        Let me remind you, for these people who talk about ground forces,
    the ground forces that were deployed in the Middle East were deployed
    after the objective had been achieved by Saddam Hussein, after he had
    captured Kuwait. It took, as I remember, maybe more than 5 months to do
    the preparatory deployment before any action could be taken.
        So this air campaign has been much more rapid in getting up and
    getting underway than any sort of ground operation could be. And it
    seems to me we have a real obligation to try to keep the NATO allies
    together and to vigorously pursue this. We are making the air campaign
    more intense; we are adding targets; we are keeping the NATO allies
    together. And I believe we have quite a good chance of achieving our
    objectives of the return of the Kosovars to live in security with the
    measure of self-government that they enjoyed under the old Yugoslav
    constitution before Mr. Milosevic took it away from them. And I believe
    that is what we should continue to do. That is what I intend to continue
    to do.

    President's Policy

        Q.  Mr. President, with villages burning, sir, and refugees coming
    out at a rate of nearly 100,000 a day, is it not unfair to say that
    Kosovo is already lost? And if it is lost, sir, is it your policy to get
    it back?
        The President. My policy is to stick with the NATO allies to provide
    for return of the Kosovars in conditions of security where they have the
    self--the autonomy that they had before Mr. Milosevic took it away. That
    is my policy.
        Keep in mind, this campaign of his started last year. There were
    hundreds of thousands of refugees before the peace talks in France
    started. Before that happened, there were 40,000 troops and nearly 300
    tanks in Kosovo or on the borders. So there has been a lot of
    speculation--was this--I don't think anybody in our military was under
    any illusion that he did not have the capacity to do what has been done.
    And what we have tried to do is to gear up this air campaign as quickly
    as we could, and given the limitations of the weather, proceed.
        We have strong allied unity. We have real firm determination today
    in Europe that these objectives will be achieved. And we intend to stay
    after them until they are.
        I do not believe--I think that--I do not believe that anyone should
    expect, or should have expected--we recognized when we started that this
    campaign, this air campaign, would not be a week or two proposition.
        Q. But, sir, even many of those who advised and represented the
    Kosovars at Rambouillet say that process is now dead, given what has
    happened on the ground. Will there have to be some new security and
    political arrangement beyond what was envisioned at those peace talks?
    And what will the U.S.----
        The President. Well, I think there will have to be some sort of
    security arrangement in order for them to live safely. And then there
    will have to be some sort of agreement that entails the autonomy to
    which they are entitled. That is clearly right.
        So the elements that were discussed at the peace talks in France are
    still elements that have to be resolved before the Kosovars can either
    stay home or go home, for those who have left, and do so peacefully, and
    do so with some measure of autonomy. And it seems to me that will
    require, clearly, for some period of time, some sort of international
    force that will be able to protect their security.
        So the elements, the framework that we dealt with in France is still
    the framework people are going to have to deal with; whatever label you
    put on it, those are the--the objectives that we seek to achieve will
    require certain means to realize.
        Helen [Helen Thomas, United Press International].

    Russian Involvement

        Q. Mr. President, what about the deepening Russian involvement?
    Apparently, we

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    understand they are now going to offer aid; they're sending ships into
    the Mediterranean. Are they ready for a fight?
        The President. I don't believe so. I believe that--as I said before
    and I'll say again, one of the unfortunate side effects of this whole
    crisis--and we saw it a little bit in Bosnia, but we were able to
    resolve it, thank goodness, in Bosnia in a way that brought us together
    with the Russians in the peacekeeping force there--is that this whole
    issue has put great strains on the domestic politics of Russia, in the
    Russian Duma, because of the religious and cultural identity and the
    ethnic identity of the Russians with the Serbs.
        But I think that, based on my experience in dealing with this in the
    last few days, and my experience in dealing with the Russians over the
    last 6 years, and what appear to be the facts now, they are looking for
    ways to continue to oppose what NATO is doing, but to leave open the
    prospect that they could play a very constructive role in making a
    peace. I don't think anyone wants to see this conflict escalate, and I
    certainly don't believe the Russian Government does.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 12:23 p.m. in the Briefing Room at the
    White House. In his remarks, he referred to President Slobodan Milosevic
    of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro); the three
    U.S. Army infantrymen in custody in Serbia: Staff Sgt. Andrew A.
    Ramirez, Staff Sgt. Christopher J. Stone, and Specialist Steven M.
    Gonzales; and President Saddam Hussein of Iraq. The President also
    referred to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).