[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.

[[Page 572]]

    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).