[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 15 (Monday, April 19, 1999)]
[Pages 638-639]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following a Meeting With Congressional Leaders and an Exchange 
With Reporters

April 13, 1999

Situation in the Balkans

    The President. Good afternoon. I have just had a long and very good 
meeting with a large number of Members of Congress to discuss America's 
effort, along with our NATO allies, to stand against ethnic cleansing, 
save lives, and bring peace in Kosovo. I'm grateful for the support we 
have received from Members of Congress from both parties and also very 
grateful for the questions, the comments, the advice that came out of 
this and previous meetings.
    Our objectives here are clear, but I want to restate them. We want 
the Serb forces out of Kosovo. We want the refugees to be able to go 
home, protected by an international security force, as they work toward 
self-government.
    This is Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this day, let us resolve not 
to let this ethnic cleansing and killing by Mr. Milosevic go unanswered.
    You know, yesterday I had the privilege of meeting at Barksdale Air 
Force Base with aircrews participating in the allied campaign. They and 
all our forces are performing with extraordinary courage and skill. They 
are very well prepared, and their morale is high. They know they and our 
allies are fighting to end human suffering, and for a Europe that is 
united, democratic, and at peace.
    Our campaign is diminishing and grinding down Mr. Milosevic's 
military capabilities. We have weakened Serbia's air defenses and 
command and control. We have reduced his ability to move, sustain, and 
supply the war machine in Kosovo. We have damaged his refineries and 
diminished his capacity to produce ammunition. We are striking now at 
his tanks, and at his artillery, and have destroyed half his advanced 
Mig-29 aircraft.
    Now we are taking our allied air campaign to the next level, with 
more aircraft in the region, with a British carrier joining our U.S.S. 
Roosevelt and a French carrier in the area. Our humanitarian effort is 
also increasing to meet the daunting challenge of providing food and 
shelter for the hundreds of thousands of refugees.
    All of us would like the conflict to end, especially for the 
suffering people of Kosovo. We would also like to end the trials for the 
people of Serbia, who have been forced into confrontation by a cynical 
leader who has no regard for their welfare and who, I am absolutely 
convinced, has not even told them the truth about what he has done to 
the people of Kosovo.
    We and our allies did everything possible to end this crisis 
peacefully, but now we are at arms. We and our allies are united on this 
point: We must stay the course and persist until we prevail.
    Again I say, Mr. Milosevic can end this crisis right now by 
withdrawing his forces, permitting deployment of an international 
security force, and allowing the unconditional return of all displaced 
persons.
    As I told the Members of Congress today I will shortly submit to 
them an emergency supplemental budget request to fund our military 
operations and munitions needs while maintaining our military readiness, 
to provide urgently needed assistance to the frontline states, nations 
bordering Kosovo, that are struggling to preserve their own stability as 
they cope with refugees and turmoil in the region, and of course, to 
fund our portion of caring for the hundreds of thousands of refugees.
    These expenses are an immediate and urgent emergency. They are 
necessary so that

[[Page 639]]

we and our NATO allies can continue to pursue this mission. I look 
forward to working with Members of both parties in both Houses to pass 
this appropriation soon and to continuing our mission to free the people 
of Kosovo of the oppression to which they have been subject and meet the 
conditions which I have outlined.
    Thank you very much.
    Q. Mr. President, the lawmakers said that you haven't taken ground 
troops off the table.

Kosovar Refugees

    Q. Mr. President, can you reach the refugees in Kosovo, Mr. 
President--inside Kosovo--can you reach those refugees, and does it have 
to be done by land?
    The President. Let me answer that. Well, the real answer to that 
question is that it is a very hard one, and we are working on it. We are 
quite concerned about the hundreds of thousands of refugees in Kosovo. 
The ones that are out of Kosovo, there is a big problem in providing 
food and housing and medical care, dealing with the ones that are just 
dehydrated. But at least we are now organized, and we're moving on that.
    There is a much bigger problem with the people within Kosovo, and 
there are any number of problems with providing aid from the air. First 
of all, there is the possibility that if we airdrop supplies, they won't 
actually get to the refugees, that the Serbian forces will take them up. 
Secondly, there is the problem of risk to our aircraft of going into 
Kosovo airspace to try to airdrop the supplies. So we are looking at 
both of those problems and what can be done about them and what other 
options we have. It is a huge problem.
    For the last couple of days, we've been working very hard on it. As 
soon as we have more to say on it, I'll be glad to make the appropriate 
announcements, and our people will be at work on it. It is a very large 
problem. We're aware of it. We know what the obstacles are and we're 
doing our best to overcome them.
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 1:45 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to President Slobodan Milosevic of 
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro).