    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 25 (Monday, June 28, 1999)]
    [Pages 1143-1149]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Interview With Wolf Blitzer of Cable News Network's ``Late Edition'' in
    Cologne

    June 20, 1999

    President Boris Yeltsin of Russia

        Mr. Blitzer. Mr. President, thank you so much for joining us on this
    very special ``Late Edition'' from here in Cologne.
        There have been reports that President Yeltsin has been ill, erratic
    that his behavior has been shaky. You just met with him a little while
    ago; what's your impression?
        The President. Well, his behavior was neither erratic nor shaky
    today. He was strong, clear, forceful, and looking to the future. We
    actually had quite a good meeting. We got a lot done. We set out an
    agenda to continue to work on reducing the nuclear threat, to

    [[Page 1144]]

    continue to work on reducing the likelihood of any cooperation of
    Russian entities with Iran's missile technology development, with
    working to help Russia comply with the IMF and get its economy going
    strongly again. And obviously, we talked about our commitment to fully
    implement the agreements we made over Kosovo.
        So, today all I can tell you is I had good personal experience. He
    was clear, concise, and direct and strong.

    Stability of Russia/Role in Kosovo

        Mr. Blitzer. But a lot of people were concerned when the Russians
    sent those 150 or 200 soldiers into Pristina so secretively. With the
    Russians still having thousands of nuclear warheads, should Americans be
    concerned about the security, the safety of that nuclear arsenal, if
    there's a problem between civilian and military control of the Russian
    military?
        The President. Well, so far, I can only tell you what our experience
    is, now in its 6\1/2\ years. We've worked very well with the Russian
    military to implement the system that was set up, actually, before I
    became President, although we've tried to strengthen it--to strengthen
    the Russian security over nuclear weapons, to strengthen security over
    other materials--President Yeltsin and I agreed last year to destroy 50
    tons of plutonium arising out of nuclear operations. We have great
    confidence in that, and it's working quite well. I have no reason to
    believe that it won't continue to do so.
        Mr. Blitzer. But will you concede, though, that the dash for the
    airport in Pristina and the grabbing hold of that piece of territory
    helped them get a better deal for their peacekeepers in Kosovo than
    would have been the case if they had not done so?
        The President. I'm not sure that's right, for the following reason:
    I felt it was important myself--and I told all of our people this, and
    several of our NATO Allies--that Russia have a different role in Kosovo,
    because of the importance of making clear our common commitment to
    protect civilians, both the Kosovar Albanians who are coming home and
    the Serbs who remain. Therefore, I thought it was important for Russia
    to have its forces in more than one of these sectors. And of course, as
    you know now, they'll be working with us and with the Germans and the
    French.
        So they may believe that; the Russians may believe that. But in my
    own mind, I had already determined that if our Allies would go along,
    they should be in more than one sector.
        Mr. Blitzer. But not necessarily in control of the airport, which
    originally was going to be the strategic headquarters for the
    peacekeepers.
        The President. Yes, but now the division of labor they have worked
    out at the airport is quite acceptable to us and guarantees that the
    mission can go forward. So I think that's the most important thing.
        We have to--every decision we made, including the agreements made
    with the Russians, had one thing uppermost in their minds: Will the
    mission succeed? That is, today it's a very happy day. The Serbian
    forces will go out on schedule, the last of them. We have about 20,000
    of our NATO peacekeepers in there; 62,000 of the Kosovars have already
    come home, some of them before we wanted them to, because of the
    demining operations. So I feel very good about where we're going with
    this now, and I'm leaving here with real confidence that we are going to
    succeed in achieving all of our objectives.

    Kosovo Liberation Army

        Mr. Blitzer. But you have to be concerned about the potential for
    the KLA, the Kosovo Liberation Army--the revenge, the hatred, the fact
    that they're not going to be satisfied with autonomy. They're going to
    want full independence from Serbia. The potential for danger to those
    U.S. troops is very, very real.
        The President. There is a potential for danger for all troops, from
    both disgruntled Kosovar Albanians or disgruntled or frightened Serbs in
    Kosovo. But I am encouraged that the leaders of the KLA have now signed
    on to the commitment to demilitarize. They've agreed to put away their
    uniforms; to give up their big weapons, their non-pistol weapons; to do
    everything we have asked them to do.
        Might there be individuals or small groups who are full of anger and
    seek revenge? Of

    [[Page 1145]]

    course. And we'll have to be very vigilant, just as we've had to be
    vigilant in Bosnia.
        I also think we're going to have to work hard to take initiative, to
    try to take some of that venom out of the atmosphere. When Elie Wiesel,
    our Nobel laureate who survived the Holocaust, came back from the tour I
    asked him to take of the camps, he talked about how troubled he was by
    the children, the families, how much we needed to work on that, and how
    hard we'd have to work to get people, religious leaders and others, in
    there to try to get people to turn away from revenge.
        But this is a problem everywhere where such things occur. And you'd
    look at these hideous accounts that are just now coming out, even worse
    than we imagined, about the mass killings and the graves and the
    unusual, almost unimaginable cruelty. So it will take them some time to
    get through that, and we're going to work with them.
        Mr. Blitzer. You know, some in the U.S. military, though, are
    concerned that just as--when the U.S., when President Reagan sent troops
    into Lebanon, there were high expectations. When you sent troops into
    Somalia, there were high expectations. Things could go sour quickly. Is
    that realistic, or are you taking certain steps that will prevent
    another Lebanon or Somalia?
        The President. Well, I think we learned a lot about that. And when
    we went to Bosnia, where all the same things were present--remember,
    we'd had a quarter of a million people killed; we'd had 2.5 million
    refugees; we had all those horrible internment camps--all the hideous,
    awful stories we're hearing now out of Kosovo we had in Bosnia for a
    longer period of time.
        So we did a lot of extra work on security. And we were quite careful
    about how we defined our mission and how we carried it out, based on
    lessons learned both in Lebanon and in Somalia.
        And so we'll try to carry those lessons through. I can't tell the
    American people there will not be any violent incident, that no American
    will ever be harmed or killed. But I can say that we have learned the
    lessons of the last several years, and I think what we are doing is
    profoundly important.

    Aftermath of Situation in the Balkans

        Mr. Blitzer. In your Oval Office address, you declared victory. Some
    of your critics, though, say that as long as President Slobodan
    Milosevic is in power, there is no victory.
        The President. Well, that's two different things. Let me first say
    that when I spoke to the American people, I said we had three
    objectives: to reverse the ethnic cleansing and bring the Kosovar
    Albanians home--we're doing that; 62,000 are already back--to do it in a
    way that would keep our Alliance together--we're stronger than we ever
    were; and that I would seek a partnership with Russia as we had in
    Bosnia--we have now formalized that partnership, so that even though our
    relationships with Russia were quite strained during this period of the
    conflict, I think that we're actually in a position to have a stronger
    relationship with Russia in the future than we had before the conflict
    started. And so I feel good about that. So that is victory.
        Now, do I think the Serbian people would be better off without Mr.
    Milosevic? You bet I do. He has been indicted by the War Crimes
    Tribunal, and every day now we see the vivid pictures which graphically
    demonstrate that it was even worse than we imagined. There is no statute
    of limitations on that. The Serbian--the leader of the Serbian church
    has now called for him to step aside. And I certainly hope that will
    happen, and we have time to focus on that. But first, we've got to do
    the mission. We've got to bring the folks home in safety and self-
    government.
        Mr. Blitzer. Well, what the critics also say is that the U.S. and
    the NATO Allies have done nothing to go after other leading indicted war
    criminals--Serbs Ratko Mladic, Radovan Karadzic, Arkan. Why should
    President Milosevic be any more concerned than they are? They're all
    still free men.
        The President. Well, in our sector in Bosnia, we have arrested
    people who were indicted, and so have the British, and we have worked
    with them. And I think that would be a big mistake for Mr. Milosevic
    now. We may not have an extradition agreement with Serbia. But he--as
    long as he remains at large, there is no statute of limitations. And if
    I were in his position, I wouldn't take too

    [[Page 1146]]

    much comfort from that. But the best thing that can happen for the
    Serbian people is if he were no longer President.
        Mr. Blitzer. And you think that's realistic, that that could happen
    anytime soon?
        The President. Well, I think that I shouldn't comment on that right
    now. But I think that there's--with the church leaders calling for him
    to step down, with the people in the opposition in Serbia calling for
    him to do so, and with the commitment we have made as allies to support
    humanitarian aid to the Serbs but no reconstruction aid as long as he's
    there, I think that's a pretty clear message.

    Undermining Milosevic's Regime

        Mr. Blitzer. You know about the reports that you've signed an
    intelligence finding to actively seek to undermine his regime?
        The President. I don't comment on those things. I can't----

    Expectations of Operation Allied Force

        Mr. Blitzer.  I knew you wouldn't, but I figured I would ask anyhow.
        Let's move on to talk about--under the category of ``now the truth
    can be told.'' When you gave the order to launch the airstrikes, did you
    ever believe in your wildest imagination it would take 78 days, and all
    the devastation that it did take, to finally declare a victory?
        The President.  I'll tell you what I thought. I thought that there
    was maybe a 50 percent chance it would be over in a week, because once
    he knew we would do it, I thought he would remember Bosnia, and I
    thought he would understand what we could do. But I knew that if he
    decided to take the punishment of the air campaign, it could go on quite
    a long while, because he would be trying all along to divide the Allies
    or to bring pressure from the outside to try to find some way to bring
    it to a close.
        And so I told everybody when we started, I said, ``Look, if we start
    this and it doesn't work out in 2 or 3 days, we've got to be prepared to
    go on.''
        I knew that we had, because of the facts of this case, the
    capacity--with the sophisticated weaponry and the skill of our pilots--I
    knew we had the capacity to essentially take down the military apparatus
    and the economic apparatus supporting it. But I knew it could take quite
    a long time. I didn't have any specific deadline, but I knew it could
    take quite a long time.

    ``Clinton Doctrine''

        Mr. Blitzer.  Mr. President, some of your aides are now talking
    about a Clinton doctrine in foreign policy in the aftermath of this war
    against Yugoslavia. Is there, in your mind, a Clinton doctrine?
        The President. Well, I think there's an important principle here
    that I hope will be now upheld in the future and not just by the United
    States, not just by NATO, but also by the leading countries of the
    world, through the United Nations. And that is that while there may well
    be a great deal of ethnic and religious conflict in the world--some of
    it might break out into wars--that whether within or beyond the borders
    of a country, if the world community has the power to stop it, we ought
    to stop genocide and ethnic cleansing. People ought--innocent civilians
    ought not to be subject to slaughter because of their religious or
    ethnic or racial or tribal heritage.
        That is what we did, but took too long in doing, in Bosnia. That is
    what we did and are doing in Kosovo. That is, frankly, what we failed to
    do in Rwanda, where so many died so quickly, and what I hope very much
    we'll be able to do in Africa if it ever happens there again.

    Gun Control Legislation

        Mr. Blitzer. All right. Let's move on to some domestic issues.
    Guns--a big subject this past week. Do you really believe it's
    realistic, it's appropriate to register all guns in the United States?
    And if that were done, would that stop the violence?
        The President. Well, you asked two questions. Realistic? In this
    Congress, perhaps not. Appropriate? Sure. We register cars. And if we
    did register them, it would be easier to track sales and easier to do
    comprehensive background checks.
        But that's not what I asked the Congress to do. All I asked the
    Congress to do was to close the loophole for sales at gun shows and flea
    markets, so we could do the same

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    background checks we now do at gun stores. And do I think that would
    make America a less violent place? Yes, I think there would be less
    crime with guns if that happened.
        We already--under the Brady bill, we've stopped 400,000 improper
    sales. And we also have a 25-year low in our crime rate, and violent
    crime coming down, on average, even slightly more than that. So do I
    think violent crime would go down more? Absolutely, I do.
        Mr. Blitzer. And the registration, you're going to hold off on for
    the time being?
        The President. Yes. I mean, if we can't close the gun show loophole,
    we're certainly not going to pass that.
        But let me ask you this--and that doesn't have anything to do with
    the right to keep and bear arms. We have--there's a constitutional right
    to travel in America, enshrined by the Supreme Court as a constitutional
    right. No one believes that registering our cars, or proving that we
    know how to drive them, undermines our constitutional right to travel.
    It facilitates our constitutional right to travel by making sure we're
    safe on the road and that we know what we're doing.
        Mr. Blitzer. All right, but you will concede, though, that the
    Democrats have a potential political bonanza, from this defeat of the
    legislation this past week, going into the elections next year.
        The President. Well, if the public supports this--but I didn't want
    a political bonanza; I wanted a safer America. And our party did not
    seek political points on this. We sought--if we wanted a political
    bonanza, we would have gone in with a bunch of issues that we knew were
    popular that we had no chance to pass. We thought--we went in there with
    an agenda that we thought we could pass, that we knew would make America
    a safer place.
        No one questions--no one seriously questions--after the experience
    of the last 5 years with the Brady bill, that if we close the gun show
    and flea market loophole, that there will be fewer improper sales and it
    will make America safer at minimum disruption to the people who buy and
    sell guns and use them lawfully. So that's--what we've tried to do is to
    get things done that would make America a safer place.

    2000 Presidential Election

        Mr. Blitzer. All right. Speaking about politics, let's talk about
    Presidential politics. Do you think that Texas Governor George W. Bush
    is qualified to be President of the United States?
        The President. Well, that's a decision the American people have to
    make.
        Mr. Blitzer. Well, what do you think?
        The President. Well, I think--you know, for one thing, we've got to
    see where he stands on the issues. So far, we know almost nothing of
    that, except what we know from his record as Governor. He said--his
    announcement speech was very well crafted, and was strikingly
    reminiscent of what those of us who call ourselves New Democrats have
    been saying since 1991.
        But on the specifics, I just don't know. I mean, for example, he
    said nothing about this gun battle going on in the House. He signed the
    concealed weapons bill in the Texas Legislature. That's just the one
    example.
        The one thing I thought the Vice President did particularly well
    when he announced was to say, ``I'm very proud of what we've done in the
    last 6\1/2\ years; I've got all the relevant experience to be President,
    but the important thing is, what are we going to do in the next 4 years;
    and here are specific things I will do.'' I think that Governor Bush
    owes it to the American people to say the same thing.
        Mr. Blitzer. Well, why is Vice President Gore so far behind Governor
    Bush in the polls, and what does the Vice President have to do to catch
    up?
        The President. Well, I think in historical terms, he's not
    particularly far behind. I think if you go back and look at this point
    in 1959, when candidate Richard Nixon, Vice President Richard Nixon, was
    going to run as the Republican nominee, he was considerably further
    behind Adlai Stevenson, who was the best-known Democrat at the time.
        I think the American people--the encouraging thing to me is that
    two-thirds of them have said they want to know more about all the
    candidates, including the Vice President. And I believe when they look
    at experience, proven success, and the program for the future--most--all
    elections are about tomorrow--I think he's going to do very well.

    [[Page 1148]]

        Mr. Blitzer. Do you think that he was trying, this week, to distance
    himself from you, the Vice President, by saying, almost volunteering,
    that your behavior last year was inexcusable?
        The President. Well, I took no offense at it. He didn't say anything
    that I hadn't said in much starker terms a long time ago. So there was
    nothing inappropriate about that.
        I thought the most important thing he did, frankly, by far, was to
    say, ``I've got experience in areas that matter, and we have succeeded;
    here's what I'm going to do, specifically, if you elect me; and the real
    choice is whether you want to build on this record of success and go
    beyond it, or you want to go back.''
        I think--keep in mind, the American people will view this election,
    as they should--as they should--as about them, their children, and their
    future. All elections are about tomorrow. So if you've been a good Vice
    President or a good Governor of Texas, for the voters at election time,
    that's only valuable if it's evidence that you'll do good tomorrow.
        They hire you; they give you a check every 2 weeks to do a good job.
    So I thought the most important thing he did was to talk about his
    future vision.

    Mrs. Clinton's Possible Senate Bid

        Mr. Blitzer. All right, let's talk about the First Lady's potential
    run for the Senate from New York. When did you discover, when did you
    learn that the First Lady was a New York Yankees fan?
        The President. Oh, when I first--shortly after I met her, because
    I'm a big baseball fan. I mean, I'm----
        Mr. Blitzer. You know, a lot of people think she just came up----
        The President. I know that. But she said how it came to be. Her
    primary allegiance all her life has been to the Chicago Cubs. If you go
    to Chicago, basically, most of the people on the north side are for the
    Cubs; most of the people on the south side are for the White Sox. And
    she said, but I also--I remember back in the seventies, we were talking
    about other baseball, and she said, ``But I like the Yankees, too.'' I
    said, ``Well, why don't you like the White Sox?'' She said, ``If you're
    from Chicago, you're for the White Sox or the Cubs, and normally not
    both.'' So our family always liked the Yankees.
        Mr. Blitzer. All right. You know, there----
        The President. I learned it a long time ago.
        Mr. Blitzer. ----you know, there are reports out today in U.S. News
    and World Report that she's thinking of moving out of the White House
    and getting a place in New York in the fall.
        The President. Well, it's not true that she's going to move out of
    the White House. But let me answer the report. Months ago, we said that
    we intended to get a place in New York. We talked--we started talking
    not long after we moved to the White House about where we would live
    when we got out. She's always wanted to live in New York, so we said
    we'd do that. And I would divide my time between New York and going home
    to Arkansas and finishing my library and doing my work there.
        Now, if she runs for the Senate, she'll obviously have to spend a
    lot more time there. But it will be more like an incumbent Member of
    Congress running for reelection. That is, she's not going to stop being
    First Lady and doing her other responsibilities, but she'll have to
    spend a lot more time in New York, and we'll have to get a place there
    for her to be while she's spending her time there.
        Mr. Blitzer. If she runs for the Senate, will you be eligible to
    vote for her in New York State? In other words, would you move your
    voting registration from Arkansas to New York?
        The President. Well, I might, because I think every vote counts, and
    I'd certainly want her to win if she ran.
        Mr. Blitzer. Could be that close?
        The President. I will say this. I think if this is what she wants to
    do, if she wants, if she decides to do this, I will be enthusiastically
    supportive, because I think she would be truly magnificent. I think
    she'd be great for the people of New York and good for the people of
    America.
        In all the years I've been in public life, of all the people I've
    ever known, she has

    [[Page 1149]]

    been the most consistently, seriously dedicated to the kinds of public
    issues that I think are important today: to the welfare of children, the
    strength of families, the future of education, quality of health care. I
    mean, this is something--if the people of New York chose her, they would
    have somebody with 30 years of unbroken, consistent, committed
    dedication, who knows a lot and is great with working with people. So if
    that's what she wants, I'm strong for it.
        Mr. Blitzer. And so you're ready to move from----
        The President. I'm ready to do whatever she wants. I will be--
    whatever the facts are about her running for the Senate, I'll be
    dividing my time between New York and home, because I've got a library
    to build; I've got a public policy center to set up; and it's a real
    gift I want to give my native State, and I want it to be something
    wonderful and good. So, I've spent quite a lot of time on it already.

    President's Future After End of Term

        Mr. Blitzer. Mr. President, you've always been someone who's looked
    ahead. When you look ahead to your personal life after you leave the
    White House, what do you see?
        The President. Well, it depends in part on what Hillary does. You
    know, I'll probably be going to meetings of the Senate spouses club, if
    she decides to run. But I want to continue to be active in areas that I
    care a great deal about. And I think that through my library and through
    the public policy center, and perhaps through some other activities, I
    can continue to work on some of the issues of world peace and
    reconciliation of people across these racial and religious lines that
    I've devoted so much of my life to. I can continue the work at home on
    issues that I care a great deal about, including involving young people
    in public service, whether it's young people in AmeriCorps or young
    Americans who are interested in running for public office. I've given a
    lot of thought to it.
        But I'll find something useful to do. I want to work hard. I'm too
    early--it's too early to quit work, and I'm not good enough to go on the
    senior golf tour. So I expect I'll have to just keep on doing what I'm
    doing.
        Mr. Blitzer. So what--I'm hearing more of the Jimmy Carter model as
    opposed to a Gerald Ford model?
        The President. Yes, that may just be a function of age and
    circumstance. I think President Carter has been the most effective
    former President in my lifetime and one of the three or four most
    important former Presidents, in his public service and the quality of
    his work, in the entire history of the United States. So what I would do
    wouldn't be exactly what he has done, but I think the model of what he
    has done and how he's done it is a good model for every former President
    who gets out who still has good health and a few years left.
        Mr. Blitzer. Okay, Mr. President. I'm told we're all out of time. I
    want to thank you very much for joining us for this special ``Late
    Edition'' here in Cologne.
        The President. This is your last trip with me, so I want to thank
    you for 6\1/2\ good years. Good luck.
        Mr. Blitzer. Thank you very much. It's been an honor to cover you.

    Note: The interview began at 4:27 p.m. in the Bibliotek Room at the
    Hyatt Regency Hotel and was videotaped for later broadcast on Cable News
    Network. In his remarks, the President referred to President Slobodan
    Milosevic of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro);
    Serbian Patriarch Pavle, president of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the
    Serbian Orthodox Church; and suspected war criminals Radovan Karadzic,
    Ratko Mladic, and Zeljko (Arkan) Raznatovic, indicted by the
    International War Crimes Tribunal. A tape was not available for
    verification of the content of this interview.