    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 25 (Monday, June 28, 1999)]
    [Pages 1169-1170]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks to Kosovo International Security Force Troops in Skopje

    June 22, 1999

        Thank you very much, General Clark, General Jackson, General
    Craddock, Colonel Ingram, ladies and gentlemen of the United States
    military. And as nearly as I can tell, we've got a few of our British
    counterparts back there and at least two Spanish officers over here
    somewhere.
        And I just want to say, first of all, I am proud to have the
    soldiers, the marines, the air men and women, the naval forces of the
    United States of America serving in NATO. I am proud that we're part of
    KFOR. I'm proud that we're serving under an able commander like General
    Jackson. I am proud of Wes Clark.
        You know, General Clark and I went through the agony of Bosnia
    together. He lost three good friends, who fell off a mountain because
    Mr. Milosevic wouldn't let them take the safe road to try to negotiate a
    peace. And we watched for 4 years while reasoned diplomacy tried to save
    lives and a quarter of a million people died and 2\1/2\ million refugees
    were created before NATO and our friends on the ground in Croatia and
    Bosnia forced a settlement there and ended the horror there.
        This time we didn't wait. And it took 79 days, but that's a lot
    better than 4 years. And I hope the people of the world, when they see
    these horrible, horrible stories coming out, the mass graves and all of
    that, just imagine what it would have been like if we had stepped to the
    side and not done what we did for the last 3 months.
        I hope, to the day you die, you will be proud of being a part of a
    nation and a democratic alliance that believes that people should not be
    killed, uprooted, or destroyed because of their race, their ethnic
    background, or the way they worship God. I am proud of that, and I hope
    you are.
        Let me also say to you that I just came from one of our refugee
    camps, and there are a lot of grateful people there. But you and I know
    that there's a lot to be done yet, and General Jackson's got a big job.
    And the United States is proud to be doing our part to help our allied
    efforts succeed there. We must not have one conflict and roll back
    ethnic cleansing and then lose the peace because we don't do every last
    thing just as we're supposed to do it.
        So the whole credibility of the principle on which we have stood our
    ground and fought in this region for years and years now--that here,
    just like in America, just like in Great Britain, people who come from
    different racial and ethnic and religious backgrounds can live together
    and work together and do better together if they simply respect each
    other's God-given dignity--and we don't want our children to grow up in
    a 21st century world where innocent civilians can be hauled off to the
    slaughter, where children can die, en masse, where young boys of
    military age can be burned alive, where young girls can be raped, en
    masse, just to intimidate their families. We don't want our kids to grow
    up in a world like that.
        Now, what it rides on is not the precision of our bombs, not in our
    power to destroy, but your power to build and to be safe while you're
    doing it and to protect the ethnic Kosovar Albanians and the ethnic
    Serbs alike. As long as they are innocent civilians, doing nothing
    wrong, they're entitled to protection--and to try to show by the power
    of your example, day-in and day-out, those of you that are going into
    Kosovo, that people can lay down their hatreds.
        You need to think about telling your family stories. You need to
    think about how we can

    [[Page 1170]]

    help these people get over this awful, grievous thing. I saw a lot of
    little kids just a few minutes ago with a lot of hurt and terror and
    loss in their eyes. So you've got a big, big job left.
        It is not free of danger; it will not be free of difficulty. There
    will be some days you wish you were somewhere else. But never forget, if
    we can do this here and if we can then say to the people of the world,
    whether you live in Africa, or central Europe, or any other place, if
    somebody comes after innocent civilians and tries to kill them, en
    masse, because of their race, their ethnic background, or their
    religion, and it's within our power to stop it, we will stop it.
        And by the way, look at central Europe. These people can live
    together and prosper together. That's what we're trying to do. It can
    make a huge difference to our children in the new century. It may mean
    that Americans will never have to fight again in a big land war, because
    we just let things get out of hand and out of hand and out of hand until
    everything blew up and there was nothing else that could be done about
    it. This is very important.
        And again I say, I hope you will always be proud of it. I hope you
    know how proud that I and the American people are of you.
        Thank you, and God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 5:43 p.m. on the tarmac at Skopje Airport.
    In his remarks, he referred to Gen. Wesley K. Clark, USA, Supreme Allied
    Commander Europe; Lt. Gen. Mike
    Jackson, British Royal Army, Commander, Kosovo International Security
    Force; Brig. Gen. John Craddock, USA, Commander, Task Force Falcon; Col.
    William E. Ingram, Jr., USA, Commander, Camp Able Sentry; and President
    Slobodan Milosevic of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and
    Montenegro). A tape was not available for verification of the content of
    these remarks.