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[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
[frwais.access.gpo.gov]
[Page i-iii]
Monday, May 3, 1999
Volume 35--Number 17
Pages 705-771
Contents
[[Page i]]
Weekly Compilation of
Presidential
Documents
[[Page ii]]
Addresses and Remarks
See also Bill Signings; Meetings With Foreign Leaders
Balkans, situation in--759
Gun control legislation, proposed--746
Maryland, Democratic National Committee dinner in Chevy Chase--756
National Medals of Science and Technology, presentation--750
NATO 50th Anniversary Summit
Close--735
Commemorative ceremony--710
Departure--708
Dinner--715
Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council
Dinner--733
Opening session--734
NATO-Ukraine Commission--732
North Atlantic Council
Meeting on Kosovo--709
Meeting with the frontline states--733
Opening session--716
School violence, measures to address--767
Radio address--717
``The Third Way: Progressive Governance for the 21st Century,''
discussion--736
Union of American Hebrew Congregations dinner honoring Rabbi David
Saperstein--742
Bill Signings
Education Flexibility Act of 1999, remarks--761
Communications to Congress
Nuclear weapons stockpile, letter transmitting report on
certification--741
Ordering Reserves to active duty to support military action in
Kosovo, message transmitting Executive order--754
Communications to Federal Agencies
Establishment of the Interagency Commission on Crime and Security in
U.S. Seaports, memorandum--755
Kosovo
Assistance to refugees fleeing, memorandum--767
Emergency refugee admissions consultations relating to Kosovars,
memorandum --769
Renewing the Federal Government-University Research Partnership for
the 21st Century, memorandum--753
Executive Orders
Ordering the Selected Reserve and Certain Individual Ready Reserve
Members of the Armed Forces to Active Duty--754
Interviews With the News Media
Exchanges with reporters
Rose Garden--705, 759
South Lawn--708
Interview with Katie Couric of the National Broadcasting
Corporation--763
News conference, April 24 (No. 173)--728
(Continued on the inside of the back cover.)
Editor's Note: The Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents is also
available on the Internet on the GPO Access service at http://
www.gpo.gov/nara/nara003.html.
WEEKLY COMPILATION OF
------------------------------
PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS
Published every Monday by the Office of the Federal Register, National
Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC 20408, the Weekly
Compilation of Presidential Documents contains statements, messages, and
other Presidential materials released by the White House during the
preceding week.
The Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents is published pursuant to
the authority contained in the Federal Register Act (49 Stat. 500, as
amended; 44 U.S.C. Ch. 15), under regulations prescribed by the
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President (37 FR 23607; 1 CFR Part 10).
Distribution is made only by the Superintendent of Documents, Government
Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. The Weekly Compilation of
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Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. The charge
for a single copy is $3.00 ($3.75 for foreign mailing).
There are no restrictions on the republication of material appearing in
the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents.
[[Page iii]]
Contents--Continued
Joint Statements
Kosovo--711
Washington Declaration--713
Washington Summit Communique--718
Meetings With Foreign Leaders
NATO leaders--705, 709-711, 713, 715, 716, 718, 732-736
Proclamations
National Crime Victims' Rights Week--707
National Science and Technology Week--715
Statements by the President
Congressional inaction on legislation to strengthen Social
Security--714
Economy, national--769
Statements by the President--Continued
Ordering Reserves to active duty to support military action in
Kosovo, Executive order calling--753
Tobacco
Legislation to waive the Federal Government's claim to tobacco
settlement funds--763
Supreme Court's decision to consider Food and Drug
Administration regulation of tobacco products--741
Working Group on Financial Markets report--763
Supplementary Materials
Acts approved by the President--771
Checklist of White House press releases--770
Digest of other White House announcements--770
Nominations submitted to the Senate--770
[[Page 705]]
<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
[frwais.access.gpo.gov]
[Page 705-707]
Monday, May 3, 1999
Volume 35--Number 17
Pages 705-771
Week Ending Friday, April 30, 1999
Remarks Following Discussions With NATO Secretary General Javier Solana
and Exchange With Reporters
April 22, 1999
The President. Good afternoon. Secretary General Solana and I have
just had a good meeting reviewing the NATO Summit. Our alliance is
strongly united today, in no small measure because of his leadership. He
has made a tremendous difference as we have worked to reshape NATO to
meet new challenges and as we have responded to Mr. Milosevic's
repression in Kosovo.
Serb forces there have pushed nearly 1.4 million people, three-
quarters of Kosovo's ethnic Albanians, from their homes. They have
killed thousands, confiscated identity papers, separated parents from
children, buried victims in mass graves, told Kosovars, ``Take a last
look around, for you will never return to Kosovo.''
NATO's response has been firm and persistent. Our objective is
clear: We want all the people of Kosovo restored to their homes, free of
the hostile presence of Mr. Milosevic's forces; protected by an
international security force; enjoying liberty and self-government. Mr.
Milosevic can accept this outcome, or he can watch as NATO grinds down
his war machine and the Serb people he claims to represent face mounting
hardship.
Our allied forces come from many backgrounds, but they are working
together, now, through some 9,000 air sorties. They have weakened Mr.
Milosevic's defenses, command and control, and capacity to produce fuel
and ammunition. We are attacking the infrastructure that supports the
military offensive, including bridges and electrical power.
Increasingly, we are striking at tanks, artillery, and aircraft, and in
recent days we've begun to strike key facilities used to direct and
incite the campaign of ethnic cleansing.
Meanwhile, our relief efforts are working to bring order out of
chaos and hope to those in despair. I am grateful to all the Americans,
and indeed, to people around the world who have provided assistance.
Now, tomorrow, the leaders of 42 nations will gather here for NATO's
50th Anniversary Summit. This summit will enable our alliance to advance
our mission in Kosovo and to plan for a better future--to build a Europe
that is undivided, democratic, and at peace.
This crisis in Kosovo has underscored the importance of the efforts
we have been making for 5 years now to strengthen and adapt NATO for the
new century, to enhance our capacity to address regional and ethnic
conflicts on NATO's doorstep, to protect our citizens against terrorism
and weapons of mass destruction, to improve security cooperation with
partner nations across Europe, to help aspiring members improve their
candidacies so they can join NATO.
At our summit, we will advance these efforts, meet with partner
nations, including Ukraine and the nations of the frontline of the
Kosovo crisis. We will reaffirm our commitment to advancing our
cooperation for peace and stability with Russia, for though we have
differences on Kosovo, the world benefits when we work together.
And we will further our efforts for deeper democracy, tolerance,
economic development, and regional integration in Southeastern Europe,
in the hopes that soon all the people there, including the Serbs who are
now suffering from Mr. Milosevic's reckless tyranny, can have peace,
prosperity, and true freedom.
Now I'd like Secretary General Solana to say a few words. Mr.
Secretary General.
[At this point, Secretary General Solana made brief remarks.]
Q. Mr. President----
Q. Mr. President----
[[Page 706]]
Q. Mr. President, are you as committed now to now using----
The President. One at a time, one at a time.
Ground Troops in Kosovo
Q. Mr. President, I wonder if you could clarify the U.S.
Government's position on Secretary General Solana's decision yesterday
to authorize a reassessment of last year's plan to possibly introduce
ground forces into Kosovo. Does this represent a precursor to that kind
of decision?
The President. Well, the answer to your last question is, no. The
answer to your first question is, I support the Secretary General's
decision to update the assessment. I think it is a wise and prudent
course.
Now, my position is still the same. I support the strategy we have
embraced. It has the unity of the alliance, and it will be vigorously
prosecuted. A vigorous prosecution of the air campaign, an
intensification of economic pressures, along with our continuing
diplomatic efforts, I believe is the correct strategy. And I believe it
will succeed. But I support the decision he made. I think it's only
prudent.
Security Force for Kosovo
Q. Mr. President, there are reports of a new offer by Milosevic to
the Russians to allow some type of security force into Kosovo. Number
one, what do you know about this offer? And number two, will any
security force have to have not only NATO troops but also American
forces on the ground as well?
The President. Well, first of all, it's hard--I cannot comment on
the offer because I literally don't know anything other than what you
just said--that is, I heard about it just a few minutes before you did
or after you did or at the same time, so I cannot comment on the
details. If there is an offer for a genuine security force, that's the
first time that Mr. Milosevic has ever done that, and that represents, I
suppose, some step forward.
My interest here is in something that will work that will have the
support of the parties. My belief is that the members of our alliance
want us all to be able to go in there and that the Kosovar Albanians
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