pd05ap99 Executive Order 13117--Further Amendment to Executive Order 12981, as...

	Web GovRecords.org

University. We offer our sincere condolences to his wife, Aung San Suu 
Kyi, his sons, Alexander and Kim, and other family members.
    Dr. Aris' perseverance and dedication to his wife and family and to 
the cause of human rights and democracy in Burma earned him the respect 
and admiration of citizens around the world. At this difficult time, I 
want to reaffirm to Michael's family and to all the people of Burma that 
the United States will keep working for the day when all who have been 
separated and sent into exile by the denial of human rights in Burma are 
reunited with their families and when Burma is reunited with the family 
of freedom.


<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
 [frwais.access.gpo.gov]
                         

[Page 532-533]
 
Monday, April 5, 1999
 
Volume 35--Number 13
Pages 531-577
 
Week Ending Friday, April 2, 1999
 
Remarks on Departure for Camp David, Maryland, and an Exchange With 
Reporters

March 28, 1999

NATO Airstrikes

    The President. Good afternoon. All Americans can be very proud of 
the skill and bravery of the American servicemen involved in the rescue 
operation yesterday in Kosovo. Indeed, we can be proud of all of our men 
and women in uniform who are involved in the NATO mission.
    From the outset, I have said to the American people that this 
military operation entails real risks. But the continued brutality and 
repression of the Serb forces further underscores the need for NATO to 
persevere. I strongly support Secretary General Solana's decision 
yesterday to move to a new phase in our planned air campaign, with a 
broader range of targets including air defenses, military and security 
targets, and forces in the field.
    In the last 24 hours, I have been in close contact with key NATO 
allies, including Prime Minister Blair, President Chirac, Chancellor 
Schroeder, and Prime Minister D'Alema. All of them share our 
determination to respond strongly to Mr. Milosevic's continuing campaign 
of inhumane and violence against the Kosovar Albanian people. That is 
what we intend to do.
    Thank you very much.
    Q. Has the bombing made things worse, sir?
    Q. Sir, is the allied bombing driving the atrocities, sir?
    The President. Absolutely not.

Note: The President spoke at 2:15 p.m. on the South Lawn at the White 
House. In his remarks, the President referred to NATO Secretary General 
Javier Solana; Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom; 
President Jacques Chirac of France; Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of 
Germany; Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema of Italy;

[[Page 533]]

and President Slobodan Milosevic of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 
(Serbia and Montenegro).


<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
 [frwais.access.gpo.gov]
                         

[Page 533-535]
 
Monday, April 5, 1999
 
Volume 35--Number 13
Pages 531-577
 
Week Ending Friday, April 2, 1999
 
Remarks on the Unveiling of a Portrait of Former Secretary of State 
Warren M. Christopher

March 30, 1999

    Thank you very much, Secretary Albright, Chris, Marie, other members 
of the Cabinet who are here, Secretary Rubin, Secretary Shalala. We 
thank very much Tunky Riley and Hattie Babbitt for being here. And we're 
glad that Tom and Oya are here and past and present officials of the 
State Department, other distinguished guests.
    I would like to begin by saying that it is ironic, but perhaps 
appropriate, that we are unveiling the portrait of this truly wonderful, 
distinguished American who did so much to bring peace to Bosnia at a 
time when we are engaged in a struggle for peace in Kosovo. I hope 
you'll just let me say a word about that.
    The NATO military operation is continuing today against an expanded 
range of targets, including Serbian forces on the ground in Kosovo. The 
allies are united in our outrage over President Milosevic's atrocities 
against innocent people. We are determined to stay with our policy. As 
President Chirac said yesterday, what is happening today must strengthen 
our resolution.
    Countries from throughout the Balkans, from Greece to Turkey to 
Romania to Bulgaria, are helping us to meet the mounting humanitarian 
crisis. We are all dealing today with the same horrible pattern of 
conduct we saw in Bosnia. We saw that conduct resume in 1998 in Kosovo, 
when a quarter of a million innocent people were driven from their 
homes. We saw it escalate in January and February of this year, as 
Serbian forces, in violation of the agreement the President had made 
last October, moved from village to village and atrocity to atrocity 
while their leaders pretended to negotiate for peace in France.
    Now it is clear that as the Kosovar leaders were saying yes to 
peace, Mr. Milosevic was planning a new campaign of expulsions and 
executions in Kosovo. He started carrying out that plan as the talks 
ended, increasing our sense of urgency that the airstrikes NATO had 
threatened for some time must begin.
    Now, lamentably, we have credible reports that his troops are 
singling out for murder the moderate Kosovar leaders who supported a 
peaceful solution. Refugees are streaming out, clearly shaken by what 
they have seen. Altogether, since the conflict started last year, more 
than half a million people have been forced from their homes.
    If there was ever any doubt about what is at stake in Kosovo, Mr. 
Milosevic is certainly erasing it by his actions. They are the 
culmination of more than a decade of using ethnic and religious hatred 
as a justification for uprooting and murdering completely innocent, 
peaceful civilians to pave Mr. Milosevic's path to absolute power.
    The NATO air campaign is designed to raise the price of that policy. 
Today, he faces the mounting cost of his continued aggression. For a 
sustained period, he will see that his military will be seriously 
diminished, key military infrastructure destroyed, the prospect of 
international support for Serbia's claim to Kosovo increasingly 
jeopardized.
    We must remain steady and determined, with the will to see this 
through.
    I can't think of anyone whose life and career and personality those 
words--``steady, determined, the will to see this through''--I can't 
think of anyone those words apply better to than Warren Christopher. No 
one worked harder than he did to bring an end to the bloody war in 
Bosnia. No one worked harder than he did to galvanize the unity in our 
NATO alliance that has allowed us to act with resolve today and gave us 
the vision to take on new members and new missions in the aftermath of 
the cold war.
    It took time to forge a just peace in Bosnia, because Chris and his 
team were persistent and prevailed. We must be as persistent today as we 
were then in pursuit of peace.
    He was our first post-cold-war Secretary of State, our first chief 
diplomat in over 50 years who faced, as Madeleine recently said, the 
challenge of defining our foreign policy in a world without a single, 
overriding threat to our security. But he saw that, as did I, as a great 
opportunity. He was determined

[[Page 534]]

to make sure that we maintained our leadership in the world, consistent 
with our values, our interests, and our tradition, and that we remained 
alive to the new possibilities for peace and prosperity and security 
that this new world brings.
    From the first days of 1993, he was a whirlwind of activity. I like 
to say--I used to kid him that he really weighed 250 pounds when he 
became Secretary of State, and he just worked it off. But that's not 
true. He got up every morning and went running to wake up and get his 
exercise, and he never stopped running.
    He advanced the peace process in the Middle East, from the 
unforgettable signing on the South Lawn in 1993 to the peace between 
Israel and Jordan in the Wadi Araba, to the countless days and nights of 
hard work to keep the process alive through hope and despair after the 
death of our friend Prime Minister Rabin.
    He led our efforts to secure the agreed framework with North Korea 
to achieve a secure peace on the Korean Peninsula, to make the Dayton 
agreement first a reality. He shepherded our alliances in Europe and 
Asia into a new historical era.
    He tried to bring new unity to our diplomacy, between our 
diplomatic, our military, and our economic strategies, aggressively 
supporting NAFTA and GATT. He helped us to reach out to the rest of the 
world in new and innovative ways through the Asian Pacific Economic 
Leaders meeting, the Summit of the Americas, the first White House 
Conference on Africa.
    He understood how important it was for us to maintain and intensify 
our partnership with Russia, and we did a lot of good things together in 
those 4 years. More than any other previous Secretary of State, he 
understood that protecting the environment would become an increasingly 
important area of international security, requiring greater 
international cooperation. He put the environment where it belongs in 
the 21st century--in the mainstream of our diplomacy.
    Like his successor, Chris also fought tenaciously for the resources 
the State Department needs to do the job you do so well.
    Now, Chris had about the lowest ratio of ego to accomplishment of 
any public servant I've ever worked with. And we can all say these noble 
things about him. It's true. He never thought you had to hit below the 
belt to get above the fold in the morning newspaper. He was always 
willing to go the extra mile for peace, and is now the most traveled 
Secretary of State in our history--though Madeleine seems determined to 
overtake him. [Laughter]
    All that is true. But just remember one thing: People ask me all the 
time, ``How did you ever decide to make Warren Christopher your first 
Secretary of State?'' And I said, ``You know, I don't know; it just sort 
of came to me in the transition process''--which Warren Christopher ran. 
[Laughter] It is a great mistake to underestimate this man. [Laughter]
    Near the end of his book, ``In the Stream of History,'' Chris 
reveals that he is not fond of emotional goodbyes. I have tried with 
some difficulty to honor his preference. But I'd like to just mention a 
couple of things from the book because they particularly touched me. He 
confesses his admiration in the book for George Marshall and Dean 
Acheson, two World War II generation public servants who defeated 
formidable foes but had the foresight to commit America to continued 
leadership in a new world. In his farewell address to the State 
Department, he summoned their memory. I suspect that his admiration 
stems from the fact that they were Americans who put the needs of their 
country above their own, who were modest when they could be but forceful 
when they had to be, who possessed the stamina and the steel to 
accomplish things that were truly extraordinary. He has all those 
qualities.
    And I can tell you, every day I remain grateful that somehow, 
someway, a few years ago our paths crossed. We became friends and 
allies. I don't think I've ever known anyone with quite the degree of 
selfless devotion to public service and aggressive pursuit of the 
Nation's interest put into one compact, brilliant person that I have 
seen in Warren Christopher.
    I am honored by his service and by his friendship. And I thank you 
all for being here today to unveil his portrait.
    Thank you very much.

[[Page 535]]

Note: The President spoke at 1:47 p.m. in the Benjamin Franklin Room at 
the State Department. In his remarks, he referred to Secretary 
Christopher's wife, Marie, his son, Tom, and daughter-in-law, Oya; 
Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley's wife, Ann (Tunky); President 
Slobodan Milosevic of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and 
Montenegro); and President Jacques Chirac of France. The transcript made 
available by the Office of the Press Secretary also included the remarks 
of former Secretary Christopher.


<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
 [frwais.access.gpo.gov]
                         

[Page 535-537]
 
Monday, April 5, 1999
 
Volume 35--Number 13
Pages 531-577
 
Week Ending Friday, April 2, 1999
 
Remarks on Receiving the Report of the Social Security and Medicare 
Trustees and an Exchange With Reporters

March 30, 1999

    The President. Thank you very much. Please be seated. I welcome all 
of our guests here, as well as the members of the administration. And I 
thank those who have joined me here on the platform for this important 
announcement.
    Twice in the last 6 years we have strengthened our Nation's future 
in the 21st century by addressing serious, great fiscal challenges to 
America. In 1993 we met the threat of mounting deficits and a stagnant 
economy with an economic plan of fiscal discipline, expanded trade, and 
investment in our people. Thanks to that action, the red ink of the 
Federal budget has turned to black, and we are enjoying the longest 
peacetime expansion in our Nation's history. In 1997 we reaffirmed our 
commitment to fiscal discipline with the bipartisan balanced budget 
agreement. It took important steps to improve Medicare, saving tens of 
billions of dollars in costs while expanding benefits for recipients and 
choices.
    Today we have new evidence that those determined actions were the 
right ones. I have just been briefed by our four Social Security and 
Medicare trustees for the administration--Secretaries Rubin, Shalala, 
Herman, Social Security Commissioner Apfel--who are here with me today. 
The trustees have issued their annual report on the future financial 
health of these vital programs. The trustees' report shows that the 
strength of our economy has led to modest but real improvements in the 
outlook for Social Security. They project that economic growth today 
will extend the solvency of the Social Security Trust Fund to 2034--2 
years longer than was projected in last year's report.
    After that date, however, the Trust Fund will be exhausted, and 
Social Security will not be able to pay the full benefits older 
Americans have been promised. Therefore, still I say we must move 
forward with my plan to set aside 62 percent of the surplus for Social 
Security, investing a small portion in the private sector for better 
return, just as any private or State government pension would do.
    As I said in my State of the Union Address, we then must go further 
with difficult but achievable reforms that put Social Security on a 
sound footing for 75 years, that lift the earnings limitations on what 
seniors can earn, and that do something about the incredible problem of 
poverty among elderly women living alone.
    The trustees have also told us that today the future for Medicare 
has improved even more. The trustees project that the life of the 
Medicare Trust Fund has been extended until 2015. That's 7 years longer 
than was projected in last year's report. These improvements are only 
partially due to the stronger economy. According to the trustees, they 
are also the result of the difficult but necessary decisions made in 
1997 and to our successful efforts to fight waste, fraud, and abuse in 
the Medicare program.
    Now, this trustee report is very good news. We should be pleased; 
Americans can be proud. But we should not be lulled into thinking that 
nothing more needs to be done, because the improvements we see today, 

Other Popular 1999 Presidential Documents Documents:

Other Documents:

1999 Presidential Documents Records and Documents