Remarks to the Troops in Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina December 22
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Administration of William J. Clinton, 1997 / Dec. 22 2099 Croats, and Serbs. Well, they're still here, guished military officials and officials from and they're still Muslims, Croats, and Serbs. the White House; and a truly astonishing del- And to tell you the truth, I know the tuba egation from Congress, of both Democrats players from the violinists, but I can't tell the and Republicans together. Muslims from the Croats from the Serbs. We have Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska; The harmony of their disparate voicesÐthe Senator Joe Biden of Delaware; Senator Joe harmony of their disparate voicesÐis what Lieberman of Connecticut; Senator Dan I hear. It reminds me of Bosnia's best past, Coats of Indiana; Representative John Kasich and it should be the clarion call to your fu- of Ohio; Representative Jack Murtha of ture. Pennsylvania; Representative Ike Skelton of Here at the dawn of the new millennium, Missouri; Representative Elijah Cummings let us recall that the century we are leaving of Maryland; Representative Mac Collins of began with the sound of gunfire in Sarajevo. GeorgiaÐanybody from Georgia? [Cheers] And let us vow to start the new century with Representative John Boehner of Ohio and the music of peace in Sarajevo. Representative Steve Buyer of IndianaÐany- To the people of Bosnia I say, you have body here from Indiana? [Cheers] I'm proud seen what war has wrought; now you know of all of them. what peace can bring. So seize the chance And let me say, we came here for two rea- before you. You can do nothing to change sons today. We came here, first of all, to say the past, but if you can let it go, you can thank you to all of you, to say what you are do everything to build a future. The world doing for your country is a good and noble is watching, and the world is with you. But thing. You are doing it well, and we are grate- the choice is yours. May you make the right ful. We know it's tough to be away from one. home at Christmas time. We know it's hard Thank you, and God bless you. to be away from your families. But you are doing something profoundly important. NOTE: The President spoke at 11:55 a.m. at the The second reason we came here was so National Theater. In his remarks, he referred to that we could go to Sarajevo and see the lead- Farouk Sabanovic, and Masha Mishdin, who intro- duced the President; Alija Izetbegovic, Presidency ers of the Muslims, the Croatians, and the Chairman, and Kresimir Zubak, Presidency Mem- Serbs, and tell them that they made an agree- ber, National Government, Bosnia-Herzegovina; ment at Dayton that we are doing our dead- former Senator Bob Dole and his wife, Elizabeth, level best to help them enforce, and they president, American Red Cross; Gen. Henry H. promised that they would live and work to- Shelton, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; Gen. gether and build one country without ethnic Wesley K. Clark, Supreme Allied Commander, prejudice or unfairness to any group, that we Europe; and Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, Commander, would not only end a war, that they would U.S. Army, Europe. The President also referred build a peace together, and that we in the to the NATO-led Implementation Force in Bosnia United States were determined not only to (IFOR) and the NATO-led Stabilization Force in Bosnia (SFOR). do our part but we expected them to do theirs. And these good people in Bosnia, these little children, who have suffered so Remarks to the Troops in Tuzla, much, they deserve leaders who honor the Bosnia-Herzegovina commitments they made at Dayton and build December 22, 1997 a better, brighter future. And we wanted to do that with one voice, The President. Thank you for your laid- without regard to party. So I want to say a back welcome. [Laughter] Thank you, Gen- special word of thanks to Senator Bob Dole eral Ellis. Ladies and gentlemen, I have and Mrs. Elizabeth Dole for coming. And come here with a great delegation of Ameri- I would like to giveÐSenators talk like this cans, including the Secretary of State, the all the time; I don't quite know how to do Secretary of the Army, the Chairman of the it, but I think this is called yielding a portion Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Supreme Allied of my time. I'd like for Bob Dole to come Commander in Europe; many other distin- up here and say a few words. VerDate 28-OCT-97 07:45 Dec 31, 1997 Jkt 010199 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 1244 Sfmt 1244 W:\DISC\P52DE4.022 p52de4 2100 Dec. 22 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1997 [Former Senator Bob Dole made brief re- a church. And Hillary and Chelsea went over marks.] there, and I got out, and I went over and The President. Thank you, Senator Dole. shook hands with them. And they said, ``We Thank you for not reading my speech. are really proud to be here because we are [Laughter] I like the one you gave. doing a good thing.'' You are doing a good Let me first of all say that I'm delighted thing, and I hope you are proud to be here. to be here with the Iron Soldiers of the 1st America is proud of you. Armored Division, with the 2nd Armored I also want to tell you that I have enjoyed Calvary and all of the other units of Task sort of sampling your life, walking in the Force Eagle. But I also want the people back mudÐ[laughter]Ðimagining what it would home to know, through our friends in the be like to spend 6 months in those beautiful press who are here, that there are a lot of tents. [Laughter] I like those Kevlar seats in National Guardsmen and Reservists here. the Humvee. [Laughter] I have heard all And I thank all of you. about the wonderful cuisine. We're going to Now, Hillary and I, along with the phone have dinner, and who knows, maybe I'll even time that you all getÐI hope you enjoy that get near-beer and vegetable lasagna. [Laugh- hour on the telephone. I know you're all sit- ter] ting there thinking, am I going to use it all We're having a good time, and we're all at one time or am I going to divide it up? cheering. But I want you to be serious with Am I going to call four people or just one? me just for a minute. And when you go to Decisions, decisions! bed tonight, and you wonder what you're We were able to bring some school sup- doing here, I want you to think about this. plies over here with us, some toys as well. These people, for nearly 4 years in this coun- And I know you're going to be able to distrib- try, fought the bloodiest war in Europe since ute those to children here who are needy and the end of World War II. Massive numbers deserving. I want to thank especially Lieuten- of people displaced from their homes, huge ant Colonel Mark Little, who started the pro- number of children made orphans, lots of gram to take care of these children who have young people walking around without limbs, been so hurt in this war and who's given horrible things happened to people. And be- thousands of Americans the chance to serve cause of what you and our other allies didÐ through it. our NATO allies and our allies from Russia, A few moments ago we gave some of those from Poland, from other non-NATO coun- presents to some Bosnian children, and I triesÐyou know that the country has stayed wish all of you could have been there with on the path of peace instead of going back me. I wish all of you could have been with into bloodshed. Without you, that would not Hillary and Chelsea and me earlier today have happened. Without you, the warring when we sat around a table in a coffee shop parties never would have disengaged, and in Sarajevo and talked to a dozen young peo- more thanÐlisten to thisÐmore than ple, Muslims, Serbs, Croats, all from Bosnia. 370,000 of them were combatant troops. And I said, ``You know, I'm going to see our They've gone back to civilian life now. With- soldiers today, and if we could do one more out you, there would still be mortars and can- thing for your country, what would you like nons firing. Now, more than 6,500 heavy us to do?'' And every one of them, it was weapons have been destroyed and the rest like a chorus, they said, ``Stay. Stay just a put under international supervision. Because little longer. We can'tÐwe're not ready yet, of you, free and fair elections have been held. but the young people want peace. We don't There is freedom of movement; police re- understand why we're supposed to hate each form has begun. A lot of the airwaves now other. We don't want that kind of future. are filled with information instead of vicious, Please stay.'' partisan hatred. And then we walked outside this coffee Bosnia is no longer the powder keg at the shop in Sarajevo and there were three Amer- heart of Europe because of you.