532 Mar. 27 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1999

centuries of divisions to rest and to join Eu- been separated and sent into exile by the de- rope and North America in building a better nial of human rights in Burma are reunited future together. with their families and when Burma is re- Thanks for listening. united with the family of freedom.

NOTE: The address was recorded at 5:44 p.m. on March 26 in the Oval Office at the White House Remarks on Departure for Camp for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on March 27. The tran- David, Maryland, and an Exchange script was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on March 26 but was embargoed With Reporters for release until the broadcast. March 28, 1999

NATO Airstrikes Statement on the Rescue of a The President. Good afternoon. All United States Pilot in Serbia Americans can be very proud of the skill and March 27, 1999 bravery of the American servicemen involved in the rescue operation yesterday in Kosovo. I am pleased with the news that our pilot Indeed, we can be proud of all of our men has been rescued successfully. I am tremen- and women in uniform who are involved in dously proud of the skill and bravery of the the NATO mission. pilot and of the courageous individuals who From the outset, I have said to the Amer- participated in the recovery. ican people that this military operation en- As I have said from the outset, this military tails real risks. But the continued brutality operation entails real risk. However, the con- and repression of the Serb forces further un- tinued brutality and repression of the Serb derscores the need for NATO to persevere. forces further underscores the necessity for I strongly support Secretary General Solana’s NATO forces to persevere. decision yesterday to move to a new phase Our NATO operations will go forward as in our planned air campaign, with a broader planned. I strongly support the decision of range of targets including air defenses, mili- Secretary General Solana to move to a new tary and security targets, and forces in the phase of the air campaign, which will include field. a wider range of targets, including forces in In the last 24 hours, I have been in close the field. contact with key NATO allies, including Prime Minister Blair, President Chirac, Statement on the Death Chancellor Schroeder, and Prime Minister of Michael Aris D’Alema. All of them share our determina- tion to respond strongly to Mr. Milosevic’s March 27, 1999 continuing campaign of inhumane and vio- The First Lady and I were saddened to lence against the Kosovar Albanian people. learn of the death of Dr. Michael Aris, a That is what we intend to do. scholar of Tibetan and Himalayan Studies at Thank you very much. Q. Oxford University. We offer our sincere con- Has the bombing made things worse, dolences to his wife, Aung San Suu Kyi, his sir? Q. sons, Alexander and Kim, and other family Sir, is the allied bombing driving the members. atrocities, sir? The President. Dr. Aris’ perseverance and dedication to Absolutely not. his wife and family and to the cause of human rights and democracy in Burma earned him NOTE: The President spoke at 2:15 p.m. on the South Lawn at the White House. In his remarks, the respect and admiration of citizens around the President referred to NATO Secretary Gen- the world. At this difficult time, I want to eral Javier Solana; Prime Minister Tony Blair of reaffirm to Michael’s family and to all the the United Kingdom; President Jacques Chirac of people of Burma that the United States will France; Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Ger- keep working for the day when all who have many; Prime Minister Massimo D’Alema of Italy;

VerDate 23-MAR-99 09:52 Apr 07, 1999 Jkt 010199 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 1244 Sfmt 1244 W:\DISC\P13MR4.029 txed02 PsN: txed02