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This is my only opportunity to appear before the press today, so I
hope you will also indulge me if I say a few words about the recent
developments in Kosovo. For 72 days now we have been engaged with our
allies in a difficult but just and necessary military campaign, with
three simple goals: the return of over 800,000 innocent Kosovar refugees
to their homes, with safety and self-government; the withdrawal of Serb
forces; and the deployment of an international security force, with
NATO at its core, to protect all the people of that shattered land.
Yesterday, the Serbian authorities indicated they would accept those
conditions. Russian Special Envoy hernomyrdin and Finnish President
Ahtisaari played instrumental and courageous roles in making this possible.
I am grateful to them, and so should all Americans be.
Tomorrow, military officials from NATO and Serbia will meet to work
out the details of the withdrawal of Serbian forces from Kosovo. This
is the next necessary step for implementation of our conditions. I'm
pleased that it will take place, and I hope the talks will proceed professionally
and expeditiously.
As I said yesterday, our diplomatic and military efforts will continue
until we see Serb forces begin to withdraw in a full-scale manner. Our
experience in the Balkans teaches us that true peace can only come when
progress in discussions is followed by progress on the ground.
At the same time, there is an enormous opportunity to be seized here,
a chance to shift our focus from defeating something evil to building
something good; a chance to work with our allies to bring a stable and
prosperous and democratic southeastern Europe, in which people are never
again singled out for destruction simply because of their religious
faith, or their ethnic origin. This is a goal that has been worth fighting
for over the last weeks, a goal which must be uppermost in our minds
as we make sure our conditions are met; a goal we must work for with
steadfast determination in the months and in the years to come.
And I believe that the overwhelming majority of Americans share this
goal. We do not want our children to grow up in a world which is dominated
by people who believe they can kill innocent civilians because of the
way they worship God, or the way they were born.
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