ACCESSION NUMBER:363957
FILE ID:POL407
DATE:10/13/94
TITLE:CLINTON: U.S. SEEKS SUPPORT FOR U.N. RESOLUTION ON IRAQ (10/13/94)
TEXT:*94101307.POL
CLINTON: U.S. SEEKS SUPPORT FOR U.N. RESOLUTION ON IRAQ
(Measure would keep Iraq from threatening neighbors) (440)
By Dian McDonald
USIA White House Correspondent
Washington -- The United States is seeking broad international support for a
U.N. Security Council resolution "to prevent Iraq from threatening its
southern neighbors now -- or in the future," President Clinton said October
13.
Ambassador Madeleine Albright, U.S. permanent representative to the United
Nations, has proposed the "very strong" measure, Clinton said in an address
transmitted via satellite to the Radio Television News Directors
Association/National Association of Broadcasters convention in Los Angeles.
Clinton recalled that last week, "in the face of Iraq's threatening troop
movements on the Kuwaiti border," he had ordered the deployment to the
Persian Gulf of an aircraft carrier battle group, cruise missile ships,
Marine and Army troops, and several hundred attack aircraft.
"Our policy is clear," he reiterated. "We will not allow Iraq to threaten
its neighbors or to intimidate the United Nations as it ensures that Iraq
never again possesses weapons of mass destruction."
1
Iraq "heard our message," Clinton said. "Its forces have begun a broad
retreat from the border area." But he cautioned that the Iraqi withdrawal
is not yet complete and "it's too soon to say where all the troops are
going."
The administration is monitoring the situation "very, very carefully," he
added. "And we'll continue to deploy our forces in the Gulf until we're
satisfied that Iraqi troops no longer pose an immediate danger to Kuwait."
The president emphasized that he was "very proud" of the men and women of
the U.S. Armed Forces who are serving in both the Persian Gulf and Haiti.
They "are delivering with great skill and professionalism; they are the
power behind our diplomacy," he declared.
Noting that U.S. troops had gone to Haiti "to keep a solemn commitment by
the United States and the international community to restore the nation's
democratically-elected government and to help bring an end to terrible
human rights problems," Clinton said, "We are keeping that commitment. I
am pleased to say" that former Haitian military leader Lieutenant General
Raoul Cedras and "his closest followers have arrived in Panama."
On October 15, Clinton said, Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide will
return home to Haiti "to resume his rightful place."
Haiti's "remarkable journey from fear to freedom continues," the president
said. "And given the outstanding performance of our troops there, and in
Iraq and elsewhere, we should be confident of our ability to rise to the
new challenges we surely will be called upon to meet."
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