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From @lex-luthor.ai.mit.edu:HES@REAGAN.AI.MIT.EDU Mon Jun 14 18:39:18 1993
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1993 14:53-0400
From: The White House <75300.3115@compuserve.com>
To: Clinton-News-Distribution@campaign92.org,
Subject: President's Radio Address 6.12.93
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
______________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release June 12, 1993
RADIO ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT
TO THE NATION
The Oval Office
10:06 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Last night the United
Nations, acting with American and other coalition forces,
successfully attacked the military positions in Somalia of the
warlord Mohamed Farah Aideed. Our forces, thankfully, have sustained
no casualties.
The U.N.'s action was a response to a savage attack this
past week by Aideed's forces carried out on U.N. peacekeepers.
Aideed's attack killed 23 Pakistanis and injured three Americans
serving in the U.N.'s force. It was a cold-blooded ambush on U.N.
forces who were delivering food and building peace for the people of
Somalia.
The United Nations and the United States refuse to
tolerate this ruthless disregard for the will of the international
community. Therefore, following a request from the U.N. and pursuant
to a U.N. Security Council resolution, I ordered the participation of
our troops in this action. I commend the decisive leadership of the
U.N. Secretary General Boutros-Ghali, the Commander of the U.N.
force, Turkish General Bir, and United States Major General Thomas
Montgomery.
With this action, the world community moves to restore
order in Somalia's capital and to underscore its commitment to
preserve the security of U.N. forces. For if U.N. peacekeepers are
to be effective agents for peace and stability in Somalia and
elsewhere, they must be capable of using force when necessary to
defend themselves and accomplish their goals.
We need to recall why U.S. forces were in Somalia to
begin with, and how much has been accomplished since they first
arrived. Last December the United States first sent troops to
Somalia to help the United Nations answer a desperate call for help.
By the time we arrived over 350,000 Somalis already had died in a
bloody civil war, shrouding the nation in famine and disease. Over
30,000 American men and women, both military and civilian, joined
with troops and relief workers from all over the world in an effort
to end the starvation and the hopelessness. They worked with courage
and dedication to quell the violence, rein in the warlords, and
deliver tons of urgently needed food and medicine. That humanitarian
effort restored hope, advanced our interests, and represented the
very best of America's ideals.
Today in Somalia, crops are growing, starvation has
ended, refugees are beginning to return, schools and hospitals are
reopening, a civil police has been recreated, and Somalia has begun a
process of national reconciliation with the goal of creating the
institutions of democracy. As a result, over recent months, we have
been able to reduce our troop presence in Somalia down to fewer than
4,000, a small fraction of the total U.N. force.
While American and U.N. efforts in Somalia have been
successful, there remains a small but dangerous minority of Somalis
who are determined to provoke terror and chaos. Last night's action
was essential to send a clear message to the armed gangs, to protect
the vast majority of Somalis who long for peace, to enhance the
security of our forces still in Somalia, to hasten the day when they
can safely return hope and to strengthen the effectiveness and the
credibility of U.N. peacekeeping in Somalia and around the world.
The U.N.'s action holds an important lesson about how
our nation can accomplish our own security goals in this new era.
Although the Cold War is over, the world remains a dangerous place.
The United States cannot be the world's policeman, but we also cannot
turn a blind eye to the world's problems, for they affect our own
security, our own interests and our own ideals.
The U.S. must continue to play its unique role of
leadership in the world. But now we can increasingly express that
leadership through multilateral means such as the United Nations,
which spread the costs and expressed the unified will of the
international community. That was one of the lessons of Desert
Storm. And clearly, that was one of the lessons last night in
Somalia.
On behalf of all Americans, I am proud of the American
forces, who once again have demonstrated extraordinary courage and
skill. The world thanks them and all of the U.N. forces in Somalia
for their service, for striking a blow against lawlessness and
killing, and for advancing the world's commitment to justice and
security.
END10:10 A.M. EDT