By Laurence McQuillan. USA TODAY. June 29, 2000 http://www.usatoday.com/
WASHINGTON -- President Clinton said Wednesday that he probably would sign a bill that would ease the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba by allowing the sale of food and medicine, but he suggested that Fidel Castro might not want normal ties with the United States because he needs an excuse for his
failed policies.
At a White House news conference shortly after the Supreme Court cleared the way for 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez to return to Cuba with his father, Clinton said he saw little immediate chance of a dramatic improvement in relations between Havana and Washington.
Discussing controversial legislation before Congress to ease the ban on trade with Cuba after four decades, Clinton said that if presented with a measure to permit the sale of food and medical supplies, ''I would be inclined to sign the bill.''
He said that he had been interested in improving relations with the island nation but abandoned that policy after the Castro government shot down an unarmed aircraft carrying four anti-Castro Cuban-Americans in 1996.
''That changed everything,'' Clinton said. ''The deliberate decision to murder those people changed everything, and it made me wonder whether Mr. Castro was hoping we never would normalize relations so then he could use us as an excuse for the failures of his regime.''
When asked whether it was time to normalize relations between Cuba and the United States, Clinton said: ''I don't believe that we can change the law until there is a bipartisan majority which believes there has been some effort by the Cuban government to reach out to us as well.'' On other
subjects:
* Gasoline prices. Clinton said the government was aggressively investigating price increases and dismissed Texas Gov. George W. Bush's criticism that the president had failed to persuade the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to boost production enough to ease price pressures.
Clinton said that his administration had succeeded in getting OPEC to increase production but said the cause of soaring gas prices was far more complicated than that. He brushed aside the Republican presidential candidate's remarks as ''a simple answer to a complex problem.''
He also said he would be willing to consider suspending all or part of the 18.4-cents-a-gallon federal gas tax but warned members of Congress that their constituents would suffer from such a move because the revenue is used to pay for highway projects.
* The Middle East. The president said he was undecided about inviting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to meet with him at a Camp David-style peace summit. He said he was waiting until Secretary of State Madeleine Albright updates him on her visit to the
region this week. Israeli officials are scheduled to meet with U.S. officials in Washington next month.
''When she does, then I'll make a judgment about whether the time is right to ask them to come here, but I have not made that decision yet,'' said Clinton, who hopes to broker an important Mideast peace agreement before he leaves office in January.
The president also said he was troubled by Israel's agreement to sell an advanced early warning radar system to China. The contract, negotiated by former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has created a strain on Israel's relations with the United States, which wants to limit the spread
of the sensitive technology.
* The presidential campaign. Clinton said Americans should not consider the accusations of scandal against him when deciding whether to vote for Vice President Gore in November. ''The word 'scandal' has been thrown around here like a clanging teapot for seven years,'' Clinton said. He added that
the ''so-called scandals were bogus.''
He didn't answer directly a question about Bush's intellectual capacity to be president, something Democrats have been raising.
''I think it's more a question of curiosity and willingness to learn what you think is important. . . . I think that no president can say, 'Well, it should be enough for the voters if I get the best advisers in my party and they come up with a position and I take it,' '' Clinton said.
''I think what you know counts, because I think the more you know, the better position you're in not only to draw your own conclusions, but to take advice.'' |