THE WHITE HOUSE

                    Office of the Press Secretary

_____________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                   June 28, 1993


                       REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
                          IN CABINET MEETING

                           The Cabinet Room



10:16 A.M. EDT


             THE PRESIDENT:  First, I want to say that this morning I
received a report from the National Security Adviser about the action
in Iraq over the weekend, confirming that we did, in fact, cripple
the Iraqi intelligence capacity, which was the intent of the action.
Our allies have been quite positive in their response.  And I want to
say a special word of compliment to Ambassador Albright for the work
she did at the United Nations yesterday.  I thought it was an
excellent job.

             I think it's very important today at this Cabinet
meeting that we move onto other matters, that we go back to the
domestic agenda.  We have to prepare for the conference on the budget
and the economic plan.  We need to think about and talk a little
about the upcoming G-7 summit in Tokyo and what that means for our
economic prospects here at home.  And there are a number of other
issues that I want to discuss today, including our efforts to seek
rapid passage of the national service act.

             So I'm anxious to go forward.  I do want to acknowledge
the first time as a confirmed member of this Cabinet, Lee Brown.  He
was here last time, but he's been confirmed since he was here before.
Tom Glynn, the Deputy Secretary of Labor is here, for those of you
who don't know him, because Mr. Reich is moving his family to
Washington today.  I suppose that means he's going to stay on for
awhile.  (Laughter.)

             Q    Mr. President, what kind of message were you
sending, first of all, to other terrorist nations, given what we now
know about the possibility of Iran and potentially Saddam?  And what
message do you think this sends also to other countries and to the
military here about your resolve in your capacity as Commander-in-
Chief?

             THE PRESIDENT:  Well, the action I took I thought was
clearly warranted by the facts.  And I think other terrorists around
the world need to know that the United States will do what we can to
combat terrorism, as I said in my statement on Saturday evening.  It
is plainly what we ought to be doing.

             Q       the events last week in New York and the attack
over the weekend in Baghdad, should the American people be concerned
about terrorism on American shores in the next few weeks?

             THE PRESIDENT:  I think the American people should be
reassured that the -- in the New York instance, that the federal
authorities and the New York Police Department did a good job.  I
think the American people know enough about terrorism to know that it
is always a potential problem, but we are going to be very aggressive
in dealing with it and we're going to do everything we possibly can
to deal with it.

             Q    Mr. President, how does the decision to have gone
ahead and bombed Baghdad on Saturday -- how will this impact your
presidency both in terms of how you're seen domestically and by
foreign leaders?

             THE PRESIDENT:  I have no idea.  I did my job.  It was
my job and I did it the best I could.

             Q    Don't you think it will have some political effects
--

             Q    Any political considerations, Mr. President, at
all?

             THE PRESIDENT:  I have no idea.  It's my job.  I did
exactly what I said I'd do in the campaign when confronted by
circumstances like this.  The evidence was clear.  And we took the
appropriate action.  And it was the right thing to do for the United
States and I feel quite comfortable with it.

             MS. MYERS:  Thank you.

             THE PRESS:  Thank you.

                                 END10:19 A.M. EDT

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