Aid for Kampucheans Remarks at a White House Meeting on Relief Efforts and the First Lady's Trip to Thailand.

THE PRESIDENT. I'm very grateful that all of you have come to the White House to talk about one of the most important issues that faces humanity and will face it in our lifetime. It's a rare occasion in human memory when there has been a possibility of holocaust, threatening to destroy an entire race of people. It happened, perhaps, in the time of the Armenians, earlier in this century, and later, of course, among Jews and others in the time of Hitler, and now among the people of Cambodia, or Kampuchea, as it's presently known.

There also is a rare occasion when in the life of a great nation its government and its people can react in an unselfish, dynamic, and effective way to alleviate extraordinary human suffering; such as the case, again, with the refugees and the starving people of the Cambodian region.

I was very pleased that the three Senators, then my wife and Dr. Richmond, Mrs. Young and her group, and now a group of Congresswomen and others have been to that region to dramatize the need for action, and also to bring back tangible recommendations on how the suffering might be alleviated more effectively.

It's a difficult issue to resolve. There are major obstacles to overcome: obstacles of war, over which we have no control in that long-troubled part of the world; the issue of diplomatic bridges that are very hard to cross; and also, of course, are very serious problems in administration, in dealing with the bureaucratic needs, to derive help from those eager to give and actually to deliver it effectively to those who are most in need.

Rosalynn and Senators Dan forth, Baucus, and Sasser, Dr. Richmond, and others have brought back very specific recommendations on what might be done. I'm not going to try to preempt their reports to you. They can make their reports much better than can I. I'm one of those who's listening, and, like you, I am eager to act in accordance with the best interests of those who are crying out for assistance.

There are three basic areas of response: One is the United States Government itself—and the Congress has reacted very well in approving almost $70 million worth of aid. And I will go to the Congress for additional aid if it's necessary. Second is an appeal to private organizations, volunteer organizations of all kinds, represented by many of you here. And that's a resource of assistance which is eager to be tapped and which has already done yeoman's work, even before governmental help could be effective. And the third recommendation is concerning international relationships. And I would like to caution you about that: This is a judgment and a decision that we can't make in this room.

And one of the vivid reports that Rosalynn brought back to me was that quite often a United States initiative is counterproductive in the eventual carrying out of a recommendation. If the initiative comes from one of the less developed nations of the world or comes directly from the United Nations or, perhaps, comes from other countries than we, it's much more effective.

So, I would like to urge you to restrain your own inclinations to give public condemnation or public advice on what the Vietnamese ought to do, what the warring parties in Kampuchea ought to do, what the United Nations ought to do. Let that be handled through diplomatic channels. I can assure you that I will not permit these efforts to be abandoned or ignored. But I think that the public calling for action might be the very thing that would prevent that action being carried out. That's my only caution to you.

And I have a second one—I forgot. I think the more all of us forgo credit for action to be taken, the more effective the effort will be. There is a great yearning, I know, within the United States Government, within the Red Cross, within UNICEF, within Catholic charities, within the Protestant churches, within benevolent groups, to want to give aid and then have that assistance be publicly acknowledged and recognized. That is a human trait, but the more we can subjugate those natural, human desires for quiet giving and close cooperation with others, with a minimum of jealousy and a minimum of grasping for recognition, the more effective we'll all be.

I'm sure that's a cautionary word that you don't need, because there's an overwhelming unselfishness and benevolent attitude among this group. And you've taken the initiative, and there's been no evidence of a grasping for recognition. But in the future, this is going to be a long, slow, tedious process, and that needs to be recognized and avoided.

The last point I'd like to make is this: The Thai people and the Thai Government both deserve every possible recognition, expression of gratitude, and thanks. They are a poor country. Many of the Thai people suffer terribly from poverty, disease, and hunger. It's not a popular political thing to bring in enormous numbers of refugees from an alien and antagonistic country, who's been historical enemies on occasion, and still not arouse the condemnation of the Thais, who themselves suffer. And this has been a very great demonstration of both kindness and also courage, political courage.

I know that this is something that you'll want to help with. The Thais are not able to accept literally hundreds of thousands of refugees into their country and feed those refugees on their own. And we've got to be especially generous to the Thais in our thanks and in our direct help and the recognition of what they are contributing.

I look forward with great eagerness to the summary of your recommendations. I will be getting it through the National Security Council and through my wife, who always has easy access to me. And I think that her involvement is one that can be of help to you as well. She'll be working with the wives of Senators and other Members of Congress, and female Members of Congress. She will also be working with any of you who want her to help in providing an avenue to the public and also an avenue directly to me.

But I'm very grateful to all of you for being willing to come. I think this will be one of the most important meetings ever taking place in the White House. And I'm grateful that I am President of people like you.

Thank you very much.

REVEREND HESBURGH. Mrs. Carter, Mrs. Vance, ladies and gentlemen:

Just short of 3 weeks ago, on October 24, this same group of leaders from our various religious faiths and from the various private voluntary organizations met in Washington to discuss what we might do together and in concert to meet the tragedy in Cambodia. The purpose was to consult how the American people, how the American Government, and how the United Nations might best respond to avoid what appeared to be a growing holocaust, already half accomplished, if you will.

We called on the voluntary agencies, first of all, to increase their efforts and to work together to help the Cambodians. We urged Americans to provide them all with financial support. And in a special letter to the President, we urged greater United States Government efforts in order to assist, as quickly and as effectively as possible, this people in great need.

We met that same day at the White House with the President, and never was a letter answered more quickly. Hardly before the letter was in his hands, he granted us all of the various requests we had for increased aid and said he was willing to do whatever else might be necessary to do to avert this holocaust.

I think today, in the light of the appeal made by United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the appeals by all of our various voluntary agencies for more than $300 million for Cambodian relief, and after the generous and immediate response of the President of the United States voiced by our Secretary of State, Mr. Vance, at the Pledging Conference of the United States on Monday, November 5—when many of you were present, and I too—it seemed to us that the time was now appropriate to update our October 24 meeting in an effort to relieve the growing misery of the Cambodians.

It was again against this same background as our last meeting that I, as chairman of the Overseas Development Council, and cochaired by the Reverend Paul McLeary, who is chairman of the American Council on Voluntary Agencies, that we invited this group again, on very short notice, to this second consultation to exchange information on the situation in Thailand and Cambodia after other relief is taking place there.

In this second consultation we have four things we would like to do: first, to find out what the various agencies are now doing; second, what they are planning to do for the near-term future; third, what fundraising efforts have been undertaken to date; and fourth, what are the various bottlenecks and needs that we have to move forward quickly and efficiently. There is, of course, a fifth topic which I'm sure will emerge from our discussion with Mrs. Carter, and that is how can we improve and institutionalize exchange of information among ourselves and coordination of the various activities—governmental and nongovernmental and intergovernmental here and overseas.

It seems to me that the vigor of the pluralistic American response to this Cambodian tragedy is most welcome, but it does raise for all of us a great challenge to work together and, as the President just said, to work together without seeking praise in so doing.

I would like to say that the visit to Cambodia and Thailand in October by Senators Danforth, Sasser, and Baucus, who are here with us this morning, on my left, your right, and also the various Governors and the Congresswomen and, most particularly, of our First Lady, Mrs. Carter—all of this has heightened and increased the consciousness of Americans fox' the need of all of the generous action we might put forward to alleviate this growing tragedy.

May I say, Mrs. Carter, in introducing you, that we are looking forward to hearing the report from you and your colleagues on the situation with respect to Cambodian refugees in Thailand, and any other recommendations or questions you may have of this group, which represents, I think, the cream of the private voluntary effort. After your comments we will be hearing from all of these various agencies active in Cambodia on the questions posed earlier, and we are looking forward later in the day to discussing our conclusions further with you.

Mrs. Carter, it's with real pride and great satisfaction that I'd like to present you.

Mrs. Carter. Thank you very much. I'm very pleased to have you all here today. I welcome you.

And I did go to Cambodia. And I'm very happy to have this opportunity to report to you about my trip, and also to thank you for what you have done already and for what you continue to do, and to work with you on ways that we can better help those who are suffering in this area of the world.

As the President has said, I went to Thailand on his behalf to express the profound concern of the people of our country for the tragedy that is unfolding in Indochina. My visit was very brief, but I think I can say positively that it was one of the most significant events of my life. I came away filled with admiration for the representatives of your organizations who are there struggling with this massive problem of relief for thousands and thousands of human beings who are starving and homeless and ill and bereaved. And I came away also, as Jimmy said, filled with gratitude for the efforts of the people of Thailand and for the Government of Thailand.

And I'm sure that every person in this room knows what faces us in the coming weeks. The problem is one that is not going away anytime soon. We will be faced with it for a long time. While our international efforts have brought vast improvements—and I saw in the refugee camp at Sakeo some beginnings of hope for those few who have been brought back from the very edge of death. The camp, since the time that the Senators was there, has really made progress; in fact, some people told us that a miracle had happened in the last few weeks. The camp is only about 3 weeks old, but people are being fed and are being taken care of in that camp now. And you will have a further report on that from some of those who went with me.

But the picture in the near future looks very bleak, because a wave of new refugees are expected to come across the border into Thailand from Kampuchea—a number estimated anywhere from 100,000 to 250,000, maybe 300,000—that are now right at the border, that are expected to come now that the dry season is here and the fighting has begun again. They will be pushed over into Thailand.

And for those of us who have seen with our own eyes the dimension of the problem and the terrible suffering and starvation, the thought of so many more people in the same situation who will be coming into Thailand is almost more than you can bear, when you are there and look at it.

I'd like to tell you briefly about my trip. I was accompanied by some of those here that are here at that head table, who will be reporting to you also. Some of us worked together; some of us dispersed so that we could gather more information, because we were only there for a few hours, a day, 2 days.

We went to the refugee camps in Thailand, Kampuchea, that I have already talked about, Sakeo. We witnessed the disease, the dislocation of persons, suffering, starvation. We saw many, young and old. We saw children separated from their parents, afflicted with malaria and malnutrition.

In the camp at Ubon, for refugees from Laos, conditions were substantially better. There are approximately 37,000 persons there. That camp is 4 or 5 years old. They eat well, but they don't go out of the camp. They have been there, some for 3 or 4 years, waiting to resettle abroad. And although the living conditions are so much better than Sakeo, they are still not anything that you would call good.

It is sad to see them with no purpose. They at first thought they might go back into Laos. Now they know they won't, or don't want to. And they're waiting to be resettled, some of them with feeling that they've been forgotten by the world, because the focus has been on the Kampucheans, the focus has been on the boat people. And these people really feel forgotten. I was touched by them. And one of the girls that worked with me said that one of the main problems they have with these people is mental depression, just existing day to day for 4 or 5 years, waiting to see what happens to them.

At the transit center, the refugee transit center in Bangkok, we saw overcrowded and humiliating conditions where refugees awaiting final processing for immigration must endure. These were things that I don't think I'll ever forget. These were people who have already been chosen to go to other countries and have to wait in an unbelievable place, some for a month and a half or 2 months. We try to process ours, the ones that are coming to the United States, much earlier, but still the conditions are unbearable.

While we were there in Bangkok, we had candid discussions with representatives of the international volunteer organizations to discuss their goals, their frustrations, and the need for better coordination. We did have a very good meeting, and everybody, I think, vented their frustrations, and everybody decided that there was a great need for coordination.

We met with the King and Queen of Thailand to discuss the whole spectrum of the refugee problem and the need for further sites, because we must have further sites for this 200,000 to 300,000 that are expected to come into Thailand from Cambodia—and they're expected to come in in the next 3 or 4 weeks. The situation is urgent.

We had a long discussion with Prime Minister Kriangsak, a fruitful discussion, about the political and foreign policy risks that are facing the Thai Government because of their policies. It is important that the international community provide visible and demonstrable political, economic, and security support to the Thais.

As we flew back to Washington, we got together on the airplane and worked on our report for the President, which stresses the urgency of the situation, and we did lay out some specific recommendations. We will give you that report this morning. In fact, you have in your brochure a folder with our recommendations in it.

We need your careful consideration of our recommendations. We need your creative ideas for how to implement them, your support, and your consensus. I do not know when I have ever felt a sense of urgency more about cutting redtape and unblocking logjams and moving ahead.

I think I can say with some assurance that the American people are ready to help. They are already mobilizing help, as you here indicate and as I have seen and heard through my mail and telephone calls and with people in the whole country concerned about this problem. But they need to know how to help, and they need to know now. They need to know where to turn; they need to know that now. They need to know what is needed, and it's our responsibility to give the people of our country specific information about ways they can reach out to their fellow man. We cannot lose time. Time is—the situation is urgent.

I understand that most of you who are here have prepared briefing papers about your programs and your problems. I know that you will be addressing yourselves to this issue throughout the day, and I look forward to being with you again at the end of the afternoon so that I can have a report for the things that you talk about during the day.

But now I want to call on the members of my traveling party, who've brought back new information which might be helpful to you. And then I would like to share—after we get through with the reports we will look at the recommendations, and I can tell you then some of the steps that we are already taking to implement some of these recommendations.

First I want to call on Dr. Richmond for his report. Dr. Richmond is the Surgeon General, and he traveled with me to Thailand.