PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Good
morning, everybody. In times of great challenge in our country and around the
world, Americans have always come together to lend a hand and to serve others
and to do what's right. That's what the American people have been doing in
recent days with their extraordinary generosity and contributions to the Haitian
people.
At this moment, we're moving forward with one of the largest relief efforts in
our history -- to save lives and to deliver relief that averts an even larger
catastrophe. The two leaders with me today will ensure that this is matched by a
historic effort that extends beyond our government, because America has no
greater resource than the strength and the compassion of the American people.
We just met in the Oval Office -- an office they both know well. And I'm pleased
that President George W. Bush and President Bill Clinton have agreed to lead a
major fundraising effort for relief: the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. On behalf of
the American people, I want to thank both of you for returning to service and
leading this urgent mission.
This is a model that works. After the terrible tsunami in Asia, President Bush
turned to President Clinton and the first President Bush to lead a similar fund.
That effort raised substantial resources for the victims of that disaster --
money that helped save lives, deliver aid, and rebuild communities. And that's
exactly what the people of Haiti desperately need right now.
Every day that goes by, we learn more about the horrifying scope of this
catastrophe -- destruction and suffering that defies comprehension. Entire
communities buried under mountains of concrete. Families sleeping in the
streets. Injured desperate for care. Many thousands feared dead. That's why
thousands of American personnel -- civilian and military -- are on the scene
working to distribute clean drinking water and food and medicine, and thousands
of tons of emergency food supplies are arriving every day.
It will be difficult. It is an enormous challenge to distribute this aid quickly
and safely in a place that has suffered such destruction. That's what we're
focused on now -- working closely with our partners: the Haitian government, the
United Nations, and many organizations and nations -- friends from Argentina and
France, from Dominican Republic and Brazil, and countries all around the world.
And Secretary Hillary Clinton will be in Haiti today to meet with President
Préval and continue our close coordination with his government. But we also know
that our longer-term effort will not be measured in days and weeks; it will be
measured in months and even years. And that's why it's so important to enlist
and sustain the support of the American people. That's why it's so important to
have a point of coordination for all the support that extends beyond our
government.
Here at home, Presidents Bush and Clinton will help the American people to do
their part, because responding to a disaster must be the work of all of us.
Indeed, those wrenching scenes of devastation remind us not only of our common
humanity but also of our common responsibilities. This time of suffering can and
must be a time of compassion.
As the scope of the destruction became apparent, I spoke to each of these
gentlemen, and they each asked the same simple question: How can I help? In the
days ahead they'll be asking everyone what they can do -- individuals,
corporations, NGOs, and institutions. And I urge everyone who wants to help to
visit
www.clintonbushhaitifund.org.
We're fortunate to have the service of these two leaders. President Bush led
America's response to the Asian tsunami, aid and relief that prevented even
greater loss of life in the months after that disaster. And his administration's
efforts to fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa treated more than 10 million men,
women, and children.
As President, Bill Clinton helped restore democracy in Haiti. As a private
citizen, he has helped to save the lives of millions of people around the world.
And as the United Nations special envoy to Haiti, he understands intimately the
daily struggles and needs of the Haitian people.
And by coming together in this way, these two leaders send an unmistakable
message to the people of Haiti and to the people of the world: In these
difficult hours, America stands united. We stand united with the people of
Haiti, who have shown such incredible resilience, and we will help them to
recover and to rebuild.
Yesterday we witnessed a small but remarkable display of that determination --
some of you may have seen it -- Haitians with little more than the clothes on
their back marched peacefully through a ruined neighborhood, and despite all
their loss and all their suffering they sang songs of faith and songs of hope.
These are the people we're called upon to help. Those are the hopes that we're
committed to answering. That's why the three of us are standing together today.
And with that, I would invite each President to say a few words. I'm going to
start with President Bush.
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: I join President Obama in
expressing my sympathy for the people of Haiti. I commend the President for his
swift and timely response to the disaster. I am so pleased to answer the call to
work alongside President Clinton to mobilize the compassion of the American
people.
Like most Americans, Laura and I have been following the television coverage
from Haiti. Our hearts are broken when we see the scenes of little children
struggling without a mom or a dad, or the bodies in the streets or the physical
damage of the earthquake.
The challenges down there are immense, but there's a lot of devoted people
leading the relief effort, from government personnel who deployed into the
disaster zone to the faith-based groups that have made Haiti a calling.
The most effective way for Americans to help the people of Haiti is to
contribute money. That money will go to organizations on the ground and will be
-- who will be able to effectively spend it. I know a lot of people want to send
blankets or water -- just send your cash. One of the things that the President
and I will do is to make sure your money is spent wisely. As President Obama
said, you can look us up on
clintonbushhaitifund.org.
The Haitian people have got a tough journey, yet it's amazing how terrible
tragedies can bring out the best of the human spirit. We've all seen that
firsthand when American citizens responded to the tsunami or to Katrina or to
the earthquake in Pakistan. And President Clinton and I are going to work to tap
that same spirit of giving to help our brothers and sisters in the Caribbean.
Toward the end of my presidency, Laura made a trip down to Haiti to look at the
Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief programs down there. I remember clearly her
coming back and telling me about the energy and optimism of the people of Haiti.
There's just an unbelievable spirit amongst the Haitian people. And while that
earthquake destroyed a lot, it didn't destroy their spirit.
So the people of Haiti will recovery and rebuild, and as they do they know
they'll have a friend in the United States of America. Mr. President, thank you
for giving me the chance to serve.
PRESIDENT WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON: First,
I want to thank President Obama for asking President Bush and me to do this, and
for what I believe has been a truly extraordinary response on the part of the
American government. Because I've been working down there for nearly a year as
the U.N. special envoy, I've been in constant touch with our people through the
U.N. on the ground, and you know we lost a lot of our people there -- the
largest loss of life in the history of the United Nations on a single day. The
United States has been there from the beginning. The military has been great.
The response by the State Department and AID has been great. I just can't say
enough about it. And the people in Haiti know it, and I'm grateful.
Secondly, I'd like to thank President Bush for agreeing to do this, and for the
concern he showed for Haiti. Before this happened, my foundation worked with the
PEPFAR people on the AIDS problems in Haiti and I saw how good they were and
what they did and how many lives they saved.
Finally, let me say that -- I don't have to read the Web site because they did
-- but I want to say something about this. Right now all we need to do is get
food and medicine and water and a secure place for them to be. But when we start
the rebuilding effort, we want to do what I did with the President's father in
the tsunami area. We want to be a place where people can know their money will
be well spent; where we will ensure the ongoing integrity of the process.
And we want to stay with this over the long run. My job with the U.N. basically
is not at all in conflict with this because I'm sort of the outside guy. My job
is to work with the donor nations, the international agencies, the business
people around the world to try to get them to invest there, the nongovernmental
organizations, the Haitian diaspora community.
I believe before this earthquake Haiti had the best chance in my lifetime to
escape its history -- a history that Hillary and I have shared a tiny part of. I
still believe that. The Haitians want to just amend their development plan to
take account of what's happened in Port-au-Prince and west, figure out what they
got to do about that, and then go back to implementing it. But it's going to
take a lot of help and a long time.
So I'm just grateful that President Bush wants to help, and I've already figured
out how I can get him to do some things that he didn't sign on for.
Again, I have no words to say what I feel like. When you -- I was in those
hotels that collapsed. I had meals with people who are dead. The cathedral
church that Hillary and I sat in 34 years ago is a total rubble. But what these
men have said is true: It is still one of the most remarkable, unique places I
have ever been. And they can escape their history and build a better future if
we do our part. And President Obama, thank you for giving us a chance to do a
little of that.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Well, these
gentlemen are going to do an extraordinary job, but really what they're going to
be doing is just tapping into the incredible generosity, the ingenuity, the
can-do spirit of the American people in helping our neighbors in need. So I want
to thank each of them not only for being here today but what I know is going to
be an extraordinary effort.
I want to make sure that everybody got that Web site one more time. Obviously
we're just standing it up, but it will immediately give people a means to
contact our offices --
www.clintonbushhaitifund.org.
And I just want to amplify one thing that was said. We were talking in the back.
In any extraordinary catastrophe like this, the first several weeks are just
going to involve getting immediate relief on the ground. And there are going to
be some tough days over the next several days. People are still trying to figure
out how to organize themselves. There's going to be fear, anxiety, a sense of
desperation in some cases.
I've been in contact with President Préval. I've been talking to the folks on
the ground. We are going to be making slow and steady progress, and the key now
is to -- for everybody in Haiti to understand that there is going to be
sustained help on the way.
But what these gentlemen are going to be able to do is when the news media
starts seeing its attention drift to other things but there's still enormous
needs on the ground, these two gentlemen of extraordinary stature I think are
going to be able to help ensure that these efforts are sustained. And that's why
it's so important and that's why I'm so grateful that they agreed to do it.
Thank you, gentlemen.
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