Clinton pays tributes to airmen killed in Saudi bombing
Senator says he may ask defense secretary to resign
June 30, 1996
Web posted at: 7 p.m. EDTPATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Florida (CNN) -- President Clinton vowed Sunday the United States will not rest until the terrorists who killed 19 American airmen in Saudi Arabia last week are captured, prosecuted and punished. (380K AIFF or WAV sound)
The president made his remarks during a eulogy for seven of the airmen -- the second of two memorial services he attended Sunday in Florida. The earlier service was at Eglin Air Force Base.
During both services, Clinton talked about terrorism and the challenge it poses for the modern world. He called terrorism the "enemy of peace and freedom," and he said the United States will do everything possible to eradicate it.
On a day reserved for honoring and remembering those who died, Defense Secretary William Perry confirmed that the Saudi government had rejected an earlier U.S. request to move a perimeter fence farther away from the barracks that was bombed.
- Image Gallery -
The action might have lessened the impact of the 3,000-pound truck bomb at the military complex near Dhahran, and could have saved lives, Perry said.
Perry said on ABC's "This Week with David Brinkley" that the Americans wanted to provide a 400-foot (120-meter) buffer zone between the street and the barracks, instead of the 100-foot (30-meter) zone that existed.
"It was one of many things we were asking, many of which were granted," he said.
Air Force Maj. Jim Stratford, in Dhahran, said local Saudi officials refused several times to allow them to move the fence. "They said not at this time, that it wasn't convenient."
Perry may be asked to quit
Also Sunday, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he may call for Perry to resign because of the lack of security measures that allowed the bomb to kill Americans.
"If the situation looks, after we have Intelligence Committee hearings (scheduled for July 9), as it does today, then I will call for his resignation," Specter said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Specter questioned Perry's judgment in not ordering security measures that might have prevented the loss of lives in Dhahran. He said more should have been done after the bombing last November that killed five Americans in Saudi Arabia.
But Perry angrily rejected any suggestion he should step down, and the White House gave him its full support.
Sorrow and outrage
At Patrick Air Base, Clinton addressed the victims' families and friends from a platform decked with wreaths and flanked by a large American flag.
"America stands with you in your sorrow and your outrage. Your loved ones were taken before their time, felled by the hands of hatred in an act whose savagery is matched only by its cowardice," the president said. (155K AIFF or WAV sound)
The base near Cocoa Beach, Florida, is home to the 71st Rescue Squadron, which lost five men in Tuesday's attack. The other two men memorialized at the base were from Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.
Before the service, the parents of Master Sgt. Michael Heiser of Palm Coast, Florida, gave Clinton a photo of himself and Heiser that was taken on one of the president's trips to Ramstein Air Base in Germany. Heiser died in the bombing.
When the photo was taken, Heiser was part of the security detail that guarded Air Force One, the airplane reserved for the president's use.
One grieving parent told Clinton, "You need to think about this every day when you see your daughter, Chelsea: One day your children are there, and the next day they're not, and it's hard to know why."
Clinton nodded understandingly, said White House spokesman David Johnson, who relayed the moment but declined to identify the parent.
Mourning at Eglin
Earlier in the day at Eglin Air Force Base, Clinton appeared before about 4,500 people to remember the 12 other airmen who died from the 33rd Fighter Wing.
"These men represented the best in America, and they gave America their best," Clinton said, referring to all who were killed.
The Eglin service (1.6 MB QuickTime movie)
Memorial service hymn (140K AIFF or WAV sound)
Memorial service music (165K AIFF or WAV sound)
Among those who attended the service, which was open to the public, were 11 airmen who were wounded in the explosion. Some lay on stretchers or sat in wheelchairs in the front row. Forty-three airmen wounded in the attack arrived home at Eglin on Saturday.
At the time of the attack, more than 300 troops from Eglin were in Saudi Arabia. The airmen who died had only two days left before their 90-day deployment was to end. About 50 servicemen from Eglin remain in Saudi Arabia.
"If they could speak to us today, they would tell us to press on and press on we will"
-- Col. Gary Dylewski, Cmdr., 33rd Fighter Wing
"If they could speak to us today, they would tell us to press on, and press on we will," said Col. Gary Dylewski, commander of the 33rd Fighter Wing, earlier in the service. "They risked and gave their lives for our freedom."
At the end of the service, four jets roared overhead in the honorary "missing man" formation with one jet pulling away from the other three.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- List of Americans killed in Saudi bomb attack
- Clinton, Saudi bomb survivors in Florida for memorials - June 30,1 996
- Key pieces of deadly Saudi blast recovered - June 29, 1996
- Defense chief says U.S. will stay in Saudi Arabia - June 29, 1996
- Clinton and Dole take on terrorism in radio addresses - June 29, 1996
Related sites:
Back to the top
FeedbackSend us your comments.Selected responses are posted daily. |
|
![[Imagemap]](/US/images/9601/navbar.gif){kind=small}
Copyright © 1996 Cable News Network, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
