WEEKLY COMPILATION OF

PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS

Published every Monday by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC 20408, the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents contains statements, messages, and other Presidential materials released by the White House during the preceding week.

The Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents is published pursuant to the authority contained in the Federal Register Act (49 Stat. 500, as amended; 44 U.S.C. Ch. 15), under

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Message to the Senate Transmitting the Netherlands-United States Tax Convention Protocol

October 22, 1993

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit herewith for Senate advice and consent to ratification the Protocol Amending the Convention Between the United States of America and the Kingdom of the Netherlands for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income, signed at Washington on October 13, 1993. A related exchange of notes is enclosed for the information of the Senate. Also transmitted for

the information of the Senate is the report of the Department of State with respect to the Protocol.

The Protocol will prohibit a treaty abuse otherwise permitted by the Convention, which was previously transmitted to the Senate. The Protocol will prevent a Dutch investor in the United States from evading virtually all income taxes in both the United States and the Netherlands through a permanent establishment in a third, low-income jurisdiction. The Protocol and the Convention are intended to reduce the distortions of both double taxation and tax evasion. The two agreements will modernize tax relations between the United States and the Netherlands and will facilitate greater bilateral private

Nomination for Chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission

October 22, 1993

The President today announced his intention to nominate Ann Winkelman Brown as a Commissioner and the Chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

"Ann Brown has worked tirelessly to improve consumer product safety in America,” the President said. "In her new role, I am certain she will make even further strides in this important field.”

NOTE: A biography of the nominee was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary. This item was not received in time for publication in the appropriate issue.

Remarks and an Exchange With
Reporters on Haiti
October 23, 1993

The President. I wanted to give you what I think is a more precise answer to your question. I was, of course, aware of the allegations; they were reported today in the press. But the question of whether he was fit to serve seems to me was reinforced by the personal experience that Ambassador Pezzullo, my Special Envoy on the subject had, plus everyone else in the administration in working with him, plus the fact that during the time when he served as President, political terrorism and abuses went down in Haiti, not up. So based on the personal experiences of the people in the administration who worked with President Aristide, we felt that they were a more valid indicator than the allegations that were reported.

Q. Mr. President, you aren't saying the allegations aren't true?

The President. No one knows whether they're true or not. They were allegations. We don't know if they were true or not. I'm just saying based on the personal experiences of a lot of people in this Government and before me even, before I became President, we had sustained experience—that the experiences of the people who were working with Aristide, plus what is the evidence that we have at least of the conduct of the administration when he was in office, tended to undermine those reports.

Q. What sort of credibility does the CIA report have then, the one that's been circulated on the Hill?

The President. Well, they were required to do what they had to do, which is to report whatever information they'd been given. And the CIA would be the first to tell you that they get a lot of information—it's not always accurate, but they have to give what they have to the intelligence committees, just as they do to the President. That's the law.

Q. Well, Mr. President, what do you think it's going to take for this to go away as far as the public is concerned and even Capitol Hill?

The President. What do you mean, for what to go away?

Q. For this whole issue about his mental stability and his mental

Q. Jesse Helms says he's psychotic and

The President. Well, but you know, some of those guys, they like the Government they got, I think. Sometimes some of the opposition here may come from people who were satisfied with this whole sad, recent history of Haiti. What's their alternative?

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We tried to find a political solution which basically would allow democracy to return to Haiti and which has a guarantee of a more stable government by bringing in Mr. Malval, whom everybody admits was a nonpolitical business person, someone who had the best interest of his people at heart and other ple who could be real stabilizing factors. The security and personal safety of the leaders of the army and the police were guaranteed. The Governors Island Agreement provided for French-speaking forces to go in and retrain the police force to make them a real police instead of an instrument of political

oppression and for French-speaking Canadians and the United States to send in people who could in effect convert the army into an army corps of engineers, help them rebuild the country. And they're not seriously threatened. So I think that—and all those steps were supported by Aristide.

So when you look at the record and you look at-I would remind you-you look at the threat that we were all facing, that we continue to face, the previous administration faced from people trying to get on their boats and come to the United States, hundreds of whom have drowned in the effort, it would seem to me to-and the clear evidence that the-at least for as long as I have been President-that the hope of a return to democracy and Aristide's return was the biggest incentive for the Haitian people to stay home.

I think that we have done the right thing with our policy. We always knew there was a chance that the forces of reaction in Haiti would break the deal, but-or people in this country to try to justify the abrogation of the Governors Island Agreement based on what are now very old charges that have very little to do with the government that's operating there or with the actions of the last 9 months, I think is not very persuasive.

Q. The blockade now, according to a missionary, a British missionary, quoted yesterday as saying the blockade is actually hurting the people of Haiti more than it is the regime there.

The President. It always hurts the people first. The regime has access to monopolies, and they have lots of money. But the blockade is what got the Governors Island Agreement going. The blockade finally hit the regime and the elites, and in the end, they suffered, too. I think even a lot of people that have some money there must be worried about the conduct of the police and some of the military in the last few weeks.

Q. How long do you think it's going to take for it to

The President. I don't have any idea. I don't know. But I just know that that poor country has been plundered on and off for nearly 200 years now. And the people finally thought they were going to get a shot at democracy, a chance to be embraced into the world community. It's probably the most en