This is historical material, "frozen in time." The web site is no longer updated and links to external web sites and some internal pages will not work.

THE WHITE HOUSE

                     Office of the Press Secretary
                        (Northfield, Minnesota)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                      June 10, 2000

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

I am saddened by the news of President Asad's death and want to offer my condolences to his family and to the Syrian people.

Over the past seven years, I have met him many times and gotten to know him very well. We had our differences, but I always respected him. Since the Madrid Conference, he made a strategic choice for peace, and we worked together to achieve that goal. Throughout my contacts with him, including our last meeting, he made clear Syria's continued commitment to the path of peace.

We look forward to working with Syria to achieve the goal of a comprehensive peace.

-30-30-30-