 Well, Mr. President, the sailor at home, thank you for that. Well, there are a lot of pink stones for us in the back here. Mr. David, why would you? Well, I could have seen it. It was all white stuff down. George, why don't you come down and get in the middle here? We've rearranged this. Yes, Mr. President. Yes, sir. How are you? Good to see you. Mr. Vice President, how are you? How are you? I was a little embarrassed when we were in the situation room the other day. I thought that's the first time I've been in a meeting with you when I didn't bring a few charts. So I thought I'd better bring some. Well, Jack, I just want to say welcome home. The inklings that we've had so far is that there must have been some progress there. We're all grateful to you and looking forward to moving this a little closer. Listen, if this is all that's coming, we don't need the back rows there. Can you see this, Mr. President? Okay. Before we started, this is the work of the NSC staff and Mr. Children. Hello, Mr. Chairman. Nice to see you. I'm George. Mr. President, good to see you. The picture isn't great. I'm sorry, Jim Baker couldn't be in the picture. Well, George can do a great job. Jim did very well too. You are well served soon. Mr. President, I can do so. George, you can do it. And so, Dan, there's not much I did read. I'll give you the bill, sir, thank you. All right. Well, it's done. Thank you. It's a pleasure working with you, Jim Baker. Yes. Hello. Congratulations. Thanks so much for all the sworn in. Yes. We're very, very excited. I think you might be in the middle here. It'll be a prettier picture. All right, here we go. It looked pretty nice. I had some sort of skin cancer. I think it healed too well. I could join you in this. Well, this one, as I say, has been a horrible thing for me because I was a son daughter. I was a lifeguard for seven years when I went to be out there to find out that all that double crossed me. Well, they told me, they said that my dermatologist had a skin. And I was 20 years older than I was. Don't give up yet. No, no. Cover your hand. There's plenty of sunscreen. Sunscreens. That's right. Nice to see you. Thank you very much. Mr. Chairman, congratulations. You're welcome. Congratulations to you, too. Thank you. All right, which way? Oh, go on this way. Thank you. Bye. Hello there, Mr. President. Hello there. Mr. President, how are you? Good. Good to see you. Good to see you. Thank you. Mr. President, welcome. Good to see you. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. President, how are you? Good to see you. President, this is a very distinguished group, most of whom you know, that is indeed engaged in a labor of love because they believe it is in the national interest to keep our economic and security assistance programs moving. It's an unpopular and difficult cause that they have done a magnificent job in getting their organization off the ground and fighting an extremely difficult battle, but without them we'd be in a lot worse shape than we are today, so I think we owe them a vote of gratitude. Well, yes, and I welcome the opportunity to share with you my concerns over the short-sighted approach that the Congress has taken in cutting my request for funding in the foreign affairs field. Since 1985 Congress has slashed appropriations for foreign affairs programs by one third, and that's a far greater reduction for other portions of the budget. In fact, our foreign programs cost less than two cents out of each budget dollar. Nearly all the money we put out in loans and grants is spent right back here in the United States creating jobs and bolstering our economy. And our economic development aid goes to countries in the developing world which provide 40 percent of the market for our exports. Our money spent on military assistance means our allies and friends join us in defending our and their security, and I can tell you that costs a lot less, as you well know, than having to send American boys over there. At the levels now set by Congress, down 15 percent from what we requested, we will not be able to keep our commitments to countries where support is vital to our own national security, but I'm preaching to the choir when I talk with Citizens Network. In fact, I want to hear more about your efforts and plans to impress on Americans the paramount importance to them of maintaining adequate funding in our foreign affairs programs, and I think you know you have both my gratitude and my support. Mr. President, as a Network for Foreign Affairs, try to do what we can to alert the American public. Mr. President, you remember Jack Gallin. He wears my favorite shoulder patch. Thank you, sir. This is one of the regular meetings with the Joint Chiefs. We have a panel for quite a while, we're delighted to have this with you, and we have planned for you for this one day presentation of the SACUR and SICUR who both happened to be General Gallin, and they both have responsibilities as well as the general strategy and resources for dealing with the defense of NATO Europe. Frank, did you want to? No, sir. You're in the chair. Rather than take any more time, I'm going to turn it over to Ed McGraw in general. Well, Mr. President, I just want to say again how much we appreciate the opportunity to meet on frequent occasions, and as we mentioned at the last meeting, we're going to review approval and try and bring in some of the maybe unified commanders and have them discuss the war-fighting strategy. I think it's appropriate that you can ask this sequence to the gentleman, but he's a very capable guy, and I think he's up to the challenge. Thank you, Bill. Mr. President, coming in here and the President, so the Secretaries, and the Vice President, and you and all the rest, reminds me of the fact that the four-star general has got a lot of people in a fire. It won't be water-borne, it'll be horse-borne at times, and so therefore there's a western belt just in the door for you. Thank you very much. It'll be a pleasure working with you. Well, please stay happy aboard. Thank you. Sir, Woody is a ship driver, so you'll be able to answer all your questions about the islands offshore much better than I could. Coming straight from two years at sea. That was unfair of me the first time out of the ranch where you could see the islands out there in the channel. I took advantage of it and was trying to get her to identify them for me, but she'd been in the other ocean. Sir, we'll be set this time for you. We have a long night. Thank you, sir. Thank you. And again. I'm not going to make the rounds. I think he is. I have something special to do. We're all programmed. That's when I was an Elmer and President of the Church. You didn't know that, did you? Oh, sorry, sir. Thank you. Go around. Thank you. It was yourself. Collector's that. Folks, introduce yourselves as the President. Hello, I'm Gene Marks. I'm the Department of Fulham, California. I'm not on my right side. Well, good. We want to say, first off, I don't know how they're saying it, but this is okay. Mr. President, we're so grateful for your willingness to meet with this task force and your interest along the way, as you called me right after the General Assembly's decision. And it's just one more indication of always, I think, your willingness to meet with groups and want to meet with you. I remember back in the days of the Vietnam and Cambodian problem when you met with the people in the Fellowship Hall of our Church and tried to share your feelings there, and you were so gracious then. And one more indication of your wanting to hear from other people and your Church. These are friends and Christians who have a great concern about our world. I'm speaking for them. Thank you very much for letting us have these moments with you. And I think talking to your people might be good to have you share and your people, and then let's just talk. All right. I'm pleased to do that. And, Don, I want to welcome you all to the White House, and I thank you for arranging this meeting with you. I have to point out, and I don't mean to derogate what your task force has done, or you've gone, but to point out that no one can have access to all the information that a government can have in a situation of this kind. And we are aware that the Sandinista government there has probably has sophisticated a disinformation network at anything that we've ever seen, and it has invaded a great deal of our press. But I'd like to open with some statements here, and then I'll call on George. I felt for some time that the real story about Central America was well in place by the time I was sworn in this position, and that was frequently overlooked. When the Sandinistas came to power in Nicaragua in July of 1979, they promised reforms and democracy for their country. And this promise was documented in a telegram they sent to the Organization of American States in June of 1979 in response to the unprecedented OAS resolution that called on Somoza to leave so that a democratic system with guaranteed rights could be established. Now what actually happened, the revolutionaries called on the Organization of American States and asked if they would appeal to Somoza to step down in order to stop the killing. And the Organization said, what are your revolutionary goals? And back in writing came those goals, which was all the things we hold dear, freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of religion, freedom of labor unions, free enterprise, and a pluralistic democratic society. That was the promise that came back. Well, before I was sworn in as President in January 1981, the following had happened in Nicaragua. Three Sandinistas and two real Democrats comprised the first junta. President Carter received Ortega and Robello in the White House in September 1979, a little over two months after they had come to power in Nicaragua, and he offered friendship and help. Sandinista Commandantes then went to the Soviet Union in March of 1980, eight months after they came into power, and signed a party to party communique with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union that expressed basic agreement with the foreign policy goals of the Soviet Union. The next month, April 1980, the two Democrats on the Hunter resigned. One Alfonso Robello was currently a member of the Nicaraguan Democratic Resistance directorate. The Western response to the Sandinistas for economic assistance was quick and generous. President Carter led the way, offering bilateral economic assistance and supporting loans in the Western multilateral banks. By the end of 1979, Soviet military planners were in Nicaragua, and by the time I took office, over 30 new military bases were either built or in the process of construction. There were no freedom fighters yet. By the time I took office, the Sandinista Army had become the largest in Central America, and it received over 850 metric tons of military equipment from the Soviet block. There were no freedom fighters yet. The Sandinistas also began giving assistance to the Communist guerrillas in El Salvador shortly after coming to power, and that still continues. President Carter suspended economic assistance to the Sandinistas in January 1981, just weeks before I was sworn in because of their exporting of revolution and aggression against El Salvador. Cardinal Obando Ibravo was particularly active against Somoza, and in 1980, the Sandinistas issued a communique specifically thanking him for his and the church's contribution to the revolution. Yet later that year, relations began to become troubled between the church and government. The Sandinistas began an early and clear pattern of repression and control over independent institutions, like the Free Press, Free Labor Union schools, and over reeled people's lives through their system of neighborhood Sandinistas defense committees, and later on through the use of intimidation from their so-called divine mobs. All of these things were in place by January 20, 1981, when I was inaugurated, and these processes of repression, aggression, and militarization have continued since I was sworn in. I think it's safe to say, correct me if I'm wrong, but that the Sandinista army now is bigger than all the combined armies of the other Central American nations. What I've tried to do in the last six and a half years is constantly go back to the issue of genuine democracy in Nicaragua. The bipartisan peace plan that was just released last week was satisfying to me personally because its central point is the need for democracy in Nicaragua and outlines ways that it can be established. The Democratic Central American presidents all agreed that democracy in Nicaragua is the key to peace in the region, and that is reflected in the document they have just signed. There's firm bipartisan agreement on that point. Democracy was the central issue in 1979 when the Sandinistas promised it to the people of Nicaragua. It remains the issue today, and in our discussion later, I think we have plenty of evidence to show that their promise is not kept and has gotten loose. And now I'll ask George to review the elements of the new bipartisan peace plan and the Central American plan signed in Guatemala last Friday. Thank you, Mr. President. If I could also do as the President did, that's the first step back to George a little bit. I'll talk about the Central American plan because...