THE CAST
---Marsha Scott
---Patsy Thomasson
---Buddy Young
---Nathan Landow
---Terry Lenzer
---Betsy Pond
---Dan Lasater
---Laura Capps
---Vic Kamber
---Lewis Merletti
---Podesta brothers
---Julia Hughes Jones
---Arthur Coia
---Harry Thomason/Shearer
---Li Ka-Shing
---Wang Jun
---K.S. Wu and Senator Jay Rockefeller
---General Wesley K Clark
---Carolyn Huber
---Mary Louise Hagen
---Elizabeth Mann
---Robert Suettinger
---Liu Chao-ying
---Ms Gottemoeller
---Robert Rubin
---Admiral Prueher
---J & A Securities
---Hogan & Hartson
---Mark Middleton
---Chang-Lin Tien
---Susan Rice
---Wen-Ho and Sylvia Lee
---Erskine Bowles
---Mack McLarty
---Terry McAuliffe
---Alexander Haig
---Jane Mayer
---Tony Coelho
---Leon Panetta
---Charles Ruff
----Lee Radek
---Miscellaneous

Raymond Lloyd "Buddy" Young was appointed Director, Region VI by President Clinton in 1993. As Regional Director, he coordinated FEMA mitigation, preparedness and disaster response and recovery activities in: Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. In 1997, he served as Acting Deputy Director for the agency. Mr. Young is a veteran of 26 years of service for the Arkansas State Police. He joined FEMA after serving as director of security for then-Governor Bill Clinton, a post he had held since 1983. During the 1992 presidential campaign, Mr. Young coordinated state security matters for the governor's office, working with federal law officers responsible for protecting presidential candidates. As Director of Security for the Office of the Governor, Mr. Young formed a close professional relationship with President Clinton and FEMA Director James Lee Witt, serving as a vital link to the Arkansas Office of Emergency Services and the state's emergency management community. Earlier in his career, Mr. Young served in the Highway Patrol and Criminal Investigation Division of the Arkansas State Police, where he was Commander of the Organized Crime Unit.

The Weekly Standard 3/8/99 Matt Labash "…Last year, the man [Nathon Landow] who's raised over $600,000 for Clinton/Gore campaigns stood accused by Paula Jones's attorneys and others of trying to influence Kathleen Willey's testimony about her groping at the president's hands. Among non-administration types…. His name has surfaced on White House coffee lists, on Al Gore's fund-raising call sheets, and in an A1 Hunt column that alleged he attempted to orchestrate a sweetheart real estate deal for the administration's pet convict, Webster Hubbell….At January's end, ABC News and the Washington Post reported that Nate Landow's personal attorney had hired a private investigator to investigate Kathleen Willey--during the period when Willey was a witness in the Paula Jones case…. Reporters first took notice of Landow in February 1998. From the start, he seemed possessed of a Clintonian inability to keep his story straight. … While Stern declines to say whether anyone told him Landow knew of his hiring, sources with knowledge of his grand jury testimony say Stern has asserted that both his boss and Schwartzbach told him Landow knew about it. Likewise, a source with intimate knowledge of the case says that last spring both Miller and Schwartzbach "vigorously" instructed Stern to destroy any records linking Prudential Associates to Landow and Schwartzbach. In addition, says the source, Stern has told investigators that his late boss specified that Landow wanted the records destroyed. If proven, this could be problematic for Landow, who at the time was under subpoena to produce any evidence regarding Kathleen Willey…. The White House has taken care to distance itself from Landow, with aides anonymously portraying him as an A1 Gore lapdog more than a Clinton fixer….. Landow carted around the back-nine with the president during Clinton's 1995 vacation in Jackson Hole. He has been business partners with Vernon Jordan. Vince Foster tried to decompress at Landow's estate over the final weekend of his life. And Landow's son-in-law, Michael Cardozo, headed Clinton's first legal-defense fund…. While no evidence has emerged (other than the private investigator's representations) that Landow served as an agent of the White House in the attempt to silence Kathleen Willey, a source with intimate knowledge of the case notes the convergence of interests between Landow, himself under Starr's magnifying glass for his contacts with Willey, and the White House. …Maybe Landow should be dismissed as just another mercurial mogul. But he has also been linked to more sinister storylines. In 1978, Landow, a big Carter booster, saw his expected ambassadorial nomination torpedoed after the Washington Post ran a lengthy exposé of his business association with three suspected organized-crime figures…. Landow touted his White House connections and those of his friend Peter Knight, a Washington lobbyist and Clinton/Gore '96 campaign manager. Landow negotiated with the tribe [Oklahoma’s Cheyenne and Arapaho tribe with average income of $6000] for an upfront $100,000 payment to Knight's firm, to be followed by a $10,000 monthly retainer. Landow's cut was a hefty 10 percent of any settlement price for development of the land, plus 10 percent of the land's revenue from oil and gas extraction…. According to the Thompson report, both Copperthite and the tribe's attorney, Rick Grellnar, recounted "an abusive, profanity-strewn tirade from Landow, one Copperthite described as 'Teamsteresque.'" Grellnar says Landow went so far as to ridicule the way he was dressed. Grellnar summed up the experience as being "like Bugsy Siegel [putting] your head in a vice. Had there not been a table between us, we felt like we were gonna get hit or something." …."

2/4/99 www.terrlenzer.com site Freeper sunshine ".Lenzner was approached by the Clinton administration regarding the Whitewater, Paula Jones and Charlie Trie cases. In the summer of 1994, IGI received a grant worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from the State Department. The money allowed the firm to send its president, former New York City police commissioner Raymond Kelly, to train Haitian police and supervise international police monitoring there after a military crisis. State Department officials said the grant was made to IGI because the company was Kelly's employer at the time and it was not put up for competitive bidding because of the importance of getting a top lawman to Haiti to supervise the transition of power to local police between September 1994 and March 1995. The Associated Press is reported to have Secret Service logs showing that Lenzner was cleared for White House access four times in one month in 1996... During the committee hearings, Newsweek magazine revealed a memo from Lenzner who testified at the hearings. His memo said his firm would investigate Oklahoma Republican Senator Don Nickles for an Indian tribe unhappy with the Senator's stance against returning tribal land. The proposal, marked "privileged and confidential," was a model of bluntness.. Joseph DiGenova, a former district attorney who has been vocal on cable talk shows in his criticism of the President during the recent scandals, said on 'Meet the Press' that he had been informed by reporters that private detectives from Investigative Group Inc., headed by Lenzner, were digging up dirt on him and his wife. In an MSNBC audio interview, Victoria Toensing, his wife and former Justice Department attorney, says that a lie was spread that she was a Starr informant. .Lenzner testified earlier this year to the Whitewater grand jury about the source of derogatory information regarding several prosecutors in independent counsel Kenneth Starr's office. In a brief interview, TIME says that Lenzner denied that he was probing Starr, but before TIME could ask if he was investigating Starr's lieutenants he said, "I'm not going to answer any more questions," and hung up.."

Conspiracy Nation 2/7/99 Brian Redman ".Terry Lenzner heads Investigative Group International (IGI), a team of about 100 private investigators whose members include former FBI, CIA, and DEA agents as well as "reporters and news producers from ABC, NBC and CBS." [1] IGI, founded in ==1984==, has headquarters in Washington, DC, and offices in Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, and London.. Lenzner and IGI have been called "the White House secret police" by former Clinton confidant Dick Morris. Ken Starr, the so-called "Independent" Counsel, also has his own team of detectives who dig for dirt on Bill Clinton and associates. Battling private and semi-private detectives lurk in the shadows of the ongoing Washington, DC Scandal- Mania..Among those employed by Lenzner and IGI is LARRY POTTS. Larry Potts "was the supervising FBI official in the siege of Randy Weaver's family." [3] Potts also handled the Waco Massacre which culminated on April 19, 1993. It was Potts, then an Assistant FBI Director, together with FBI siege commander Jeff Jamar, who authorized the "rules of engagement" at the Branch Davidian church and residence. [4]."

….An IGI division called "Campaign Facts Inc.," created two years ago, offers not only to dig for dirt on an adversary, but to find out what damaging information political enemies -- or nosy reporters -- might discover about clients and their associates.

….Lenzner was approached by the Clinton administration regarding the Whitewater, Paula Jones and Charlie Trie cases. In the summer of 1994, IGI received a grant worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from the State Department. The money allowed the firm to send its president, former New York City police commissioner Raymond Kelly, to train Haitian police and supervise international police monitoring there after a military crisis.

…….During the committee hearings, Newsweek magazine revealed a memo from Lenzner who testified at the hearings. His memo said his firm would investigate Oklahoma Republican Senator Don Nickles for an Indian tribe unhappy with the Senator's stance against returning tribal land. The proposal, marked "privileged and confidential," was a model of bluntness. Entitled "Background Research: Senator Don Nickles," the May 16, 1997, document, obtained by NEWSWEEK, outlined an extensive plan to scour the Oklahoma Republican's life for embarrassing or incriminating details: searching courthouses for "civil, criminal, divorce and bankruptcy litigation"; hunting for "fictitious name filings"; reviewing his and his wife's "personal business activities." The goal was to show that Nickles was "linked to the oil industry."

…… Joseph DiGenova, a former district attorney who has been vocal on cable talk shows in his criticism of the President during the recent scandals, said on 'Meet the Press' that he had been informed by reporters that private detectives from Investigative Group Inc., headed by Lenzner, were digging up dirt on him and his wife…. The administration has claimed that "no one hired any private investigator to look into the background of investigators, prosecutors or reporters." But the White House was forced to admit Tuesday that Lenzner does, in fact, work in some capacity for the Clinton legal team. ….."

WorldNetDaily 1999 Sarah Foster "….Dr. Sidney Gottlieb, whose controversial experiments with LSD and other drugs on behalf of the Central Intelligence Agency brought him into the congressional and public scrutiny in the 1970s, is dead at 80……Gottlieb, born August 3, 1918, was the CIA's real-life "Dr. Strangelove" -- a brilliant bio-chemist who designed and headed MK-ULTRA, the agency's most far-reaching drug and mind-control program at the height of the Cold War. Though the super-secret MK-ULTRA was ended in 1964, a streamlined version called MK-SEARCH was continued -- with Gottlieb in charge -- until 1972…….. WorldNetDaily reported on these programs, and Gottlieb's role in them, in November 1998 after discovering that Terry Lenzner -- Clinton's personal private eye -- revealed, in a deposition to Larry Klayman of Judicial Watch, that he had sued the Senate to keep Gottlieb's name from appearing in the Church Committee Report on Assassinations. Lenzner arranged for Gottlieb to testify under the name Joseph Scheider…."

WorldNetDaily 1998 Sarah Foster "….President Clinton relies so much on private investigators to dig up dirt on political enemies, it's said he has his own private CIA. But an offhand remark by Terry Lenzner -- the super-sleuth most often hired by Clinton's attorneys to do the dirt-digging -- reveals there's more than a little truth to that quip. In a sworn deposition, the former Senate Watergate Committee attorney turned gumshoe admitted at least one significant connection to the Central Intelligence Agency. Lenzner is apparently so well-connected to the CIA that, in an hour of need, the agency turned to him for help in shielding one of its most notorious employees from public scrutiny……"No," said Lenzner. "I think the only work I've ever done with the CIA was, I represented two or three former CIA employees during the Church Senate hearings (in 1975), including the former head of the Technical Services Division, Sidney Gottlieb. And, indeed, I sued the Senate committee to keep his name out of the assassination report on the grounds that it might endanger his life and his family's life." Sidney Gottlieb. There's a name from the past. The fact that Terry Lenzner represented him and actually sued a Senate committee on his behalf speaks volumes….."

WorldNetDaily 1998 Sarah Foster "…Lenzner had been a civil rights attorney for the Justice Department, then had a position as director of legal services with the Office of Economic Opportunity. He was fired by President Nixon in 1970 for, allegedly, funneling public monies to the Black Panthers and other militant groups. That year he joined the defense team of Father Philip Berrigan who -- with a group of nuns and priests -- was charged with planning to kidnap Henry Kissinger, blow up heating tunnels and destroy draft records. Ramsey Clark, former attorney general was the lead counsel. Berrigan and his associates were acquitted. ….."

CNNS, 2/7/99 "….. Terry Lenzner heads Investigative Group International (IGI), a team of about 100 private investigators whose members include former FBI, CIA, and DEA agents as well as "reporters and news producers from ABC, NBC and CBS." [1] IGI, founded in ==1984==, has headquarters in Washington, DC, and offices in Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, and London…… Lenzner and IGI have been called "the White House secret police" by former Clinton confidant Dick Morris. …… Among those employed by Lenzner and IGI is LARRY POTTS. Larry Potts "was the supervising FBI official in the siege of Randy Weaver's family." [3] Potts also handled the Waco Massacre which culminated on April 19, 1993. It was Potts, then an Assistant FBI Director, together with FBI siege commander Jeff Jamar, who authorized the "rules of engagement" at the Branch Davidian church and residence. [4] ….."

The Washington Times 2/11/99 Inside the Beltway - John McCaslin - excerpt Freeper Liberty ". Two months ago, Dr. James E. Marvel, an orthopedic surgeon in Stillwater, Okla., wrote a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno saying he was "shocked" that an independent counsel wasn't appointed to investigate the questionable fund-raising activities of Vice President Al Gore. .On January 15, Dr. Marvel got a reply, not from Miss Reno, but the criminal division of the Justice Department. "I appreciate your concern about these matters. Pleased be assured that the Department of Justice is pursuing vigorously every lead. ... Sincerely, Betsy L. Pond, Executive Office." Betsy Pond? The same Betsy Pond who rummaged through White House Deputy Counsel Vincent W. Foster's office -- ostensibly to straighten it up, thereby disturbing important evidence -- the morning after Mr. Foster's body was discovered at Fort Marcy Park? The same Betsy Pond who was personal secretary to White House Counsel Bernard Nussbaum when he swore he had no idea who hired White House personnel chief D. Craig Livingstone, or how he illegally acquired 900 confidential FBI files of former White House employees? The same Betsy Pond called to testify before a federal grand jury investigating Whitewater? The same Betsy Pond called to testify before committees in both the House and Senate? .."

Freeper zevonfan on Laura Capps "...Laura Capps is the daughter of the late Congressman Walter Capps and Rep. Lois Capps, who won the seat formerly held by husband. Walter Capps died suddenly of a heart attack approximately half way into his term. As a favor to Laura Capps (a former WH intern hired by the WH to work in the West Wing) Clinton came to Santa Barbara to stump for Walter Capps on the eve of the 1996 election. During that visit, the Santa Barbara News Press quoted Laura expressing the thrill of only having one desk(George Stephanopolous') between her desk and the oval office diningroom. Laura Capps is listed on the witness list of the Starr Report. Laura Capps name appears again, in the Filegate Lawsuit by Judicial Watch. Stephanopolous testified that Laura Capps boxed up the documents that he removed from his office when he left the WH. Stephanopolous also testified that Laura Capps was assisted by another WH employee, Emily Lenzner,daughter of Terry Lenzner. Congresswoman Capps office denies that Laura Capps had any was involved in any way with the scandalous behavior in the WH. Laura Capps cannot be reached for comment because she has left her WH job to further her education and is currently out of the country...."

The Providence Journal Company. 9/30/96 "…Coia has entrusted his reelection message to skilled professionals. Coia's longtime Washington consultant Vic Kamber uses PR techniques like those of Reagan's backstage genius, Michael Deaver. …" and The Journal-Bulletin on Croia's union: "Since the Laborers were founded in 1903, there had been exactly three general presidents, all from Chicago, all chosen in a secretive ritual overseen by the Chicago Syndicate Coia's union loaned $100,000 to the Clinton inaugural committee, and from Jan. 1 1993, to Dec. 31, 1994, gave $368,000 in "soft money" contributions to the Democratic Party, making the union the party's sixth-leading donor. Much of the soft-money donation was steered to a grass-roots campaign to support first lady Hillary… "If you're invited to the White House, and your calls are returned, and you're quoted in the papers and they print your op-ed pieces, the total of that is to say, 'You're important,' " says Vic Kamber, a Washington labor consultant. "Arthur has helped create that perception, and the perception has become reality." 'Whitewater is not important." By Dean Starkman, with reports from John Mulligan and Mike Stanton Journal-Bulletin staff writers…" and From the Kamber Groups webpage: "…THE KAMBER GROUP WAS RETAINED by the Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays in 1995 and 1996 to publicize and implement its "Project Open Mind," designed to confront head-on the human impact of anti-gay bigotry in six pilot cities across the country. PFLAG had produced a series of ads juxtaposing on-camera anti-gay quotes from Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and Jesse Helms against images of gay-bashings and one mother's story about how her son was brutally murdered, and wanted them to run in Tulsa, Houston, Atlanta and Washington, D.C. (for national presence only). A second series of ads was produced for Seattle, Minneapolis and St. Louis…. "

Lewis C. Merletti, Director of the Secret Services, led the Treasury Department's investigation of the 1993 raid on the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas. Currently, Merletti is vigorously resisting Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's attempts to have Secret Service agents testify before a Grand Jury.

A veteran uniformed Secret Service officer said of Lew Merletti, the director: "Merletti is perceived to be more political than past directors . He's putting us in a tough position. We don't serve a particular president, we serve the presidency. He thinks he works for the Clinton people and does their bidding. We want to do the right thing, but the message nowadays is clear: step out of line and your career is over."

Fox News Wire 1/11/99 Jonathan Salant AP ". The brothers of two top aides to President Clinton have combined forces in a lobbying firm likely to impress clients seeking an inside connection to the administration. Podesta.com, formerly co-owned by White House chief of staff John Podesta, recently bought Ricchetti and Associates, owned by Podesta's new deputy, Steve Ricchetti. Ricchetti's return to the White House, after two years as a lobbyist, left his young firm without its main "rainmaker,'' or generator of business. The buyout allows Ricchetti's brother, Jeff, to join the Podesta firm as a principal, working alongside Podesta's brother, Anthony. The combined firms boast a list of high-tech and communications clients with multiple interests before Congress and federal regulators.."

World Net Daily through Softwar.net 4/13/99 through E-Mail Alert "...Starting in 1994, Russian and Chinese military units began to purchase U.S. made super-computers for nuclear weapons research....In 1995, Tony Podesta, a powerful D.C. based lobbyist and brother of John Podesta - the White House advisor, had a consortium of top U.S. computer CEOs attend secret meetings inside the White House. The meetings were on computer hardware and software exports to China and Russia. The meetings occurred just before Clinton changed super-computer policy. Within weeks, the Russian and Chinese were buying computer power that now surpasses the U.S. Defense Dept.

In 1995, the Computer Systems Policy Project (CSPP) - according to documents from the Commerce Dept. - was represented by Tony Podesta, brother of White House official John Podesta. The CSPP is a group of computer companies, that in 1995 included Apple, AT&T, Compaq, Cray, Data General, Digital Equipment, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Silicon Graphics, Stratus Computer, Sun Microsystems, Tandem and Unisys. Officials working for Apple, and Silicon Graphics are documented by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to be very large Clinton donors.

One 1995 secret meeting in the White House was attended by Podesta Associates employee, Ken Kay, the Director of the CSPP. The meeting with Tony Podesta's employee took place while John Podesta was also employed at the White House. John Podesta left the employ of the White House and went directly to work for his brother, Tony Podesta, in July 1995...."

World Net Daily through Softwar.net 4/13/99 through E-Mail Alert "...Former NSA (National Security Agency) Director Admiral McConnell stated that "John Podesta" was the Clinton advisor in charge of computer encryption policy. Various documents from the National Security Council (NSC) and the Commerce Dept. prove that John Podesta was charged with computer policy such as export restrictions. In fact, a December 1993 letter to Secretary Ron Brown from the United States Council for International Business was "cc'd" to John Podesta. White House advisors are prohibited from working on matters in which they have a direct financial interest. This law also prohibits them from lobbying on matters they worked on while in government and prohibits them from lobbying for a period of one year after they have left service. John Podesta and Tony Podesta were engaged in activities that may constitute conflict of interest under USC title 18, sections 203 through 208. John Podesta was employed at the White House and charged with the very same policy that his brother, Tony Podesta, was engaged in lobbying the Government...."

World Net Daily through Softwar.net 4/13/99 through E-Mail Alert "...In 1996, two of the Podesta companies, IBM and Silicon Graphics, sold super-computers directly to Russian nuclear weapons labs Arzamas-16 and Chelyabinsk-70 under so-called "commercial" contracts. IBM has since settled for a fine of $8 million on the $7.5 million dollar sale to Arzamas-16. Silicon Graphics, however, has not been charged. The 1996 CSPP computer exports took place under the guise of "commercial" sales. Those exports took place during the period of time when the both companies were represented by Tony Podesta. In 1996, John Podesta was also working for his brother Tony as a lobbyist for Podesta Assocates. Thus, John certainly had a large paycheck tied to his brother's success for IBM and Silicon Graphics.

World Net Daily through Softwar.net 4/13/99 through E-Mail Alert "...The 1996 sales to Russia were not the first exports to foreign military units during Tony Podesta's work for the CSPP. In 1994, CSPP member Tandem Corp. exported computers to China Great Wall Corp., a company owned by the Chinese Army, during a Ron Brown trade trip. A Commerce Dept. 1994 Presidential trade trip document on James Treybig states "Tandem and China Great Wall Industry will announce in August their joint venture". Another document found in the files of former Commerce Secretary Ron Brown states that Treybig "negotiated a $100 million dollar joint venture for Tandem Computers while in China". The Commerce Dept. does not have the authority to authorize export of super-computers to foreign military units such as Russian nuclear weapons labs and PLA owned Great Wall Industries. Transfers of any equipment for the development of nuclear weapons to military units constitutes a "defense service" as per the United States Munitions List (USML) and the International Trade in Arms Regulations ITAR 22 C.F.R. Part 120.9 and is strictly under the authority of the State Dept. and the Defense Dept. Yet, the CSPP and Tony Podesta sought out the Commerce Dept. for access to the White House...."

Gaffney's Web Site 4/99 "...Executive Order 12958, signed by President Clinton on April 17, 1995. E.O. 12958 calls for the automatic declassification by April 17, 2000 of all documents containing historical information that are 25 years or older. While the order allows a few exceptions in the name of protecting national security (notably, an injunction that "nothing in this order shall supersede the [classification requirements of] the Atomic Energy Act of 1954"), the practical effect of the order has been greatly to abbreviate the time and necessarily to diminish the care with which documents are scrutinized prior to their release to the public. What amounted to "pressure [to] release sensitive nuclear weapons information" (to coin a phrase) came not only from then-Secretary of Energy Hazel O'Leary but from declassification-devotées in the White House like then-NSC staffer Morton Halperin and the current Chief of Staff, John Podesta. Under such pressure, the Administration wound up engaging in the wholesale declassification of papers, including some containing Restricted Data (RD) or Formerly Restricted Data (FRD)....The Senators' [Kyl, Shelby, Smith] concerns prompted them to amend the FY1999 defense authorization act to tighten up procedures for reviewing this material and to require a presidential certification that it is "highly unlikely" RD or FRD material is being released pursuant to E.O. 12958. It is worth noting that Mr. Podesta and the Administration strenuously opposed this amendment and have generally tried to thwart its implementation as intended. Among the senior officials who are said to have contributed to this effort is Rose Gottemoeller, whose controversial nomination to become Assistant Secretary of Energy for Nonproliferation and National Security was recently sneaked through the Senate without any effort being made to examine her role in the unfolding China scandal and other DoE security problems.

www.wired.com 5/25/99 Declan McCullagh "... A new congressional report claiming widespread technological espionage by China will thwart any changes to US encryption rules in the near future, a top White House official predicted Tuesday. The conclusions of the 872-page report will probably result in legislators tightening export controls instead of relaxing them, White House Chief of Staff John Podesta said....."

Drudge 6/7/99 "...The White House is preparing to loosen government controls on the sale of powerful super computers to more than 100 countries only two weeks after a congressional committee charged it with carelessly permitting sales to China, the LOS ANGELES TIMES is planning to report in Tuesday editions. ...The Commerce Department has proposed easing restrictions on sales of supercomputers to "most countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe, administration sources said Monday." Gosselin reports that "virtually all restrictions are likely to be lifted on sales to Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, which recently became NATO members." The White House's John Podesta, last seen drafting a new Medicare proposal that extends drug coverage to all beneficiaries, has taken charge of announcing the new supercomputer policy. According to Gosselin, first official word that the White House is prepared to ease export limits on the 100 countries could come during a meeting scheduled for Friday between Podesta and a group that includes "IBM Chairman and Chief Executive Louis Gerstner, Intel Corp. Chairman Andy Grove, Sun Microsystems Inc. CEO Scott D. McNealy and Hewlett-Packard Co. Chairman and President Lewis E.Platt." ..."

Koenig's International News 6/10/99 Charles Smith "...In 1994, Carter corresponded with "Ken" Kay who was then "Director" of the Computer Systems Policy Project (CSPP), a consortium of powerful U.S. computer makers. According to the CSPP, in March 1994, the CSPP Director "Kenneth R. Kay," was also "a partner in the law firm of Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds."..... In 1994, CSPP Director Ken Kay contacted Barry Carter and Ron Brown in an extensive effort to expand computer exports to China and Russia. Kay pressured Ron Brown by issuing an internal report to ease "export control policy" and seek "new thresholds for computers"......By April 1994, Ken Kay left the employ of Preston Gates and took a new position at Podesta Associates, the powerful lobby firm owned by Tony Podesta, brother of White House advisor John Podesta. Kay, of course, took his CSPP clients with him by retaining his executive directorship of the consortium. The shift to Podesta Associates was quickly felt by the CSPP members and the PLA. In August, 1994, CSPP members IBM, Cray and Tandem were invited to participate on a Brown trade trip to China. While on the trip, CSPP member Tandem sold over $100 million in computers to PLA owned Great Wall Industries, manufacturer of the Chinese Army nuclear tipped missiles...."

Freeper Rodger Schultz 12/22/98 on Who is Julia Hughes Jones ".A DRUDGE BOMBSHELL: Hardball Guest Sabotaged charges "A mystery woman who was set to appear for the first time on television this week to reveal fresh stories about "Clinton corruption" has been hit with an intimidation campaign, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned! " .. Jeff Gerth February 5, 1992 NEW YORK TIMES: "The state auditor, Julia Hughes Jones, opposed two state pension fund investments that Stephens Inc., arranged in 1987 and 1988, noting that Stephens had represented both the bond issuers and the bond purchasers. In an interview, Mrs. Jones, who is an elected official, said she believed the Stephenses should have given the pension fund more information about what it was doing. She added that outside advisors should have been brought in. And she complained that the Stephenses' fees were excessive, though Mrs. Jones did support subsequent deals after Stephens lowered its fees. Warren Stephens defended the state pension investment deals, saying their "record has been outstanding." The trustees of the pension funds, most of them appointed by Mr. Clinton, did agree to the investments, and Mr. Clinton also gave approval."..The American Spectator 09/95 James Ring Adams ".Former state auditor Julia Hughes Jones -- in 1985 the only statewide elected Republican -- had been warning about the state's lax use of repos for years. But early that year, her staff began to suspect something strange was afoot: Worthen's share of the state repo business suddenly shot up. In 1984, one of the auditor's lawyers noted, Worthen ranked eighth in state repos, placing only $58 million worth. But from mid-January 1985 to the time of the BBS disaster, the bank handled $342 million worth -- more than anyone else in the state."

Washington Post 3/10/99 John Mintz "…A top labor union official who has been a leading Democratic campaign contributor was fined $100,000 yesterday for engaging in an improper business investment with a union vendor but was cleared of the more serious charges that he is under Mafia control and will be allowed to keep his job. The ruling, by a union hearing officer, came in the case of Arthur A. Coia, general president of the Laborers International Union of North America. It overturned the recommendation of the union's internal prosecutor, who had urged that Coia be removed, and angered some of President Clinton's conservative and Republican critics, who see it as further proof that the administration has given favorable treatment to a close White House ally. The charges against Coia are a test case of an innovative agreement that the Justice Department reached with the Laborers and Coia in 1995. Rather than take over the mob-tainted union, as the government had done in the case of the Teamsters union, Justice officials allowed the Laborers to try to root out corruption themselves. ….The finding that Coia is not a mob figure undermines a key accusation that Republicans have mounted frequently against one of Clinton's most avid labor supporters. It also conflicts with the stance of Clinton's own Justice Department, which said in 1994 that Coia has "associated with and been controlled by" mobsters. "The public shouldn't have any confidence in the integrity of this process," said Ken Boehm, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative group. "This is not the way to clean up a union." Boehm said the Clinton administration has shown undue deference to Coia, who oversaw $1.2 million in contributions to Democrats in 1997 and 1998 and has flown on Air Force One. He noted that first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton addressed a 1994 Laborers conference in Florida despite Justice Department recommendations that she not do so because of pending criminal investigations of the union…."

Wall Street Journal 7/24/96 "…Arthur A. Coia is president of LIUNA, the Laborers International Union of North America, which represents 700,000 construction workers, brick haulers and asbestos removers. He is also one of President Bill Clinton's most important political allies. His union lent President Clinton's inaugural committee $100,000, and contributed $1.1 million to Democrats in the 1994 elections. Mr. Coia has also served as vice chairman of numerous multimillion-dollar Democratic fund-raisers, including one in May of this year. He sits on the board of the "Back to Business" committee that takes out ads defending the Clintons on Whitewater, and in 1994 attended a White House dinner and an Oval Office meeting at which the President gave him a personal golf club that now adorns his wall. And Hillary Clinton addressed his union's conference in Florida…."

Providence Journal 4/28/99 KEN MINGIS [Arthur Coia] "...FBI agents this morning swept through several city offices, including two offices in City Hall, and arrested two city officials on suspicion of money-laundering, according to Thomas Connell, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office. The two arrested were Joseph Pannone and David Ead, according to a source close to the investigation. Pannone is chairman of the five-member Board of Tax Assessment Review; Ead is vice chairman of the board. Both men were appointed to the board by Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. who stayed at home this morning while federal agents searched the City Collector's office and the Tax Assessor's office in City Hall....."

Hong Kong iMail Vanessa Gould, Joan Yip and Foster Wong "..... ``SUPERMAN'' Li Ka-shing and his sons Richard and Victor are among a number of tycoons who exercise ``undue and dominant influence'' in sections of Hong Kong's economy, according to a report due to be accepted by the European Parliament this week. ....The 23-page report drafted by a committee headed by Irish Euro-MP John Cushnahan calls for fair competition laws and a level playing field for European Union firms wishing to compete in Hong Kong. ...... Among the issues in the report, debated in Strasbourg yesterday, were concerns about Hong Kong's judicial independence, and the interference of mainland officials in press and trade freedom. ....At the same time Mr Li's vast empire was reportedly being squeezed from another direction, with news that Beijing was also concerned about the dominance of his port business, which handled a quarter of China's container trade last year. .....The Far Eastern Economic Review reports today that the Ministry of Communication, which controls shipping on the mainland, had instructed local authorities in several coastal cities to limit the role of Hutchison Port Holdings - an arm of Mr Li's Hutchison Whampoa group - in new and expanding container ports. ......"

Hong Kong iMail Vanessa Gould, Joan Yip and Foster Wong "..... The report of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee said it had been``alleged'' that Mr Li's ``family's business operations account for somewhere between a quarter and a third of stock market capitalisation and include such sectors as telephones, mobile telephones, electricity, supermarkets and property''. The report, the result of Mr Cushnahan's four post-handover visits to Hong Kong, points to the widely-reported controversies surrounding the Li family's growing power with Richard Li Tzar-kai's Pacific Century CyberWorks (PCCW) takeover of Cable & Wireless HKT and the awarding of the Cyberport project ``to Richard Li without the matter being subjected to a public tendering process''. It also mentions concern about exemptions granted when Tom.com, run by Victor Li Tzar-kuoi, was being floated on the Growth Equity Market (GEM). ..........."

WorldNetDaily 3/23/99 Charles Smith "…Li Ka-Shing owns the vast shipping enterprise, Hutchison Whampoa, Ltd. Li works closely with the official PRC shipping carrier, COSCO. Li and COSCO own both ends of the Panama Canal. Li and COSCO tried to buy the former Navy port at Long Beach. Li financed several satellite deals between Hughes and China Hong Kong Satellite (CHINASAT), a company half owned by the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA). Li Ka-Shing and the Chinese navy nearly obtained four huge roll-on/roll-off container ships, financed by loans backed by U.S. Treasury notes…… The bio of Li Ka-Shing was forced from the White House by this author during a lawsuit filed in federal court. The Commerce Department claimed the material was withheld for review by another "agency." In fact, the material was secretly sent by Commerce to the real authors, the White House, which is not an agency. The legal "Catch-22" situation was all too obvious to Commerce and White House lawyers who caved in rather than being made to look stupid in front of a Federal Judge…….The reason for the resistance becomes all too clear when Li Ka-Shing's bio is compared to the accompanying materials forced from the grips of the White House. Li was the only so-called "civilian." Li's bio was included by the White House along with the entire leadership of Communist China from Jiang Zemin to the mayor of Shanghai. The Long Beach affair demonstrated that Li Ka-Shing is an agent of Beijing. The White House material clearly shows that Mr. Li Ka-Shing is a member of the Communist government. The Long Beach deal led by Li Ka-Shing was clearly a national security threat. It was canceled after U.S. intelligence sources revealed that Li Ka-Shing's empire is used for PRC espionage. Li Ka-Shing provides fronts for Chinese military operations and "civilian" covers for PLA soldiers to enter the U.S. under "commercial" camouflage…."

www.softwar.net Freeper report "...The Sino-Swearingen plant in West Virginia is a joint project between Texas based Swearingen aircraft, the AFL-CIO, and Sino-Aerospace Investment Corporation. The joint interests of PRC billionaire Li Ka-Shing, a big U.S. union, and Sen. Rockefeller were teamed up to manufacture business jets in the remote mountains of rural West Virginia. The so-called SJ-30 "business" jet is state-of-the-art. The SJ-30 can travel 2,500 miles at nearly the speed of sound and is rated to cruise at 49,000 feet. The SJ-30 is considered to be the leading edge of U.S. commercial aerospace technology and includes all the latest in avionics such as GPS navigation. The immense speed, range and altitude capability of the SJ-30 can be attributed to the twin Rolls Royce/Williams FJ-44 turbofans that power it. The Williams FJ-44 is also used in the Swedish SK-60 military attack trainer and powers the USAF DarkStar stealth robot spy plane. Williams is best known for making the jet engines for U.S. Tomahawk and ALCM cruise missiles....."

The Center For Security Policy 7/2/99 "…On 23 June, Hutchison USA announced its investment of $957 million into the combined telecommunications company of Voicestream Wireless and Omnipoint. Hutchison is already the largest shareholder in Voicestream, owning 24% of the company and its latest investment will increase its ownership to 30% of the newly merged conglomerate….Hutchison USA is a division of the large Hong Kong business conglomerate, Hutchison Whampoa, whose business ventures include real estate, port ownership in Asia, Europe and Panama, retail and manufacturing, and telecommunications and energy projects. Owned largely by billionaire Li Ka-shing, the company has recently initiated an extensive overseas acquisition strategy. Among other companies, Li is also the principal owner of the Panama Ports Company and China Resources Enterprise which collectively control four major ports at the eastern and western entry points to the Panama Canal. In a recent hearing before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on U.S. interests in the Panama Canal, a former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Thomas H. Moorer (USN, Ret.) raised an alarm over Hutchison's role -- and that of the Chinese government -- in Panama.

The Center For Security Policy 7/2/99 "…As Adm. Moorer put it: ...There's far more going on [in Panama] then meets the eye. A company called Panama Ports Company, S.A., affiliated with Hutchinson Whampoa, Ltd. through its owner, Mr. Li Ka-Shing, currently maintains control of four of the Panama Canal's major ports. Now, Panama Port Company is 10 percent owned by China Resources Enterprise, the commercial arm of China's Ministry of Trade and Economic Cooperation….. In their best-selling book, Year of the Rat, Edward Timperlake and William C. Triplett III claimed that China Resources "had previously been identified as an associate of Chinese military intelligence." The authors also identified ties between Li Ka-shing and known arms-smuggler Wang Jun, head of Polytechnologies, an enterprise closely associated with the People's Liberation Army.,,,, The Senate [Government Reform] Committee...revealed that Hutchison Whampoa's subsidiary, HIT, has business ventures with the China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO), which is owned by the People's Liberation Army. COSCO has been criticized for shipping Chinese missiles, missile components, jet fighters and other weapons technologies to nations such as Libya, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan. In 1996, the U.S. Customs Service seized a shipment of 2,000 automatic weapons aboard a COSCO ship at the port of Oakland, California. The man identified as the arms dealer, Wang Jun, is the head of China's Polytechnologies Company, the international outlet for Chinese weapons sales. Jun also sits on the Board of the China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC),(1) the chief investment arm of the Chinese central government. It is also the bank of the People's Liberation Army, providing financing for Chinese Army weapons sales and for the purchase of Western technology. Jun's fellow CITIC Board member is Mr. Li Ka-shing, chairman of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd…."

The Center For Security Policy 7/2/99 "…Li Ka-shing has profound ties to the Beijing regime. Li has invested more than a billion dollars in China and owns most of the dock space in Hong Kong. In an exclusive deal with the People's Republic of China's communist government, Li has the right of first-refusal over all PRC ports south of the Yangtze river, which involves a close working relationship with the Chinese military and businesses controlled by the People's Liberation Army. Li has served as a middle man for PLA business dealings with the West. For example, Li financed several satellite deals between the U.S. Hughes Corporation and China Hong Kong Satellite [CHINASAT], a company owned by the People's Liberation Army. In 1997, Li Ka-shing and the Chinese Navy nearly obtained four huge roll-on/roll-off container ships -- which can be used for transporting military cargo -- in a deal that would have been financed by U.S. taxpayers. A June 1997 Rand report, "Chinese Military Commerce and U.S. National Security," stated, "Hutchison Whampoa of Hong Kong, controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, is also negotiating for PLA wireless system contracts, which would build upon his equity interest in Poly-owned Yangpu Land Development Company, which is building infrastructure on China's Hainan Island." In 1998, Li Ka-shing attempted to issue $2 billion in bonds, through his Hutchison company, in the United States. According to the Dow Jones Newswire, Hutchison revealed that 50 percent of the bonds would be used through a subsidiary known as Chung Kiu Communications Ltd., which had signed agreements to provide cellular services and equipment to joint ventures between the People's Liberation Army and the Chinese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. (Emphasis added.) …"

Excerpts from China's Beachhead at Panama Canal by J. Michael Waller Insight Magazine 7/25/99 "...Hutchison Whampoa is more than a Hong Kong shipping giant. Company chairman Li Ka-shing is an important cog in the economic machinery of the Chinese Communist Party and the PLA. Li is a board member of the Chinese government's main investment arm, the China International Trust and Investment Corp., or CITIC, run by official PLA arms marketeer and smuggler Wang Jun. According to Santoli, Li "has invested more than a billion dollars in China and owns most of the dock space in Hong Kong." Additionally, "Li has served as a middle man for PLA business dealings with the West," financing some of the controversial Hughes Electronics Corp.-Loral Space & Communications deals found to have been conduits for weapons technology to Beijing. He also has been a powerful ally of the Mochtar Riady financial empire of Indonesia -- the Lippo Group family that according to sworn testimony paid off Clinton's friends and political allies on behalf of Chinese military intelligence...."

Excerpts from China's Beachhead at Panama Canal by J. Michael Waller Insight Magazine 7/25/99 "...Hutchison Whampoa's port subsidiary, Hutchison International Terminals, or HIT, which in turn runs the Panama Ports Co., does substantial business with the PLA-owned China Ocean Shipping Company, or COSCO, which has been seeking to take over former naval facilities in Southern California. Some of Hutchison's board members consult to COSCO. China Resources Enterprise, or CRE, the commercial arm of Beijing's Ministry of Trade and Economic Cooperation, owns 10 percent of the Panama Ports Co. The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee has identified CRE as a vehicle for "espionage -- economic, political and military -- for China."

U.S. officials have been slow to realize the importance of Hutchison Whampoa and its global maritime network in Beijing's strategic planning. "Hutchison is trying to build a commercial empire in the Americas," a senior U.S. official in Panama tells Insight. "If you asked me three years ago, I'd say Hutchison Whampoa was just a business concern. Logic would tell you that the PRC has more opportunity to influence Hutchison Whampoa than before." ...."

Hong Kong Standard 8/14/99 Charles Snyder, Karen Chan and Kevin Rafferty "...``Mr Li Ka-shing . . . is a well-known entrepreneur and has no connection whatsoever with the People's Liberation Army,'' a statement from Hutchison Whampoa said. It added that the Hutchison subsidiary that operates container terminals in Panama was responsible for handling commercial shipping and was not involved in controlling access to or in the operations of the Panama Canal, which links the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans....In the letter, Mr Lott attacked Mr Li Ka-shing as an agent of China and its military. He claimed that with ports on either side of the canal Hutchison's subsidiary, Hutchison Port Holdings, would have a ``choke-point'' and could both block US ships and ``control at least one third of world shipping''. Hutchison said the group, through its wholly-owned subsidiary in the area, operates container terminals in Balboa and Cristobal Ports in Panama under Panama Ports Company (PPC). There is no mainland interest in the company. ``PPC's terminal facilities are designed to only load and unload containers from ships, and does not have involvement in the operation of the canal. ``PPC does not operate or control the pilotage nor does PPC have any influence on vessels transiting the canal,'' the statement added. Mr Lott made his accusations public in the wake of the visit by Panama's Vice President-elect Arturo Vallarino to Beijing for an ``unofficial'' visit. ``US naval ships will be at the mercy of Chinese-controlled pilots, and could even be denied passage through the Panama Canal by Hutchison Whampoa, an arm of the PLA,'' Mr Lott wrote. ``We have given away the farm without a shot being fired,'' he said. Not so, said the White House. Spokesman David Leavy cited the Neutrality Treaty which protects the security of the canal and the Panamanian law that governs the Hutchison Whampoa contracts that allows open passage. He said he does not know whether Hutchison Whampoa has links to the PLA. Under the treaty transferring control over the canal from the US to Panama, either country has the right to use military force if needed to reopen the canal, Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said...."

Hong Kong Standard 8/27/99 "…TYCOON Li Ka-shing yesterday gave a clear assurance he is not forsaking Hong Kong for sunnier investment climes. Cheung Kong (Holdings)'s chairman pledged he is committed to invest more and keep Hong Kong as the group's investment base, despite the pull of more attractive yields from investing his empire's money overseas. ``Our strategy is to try investing more in Hong Kong although it has a lower rate of return,'' the property tycoon said. Last year, the influential businessman said he postponed a $10 billion investment in Hong Kong and was not investing until the political and economic climate improved. ``This year, we have invested no less than $10 billion in Hong Kong.'' Mr Li said Cheung Kong definitely sees Hong Kong as its base since about 75 per cent of its capital is invested in the city. Only 15 per cent of the group's capital is invested in 25 foreign countries while the rest, or about 10 to 11 per cent, is invested on the mainland, according to Mr Li. …"

World Net daily 6/29/99 Charles Smith "…Li is so close to the Chinese government that the Clinton White House included his bio along with Chinese President Jiang Zemin to the CEO of Loral Aerospace, Bernard Schwartz, just prior to the 1994 Ron Brown trade trip to Beijing. According to documents provided by the Commerce Department, Brown and Schwartz were to meet both Li and Gen. Shen Rougjun of COSTIND. Serving as a middleman for PLA satellite purchases, Li has financed several satellite deals between the U.S. Hughes Corporation and China Hong Kong Satellite, a company owned by the PLA unit, COSTIND. Besides trying to buy satellites for the PLA, in 1997, Li and the Chinese navy nearly obtained four huge roll-on/roll-off container ships from America. These ships were intended to transport PLA military cargo. The ships were part of a multi-million dollar deal that would have been financed by U.S. taxpayers. A man with considerable clout, Li has invested more than a billion dollars in China and owns most of the dock space in Hong Kong. In an exclusive deal with the People's Republic of China's communist government, Li has the right of first refusal over all PRC ports south of the Yangtze River. Furthermore, Li currently owns both the Pacific and Atlantic ports on the Panama Canal. And it was Li who attempted to purchase the military port of Long Beach, Calif. for COSCO and the Chinese navy…."

World Net daily 6/29/99 Charles Smith "…In 1998, Li attempted to issue $2 billion in bonds in the U.S. through his Hutchison company. According to the Dow Jones Newswire, Hutchison revealed that 50 percent of the bonds would be used through a subsidiary known as Chung Kiu Communications Ltd., which had signed agreements to provide cellular services and equipment to joint ventures between the PLA and the Chinese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. In June 1999, Li and his PLA partners bought their way into the communications grid of northeast America, bringing PLA signals intelligence (SIGINT) operations inside the United States. Hutchison Telecom and the PLA are now major players in the American mobile-phone business with the recent investment of nearly $1 billion into VoiceStream Wireless. The $957 million deal, the PLA biggest investment yet in America, will allow funding of VoiceStream's merger with Omnipoint. Omnipoint provides a service to more than 100 million subscribers, predominantly in the northeastern cities of the U.S., including critical military, commercial and diplomatic sites in New York, Boston and Philadelphia. The opportunity for PLA profits and communications espionage now spans the massive East Coast of America. …."

Codel Report: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher Al Santoli ".... 1. Growing Role of Communist China: The People's Republic of China is making major political, economic and intelligence inroads in Latin America and the Caribbean. China has increased its activities in Cuba, including the creation of major electronic intelligence/jamming facilities directed at the United States, and increased Spanish language broadcasts of Radio Beijing. Panama, the strategic choke point between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and between North and South America, is becoming China's "hub" or "beach head" in our hemisphere. U.S. security officials and knowledgeable Panamanians see the Chinese using trade as their cover for intelligence and political operations. Beijing's goals are: 1) usurping U.S. political influence in the region; 2) dislodging the political recognition and economic influence of Taiwan; 3) a base for sabotage in the event of any future U.S.-China conflicts over Taiwan or the South China Sea. Canal security is very difficult and the presence of Chinese entities controlling ports at both ends of the Canal is a serious security risk. In addition, their control of the ports and stevedoring enhances the two-way flow of sensitive weapons-related technologies and the potential for sabotage....".

Codel Report: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher Al Santoli ".... 2. Hutchison Whampoa Control of Canal Ports: Businessmen involved in the bidding, as well as current and former-U.S. officials claim that the Chinese Hutchison Whampoa Company obtained the contract for 25 to 50 year lease for the Canal ports by using unfair under-the-table tactics. At least two consortiums, involving American companies may have offered better bids for these strategic port facilities. The smell of corruption is exceptionally strong. In addition, China has stationed a senior intelligence official, reportedly Mr. Yu Gi Ye, is reportedly Beijing's Commercial Attache and de facto ambassador. He operates with a staff of 14 out of the Global Bank Building in Panama City. It is especially troubling that the Clinton administration has publicly stated that they have no knowledge of a connection between Hutchison Whampoa and the Chinese government or military. See the attached documents that include or cite reports by U.S. intelligence agencies, the U.S. Bureau of Export Affairs [BXA], the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and the Rand Corporation identifying Li Ka-Shing and Hutchison Whampoa as financing or serving as a conduit for Communist China's People Liberation Army [and navy] to acquire sensitive technologies and other equipment. In addition, Li serves as a board member on CITIC, which is a state-owned funding and technology acquiring source for Communist China's military. Hutchison Whampoa's control over millions of cargo containers at entrance points at both ends of the Canal for the next 50 years is a more pressing security concern than the legal debate over who may appoint Canal pilots.

Codel Report: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher Al Santoli ".... 3. Corruption, Smuggling and Money Laundering: Panama - especially Colon - has become the "K Mart" of worldwide smuggling; the counterfeit and piracy of U.S. products; repackaging of Chinese textiles to beat U.S. quotas; and illicit money laundering. Chinese triad gangs from the mainland and Taiwan have been working together, in tandem with Russian mafia Mafia and Cuban entities. There are also Middle Eastern organizations present, as well as the pervasive activities of the Colombian drug cartels and narco-terrorist organizations. The entire 2,000 mile coast of Panama, from Costa Rica to the Colombian border has been as drop-off points for weapons being shipped into Colombia. There are also some 1,500 islands along the coast. Corruption in the Colombian government is rampant. Example: Panama's negotiator for a treaty with U.S. on stolen cars brought to Panama for transshipment, herself drove a stolen car.

Codel Report: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher Al Santoli ".... 4. Chinese Alien Smuggling: There is strong evidence of massive systematic smuggling of Chinese illegal aliens into Panama, which results in a steady flow of illegal Chinese from Panama to the United States, with the complicity of the highest levels of the Panama government. This is a major news story in Panama. All Panamanians the delegation spoke with, from senior government officials to ordinary citizens, expressed deep concern about the exceptionally large numbers of illegal mainland Chinese migrants that have been flooding into Panama during the past few years, far surpassing similar activity that occurred during the Noriega dictatorship. Panama's former Intelligence chief Samantha Smith, now in hiding in fear of retaliation, told us in detail the role of President Balladares and his closest aides in the Chinese alien smuggling.

Codel Report: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher Al Santoli ".... THE THREAT: If mainland Chinese and their Hong Kong-based front companies dominate the local and macro Canal-based economy, Beijing will become the dominant political influence in the country. In Panamanian newspapers, the designated new Canal Commissioner Ricardo Martinelli has been quoted as stating, 'The departure of the U.S. role in the Canal Zone will have no economic impact on Panama because of the influx of income from [mainland] China.' The media also report that China has promised to step up economic assistance and investment in Panama after the U.S. departs. China's $2 billion worth of annual commerce in the Canal Zone dwarfs the $500 million of commerce by Taiwan. And there are reports, in Hong Kong and Panama, that Taiwan's Evergreen shipping company is planning to sell its port on the Atlantic Coast of the Canal, with Hutchison Whampoa a potential buyer.

Codel Report: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher Al Santoli ".... 5. The Clinton-Balladares-China Connection: The ties between the President Balladares and communist China, as well as the ties between President Clinton's political entourage and Balladares and China is a matter of serious concern. In 1996, the Canal contract bidding occurred while China was making substantial contributions to the Clinton campaign. Li Ka-Shing is an investor in the Riady family's Hong Kong China Bank. Clinton crony and former White House Chief of Staff Mack McClarty is the President's Special Envoy to Latin America and has reportedly spent "a lot of time" in Panama. In 1997, James Carville ran the Balladares campaign to extend his presidency. Clinton lawyer Gregory Craig has represented at least one Balladares crony indicted on drug-smuggling charges in the U.S., and was publicly mentioned by Balladares as the lawyer to possibly represent his interests if the Chinese alien smuggling issue is brought to a U.S. court.

Codel Report: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher Al Santoli ".... 6. Maintenance of the Canal: Around 1/3 of the world's economy passes through the Canal, including more than 15% of all U.S. trade. In addition the U.S. Navy makes some 200 passages through the Canal annually. The Canal is especially fragile to maintain and operate, requiring a cadre of skilled technicians and engineers to maintain. The Canal Workers Union reports that by the end of 1999, some 30 percent of skilled Canal Workers are being laid off. They are reportedly being replaced by inexperienced personnel, whose qualifications are based on their membership to one political party or another. There are also reports that after the Canal is fully under Panamanian control that further lay-offs of skilled workers are expected. In addition, there are reports that pilots, engineers and other technicians are being hired in Communist China for the Canal, but will not arrive in Panama until after the year 2000.

Codel Report: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher Al Santoli ".... 7. Colombian Narco-Terrorist Forces: The U.S. military and other counter-drug forces will completely depart Panama by December 1999. Panama has no army, air force or navy, except for a small Coast Guard. The government relies upon largely untrained and poorly-armed police to patrol the border area with Colombia where the FARC narco-terrorist forces are increasingly active inside of Panamanian territory. Colombian FARC military/political units are increasingly active in the Darien region of Panama, including setting up schools, free clinics and other institutions. They are essentially waging a Maoist "people's war." The incoming President Mireya Moscoso and her advisors have spoken inconsistently on a U.S. role in bolstering Panama's security, counter-narcotics operations from Panamanian territory and the legality of the "DeConcini Reservation" to the Carter-Torrijos Treaty that would permit the U.S. to intervene to defend the Canal's security. The Clinton Administration speaks of a "two to three year cooling of period" before resuming bilateral talks on a Multinational Counternarcotics Center in Panama. Unfortunately, by that time the narco-terrorists could be in a much stronger position on both sides of the border.

The Province (Vancouver) 9/30/99 Fabian Dawson ".....A secret study by Canada's spy agency tracked a myriad of companies linked to Asian tycoons to determine if they were fronts for Chinese espionage activities. The study also looked at "hundreds of thousands of dollars" that were being pumped into political parties to see if Canada's lawmakers were being unduly influenced. ...... The Province has learned that among those probed were Macao casino king Stanley Ho, who has extensive interests in Canada, and Li Ka-shing, one of the world's wealthiest men, known in Vancouver for his purchase of the Expo lands. Other companies tracked were linked to tycoons Robert Kuok, Cheng Yu Tung and Henry Fok and firms with connections to CITIC -- the investment arm of the Chinese military....... Sources used by CSIS and the RCMP said the study of Chinese tycoons with close links to Beijing showed that together they owned in Canada: - More land, commercial properties and hotels than any other owner. - Major banks and brokerage houses. - All the Chinese language television and radio stations and major video outlets, plus control of the Chinese print media. - Shipping lines, including the giant COSCO which recently struck a deal with the Vancouver Port Corp. to make Vancouver its gateway to North America. - At least 16 data-processing and hi-tech companies servicing corporations including those doing classified work for federal and provincial agencies. - The operation of the databases used by university libraries. - Almost half the shares in three of Canada's major telephone and telecommunications companies. - About 25 major oil and gas companies. - Some immigrant-investor funds. - Large retail distribution companies. In addition, companies linked directly to Chinese state-owned enterprises and Beijing-friendly tycoons have bought a large tract of land at a Scarborough, Ont., industrial area and set up companies in Western Canada to make cell phones, manufacture TVs and export fax machines. Holly Porteous, an Ottawa-based security analyst and former Pentagon writer, said the companies in Canada that can be linked to Beijing is a national security concern....."

The Province (Vancouver) 9/30/99 Fabian Dawson "..... Among other things the U.S. Senate probe found many of the Beijing-linked front companies were specifically set up for "technology acquisitions" In one case, according to declassified American documents, a Chinese military-owned company tried to use a Canadian intermediary to hire former Pratt & Whitney engineers in the U.S. to help develop an indigenous Chinese jet engine. The initial approach was under the guise of a civilian project, and the U.S. engineers were initially not told they would be working on a military engine. The U.S. engineers pulled out when they learned what they would be doing....."

The Straits Times 10/3/99 AFP "...Hongkong billionaire Li Ka Shing and Macau casino magnate Stanley Ho were among a number of Asian tycoons who were investigated secretly by Canada's spy agency, a newspaper here said. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) probe, called Project Sidewinder, looked at a number of Hongkong and Macau companies to see if they were covers for Beijing-backed Chinese espionage into Canada, the Province newspaper reported. Project Sidewinder was started in 1994 and lasted for two years. No charges were laid and the probe was stopped after allegations of political influence were deemed to be unfounded. The probe also focused on alleged contributions from Chinese tycoons to political parties in Canada and any possible influence that might have had on lawmakers. But sources told the newspaper the project was halted abruptly because of "political influence".....Secret papers obtained by the newspaper showed that Chinese with strong links to Beijing collectively owned more land, commercial properties and hotels in Canada than Canadian-born businessmen....."

Wall Street Journal 10/15/99 Peter Wonacott "....U.S. congressional scrutiny of a well-known Hong Kong conglomerate's operations in Panama point to a new wariness toward this city in some quarters of Washington following its return to Chinese rule. In the next few weeks, the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee will discuss a Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. subsidiary's right to run two container ports at the Atlantic and Pacific entrances of the strategic Panama Canal. The hearing comes at the behest of Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, who warned of "security risks" posed by the Hong Kong company. In August, Mr. Lott wrote to U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen that "U.S. naval ships will be at the mercy of Chinese-controlled pilots and could even be denied passage through the canal by Hutchison, an arm of the People's Liberation Army.".... Hong Kong-listed Hutchison, one of the territory's oldest companies, has no known links to the PLA. And the city is home to hundreds of publicly listed companies with billions of dollars invested in China. Relationships between those companies' senior executives and Chinese officials are more the rule than the exception. Still, U.S. legislators have cited concerns that Hutchison's controlling shareholder, billionaire Li Ka-shing, has close ties to China's leadership...."

Wall Street Journal 10/15/99 Peter Wonacott "....The congressional concern is the latest manifestation of a China phobia sweeping conservative political circles in the U.S. Once beyond suspicion, Hong Kong is now lumped together with its mainland ruler in the eyes of many U.S. politicians. Those suspicions increased after recent allegations that Hong Kong companies may have helped China acquire sensitive U.S. technology, a charge Hong Kong officials vigorously deny. ..... For the sprawling conglomerate, with operations in China and around the world, dissecting the business empire for U.S. officials will not be easy. Aside from 19 port operations in six countries, Hutchison also has an international telecommunications business and an extensive property portfolio. Its stock, listed in both London and Hong Kong, is widely held by international investors. About half the shares are owned by Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd., a property and industrial conglomerate controlled by Mr. Li and his family. Hutchison executives say mainland Chinese interests hold no more than 1% ownership in either company......"

Hong Kong Standard 10/11/99 Clare Cheung Agencies "...HUTCHISON Whampoa's Israel-based associate mobile phone firm Partner Communications Company is raising about US$525 million (HK$4.07 billion) through the issuance of American Depositary Shares (ADS). The Li Ka-shing conglomerate indirectly owns 46.67 per cent of the company. Partner is proposing to offer 23 per cent of its ordinary shares to back up the ADS, which will be open for public subscription. .....The major shareholders are Hutchison's affiliate Advent Investments; Matbit Telecommunications Systems; Tapuz Cellular Systems Limited Partnership and Matav Investments. After the share offer is completed and the over-allotment option is fully exercised, about 34.3 per cent of Partner Communications will be held by Advent; 24.3 per cent by Matbit: 12 per cent by Tapuz and 3 per cent by Matav. The remaining 26.4 per cent will be in the hands of the public....."

South China Morning Post 10/13/99 Greg Torode "....Hutchison Whampoa is taking urgent steps to protect itself from intensifying political attack in Washington over its Panama Canal operations. The company is negotiating with several lobby firms in the capital to quell claims it is at the heart of a mainland bid to eventually control the strategic shipping route. "We are increasingly worried about the situation and we are taking steps to ensure our side of the story is firmly and effectively put across to stop all this," one official said. "It is not good for us or Hong Kong in the long term. It is all quite ridiculous and we are talking to people who know Washington a lot better than we do." ...... Senior Republican figures, such as Senate Majority leader Trent Lott and former defence secretary Caspar Weinberger, have named Hutchison as a major People's Liberation Army security threat once American forces pull out of the canal in December. Open hearings of the Armed Services Committee of the House of Representatives are expected to start by the end of the month. Committee members are understood to have met intelligence officials last week to discuss the situation. Further attention is expected this week with the arrival in Washington of new Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso, who has refused to allow any future stationing of United States troops. ....... He described the Hutchison deal as the "biggest threat" to the canal's continued security and raised the prospect of the firm using a "trumped-up reason" to shut it to US traffic. Hutchison has fiercely denied the reports, insisting it has no links to the PLA, no ability to control the canal and no interest in doing so. ...."

WorldNetDaily 10/26/99 Charles Smith "….Li Ka-Shing teamed with Robert Kwok and Henry Fok, according to a recent biography titled "Li Ka-Shing," to form the China International Trust Investment Company (CITIC), described in a 1997 Rand Corporation report as an "investment concern under China's governmental State Council." The guest list for the Pacific Princess included the Executive Director of CITIC, Robert Adams. The Fok family leader, Henry Fok, is reported to be a member of the 14K Triad. According to Timperlake and co-author Bill Triplett, "Henry Fok first made his name by running United Nations-embargoed goods to China during the Korean War. His son was later convicted for trying to bring Chinese machine guns into the United States." The Kwok family, reportedly led by Robert Kwok, allegedly is involved in the heroin smuggling business inside Burma. However, Peter Kwok served as a consultant to the China Overseas Shipping Company (COSCO), and COSCO Hong Kong Holdings, a company owned by Li Ka-Shing. In 1989, Kwok helped CITIC and Li Ka-Shing raise $120 million to buy a Hughes-built communications satellite for AsiaSat, a company part owned by the Chinese Army unit COSTIND (the Commission on Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense). Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Ca., also knows the Kwok family well….."

WorldNetDaily.com 10/26/99 Charles Smith "….In October 1999, the Clinton White House denied that Chinese billionaire Li Ka-Shing is working for the communists in Beijing. The White House press secretary labeled such accusations as "silly" and dismissed them as "the kind of thing you see around here from time to time." Yet, in August 1994, the Clinton White House did not think Li Ka-Shing's connection to the red Chinese leadership was silly. President Clinton thought so highly of Li Ka-Shing that he equated and included the communist financier with the red leaders of Beijing in a package of intelligence information supplied to a Democratic National Committee million-dollar donor. [Loral CEO Bernard Schwatz] …..Li Ka-Shing's bio and the bios of other leading communist party members were exposed here in an exclusive WorldNetDaily column…… According to Forbes, Li Ka-Shing is the sixth richest man in the world. Li claims to be neither a red Chinese government official nor a member of any military service. Yet, the Clinton White House bio states that Li is a "member of the board of directors of the China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC)." According to a 1997 Rand Corporation report sponsored by the Clinton administration, CITIC is an "investment concern under China's governmental State Council." CITIC "became identified with the PLA as a result of the scandal surrounding Wang Jun and his visit to the White House on 6 February 1996." …..The Rand report concluded, "CITIC does enter into business partnerships with and provide logistical assistance to PLA and defense-industrial companies like Poly….."

WorldNetDaily.com 10/26/99 Charles Smith "….According to the Rand report, "Hutchison Whampoa of Hong Kong, controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing, is also negotiating for PLA wireless system contracts, which would build upon his equity interest in Poly-owned Yangpu Land Development Company, which is building infrastructure on China's Hainan Island." Clearly, Li Ka-Shing helps to fund the People's Liberation Army by providing financing for Chinese army weapons sales through Poly Technologies and for purchases of advanced western military technology. For example, CITIC also owns a controlling interest in the Hong Kong based Asia Satellite Telecom Co. Ltd., or AsiaSat. AsiaSat, a company founded in 1988, operates several communications satellites in the Far East bought from U.S. manufacturers such as Hughes. ….."

WorldNetDaily.com 10/26/99 Charles Smith "….AsiaSat is also a front company for the People's Liberation Army. According to "Aviation Week and Space Technology," AsiaSat is also part-owned by the Chinese army unit COSTIND (the Commission on Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense). AsiaSat satellites regularly carry "military communications" traffic for PLA units and Chinese military-owned companies. It is no surprise that AsiaSat signed an exclusive deal with billionaire Li Ka-Shing to carry his STAR television service, 54 channels of premium cable/satellite television including MTV, re-runs of American sitcoms dubbed in various languages, and pay-per-view X-rated movies. Li Ka-Shing later sold all of his STAR TV holdings in two huge chunks to news magnate Rupert Murdoch for nearly a billion dollars…."

WSJ 11/16/99 "….Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. said it is forming a $1.2 billion telecommunications and Internet joint venture with Bermuda-based Global Crossing Ltd. The joint venture will combine Hutchison's fixed-line network in Hong Kong with an international fiber-optic network that Global Crossing is laying across the world's oceans…… To finance its stake in the venture, Global Crosing will give Hutchison $400 million in convertible preferred stock, or a stake of about 1.3% in the company, which has a market capitalization of about $30 billion. It also will provide assets valued at $350 million and $50 million in cash to the venture, said Global Crossing Chief Executive Jack Scanlon….."

Fox News/Reuters 12/1/99 "….Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing on Wednesday dismissed suggestions that his company Hutchison Whampoa Ltd would control the Panama Canal when it begins operating container ports at each end of the strategic waterway. Li was responding to remarks by President Clinton, who said on Tuesday he did not expect any adverse consequences from "the Chinese running the canal.'' "We cannot possibly control the canal,'' Li told reporters in Hong Kong. "We are only an operator of container ports there.'' Li has strong ties to China. U.S. lawmakers have expressed concerns that this could eventually give China effective control of the 51 mile long canal once the U.S. military pulls out. The Clinton administration has repeatedly assured them that China will not take it over. Li noted the container ports were for loading, unloading and storing cargo and had no role in operating the canal. Hutchison, with port operations around the world, won a 25-year lease to run the Panama cargo ports after the United States cedes control of the waterway on December 31. ….."

Hutchinson Whampoa 3/98 "…. Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HWL) is a Hong Kong-based conglomerate with its origins dating back to the 1800s. In terms of market capitalisation, HWL is one of the largest companies in Hong Kong. It operates five core businesses in 24 countries: ……. Hutchison Telecom operates a wide range of integrated telecommunications services worldwide and is one of the world's major providers of mobile communications. It has also expanded into the multimedia arena….."

The Independent 12/12/99 David Wastell "…. President Clinton and his Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, are to boycott the ceremonial handover of the Panama Canal on Tuesday amid American concern that the deal is handing influence over the strategic waterway to China. …… American unease at losing control of the Panama Canal, which has been under US protection since troops were dispatched to defend it in 1911, is reflected in the fact that Mr Clinton will not attend the celebrations on Tuesday, even though his diary leaves him free to do so. …… However, Al Santoli, a special security adviser to the Republican congressman Dana Rohrbacher, one of the White House's most vociferous critics on China, said last night: "No matter how many Brits there may be in the company, it is a Hong Kong company and Hong Kong is part of China. Li Ka-shing is trusted by the Chinese leadership. He is a board member of China's international trade and investment corporation, which is known by the US Congress as an important investment arm of the Chinese government and military. ….."

INSIGHT Magazine 12/27/99 Dana Rohrabacher "….. I am especially concerned about the corruption and the lack of transparency in the contract-bidding process that enabled Hutchison Whampoa and its chairman to obtain 25- to 50-year leases on ports at both the Atlantic and Pacific ends of the canal. Li Ka-shing and his Hong Kong-based company and subsidiaries are closely associated with the Beijing regime and have a history of acting as sources of funding or intermediaries in deals for the PLA. It is especially troubling that the Clinton administration, including defense and intelligence agencies, publicly has stated that members have no knowledge of a connection between Li, Hutchison Whampoa and the Communist Chinese government or military……"

INSIGHT Magazine 12/27/99 Dana Rohrabacher "….. However, I obtained unclassified documents by U.S. intelligence agencies, the U.S. Bureau of Export Affairs, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and the RAND Corp. that identify Li and Hutchison Whampoa as financing or serving as a conduit for Communist China's military to acquire sensitive technologies and other equipment. And President Clinton actually acknowledged at a Nov. 30 press conference that the Chinese will be controlling the canal….."

INSIGHT Magazine 12/27/99 Dana Rohrabacher "….. A billionaire and international tycoon, Li is a founding board member of the China International Trust and Investment Corp., or CITIC, which is a technology-acquiring source for China's military. Other members of the CITIC board include prominent members of the Communist Chinese military-industrial complex. CITIC board members include Wang Jun, the chairman of the PolyTechnologies Corp., which was indicted by U.S. Customs for attempting to ship thousands of weapons into California for use by street gangs. The PLA created the Poly Group, with CITIC funding, for international arms trading. The Poly Group is known for selling advanced military systems to Third World countries. ….."

INSIGHT Magazine 12/27/99 Dana Rohrabacher "….. Li also is a business partner of the giant Communist Chinese shipping firm, the China Ocean Shipping Co., or COSCO, which, in addition to commercial transport, acts as the merchant marine for the Chinese military. COSCO has been involved in shipping Chinese missile technology and biological-warfare components to North Korea, Pakistan, Iraq and Iran. A November 1999 Hong Kong news report states that COSCO ships are being fitted by the PLA to conduct military operations, including mine-laying, antisubmarine warfare, missile launching and electronic surveillance. Li also has engaged in numerous business partnerships with the China Resources Co., a firm that has been identified by U.S. congressional investigators as a front for Beijing's intelligence agencies….."

The Economist via J. Orlin Grabbe 1/8-14/00 "….AN ODD thing happened last month, just before Christmas. A Hong Kong firm, only eight months old, run by the 33-year-old son of an old-style property tycoon and with a business plan that almost nobody fully understands, suddenly became one of the biggest Internet companies in the world, with a stockmarket value of $21 billion. Odder yet: it might even deserve it. The firm is Pacific Century CyberWorks (PCCW), a name still little known outside Hong Kong. That will soon change, thanks to the vaulting ambitions of its founder, Richard Li, and the billions of dollars he can marshal behind them. PCCW is assembling a satellite-based broadband Internet network, modelled on America's Excite@Home, with the aim of becoming the largest broadband Internet business in the world. It has also built a venture-capital arm, CyberWorks Ventures, that has already invested $500m in cash and equity in nearly 30 companies….."

WorldNetDaily 1/18/2000 Charles Smith "….According to the Commerce Department's "Event Scenario," the meeting in Hong Kong [1994] included Li Ka-Shing, Secretary Brown and Ginger Lew from the Commerce Department, Maria Haley from the Export Import Bank, John Bryson, president of SCE Corp. and Edwin Lupberger, chairman of Entergy Corp…… Throughout Brown's 1994 trade meeting with Li Ka-Shing, mysteriously, there is a curious reference to an unnamed "Minister." No "Minister" is listed as attending the meeting, and the only government officials in attendance were Brown and his official party. The "Minister," it now turns out, is Li Ka-Shing……In "An Introduction to the Chinese Defense Industry," U.S. Army Lt. Col. Dennis Blasko, the U.S. military attache to Beijing in 1994, also concludes that the Hong Kong billionaire is very likely an unofficial minister in the Chinese government. "These new corporations are now directly subordinate to the State Council -- they have attained a position equal to the status formerly granted to only a few corporations such as the China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC)," explained Blasko. "This new position gives their general managers de facto ministerial rank, although they are not called 'minister' in public," he concluded….."

WorldNetDaily 1/18/2000 Charles Smith "….According to an October 1999 "Intelligence Assessment" prepared by the U.S. military's Southern Command, Li Ka-Shing is indeed a "threat" to the Panama Canal. "Hutchison Whampoa's owner, Hong Kong tycoon, Li Ka-Shing, has extensive business ties in Beijing and has compelling financial reasons to maintain a good relationship with China's leadership," states the 1999 assessment. "For example, Hutchison Whampoa could threaten to shift some business from Panama to its facilities in the Bahamas, thus giving the company additional leverage over the Panamanian government." Moreover, said the U.S. military intelligence report, "Hutchison's containerized shipping facilities in the Panama Canal, as well as the Bahamas, could provide a conduit for illegal shipments of technology or prohibited items from the west to the PRC, or facilitate the movement of arms and other prohibited items into the Americas." …."

WorldNetDaily 1/18/2000 Charles Smith "….Not only are both Entergy Corporation chairman Lupberger and SCE President Bryson listed as donors to President Clinton's political campaigns, but both Entergy and SCE -- now known as Edison Mission Energy Corporation -- also have direct business ties to Indonesian billionaire Moctar Riady, another key figure in the White House campaign finance scandals. And Mission Energy Corporation currently is engaged in a legal battle with the government of Indonesia over "corruption, collusion and nepotism" inside a U.S.-sponsored coal fired electric power plant located in East Java….."

WorldNetDaily 1/18/2000 Charles Smith "….According to the [intelligence] dossier, Li has "significant economic and political ties to China," including investments in a "power station, a highway construction project and a large contribution to Shantou University."……. According to the White House dossier, Li was "found guilty of insider trading after a widely publicized trial in 1984; he was not punished by the courts." The White House intelligence dossier states that Li is also a "member of the boards of directors of the China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC)." A 1997 Rand Corporation report sponsored by the Clinton administration states that CITIC is an "investment concern under China's governmental State Council." …."

WorldNetDaily 1/18/2000 Charles Smith "….According to a recent biography titled "Li Ka-Shing," the billionaire teamed with two leading members of the Asian "Triad" organized crime families -- Robert Kwok and Henry Fok -- to form the China International Trust Investment Company. In addition, the newly released documents show that alleged organized crime "Triad" gangsters were included on the 1994 "Presidential Business Development" mission. According to official U.S. Commerce materials, after meeting with Li Ka-Shing, Secretary Ron Brown sailed on an evening paradise cruise from Hong Kong with the "who's who" of Triad business families. …The Fok family leader, Henry Fok, is reported to be a member of the 14K Triad. According to Ed Timperlake and Bill Triplett, co-authors of "Red Dragon Rising," ……Robert Kwok reportedly leads the Kwok family businesses and is allegedly involved in the heroin smuggling business inside Burma. Peter Kwok, a business partner of Sen. Dianne Feinstein's husband, Richard Blum, has also worked for Li Ka-Shing and the Chinese army. In 1989, Kwok helped CITIC and Li Ka-Shing raise $120 million to buy a Hughes-built communications satellite for AsiaSat, a company part owned by the Chinese army unit called the Commission on Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense….."

WorldNetDaily 1/18/2000 Charles Smith "…..The documents show that "COSTIND Vice Minister Shen Roujun" met with Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and Loral Aerospace chairman Bernard Schwartz in late August 1994 just prior to the Hong Kong meeting with Li Ka-Shing. According to the Cox report, COSTIND Gen. Shen actively sought help from the U.S. Commerce Department in obtaining employment for his son, Shen Jun, at Loral. The Cox report noted that Shen later succeeded in obtaining both a sensitive position for his son and sensitive nose cone technology for the Chinese army from the Hughes Corporation. Ironically, Li Ka-Shing has been compared to the reclusive American billionaire Howard Hughes. William Triplett, co-author of "Red Dragon Rising", noted that the Hong Kong billionaire often works closely with the Chinese army intelligence services and with the Triad gangs in order to serve Beijing. "Li Ka-Shing is to the Chinese army intelligence HQ what Howard Hughes was for the CIA," stated Mr. Triplett. …. "The leadership in Beijing openly states that there are 'good patriotic' Triads," stated Ed Timperlake, Asian law enforcement analyst and "Red Dragon" co-author. "The merging of the Triads, financiers like Li Ka-Shing, and the leadership in Beijing is a nasty law enforcement problem. It is almost state-sponsored gangsterism." …."

Washington Times 1/19/2000 Bill Gertz "….The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee is asking the Pentagon to explain why information contained in an intelligence assessment about Chinese activities in Panama was not provided to his panel. ``I am concerned that this Pentagon report was not mentioned during our hearing or subsequently shared with the committee,'' Sen. John W. Warner said in a letter sent Friday to Defense Secretary William S. Cohen. Mr. Warner, Virginia Republican chairman, said he would like to know why the report by the U.S. Southern Command's Joint Intelligence Center reportedly contradicts claims by the Clinton administration that the presence of a Chinese company near the canal is not a threat to U.S. security interests. The senator stated that he sent the letter after the intelligence report was mentioned in The Washington Times on Jan. 12. Mr. Warner also said he has ordered the committee's staff to obtain the complete, classified version of the report from the Pentagon……During the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, held four days before the intelligence report was produced, several administration officials testified that Chinese control of the two Panamanian ports was not a problem and said they were unaware that Beijing uses Chinese commercial entities for military purposes. Marine Corps Gen. Charles E. Wilhelm, commander in chief of the U.S. Southern Command, testified during the hearing he believes China does use businesses for military purposes. He said there was ``no evidence'' the canal was targeted by terrorists or foreign governments although it is a potential target……. The Panama Ports Co. is providing tugboat, ship repair and pilot services to ships using the ports of Balboa, on the Pacific, and Cristobal, on the Atlantic. The report concluded that it is unlikely the Chinese company's officials or employees ``would overtly sabotage or damage the canal on orders from Beijing, as it would be contrary to their own financial interests and would undoubtedly elicit an immediate response from the U.S. and the international community.'' But the intelligence document stated that Hutchison's owner, Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-Shing, ``has extensive business ties in Beijing and has compelling financial reasons to maintain a good relationship with China's leadership.'' The Chinese may be seeking economic inroads in Panama designed to counter Taiwan's influence in the region…."

South China Morning News 1/22/2000 Ben Kwok "…. A Hutchison Whampoa subsidiary is close to forging a partnership with a United States-based e-commerce company in what would be a big step forward in the group's global Internet strategy, according to sources. The unit - Hutchison E-Commerce Resources - could conclude an agreement with a listed US company next week, the sources said. Details of the arrangement were under discussion, the sources said. The alliance would strengthen Hutchison's integrated on-line services, with the deal covering everything from content and e-commerce to business solutions, they said. ….."Analysts said it was difficult to assign a value to all of Hutchison's Internet assets. "The size of Hutchison's Internet assets could be unbelievably high," an analyst said. The analysts estimated the value of Hutchison Global Crossing at more than $20 billion, while Tom.com's valuation was put at between $10 billion and $30 billion and Hutchison E-Commerce Resources's valuation at $30 billion. Many blue-chip companies in Hong Kong were searching for exciting on-line projects, but none had made the kind of progress Hutchison had, the analyst said. "When it comes to technology, Hutchison is three or four years ahead of other blue-chip competitors, many of whom are still just talking about the business," the analyst said. Hutchison chairman Li Ka-shing said this week that the group's Internet business had been in operation for at least three years. "The work has been done for a long time," Mr Li said. "A lot of potential could be seen in the Internet world that could complement our business," Mr Li added. …."

NewsMax.com 1/19/2000 Christopher Ruddy and Stephan Archer "…..The same Chinese company that recently took operational control of the Panama Canal is currently completing construction of the largest container port in the world in Freeport, Bahamas - just 60 miles from Florida. Several U.S. military experts say that the activities of Hutchison Whampoa Limited, a Hong Kong-based conglomerate, in both Panama and the Bahamas, pose a significant risk to U.S. national security……. One port facility that has captured the interest of the Chinese government is Hutchison Whampoa's sprawling port facility in the tourist destination of Freeport on Grand Bahama Island. According to the company's Web site, the port is located at one of the most strategic spots in the world because "Freeport is the closest offshore port to the east coast of the United States, at the cross-roads of routes between Europe and the Americas and through the Panama Canal." ….. In 1995, Hutchison Whampoa entered into a 50-50 partnership with the Grand Bahama Development Company, a privately owned Bahamian company, to develop and expand the small Freeport facility that had catered to cruise ships. Since then, Hutchison has helped dredge and expand the port, making it capable of handling the largest container ships on the high seas….."

NewsMax.com 1/19/2000 Christopher Ruddy and Stephan Archer "…..The company has ambitious plans to create the largest air cargo facility on land adjacent to the port. Hutchison has a 50 percent stake in the Grand Bahama Airport Company, which owns one of the largest airport runways in the world - more than 11,000 feet long. According to Powers, the runway is capable of handling the world's largest cargo and military aircraft. On 800 acres of wooded land adjacent to the airport, Hutchison plans to create the Grand Bahama Sea-Air Business Center - a center that could potentially allow for 8 million square feet in warehouse space……. Hutchison Whampoa's chairman, Li Ka-Shing, is also a board member of CITIC - the China International Trust and Investment Corporation. U.S. intelligence sources have described the firm as a front for China's governmental State Council……"

NewsMax.com 1/19/2000 Christopher Ruddy and Stephan Archer "….. According to Powers, Hutchison employs about 500 Bahamians. Only five managers are not Bahamians, mostly British nationals. None are Chinese. Bahamian officials told NewsMax.com they have noticed no increase in Chinese nationals at the port or on the island. Despite the strong claims made by Hutchison that China has no interest in their Bahamian port, evidence suggests otherwise. A review of the visitor's log by NewsMax.com at the company's main office in Freeport shows that Chinese government officials have been frequent visitors to the port facility. According to the log, China's ambassador to the Bahamas, Ma Shuxue, has visited the port facility at least a half dozen times in the past few years. He has also accompanied groups of Chinese government officials… The visitor logbook indicates Chinese officials have visited the port more often than officials from any other country, including the United States. The logbook also shows that on June 2, 1999, the Cuban ambassador, Lazaro Cabeza, also paid a visit to the facility. Cuba is a strong ally of China's…."

NewsMax.com 2/1/00 Carl Limbacher "..... Priceline.com, the internet name-your-price site that has been hawked by William Shatner, is going Chinese. Priceline has recently announced a partnership with Hutchison Whampoa, the Hong Kong-based conglomerate that runs ports at both ends of the Panama Canal. President Clinton has admitted the Chinese have de facto control over the canal. Hutchison is headed by one Li Ka-Shing, a man close to Red China's ruling circles. NewsMax.com recently reported that Hutchison is completing the Western Hemisphere's largest container port at Freeport in the Bahamas......"

South China Morning Post 1/27/2000 "….Hutchison Whampoa has concluded the latest in a string of information-technology investments by forming an alliance with US-based on-line shopping firm Priceline.com. The two companies said yesterday they would establish a joint venture to introduce Priceline.com's "name-your-own-price" concept to Asia. The venture will have an initial investment of US$20 million. Neither would say how this would be shared. The deal marks a further acceleration in Hutchison's drive to embrace the Internet, coming only three days after it formed a HK$3 billion e-commerce joint venture with parent Cheung Kong (Holdings) and banking giants HSBC and Hang Seng Bank. Hutchison has forged a series of technology-related deals in recent months, including setting up Tom.com, an infotainment portal venture with Cheung Kong, and tie-ups with Japan's NTT and Global Crossing of the United States. ….."

South China Morning Post 1/26/2000 Ben Kwok "….Hutchison Whampoa has announced a 50-50 joint venture with Priceline.com, the fast growing US e-commerce company, to jointly develop on-line shopping in Asia. Hutchison Whampoa group managing director Canning Fok said the joint venture will list on either Nasdaq or Hong Kong. The initial investment for is US$20 million. Hutchison, which has already sealed telecom and internet deals with US, Japanese and European partners, already plans to list tom.com in the first half of the year with more projects coming up. ''Hutchison regards e-commerce as an area of particular importance, said Mr Fok. ''We are, in fact, the most active Hong Kong company in e-commerce.'' …."

newsmax.com 2/24/00 Carl Limbacher "….Back in 1977, when Jimmy Carter was pushing for the United States Senate to adopt his Panama Canal Treaty, turning over the U.S. strategic waterway to the Panamanians, Admiral Thomas Moorer warned Congress that the Russians and other communist powers would fill the vacuum. Already we knew that Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa, a company with close ties to the Chinese government, controls ports at both ends of the Canal. Now we learn that Admiral Moorer may have been quite prescient. As it turns out Russian and Chinese companies are reportedly bidding to take control of Howard Air Force Base, the former U.S. military outpost situated near the canal. Howard Phillips, head of the Conservative Caucus, a group that has spearheaded efforts to preserve U.S. interests in Panama, just returned from a fact finding tour of Panama with Judicial Watch chief Larry Klayman. Phillips says Panamanian officials told him that two Russian companies and two Chinese companies are bidding for control of Howard Air Force Base. The Panamanians are expecting to reap upwards of $3.5 billion from the sale……"

The New Australian No. 145, 21-27 2/00 Peter Zhang "…….Irrespective of what some have asserted, Hutchison Whampoa is an arm of the Chinese government. The company's chairman, Li Ka Shing, is an unofficial government minister. This fact is well known to US intelligence and President Clinton. And still Clinton insisted on the canal passing into Beijing's hands, even though he knew Hutchison Whampoa had corruptly obtained the lease……. To get a clearer picture of what Clinton has let the US in for let us turn to Chinese Defence Minister Chi Haotian who said that war with the United States is inevitable. As Chi well knows there is more than one way to wage war - and this is where the canal comes in. It provides Beijing with a base from which to create enormous mischief for the US while piously claiming that its presence is merely a commercial one. The word is out that acting through Castro's agents and Chinese crime lords, Beijing is already heavily involved in running drugs into the US. To Beijing drugs are merely another weapon in its unofficial war against the US. Two other weapons are terrorism and subversion…… Clearly the tactic is not one of establishing pro-Beijing regimes but of creating a massive running sore that will drain US political and military resources that will eventually help drive it out of the Pacific Asian region, leaving Hawaii as its only Pacific base. This is not a fantasy. Why else does Beijing provide missile know-how and nuclear weapons technology to the likes of North Korea, Pakistan, Iran and Libya? Because it generates tensions and fuels conflicts that tie up US resources. Knowing all of this, why did Clinton allow the canal to fall into Beijing's hands?…."

The Business Times/Singapore 2/14/00 Shoeb Kagda "….INDONESIA'S Lippo group is forging ahead after having formed a strategic alliance with Hongkong's Hutchison Whampoa group for its push to create the largest Internet empire in the country. It has secured an additional US$100 million (S$166 million) commitment from Taiwan's China Development and Investment Bank group (CDIB) for its drive, sources in Jakarta told BT…….. The deal was concluded by Lippo's founder and patriarch Mochtar Riady, who is also in negotiations with two other Taiwanese IT powerhouses -- the Hwashin Group and Acer. …… Separately, BT understands that US-based financial giant American Insurance Group (AIG) is looking to increase its 5 per cent stake in Lippo e-Net, formerly known as Lippo Life. …… Lippo e-Net will act as the umbrella company coordinating not only the investments and strategic alliances, but also the dovetailing of the group's existing businesses with its new empire. As part of its efforts to speed up the laying of the broad band cable infrastructure in the greater Jakarta area, for example, Lippo has tied up with Hutchison Whampoa and is in negotiations to sell as much as 20 per cent of Multipolar. The Hongkong-based telecommunications giant is also said to be helping the group develop its wireless calling card facility. The Riadys have also brought in American Jim Guy Tucker, a specialist in broadband cable TV, to spearhead the group's entry into this field. The former Arkansas governor, who used to own cable companies in the US, is a technical adviser in the group's subsidiary KableVision, which will offer Internet access through television sets. ….."

Taipei Times 3/5/00 "……Over the past two weeks, Hong Kong mega-tycoon Li Ka-shing (§õ1ŸÛ) has shown the immense power his family wields over the territory's economy. An estimated 400,000 Hong Kongers first scrambled to purchase stock in Li's Web portal TOM.COM as it listed on the second board of the Hong Kong Growth Enterprise Market last week. The listing only took place, however, because of the close relations between the company's management and the government. Li Ka-shing was able to have his way because of his relations with Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa (¸3«ØµØ) and the authorities in Beijing. Later, the successful purchase of Cable & Wireless HKT by Li's second son, Richard (§õ¿A·¢), kept ownership away from Singaporean capital, but only after loans extended to Richard Li by the Bank of China gave him the funds to take over the 100-year-old British telecom company for a staggering US$35.9 billion. Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd (¬Õ¬ì°Ê€O) is now the third-largest company listed on the Hong Kong market, smaller only in scale than China Telecom and HSBC. The deal also made Richard Li the second-richest individual in Hong Kong at the tender age of 33, with a wealth only exceeded by his father, Li Ka-shing. Father and son now control stock in industries accounting for about 30 percent of the entire value of Hong Kong's stock market. This shows how powerful families in Hong Kong have expanded their influence over the economy. Pundits in local papers have started giving Hong Kong the title, "Li Land." In addition to a growing concentration of economic power in Hong Kong, the former colony is also swiftly developing into a proxy for China to demonstrate the feasibility of the "one country, two systems" concept for Taiwan. ……"

Hong Kong Standard 3/6/00 Tessi Cruz "…..TYCOON Li Ka-shing and his family came under heavy attack again yesterday over their growing influence in Hong Kong, this time from Democratic Party chief Martin Lee Chu-ming. Mr Lee expressed his concern that the rise to prominence of the Li family could send the wrong signal overseas _ that cronyism exists in the SAR. His remarks came as Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa again dismissed concerns about the family's dominance while talking to reporters in Beijing covering the National People's Congress session. The Li family also dismissed the attacks, saying they were probably inspired by envy. Early last week, local newspapers voiced concern over the influence of the Li family after Mr Li's son, Richard Li Tzar-kai, took control of Cable & Wireless HKT, the largest telecom operator in the territory. Speaking on RTHK's Letter to Hong Kong yesterday, Mr Lee said a number of other tycoons had voiced their concerns over the danger of what was once a level playing field ``beginning to tilt and tilt and tilt towards just one empire''. ……"

Freeper snopercod 2/29/00 "…..Huchison Wampoa is buying into more than the Panama canal. This from today's WSJ: VoiceStream Wireless fell 4 11/16 to 135 3/4 on Nasdaq in a session that featured some sharp losses by technology stocks. The Bellevue, Wash., wireless-telecommunications-service provider, as expected, said it completed its $7.2 billion acquisition of another wireless-service provider, Omnipoint. VoiceStream also said it completed agreements for a $957 million investment from Hong Kong telecommunications company Hutchison Wampoa and a $500 million investment from Finland's Sonera……"

Reuters 3/23/00 "…….Hong Kong Internet start-up Pacific Century CyberWorks on Thursday denied a magazine report that its takeover of local telecom giant Cable & Wireless HKT was driven by Beijing. "It was entirely a commercial decision for PCCW to merge with HK Telecom," said PCCW deputy chairman Francis Yuen. "Throughout the process, discussions with all parties concerned, including China Telecom and BOCI [Bank of China International], were conducted purely on a commercial basis." Yuen was responding to an article in the Far Eastern Economic Review that said people close to the deal revealed PCCW's successful takeover of C&W HKT was largely the result of the efforts of mainland Chinese officials. At the end of February, PCCW secured a $35.9 billion deal to merge with C&W HKT, which is 54 percent held by Britain's Cable & Wireless, beating rival bidder Singapore Telecommunications. …….. The Review said there is "compelling evidence" that Beijing worked behind the scenes to prevent C&W HKT falling into the hands of Singapore Telecommunications. It cited Yuen as saying the genesis of the PCCW bid came at a hastily convened lunch meeting in late January that included senior officials from BOCI and China Telecom (Hong Kong). ………The Review quoted Yuen as saying PCCW chairman Richard Li travelled to Beijing in early February to seek the Chinese government's formal blessing for the deal, which he received. Li has said the Beijing trip was not related to the takeover. "When Richard Li went to Beijing, it was for the purpose of assessing first-hand the prospect of Pacific Century Group's expansion into the China market," Yuen said. "He also wanted to assess the progress of the WTO [World Trade Organization] negotiations and their potential impact on the group's future activities. This was a normal business visit that any large corporation would undertake before embarking on a major investment." ….."

Freeper Woodman 3/20/00 "……Priceline.com and Webhouse are part of the Walker Digital Group. Jay Walker himself owns about 47% of hte company, I also saw in Edgar that Paul Allen had aquired about 10% of the company. Lets see 47+10+(unknown employee holdings and options) adds up to far more than 50%. I would like to know where this Chicom nonsence is comming from. Priceline may be screwed up, but a simple search of schedule 13 info in edgar will show you that this claim is impossible. ….."

1/26/00 NORWALK, Conn. and HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- --Priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN) and Hutchison Whampoa Limited ("Hutchison") today announced an alliance to introduce priceline.com's unique buyer-driven e-commerce platform to 2.6 billion consumers in Asia's most populous countries, including China (and Hong Kong), India, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. The alliance does not apply to Japan. Priceline.com is the patented Name-Your-Own-Price(TM) Internet pricing system that currently offers services in the U.S. for leisure airline tickets, hotel rooms, new cars, rental cars, home refinancing and home equity loans. The Company also has announced that it will offer additional services this year for credit cards and long-distance calling. ……… Hutchison Whampoa is a conglomerate with a market capitalization of over $53 billion. Among its many businesses, it is one of Asia's largest owners and operators of Internet and telecommunications infrastructure offering a wide range of related services. These include fixed-line services, ISP (Hutchcity) and ICP (tom.com) services, Web hosting services, fiber optics broadband networks, mobile telephone data and internet services, paging, trunked mobile radio, VSAT and radio broadcasting services.

1/26/00 NORWALK, Conn. and HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Hutchison's Internet related operations have been growing rapidly. The Company recently teamed up with Global Crossing to further expand its global connectivity and to pursue fibre optic broadband network opportunities in the Greater China Region. Cooperation with NTT DoCoMo which owns 19% of Hutchison's mobile communications businesses in Hong Kong offers its customers advanced mobile Internet opportunities. ………. Hutchison is also a part of iBusiness Corporation.com, a joint venture with its parent company Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited, the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, and Hang Seng Bank to facilitate e-commerce on the Internet. ….."

1/26/00 NORWALK, Conn. and HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Hutchison Whampoa is a Hong Kong-based conglomerate with origins dating back to the 1800s. Hutchison is part of the Li Ka-shing group of companies, which together represent 16% of the total market capitalization of the Hong Kong stock market. In 1998, consolidated turnover was over $6.6 billion, and after-tax earnings were approximately $1.1 billion. With over 80,000 employees worldwide, Hutchison operates five core businesses in 26 countries: ports and related services; telecommunications and Internet; property development and holdings; retail, manufacturing and other services; and energy and infrastructure. The Group's telecommunications business and holdings span several continents, and include such diverse products as cellular telephone network services, fixed-line services, fiber optics services, paging, trunked mobile radio services, VSAT and radio broadcasting. Hutchison recently sold its UK mobile communications operations to Mannesmann for US$14.6 billion and is currently the largest shareholder in Mannesmann AG. As part of its retail services, the Group recently constructed the largest shopping center in Beijing and operates about 800 retail outlets in Asia. Under its property division, Hutchison also owns and manages hotels in China, Hong Kong and the Bahamas. ......"

ETHERZONE 3/22/00 Barbara Stanley "….. Hutchison Whampoa, Ltd. (HW, Ltd.) who is partnered with Priceline, is owned by Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong billionaire businessman with ties to the PRC (Peoples' Republic of China) /Communist Party effectively, their military and intelligence agencies. The Panama Ports Company in Panama is also a front company for HW, Ltd., and controlled by China Resources, via China's Trade Ministry. China Resources is yet another company, with the same ties, and called "an agent of espionage..... economic, military and political, for China" according to Sen. Fred Thompson after hearings held in the Senate. …………. Shen Jueren, head of China Resources, is partners with the above mentioned owner of HW, Ltd.., Li Ka-shing--and both are partners in Riady's Hong Kong Chinese Bank. China Resources bought into Lippo Bank of Hong Kong and Indonesia and placed its officers John Huang and James Riady in Arkansas at the Lippo owned Worthen Bank. John Huang was born in Mainland China, but had served in the Taiwanese air force. Ya Long Economic Trading of the Chinese Hainan province sought influence and legitimacy through the Hsi Lai temple of Taiwan, through its representative Maria Hsia, born in Taiwan……….. Li is also involved at the top levels with China Telecom and CITIC (China International Trust and Investment) and this mega-conglomerate worth $21 billion, is managed by frequent White House guest and arms dealer, Wang Jun........ "

ETHERZONE 3/22/00 Barbara Stanley "…..In a press release dated 26 January 2000, Hutchison Whampoa and priceline.com announced their new partnership in the areas of airline tickets and hotel rooms, publishing the first quarter sales of 80,000 and 20,000 respectively. This is the camel's nose and head and neck under the tent. ISP (Hutchcity), ICP (tom.com), web hosting services, fiber optic broadband networks, mobile telephone data and internet services, paging, trunked mobile radio, VSAT and broadcasting services are all being produced by this new unholy alliance. …….."

New Australian 3/13/00 Peter Zhang "….. Li Ka-Shing (multi-billionaire, unofficial Beijing Government minister and PLA agent) has received a warm welcome in Australia. It appears that Li is looking to invest heavily in Australian infrastructure, particularly electricity generation and telecommunications…… Chinese military intelligence always follows Li. ......... Li Beijing's connections are hardly a state secret. He had been a close friend of Gen. Ji Shengde, former military intelligence director of the PLA, who was recently arrested for corruption, and is still close to Gen. Xiong Guangkai who had been Gen. Ji's superior. He is equally close to Jiang Zemin. Most telling of all, probably, is Li's corrupt real estate dealings with the brutal Chen Xitong who is infamous for the instrumental role he played in the Tiananmen Square massacre….."

New Australian 3/13/00 Peter Zhang "…... Li's eldest son, Victor, has launched Pacific Century CyberWorks. This is quite a coincidence because there was also an investment firm called Pacific Century Group which was supposed to use US money to finance electricity generating plants in mainland China. The company was revealed by intelligence to be a front whose principle owners were Li Ka-Shing and a Macau-based triad gangster called Ng Lapseng whose main source of income is drug-running, prostitution, including child prostitution. He is also involved in extortion, smuggling illegal immigrants, loansharking, money laundering, etc. Ng is also deeply implicated in the Clintons' fundraising scandals and had personal relations with the Clintons who invited him to the White House on a number of occasions……. This creep also has an interest in Ang-Du International which is known to participate in the abduction of young Asian females, even children, for sale to the region's brothels. Ang-Du was also used to channel funds into the Clintons' election campaign on behalf of Lapseng's associates…….."

New Australian 3/13/00 Peter Zhang "….. Lapseng is not the only gangster with whom the enterprising Mr Li has had dealings. Li joined with Henry Fok and Robert Kwok to form the CITIC (China International Trust Investment Company). The Hong Kong police and British and American intelligence have reported that the charming Henry is a prominent member of the 14K Triad and enjoys the patronage of the PLA while Robert, also a Triad member, is believed to be engaged in the Burmese heroin trade......."

ETHERZONE 3/21/00 Barbara Stanley "…….Everybody knows the good American wife will shop wisely for her family, taking advantage of coupons, sales etc. to stretch the family budget. And those in the know will use priceline.com to shop for airline tickets and save a few bucks. But this shopping may not be so wise after all... So when the Communist Chinese, using the cutout company Hutchison Wampoa, bought up over 50% of Priceline.com, they knew they were on to something. And I began to wonder how many people knew about this. ……..It is also rumored that Mr. Feinstein (Senator Diane's husband) is in cahoots in this deal. The Red Chinese have a trade deficit with the US that approaches $60 Billion. The Red Chinese also have our technology, courtesy of the current administration, many of whom are making Billions on these deals, not to mention funding the theft of the '96 election. The Red Chinese, recent visitors, have threatened California with missiles. Missiles made accurate with space age technology courtesy of democRat major donor Bernie Schwartz via the DNC, to elect Clinton/Gore, and now Gore/Clinton(Hitlery)……."

THE WASHINGTON TIMES 4/5/00 Bill Gertz "……. Chinese businessman Li Ka-shing was planning to take over operation of the Panama Canal before the pullout last year of the United States, according to a declassified Pentagon intelligence report. The Army intelligence report contradicts statements by President Clinton and Panamanian government officials that the Atlantic and Pacific port facilities leased in Panama by Mr. Li and his Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. will have no role in Panama Canal operations…………. The Army report, from April 22, 1998, contains an article with the headline, "Panama: China Awaits U.S. Departure" and is based on a Defense Intelligence Agency intelligence information report. "According to a DIA Intelligence Information Report, Li Ka-shing, the owner of Hutchison Whampoa Lt. (HW) and Cheung Kong International Holdings Ltd. (CK) is planning to take control of Panama Canal operations when the U.S. transfers it to Panama in December 99," the report from the office of the deputy chief of staff for intelligence states. "Li is directly connected to Beijing and is willing to use his business influence to further the aims of Chinese government," the report states. It is labeled "SECRET/ NOFORN" - the latter term meaning no access to the intelligence by foreign nationals…….."

WorldNetDaily.com 4/21/00 Charles Smith "…..In addition, a 1996 State Department report contradicts Clinton administration claims that advanced communications exports to China were "civilian" projects. The report states that the Chinese army was keenly interested in obtaining Loral Globalstar satellite technology and the Loral purchase was possibly being financed by Chinese billionaire, Li Ka-Shing. The 1996 Department report was written by then-Ambassador to China James Sasser, a former U.S. Senator from Tennessee. The 1996 State Department report was obtained through the Freedom of Information Act……. The 1996 report written by Sasser alleges that the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) and Li Ka-Shing were both directly involved with the People's Liberation Army in financing the Loral export to China. "Already, foreign companies are interested in the new PLA-backed entity that is likely to emerge over the next year," states the report. "Recent press reports indicate that Hutchison Whampoa may be involved with the PLA about possible funding options." ……… Li Ka-Shing owns Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. and is reportedly the sixth richest man in the world. Hutchison Whampoa is the shipping company awarded the contract to control the ports at both ends of the Panama Canal. ….. Li Ka-Shing has been described by intelligence sources as a "Howard Hughes" for the Chinese Military Intelligence Department, or MID. U.S. Army Southern Command documents on the Panama transfer noted that Li Ka-Shing was an "indirect" threat to the United States. ……."

Insight on the News 4/17/00 J Michael Waller "…… Canadian police have identified Clinton donor and Macao gambling tycoon Stanley Ho as the leader of a triad gang of organized criminals with strong ties to Communist China. …….. President Clinton personally accepted $250,000 from a Macao gambling tycoon whom Canadian police identify as a "leader" of a Chinese triad, or organized-crime syndicate. Insight has obtained a copy of the Asian Organized Crime Roster of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or RCMP, listing Stanley Ho - who handed the check to Clinton at a 1997 White House reception to fund the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial - as a suspected "leader/member" of the notorious Kung Lok triad. This is the first concrete indication that a major Western law-enforcement agency considers Ho an organized-crime figure. Earlier reports characterized Ho as "associated" with the triads, but not a "leader" or "member." According to a separate Canadian Security Intelligence Service report, the triads are involved in "drug trafficking; money laundering; corruption; computer-software piracy; credit-card forgery and fraud; counterfeit currency and identification operations; and migrant smuggling. They will often provide direction to Chinese gangs in exchange for the 'muscle' needed in some triad operations." ……."

Insight on the News 4/17/00 J Michael Waller "……Insight's copy of the RCMP roster identifies Ho Hung Sun, alias Stanley Ho, as born in Hong Kong on Nov. 25, 1921, and provides addresses in Toronto and Macao. After classifying Ho as a "member/leader" of the Kung Lok triad organized-crime syndicate, it assigns him the "gang file number" 89-1170. A 1988 Justice Department list authored by then assistant attorney general William Weld identified Ho as "associated" with the triads, former congressional investigator Edward Timperlake tells Insight. Timperlake is coauthor of Year of the Rat, a book documenting ties between Clinton-Gore administration political fund-raising from Chinese interests and their effects on U.S. national-security decision-making. The book reported that "Ho's triad connections are really quite extensive" in his gambling partnerships. Has the Justice Department "cleared" Ho since Clinton and Gore were elected in 1992? A Justice Department spokeswoman would not comment, citing privacy concerns. Certainly, the Mounties have not cleared Ho: An RCMP Asian Organized Crime detective familiar with the roster labeling Ho as a triad figure told the Vancouver Province, "Nobody gets off it unless they die." ……."

Insight on the News 4/17/00 J Michael Waller "…… Ho and his business partners have been mired in international controversy in recent months. One of his partners is Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, whose Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. company has taken control of port facilities at both ends of the Panama Canal, prompting concerns that they may become a strategic beachhead for Beijing. The Clinton administration has gone out of its way to portray Li and Hutchison Whampoa as posing no security threat to U.S. interests, but not everyone is convinced. Peter Zhang writes in the New Australian, a weekly published in Melbourne, that Li is a "front man" for the Communist Chinese People's Liberation Army, or PLA. Commenting on Li's planned investments in Australian electric power and telecommunications infrastructures, Zhang warns, "Ordinarily I would advise any country to welcome a foreign investor. But Li is no ordinary investor. Just as British imperialism followed trade, Chinese military intelligence always follows Li." ….."

WorldNetDaily 6/17/00 Charles Smith "…..Newly released federal documents show that the Clinton administration was aware in 1996 that China was attempting to gain control of the Panama Canal. The U.S. Commerce Department recently released a July 1996 unclassified cable from the U.S. Embassy in Panama. The cable accuses Beijing of funneling money into Hutchison Whampoa, the company controlled by controversial Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing. …… "Embassy Panama has received information to the effect that HIT (Hutchison International Terminals) is controlled by mainland Chinese, perhaps through a Macao front which allegedly recently invested $400 million in HIT," states the cable. "Such control would have security implications and might affect the Panamanian government's views on awarding the port concessions." ……. Reacting to the information, Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., a ranking member on both the House Judiciary and House Government Reform Committees, sharply criticized President Clinton for ignoring the warnings about Chinese control of the canal. "This message proves serious concerns about Chinese control of the canal raised by the U.S. Embassy in Panama in 1996 were and remain completely ignored by an administration that wants us to believe all is well in Panama," stated Barr in an interview from his office inside Capitol Hill. ….."This latest piece of evidence is part of a systematic pattern of deception about the dangers posed to American and Panamanian national security by our unilateral withdrawal from Panama," concluded Barr. …….."

WorldNetDaily 6/17/00 Charles Smith "…..The Commerce Department documents also show that law enforcement agencies were very concerned about Li Ka-Shing's connections to international smuggling. A 1995 cable from the American Embassy in Nassau noted that Li Ka-Shing had signed an agreement to build an $88 million container-ship terminal in the Grand Bahamas. The document shows that the embassy in Nassau copied the cable to several law enforcement agencies including the Customs Service and the Drug Enforcement Agency. "Reftel describes U.S. agencies' security concerns about possible smuggling attempts through the terminal," states the cable from the American Embassy. "Post will request via septel assistance in addressing these concerns while port development plans are still on the drawing board." ..."

WorldNetDaily 6/17/00 Charles Smith "…..The documents the Commerce Department provided show that the Clinton administration was aware in 1996 of the $400 million investment into Li Ka-Shing's company by the Chinese government. The Commerce documents describe China Resources Enterprises as "the investment arm of China's Foreign Trade ministry." ….. According to Sen. Thompson, China Resources Enterprises is linked to billionaire Moctar Riady and the Lippo Group. ……. Despite questions about illegal links to Beijing front companies and international smuggling, the newly released documents show that U.S. Commerce Secretary William Daley, the newly appointed campaign chairman for Vice President Al Gore's presidential bid, met with the Li Ka-Shing at a 1997 luncheon hosted by the powerful investment firm Goldman Sachs. …….. The Commerce documents note that an informal "talk" between Daley, Li and several "influential business people" was held on the Goldman Sachs' boat Monkey's Uncle during a 1997 Hong Kong trade trip. Included in the meeting was Beijing-owned business CITIC, a firm directly linked to arms smuggling. ……"

WorldNetDaily 6/17/00 Charles Smith "…..The Commerce documents also reveal Li Ka-Shing's business dealings with the Chinese military. One document titled "principal subsidiary and associated companies," states that Li owns 25 percent of "Guangzhou Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Company," a firm run by the Chinese air force. ...,, The documents show that Li owns one-third of Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings, or AsiaSat, a company owned in part by the Chinese army. In 1989, Peter Kwok, the business partner of Robert Blum, the husband of Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., helped CITIC and Li Ka-Shing raise $120 million to buy a Hughes-built communications satellite for AsiaSat. ……."

WorldNetDaily 6/17/00 Charles Smith "…..The documents also state that Li Ka-Shing is directly in business with the Chinese government through the China Ocean Shipping Company, or COSCO. In 1996, a COSCO ship was caught in an attempt to smuggle over 2,000 fully automatic machine guns into the United States. COSCO is better known for its unsuccessful attempt to purchase the former Long Beach Naval station in California. In January 1997, President Clinton authorized four container ships for export directly to China. The four container ships were to be constructed for COSCO and Li Ka-Shing's Hutchison Whampoa by the Alabama Shipyards of Mobile, Ala. …..The four ships were to be built using $138 million in private loans backed by the U.S. government. The loans had very favorable terms, including low interest rates and a 25-year repayment plan -- longer than the expected life of the ships. ……. Li Ka-Shing's ties to China have also attracted U.S. military attention. U.S. Defense Department documents discovered by Larry Klayman of Judicial Watch, a Washington-based public interest group, focused on Li Ka-Shing and his company Hutchison Whampoa. According to an October 1999 "Intelligence Assessment" prepared by the U.S. military Southern Command, the Hong Kong billionaire is a potential threat to America. ….."

WorldNetDaily 6/7/00 Charles Smith "….Li Ka-Shing is no ordinary billionaire. Mr. Li's company currently operates the two ports on the Panama Canal, the Pacific port of Balboa and the Atlantic port of Cristobal. According to recently declassified documents from the U.S. Commerce Department, Li Ka-Shing is a very special man in Beijing, Washington and Hong Kong. …….. "Li is reputed to have a close business relationship with key figures in Beijing," states an August 1999 from the American Embassy in Hong Kong. "And he has a number of real estate and infrastructure projects in the mainland. These close relationships were said to be key to his obtaining the prime site on Beijing's Wangfujing for his USD2 billion Oriental Plaza Project. Some have suggested that it was because of Li's mainland connections that the man behind the 1996 kidnapping of his son Victor was arrested last year in China and swiftly executed. Li is a leading member of Hong Kong's ethnic Chinese business elite, a tycoon who is no democrat. This fact is reflected in his recent claim that he canceled a HKD10 billion (USD1.3 billion) project because of the unfavorable business climate created by Hong Kong's politicized (more democratic) business climate." ………

WorldNetDaily 6/7/00 Charles Smith "….The Commerce Department documents also show that law enforcement agencies were very concerned about Li Ka-Shing's connections to the Triad gangs. ……One document on Li Ka-Shing, previously discovered by Larry Klayman and Judicial Watch, a Washington, D.C.-based legal watchdog group, came from the U.S. Defense Department. According to the October 1999 "Intelligence Assessment," prepared by the U.S. military Southern Command, the Hong Kong billionaire is a "threat" to the Panama Canal: "Hutchison Whampoa's owner, Hong Kong tycoon, Li Ka-Shing, has extensive business ties in Beijing and has compelling financial reasons to maintain a good relationship with China's leadership," states the 1999 assessment. "For example, Hutchison Whampoa could threaten to shift some business from Panama to its facilities in the Bahamas, thus giving the company additional leverage over the Panamanian government." The U.S. military intelligence report concluded: "Hutchison's containerized shipping facilities in the Panama Canal, as well as the Bahamas, could provide a conduit for illegal shipments of technology or prohibited items from the west to the PRC, or facilitate the movement of arms and other prohibited items into the Americas." ……."

WorldNetDaily 6/7/00 Charles Smith "….However, the newly released documents from the Commerce Department show that current Commerce Secretary Daley met with the Beijing tycoon at a 1997 luncheon hosted by the powerful investment firm Goldman Sachs. The Commerce documents note that an informal "talk" between Daley, Mr. Li and several "influential business people" was held on the Goldman Sachs' boat "Monkey's Uncle" during a 1997 Hong Kong trade trip. …….. The Commerce documents show that Daly and Li met on board the "Monkey's Uncle" with some of the leading Beijing owned businesses including two directly associated with the Chinese Army -- CITIC and, China Everbright. Some other "influential business people" were also included on the guest list for the lunch cruise. Among the leading figures are Raymond Kwok, Robert Kwok, and Canning Fok. …….. The newly released documents show that alleged organized crime "Triad" gangsters were included on the 1997 voyage of the "Monkey's Uncle." According to official U.S. Commerce materials, Secretary Daley sailed on a paradise cruise from Hong Kong with the "who's who" of Triad mob families. ……."

WorldNetDaily 7/14/00 Kenneth R. Timmerman and Charles Smith "…….House Speaker Dennis Hastert has named a lobbyist for Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing as his top national security and foreign policy adviser, a move that has made some top House Republicans angry and left others bewildered. A low-key lawmaker known for avoiding controversy, Hastert's appointment of Washington, D.C., lobbyist Nancy P. Dorn seemed out of character. "I can't believe he knew of this person's background," Maryland Republican Roscoe Bartlett told WorldNetDaily.com. Bartlett is a leading member of the House National Security Committee. ……."

WorldNetDaily 7/14/00 Kenneth R. Timmerman and Charles Smith "…….Dorn, 41, briefly served in the Reagan administration, and won a Schedule C. political appointment under President George Bush as Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works), a position she held from 1991-1993. After leaving the administration, she worked as a lobbyist for Coastal Corporation, the Houston oil firm owned by the flamboyant and often controversial Oscar Wyatt. …….."Here is a person who will be the Speaker's representative to the Intelligence Committee," one irate Republican staffer told WND. "She will have access to operational matters, and can in effect task the intelligence community to do anything. And until yesterday, she has been Li Ka-shing's person in Washington." ……."

WASHINGTON TIMES 7/21/00 Bill Gertz "…..A former lobbyist for a Hong Kong company with close ties to the Chinese government will have access to the most sensitive U.S. intelligence secrets as the new national security aide to House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert. But despite growing concern in Republican ranks, Mr. Hastert is standing by his decision to name Nancy P. Dorn as his top national security assistant…….. Congressional aides involved in national security issues told The Washington Times they are worried that Mrs. Dorn will have access to U.S. intelligence that includes details of operations against China……..Mr. Hastert, Illinois Republican, is an ex-officio member of the House Intelligence Committee and one of the "gang of eight" congressional leaders who usually are briefed on the most sensitive intelligence and military matters. As the key adviser to the speaker, Mrs. Dorn would be the staffer privy to these highly classified briefings. Mrs. Dorn until recently was a lobbyist representing Hutchison Port Holdings, a company owned by Hong Kong billionaire Li Kashing. Mr. Li has been described in U.S. intelligence reports as having close ties to the Chinese government……..Mrs. Dorn said she did not delve into Hutchison's undercover activities and called her lobby "very minor work" that included introducing Hutchison officials to "people in Washington." "I don't see how that amounts to a treasonous act," she said. Because of the activities, "if anything I will be bending over backward in making sure I'm above reproach in China security matters," she said. Mrs. Dorn was appointed to the Interamerican Foundation, a quasi-official organization devoted to Latin America, and underwent a background check for the post. However, she said she did not know whether she was given a security clearance for that job……."

Washington Times 7/18/00 Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. "…….What on Earth was he thinking? This is the question prompted by House Speaker Dennis Hastert's selection, announced last week, of a new national security adviser: Nancy P. Dorn, a woman who had parlayed her stints as an official in the Reagan and Bush administrations into a lucrative business as a registered foreign agent. ……… Not just any foreign agent. One of her troubling clients was, in the words of Insight magazine, which broke the story, "a division of a Communist Chinese company linked to Beijing's military intelligence." …….Specifically, Mrs. Dorn lobbied for Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH), a subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. which is, in turn, owned by Li Ka-shing - a Hong Kong-based billionaire who reportedly enjoys an extemely close relationship to the leadership in Beijing and its security services. ……."

Washington Times 7/18/00 Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. "……..So who did Li Ka-shing turn to in order to head off GOP efforts to reopen the bidding on the Panamanian ports in question and to limit other political fall-out - especially efforts that might have interfered with the plans he and his friends in Beijing had to expand Hutchison/ China's presence in the Bahamas and elsewhere in the hemisphere? Lobbyist Nancy Dorn. …….. It turns out Mrs. Dorn was also the "go-to" woman for one of China's leading clients, the military junta that seized power in Pakistan last year. Presumably, her assignment was to keep Republicans from making too much of a ruckus about the Clinton-Gore administration's systematic failure to fulfill legal obligations to sanction both countries over their cooperation in the proliferation of nuclear weapons and long-range missile technology. Whether thanks to her or others, that objective was largely achieved. ……..Perhaps Mrs. Dorn deserves credit as well for the lack of protests from the Republican congressional leadership earlier this year when Pakistan was curiously left off the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism. …….In a way, an even more interesting question would be why Mrs. Dorn saw fit to take a significant pay cut to assume a position that may cease to be Mr. Hastert's to fill half a year from now? ….."

Atlanta Constitution 8/15/99 Rebecca Carr "…. As the head of Poly, Wang reports directly to the so-called Staff Department of PLA, which oversees China's military intelligence. Wang also runs China International Trust & Investment Corp., a powerful company with interests in industry, finance and trade. Federal investigators believe both companies took part in a plan to station workers at companies throughout the United States to gather sensitive information that would be helpful to the military. Cox and other federal investigators estimate there are as many as 3,000 such "front" companies in the United States……F. Michael Maloof, chief of technology security operations at the Defense Department's U.S. Threat Reduction Agency, has been investigating Wang's activities for more than 18 months. He has no doubt about what Wang has been up to. "Wang Jun's operations are part of an overall Chinese system that is integrated to target and acquire militarily critical technologies," Maloof said….. Congressional committees have requested his appearance to answer campaign fund-raising and espionage allegations for the past two years. They have little hope he will appear. "This guy is bad news," said Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.), who sits on the House panel investigating campaign fund-raising misdeeds. "The fact that he has been able to operate with impunity is very disturbing. This fellow has ties that go directly to the Communist Party in Beijing. He is right there, smack in the middle of the campaign finance scandal and (involved with) U.S. corporations that are in the middle of the spy scandal. Apparently this comes as a surprise to our law enforcement officials, and that's a problem. It's outrageous." …"

Atlanta Constitution 8/15/99 Rebecca Carr "…Wang's enterprises eventually stretched across the United States, but they began in Atlanta in 1987 as PTK International Inc., a joint venture with a Smyrna company, Keng Firearms Specialty Inc. Two other companies controlled completely by Wang --- Dynasty Holding Co. and Poly USA Inc. --- soon followed. Four additional companies were incorporated in Atlanta, but never conducted any kind of business. Most of the companies listed the same officers and the same address on East Paces Ferry Road. Wang's companies in Atlanta devoted themselves mostly to importing guns from China and reselling them to dozens of American distributors. But Dynasty bought a lot of commercial property across the country. …. All of the companies were dissolved by the summer of 1996 soon after Ma's gun smuggling indictment, according to Collins, who remains on good terms with his former Chinese employer. ….After several years of discussions, Poly and Keng signed an agreement in Beijing in 1986. Poly would export from China AK-47 assault rifles and SKS semi-automatic rifles to Keng Firearms, which would sell the guns to PTK, the joint venture between Wang's Poly and Keng in Atlanta. PTK then would sell to American distributors. …."

Atlanta Constitution 8/15/99 Rebecca Carr "…In Atlanta federal court, the Kengs and Poly tangled over shipments and legal issues involving their partnership. The court fight soon turned nasty, involving two of the city's biggest law firms --- Long, Aldridge & Norman representing Poly and Alston & Bird representing the Keng family. Court records show a flurry of unusual legal actions….. After much haggling with Poly, Stephenson and his partner, Peter Bassett, went to Beijing in the spring of 1991 to depose Ma and a handful of others. On the third day of their visit, the lawyers said they were accosted by three men at the top of the escalator at the China World Hotel. They warned: "We know who you are, where you are and what you are doing. Watch your step. Beijing is a small place." Stephenson and Bassett were so rattled that they immediately returned to their hotel room and called the U.S. embassy. No answer. They left and walked to the lounge of the Shangri-La Hotel, where they sat in a stunned daze for hours, thinking about what to do next. The men who had accosted them knew too much --- their names and businesses --- to be mere street thugs…..Stephenson and Bassett say their suspicions about the incident were confirmed when a year later they learned from the American Embassy in Beijing that a high-ranking Chinese official had --- the day before their arrival in China --- sent a letter to the embassy, objecting to their taking depositions of potential witnesses…. A few days later, Stephenson told Atlanta federal Judge Charles Moye in court documents that "individuals have been threatened with punishment in the event (Poly) learns of their involvement." He said it would be impossible to call future witnesses, some of them employees of Wang, because he feared that the Chinese government might "subject individuals in China to the danger of retribution." …."

Atlanta Constitution 8/15/99 Rebecca Carr "…Stephenson said Poly abruptly dropped its suit after he started tracing millions of dollars of Dynasty's money to a "mail drop" in the Cayman Islands. Much of that money, Stephenson alleged, accumulated in offshore accounts through an illegal "dual billing" practice to hide gun sale profits from China's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations. "They were shipping money from Dynasty to an insurance company in the Cayman Islands, ostensibly for insurance premiums," Stephenson said. "We are talking about a mail slot in a bank. . . . They were expensing these premiums for tax purposes, so they didn't show their full income on their business activities here." …. "

Atlanta Constitution 8/15/99 Rebecca Carr "… And evidence of espionage continues to grow….. In 1988, Poly asked PTK officials to place a shipment of high-tech computer equipment in brown paper and ship it in unmarked wooden crates to China. Company documents indicate that company officials were asked to draft documents that would conceal the equipment, making it appear that it was actually radio equipment. Memos turned over to investigators show that Poly officials in Beijing wrote memos to Poly employees in Atlanta instructing them in Chinese to ship $19 million worth of militarily sensitive high-tech radar equipment through a state-owned shipping line….. "

Atlanta Constitution 8/15/99 Rebecca Carr "…Wang first caught the eye of congressional investigators when he visited the White House on Feb. 6, 1996, with Charlie Trie, a former restaurateur and friend of the Clintons from Arkansas…. When news of Wang's trip to the White House first surfaced, President Clinton went out of his way to say that it was "clearly inappropriate" for a Chinese arms dealer to appear at the White House. At the time, Clinton aides said they had no prior knowledge of Wang's gun dealing background, nor did they know of his close ties to the Chinese army. But Collins said he gave top White House aides detailed information about Wang at a private White House luncheon in early May 1994. Collins was asked to speak to a small gathering of business leaders at the White House luncheon after escorting Deng Xiaoping's son, Deng Zhifang, to some of America's premier corporate centers. At the gathering, Collins said, were former White House Counsel Thomas "Mack" McLarty and former senior aide Mark Middleton, who later became a target of the campaign fund-raising probe…."

Atlanta Constitution 8/15/99 Rebecca Carr "…After the lunch, Collins said, Middleton called for more details about Wang. Collins said he told Middleton that Wang is the son of former Chinese Vice President Wang Zhen and that his companies were connected with the Chinese military. "He grilled me and grilled me. . . . It's hard to believe that they didn't know who he was," Collins said. If White House aides didn't know then who Wang was, they soon would learn. Wang's visit drew sharp criticism from lawmakers, including some Democrats, who said it was an example of the lengths the White House would go to raise a campaign dollar. If the White House had simply reviewed Poly's annual report, it would have found that the report lists its defense system sales….. However, Wang used Poly to arm Third World countries and funnel American military technology back to China, internal company records and interviews show. "Wang's Poly Group is Communist China's worst worldwide proliferator of deadly weapons, having brokered the sale of cruise missiles to Iran and nuclear weapons to Pakistan," Cox explained. Congressional investigators believe that Poly also sold M-9 nuclear-capable missile technology to Syria and arms to both sides of the Iraq-Iran war in the 1980s. Burma was another customer. …"

"….The following is a list of 831 political donors the president and first lady have been forced to admit were given sleeping privileges in the White House Lincoln Bedroom since 1995, in exchange for political donations to the Clinton-Gore Campaign. ….
Longtime Friends (155) ….
Linda Aaker, Robert Armstrong, Amy Ashby, Kit Ashby, Norma Asnes, Joseph Baczko, Kathleen Baczko, Dr. Nancy Bekavac, Kathie Berlin, Shannon Bettridge, Tommy Bettridge, William Bettridge, Robert Billingsley, Patsy Henderson Bowles, Jeff Braden, Paul Braden, Taylor Branch, Dr. Johanna Branson, Eli Broad, Vanessa Brown, Jane Bulnes-Fowles, Juan Bulnes-Fowles, Kathleen Burgess, Ciara Campbell, Jude Campbell, Thomas Campbell, Marvin Caplan, Thomas Caplan, Michael Conway, Dr. Yvonne Cormier, Bill Daley, Loretta Daley, Denise Dangremond, Robert Dangremond, Benjamin Eakeley, Douglas Eakeley, Priscilla Eakeley. …."

"….An answering machine recording that immediately precedes this conversation identifies the date as November 8 22 T16 at 60 In addition Ms Lewinsky tells Ms Tripp the First Lady is leaving the next day a T16 at 69 Mrs Clinton left for London on Sunday November 9 1997 There are two additional indications that this conversation occurred on a Saturday First Ms Lewinsky says that when she asked Ms Currie if she could see the President Wtomorrow V Ms Currie said the President would be attending church in the morning W T16 at 68 Second Ms Lewinsky says that she was told by Ms Currie that the President taped the Radio Address on the previous day sp f T16 at 65 Furthermore because Ms Lewinsky tells Ms Tripp how 45 246

246 Page 247 248
247
she asked Ms Currie for a Veterans Day meeting with the President the conversation must have occurred before November 11 m T16 at 69 These factors are consistent with a conversation on Monday November 8 1997

Conversation 21
Tuesday November 11 1997
Tape 16 side B ninth conversation on tape
Transcript pages 104 114
This Conversation Appears On A Tape That Exhibits Signs of Duplication
Ms Tripp says she has a message from Norma Asnes in which Ms Asnes invites Ms Tripp to a play at the Arena Theatre for the next night T16 at 104 That event was on November 12 1997 Also Ms Lewinsky describes a conversation with Ms Currie in which she asked about the President's schedule tonight then l'tomorrow n then Thursday and then Friday T16 at 107 08 This sequence places this conversation on a Tuesday November 11 1997 was a Tuesday These factors are consistent with a conversation on Tuesday November 11 1997

Conversation 22
Tuesday November 11 1997
Tape 26 side A first conversation Qn tape
Transcript pages 2 5
This Conversation Appears On A Tape That Exhibits Signs of Duplication
Ms Tripp asks Ms Lewinsky whether she would like to attend the play with Ms Tripp Ms Asnes and others As noted in the description of conversation 21 this production occurred on November 12 1997 Also in the next conversation which is clearly a continuation of this one Ms Tripp says it is the llth a T26 at 22 These factors are consistent with a conversation on Tuesday November 11 1997

Conversertion 23
Tuesday November 11 1997
Tape 26 side A second conversation on tape
Transcript pages 25 32
This Conversation Appears On A Tape Tbat Zxbibits Signs of Duplication
Ms Tripp says it is the llth m T26 at 22 This exchange is clearly a continuation of the conversation that immediately precedes it on the tape because the topic is the same and Ms Lewinsky hung up from the last conversation merely to get a telephone number from information Ms Lewinsky said she would call back immediately m T26 at 5 These factors are consistent with a conversation on Tuesday November 11 1997

Coxwersation 24
Tuesday November 11 1997
Tape 26 side A third conversation on tape
Transcript pages 32 55
This Conversation Appears On A Tape That Exhibits Signs of Duplication
Ms Lewinsky says she wants to see the President because it is Veterans Day and he is all alone m T26 at 35 Veterans Day is November 11 In addition this conversation is a continuation of the previous conversation also dated November 11 which was interrupted by call waiting Ms Tripp says she just got off the phone with Ms Asnes whom Ms Tripp was trying to reach….are consistent with a conversation on Tuesday

"…..The following is a small representation of the thousands of women across the country who have pledged their support to Al Gore for President of the United States. The complete list of women supporting Gore can be viewed online at www.algore2000.com. Women who wish to pledge their support for Al Gore can join the growing list of Women for Gore by visiting the Gore 2000 website at www.algore2000.com/womenforgore. ……New York women who have pledged their support for Al Gore: …..Norma Asnes ….."

"…..TDF Board Elects Three New Directors
Norma Ketay Asnes, a writer and producer who has written extensively about New York in newspapers and magazines, is former president of the American Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, Connecticut. She is president of Ketay-Asnes Productions, a parent company for many diversified activities, and founder of Unit 17, which specializes in composing and performing new material for jazz audiences.Mrs. Asnes serves on the board of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, and is a member of the Visiting Committee of Bank Street College and of the Madison Council of the Library of Congress. In the 1960s she co-authored a biannual New York guidebook originally titled "New York on $5 a Day."A graduate of Barnard in the class of 1957, Mrs. Asnes is a widow and the mother of three sons….."

"…..The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies is a national, nonprofit institution that conducts research on public policy issues of special concern to black Americans and other minorities. Founded in 1970, the Joint Center provides independent analyses through research, publications, and outreach programs……..The Joint Center has undertaken projects in Africa since the 1980s, participating in projects in Benin, Botswana, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda. We have been fully engaged in the African democratization process since 1993, beginning in South Africa, on the eve of that countrys first democratic elections, and then expanding our democracy work to include Benin in 1994. Presently, the Joint Center has a democracy and governance program and an economic policy support program in South Africa….."

Norma Ketay Asnes (United States) is a graduate of Barnard College, the mother of three sons, a grandmother, and the widow of Marvin Asnes who was President of Becton Dickinson. She is a writer/producer whose books on New York City have been published for 35 years. Her articles have appeared in newspapers and magazines and in the USIA publication Amerika.

She became President of the American Shakespeare Theatre in 1982 after having been a member of its Board of Directors since 1978. She became President of the Theatre, Connecticut's second largest tourist attraction, when it fell into bankruptcy in 1981. By 1986 when she left because of her husband's illness, she had retired the debt by selling the Theatre property to the State of Connecticut with a dollar a year lease back to the Theatre's board and enlisting the support of the large Connecticut Fortune 500 community. In 1988 she founded Unit 17, a big band specializing in composing and performing new material for contemporary jazz audiences. In 1992 she moved to Little Rock, Arkansas to join the Clinton/Gore campaign. She wrote white papers on social welfare issues and at the end of the campaign produced a "get out the older vote" tour with older celebrities and the parents of Al Gore.

She serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Governors of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, The Madison Council of the Library of Congress, The Theatre Development Fund, NYC; the Council of MIT/Harvard's Health Science and Technology. From 1991 to 1996, she was Chairman of The Bronx Greenup, a project of The New York Botanical Garden. She is a patron of The Audubon Society and Public Television and is an avid gardener. Mrs. Asnes is a recipient of the "Women of Challenge Award" given by the Girl Scouts of America. ….."

NATO Official Homepage 8/18/97 "…General Clark is a 1966 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he graduated first in his class. He holds a master's degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar (August 1966-August 1968). He is a graduate of the National War College, Command and General Staff College, Armor Officer Advanced and Basic Courses, and Ranger and Airborne schools. General Clark was a White House Fellow in 1975-1976 and served as a Special Assistant to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. He has also served as an instructor and later Assistant Professor of Social Science at the United States Military Academy. Among his military decorations are the Defense Distinguished Service Medal (three awards), Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, Legion of Merit (four awards), Bronze Star Medal (two awards), Purple Heart, Meritorious Service Medal (two awards), and the Army Commendation Medal (two awards). General Clark was born on 23 December 1944 and grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas. He is married to the former Gertrude Kingston of Brooklyn, New York. He and his wife have one son, Wesley, who lives in California…."

NATO Official Homepage 8/18/97 "…General Wesley K. Clark became the Supreme Allied Commander Europe on 11 July 1997. He is also the Commander-in-Chief, United States European Command. General Clark's last assignment was as Commander-in-Chief, United States Southern Command, Panama, from June 1996 to July 1997, where he commanded all U.S. forces and was responsible for the direction of most U.S. military activities and interests in Latin America and the Caribbean. His previous assignment was as the Director, Strategic Plans and Policy, J5, the Joint Staff (April 1994-June 1996) where he was the staff officer responsible for world-wide politico-military affairs and U.S. military strategic planning. He also led the military negotiations for the Bosnian Peace Accords at Dayton…."

New York Times 5/3/99 Elizabeth Becker "...The American general who is leading NATO's military operation to stop Yugoslav troops from killing and expelling Albanians from Kosovo discovered as an adult that he is the grandson of a Russian Jew who fled his country to escape the pogroms there a century ago. Gen. Wesley Kanne Clark was raised as a Protestant in Little Rock, Ark., where he was brought up by his mother and stepfather, Victor Clark. He was ignorant of his ancestry, which disappeared from his life with the death of his father, Benjamin Jacob Kanne when Wesley was 5. He learned of his ethnic background when he was in his 20s and embraced the discovery, according to several family members....."

Chicago Sun-Times 5/6/99 Bob Novak "...Who is responsible for an air offensive that is building anti-American anger across Europe without breaking the Serbian regime's will? The blame rests heavily on Gen. Wesley Clark, the NATO supreme commander. After 40 days, U.S.-dominated NATO air strikes no longer even pretend to aim solely at military targets. Pentagon sources admit that the attacks on the city center of Belgrade are intended to so demoralize ordinary citizens that they force President Slobodan Milosevic to yield. That has not yet happened, but diplomats believe the grave damage done to American prestige in Central and Eastern Europe will outlive this vicious little war. "The problem is Wes Clark making--at least approving--the bombing decisions," said one such diplomat, who then asked rhetorically: "How could they let a man with such a lack of judgment be [supreme allied commander of Europe]?" Through dealings with Yugoslavia that date back to 1994, Clark's propensity for mistakes has kept him in trouble while he continued moving up the chain of command thanks to a patron in the Oval Office. In the last month's American newspaper clippings, Clark emerges as the only heroic figure of a non-heroic war. Indeed, his resume is stirring: first in his class at West Point, Rhodes scholar, frequently wounded and highly decorated Vietnam combat veteran, White House fellow. He became a full general about as fast as possible in peacetime....Clark is the perfect model of a 1990s political four-star general. Clark's rapid promotions after Dayton --winning his fourth star to head the Panama-based Southern Command and then the jewel of his European post --were both opposed by the Pentagon brass. But Clark's fellow Arkansan in the White House named him anyway. The president and the general are collaborators in a failed strategy whose consequences cast a long shadow even if soon terminated by negotiation..."

London Daily Telegraph 5/11/99 John Keegan Freeper Stand Watch Listen "...the word is that Gen Wesley Clark is not up to the job. He certainly gives no impression of leadership, as Gen Norman Schwarzkopf so strikingly did during the Gulf war. Meanwhile, President Milosevic's stature grows by the day. Given the way Nato has decided to run this war, that is not surprising. Unsuccessful air wars make the target country and its leader look good, while making whoever is launching the bombs look bumbling, if not bullying. That was certainly the effect of Germany's bombing campaign against Britain in 1940, with which analogies can increasingly be drawn. History does sometimes repeat itself, if the same factors apply. The factor of geographical inaccessibility was as important to Mr Churchill's survival in 1940 as it is to Milosevic's today...."

New York Times 5/16/99 MICHAEL R. GORDON ERIC SCHMITT "...In a behind-the-scenes struggle over military strategy and tactics, the Pentagon is blocking a plan by the NATO commander, Gen. Wesley K. Clark, to send Apache helicopters into combat against Serbian troops, Pentagon and NATO officials say. ...."The issue is that Clark is being aggressive, and there is some resistance to doing what he wants to do," a senior American official said. ....Since General Clark first requested them 48 hours after NATO's air strikes began on March 24, the Apaches have been a particularly sensitive matter for the Clinton Administration, which has been reluctant to use combat troops in Kosovo. It took weeks for Washington to agree to General Clark's request to deploy the Apaches. Then it took weeks more to lug the men and supplies for the helicopters and the Army units that accompanied them to Albania. Further, Washington only agreed to send the Apaches and rockets on the condition that they not be used in combat without the formal approval of President Clinton. That approval, which Apache commanders expected by early May, has yet to take place, largely because top Pentagon officials have refused to recommend such a step to the White House, fearing the possible domestic and international consequences if the missions fail. Nor are the Apaches allowed to conduct "live fire" exercises without the Clinton Administration's consent. Such exercises, in which the helicopters fire their guns and missiles, are an essential prerequisite for employing them in combat. ..... But General Clark wants to conduct the "live fire" test by shooting at targets in Kosovo, and he still has not received permission to do so. Two of the helicopters have already crashed during training missions, killing two pilots....."The Army's concern is that this is a very dangerous mission," a Pentagon official said. "The avenues into Kosovo are limited, and the opportunity for shoulder-held weapons is very real. We have to really have all our act together. No one thinks the mission can't be done, but in an age when the American people believe we're in a zero-defects war, there's real apprehension we're going to bring solders back in body bags." ....Another Pentagon objection pertains to barrages of rockets and artillery that would precede the Apache attacks. While the rockets would be aimed at air defenses, there are no NATO ground troops in Kosovo to direct the fire, raising the prospect of civilian casualties....."

International Herald Tribune 5/20/99 William Pfaff Freeper Stand Watch Listen "...America's military, and the U.S. Air Force in particular, are backing away from NATO's war in Yugoslavia. This is a predictable disavowal of failure, but it raises serious questions about future U.S. relations with NATO. ...At NATO itself, interestingly enough, criticism goes in another direction. Critics call General Wesley Clark, NATO's supreme commander in Europe and a friend of President Bill Clinton, a ''political general.''..."

5/24/99 AP Freeper Thanatos "...Gen. Wesley Clark insisted Monday that the NATO forces he commands have the option of using the U.S. Army's Apache attack helicopters in Kosovo, despite signs the plan has been shelved. In his fourth visit to this American base since it was established seven weeks ago, Clark shrugged off suggestions that remarks by President Clinton last week had squelched prospects for the low-flying tank-killers to see action against the Serbs...."

The Rockford Institute 5/24/99 Thomas Fleming "...When Janet Reno sent in the FBI to fry the women and children in the Branch Davidian home, I was in Italy covering the Lega Nord. Stunned by what I read in the Italian press, I told my friends that a turning-point in American history had been reached: if the American people did not rise up and throw the rascals out, if Janet Reno and her colleagues were not put on trial for murder, there would be no hope of restoring the republic. The Italians were not shocked by my remarks: they assumed the worst. Intelligent Europeans were already learning to fear the violence of the new American empire and many people who knew the truth of what the US did in Bosnia compared US air strikes with Waco. But Bosnia was nothing compared with Kosovo, where every day NATO airstrikes are taking out power plants, bombing schools and hospitals, and murdering civilians....During the Waco standoff, apparently, Governor Anne Richards asked Clark, who was then commander of Ft. Hood, for advice. The answer came through his subordinates: take out the leader. Cockburn and St. Clair comment: Certainly the Waco onslaught bears characteristics typical of Gen. Wesley Clark: the eagerness to take out the leader (viz., the Clark-ordered bombing of Milosevic's private residence); the utter disregard for the lives of innocent men, w omen, and children,; the arrogant miscalculations about the effects of force; disregard for law, whether of the Posse Comitatus Act governing military actions within the United States or, abroad, the purview of the Nuremberg laws on war crimes and attacks on civilians...."

WASHINGTON TIMES 6/4/99 BILL GERTZ "... Word inside the Pentagon from the Army operations center is that Gen. Wesley Clark, the NATO commander, would like to launch a ground offensive in Kosovo on Sept. 1, if yesterday's promising peace developments fall through. The Army, however, doesn't see any way that the troops and equipment needed for such an offensive could be prepared in time. "No one has told Clark that the emperor has no clothes," said one Pentagon official...."

American Spectator 6/99 John B. Roberts II "...On the morning of March 29, 1999, the sixth day of NATO's bombing campaign against the Serbs, American diplomats throughout the Office of the High Representative (OHR) in Bosnia-Herzegovina received an unusual message from their colleague in Tuzla. It was Foreign Service officer Thomas R. Hutson's last official e-mail to his associates. Hutson's message was a bombshell. He was openly attacking Clinton's Kosovo policy. "My personal reasons for retiring now have only been strengthened by the ill-conceived decision of NATO to bomb the Serbs," Hutson wrote. "This decision has unified the Serbs as no other event I have witnessed in my observation of the area for nearly three decades." "As for its impact on Bosnia and Herzegovina," he warned, "I fear that it has driven a stake into the heart of the Dayton accords." His e-mail closed with a quote from Abba Eban: "Diplomacy should be judged by what it prevents, not only by what it initiates and creates...Much of it is a holding action designed to avoid explosion until the unifying forces of history take humanity into their embrace."...Hutson tried first to shape policy from the inside. During a briefing on resettlement of Bosnian war refugees, Hutson alerted NATO Supreme Commander Wesley Clark to the difficulties of dealing with the Serbs. Using a Turkish word, inat, to describe the Serb temperament, Hutson told Clark the Serbs could not be bombed into submission. Inat, Hutson says, means irrational. The Serbs' attachment to Kosovo as a symbol of national independence is like a Texan's view of the Alamo. NATO would not easily force the Serbs to allow Kosovo to secede from Yugoslavia and join with Albania, the goal of the Kosovar liberation movement since the early nineties.....When he met with Albright, Holbrooke, and Fuerth in 1995 Hutson may have thought they were simply uninterested in his political solution to preserve the Yugoslav Federation and prevent war. He didn't realize the three were leading advocates of a new and radical use of military intervention around the globe. In the early nineties, when Clinton was still governor of Arkansas, they formed part of a small foreign policy elite convened by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to change U.S. foreign policy after the Cold War. Reports signed by all three recommended a dramatic escalation of the use of military force to settle other countries' domestic conflicts. Ironically, an institution dedicated to "International Peace" set the stage for Clinton's interventionist policies in Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, and Kosovo, triggering the most widespread deployment of U.S. troops since the Second World War...."

6/14/99 AFP "....In a press conference Clark said: "The bombing was simply a mistake. The target we were seeking was not the Chinese embassy. That building was misidentified. It was just unfortunately an accident."....Clark informed NATO Secretary General Javier Solana in a written report that the Chinese embassy was bombed in error because the Alliance was relying on inaccurate maps of the area, an anonymous NATO source told AFP at the end of May....."

AP 7/20/99 "…Standing by the comments of the Army general who oversaw the campaign in Yugoslavia, Cohen acknowledged that inability to get NATO nations to agree on courses of action and on various targets hampered efforts, at least in the early days of the 78-day air war. Clark, who is the supreme NATO commander, was quoted in Tuesday's editions of The Washington Post as venting frustration with the process, saying he was forced to sacrifice basic logic of warfare to maintain the political cohesion of the alliance…."

The Washington Post 7/28/99 Bradley Graha Dana Priest "...After months of tension with the Pentagon over the conduct of NATO's war against Yugoslavia, Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark was abruptly informed yesterday that his term as the alliance's top commander will end in April. Senior Pentagon officials, disclosing the move, portrayed it as a normal rotation. But the decision to end Clark's term a few months short of three years was unusual, and some military officials said it may be seen by his congressional supporters and among European allies as an affront to the general who led NATO to victory....."

Washington Post 7/29/99 Jim Hoagland "...Washington is a city of careers: Job changes both cause and reflect seismic political events. Such a shift is now underway at the Pentagon, where Gen. Wesley K. Clark, the NATO commander who recently got Slobodan Milosevic to say uncle in Kosovo, was told on Tuesday to look for a new job. Ingratitude, or history on the march? Some of both may be involved. Clark, not given to underestimating his place in history, can take solace in reflecting on the fates of Winston Churchill at the end of World War II or George Bush after Desert Storm. Their victories were also rewarded with eviction notices from electorates ready to move on to new subjects....Ignatieff quotes Clark acknowledging his frustration with "the only air campaign in history in which lovers strolled down riverbanks in the gathering twilight . . . to watch the fireworks" -- until May 24, when heavy munitions destroyed the transformer yards of the Yugoslav power grid and changed the course of the war. Clark, a member of the U.S. negotiating team at Dayton that produced the Bosnian peace accord, brought personal involvement and experience in the Balkans with him to the NATO job. He also brought along a willingness to stand up for his beliefs. That quality helped end a war and save lives. It may also have cost Clark a few months of his tour in one of the world's most important jobs. If so, it was a trade worth making....."

Washington Times 7/30/99 "...We have learned not to expect much by way of gratitude or graciousness from the Clinton White House.... Case in point this week is the dismissal of NATO Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Wesley Clark. Gen. Clark's three-year tour of duty was to have ended in July 2000 -- and could at that time have been extended. Indeed, given that NATO's political leaders all around declared their pride in NATO's air-war victory over Serbia, one might well have expected Gen. Clark to receive commendations and medals. Instead, the general got the pink slip.... It is not just that the Gen. Clark was dismissed prematurely, but also the way it was handled. When Gen. Clark received the call on Tuesday, in the late afternoon, Washington time, he was on business in Latvia. That would be about 10 p.m. Latvian time. Within the hour, reporters started calling for comment, which is evidently how long it took for the Pentagon to leak the story....."

New York Post 8/2/99 Deborah Orin "...U.S. Gen. Wesley Clark - just dumped as NATO's top commander - wanted to seize Kosovo's Pristina airport to bar Russian troops, but was blocked for fear he'd start "World War III," a new report claims. Russia's success in landing and grabbing control of the airport was a major embarrassment to NATO as it began enforcing the peace deal in Kosovo, which didn't plan for Russians at that key site. Clark ordered an airborne assault to beat the Russians to the punch, but NATO's ground commander, British Gen. Mike Jackson, defied the order and told Clark: "I'm not going to start World War III for you," Newsweek reports...."

New York Post 7/29/99 Editorial Board "...Clark committed the crime of honesty, and honesty just can't be tolerated in Clinton-land. As Michael Ignatieff details in this week's New Yorker, Clark was a man with a plan- a plan the administration and NATO were only willing to implement when it became clear they were on the verge of losing the war. From the first, Clark wanted to bomb the electrical grid and communications network that kept Slobodan Milosevic riding high. But it took from March to May for Clark to get the approval. When the strike was finally carried out, it spelled defeat for the Serbs. Clark won a war with his hands practically tied behind his back. He took the heat for the Clinton administration's dithering while arguing all the while for the right thing - a coordinated land and air attack...."

Stratfor 7/30/99 "...The first of the heads responsible for the Kosovo crisis rolled on July 27, when Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) General Wesley Clark was sacked. Clark was ordered to resign his post in April, three months before the end of his current term, to be replaced by Air Force General Joseph Ralston, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). Officially, Clark's term was shortened because otherwise Ralston, whose term as JCS vice chairman expires in February, would have been forced to retire. Instead, it is Clark who is being pensioned off, though Defense Secretary William Cohen reportedly recommended Clark be offered an ambassadorship..... General Clark was one of four top Clinton advisors most responsible for pushing the U.S. and NATO into a military confrontation over Kosovo. According to a number of reports that emerged during and after the war, Secretary of State Madeline Albright in January 1999 presented the plan under which NATO should threaten air strikes. She was backed up by Clark and by envoys Richard Holbrooke and Robert Gelbard, who argued that Milosevic would buckle under a day or two of bombing, if not merely the threat of air strikes. They, in turn, were backed by a sea of anonymous analysts in the U.S. intelligence agencies who, until the bombing began, repeatedly argued that Milosevic would quickly submit under air attacks. Skeptics included Cohen, Shelton, presidential advisor Sandy Berger, and presumably Ralston...."

Pacific Stars And Stripes 8/13/99 "...A NATO ally apparently leaked secret targeting information to Yugoslav officials during the U.S.-led air war, said Gen. Wesley Clark, the American four-star Army general who heads NATO. Clark, who declined to speculate about who had tipped the Yugoslavs to NATO's targets, said the security breach was "as clear as the nose on your" face. He declined to say what evidence led him to this conclusion or to describe the steps taken to stop the leaks. "I can't go into it," Clark, the supreme allied commander for Europe, said in an interview this week. "I have to just say it apparently happened and we are concerned about this."...."

Reuters 8/13/99 "...General Wesley Clark, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, said Friday he had no evidence the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was behind attacks on Serbs that have occurred since a peace plan was signed in June. Clark, on a visit to the province, said KLA leaders had consistently backed calls for Serbs to remain in Kosovo. ``I'm not going to point fingers at the KLA. The KLA leadership has been very co-operative with us at the top level,'' the U.S. Army general told reporters at the headquarters of KFOR, the NATO-led international peacekeeping force. Several international officials have recently said they suspected the KLA, or rogue elements, must be behind some of the ethnic Albanian revenge attacks which have driven up to 170,000 Serbs from Kosovo in the past few months. But Clark said much of the violence seemed spontaneous or, particularly in southeastern Kosovo, was linked to organized crime...."

Washington Post 8/14/99 Peter Finn "...It hasn't taken long -- eight weeks -- for the bloom to come off liberation. With Kosovo purged of nearly 80 percent of its Serbian population and with many of the remaining Serbs, particularly those in urban areas, now viewing international peacekeepers as their last and only protection, the NATO-led peacekeeping operation is confronting an unexpected phenomenon: ethnic Albanian hostility. The peacekeepers' determination to maintain a multi-ethnic society here has led to violent confrontations with ethnic Albanians bent on revenge against the Serbs or the looting of their property. And the United Nations' insistence on the primacy of its authority has increased tension with the Kosovo Liberation Army, an ethnic Albanian militia that is attempting to establish its own parallel system of control in Kosovo, which formally remains a province of Serbia, Yugoslavia's dominant republic. ....The KLA's so-called Minister of the Interior, Rexhep Selimi, was detained by British troops after he waved a gun at them while driving a car with a flashing police light. A later raid on the offices of Selimi -- an uncle of the KLA's former military commander -- produced several weapons and identity cards giving the bearer the right to "to conduct illegal activities, including carrying and using weapons, entering and confiscating property without warning," British troops said....."

New York Times 8/15/99 Carlotta Gall "...The international peacekeeping force in Kosovo is clamping down hard on the Kosovo Liberation Army, seizing arms caches almost daily and confiscating documents and even cash from premises, in what some officials say is a determined effort to break the movement. NATO and United Nations officials maintain that the tougher action is routine, and part of an agreement signed almost seven weeks ago that aimed to dismantle the rebel operation completely within three months. Yet until now, the NATO-led peacekeeping force here has given the guerrillas a fairly wide berth. With the recent crackdown, the NATO force is demonstrating that it will no longer tolerate violations of the agreement and that it expects the rebels to turn over their weapons and come to heel behind NATO and United Nations authorities Members of the Kosovar army and the provisional government of Hashim Thaci, who is the political leader of the movement, are growing increasingly unhappy as many of their aspirations are brushed aside. Those include forming a kind of national guard and being incorporated within any police force for Kosovo, as well as gaining social respect that they feel they have earned...."

The Guardian 8/20/99 "…Nato's top general was fighting an internal battle against member states who tried to limit the alliance's air raids during the Kosovo conflict, it has emerged. General Wesley Clark, Nato's Allied Commander in Europe, effectively "sidelined" wavering states like Germany and Greece, according to a BBC Newsnight special. Appearing to back the claims, General Clark told the programme: "I didn't always defer to those who wanted targets withheld…"

The Observer (UK) 10/17/99 Nerma Jelacic "…..The son of General Wesley Clark, the Nato supreme commander who led allied forces in the air raids against Serbia and Kosovo, is caught up in an embarrassing financial row involving the Bosnian government's attempts to make an epic film of the siege of Sarajevo. Wesley Clark Junior and Mohammed Sacirbey, Bosnia's ambassador to the United Nations, are among a number of those involved in the production being asked to explain how Bosnian government money provided to fund the troubled film was spent….."

David H. Hackworth 11/3/99 "….Everyone on Sen. John Warner's (R-Va.) Armed Services Committee is worked up because British Lt. Gen. Mike Jackson didn't blindly follow the orders of NATO commander U.S. Gen. Wesley Clark. Last June, Clark ordered Jackson, then the NATO commander in Kosovo, to push the Russian troops out of Kosovo's main airport. Jackson told Clark, "No, I am not going to do that. It is not worth starting World War III." Remember, Russia still has thousands of nuclear-tipped ICBMs pointed at us, and it would make many a hard-liner's day if the launch order was given. Jackson -- who's since been promoted to full general, presumably, in part, for the wisdom of this decision -- wisely concluded that the gain of winning King of the Mountain against the Ruskies wasn't worth the possible pain….."

New York Times 11/11/99 Craig Whitney "….France drew up a list of lessons on Wednesday that it had learned from the allied bombing of Yugoslavia last spring. One of them was that some missions were not really allied at all, but 100 percent American. "The conclusion cannot be avoided that part of the military operations were conducted by the United States outside the strict framework of NATO and its procedures," said the Ministry of Defense in a 55-page report approved by France's highest civilian political authorities. The French statement added that the allied commander in charge of the bombing that ended with the withdrawal of Serbian military and police forces from Kosovo last June, Gen. Wesley K. Clark of the United States, was "responsible not only to the North Atlantic Council" of the alliance "but also to his national hierarchy, at the highest level." General Clark is both Supreme Allied Commander and the commander of all American forces in Europe. ….."

WorldNetDaily 1/6/00 Jon Dougherty "….Russia and Yugoslavia will pose new challenges to NATO's authority in Kosovo by mid-summer if the Western military alliance doesn't permit Yugoslav soldiers back into the enclave as mandated by U.N. terms that ended the conflict there last summer. At issue is whether NATO is prepared to honor Annex 2 of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244, signed June 15, 1999, which states Yugoslavia was to be permitted to send a small, lightly armed contingent of soldiers to Kosovo to guard cultural sites, the country's territorial borders, and to help clear landmines by June 2000. However, U.S. Gen. Wesley Clark, supreme commander of NATO forces in Europe, says that the alliance is not prepared to honor the agreement. "The Yugoslav Army will not be authorized to return to Kosovo," Clark told the Montenegrin daily newspaper Monitor. "If by chance it tries, it will be prevented." …."

Chicago Tribune 3/1/00 John diamond "….Concern that U.S. military forces bear the heaviest burden in Kosovo underlies a high-level military rift that emerged Tuesday with lawmakers and top Pentagon officials on one side and the U.S. commander in Europe on the other. Gen. Wesley Clark, the U.S. Army general who is also NATO's military commander, defended his leadership of the 38,000-member Kosovo peacekeeping force and his decision in mid-February to include 350 U.S. troops in an emergency deployment responding to trouble in northern Kosovo. Members of the U.S. contingent were pelted with rocks and snowballs by ethnic Serbs in the troubled town of Kosovska Mitrovica, focus of the most serious tension in Kosovo since last year's NATO air campaign. Clark faced questioning by members of the Senate Armed Services Committee about a classified letter from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Henry Shelton, saying that U.S. troops should remain in their own sector of Kosovo unless an extraordinary emergency arises. …."

ABC Raw News 5/1/00 Reuters ".....NATO's outgoing top commander, General Wesley Clark, acknowledged Monday that peacekeepers had failed to protect everyone in Kosovo but predicted the security situation would improve. Clark, making a farewell visit to the province before he ends his term as Supreme Allied Commander Europe Wednesday, also urged local people to forget the province's bloody past and build a tolerant society. But Serbs and other minorities have been the targets of numerous violent attacks by Albanians since NATO and the United Nations moved into the province last June. "It's true that we haven't been able to protect every single piece of property and every individual. We wish we could do better," said Clark, greeted warmly by Albanians who hugged him and shook his hand on a walk through the capital city Pristina. ....."

NewsMax.com 1/5/00 Carl Limbacher "…..On the surface, the two women reportedly helping First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton move into her new New York digs don't have much in common. But when the history of the Clinton administration is finally written, both former Rose Law clerk Carolyn Huber and onetime Little Rock interior designer Kaki Hockersmith will be remembered primarily for one thing: Their connections to Deputy White House Counsel Vincent Foster's 1993 death. Hockersmith, described in Wednesday's New York Daily News, for instance, as "Hillary's pal/decorator", saw to it that White House interiors reflected the Clintons' unique tastes. Some describe the Hockersmith-Clinton touch as "early Hot Springs" (back when Al Capone used to take it on the lam to the Arkansas party town). It was Hockersmith's work remodeling 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. that earned her the dubious distinction of a mention in Foster's so-called suicide note. In the midst of his lamentation about the then-burgeoning Travelgate scandal, the Clintons' soon-to-be-dead Whitewater lawyer detoured to defend Hockersmith's honor by blaming her cost overruns on a conspiracy of career White House workers: "The Ushers Office plotted to have excessive costs incurred, taking advantage of Kaki and HRC," Foster wrote in what investigators say was his own hand. A Vast Ushers Office Conspiracy. Sound familiar? Put that tidbit together with the findings of three leading handwriting experts who in 1995 declared Foster's note a "bad forgery," and one might even suspect......Well, never mind.

NewsMax.com 1/5/00 Carl Limbacher "…..Carolyn Huber is an even more interesting character. The media duly noted that the loyal Hillary aide was the very same person who in January 1996 unearthed Mrs. Clinton's long-subpoenaed Rose Law billing records in the White House Book Room. Those would be the very same documents that revealed notes scrawled in the margin by Foster himself, along with Mrs. Clinton's fingerprints right next to some of the more damaging entries. Were those billing records removed from Foster's office on the night he died? Journalists pretend this is still a mystery by conveniently ignoring the fact that Huber, along with Maggie Williams, Harry Thomason and Susan Thomases, was one of four people Mrs. Clinton called immediately after she learned of Foster's death……. And Huber? Consider her reaction when she stumbled across Mrs. Clinton's Rose Law records in 1996. According to Hillary biographer Gail Sheehy: "A jittery Huber called the Clintons' personal attorney, David Kendall, to report her find.....'Where were these?', (White House lawyer Jane) Sherburne demanded. Distresssed to the point of trembling, Huber stammered that she had earlier come across them on a table in the Book Room on the third floor of the residence. That set off more alarm bells for Sherburne. The Book Room was right next to a room Hillary sometimes used as an office." Sheehy continues, "After a brief huddle with other lawyers, Sherburne went back at Huber with more probing questions. How did these records get from the Book Room to her office? When? What was the sequence? Huber became very confused. She had brought them over from the residence three months ago, she said; no, maybe five months ago; no, ten months; maybe eight months." …..Huber's "confusion" becomes understandable in the context of something else Sheehy reports: "Carolyn Huber was handed the Clintons' personal files that were removed from Vince Foster's office in the days after his July 1993 suicide. Two days after Foster's death, Hillary had asked Huber to transfer the documents to a locked closet in the personal quarters of the White House. They were kept in the Book Room, next to a space that Hillary occasionally used as an office." ….."

Wall Street Journal 1/6/00 Barbara Olson "….Hillary Rodham Clinton's transformation from her husband's campaign manager and chief apologist to a politician in her own right moved closer to fruition this week. On Tuesday, two 26-foot moving vans lumbered onto Old House Lane in Chappaqua, N.Y., to disgorge Mrs. Clinton's possessions into her new home. The White House insisted that the Clintons had paid their own moving bills and delivered their own furniture. But it was hard not to doubt this assertion, given that White House secretary Carolyn Huber, a former assistant at the Rose Law Firm, was in charge of unpacking in Chappaqua. Ms. Huber, remember, had earned her 15 minutes of fame by "discovering" missing Whitewater billing records in a White House residence room Mrs. Clinton was using…… Mr. Starr apparently concluded that he had no legal authority to seek an indictment of a sitting president. But Mr. Clinton could yet face indictment after his term ends for lying and perhaps for helping to fleece a federally insured savings institution. And if anything, Mrs. Clinton--who has testified in the Whitewater inquiry six times--had a more direct and incriminating role in that scandal than her husband. The evidence is overwhelming that she worked more intensively on Whitewater matters than she ever admitted. The billing records onto which Ms. Huber stumbled had been subject to congressional and independent counsel subpoenas for months. They might have been among the documents in White House deputy counsel Vince Foster's office the night of his death. When those billing records were finally examined, they showed that Mrs. Clinton's involvement in the underlying savings-and-loan misconduct while she was a lawyer at the Rose firm in Arkansas was much greater than she had stated. Her possible role in hiding these records from the investigators is an important area of vulnerability as we saw in the indictment of Webster Hubbell, which identified Mrs. Clinton more than 30 times as the "1985-86 billing partner." Moreover, her conduct--and that of her chief of staff, Maggie Williams, and White House counsel Bernard Nussbaum--in collecting and concealing records from Foster's office has also never been satisfactorily explained, and could be part of a perjury and obstruction of justice indictment…"

Associated Press 10/26/99 Michelle Mittelstadt "….. The Justice Department has brushed aside a challenge by lawyers for survivors of the 1993 Branch Davidian siege to participate in a demonstration that the lawyers contend would prove federal agents fired shots during the standoff's final hours…… That offer was rejected Monday by Justice Department attorney Marie Louise Hagen. ''You and your experts are free to conduct whatever test you desire, based on whatever information you choose to believe to be accurate,'' she wrote Houston lawyer Michael Caddell, who represents most of the surviving Davidians and relatives of the dead in the lawsuit. ''Although it does appear from your letter that several of your assumptions about the facts, the science and the experts are in error, and may render useless any conclusions reached, it is your choice to proceed.'' ….."

Freeper aristeides 10/26/99 "….. Isn't Marie Louise Hagen the attorney in Justice's torts office who tried to intimidate Assistant U.S. Attorney Johnston in Waco off the case just before he was removed from the case by the department, the attorney about whom Johnston complained in his letter to Janet Reno? ….."

Freeper aristeides 10/29/99 "…. Well, I picked up a new book today and skimmed through it, and guess whose name I found in it? That's right, Marie Louise Hagen. The book is "A Glimpse of Hell," by Charles C. Thompson II, about the explosion on the Iowa in 1989 (interestingly, the explosion occurred on Apr. 19, Patriots' Day, the date of Lexington and Concord, Waco, and OKC.) Marie Louise Hagen was one of the two lead Department of InJustice lawyers representing the government in a suit brought by Clayton Hartwig's family……."

Freeper Wallaby - A Naval Blockade of the Truth A Glimpse of Hell by Charles C. Thompson II (W. W. Norton & Co.; 430 pages; $27.95); (156 N.J.L.J. 772) Steve Weinberg New Jersey Law Journal; 5/31/99 "….The author is editor of The IRE Journal, the monthly magazine of Investigative Reporters & Editors, an international group based at the University of Missouri Journalism School……. Unsurprisingly, litigation followed the deaths and the Navy's cover-up. On June 30, 1992, attorney Kreig Brusnahan filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio accusing Naval personnel of intentionally inflicting emotional distress on Hartwig's family -- his mother, father, and two sisters. By claiming the Navy had deliberately hurt the family members, rather than the deceased sailor, Brusnahan dodged a legal obstacle known as the Feres doctrine. First articulated in the 1950 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Feres v. United States, the doctrine states that members of the military injured on active duty cannot sue for damages under the Tort Claims Act. The Justice Department, representing the Navy, moved to dismiss the lawsuit on sovereign immunity grounds, saying no citizen could sue the government without the government's permission. The district judge hearing the case, Paul Matia, ruled against the Justice Department on that issue. Justice Department lawyers Marie Hagen and Steven Snyder suffered another setback when Magistrate Judge David Perelman, assigned by the court to oversee discovery in the case, criticized the defense team for withholding documents covering the category "lessons learned" by the Navy….."

Freeper Wallaby - Excerpts from U.S. Attorney's letter to Janet Reno Austin American-Statesman News; Pg. A9 9/13/99 "…. A Texas Rangers report made public Sunday indicates that FBI tear gas grenades, such as this 40 mm shell impounded after the 1993 Branch Davidian siege, could have started the fire in the cult's compound. Excerpts from a five-page letter, dated Aug. 30, 1999, from Bill Johnston, the assistant U.S. attorney in Waco, to Attorney General Janet Reno, expressing Johnston's suspicions that, even now, some members of the Justice Department are not telling the full truth about the Branch Davidian incident: On a Saturday morning in June of 1999, I received a telephone call at my home from DOJ Torts Branch lawyer Marie Hagen. Ms. Hagen was extremely upset with me. She demanded to know whether or not I had allowed Mike McNulty to view the Davidian evidence . . . I responded . . . that the permission to do so had come from the Chief of Public Affairs and that I figured that he had checked with the necessary folks before allowing me to coordinate with McNulty. She ended the conversation unquenched in her anger. I think that I now know why. . . . I mentioned above that I think that I understand why Marie Hagen was so upset that I had worked with Mike McNulty in allowing him access to Davidian evidence. I believe that the three pages faxed to me last week hold the answer. At the top of the typewritten document, someone has written, "privileged." At the bottom, it appears that someone wrote, "DOJ witness do not discuss." It appears that someone was making decisions about whether the plaintiffs in the civil case, or others, should have access to these documents. It is my own hypothesis that the Torts Branch has had these documents for years and that they decided not to make them available to the plaintiffs. The Torts Branch or some other component also apparently decided not to let you know about these documents. Certainly, as attention focused in the past year on the fire issue, the full import of these documents must have been known to whomever possessed them. . . . "

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 11/27/99 William Freivogel Terry Ganey "… In the first, Johnston recommended the prosecution of ATF field commanders Phil Chojnacki and Chuck Sarabyn on charges of filing false statements about the raid. Johnston thought the two lied when they said they had not known before the raid that the element of surprise has been lost. An undercover agent said he had warned them. "About 40 agents heard Chuck Sarabyn say, 'Hurry up. We've got to go. They know we're coming,' Johnston said. The two were not prosecuted. The other investigation targeted two of Johnston's best friends, Deputy U.S. Marshals Parnell and Mike McNamara, as the sources of the leak. The McNamaras denied the allegation and passed lie detector tests. But the Justice Department never punished the marshals' employees who falsely accused them. "A number of things have made me less trustful," Johnston says. "Is this the way to treat government employees?" ….."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 11/27/99 William Freivogel Terry Ganey "… Johnston called Reno's attention to the three-page fax that had been sent him. He noted that it had "privileged" written on it, and "DOJ witness do not disclose." Johnston wrote: "It is my hypothesis that the torts branch has had these documents for years and that they decided not to make them available to the plaintiffs." Judge Smith called Reno after Johnston wrote the letter and asked her to make sure there was no retribution. She replied that Johnston would be treated fairly. Shortly after that, the department announced that Blagg, Johnston and all of the other Texas lawyers who had worked on Waco would be taken off the case. Hagen remains in charge of the government's defense. ….."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 11/27/99 William Freivogel Terry Ganey "… Hagen has been criticized for withholding information in another highly publicized case, a suit filed by relatives of sailors killed in an explosion on the battleship Iowa in 1989. Magistrate Judge David Perelman blamed Hagen and another lawyer for withholding Navy documents that outlined the lesson they had learned from the incident. Hagen declined to comment. …….."

Federal.com 11/29/99 Marvin Lee "……On a Saturday morning in June, the lead lawyer defending the Justice Department in the civil suit brought by surviving Branch Davidians, Marie Hagen, called Johnston at home and angrily demanded to know whether he had allowed McNulty to see the evidence. "She ended the conversation unquenched in her anger," Johnston later recounted in a letter to Reno. "Then within a day or so, I received a letter from Marie Hagen which directed that I account for my dealings with McNulty." ….."

Waco Tribune-Herald 12/1/99 Tommy Witherspoon "…..Although the government opposes a proposed re-creation of the final day of the 1993 Branch Davidian siege, Justice Department officials on Tuesday submitted the names of three experts in the field of infrared imaging as potential participants in the test…… In the motion filed Tuesday, government attorneys nominated as neutral experts John Cederquist, Stephen R. Stewart and Timothy J. Rogne, all employees of ERIM International of Ann Arbor, Mich. "The United States submits that the appointment of a team of neutral experts who have access to additional resources and personnel such as are available through ERIM would assure that the proposed protocol and testing are designed by top scientists who have considered all relevant issues," Justice Department attorney Marie Louise Hagen wrote in her motion. "This, in turn, should generate results in which the court, the parties and the special counsel can have confidence." Lead plaintiff attorney Mike Caddell of Houston scoffed at the nominations, saying, "I am shocked by the government's apparent belief that it could hoodwink the court this way." Caddell noted that the three are all former colleagues at ERIM of Irving William Ginsberg, who submitted an affidavit on the government's behalf last week claiming that there are "too many unknown variables" to accurately recreate the conditions of April 19, 1993. ….."These guys are supposed to be neutral?" Caddell asked. "They submit an affidavit from a hired expert, Ginsberg, who says the re-creation can't be done and then they propose three of his former cronies as so-called neutral experts? This is just more of the same from the government. These people are not interested in a legitimate test of what really happened on April 19, 1993. They are only interested in some rigged demonstration that will show what they want it to show."……"

St. Louis Post Dispatch 1/14/2000 William H. Freivogel And Terry Ganey "….. Branch Davidians and FBI agents agree on at least one thing about Waco: That the Justice Department has been too slow in releasing information about the 1993 assault. The difference is that the lawyers for the Branch Davidians see a cover-up and think the information will prove that government agents fired shots at the Branch Davidians. The FBI thinks the evidence will show no shots were fired. They're worried that the reluctance of the department's lead attorney, Marie L. Hagen, to release facts in the case is playing into the hands of members of the public who suspect the worst…… "

St. Louis Post Dispatch 1/14/2000 William H. Freivogel And Terry Ganey "….. On Tuesday, the Post-Dispatch published a previously undisclosed photograph that appears to show that there were no government agents standing at the spot where the Branch Davidians claim that the government opened fire on the complex. Hagen had apparently hoped to keep the photo under wraps to use in the upcoming trial of a wrongful death civil lawsuit filed against the government by survivors of the Branch Davidians who died at Waco… Wednesday, the government quietly announced that it was reorganizing its legal team to install a U.S. attorney from Texas, J. Michael Bradford, as co-lead counsel with Hagen, a move designed to add home-grown know-how to the defense, which has been made in Washington…."

St. Louis Post Dispatch 1/14/2000 William H. Freivogel And Terry Ganey "….. At the center of these disputes is Hagen, an intense, publicity-shy career lawyer in the Torts Branch of the Civil Division of the Justice Department. Any government lawyer handling the Waco case would be subject to strident criticism…. The House Government Reform Committee staff interviewed Hagen for two days in the fall. She brought along her own lawyers to represent her…….."

St. Louis Post Dispatch 1/14/2000 William H. Freivogel And Terry Ganey "….. Hagen, a graduate of Cornell Law School, has represented the government in cases ranging from the Tailhook sexual harassment scandal to a suit involving the death of 47 sailors on the U.S. battleship Iowa in 1989. She is a mid-career prosecutor in her mid-40s and is described by an adversary as at the "top of her game" as a lawyer. Her husband served in the Navy judge advocate general's office, and she headed up the Justice Department's day-care center……. Hagen's handling of the Iowa case prompted some criticism similar to that made about her handling of Waco….. Even after the Navy officially apologized for placing the blame on Hartwig, Hagen argued that the Justice Department still thought him responsible. "It baffled my mind that she would say this in court after the Navy had apologized on national television," Brusnahan said in an interview. Magistrate Judge David Perelman criticized Hagen for holding back documents on "lessons learned" by the Navy….."

St. Louis Post Dispatch 1/14/2000 William H. Freivogel And Terry Ganey "….. Hagen was among those at the Justice Department who supervised the disclosure of documents to Congress during hearings in 1995. One document was a 49-page report that mentioned the use of military-style tear gas on the last page. The mention of the tear gas was potentially significant because the report was issued four years before the Justice Department publicly admitted the use of tear gas that could potentially cause a fire. Copies of the report that Hagen turned over were missing that last page. The omission would be evidence of an illegal cover-up if it had been intentional. But Hagen says it was not…."

St. Louis Post Dispatch 1/14/2000 William H. Freivogel And Terry Ganey "….. In 1997, lawyers for the Branch Davidians filed statements in court claiming that a 40mm pyrotechnic device had been used at Waco and had caused the fire that consumed the complex. In a memo responding to that and many other allegations, Hagen said that the claims that the government could have caused the fire were "speculation and hearsay." This was not an inaccurate statement because even now the pyrotechnic tear gas is not thought to have started the fire that destroyed the complex. But Michael Caddell, the lead lawyer for the Branch Davidians, thinks that was not a forthright reply because Hagen did not admit the existence of the pyrotechnic tear gas. He says Hagen "has tried at almost every step to delay and obstruct. She has played a lot of games in terms of the evidence. There is no question but that she views her role as the defender of the government right or wrong. This is antithetical to the role of a public servant." …"

St. Louis Post Dispatch 1/14/2000 William H. Freivogel And Terry Ganey "….. One Saturday morning last June, an angry Marie Hagen called Johnston to complain. "Ms. Hagen was extremely upset with me," he later wrote. "She demanded to know whether or not I had allowed Mike McNulty to view the Davidian evidence. ... She ended the conversation unquenched in her anger." At the end of August, the Dallas Morning News reported the use of the pyrotechnic device. Hagen turned up three memos in department files showing that an FBI agent had told Johnston in a 1993 interview that a "military gas round" had been used. Those documents contain the notations "privileged" and "do not disclose," written, sources say, in Hagen's hand. The three documents were faxed to Johnston. Some at the Justice Department saw this as simply an attempt to inform him of documents that had been unearthed. Johnston interpreted the action as a shot across the bow, warning him that he stood to be blamed for not disclosing the use of pyrotechnics because he had conducted the 1993 interview….."

St. Louis Post Dispatch 1/14/2000 William H. Freivogel And Terry Ganey "….. At a mid-October status conference, the parties were discussing a proposal by Danforth to test whether flashes seen on an infrared tape of the Branch Davidian compound area are from guns. Tom Schweich, a top Danforth aide, was representing the special counsel's office. Hagen looked down the table at Schweich and demanded, "Is the OSC litigating now?" - suggesting that Danforth had shifted from investigating to pursuing action in court. Those present say Schweich raised his hands, as in self-defense, and said no…."

St. Louis Post Dispatch 1/14/2000 William H. Freivogel And Terry Ganey "….. Federal Judge Walter S. Smith Jr., who is presiding at the Waco trial, was also put off by Hagen's conduct at the status conference, participants say. Hagen suggested a schedule that would have put off the trial to 2001. She said one reason for the delay was that Johnston had been taken off the case. That angered Smith, who is close to Johnston. "That's your problem, not mine," Smith shot back. He scheduled the trial for May…."

Associated Press 1/18/2000 "….Government attorneys failed to meet a federal judge's Tuesday deadline to turn over all evidence sought by relatives suing for wrongful death in the Branch Davidian inferno. U.S. Attorney Michael Bradford said although the government sent 50 boxes of materials to plaintiffs' attorneys over the holiday weekend, an additional 2,500 pages of documents must be declassified before being sent. He said government attorneys also must reproduce and hand over items from 31 boxes of materials, including photographs and computer disks, which were surrendered to the Waco federal court last fall at the direction of U.S. District Judge Walter Smith. A private contractor the government hired had overlooked the materials and is making copies for delivery Wednesday, Bradford said. The Justice Department had sought a two-week delay, but Smith rejected their request last week…… Lead plaintiffs' attorney Michael Caddell said last week that he had "zero sympathy" for the government's argument that it cannot meet court-imposed deadlines because it has limited resources to cull through the requested information. "There are over 9,000 lawyers in the Justice Department," he said. "They can put as many lawyers on this project as they feel appropriate. If this were something that were important to the Justice Department, they would man up and get the job done." …… "

Associated Press 1/24/2000 "….Government attorneys say they acted in good faith in turning over documents in the Branch Davidian civil lawsuit and shouldn't be penalized for what attorneys for the Davidians call stalling tactics. In a filing Monday in federal court, Justice Department attorney Marie Louise Hagen said the government opposes a $50,000 sanction requested two weeks ago by lawyers for surviving Branch Davidians who have sued the government for wrongful death. She said plaintiffs' attorneys caused part of the delay in turning over evidence by insisting on taking 24 depositions in December, which took government employees away from document production….. The government sent some materials after the deadline. Ms. Hagen said thousands of pages of Department of Defense documents still must be declassified before being turned over……"

St. Louis Post Dispatch 2/13/00 William Freivogel Terry Ganey "…..At the Justice Department's request, the expert, Capt. John Perry, [in 1997[ used an infrared camera like the one used by the FBI at Waco, to see if it would record M-16 rifle fire as flashes. Sources said he concluded that he could not rule out the possibility that flashes on the tape were from gunfire without performing field tests. But the Justice Department did not ask him to go forward with those tests. ……. Lawyers for the Branch Davidians say that the Justice Department dropped Perry like a hot potato because it did not like his answers. The Justice Department denies it. …… The re-enactment will include knocking down a structure to see if flying debris could have produced the flashes on the tape. That is important because the flashes on the tape occur near to a spot where a converted government tank was bulldozing a wall. Both sides say that building material from a heated structure can show up as a bright spot on infrared tape.......The dispute about the flashes began about the time that the Justice Department asked Perry to perform his tests at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, in 1997. Sources say Marie L. Hagen, the Justice Department lawyer defending against the wrongful death suit, contacted Perry to ask for the initial tests. Perry used a GEC Marconi infrared camera, like the one used by the FBI at Waco, to tape M-16 rifle fire. He found that groundfire might turn up as a flash on the tape. But that is where the matter ended. Perry, now at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, would not comment Friday……. Michael Caddell, the Branch Davidians' lawyer, criticizes the Justice Department, saying it covered up information about the 1997 test. "What we think we will be faced with is frankly a cover-up of unprecedented proportions in our government," he said. …….

St. Louis Post Dispatch 2/13/00 William Freivogel Terry Ganey "…..Last week, congressional investigators also sought to discredit a 1997 analysis of the infrared tape by the Maryland Advanced Development Laboratory, a defense contractor. ...... The Maryland lab analyzed the 1993 infrared tape using its VIPER anti-sniper computer program. The program can pick out small arms fire in an infrared scene. The lab concluded that the flashes on the Waco tape were not gunfire, partly because they were too long in duration. Now congressional investigators say that the VIPER system is not that reliable and that the Maryland lab did not use the GEC Marconi camera in its test. Nor did the lab fire the short-barreled CAR-15 assault rifle that the FBI used at Waco. That is significant, they say, because the CAR-15 has a bigger, more visible plume of gas than the M-16 used by the lab. …… Norris J. Krone Jr., president of the lab, discounted the criticism and said that his firm had performed more recent tests that confirmed its earlier findings. "We have no ax to grind on this thing," Krone said. "We got into this voluntarily in 1997 when we saw a Washington Post story about the flashes. We had spent four years developing the VIPER specifically to determine what was gunfire in an infrared scene and what wasn't." Krone said the computer program was designed to pick out any kind of weapon that a sniper might use, including a CAR-15. ..."

San Antonio Express-News 2/23/00 Dick Reavis "…..For the first time, a Branch Davidian survivor of the Feb. 28, 1993, shootout at Mount Carmel has admitted that he fired at two of the four U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents who were killed during the battle. Livingstone Fagan, who was one of 11 Davidians tried in San Antonio six years ago, said in a deposition that he shot at ATF agents on the roof of Mount Carmel. Fagan gave the deposition in a wrongful death lawsuit Mount Carmel survivors and their families are bringing against the federal government. ……. Fagan is a party to the wrongful death suit because his mother, Doris, 60, and his wife, Evette, 30, died in the April 19, 1993, fire at Mount Carmel…..

San Antonio Express-News 2/23/00 Dick Reavis "…..During the Davidian trial, federal prosecutors claimed that late in the 45-minute battle, Fagan wounded ATF Agent Eric Evers, who took the stand to identify his assailant. "I know that man over there shot me," Evers testified, pointing at Fagan. "It's everything is etched in my brain until the day I die, because of that incident. There's no doubt in my mind that man shot me." But in his Feb. 1 deposition, Fagan says that on the morning of the ATF raid, he wasn't outdoors, as Evers testified. Instead, he was in Mount Carmel's cafeteria, firing on agents who were standing on a roof outside David Koresh's bedroom. Fagan told federal civil attorney Marie Hagen he acted in self-defense. "Your government murdered people who were very dear to me," he declared. Hagen both cajoled and pressed for details, even offering Fagan her coat to ward off a Pennsylvania morning chill….."

San Antonio Express-News 2/23/00 Dick Reavis "…..Two of the ATF agents on the roof, Todd McKeeham, 28, and Conway LeBleu, 34, both from the bureau's New Orleans team, were killed on the spot. A third man on the roof, Kenneth King, was wounded but survived…………..The plaintiff's team decided to make the deposition public, Lyons said, because Mike Caddell, the lead counsel, "believes that we have to get to the truth about what happened, that's all." ……During the trial, a notation made by a Texas Ranger during a pretrial session in which Evers picked Fagan from a photo lineup was introduced into evidence. The notation said, "unsure if ID'd from TV or shooting." Orchowski, in after-action interviews, said he could not identity the assailant who, in the courtroom, he picked out as Fagan. But Rosen's cross-examination of the two agents failed to impress U.S. District Judge Walter Smith Jr., who also will hear the wrongful death suit, which is set for trial in May. During the 1994 sentencing hearing, Smith said: "The evidence from this trial has not faded from my memory. Certain images are clear. I see Livingstone Fagan dressed in combat gear, coldly shooting down Eric Evers with a military rifle as he rounded the corner of the compound and came into view. As Evers tried to get up, Fagan shot him twice more." The man who shot at Evers, Fagan told Hagen, was a British male of African descent, who died in the April 19 fire. Fagan refused to provide the man's name. ......"

San Antonio Express-News 2/23/00 Dick Reavis "…..It is unclear what effect Fagan's remarks might have upon his status as a prisoner. Because of constitutional protections against double jeopardy, "it is unlikely that they will indict him for what he says in the deposition," Lyons said. But George Dix, a University of Texas professor of criminal law, is not so sure. …… Other Davidians who were imprisoned as a result of the 1994 proceedings are appealing their sentences, and the U.S. Supreme Court has set a hearing on their case for April. But Fagan refused to join the appeal, he says in a recent letter to the San Antonio Express-News, because "when Judge Smith did what he did, he took the matter out of the realm of the judicial"- a phrase that in the argot of the Davidians, means the Mount Carmel gunman has placed his future in God's hands. …."

3/31/2000 Dallas Morning News Lee Hancock "….. The federal wrongful-death case arising from the Branch Davidian siege will be delayed until mid-June to allow more time to study results from a field test aimed at determining whether government agents fired at the end of the 1993 incident, sources said Thursday. U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith also indicated that he will hold a hearing in April to determine whether the government should be fined for what the sect's lawyers allege is a pattern of mishandling or withholding critical evidence from the incident, sources close to the case said. ………. "

3/31/2000 Dallas Morning News Lee Hancock "….. But both sides have said that they believe the firm [Vector] may be experiencing difficulties similar to those that their infrared experts have faced in analyzing digitally computerized copies of the test data………. Officials said they expected to obtain better, videotaped copies of the original test recordings within the next few days from the U.S. District Court in Waco, where they were transferred after the Fort Hood experiment. ……… But lawyers for the sect have argued that key evidence that the government has used to bolster their account of what happened in Waco can't be trusted. They have complained in a series of increasingly caustic motions that the government has consistently ignored court discovery deadlines and has then sent them copies of key photos and audio and video recordings that have been altered or tampered with……."

3/31/2000 Dallas Morning News Lee Hancock "….. The judge's decision to hold a hearing in April means that government officials involved in the siege will be called to answer those allegations as well as charges that key photographs and other evidence are missing. "It should be noted that the tapes and photographs at issue have been made [available] to various individuals and entities during the course of the . . . [1994 Davidian] criminal trial, congressional hearings and investigations in 1993, 1995, 1999 and the OSC [office of special counsel] investigation. It may be impossible, ultimately, to locate all originals or confirm whether the available tapes are in fact originals" Justice Department lawyer Marie Hagen wrote in a March 24 motion……….But Michael Caddell, lead lawyer for the sect, has said that the volume of missing or altered evidence from April 19 is too great to be coincidental. He has argued that what he and his investigators and experts have already identified as missing or altered from the final day of the standoff suggests a calculated effort to sanitize anything that might reflect badly on the government or the FBI…….."

Freeper aristeides 5/3/00 "…..On the Iowa, do please remember, A-G, Marie Louise Hagen's dubious role in the suit by Clayton Hartwig's family. She is married to a naval officer -- she really should know better. …."

Dallas Morning News 4/24/00 Lee Hancock "…. Federal court-hired experts believe that flashes on an infrared videotape made at the end of the Branch Davidian siege were not from gunfire, a federal judge told both sides in a wrongful death lawsuit Monday. ……… U.S. District Judge Walter Smith cautioned that the oral report he received last week from Vector Data Systems of Great Britain is not the final word on the gunfire issue. …….."Word from the court that independent analysis confirmed that the flashes are not gunfire is welcome news. Years of being accused of shooting at the compound placed a heavy burden on the FBI people that were there that day," said John Collingwood, the FBI's chief spokesman. "Hopefully this is the beginning of lifting that burden. . . . We are grateful to the court for this announcement today," Mr. Collingwood said. ……… "You get good news. You get bad news," said Michael Caddell of Houston. "It's still one of only five issues in our case, and the gunfire issue is still going to trial." The judge also issued an order Monday denying a bid by government lawyers to dismiss almost every other issue in the wrongful death case. The three-page order, setting the final size and scope of a trial set to begin in mid-June, also reinstated all but a few plaintiffs who had been dismissed from the lawsuit last year. …….. But the judge's order rejected the plaintiffs' request to reinstate as defendants the two FBI agents who led the federal government's efforts during the siege - former Agent Jeffrey Jamar and former hostage rescue team commander Richard Rodgers. That decision precludes the sect's bid to have its case heard by a jury. Federal law requires a bench trial for the sole remaining defendant - the U.S. government. ……"

Dallas Morning News 4/24/00 Lee Hancock "……..Much of the daylong hearing Monday involved plaintiffs' charges that the government has misplaced, mishandled or altered key evidence from the 1993 siege…….But Judge Smith said he was told last Monday by Vector's chief analyst, Nick Evans, that none of the 57 "thermal events" that the firm identified on the April 19 video came from government or Branch Davidian gunfire. ……Instead, Judge Smith said, the experts concluded that 43 of those flashes came from sunlight reflecting off ground debris, nine from human activity on the ground, and five from falling debris....... Judge Smith said the firm's final report, due May 8, will detail how each of those findings is "backed by corroborating evidence." In at least one instance, Judge Smith said, the firm tracked one "glint" previously alleged to be from Branch Davidian gunfire to broken window glass knocked onto a roof of the compound in a botched federal raid that began the 51-day standoff. "That's the extent to which they're trying or have tried to identify what appears on that 1993 tape," the judge said. Vector also reported that the first person visible on the April 19 video was a Branch Davidian who emerged on a rooftop as the compound burned. In its Fort Hood test infrared video, gunmen were always visible. ......"

Dallas Morning News 4/24/00 Lee Hancock "......"That is evidence from an expert," he told lawyers for both sides. "The expert's opinion may be controverted, and you have the right to do that." …….. One lawyer representing families of Branch Davidians said he and other government critics are trying to raise funds to mount their own, private field test to do just that. James Brannon of Houston said he was skeptical about the British experts even before Judge Smith announced their conclusions because they are owned by an American-based defense firm contracting extensively with the U.S. government. …….. Mr. Caddell accused the government of "a pattern of gamesmanship" in its failure to meet court deadlines for turning over requested documents and refusal to respond to some repeated requests for information. Noting that the nine lawyers for the government went to Monday's hearing, he said, "I think somebody could be delegated to respond." Marie Hagen, one of the government's lead lawyers in the case, told Judge Smith that she and other Justice Department attorneys had tried to fully comply with court orders and plaintiffs' request. In one instance, she told Judge Smith, handwritten notes from former FBI Director William Sessions that were not turned over until he was deposed late last month "were overlooked" even though they had been in the FBI's files. ......,:

Dallas Morning News 4/24/00 Lee Hancock "……… Mr. Caddell also called both an FBI pilot and his own recording expert to try to show that the infrared video recorded in the hour just before the compound fire had been tampered with. Mr. Caddell has argued that audio recordings on that videotape could prove crucial because it was made in the last 90 minutes before the compound burned. In that period, FBI tanks demolished a large area of the rear of the compound and drove deep into the front of the building. The pilot testified Monday that he had thought that videotape included an audio track recording cockpit conversations and ground radio traffic being monitored by the FBI's Nightstalker infrared aircraft. He acknowledged that he called the FBI special counsel's office last fall to suggest that the audio track might have been inadvertently erased when the videotapes were copied by the FBI laboratory. ...... An FBI infrared camera operator who happened to be in that office that day took the call and wrote a note to the bureau's lawyers that the pilot had "said the original [tapes] had had audio on them, but when copies were made . . . the audio portion was removed." ……….. Mr. Caddell's recording expert testified later that he had found "probable evidence" that the audio track on that infrared video recording was deliberately removed. A government expert, former FBI agent Bruce Koenig, disputed that. He said his study of both the infrared videos and key audio tapes recorded from FBI bugs inside the compound showed that every recording being challenged by the plaintiffs were originals. ……"

The Arizona Republic 4/4/99 Jerry Kammer "...The head of the new Chinese Cultural Center wields wide financial influence, has powerful and controversial contacts Elizabeth Mann, Arizona's most important business connection to Beijing, has risen to prominence through mastery of what the Chinese call "guanxi," the cultivation of contacts with powerful people..... Two of Mann's contacts have been linked to major scandals. Another was convicted of bank fraud in Georgia before coming to work for Mann. She herself has been the subject of two criminal investigations. Mann, 46, was known as Ning Yu before she became a U.S. citizen in 1992. She is the top executive in Arizona for COFCO, a corporate giant owned by the Beijing government. It owns the COFCO Chinese Cultural Center on 44th and Van Buren streets in Phoenix.... her circle of financial influence has included: A Chinese vice president's son who became a central figure in the still-swirling allegations that President Clinton sold access to the White House. A former colonel in the People's Liberation Army who was indicted in the United States in 1996 on weapons smuggling charges. A business partner at COFCO's lending arm who came to Arizona after criminal violations at an Atlanta bank led federal authorities to ban him from banking. An officer at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing who repeatedly violated State Department rules by accepting favors from Mann while he provided visa assistance for her..... Their son, Henry, a senior at Horizon High School, has been nominated to the Naval Academy by U.S. Sen. John McCain and to the Air Force Academy by U.S. Rep. John Shadegg.....Two of the investors Mann brought to Ambanc would become central figures in scandals that strained relations between Washington and Beijing. The first was Wang Jun, the son of Wang Zhen, vice president of China from 1988 until his death in 1993. A New York Times obituary described Wang Zhen as "a general who rose through the Communist ranks to become one of China's most powerful leaders and among the hardest of the hard-liners." In 1996, Wang Jun became a controversial figure after he met with President Clinton at a White House reception for political fund-raisers. Wang's visit caused a furor, not only because of his political pedigree, but because it was arranged by Yah Lin "Charlie" Trie, a Little Rock businessman at the center of allegations that the Chinese tried to use campaign contributions to influence U.S. policy. Clinton's critics suggested that Wang had bought access to the White House, and Clinton later acknowledged that the visit had been "clearly inappropriate." Wang is the head of the Chinese International Trust and Investment Corp., or CITIC. It is China's most powerful financial and industrial conglomerate. Mann had no ties to the White House controversy. She had arranged for Ambanc President Jack McDonnell to meet Wang eight years earlier..... CITIC bought into Ambanc partnerships that purchased an office building at the Scottsdale Air Park, the Cedar Meadows Apartments in Peoria, 1,200 acres of undeveloped land in Sun Valley west of Phoenix and 143 acres at Goldfield Ranch east of Fountain Hills. Cedar Meadows has since been sold. CITIC was one of several Chinese corporations that Mann brought into Ambanc investments. Another, property records show, was Polytechnologies, a business arm of the People's Liberation Army. In 1992, a Polytechnologies subsidiary called Dynasty Holdings became Ambanc's limited partner on apartment complexes in Norwalk, Calif., and Seattle. Those investments, according to McDonnell, were guided by Robert Ma, a Dynasty executive and a former Chinese army colonel who was indicted in 1996 on federal charges of smuggling 2,000 AK-47 rifles into California. Ma fled the country before he could be arrested..... there were other prominent Chinese who were drawn to Arizona through Mann's contacts. One was Andong Zhong, son of the finance minister for China's "paramount leader," the late Deng Xiaoping. Andong directed the firm's entry into the Ambanc partnership that owned the Cedar Meadows apartments for several years. Another was Deng Zhifang, a son of Deng Xiaoping. He worked briefly at Ambanc's office on Tatum Boulevard in the early 1990s..... BNU stands for Beijing and the United States, she said. BNU manages the cultural center and Chinese-owned real estate in Phoenix and Las Vegas. It owns three shoe factories in China, and a subsidiary named COFCO Credit provides automobile loans in Arizona and other Western states. Records filed with the Arizona Corporation Commission show that Mann owns 24 percent of COFCO Credit. Mann said there is nothing unusual about a government corporation sharing ownership with its executives. "It's my incentive from COFCO," she said. "I built this company for them, and I think they are very appreciative of what I have done." ..... On the same day they bought undeveloped land near Sky Harbor International Airport, they sold it to a group of investors from the Chinese city of Zhenjiang at a $385,000 profit. But it was another real estate deal that drew the attention of the state grand jury. The transaction began in late 1994, when the Manns established Vista Capital Management to buy the cultural center site on 44th Street, just south of Loop 202. The Manns planned to buy the land for $3.6 million and sell it to BNU for $6 million, records show. But before the deal could close, a Mann subordinate named Jianwei Ding became suspicious and hired attorneys to look into it on behalf of BNU. On Feb. 15, 1996, five days before the double transaction was to close, one of the attorneys reported his suspicion that Elizabeth Mann had devised a "scheme for personal profit" and had "breached her fiduciary duty" to BNU.... Despite the controversies, Mann remains enthusiastic and determined. She has set a course for ambitious COFCO expansion. At the cultural center's grand opening, Mann said the center would be the model for similar developments across the country. She also interpreted for COFCO President Zhou Mingchen, who called for closer Sino-U.S. business and cultural ties. "If these two countries can really join hands together," Zhou said, "it will be a great force that will help the 21st century." ..."

Arizona Republic 7/29/99 Jeff Barker "...A House committee today will unveil evidence of new favors provided to a former visa official at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing by a Chinese government-owned conglomerate, including a free stay at a luxury Scottsdale suite. Charles M. Parish Jr., the embassy's former visa section chief, accepted a number of previously undisclosed gifts from Elizabeth Mann, operator of a Phoenix real estate company called BNU Corp., which is owned by the conglomerate, according to House Government Reform Committee investigators.

The committee is holding a hearing today with Parish expected to be the lead witness. The Arizona Republic reported in March that Parish, in violation of State Department rules, accepted free lodging at corporate apartments in Las Vegas and Norwalk, Calif., in 1995 and 1996 from China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Import and Export Corp. The committee says Parish, who has denied any quid pro quo relationship, was providing visa assistance at the request of Mann and others so that officials of the conglomerate, known as COFCO, could travel frequently to Phoenix and other U.S. destinations. State Department rules forbid embassy officials from accepting gifts from anyone seeking visas or other official action..... The Republic has learned that the new information includes: Mann gave Parish "a number of gifts," a former COFCO vice president, Jay Ding, has told the committee staff. Ding has told the panel's investigators that he saw Mann pass several wrapped boxes and an envelope to Parish while he was dining with COFCO and BNU officials in Beijing and Phoenix. Ding told the committee he didn't know what the gifts were. He said Mann mentioned a gold Rolex watch and $2,000 in casino chips in connection with Parish, but Ding is not sure she gave either to Parish. The committee said Parish stayed free of charge at a COFCO luxury suite in Scottsdale. The address could not be obtained from either the committee or Mann's office. Several e-mails in Parish's office suggest that Parish, at Mann's request, helped Fuli Lin, vice chairman of BNU, obtain a visa, according to the committee..... "The U.S. Embassy in Beijing is one of our most sensitive diplomatic posts in the world," Burton said in a prepared statement. "It is unfathomable that these kinds of activities could go on right under the noses of top embassy officials for a year and a half."..."

The Arizona Republic 8/12/99 Jerry Kammer "...The Arizona Republic reported in March that while Parish was the chief arbiter of visa applications in Beijing, he received blue-ribbon treatment as a guest of COFCO's Phoenix-based subsidiary, BNU Corp. COFCO is the China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Import & Export Corp. Fortune magazine last year ranked the Beijing-based corporation 309th on its list of the world's 500 largest companies. BNU operates the Chinese Cultural Center in Phoenix, imports shoes from four company-owned factories in China, provides consumer credit and manages property. Parish stayed at BNU apartment complexes in Norwalk, Calif., and Las Vegas as a guest of BNU President Elizabeth Mann, The Republic reported. The committee report added that he also was a guest at an unidentified COFCO property in Scottsdale. Mann, a native of China, is now a U.S. citizen and directs the Chinese Cultural Center in Phoenix. "Mann cultivated a relationship with Charles Parish as a way of ensuring that COFCO officials received visas from the embassy," according to the report. Mann and COFCO on Wednesday sharply denied impropriety. Although they are refusing to respond directly to questions from The Republic, their attorney responded with a written statement defending their acquisition of visas...."

The Arizona Republic 8/12/99 Jerry Kammer "..."Mr. Parish's malfeasance ranges from apparent bribery, to improper receipt of gifts and gratuities, to violation of embassy rules regarding fraternization with Chinese citizens," the report states. The bribery allegations stem from testimony in May by Johnny Chung, an American citizen who has figured prominently in allegations of illegal Chinese contributions to the Democratic Party. Chung testified that Parish received a bagful of cash from an executive of Haomen Beer, one of China's largest brewers, which was seeking to expand its business to the United States. The report also cites information from Phoenix resident and former COFCO executive Jianwei Ding, who once worked under Mann and who has been waging a series of bitter legal battles with her since 1996. The report says Ding "saw Mann pass an envelope and several wrapped boxes to Parish while Parish was dining with COFCO and BNU officials in both Beijing and Phoenix." The report provides no further details. In 1996, Ding blew the whistle on what he said was an insider deal by Mann to buy the Cultural Center site and sell it quickly to BNU at a $2.4 million profit...."

The Washington Times 8/17/99 Audrey Hudson "…A congressional committee is expanding its investigation of bribery and visa fraud at a U.S. embassy in China to include five additional embassies in Central and South America. A committee spokesman says their probe of Charles Parish Jr., former first consul and secretary to the Beijing embassy, has prompted whistleblowers to come forward with new information on illegal activities by other consular officials. "We are getting lots of calls about other State Department problems around the world," the spokesman said. "On more than two occasions Foreign Service officers have told us they have resigned in disgust of the graft and corruption they've seen," he said. "They are seeing what happened with Parish and saying they have the same problems in their embassy and no one is doing anything about it. (The State Department is) sweeping it under the rug because it's an embarrassment," the spokesman said…. The spokesman confirmed that the committee is also examining whether they can hold Mr. Parish in contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate….. Embassy officials began complaining in 1995 that Mr. Parish was accepting gifts and issuing visas to unqualified individuals, but it wasn't until 1996 that the embassy began an official inquiry, House investigators say. Despite the accusations, he was given a sensitive assignment in Washington, given a merit pay increase and retired with full benefits, investigators said. Committee documents show Mr. Parish had been under suspicion for visa fraud while serving in Bangladesh and Nepal as early as 1990. Details of Mr. Parish's activities first surfaced when Johnny Chung testified before Mr. Burton's committee of his connection to Chinese officials and campaign contributions he made during the 1996 presidential election. Mr. Chung testified that Mr. Parish provided him with 25 to 30 visas for business associates, and in exchange he provided favors for Mr. Parish. Mr. Chung says he created invitation letters for Mr. Parish's girlfriends to visit the United States. Mr. Chung says he witnessed Mr. Parish accepting a bag full of money he estimated at $15,000 from a Chinese businessman, that included passports to be stamped with U.S. visas. Investigators say Mr. Chung also paid $3,000 for Mr. Parish, along with his girlfriend and sisiter, to attend a Democratic National Committee fund-raiser….."

Radio America's Blanquita Cullum 8/21/99 "…The President stonewalls us .... His underlings in the Administration stonewall us ... Janet Reno at the Justice Department stonewalls us ... This makes is very difficult to turn the wheels of justice in Congress ... ... Look first at the example of the State Department's Charles Parish ... According to Dan Burton (R-Ind.), the FBI's task force has evidently closed the file on Parish, a senior official at the U.S. consulate in Beijing who allegedly accepted sexual favors and shopping bags full of cash in exchange for providing visas to Chinese nationals ... The FBI said it had found nothing that was prosecutable ... Burton surmised that the reason Parish took the Fifth Amendment before the House Government Reform Committee was because he apparently thought there were some things that he could be prosecuted for ... Burton said he has information that the Justice and State departments did not have, and the question is, why didn't they have it? ... If the Government Reform Committee is able to get it with limited staff, why, with all the staff they have over there, didn't they get the job done? ... It's because they didn't want to pursue it as diligently ... Burton said he's concerned that Johnny Chung said he paid Parish money for visas ... This is the same Johnny Chung who was free to give campaign contributions to and meet with the President ... And if Johnny Chung was using Parish to get visas for people who may have been giving illegal campaign contributions, they may have been involved in other things as well ... ...And so the Clinton Administration may not want us to have access to the records of people who did get visas because it might lead us into its behind-the-scene operations ... "

Radio America's Blanquita Cullum 8/21/99 "…... Burton has provided very powerful testimony ... Some of the most powerful statements that have been made about this whole issue ... And Janet Reno ... How do you get past her? ... She's acting like a shill for the President ... They've basically said at the Justice Department that they don't have to respond to the Government Reform Committee ... They block the committee wherever they can by saying it's under investigation or it's grand jury material ... But Government Reform keeps sending the subpoenas, looking for an opportunity to get the information ... Of course, Reno is preventing the committee from getting it ... ... While investigating Parish on the visa-peddling scandal, Government Reform interviewed a man in New York before the Justice Department got to him ... He admitted he was a conduit for illegal contributions ... He called back a couple of days later and said somebody from the Justice Department had been there and said he did not have to cooperate with Congress ... Here's a guy the committee has already talked to being told he does not have to cooperate with Congress on illegal campaign contributions ... ... This is horrible ... It's obstruction of justice ... It's a violation of the law ... The President stonewalls us .... His administration stonewalls us ... Janet Reno stonewalls us ... It's very difficult ... Who's going to prosecute Janet Reno? ...

New York Times 10/7/99 William Safire "....The Chinese Embassy here sent two of its senior commercial ministers to Capitol Hill last week to impugn the testimony of a Chinese citizen now resident in Arizona. Jianwei Ding worked for a subsidiary of Cofco, the agricultural giant that also runs the big Chinese Cultural Center in Phoenix. He came to the House Reform and Oversight Committee with a charge that his former boss, Ning Yu -- now named Elizabeth Mann -- had a gift-giving relationship with the man who gives out visas at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Our State Department yanked out our visa-giver, but Ding's internal whistle-blowing did not sit well with his company's officers. They won a lawsuit against him and seek his deportation home, where his clues to kickbacks can be squelched. "The embassy officials kept insisting that 'this bad man is a small potato,' " reports James Wilson, chief counsel to Dan Burton's committee, "but then pointed out, almost as a threat, that the company imports 18 million tons of corn and barley from the U.S." China has registered not a peep of protest to Congress about inquiries into corrupt dealings in money and politics by Clinton friends Charlie Trie, Johnny Chung and John Huang. But curiously, Ding upsets them greatly, and the People's Republic is spending bundles on lawyer's fees to get our Immigration officials to reject asylum. (Over to you, Tony Lewis.) ...."

AP via Fox News 10/14/99 Matt Kelley ".....In a lobbying effort that backfired, two top Chinese Embassy officials recently visited Capitol Hill to urge a House committee to drop its investigation of a conglomerate owned by the Chinese government. Instead, committee staffers said the meeting injected more vigor into a probe that had been a smaller offshoot of an investigation of illegal campaign contributions. "I've worked on Capitol Hill for 15 years, and I've never heard of a diplomat coming in and trying to squelch a congressional investigation,'' said Kevin Binger, Republican staff director of the House Government Reform Committee. A report from the panel in July alleged that a Phoenix executive in the Chinese company called COFCO gave gifts and free luxury lodging to a former official at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing "as a way of ensuring that COFCO officials received visas from the embassy.'' That investigation is continuing, and the committee recently sent subpoenas to the company and the executive, Elizabeth Mann, seeking more documents. Mann has denied wrongdoing. .......Late last month, two Chinese Embassy officials asked to meet with committee Chairman Dan Burton, R-Ind., and were referred to two investigators. Binger said the officials - Shi Jianxin, head of the embassy's commercial affairs office, and Ci Bin, first secretary of the commercial office - told the investigators the probe risked harming relations with China and COFCO, a major grain importer. ....."They knew that going up there in this environment would not be easy,'' Gill said. "They must have made the decision that it was important enough to try anyway.'' ...."

AP via Fox News 10/14/99 Matt Kelley ".....Mann, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in China, heads a Phoenix-based subsidiary of COFCO - the China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Import and Export Corp. The subsidiary, called BNU, owns a $90 million Chinese cultural center in Phoenix, manages real estate in the West, makes automobile loans and imports shoes from factories in China. The committee began investigating Mann and BNU in connection with Charles Parish, who handled visa matters at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing from 1994 to 1996. Former Democratic fund-raiser Johnny Chung told the committee at a May 11 hearing that Parish helped get visas for Chung's associates, and an executive of a Chinese beer company asked Chung to give Parish "a shopping bag of money.'' The committee's July report said Jianwei "Jay'' Ding, a former BNU executive, told the panel that Mann gave Parish several gifts and allowed him to stay for free at company-owned condominiums in California and Nevada. Binger said the committee is continuing its investigation into Mann's contacts with Parish. ...... "Given the fact that we've had people from the embassy make a special trip up here just to talk about Jay Ding makes us concerned about his safety,'' Binger said. ..."

The Arizona Republic 10/25/99 "…..The Chinese government is expending enormous resources, including using its embassy officials to attempt to strong-arm a congressional investigation, to discredit a former Phoenix-based employee of one of its industrial subsidiaries and to get the man deported back to China. For the sake of one man's human rights, it is vitally important that the Chinese not get their hands on Jianwei Ding, who is seeking political asylum in this country. According to Chinese officials, Ding, 33, is a corrupt, minor-league hustler who needs to be sent back to the mother country. But the sheer velocity of the Chinese hardball effort to extract Ding from the United States suggests something else: A regime that routinely brutalizes its political opponents sees Ding as a dangerous whistle-blower, and it wants to shut him up…..According to committee staff, the two Chinese officials implied that millions of tons of U.S. grain exports to China could be jeopardized if the committee listened to Ding and continued its pursuit of COFCO and Mann. And they haven't stopped there. Hoping to influence deportation proceedings against Ding, Mann has been providing the INS with "documentation" that purports to prove Ding is a petty crook who cheated COFCO out of roughly $40,000. ….. The Chinese want Ding back to shut him up. Our immigration officials must not assist the Chinese in getting their way….."

4/7/99 Freeper Jolly "…National Intelligence Council (NIC) East Asia officer Robert Suettinger, currently with the Brookings Institution. Previously served in the National Security Council as director of Asian affairs from 1994 to 1997. What happened on his watch:

1. Let Chung bring Chinese business men into the White House and get their pictures taken with Clinton. "I don't see any lasting damage to U.S. foreign policy from giving Johnny Chung the pictures. And to the degree it motivates him to continue contributing to the DNC, who am I to complain?" Chung visited the White House 49 times

2. Had problems with Gore's Hsi Lai Temple Fund Raising trip not because the questionable donations, but because he was worried it might offend the PRC.

3. 9/9/95 Hotung After donating $100,000, Eric Hotung privately meets with Robert Suettinger, at Don Fowler's request

4. Let several Tiananmen PLA generals come in and out of the White House while he was at the NSC.

5. During Taiwan Strait Crisis of 1996 Suettinger reviewed the history of "strategic ambiguity" in which successive administrations implied but never said they would defend the island.

6. China helped arm North Korea, Iran, and Pakistan with WMD during this period.

7. Trulock and his team were trying to get the administrations attention on Chinese Spying at Los Alamos. By the time Suettinger left nothing much had been done about the situation at the lab.

8. December 14, 1995 - John Huang is granted a top secret consulting clearance, by the Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office (DISCO) in connection with an unsuccessful effort to make Huang a consultant to the Department of Commerce while he worked for the DNC. Due to Huang's existing top secret clearance DISCO did not conduct a separate background investigation of Huang. Huang's DISCO clearance was not taken away until December 1996.

9. Bernard Schwartz, CEO of Loral, became the largest individual donor to Democrats. An Air Force intelligence analysis prepared by Maj. Gen. John Cosciano - concluded that the report given to Beijing by satellite builders, including Loral, provided rocket guidance improvements under the guise of questions. The questions spelled out directions on how to overcome guidance and control failures.

10. February 2, 1996 The Clinton administration granted Wang Jun's Poly Technologies import permits to flood America with over 100,000 semi-automatic weapons and millions of rounds of ammunition. The Clinton administration had been delaying other arms importers because the president was opposed. * White House documents released last week show that Clinton himself was concerned in April 1995 about the "circulating around" of pictures that showed him meeting with Chinese businessmen whom Chung had brought to the White House to watch the president give a radio address. In addition, Robert L. Suettinger, a China specialist on the staff of the National Security Council staff, cautioned a colleague in a memorandum that month that Chung "should be treated with a pinch of suspicion." "My impression," the memo went on, "is that he is a hustler, and appears to be involved in setting up some kind of consulting operation that will thrive by bringing Chinese entrepreneurs into town for exposure to high-level U.S. officials." Asian Links of a Donor Put Gifts to Democrats in Doubt, The New York Times, CHRISTOPHER DREW, 02/22/97 (China Scandal) But under questioning from Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., and other Republicans, he said he had no reason to believe then or now that Chung was acting as an agent of the Chinese government.Chung takes Fifth but talks to committee, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, MARK SHERMAN, 11/15/97

* "I don't see any lasting damage to U.S. foreign policy from giving Johnny Chung the pictures. And to the degree it motivates him to continue contributing to the DNC, who am I to complain?"-- Robert Suettinger, Director of Asian Affairs for the National Security Council CAS mailing list 11/14/97

*One supporter, Johnny Chung, whose $366,000 in donations qualified him as a "managing trustee" of the Democratic National Committee, made 49 visits to the White House--access that kept the National Security Council's China expert, Robert Suettinger, working overtime. Suettinger warned that Chung was a "hustler" trying to cash in on his White House connections to build a consulting firm....Cash-And-Carry Diplomacy, CNN/AllPolitics/TIME, Nancy Gibbs, 02/24/94

* Another troubling document is an April 1996 E-mail message from NSC's Suettinger that warned Vice President Gore about attending a fund-raising lunch at a Buddhist temple near Los Angeles. Gore's attendance, he said, would appear to give U.S. policy a pro-Taiwan, anti-China tilt at a time of great tension between the two. "My reaction would be one of great, great caution." The State Department expressed similar concerns. The result? Gore went, but there were no Taiwanese flags flying to make for uncomfortable photo ops, and no Taiwanese politicians playing a visible role. The lunch netted the D.N.C. $140,000 and unlimited grief ever since because of multiple fund-raising irregularities. Cash-And-Carry Diplomacy, CNN/AllPolitics/TIME, Nancy Gibbs, 02/24/94

* (On : a letter from the chairman of the President's political party, Don Fowler, thanking Chung for "being a friend and great supporter of the D.N.C." and wishing him success on his China mission.) This time Suettinger made his alarm plain. He wrote to Lake that Chung's mission was "very troubling" because it interfered in a "diplomatically difficult and high-stakes issue." He added, "All we can do is hope the Chinese recognize Chung's credentials are thin and that his message should be treated with caution." Suettinger feared that Chung could "do damage" and recommended that "we be very careful about the kinds of favors he is granted." Cash-And-Carry Diplomacy, CNN/AllPolitics/TIME, Nancy Gibbs, 02/24/94

"In most cases, Chung is not in a position to make much of an impact on U.S.-China relations," wrote Suettinger, the national security aide. "In the Harry Wu case, however, he could conceivably do damage, depending on what he says and how much credibility he carries with Beijing. I recommend that we be very careful about the kinds of political favors he is granted." Clinton and Gore Received Warnings on Asian Donors, The New York Times, Stephen Labaton, 02/15/97 (Suettinger, Chung, Harry Wu)

Nancy Hernreich, Clinton's appointments and scheduling aide, told the committee on Thursday that Clinton "Clinton had expressed displeasure about the presence of the Chinese businessmen at the radio address." A month later the White House asked the National Security Council - according to Hernreich- whether Chung should receive photos from the visit showing Clinton with the businessmen. Suro reports in the article that "Former NSC aide Brooke Darby testified that, based on information from Robert L. Suettinger, then the NSC's China expert, she recommended against giving Chung the pictures." Suettinger told Darby that while giving the picture would cause no "lasting damage to U.S. foreign policy" but warned that Chung was a "hustler" who was trying to advance his business and would become "a royal pain" He [Suettinger] also told the panel that he was able to verify that five of the six Chinese present at the radio address were "legitimate Chinese enterprises." The fifth - James Y. Sun, was described by Chung as a "young entrepreneur and self-made millionaire." "There are relatively few self-made millionaires in the People's Republic of China," deadpanned Suettinger. -Democratic Donor Chung Invokes 5th Amendment, Washington Post, Edward Walsh, 11/15/97 (China Scandal)

* 9/9/95 - day of meeting. An October 1995 e-mail from an NSC staffer informed him that "a request has come in from [White House director of political affairs] Doug Sosnik's office for you to have a five-minute photo-op with Eric Hotung. Sosnik's office got the request from [DNC] Chairman [Don] Fowler. If you don't know Hotung, he's a fabulously wealthy Hong Kong businessman." As it happened, his American wife had promised the DNC a $100,000 donation. Within 10 days of the photo-op, the wife of the "fabulously wealthy" Mr. Hotung made good on her promise. Asked by Sen. Thompson at the campaign-finance hearings about NSC staffer Robert Suettinger's private meeting with Mr. Hotung at his lawyer's office, Mr. Berger seemed indignant at the mere hint of impropriety. "Mr. Suettinger is a career employee in the diplomatic area who's assigned to the NSC, not at all political," Mr. Berger retorted. - SANDY BERGER MUST GO, cont'd, The Washington Times, Editorial, 03/19/99 (Chinese Spies, Nukes, Berger)

National Security Adviser Samuel ''Sandy'' Berger defended the administration against charges that it had traded contacts at the National Security Council for cash in 1995. Questioned whether his office was misused for politics, Berger told senators there were no clear procedures during last year's election for handling Democratic donors seeking White House access. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Republicans noted that Eric and Patricia Hotung, residents of Hong Kong, gave the Democratic National Committee $99,980 soon after Hotung met with NSC staffer Robert Suettinger and had a five-minute ''photo op'' with Berger, who was then deputy national security adviser. A DNC memorandum released at the hearing indicated that the contacts were set up by the DNC. Berger said he was unaware at the time that the Hotungs would be donating money. - White House's Berger Admits: No Process For Election Contacts, Investors Business Daily, 09/12/97 (China Scandal)

* The idea that officials of the People's Republic of China were major contributors to the Democratic National Committee did not strike two members of Clinton's national security staff as a problem. It is against the law for a foreign national to give money to an American political party. It is also against the law for a non-American representative of a foreign government to contribute to an American political party. And China, of course, is not just any foreign government. We are not talking Canada. We are talking the People's Republic of China, the last great communist power in the world, a totalitarian state where power is transferred not by elections but--as we saw this week--from the hands of one dead old communist to another live old communist; a state that in the not-distant past starved 30 million of its citizens to death; that fought America, by proxy and other means, for nearly half a century of cold and sometimes hot war; that jails, tortures and murders its political dissidents; that employs slave labor; that promotes nuclear proliferation; that forces abortion on women; that is committed to challenging the U.S. as the dominant military and economic power in the East. Can it be that, as Suettinger describes them, bona fide (present or former) officials of this regime were, as Darby describes them, major contributors to the DNC? - TRB: CITIC-VIP, The New Republic, Michael Kelly, 02/23/97 (China Scandal)

* The United States, of course, has been spying on China too. "Nations will do that to each other and have done so for centuries," Bob Suettinger, a recently retired CIA official, said last week. Commenting on the current furor over Chinese spying at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Suettinger quipped: "Someone with my background could hardly pretend to be shocked." - U.S. Acquiesced in China Spying, Record Shows, LA Times, Jim Mann, 03/14/99 (Suettinger, Chinese Spies, China-US Policy)

* "Business is less enthusiastic about the China market lately; it just hasn't been the benefit they'd hoped," said Robert Suettinger, a visiting scholar at the Brookings Institution, after serving as the national intelligence officer for East Asia. When coupled with security concerns, "nobody is prepared to give China anything at this point," he said. - ZHU LANDS AS TALKS STILL UP IN AIR, Chicago Tribune, Merrill Goozner, 04/06/99 (Suettinger, Chinese Economy, Trade)

* Friday, March 8, was a bitterly cold day in Washington, with nearly four inches of fresh snow and a wind chill below zero. That morning, Lake and Liu -- accompanied by National Security Council aide Robert Suettinger and State Department officials Winston Lord and Jeff Bader -- drove secretly to Middleburg, Va., and the country estate of Pamela Harriman, the ambassador to France...Preparing for dinner at the State Department that night with Liu, Lake asked Suettinger to research the strongest statements ever made to China about Taiwan. Suettinger reviewed the history of "strategic ambiguity" in which successive administrations implied but never said they would defend the island. Lake, Perry and Christopher decided -- and informed the president -- that they should go further. - Tension Over Taiwan Prompted Repair of Ties, Washington Post, Barton Gellman, 06/21/98 (Suettinger, ROC vs PRC)

* In March 1996, Trie sent a letter to Clinton questioning whether his deployment of two aircraft carrier battle groups to the Taiwan Strait at the time would provoke a war with China, an outcome that, Trie warned, could have a "negative outcome" for the President politically, "especially in this campaign year." Clinton responded with a boiler-plate reassurance that the only U.S. intent was to help the two sides peaceably resolve an ongoing dispute over China's military maneuvers in the strait. The letter may not have constituted a big foreign-policy concession, but it burnished a big donor's stature in China, where connections mean everything and where Trie was concentrating his business interests. - Cash-And-Carry Diplomacy, CNN/AllPolitics/TIME, Nancy Gibbs, 02/24/94

William Norman Grigg 7/6/99 "…Chung allegedly received $300,000 from Lieutenant Colonel Liu Chao-ying of the PLA. Ms. Liu is an official of the China Aerospace Corporation; through Chung, she enjoyed personal access to Mr. Clinton. According to the Times, "At one fundraiser to which Mr. Chung gained admission for her, she was photographed with President Clinton." This occurred, noted the Times, at a time when "President Clinton was making it easier for American civilian communications satellites to be launched by Chinese rockets, a key issue for the PLA and for Ms. Liu's company, which sells missiles for the military and also has a troubled space subsidiary."…Ms. Liu is a textbook example of Red China's "princeling" class - the wealthy offspring of the Communist Party's elite. Her father is General Liu Huaqing, who until his retirement in 1997 was vice chairman of Red China's Central Military Commission and a member of the Standing Committee of the Red Chinese politburo - the Party's apex decision-making body. A graduate of the Soviet Union's Voroshilov Naval Academy, General Liu is a Leninist of the old school, and doubtless is well aware of Lenin's prophecy that the West would sell the rope with which it would be hung. Johnny Chung's admissions, which were made to Justice Department investigators as part of his plea bargain agreement, have established a money trail running from the ruling body of Red China's Politburo directly into Bill Clinton's Oval Office….Michael Kelly of the Washington Post observes, "During the period of Schwartz and Liu Chao-ying's munificence, Clinton ... re-liberalized U.S. policy toward Chinese satellite launches." Kelly assembles the relevant facts into a devastating brief against Bill Clinton, built around "three related significant events": - "In 1995 Schwartz wrote Clinton urging him to shift licensing authority over Chinese satellite launches from the security-minded State Department to the Commerce Department, which promotes American business interests, not national safety. In October, Secretary of State Warren Christopher, backed by the Defense Department, the CIA, and the National Security Agency, ordered State to retain control over the launches. Commerce asked the President to overrule Christopher. In March 1996 Clinton did so, but he delayed implementation - and, importantly, publication - of his order until November 5, 1996, the day he was re-elected." - "On February 6, 1996, Clinton signed waivers for four new American satellite launches in China, despite evidence that China was still exporting nuclear and missile technology to Pakistan and Iran….." - "In February 1998, President Clinton approved a new waiver for Loral allowing the company to transfer more technological assistance to China. He did this although his Justice Department had warned the White House that granting Loral a new waiver to do essentially what it had done in 1996 would amount to ex post facto presidential dispensation of Loral's past actions, and would thereby greatly undercut Justice's case."…"

Washington Times 4/27/99 Edward Timperlake and William C. Triplett II "...Hovering over next month's espionage hearings to be held by Chairman Dan Burton, Indiana Republican, will be the image Lt. Col. Liu Chaoying, a true Red princess, and Johnny Chung's case officer. A child of secret wealth and privilege in supposedly egalitarian China, she is the daughter of Gen. Liu Huaqing, a Long March veteran, and until 1997 the People's Liberation Army's highest-ranking uniformed officer. Now about 40 and with a taste for expensive clothes, Col. Liu graduated from the Electronics and Computer Department of China's National Defense Technology University in Changsha. Her advanced degree in political economy (Marxism-Leninism) was awarded by the Chinese People's University in Beijing, a major training center for future Communist Party officials. After university, she entered the Chinese intelligence apparatus, first with Chinese Navy intelligence and currently as an officer of the Er Bu, China's equivalent of the old Soviet military intelligence agency, the GRU. In the Chinese system, the Er Bu has at least the equivalent status of the civilian spy agency, the Ministry of State Security, China's KGB. Currently, Col. Liu is vice president of International Trading for China Aerospace Industrial Holdings (CASIL), a holding company for manufacturers of missiles and military electronics. Col. Liu counts for more than a modern high-tech spy; she also is a major arms broker. As a very high-ranking Red princess, she used her father's connections to become the assistant to the presidents of both Great Wall Industries and China Precision Machinery Import-Export Corp...."

Washington Times 4/27/99 Edward Timperlake and William C. Triplett II "...For whatever reason, Lt. Col. Liu was a sloppy spy. She violated two of the cardinal rules of undercover operations: (1) She allowed someone below her in the network (Mr. Chung) to find out who was above her (Gen. Ji). (2) And she bragged about other operations. According to Mr. Chung's December grand jury testimony, she introduced him three times to Gen. Ji, who was working out of Hong Kong under an assumed name. That has allowed the FBI to reconstruct the money pipeline that ran from Gen. Xiong through Gen. Ji, Col. Liu and Mr. Chung right into the Clinton-Gore 1996 re-election effort. At least $300,000 was inserted at the top but due to Mr. Chung's habit of commingling funds, it may be hard to tell how much reached the bottom. It was at least enough for Col. Liu to be invited to two Clinton fund-raisers where she got her picture taken with the president. Reportedly, the Justice Department has the picture and won't release it...."

NY TIMES 5/12/99 TIM GOLDEN and JEFF GERTH "…On June 23, 1997, about six months into the inquiry, Stipano convened from the Justice Department and other law-enforcement agencies to describe its initial findings. "We were not oblivious to the fact that this could be money laundering, that it could be embezzlement, that it could be campaign-finance related," one official said. The inquiry was completed early the next spring. No charges were brought, and no regulatory actions taken. At the time of the June 1997 meeting, Justice Department and FBI officials were already searching for flows of Chinese money into American political coffers. And they were focusing closely on one of Ms. Xu's relatives by marriage, a Chinese military officer and aerospace executive named Liu Chao-ying….Ms. Xu said she was not questioned by federal investigators until almost a year later, and then only briefly. She said the officials asked about her role in setting up a checking account for Ms. Liu in 1991, but dropped the matter after she explained that Ms. Liu was the sister of her younger brother's wife, and that she had no other business involvement with her. They are not my favorite people," Ms. Xu said of her in-laws. "I live in a different world." Several American officials privately questioned that assertion, saying Ms. Liu traveled to China with Ms. Xu at least once, in 1991. Ms. Liu has also used Ms. Xu's identity as an alias on at least one occasion, officials said.

Opening Statement Chairman Dan Burton Committee on Government Reform 5/11/99 "...I think Mr. Chung and his family have probably paid a pretty high price for his mistakes. But he's going to do something today that the other 100 people haven't done. He's going to testify. He's cooperated with the Justice Department. He's cooperated with us. What he's doing today isn't going to be very easy -- he's going to sit in front of this committee, and all of these TV cameras and reporters, and admit that he broke the law. That takes courage....What has Mr. Chung told us? He's told us that General Ji Shengde, the head of Military Intelligence for the People's Liberation Army, gave him $300,000. General Ji would be the equivalent of the head of the CIA here. It was wired to him through Lt. Colonel Liu Chao-Ying of China Aerospace. Mr. Chung has told us that the General told him the following: "We really like your President." "We hope he will be re-elected." "I will give you 300,000 U.S. dollars." "You can give it to your President and the Democrat Party." Shortly after this, Mr. Chung gave $35,000 to the Democratic National Committee...."

Washington Times 5/12/99 Jerry Seper "...A defiant Johnny Chung told a House committee yesterday of cash gifts for President Clinton's re-election campaign, of threats by the Chinese to his family if he didn't keep his mouth shut, and of hush money to defend himself if he did. The exact language of the threats was imprecise and polite, he said, but he got the message loud and clear that he would cooperate with the FBI and the Justice Department only at great risk. "The message was as follows: If you keep your mouth shut, you and your family will be safe," the one-time Democratic fund-raiser said At one point, the FBI believed the threat was serious enough to hide Chung and his family in a California hotel for three weeks.....Chung, who admitted last year as part of a plea agreement to making illegal donations to the Democratic Party, told the committee the threat and the hush money offer for attorneys' fees came from Robert Luu, a Chinese-American he first met in Beijing and whom he later met in Los Angeles -- while the FBI listened on a body microphone he wore and watched on a hidden camera. He said Mr. Luu represented himself as being in touch with a Chinese general who had earlier given Chung $300,000 for President Clinton's re-election campaign. The threat, he said, was veiled. "The Chinese are more polite and indirect, so the words do not precisely translate. . . . Nevertheless, this was how I interpreted the meaning of the words. Essentially, the message that I believe I was given was that me and my family would be safe if I didn't talk, and if I did talk, I could not be *certain what would happen," Chung said. In describing the threat, Chung said Mr. Luu told him he was in contact with "some people from Beijing," that he had received money from Chinese officials "to take care of my legal expenses, and that the lawyer, David Brockway, "was connected and knew the No. 3 person" at the Justice Department. Chung said Mr. Luu also told him that he might be able to get himself a presidential pardon. Chung testified that Mr. Luu said he was connected to Liu Chao-ying, a Chinese aerospace executive and lieutenant colonel in the People's Liberation Army.... "

Hotline 5/25/99 Fox - Carl Cameron Special Report 5/24/99 "....Cameron continues: "Chung's network with Chinese intelligence was well known to Luu. Chung's contact was Lieutenant Colonel Liu Chao-Yang of the Chinese military, she answered to General Ji Shengde, China's military intelligent chief, who provided Chung with $300,000. Robert Luu told Chung never to tell investigators about two U.S. satellite firms, Loral Space and Hughes Electronics, or their relationship with Liu Chao-Yang, who had negotiated their Chinese contracts. Loral and Hughes launch U.S. made satellites on Chinese rockets. They are under federal investigation for illegally helping China improve its missile technology. Sources say China wanted to keep the companies out of the scandal, to protect its business arrangements and its ability to acquire U.S. technology." ..."

5/25/99 Bill Gertz Washington Times "...The report identified two Chinese officials, Wang Jun and Liu Chaoying, as being directly involved in illegal activities in the United States. Mr. Wang is the son of the late Chinese President Wang Zhen and is head of a Chinese company that tried to smuggle 2,000 AK-47 assault rifles into the United States. He also attended a White House "coffee" with Mr. Clinton in 1996 and is connected to more than $600,000 in illegal campaign contributions made by Charles Yah Lin Trie to the Democratic National Committee. Mr. Trie, who pleaded guilty last week to federal election law violations, had a handwritten note in Chinese mentioning Hughes, U.S. government export control licenses, bribery and a government official, according to the report. Liu Chaoying is a People's Liberation Army military officer and the daughter of former Communist Party Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Liu Huaqing, who has used numerous U.S. companies for sensitive technology acquisitions, the report said. Former Democratic Party fund-raiser Johnny Chung told federal investigators he received $300,000 from Col. Liu. The Cox committee determined that Col. Liu's payment to Johnny Chung was an attempt to better position her in the United States to acquire computer, missile and satellite technologies. The report noted that these well-connected Chinese officials present a unique technology transfer threat because their multiple connections enable them to move freely around the world and among the different bureaucracies in China...."

Freeper SIT-REP 4/15/99 "...When the arms deal was threatened by the Leatherneck sting operation, Downie claims it was sabotaged by Richard P. Siegal, the Special Agent-in-Charge of the Cleveland office. Siegal's office maintains the investigation is still ongoing (and will not discuss it). But Downie believes the rot extended upward to the highest reaches of Customs' parent agency -- the U.S. Treasury.... Customs management also refused to release minor funds needed to keep an informant in place in Vietnam and to purchase the West Point ring of an American POW/MIA, which was to be a bonafide to assure Downie of the authenticity of the Vietnamese government's support for the deal. [Thenceforth, Downie was actually instructed by his superiors to avoid any further intelligence concerning the POW/MIA's]. At this point the veteran operative believed that both he and Schwartz were in grave danger, but he attempted to press on with the sting. Three weeks after it was upgraded to the highest level of undercover operation -- Class I, Downie's controlling agent, Frank Caliendo, with whom he had worked closely since the seventies, was suddenly removed from the case with no explanation and against his vehement protests and given a forced transfer to California. But the coup de grace for Leatherneck came when, in the most senstivie phase of the operation, his superiors tried to get him to take the stand and blow his cover in court in a prosecution from a previous sting of a man he had witnessed selling a counterfeit Gucci handbag! As Downie wrote in January 1993 to the Treasury Inspector General's (IG) office: The fact that the individual in question did not meet U.S. Attorney guidelines for prosecution did not seem to matter to Customs management. I believe this was an overt attempt to destroy my twenty year cover and place myself and my family in extreme jeopardy. Unwilling to participate in this dangerous sham, Downie withdrew from the case, and Operation Leatherneck was shut down shortly thereafter...."

Freeper SIT-REP 4/15/99 "... Just who are the nameless, faceless individuals "at the highest levels" of the various corrupt agencies ceaselessly involved in sabotaging sting operations and tipping off the perpetrators? In the case of the Customs Service, the supervising agency is the U.S. Treasury. The office involved in the decision to close down the Leatherneck sting was the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), in Washington. A series of offenses committed by its director, Richard Newcombe, were exposed last year by John Solomon (the same Associated Press reporter who picked up the Cosco story). Apparently, Newcombe has a history of tipping off the targets of OFAC investigations, thus allowing them to evade prosecution. He alerted the Standard Charter bank in New York, which, according to Downie, was a key participant in the Leatherneck smuggling operation, by sending a notice to it demanding that is cease and desist from the very activities for which it was being investigated (both the bank and Newcombe refused comment to Solomon, despite repeated inquiries). According to a May 10th, 1996 AP story, the activities include "funneling money from major U.S. corporations to Vietnam in the late 1980's and 1990's" in violation of the Trading with the Enemy Act. This tip-off resulted in the collapse of the investigation, despite the fact that "a subsequent audit verified the transactions". It was not an isolated incident. Newcombe also attended private lunches with representatives of Texaco, even as it was being investigated by OFAC for possible trade embargo offenses in Haiti. He also refused to step aside from the case despite his friendship with a Texaco lawyer...."

Freeper SIT-REP 4/15/99 "...The same AP article revealed serious charges by Stephen Plitman, one of two OFAC agents resisting the shutdown of Leatherneck, who lost their jobs when their Treasury positions were abruptly discontinued. Plitman charged that his boss, Newcombe, met with several times and blatantly tipped off representatives of Mobil Oil, alerting them to the fact that the firm was under investigation for violating the Vietnam trade embargo. An inspector general's report showed that Newcombe even gave Mobil representatives a copy of a subpoena days before it was served to them. Solomon quoted Plitman from documents: "I was completely taken aback". He added that he considered Newcombe's actions to be "nothing less that a tipoff." The allegations of the improper meetings were supported by Secret Service logs and even the recollections of a Mobil representative, who admitted that Newcombe gave them a "passing heads up" on the OFAC probe during a limousine ride provided to Newcombe by the company.... Agent Plitman and is associate, Bob Sheridan's positions at OFAC were discontinued and they later ended up in Customs at lower pay grades. They are now the targets of an internal Treasury Department investigation into their charges against Newcombe -- an action which Mickey Downie descirbes as "Ongoing bureaucratic retaliation". The criminal element in the federal government have honed this method of crushing honest whistleblowers to an exact science. As Downie wryly notes, "When you've done something a few hundred times, you become very proficient at it".

Freeper SIT-REP 4/15/99 "...Furthermore, according to a June 6th, 1996 AP report, also by John Solomon, the Treasury's Newcombe was alleged by his subordinates to have illegally alerted companies being investigated by OFAC for assisting Libyan money-laundering efforts. The two companies were the Arab Banking Corp (ABC) of Bahrain and VISA International, the credit card firm. The ABC bank was allegedly clearing "Libyan funds in the form of VISA checks" through its New York branch in violation of the Libyan embargo placed in retaliation for its terrorist activities. Yet, Newcombe's office discussed in public at a London meeting filled with foreign officilas (some of who had ties to the parties being investigated) that they were investigating the ABC bank for possible Libyan money laundering -- thus tipping off the suspects. The Justice Department and the FBI agents on the case considered that "the integrity of the investigation was compromised" by Newcombe's statements and by other direct warnings given to Bahrainian officials...."

Center for Security Policy (Exerpts from) 9/29/98 Gaffney Web Site: Center for Security Policy "...Ms. Gottemoeller has long been associated with some of the most wooly-headed of denuclearization proposals. For example, Ms. Gottemoeller was one of the authors of a troubling June 1997 report issued by the Committee on International Security and Arms Control of the National Academy of Science (NAS). Entitled The Future of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy, this study advocated a series of highly controversial actions with respect to the American nuclear deterrent -- steps that, taken together, could have the result effectively of unilaterally disarming the United States…."

Center for Security Policy (Exerpts from) 9/29/98 Gaffney Web Site: Center for Security Policy "... Consider the following: 1. 'De-alerting': Ms. Gottemoeller and Company urged that "the operational and technical readiness of nuclear weapons for use" be degraded as a means of "decreas[ing] the chance of erroneous launch of nuclear weapons or a launch in response to a spurious or incorrectly interpreted indication of impending attack." ...2. 'No-First-Use': Ms. Gottemoeller and her colleagues believe that "the United States should adopt no-first-use of nuclear weapons as its declaratory policy at an early date." Interestingly, the NAS study goes on to observe, almost as an afterthought, the real difficulty with such a recommendation: "Changing to a no-first-use policy will, of course, require consultation with allies to reassure them that the United States will meet, by non-nuclear means, its obligations to come to their aid in the event of a non-nuclear attack against them." ....3. No Missile Defense: Ms. Gottemoeller is an adherent to the theology of American vulnerability to missile attack from all quarters. As her NAS study put it: "The [1972] Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty must remain the 'cornerstone of strategic stability' as it was described by Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin at the conclusion of the Helsinki Summit. The ABM Treaty is by no means a relic of the Cold War thinking as some assert. On the contrary, it remains a logical adjunct of the continuing reality of offense dominance in conflicts involving nuclear weapons." A majority of Senators now recognize what has eluded Ms. Gottemoeller and her fellow arms control ideologues: The post-Cold War world is one in which the United States clearly cannot afford to remain vulnerable to ballistic missile attack, anymore than its allies and forward-deployed troops can. 4. No Nukes: Ms. Gottemoeller's commitment to American vulnerability is all the more astounding in light of her study's embrace of the proposition that there are circumstances under which the "prohibition" of nuclear weapons would, "on balance...enhance the security of the United States and the rest of the world." It is not self-evident that the "continuing reality of offense dominance" would apply should nuclear weapons ever be "prohibited." Interestingly, the contradiction inherent in Ms. Gottemoeller's muddled thinking in this area is even more evident in one of the few sensible passages from her National Academy of Sciences study: "It is not clear today how or when [comprehensive nuclear disarmament] could be achieved...."

Center for Security Policy (Exerpts from) 9/29/98 Gaffney Web Site: Center for Security Policy "...Even the most effective verification system that could be envisioned would not produce complete confidence that a small number of nuclear weapons had not been hidden or fabricated in secret. More fundamentally, the knowledge of how to build nuclear weapons cannot be erased from the human mind, and the capacity of states to build such weapons cannot be eliminated. Even if every nuclear warhead were destroyed, the current nuclear weapons states, and a growing number of other technologically advanced states would be able to build new weapons within a few months or a few years of a national decision to do so." .....Since Rose Gottemoeller (and her NAS co-authors) cannot explain how a total and effective nuclear ban could be achieved, it is dangerous and irresponsible to lend credibility to such a goal. Indeed, under present circumstances, the mere pursuit of that goal calls into question the judgment and realism of its proponents. And it would reflect very badly upon the judgment and realism of Senators were they to agree to place someone who advocates such a dangerous and irresponsible denuclearization agenda in charge of "national security" at the Department of Energy. This was not Ms. Gottemoeller's first run at a confirmable position. In fact, she was widely expected to be appointed last year to the long-vacant position of Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy -- the Pentagon's top official with responsibility for nuclear weapons policy....."

Wall Street Journal 5/12/99 JOHN J. FIALKA "... Treasury Department employees in January destroyed 162 boxes of old records that may have included files subject to a court order in a suit accusing the government of mishandling Indian trust funds. The Justice Department's lead lawyer in the case, Phillip A. Brooks, admitted the destruction in a letter to Judge Royce C. Lamberth of federal District Court here. The court had ordered the Clinton administration to produce trust-fund documents, and earlier this year Judge Lamberth held both Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt in civil contempt for repeatedly failing to locate and provide all the documents. The case, scheduled for trial in June, has been pending for more than two years.....The destruction was stopped, Mr. Brooks said, and a check of the remaining 245 boxes showed that at least two boxes were from the Interior Department. "We cannot at this time rule out the possibility" that some of the destroyed documents were subject to the court order, he stated in his letter. Dennis Gingold, a lawyer for the Indians, reacted angrily: "I think Mr. Rubin should go to jail for this. This is criminal contempt.".... Mr. Brooks said the boxes of destroyed records covered payments made by various federal agencies during the first half of this century. Another box from the collection "was apparently mislaid" during a transfer operation in 1996, he wrote. "We have opted to err on the side of caution and bring these matters to your attention immediately," Mr. Brooks said in his letter to Judge Lamberth. There was no immediate reaction from the judge, who has been critical of the government's handling of the case. In two separate rulings Tuesday, Alan L. Balaran, a special master appointed by the judge to enforce his orders for documents, ordered the government to provide e-mail as well as other documents that the Justice Department had argued should be withheld under attorney-client privilege.

USA TODAY http://www.usatoday.com/ FreeRepublic http://www.freerepublic.com/ 5/12/99 analysis by A WHITEWATER RESEARCHER, REPORTER "....The forced resignation today of disgraced Clinton Treasury secretary Robert Rubin may have been a result of imminent further exposure of a vast array of corrupt activities, from Treasury's attempted coercion of United States Secret Service agents to lie during their Filegate testimony in 1996 and the agents' criminal prosecution as a result of that testimony, to today's New York Times story "CHINA SENT CASH TO U.S. BANK, WITH SUSPICIONS SLOW TO RISE" ....However, the final straw that broke Rubin's back could well have been a brilliant investigative journalism article by the USA TODAY's Tom Lowry on May 3, 1999, "TRUST SCANDAL HAUNTS GOLDMAN/SULLIED BISHOP ESTATE OWNS 10% OF BANK/HIGHLY PAID TRUSTEES FACING ACCUSATIONS, CHARGES", which was excerpted in a May 5, 1999 FreeRepublic article .... Mr. Lowry exhaustively details the utterly corrupt activities of Hawaii's giant Bishop Estate in general, and a highly suspect transaction between the Bishop Estate and the personal financial account of Robert Rubin in particular. Rubin is also a former chairman of Goldman Sachs and whose Treasury department regulates both the Bishop Estate and Goldman Sachs. Rubin apparently operated at Treasury, regulating both the Bishop Estate and Goldman Sachs, will full awareness of his massive conflicts of interest involving his personal investments, the Treasury department, the Internal Revenue Service, Goldman Sachs, and the Bishop Estate..... "...I am a professional stock market investor myself. ...... For those of you with the Black Scholes model, just set the price of Goldman Sachs at 100, set the expiration date at a year from now of a put option with a strike price of 100, and tell me what you get. I bet that put is worth at least 20, or twenty percent of the value of the underlying stock position. In the case of Rubin's Goldman stock holdings in 1993, the at the money, one year put warrant would be worth at least $20 million annually, not $100,000...... THIS WOULD SUGGEST AN "AT THE MONEY ONE YEAR PUT OPTION" ON RUBIN'S 1993 GOLDMAN SACHS HOLDINGS WAS WORTH WELL OVER $20 MILLION!!! With the value of Rubin's Goldman Sachs holdings appreciating in recent years, the value of the Bishop Estate put on $100 million of underlying Goldman value sold to Rubin would decline, but I think it is fair to say that Rubin, via this put maneuver with the Bishop Estate, a charity, may have received illegal gratuities, in 1993 alone, if he paid only approximately $100,000 for his one year, at the money Goldman put warrant which was in fact worth well over $20 million...."

LA Times 3/10/98 Tom Plate "...Please meet Adm. Joseph Prueher, the commander in chief of all U.S. forces in the Pacific--in charge of all those ready-to-fight Marines, pilots, commanders and sailors. This military man has a non-stereotypical attitude about dealing with a potential foe. He believes that the most prudent policy toward those who might someday have the capability to harm us is to try to understand them now, though without kowtowing to them, to meet them halfway rather than tell them to stuff it, to make diplomatic love, as it were, rather than resort to the cruel finality of war. And, about the need to do this in the case of China, the Nashville-born Naval Academy graduate is passionate and is willing to put his reputation on the line. .....Sailors know that nothing beats being able to see with your own eyes, and this admiral also likes to see things for himself. Since he took command in January 1996, he has been to China four times, and what he has seen is an increasingly capable country quickly modernizing the People's Liberation Army. "PLA soldiers down to the army captain level are outstanding," Prueher says. "The senior leadership is smart, pragmatic and patriotic. And their strategic rocket forces are able and well- funded." The Chinese military returns the compliment by allowing him unique access. During one Chinese training exercise, Prueher viewed new equipment and installations heretofore off-limits. But despite increasing military-to-military contacts between the PLA and the Pacific Command, both here and in China, Prueher accepts that it's always possible that China--or for that matter America--could turn on the powerful nation it now eyes warily across the Pacific. "I try not to get too rosy a glow," he says. "I'm paid to be skeptical." Still, he pointedly disarms pessimists who view future conflict with China as inevitable by saying to them: "You could be right. Maybe they will try to nail us in 15 years. But if you stiff them at every turn between now and then, you guarantee that they may try to do that in 15 years." America, despite its differences with China, must offer true respect or it will get nowhere. "The U.S. is the world's youngest major power; China is the world's oldest major power," he said, diplomatically, in a Beijing speech. "Clearly, there is much we can learn from each other." ...."

LA Times 2/23/99 Tom Plate "...Just before he handed in his Navy retirement papers, and handed over this prestigious command to Adm. Dennis Blair last weekend, Prueher offered us some candid views about Asia. His chief concern remains the tensions in the South China Sea, where China butts egos with its neighbors over disputed islands. "We are trying to create a busy presence in the South China Sea," he says. ... His next worry is unpredictable North Korea: "The North Korean ability to sustain a conflict is not strong. But their ability to inflict pain quickly, over a short period, is great." The admiral is scarcely surprised by China's inability to control North Korea, which last summer unexpectedly launched a test missile over Japan's airspace. Prueher knows that China, with its shaky economy, growing unemployment and burgeoning military might, has its own problems. The admiral, more than most U.S. officials, offers a compelling, nuanced perspective on Beijing that's less condemnatory than carefully comprehending: "We must respect the true national interests of others, even when they are not our own. With China, we are in for a little more difficult time, more difficult than over the past few years." Prueher views China's latest crackdowns on dissidents as symptoms of weakness rather than strength: "Their economic problems are creating a lot of stress. When their leaders lose a bit of stability, or control over an issue, they worry a lot, and it bleeds over to the human rights issue, where we don't see eye to eye. Still, we must respect China's legitimate interests." ...."

The American Spectator 8/99 Kenneth R. Timmerman "...What Chung didn't know, however, was where General Ji got the $300,000. Documents obtained by the U.S. Department of Justice in late 1997, which were only turned over to Burton's committee the day that Chung testified in May, show that Chung received a transfer of HKD 2,318,850 ($300,000) from Liu Chaoying's Citibank account in Hong Kong on August 14, 1996. According to one of the U.S. government officials who helped Weldon compile his charts, that money and other contributions to the DNC sent by General Ji to other conduit donors were siphoned off from the Hong Kong accounts of J&A Securities (Hong Kong) Ltd., a subsidiary of the largest securities trading company in Communist China. J&A Securities, based in Shenzhen, was set up in 1992 by the PLA, corporate records examined by TAS show. Its original name, Jun An Securities, conflates the Mandarin characters for "Military" (Jun) and " Security" (An). If these investigators are right, then it is the PLA's secret money tree.

The American Spectator 8/99 Kenneth R. Timmerman "...Justice Department investigators quizzed Chung on June 12, 1998, about his ties to General Ji and to J&A Securities, whose involvement in the money transfers Chung appears to have ignored. Unbeknownst to Chung, the Justice Department had been contacted by the Chinese government through Interpol, the international police liaison agency in France, in connection with the alleged embezzlement of COSTIND funds by J&A Securities Chairman Zhang Guoqing, a U.S. official said. Zhang was arrested in July 1998 in Hong Kong and taken to Beijing for questioning, according to press reports in Hong Kong and Singapore.

The American Spectator 8/99 Kenneth R. Timmerman "...As part of his plea bargain with the Justice Department, Chung agreed to wear a body wire in meetings with an emissary sent by General Ji, who went by the name of Robert Luu. Chung first met Luu in China in 1996. Luu resurfaced two years later in California, and warned Chung not to tell U.S. prosecutors about the involvement of General Ji or China Aerospace in the campaign donation scheme.."

The American Spectator 8/99 Kenneth R. Timmerman "...In a conversation with Luu on June 11, Chung tried to draw him out on the subject of Zhang Guoqing. "Who is Mr. Zhang--mysterious person Mr. Zhang! I never met Mr. Zhang. I don't know who he is. I was well aware of whom I had meals with"--a reference to General Ji. "I'm very clear about where the facts are. Ji Shengde is Mr. Zhang," Chung said ...In fact, what Chung meant is that Ji Shengde's money came from Zhang, the elusive head of J&A Securities in Hong Kong. The same Zhang had recently been arrested by Chinese authorities in Hong Kong, because he knew too much. He disappeared last summer and has not been seen since. Indeed, in one account in a Hong Kong daily, Zhang reportedly told the Ministry of State Security officers who had come to arrest him that they had better consult Beijing before mistreating him. "I have a laser disk in the United States, and the disk data will affect the national image," he reportedly said..."

The American Spectator 8/99 Kenneth R. Timmerman "...J&A Securities grew from a single brokerage house in Shenzhen in 1992, to more than 3,000 branches throughout China by 1998. It began as a classic PLA operation, with nominees sent to Hong Kong to buy up a shell company with a listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange--Massique Limited--then infusing it with mainland Chinese assets to attract foreign investment. J&A Securities took off with the booming Pacific Rim economy, floating bonds in Chinese state companies and making instruments available for foreign investors to gain a foothold in Chinese state industries. But by July 1995 another, more unusual plan for J&A Securities began to emerge when the Shenzhen parent company, which owned the majority share, transferred its stock to a new front company set up in the tiny South Pacific Island nation of West Samoa. The new company was called J&A Holdings, Ltd. ...West Samoa, which borders the America Pacific territory of Samoa, is the closest non-Western state to the United States, lying some 2,400 miles south of Hawaii..'"

The American Spectator 8/99 Kenneth R. Timmerman "...The money trail shows there were two driving forces behind the Chinese government's campaign contributions in the United States: the PLA's Military Intelligence Department (Er Bu), and COSTIND, the State Commission of Science Technology and Industry for National Defense. Er Bu reports directly to the General Staff Department, which is controlled by the Central Military Commission, chaired by Chinese President Jiang Zemin. COSTIND reports to the State Council, which is chaired by Prime Minister Zhu Rongji. COSTIND sets the technology requirements for the Chinese military; Er Bu collectors acquire those technologies from foreign sources. The two may be rivals in some ways, but they also work hand-in-hand.

The American Spectator 8/99 Kenneth R. Timmerman "...The key role played by Liu Chaoying shows how this works. Liu's father, General Liu Huaqing, was vice chairman of the Central Military Commission before his retirement in October 1997. This gave Ms. Liu the Er Bu connection she so forcefully demonstrated to Johnny Chung by introducing him to Er Bu Director General Ji. But Ms. Liu also worked for CASIL, which was a subsidiary of the China Aerospace Corporation, which is controlled by COSTIND. Another China Aerospace Corporation with which Ms. Liu was associated, China Great Wall Industries Group, manufactures China's liquid fuel strategic rockets and space-launch vehicles. They have also become the main partner for U.S. aerospace firms seeking to launch satellites in China.

Strategicintel.com 6/12/99 Gretchen Glass "...Hogan & Hartson Hogan & Hartson is an international law firm lobbying for Russia and Communist China. This firm, the largest in Washington, D.C., is "tight" with the Clinton Administration, being involved in the Clinton/Gore campaigns and the Presidential Inaugural Committee. The firm represents the Democratic National Committee, a reported recipient of funds laundered by Johnny Chung, and is currently representing a friend of the Clintons and Gore - the notorious John Huang. Let's look at the Clinton / Hogan & Hartson connection...."

Strategicintel.com 6/12/99 Gretchen Glass "...Sandy Berger - National Security Advisor and head of the National Security Council..... Mr. Berger was a paid lobbyist for the Chinese Communists while he was a partner at Hogan & Hartson, where he headed the firm's international trade group..... (Berger is still listed as a Partner with Hogan & Hartson.) ..."

Strategicintel.com 6/12/99 Gretchen Glass "...Anthony S. Harrington - Chairman of the Intelligence Oversight Board (IOB). .... He is also Vice Chair of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB) and a member of the Commission on the Roles and Capabilities of the United States Intelligence Community.... (Mr. Harrington is still listed as a senior partner at Hogan & Hartson.)

Strategicintel.com 6/12/99 Gretchen Glass "...Mary Anne Sullivan - General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Energy..... Sullivan has been part of the Clinton Administration team since 1994 when she was named deputy general counsel for environment and civilian and defense nuclear programs... (She is a partner at Hogan & Hartson.)

Strategicintel.com 6/12/99 Gretchen Glass "...Larry Irving - Assistant Secretary of Commerce. Larry Irving was appointed to his present position by President Clinton in the spring of 1993. In this capacity, Mr. Irving serves as a principal adviser to the President, Vice President and Secretary of Commerce on domestic and international communications issues, oversees the management of the Federal government's use of the radio spectrum, and supervises programs that award grants to extend the reach of advanced telecommunications technologies to under served areas... (Attorney at Hogan & Hartson.)

Strategicintel.com 6/12/99 Gretchen Glass "...Cheryl D. Mills - Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Counsel to the President..... (Attorney at Hogan & Hartson.)

Strategicintel.com 6/12/99 Gretchen Glass "...Christine Varney - Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (1994-1997). Ms. Varney has had an "interesting" career. She started out as an attorney with Hogan & Hartson and Chief Counsel to the 1992 Clinton/Gore campaign, and General Counsel to the 1993 Presidential Inaugural Committee. She then moved to the Clinton Administration where she rapidly moved up the ladder: Secretary to the Cabinet; to Senior Advisor to the President; to Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. Then, she returned to Hogan & Hartson as a partner... (Partner at Hogan & Hartson.)

Strategicintel.com 6/12/99 Gretchen Glass "...Daniel Poneman - Commission to Assess the Organization of the Federal Government to Combat the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction. The commission is charged with studying the current organization of the U.S. government, including the intelligence community, to deal with the threat posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and to make recommendations to Congress on steps to improve the effectiveness of the U.S. government in dealing with this threat. Prior to 12/17/97, Mr. Poneman served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Nonproliferation and Export Controls at the National Security Council, and chaired the Interagency Working Group for Nonproliferation and Export Controls.... (Counsel at Hogan & Hartson.)

Strategicintel.com 6/12/99 Gretchen Glass "...Mara Rudman - Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Legislative Affairs at the National Security Council.... (Attorney at Hogan & Hartson.)

Strategicintel.com 6/12/99 Gretchen Glass "...Ty Cobb and Jack Keeney providing Presidential cover in the Huang case. Cobb and Keeney of Hogan & Hartson represent John Huang...The Washington Post reported: "Cobb was brought into the Huang representation by partner Jack Keeney, who met Huang while doing legal work for the Democratic National Committee." Cobb is one of Hogan & Hartson's leading partners and top litigator, "sitting on the five-member executive committee that runs the firm." ...One of Huang's lawyers is also related to the former head of the Criminal Division for Janet Reno's Justice Department.

Salon 6/21/99 David Horowitz "...The Riady relationship extended beyond the Clintons themselves to their friends and to Hillary's associates at Rose, including its head, Joe Giroir, and a White House aide named Mark Middleton, who later invoked the Fifth Amendment when he was called before a congressional committee. It was the Riadys who provided a $100,000 "job" for the indicted Web Hubbell, at the moment when he had indicated to the Starr prosecutors that he might be ready to talk. After the payment from Riady and others, Hubbell changed his mind and chose jail instead.

Opening Statement Chairman Dan Burton Committee on Government Reform 5/11/99 "...He [Chung] said that Liu Chao-Ying told him that Mark Middleton got half a million from a Singapore group. We checked Mark Middleton's bank records. They show that he received over $1.75 million from Asian businesses. One of the payments he received was a half-a-million payment from Indonesia. We don't know what money Liu Chao-Ying was referring to. If we could go to Hong Kong to interview Liu Chao-Ying, maybe we could find out. We have a copy of a letter from Mark Middleton to one of his associates in Singapore. It mentions someone named Liu. It says, and I quote, "Thank you for the update on Ms. Liu. I know that she must be concerned with nepotism but I'm not sure how that affects us." We don't know what Mark Middleton meant in this letter. He's taken the Fifth, so we can't ask him...."

Washington Times 8/5/99 Jerry Seper "...Mark Middleton, former confidant of Charles Yah Lin Trie, John Huang and Johnny Chung, all of whom confessed to making illegal donations during the 1996 presidential election, is the highest ranking administration official to refuse to cooperate in the campaign-finance probe. Mr. Middleton, a longtime Clinton confidant who raised more than $4 million during the 1992 election, was called to appear before the House Government Reform Committee, which will ask him about his ties to Trie, Huang and Chung and his financial connections with the Lippo Group, a $6 billion Indonesian real estate and banking conglomerate controlled by the Riady family -- also Clinton supporters...."

Washington Times 8/5/99 Jerry Seper "...Chung testified before the committee that Liu Chao-ying, a lieutenant colonel in the People's Liberation Army and a China Aerospace Co. executive with whom Chung had a business relationship, told him that Mr. Middleton received $50,000 in PLA funds to do "good things" for Mr. Clinton. Mr. Middleton has denied the accusation.

8/6/99 Susan Roth Arkansas Democrat-Gazette "...Middleton, 36, has been linked with former Little Rock restaurateur Charlie Trie, California businessman Johnny Chung and others indicted by the Justice Department for illegal fund-raising during the campaign. Middleton, who now lives in Little Rock but owns a Washington-based company that arranges international business deals, has acknowledged that he met with some of the major figures in the campaign-finance investigation in 1994 and 1995. He has also acknowledged that investigators could have legitimate questions about these contacts. But he maintains that he did nothing wrong. Chung told the committee in May that a Chinese military official had told him that Middleton had received $500,000 from a Singapore business group to "do good things for China or to benefit China." Middleton has said in a written statement that the allegation was "absolutely false" and that he never received any money directly or indirectly related to the Chinese government...."

8/6/99 Susan Roth Arkansas Democrat-Gazette "...According to committee documents, Middleton received at least $275,000 in retainer fees for unspecified work from July 1995 to April 1997. The money came from the Riady family of Indonesia, which runs the Lippo Group financial conglomerate, has business ties to Arkansas and President Clinton and has been implicated in campaign-finance irregularities. Middleton also met with Trie and Macau financier Ng Lap Seng at the White House many times, according to the committee. Ng has also been implicated in illegal contributions to the 1996 campaign...."

Wall Street Journal 8/6/99 "...Vanessa Weaver had her hearing yesterday. As we noted editorially yesterday, she's the White House aide who made 23 calls to the mysterious fundraiser John Huang and who Bill Clinton just nominated to the Ex-Im Bank. She told the committee that when she called Mr. Huang in October 1996, she didn't know he was a fugitive. Meanwhile, former White House aide Mark Middleton took the fifth Amendment before Rep. Dan Burton's committee. The questioning had to do with weather Mr. Middleton was involved with raising money from the Chinese and other foreign interests for the Democratic National Committee. By coincidence the Ex-Im Bank to which Ms. Weaver aspires counts China among its biggest clients. Somehow these Clinton friends with memory-deficit disorder don't inspire confidence in the way a relatively normal Democratic administration would. Now for a bit of news that has not been reported in the media: Vanessa Weaver's appointment to the Ex-Im bank did not go through! ...."

Washington Weekly 8/9/99 Marvin Lee "...Burton asked Middleton about a statement attributed to Liu Chao-Ying, an agent of the Chinese intelligence, that Mark Middleton got a half-million dollars through a group in Singapore to "do good things for China." "We've received testimony that you were doing something clandestine with agents of the Chinese military -- the daughter of the PLA's most senior general. It was very cryptic. But since you haven't spoken to us, it's all we have to go on," Burton said. What is known is that Middleton was instrumental in buying the silence of Whitewater witness Webster Hubbell with money from China. James Riady and John Huang met repeatedly with Middleton in the White House before wiring $100,000 from a Hong Kong bank partly owned by Chinese intelligence to Webster Hubbell. And when Chinese Triad Mobster Ng Lap-seng entered the U.S. with a suitcase containing $175,000 in cash, he went to see Mark Middleton at the White House. Ng Lap-seng is a friend of Clinton crony Charlie Trie and has been suspected of carrying cash between the Chinese government and the White House. The White House has never accounted for the source of or the spending of these suitcases full of cash, and neither Ng Lap-seng nor Middleton are willing to talk...."

Atlanta Constitution 8/15/99 Rebecca Carr "…Wang first caught the eye of congressional investigators when he visited the White House on Feb. 6, 1996, with Charlie Trie, a former restaurateur and friend of the Clintons from Arkansas…. When news of Wang's trip to the White House first surfaced, President Clinton went out of his way to say that it was "clearly inappropriate" for a Chinese arms dealer to appear at the White House. At the time, Clinton aides said they had no prior knowledge of Wang's gun dealing background, nor did they know of his close ties to the Chinese army. But Collins said he gave top White House aides detailed information about Wang at a private White House luncheon in early May 1994. Collins was asked to speak to a small gathering of business leaders at the White House luncheon after escorting Deng Xiaoping's son, Deng Zhifang, to some of America's premier corporate centers. At the gathering, Collins said, were former White House Counsel Thomas "Mack" McLarty and former senior aide Mark Middleton, who later became a target of the campaign fund-raising probe…."

Atlanta Constitution 8/15/99 Rebecca Carr "…After the lunch, Collins said, Middleton called for more details about Wang. Collins said he told Middleton that Wang is the son of former Chinese Vice President Wang Zhen and that his companies were connected with the Chinese military. "He grilled me and grilled me. . . . It's hard to believe that they didn't know who he was," Collins said. If White House aides didn't know then who Wang was, they soon would learn. Wang's visit drew sharp criticism from lawmakers, including some Democrats, who said it was an example of the lengths the White House would go to raise a campaign dollar. If the White House had simply reviewed Poly's annual report, it would have found that the report lists its defense system sales….. However, Wang used Poly to arm Third World countries and funnel American military technology back to China, internal company records and interviews show. "Wang's Poly Group is Communist China's worst worldwide proliferator of deadly weapons, having brokered the sale of cruise missiles to Iran and nuclear weapons to Pakistan," Cox explained. Congressional investigators believe that Poly also sold M-9 nuclear-capable missile technology to Syria and arms to both sides of the Iraq-Iran war in the 1980s. Burma was another customer. …"

The Washington Times: 8/20/99 "…A former White House official invoked his Fifth Amendment rights 28 times yesterday in refusing to testify during a rancorous House committee hearing on campaign finance abuses during the 1996 presidential election. Mark Middleton, an Arkansas lawyer and longtime confidant of President Clinton, steadfastly refused to answer questions by House Government Reform Committee Republicans on whether he conspired with government officials in China or elsewhere to illegally funnel contributions to the Democratic National Committee or the Clinton-Gore re-election campaign. …The committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. Henry A. Waxman of California, derided Mr. Burton and other Republicans for what he described as a "malicious and misleading hearing." He said Mr. Middleton was called as a witness by the GOP after he said he would refuse to cooperate only so that he could be "punished." …. Meanwhile, Attorney General Janet Reno yesterday denied that the Justice Department was stalling its campaign finance task force probe to block congressional Republicans from conducting their own inquiries. She said it was "certainly not true" that the department has marked some probes as "ongoing" to halt efforts by the GOP to investigate the accusations…."

The Washington Post Magazine's Inside the Loop: 8/20/99 "…When we last checked, Mark Middleton, a former assistant to former White House chief of staff Thomas F. "Mack" McLarty, was being criticized for entertaining his potential business clients from Asia in White House dining facilities long after he left the White House. And House investigators wanted to talk to the native Arkansan and business partner of Yah Lin "Charlie" Trie about Asian campaign contributions--but Middleton, who left the White House in early 1995, took the Fifth. Just a few weeks ago, Middleton, looking very blond and boyish, showed up in--where else ?--Beijing, where he was seen shepherding around officials of a Little Rock investment company called Talisman Capital, including managing director Geoffrey Tirman. We're told they are involved in a deal to invest several million dollars, along with the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post…"

Martin Berlin Professor Department of Mechanical Engineering and Chancellor University of California Berkeley, CA 94720 Personal: Born July 24, 1935, China; Naturalized U.S. Citizen...BS, National Taiwan University, 1955 MME, University of Louisville, 1957 MA, Princeton University, 1959 PhD, Princeton University, 1959 ...President's Advisory Board, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (1991-); Board of Trustees, Chiang Industrial Charity Foundation, Ltd., Hong Kong (1991-); Board of Directors, Wells Fargo Bank (1991-)...Honorary Professor, twelve leading universities in China since 1981; Honorary Professor and Director, Xi'an Jiaotong University Engineering Thermophysics Research Institute (1987-); Honorary Research Professor, Chinese Academy of Science-Institute of Thermophysics [China] (1981-); Visiting Viola D. Hank Chair Professor, University of Notre Dame (1983); Senior U.S. Scientist Fellowship, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (1980); Senior U.S. Scientist Award, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation [West Germany] (1979); John Simon Guggenheim Fellow (1965)...."

http://minoritiesjobbank.com/ "...Clinton Names Chang-Lin Tien To Serve on Science Board...The President has announced his intent to nominate University of California-Berkeley Professor Chang-Lin Tien, to serve as a member of the National Science Board, along with fellow nominees Luis Sequeira, George Langford, Maxine Savitz, and Joseph Miller.....At age 26 (in 1962) Dr. Tien became the youngest professor to receive the prestigious U.C. Berkeley Distinguished Teaching Award. Dr. Tien has a master's degree from the University of Louisville, and a master's and a Ph.D. from Princeton. Earlier this year, Chancellor Tien had also been in the running for the position of Secretary of Energy, which finally went to U.N. Ambassador Bill Richardson. In that nomination, Tien had been widely supported by scientists and made it to the final round of considerations, inspiring many Asian Americans to hope for future Asian Pacific American appointments that might ensure "a Cabinet that reflected the face of America." At the time, Chancellor Tien had found Richardson a well-qualified choice, and said he stood ready and willing to serve the country in some other capacity should the opportunity arise...."

http://sunsite.lib.berkeley.edu/CalHistory/chancellor.tien.html "...Chang-Lin Tien Chancellor, 1990-1997...Chang-Lin Tien was born in Wuhan, China, and received his B.S. degree from National Taiwan University in 1955. He earned an MME degree at the University of Louisville in 1957, and MA and PhD degrees at Princeton in 1957 and 1959. He joined the faculty of Mechanical Engineering at Berkeley in 1959, and he served as the chair of the department from 1974 to 1981. He was appointed the seventh Chancellor of the Berkeley campus in 1990. Apart from service as Executive Vice Chancellor at Irvine from 1988 to 1990, his entire career has been spent at Berkeley..... Continuing necessity for fund-raising has been met with outstanding success: extramural research support increased by 35% even in the face of declining federal support, and the level of private gifts to a public university has soared to new records enabling research and academic excellence to remain consistently high..... Tien has been a champion of preserving the excellence of the Berkeley campus in other ways also. He spoke out against the effects of the University's early retirement programs on the makeup of the faculty, and more recently he became the spokesman for retaining affirmative action as a proper means of assuring higher education to all those who deserve it.... "

AsianWeek 4/30-5/6 1998 Sam Chu Lin "...Asian Pacific American leaders across the country are calling on the Clinton administration to name an Asian American to replace outgoing Secretary of Energy Federico Pena. Former UC Berkeley Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien, who made the White House finalist list the last time, is again being mentioned, and he says he'll accept--if given the chance..... Those developments haven't dampened the spirits of those who are trying to rally support for Tien. According to Jim Bonham, Matsui's press aide, a letter of endorsement for the former chancellor is now being circulated in the California congressional delegation, and Matsui has signed it.... The professor's supporters also point out Tien has valuable experience and prestige unmatched by other contenders. Henry Manayan, the mayor of the Bay Area city of Milpitas and an American of Chinese, Filipino and Spanish descent, noted that "when I make trade mission trips to the Peoples Republic of China, I have learned Chancellor Tien has tremendous name recognition as a public figure, someone who is very accomplished, and whom they attach a lot of weight."....San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown also knows this first hand. Tien helped to arrange a meeting between Brown and President Jiang Zemin during the mayor's trade mission to China last year. Thanks to Tien's contacts, Brown also became the first major U.S. official to speak at Beijing University since the Tianamen Square incident..... Shortly before the White House announced Pena's nomination to the Energy Department, the Washington Post newspaper reported that Tien had accepted a contribution from the Riadys, the Indonesian family embroiled in the controversy. Tien has said he met Riady only once, and that the contribution was made to the university....."

National Review On Line 8/5/99 "..."The suspect unfairly tried to use the race card," complained Bill Richardson on Tuesday, in response to Wen Ho Lee's charge on "60 Minutes" that he was fired from his job at Los Alamos because he was the only Asian-American scientist in his weapons-design group. Added Richardson: "He tried to portray himself as a victim after he massively violated our security system." ....Perhaps he's decided, since then, that race has no part in this discussion. If so, good for him. Now he should condemn President Clinton, who played his own race card last week in a truly bizarre forum: a press release issued from Air Force One expressing his "special gratitude" to Chang Lin Tien, former chancellor of UC-Berkeley, for starting work on the National Science Board. "It is intolerable that the patriotism of Asian-Pacific American scientists be questioned in the wake of recent allegations of espionage at one of our national laboratories," said Clinton. "Racism and stereotyping have no place in our One America in the 21st century." ...."

THE WHITE HOUSE: Statement by the Press Secretary, M2 PressWIRE, 7/30/99 "...The President wishes to express his special gratitude to Professor Chang Lin Tien, who begins his service today on the National Science Board. Professor Tien and other Board members help sustain American leadership across the frontiers of scientific knowledge. Professor Tien's rich background, as a world-class engineer and as the former Chancellor of the University of California at Berkeley, provides him with a unique understanding of the important links between science and technology, and education and society. "Asian Pacific American scientists and engineers have long made major contributions to our country, to our national security, and to our unmatched scientific enterprise," the President said. "That is why it is intolerable that the patriotism of Asian Pacific American scientists be questioned in the wake of recent allegations of espionage at one of our national laboratories. Security matters are of the highest priority in my Administration, but history has shown the damage to the lives of our citizens and to our society that results from the destructive grip of prejudice, suspicion and discrimination. Racism and stereotyping have no place in our One America in the 21st century." ...In answering the call to public service, Professor Tien carries on the principles and cherished traditions of Asian Pacific Americans who have helped build and strengthen our nation with diligence and determination...."

Freeper Jolly observes "...Okay we have Clinton making this weird preemptive statement above. We know he has conections with Jiang, and met with the Riady at least once. Now who was he involved with in HK none other then Hambrecht & Quist. This Silicon Harbor idea is somthing that H&Q is the lead investor in... Silicon Harbour `needs hordes' of skilled staff, Hong Kong Standard, 07/22/99 (Chinese Economy, Internet, HK) Excerpt: "He said he does not want to speculate the basis for the recent announcement by Prof Tien Chang-lin, chairman of the Commission on Innovation and Technology. Prof Tien said that several Taiwan companies are interested in investing in design and manufacture of advanced chips at Hong Kong's ``Silicon Harbour'' project. Prof Tien said on the eve of his departure to the US that one of a broad spectrum of high value-added activities that will be supported at Silicon Harbour is design of systems on a chip. His remark was received with reservation in informed circles...."

Another from Jolly "...Yue to head new trouble-shoot unit, Hong Kong Standard, 07/09/99 ....Asked who would succeed Professor Tien Chang-lin to head a standing advisory body to promote innovation and technology, Mr Chau said it was hard to find ``a person as brilliant''. ``Prof Tien is not only a well-known scientist but also has good interpersonal skills,'' Mr Chau said. ``You can see his achievements as principal of University of California at Berkeley for seven years.'' He complimented Prof Tien's contributions to Hong Kong's development of innovation and technology...... He had no comment on whether this person should be a Hong Kong native; or on the number of potential candidates at present being considered....."

Freeper Paul Cruse reports 8/9/99 "...When Tien was running UC-Berserkeley, the Admissions Dept. changed the 'race' of the Chinese applicants to 'white' .....Chinese enrollment at Berserkeley is over 40% now...."

11/20/98 Executive Intelligence Review "…Susan Rice, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, is reported to have won her post at the U.S. State Department through strong pressure from Roger Winter, executive director of the U.S. Committee on Refugees, who pushed for her candidacy over the appointment of Howard Wolpe, now U.S. Special Envoy to the Great Lakes region, who was also a contender for the post. Her other known patron is Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who has been a life-long friend of Rice and her family, as Albright is quoted in the Washington Post of March 30. She also comes to the administration with the vetting of the neo-colonial apparatus in the British Commonwealth, which is the source of the policies Rice is carrying out. A Rhodes Scholar, she received her masters and doctorate degrees in International Relations at New College, Oxford University. In 1992, she was the recipient of the first annual award given by the Royal Institute of International Affairs and the British International Studies Association for the "most distinguished dissertation in the United Kingdom in the field of International Relations." Her topic was "The Commonwealth Initiative in Zimbabwe, 1979-80: Implications for International Peacekeeping." In 1990, she had also been awarded the Royal Commonwealth Society's Walter Frewen Lord Prize for "outstanding research in the field of Commonwealth History." Her first job was a management consultant in Toronto, for McKinsey and Company. Her next posting was at the U.S. National Security Council, as director for International Organizations and Peacekeeping in February 1993, and then as Special Assistant to the President and as Senior Director for African Affairs, from March 1995 until May 1997, when she was appointed by President Clinton as Assistant Secretary…."

11/20/98 Executive Intelligence Review "…The poverty of her knowledge of Africa itself has shocked the African diplomatic corps in Washington. Further, is the common complaint, she doesn't want to learn. "Many of my colleagues on Africa have a degree of understanding and expertise that I can't pretend to have," she told the Washington Post; and, says the Post, in its adulatory March 30 profile of her, "While the top brass are enchanted, she has not captured the hearts and minds of the grunts" in the State Department. She is known for not entertaining any views contradictory to the policy that has been set for her to carry out, and for blocking the flow of information that might show that policy's weakness or failure. She brooks no opposition, it is said, even from the U.S. President. When President Clinton, in South Africa, on March 27 had voiced his hopes for Gen. Sani Abacha's moving Nigeria toward democracy, the State Department was asked by a reporter if this did not contradict the policy stated by Rice on March 12, and which policy was correct. After first denying the President's statement, State Department spokesman James Foley stood by Rice's declaration, and stated that any other idea was "wildly hypothetical." "What Assistant Secretary Rice said stands," asserted Foley…."

MSNBC.com 8/29/99 Michael Moran "…THE PROBE was sparked by two MSNBC.com stories earlier this month that detailed an offer by Sudan to turn over to the FBI two men taken off a plane from Nairobi the day after the twin embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The Sudanese, who confirmed the offer in earlier interviews with MSNBC, held the men until Aug. 20, the day when the U.S. ordered a retaliatory Tomahawk missile strike on a Sudanese factory outside Khartoum. Sudan then deported the two men to Pakistan. Officials were unable, or unwilling, to describe their whereabouts today. The closed-door probe by investigators of the House and Senate Intelligence committees differ slightly in their scope. Several sources, including one who has answered questions before the two panels, said Congress wants to know why the Sudanese offer was not taken up, where the two men are today and whether inter-agency friction played any part in the missed opportunity….. Two top counterintelligence officials — Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Michael Sheehan and FBI counter-terrorism chief Michael Rolince — were among about a dozen people who have given evidence to investigators over the past two weeks, sources said. Without confirming his appearances, Rolince said Thursday that his working relationship with State Department and other counter-terrorism officials is "rock solid." "There may have been a couple of people who had disagreements with State," he said. "But I’ve been here through the whole ordeal, and we all understand each others’ strengths and weaknesses and we’re very much in synch" with the State Department’s efforts. …."

11/20/98 Executive Intelligence Review "…An EIR team probing the causes behind the genocidal wars that have been ravaging East and Central Africa over the last four years, has uncovered a covert arms and logistical supply network run out of the U.S. State Department, which mirrors precisely the notorious Iran-Contra arms supply operation of the 1980s….. The parallel to the Bush-North operations is precise: Incontrovertible evidence accumulated by EIR demonstrates that the same extra-governmental "assets" used by North in widespread illegal narcotics- and arms-trafficking, are channelling arms and military aid into Central Africa. In this new "Central African" supply operation, standing in for the drug-smuggling gangsters of the Nicaraguan Contra operation, are the African "rebels" fighting the governments of Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and any other Central African nation targetted by British intelligence's leading warlord in the region, Ugandan dictator Yoweri Museveni.

The two leading operatives who have been caught red-handed in such dirty operations toward Central Africa are U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Susan Rice, and Roger Winter, executive director of the U.S. Committee on Refugees. EIR has uncovered two, overlapping operations. First, is the covert supply of arms to the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) of John Garang, which has waged a totally unsuccessful but nevertheless genocidal war against the Sudan government since 1983. The second involves covert military logistical aid to the so-called rebel forces arrayed against the government of Laurent Kabila in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an operation being run directly out of the U.S. State Department with the oversight of Rice….The evidence gathered by the EIR team, even if incomplete, tends to confirm the many rumors and allegations circulating throughout Central Africa and among those involved in Africa policy in Europe and elsewhere, that while the U.S. government's public policy to attempt to act as the "honest mediator" in the war around the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United States is, in fact, supporting--with arms, supplies, training, and logistical support--those very forces under the control of Uganda and Rwanda, which violated international law to invade the Congo on Aug. 2, and now hold large chunks of its eastern and central territory. Thus, while Susan Rice was engaging in highly publicized shuttling among Central African capitals, to demand that Congo allies Angola and Zimbabwe withdraw their troops from the Congo, in order to prevent a "wider conflagration," back in Washington, EIR has uncovered, her underlings were in the process of vetting private contractors to give logistical support to the Ugandan- and Rwandan-backed rebels in the Congo….."

11/20/98 Executive Intelligence Review "… In this case, according to a confidential source, under Rice's direction, Ricardo Zuniga, operations officer for the State Department's East African Affairs section, is seeking aid from private contractors to supply and provide an airlift to Museveni's combatants in the Congo. Zuniga is reportedly a middle-level foreign service officer, with previous postings in Mexico and Portugal. Within the State Department, it is widely believed that Rice's closest adviser on Africa is Roger Winter, director of the U.S. Committee on Refugees, who has rammed through the policy of war in Central Africa as the policy of the State Department. In September 1997, Winter, along with John Prendergast of the U.S. National Security Council, declared Rice to be one of their "team" to lead the United States into support of a total war against the government of Sudan, to be waged on the ground by the Ugandan and allied armies. Rice's other key adviser is Philip Gourevitch, a journalist with The New Yorker, who has fashioned a career for himself in the last four years as an expert on the bloodletting in Rwanda in 1994. He is known to be personally close to Rwandan Defense Minister Kagame. Prior to joining The New Yorker, Gourevitch was the New York correspondent for the neo-conservative Jewish weekly, The Forward.[FIGURE 201]

11/20/98 Executive Intelligence Review "…EIR is in possession of more detailed information concerning the operations uncovered than we present in this report. The file is by no means closed, and EIR is continuing to dig deeper, to uncover the real causes behind the terrible slaughter and suffering that have ravaged Africa under the regional leadership of Museveni…."

11/20/98 Executive Intelligence Review "…Rice has used the clout associated with her post to ram through a policy of proxy war against Sudan by the United States through Uganda and Eritrea. She was reportedly a strong advocate of the Aug. 20 U.S. air attack on the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum, on the grounds that it was housing a chemical weapons capability--charges for which the administration has not been able to present sound evidence.

In general, Rice came into the office with a policy of attaching the United States to the "new breed" of African leaders first heralded in the Jan. 14, 1997 London Times. This breed centers around Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, and included Eritrean military dictator Isaias Afwerki, Ethiopian dictator Meles Zenawi, Congolese dictator Laurent Kabila, and Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame. One of this coalition's major aims was to bring down the Sudan government; however, the coalition has fallen to pieces, as war has broken out between Ethiopia and Eritrea, and between Kabila's Congo on one side and Ugandan and Rwanda on the other. Rice's "peace efforts" have come to naught in both cases…."

11/20/98 Executive Intelligence Review "…Rice's animosity toward Sudan is unyielding, as she has stated that "Sudan is the only state in sub-Saharan Africa that poses a direct threat to U.S. national security interests." In her current post, and before that, at the NSC Africa desk, she refused to meet with Sudanese Ambassador to the United States Mahdi Ibrahim Mohamed, despite the ongoing diplomatic relations between the two countries. She has been nearly as extreme in her targetting of Nigeria. In a speech at the Brookings Institution on March 12, Rice enunciated her policy toward Nigeria: "Let me state clearly and unequivocally to you today that an electoral victory by any military candidate in the forthcoming Presidential elections would be unacceptable"--the first time that such a policy had been so stated by Washington. Her father, Emmet Rice, was a former adviser to the Central Bank of Nigeria.To the extent that she has any expertise, it is in peacekeeping and military operations, and Rice has been involved in the details in formulating the African Crisis Response Initiative (ACRI), which calls for the formation of regional armies that would deploy at the behest of supranational organizations, such as the UN Security Council, or the Organization of African Unity.

9/21/98 NY Times "…In May 1996, at the request of the United States and Saudi Arabia, Sudan expelled bin Laden, who moved to Afghanistan. Sudanese officials also say that they sent 100 of his operatives and their dependents to Afghanistan as well. But U.S. officials were convinced that the Sudanese were insincere. "With the exception of the expulsion of Osama bin Laden, which was not followed by any steps to get rid of his financial network, they have not done anything serious," Ms. Rice said. ….In February 1997, Sudanese President Oman al-Bashir sent President Clinton a personal letter. It offered, among other things, to allow U.S. intelligence, law-enforcement and counterterrorism personnel to enter Sudan and to go anywhere and see anything, to help stamp out terrorism. The United States never replied to that letter; the isolaters derided it as a meaningless "charm offensive" by Sudan, in Ms. Rice's words. A senior Sudanese official made a similar offer directly to the F.B.I. six months ago -- send a counter-terrorism team to Sudan, and we will help in any way we can, it said. The F.B.I. wrote back more than four months later, in June, declining the opportunity…."

AP 5/30/00 Casimiro Siona "……The top United States' official for Africa expressed support on Saturday for Angola's military efforts to end a protracted civil war against the UNITA rebels. But Susan Rice, assistant U.S. secretary of state for African affairs, also said negotiations between the government and UNITA appeared unlikely at the moment. …… The fastest way to end the conflict, she said, would be for UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi to abide by a 1994 peace deal, end military actions and disarm. ``But, since he won't do that, the military response is a necessary part of the government's efforts for peace.'' ….. "

http://www.senate.gov/~thompson/wen-ho.html 8/6/99 Senator Fred Thompson and Joseph Lieberman "... By mid-August 1997, the information compiled by the FBI in support of its FISA application and presented to OIPR included the following: DOE counterintelligence and weapons experts had concluded that there was a great probability that the W-88 information had been compromised between 1984 and 1988 at the nuclear weapons division of the Los Alamos laboratory. It was standard PRC intelligence tradecraft to focus particularly upon targeting and recruitment of ethnic Chinese living in foreign countries (e.g., Chinese-Americans). It is common in PRC intelligence tradecraft to use academic delegations -- rather than traditional intelligence officers -- to collect information on science-related topics. It was, in fact, standard PRC intelligence tradecraft to use scientific delegations to identify and target scientists working at restricted United States facilities such as LANL, since they "have better access than PRC intelligence personnel to scientists and other counterparts at the United States National Laboratories * * *." Sylvia Lee had extremely close contacts with visiting Chinese scientific delegations. Sylvia Lee, in fact, had volunteered to act as hostess for visiting Chinese scientific delegations at LANL when such visits first began in 1980, and had apparently had more extensive contacts and closer relationships with these delegations than anyone else at the laboratory. On one occasion, moreover, Wen-Ho Lee had himself aggressively sought involvement with a visiting Chinese scientific delegation, insisting upon acting as an interpreter for the group despite his inability to perform this function very effectively.

http://www.senate.gov/~thompson/wen-ho.html 8/6/99 Senator Fred Thompson and Joseph Lieberman "...Sylvia Lee was involuntarily terminated at LANL during a reduction-in-force in 1995. Her personnel file indicated incidents of security violations and threats she allegedly made against coworkers. In 1986, Wen-Ho Lee and his wife traveled to China on LANL business to deliver a paper on nuclear weapons-related science to a symposium in Beijing. He visited the Chinese laboratory -- the Institute for Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics (IAPCM) -- that designs the PRC's nuclear weapons. The Lees visited the PRC -- and IAPCM -- on LANL business again in 1988. It was standard PRC intelligence tradecraft, when targeting ethnic Chinese living overseas, to encourage travel to the "homeland" -- particularly where visits to ancestral villages and/or old family members could be arranged -- as a way of trying to dilute loyalty to other countries and encouraging solidarity with the authorities in Beijing.

http://www.senate.gov/~thompson/wen-ho.html 8/6/99 Senator Fred Thompson and Joseph Lieberman "...The Lees took vacation time to travel elsewhere in China during their two trips to China in 1986 and 1988. The FBI also learned of the Lees' purchase of unknown goods or services from a travel agent in Hong Kong while on a trip to that colony and to Taiwan in 1992. FBI agents speculated that this payment might have been for tickets for an unreported side trip across the border into the PRC. Though Wen-Ho Lee had visited IAPCM in both 1986 and 1988 and had filed "contact reports" claiming to recount all of the Chinese scientists he met there, he had failed to disclose certain information that the FBI deemed significant.

http://www.senate.gov/~thompson/wen-ho.html 8/6/99 Senator Fred Thompson and Joseph Lieberman "...Wen-Ho Lee worked on specialized computer codes at Los Alamos -- so-called "legacy codes" related to nuclear testing data -- that were a particular target for Chinese intelligence. The FBI learned that during a visit to Los Alamos by scientists from IAPCM, Lee had discussed certain unclassified (but weapons-related) computer codes with the Chinese delegation. It was reported that Lee had helped the Chinese scientists with their codes by providing software and calculations relating to hydrodynamics.

http://www.senate.gov/~thompson/wen-ho.html 8/6/99 Senator Fred Thompson and Joseph Lieberman "...In 1997, Lee had requested permission to hire a graduate student, a Chinese national, to help him with work on "Lagrangian codes" at LANL. When the FBI evaluated this request, investigators were told by laboratory officials that there was no such thing as an unclassified Lagrangian code, which describes certain hydrodynamic processes and are used to model some aspects of nuclear weapons testing.

http://www.senate.gov/~thompson/wen-ho.html 8/6/99 Senator Fred Thompson and Joseph Lieberman "...In 1984, the FBI questioned Wen-Ho Lee about his 1982 contact with a U.S. scientist at another DOE nuclear weapons laboratory who was under investigation. When questioned about this contact, Lee gave deceptive answers. After offering further explanations, Lee took a polygraph, claiming that he had been concerned only with this other scientist's alleged passing of unclassified information to a foreign government against DOE and Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations -- something that Lee himself admitted doing. (The FBI closed this investigation of Lee in 1984.)

http://www.senate.gov/~thompson/wen-ho.html 8/6/99 Senator Fred Thompson and Joseph Lieberman "...The FBI, as noted above, had begun another investigation into Lee in the early 1990s, before the W-88 compromise came to light. This investigation was based upon an FBI investigative lead that could reasonably be interpreted to indicate that Lee had provided significant assistance to the PRC. The FBI obtained a copy of a note on IAPCM letterhead dated 1987 listing three LANL reports by their laboratory publication number. On this note, in English, was a handwritten comment to "Linda" saying "[t]he Deputy Director of this Institute asked [for] these paper[s]. His name is Dr. Zheng Shaotang. Please check if they are unclassified and send to them. Thanks a lot. Sylvia Lee."

http://www.senate.gov/~thompson/wen-ho.html 8/6/99 Senator Fred Thompson and Joseph Lieberman "... On December 23, 1998, Wen-Ho Lee took a polygraph test administered by a private security contractor working for DOE, the Wackenhut Corporation. After FBI and DOE officials reviewed these results, LANL removed Lee's access to classified information. On February 10, 1999, Wen-Ho Lee was given another polygraph test, this time by the FBI. Specifically, among the questions in this second test were the following: "Have you ever given any of [a particular type of classified computer code related to nuclear weapons testing] to any unauthorized person?" and "Have you ever passed W-88 information to any unauthorized person?" Wen-Ho Lee failed this polygraph test.

http://www.senate.gov/~thompson/wen-ho.html 8/6/99 Senator Fred Thompson and Joseph Lieberman "...On March 6, the New York Times ran its first story about Chinese nuclear espionage at the DOE laboratories. DOE had continued to employ Lee despite Director Freeh's 1997 warning that there was no longer any investigative need to keep him in position and despite the failed polygraph a month before. It was not until March 8, 1999 that the Department actually fired Lee. (Energy Secretary Richardson has said that it was "strictly a coincidence" that this occurred within 48 hours of the first press accounts.) The FBI still lacked FISA authority to mount surveillance upon the Lees, but in March 1999 it asked and obtained Lee's permission to search his office and his office computer. Upon conducting this search, the FBI discovered that Lee had undertaken certain suspicious activities on his office computer

Ether Zone Online 9/14/99 Gretchen Glass "....Erskine Bowles Administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) (March 1993-October 1994) White House Deputy Chief of Staff (October 1994-December 1995) White House Chief of Staff (January 1997-November 1998) ........ Bowles was the founder, chairman and CEO of Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. from 1975-1993. Bowles is defined as an investment banker and his firm deals in mergers and acquisitions for mid-size companies. This could be a conflict of interest with his 1 1/2 year stint as head of the U.S. Small Business Administration dealing with small to mid-size companies. But with the Clinton associate's documented abuse of the SBA this is not unusual. .....From the Washington Post 4/2/97: "Bowles got to know Hubbell in late 1992, during a post-election economic summit in Little Rock attended by Kantor, members of the Lippo-controlling Riady family and others who later were involved in arranging payments to Hubbell." From the First Union Corporation's webside: "And in 1998, the firm[First Union] purchased M&A advisory boutique Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. (which was co-founded by former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles)." "When North Carolina-based M&A boutique Bowles Hollowell Connor announced it would be acquired by commercial bank First Union in the spring of 1998, much interest focused on one of the firm's name founders, former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles. Was the firm's acquisition only interesting because of the White House connection? Far from it." "...And while BHC was indeed co-founded by Erskine Bowles in 1975, Bowles has sold his stake and is no longer affiliated with the company." Well, that certainly puts it all above board. Oops - what's this? The old reappearing act... Also from their webside - "Charlotte, N.C., March 12 [1999]/PRNewswire/ -- First Union Corporation (NYSE: FTU) today announced the nominations of Erskine B. Bowles and James E. S. Hynes to its board of directors. First Union shareholders will vote on the nominations at the annual shareholders meeting in April." Now that's more like it! ....."

Ether Zone Online 9/14/99 Gretchen Glass "....From the Reuters Business Report February 15, 1995, "First Union Corp, a North Carolina-based banking company, and Hong Kong's Lippo Ltd. said Wednesday they will combine marketing efforts in a trade finance network in Southeast Asia and the Pacific rim. The two banking companies also plan to expand joint operations in Los Angeles at Lippo Bank, Calif., to process letter of credit and related services as of April. The deal builds on an agreement in December between Lippo's Hong Kong Chinese Bank and First Union to form a joint deposit-taking company. That venture, First Union HKCB Asia Ltd., provides trade financing services in Hong Kong, China and the United States. First Union and Lippo Group also are launching a trade initiative that will provide international products and services through Lippo Group offices in Jakarta, Indonesia; Manila, Philippines; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Bangkok, Thailand; and Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in Vietnam. 'By linking this Asian network to our international products and services through Lippo Group offices in Charlotte and Miami, we are gaining a competitive advantage that will enable First Union and the Lippo Group to substantially increase the flow of trade transactions' First Union said in a statement." The New York Times 4/24/97: "In the United States, Lippo has a banking alliance with First Union Corp., a banking giant based in North Carolina."

Ether Zone Online 9/14/99 Gretchen Glass "....So, with First Union's connection with Lippo, the question is did Bowles Hollowell Connor have dealings with First Union before its acquisition? In a telephone conversation with BHC's Marketing Department they confirmed the following statement: "Bowles Hollowell Connor has been dealing with First Union over the past 25 years." And further added that they were right down the block from them. This just might explain how two Lippo connected appointees, McLarty and Bowles, managed to get a $100,000 'consulting fee' from Lippo to Hubbell. Currently First Union does not advertise the Lippo connection - for obvious reasons. However, The Lippo Group website proudly lists this anomaly as "Lippo + First Union Bank, USA - First Union HKCB Asia Ltd." ....."

Ether Zone Online 9/14/99 Gretchen Glass "....American Spectator in March 1997 stated: "As one congressional staffer who has been tracking China Resources points out, Lippo boss Mochtar Riady "has a symbiotic relationship with the Chinese government. They sit on the same boards together through the Hong Kong Chinese Bank. The Chinese could easily have gained access to Lippo bank computers, and through them to the entire U.S. banking system" because of Lippo's relationship to the Worthen Bank in Arkansas and to First Union, one of the largest banks in the American Southeast." ......From the Carousel website: "Charlotte, N.C., January 6, 1999 -- Carousel Capital today announced the return of firm co-founder and former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles as a general partner." " Carousel Capital is one of the largest merchant banks in the Southeast, with over $160 million in equity commitments. The firm focuses on acquiring Southeast-based middle market companies." "Carousel investors include Bank of America [was NationsBank] and First Union...". [Emphasis added.] ....."

Ether Zone Online 9/14/99 Gretchen Glass "....So there you have Bowles, integrally entwined with NationsBank which loaned the DNC the bail out money for the corrupt campaign, the same bank that bought out the infamous Lippo-connected Worthen Bank of Little Rock. You have Bowles becoming acquainted with the Lippo-controlling Riady family in 1992. You also have him entwined with the Lippo-connected First Union through the dealings with his company Bowles Hollowell Conner. You now have him on the board of directors of First Union. You have both NationsBank [Bank of America] and First Union investing in Bowles' new company, Carousel. And, last but not least, you know that Bowles and McLarty obtained the work-free pay for Hubbell in the amount of $100,000 from Lippo. Convoluted? A bit - but a few more dots connected, nonetheless... "

Ether Zone Online 9/14/99 Gretchen Glass "....Thomas F. "Mack" McLarty - White House Chief of Staff (January 1993 - July 1994) Counselor to the President (July 1994 - July 1998) With prior experience as the treasurer of Clinton's gubernatorial campaigns, his experience with the corrupt Arkansas Clinton administration and his personal relationship with the 'players', McLarty knew the rules - a natural pick for the White House Chief of Staff, who would lay the groundwork for the corruption that has engulfed the executive branch. The first hurdle - the old security clearance problem, so necessary to screen people with access to classified information and guard our national security. With all the corruption that Clinton was dragging along with him in the form of 'appointees/nominees' - there was definitely a problem. Aha - not with Mr. McLarty in place... According to the Washington Times, 3/23/94: McLarty was "the author of guidelines for presidential personnel." As could be expected, there was a large problem, as the law frowns on questionable activity such as the hard drug use. So it was the old foot-dragging in play - something at which this administration has become a master when confronted with a roadblock. And it worked. More than 100 staffers stayed in their positions, without the proper clearances for 14 months - in fact, the final copy of the 'report' authored by McLarty did not reach his own desk until 14 months later, on March 5, 1994.....

Ether Zone Online 9/14/99 Gretchen Glass ".... The next task was to set the stage for illegal campaign fundraising, by abandoning the rules that were in place for the vetting process [normally done by the National Security Council] to weed out Communists, arms dealers and the likes of Charlie Trie, the Riadys, Huang, and a whole array of 'questionable' characters who were the Arkansas/Chinese connection. McLarty created the revolving door policy at the White House, which would go unchallenged through the 1996 elections. As CNN/AllPolitics/Time reported: National Security Council chief Lake told the Senate panel that "the White House had no formal process for vetting foreign nationals invited to the White House. It probably didn't help matters that White House chief of staff Mack McLarty knew in Little Rock, Arkansas, many of the people who kept insisting in letters and memos on their friendship with Clinton as they planned trips to the Orient and demanded talking points, letters of credential and other favors." "

Ether Zone Online 9/14/99 Gretchen Glass "....By the time McLarty was eased out in 1994 and replaced by Leon Panetta, the die was cast. Panetta never stepped back in to fix the process", says a Lake intimate. [Emphasis added.]

At this point the stage was set - Arkansas style. The new Clinton administration would not be bogged down by the 'trivia' put in place to protect the office and the national security. Clinton's Arkansas cronies, and their cronies, now had free run of the White House, without the need for security checks. The rest is history... And exactly who is Thomas F. "Mack" McLarty? Well, for starters, McLarty was, and is currently, on the Board of Directors of Entergy Corp, a major contributor to the Democrat National Committee and Clinton. According to the Associated Press, 1/14/97: "Lippo, whose U.S.-based executives have been major contributors to President Clinton and the Democrats, has close business ties to the Chinese government. Lippo and a U.S. energy company, Entergy, are involved in a $1 billion joint venture to build a power plant in China. (Hillary's former law partner at the Rose Law Firm, C. Joseph Giroir, Jr., handled the 'deal' which later fell through.) According to Judicial Watch, this transaction was heavily promoted on the infamous 1994 trade mission trip to China (while McLarty was at the White House) that included almost all of the key actors in the Chinagate scandal, along with the Lippo Group, John Huang ['alleged' spy who made frequent calls to 's Bernie Schwartz and, of course, Entergy Corp...."

Ether Zone Online 9/14/99 Gretchen Glass "....Mr. McLarty was also chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Arkla, Inc. before going to the White House. Washington Weekly reports McLarty's probable involvement in the bribing scandal at Arkla, the Arkansas company that he headed prior to joining the White House. When indictments were handed down in June 1993, McLarty was already at work in the Clinton administration - and no executives were named. This scandal apparently involved Ron Brown and John Huang.

Ether Zone Online 9/14/99 Gretchen Glass "....McLarty himself was involved in the Whitewater scandal and was also part of the strategy team in the White House, meeting sometimes twice daily in an attempt to stave off the investigation. McLarty was in on the planning and implementation of a $1.7 million taxpayer financed White House computer database that contained names and information about more than 355,000 friends and supporters of the president. An illegal operation for which McLarty asked for the "full support" of the senior White House staff. McLarty was also in charge when the FBI files were illegally obtained. McLarty's revolving door policy at the White House gave him the 'opportunity' to meet Roger Tamaraz and to recommend that the Clinton have a private meeting with him regarding a 'pipeline' deal....."

Ether Zone Online 9/14/99 Gretchen Glass "....McLarty worked with Brown and Panetta on getting waivers that enabled the transfer of sensitive technology to Communist China. McLarty continued to set up meetings for the President with the 'key players' such as Riady and acted as a go-between for Lippo and the White House.....McLarty authorized the Travel Office firings and was then put in charge of the White House Management Review established to investigate [whitewash] the matter. According to Softwar, Wide World Travel, the Arkansas booking agency was brought in to replace the fired Travel Office employees. And by coincidence, of course, Clinton's 1992 campaign travel was supplied ($1 million in deferred billing) compliments of World Wide Travel whose principal backer was Lippo Group's Worthen Bank...."

Ether Zone Online 9/14/99 Gretchen Glass "....McLarty helped 'search' for Hillary's missing Rose law firm billing records. McLarty was involved in concealing Vincent Foster's 'suicide note'. (The brother-in-law of McLarty's long time friend, the late Vincent Foster, is the chief Washington lobbyist for Entergy. Small world?)

McLarty, who found himself under Congressional and Department of Justice investigation, had a 'memory lapse' before the committee depositions over 200 times. ..."

Ether Zone Online 9/14/99 Gretchen Glass "....The apparent downfall of McLarty was his participation, with the future Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, in the 'job' hunt for his long time friend and soon-to-be convicted felon, the former Associate Attorney General Webster Hubbell. They were able to drum up more than $500,000 in payments for Hubbell, including $100,000 from the Lippo Group......This, coupled with the fact that no one could determine Hubbell's 'job' description, led to investigations and the obvious suspicion that McLarty had purchased Hubbell's silence in the other criminal investigations regarding the Clintons and their associates. The charges were of enough concern to prompt the President to assert Executive Privilege for McLarty (which he later withdrew)....."

Ether Zone Online 9/14/99 Gretchen Glass ".....As reported in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette - 1/25/98: "McLarty is Clinton's former chief of staff, a long-time ally who is considered the man closest to the president. After choosing his own successor, Leon Panetta, in 1994, McLarty remained at the White House, where he serves as Clinton's personal adviser as well as special envoy to the Americas." ....It should be noted, however, that while McLarty stepped down from the position of Chief of Staff, he did not give up his access to the President. McLarty remained a major 'player' right up until his exit from the White House in July 1998. As the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 1/25/98, reported: "McLarty and Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles know where the president is at all times. Black boxes in their offices digitally display his whereabouts, but they don't always know whom he's with." ...."

KATV News, Little Rock 10/6/99 "....PRESIDENTIAL FRIEND AND FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF MACK MCLARTY HAS JOINED FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE HENRY KISSINGER'S ADVISORY FIRM. MCLARTY WILL BE A VICE CHAIRMAN AT THE NEW YORK-BASED INTERNATIONAL COMPANY. THE FIRM -- FOUNDED IN 1982 BY KISSINGER -- ADVISES MULTI-NATIONAL CORPORATIONS. BESIDES PRESIDENT CLINTON'S CHIEF OF STAFF, MCLARTY ALSO SERVED AS SPECIAL ENVOY TO THE AMERICAS. MCLARTY'S ADVISORY COMPANY IN THE NATION'S CAPITOL WILL BECOME A NEW WASHINGTON OFFICE UNDER THE NAME KISSINGER MCLARTY ASSOCIATES. ...."

Associated Press 11/19/99 "….A Little Rock, Ark., accountant has agreed to pay nearly $150,000 to settle regulators' allegations he improperly used information from former presidential adviser Mack McLarty to trade in Mobil Corp. securities before its merger talks with Exxon Corp. became known. Stephen B. Humphries neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing in his settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which was announced Thursday. He was accused of making $70,000 in the alleged insider trading last November and December. McLarty, who now is a business associate of Humphries, was not accused of any wrongdoing. ….."

Washington Post 9/4/99 Ruth Marcus "…After President Clinton and fund-raiser extraordinaire Terry McAuliffe played a round of golf in upstate New York on Tuesday, the president made an unscheduled visit to St. Camillus Nursing Home to visit McAuliffe's ailing 79-year-old mother, Millie, who recently had hip replacement surgery. Later in the week, McAuliffe returned the favor -- and then some. When former White House chief of staff Erskine B. Bowles at the last minute balked at guaranteeing a $1.35 million mortgage for the Clintons' new house in Chappaqua, N.Y., McAuliffe rode to the president's rescue. In a move that enables the Clintons to buy the house -- and Hillary Rodham Clinton to have a base for her New York Senate run -- the 42-year-old real estate developer and dealmaker pledged to put up $1.35 million in cash to secure a mortgage for the Clintons. Otherwise, swamped by more than $5 million in legal debts, the Clintons might have had difficulty obtaining the loan for the five-bedroom, century-old house. Ethics law experts said yesterday that there is no legal difficulty with the Clintons' accepting McAuliffe's help, but some questioned the propriety of the president's accepting such a benefit from a private citizen. "It's just plain wrong. It's dangerous. It's inappropriate," said Fred Wertheimer of Democracy 21. "This is a financial favor worth over a million dollars to the president." McAuliffe is not actually giving any money to the Clintons. Rather, he will deposit $1.35 million in cash -- the full amount of their mortgage -- with Bankers Trust; the only risk to McAuliffe's money is in the unlikely event that the Clintons default…..Some mortgage bankers said McAuliffe's intervention either allowed the Clintons to obtain what might appear to be an otherwise risky loan or to secure a lower interest rate because the mortgage is fully backed by collateral….."It's hard to imagine how it isn't a gift," said one private lawyer who specializes in government ethics. "It's not that he wrote him a letter commending his character. He's put $1.3 million in cash out and doesn't have the use of that for the period of the balloon clause. . . . There's no way of seeing it as something not of value to the Clintons." ….."

12/22/97 Business Week "…At 40,the boyish-looking Terence R.McAuliffe is the reigning king of Democratic fund-raising. Says mentor Tony Coelho, a former Democratic lawmaker who gave McAuliffe his first big fund-raising job in 1982: "He's got the best Rolodex in America." No kidding. As finance chairman for the Clintont/Gore Reelection Committee, McAuliffe pulled in a staggering $43 million in eight months. That made him the front runner to head the Democratic National Committee-a job he turned down. Instead, McAuliffe has turned his attention to his home building, insurance, and marketing businesses. But McAuliffe is finding that it's not easy putting politics behind him. His name has been linked to the fund-raising scandal that resulted in the disqualification of Teamsters President Ronald Carey. The U. S. Attorney's Office in Washington is trying to learn more about how McAuliffe earned a lucrative fee in helping Prudential Insurance Co. of America lease a downtown Washington building to the government.Prudential just settled a civil case involving that lease for over $300,000 without admitting any liability…… And Labor Dept. probers are looking at possible conflicts of interest in at least two of McAuliffe's Florida real estate deals that were bankrolled by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers pension money. Investigators want to know why McAuliffe got what look like very sweet deals…..Take his relationship with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. In 1991, McAuliffe formed a partnership with a pension fund jointly operated by the IBEW and the National Electrical Contractors Assn., a management trade group….. In the 1991 deal that McAuliffe packaged and brought to the fund, the fund put up $38.7 million in cash for five apartment complexes and a rundown shopping center near St. Petersburg. McAuliffe got a 50% equity stake, even though the fund put up all the money……The pension plan was acquiring the properties at $10 million below their appraised price….Why such a deal? Because the seller was the Resolution Trust Corp.,which had taken control of the properties from Orlando-based American Pioneer Savings Bank……. McAuliffe packages and promotes affinity credit cards and related products to labor unions and trade associations….. McAuliffe is president of American Heritage Homes, a Florida homebuilder acquired in 1996 with Carl Lindner of American Financial Group….. McAuliffe owns Jefferson Capital Holdings, a Florida-based title and casualty insurance company……McAuliffe is Washington representative of, and an investor in, Pacific Capital Group, a Los Angeles venture-capital firm owned by a former Drexel Burnham Lambert investment banker. …..McAuliffe and father-in-law Richard Swann formed American Capital Management to buy Florida properties that the RTC took over after putting Swann's S&L into receivership. Some of the properties were acquired using union pension money……The IBEW not only financed McAuliffe's ventures, but it also helped boost his stature as a Democratic fund-raiser by contributing $6 million to party candidates from 1991 to 1996…… In a letter signed on Mar. 18, 1993, Prudential agreed to pay McAuliffe $375,000 if the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) signed a 15-year, $187 million lease to occupy a downtown Washington office building owned by the insurer. The U. S. Attorney for the District of Columbia charged that Prudential falsely certified, after it won the lease, that it had not hired anyone to help influence the bidding process, which is illegal under the Competition in Contracting Act. ….As the Prudential matter drags on, McAuliffe isn't out of the woods yet on the Teamsters case, whose central figure, campaign consultant Martin Davis, is a friend of McAuliffe. Davis has pleaded guilty to masterminding an illegal scheme to raise $1 million for Teamsters President Carey's 1996 reelection. Davis told McAuliffe he could help raise $1 million for the DNC from the Teamsters, but McAuliffe denies he knew any details of how Davis intended to do this. Davis, in his guilty plea, says his plan was to launder Teamsters donations through the DNC in an effort to hide the source of Carey's money. ….."

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COMPLAINT Case No. W. L. MENG….S.S. JONES, JR…..As Co-Trustees Under the Last Will and Testament of Ralph Harvey Meng, Deceased, In their Capacity as Shareholders of Loral Space and Communications, Ltd., Plaintiffs, vs. BERNARD L. SCHWARTZ ….LORAL SPACE AND COMMUNICATIONS, LTD…..DNC SERVICES CORPORATION, d/b/a/ THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE…...TERENCE R. MCAULIFFE….45. Deputy White House Chief of Staff Harold Ickes, then-White House Director of Public Liaison Alexis Herman, OBL Director Moss, OBL Deputy Director Sally Painter, DNC Finance Chairman Marvin Rosen, and top DNC/Clinton-Gore fundraiser Terence R. McAuliffe, among others, played central roles in selecting trade mission participants…… 165. On information and belief, Defendant Schwartz, the DNC, the DSCC, the DCCC, President William Jefferson Clinton, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, Vice-President Albert Gore, Jr., White House Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes, OBLDirector Melissa Moss, OBL Deputy Director Sally Painter, then-White House Director of Public Liaison Alexis Herman, DNC Finance Chairman Marvin Rosen, DNC/Clinton-Gore fundraiser Terence R. McAuliffe, Deputy Assistant Secretary JohnHuang and other currently unknown individuals agreed, tacitly or explicitly, to participate in a common scheme to unlawfully obtain or provide taxpayer-financed government services and/or favorable treatment for Defendant from the Clinton Administration, in exchange for campaign contributions, in breach of Defendant Schwartz' fiduciary and other duties to Defendant Loral and its shareholders.

166. On information and belief, Defendant Schwartz, the DNC, the DSCC, the DCCC, President William Jefferson Clinton, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, Vice-President Albert Gore, Jr., White House Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes, OBL Director Melissa Moss, OBL Deputy Director Sally Painter, then-White House Director of Public Liaison Alexis Herman, DNC Finance Chairman Marvin Rosen, DNC/Clinton-Gore fundraiser Terence R. McAuliffe, Deputy Assistant Secretary John Huang, and others, performed one or more unlawful acts, or performed one or more lawful acts in an unlawful manner, in furtherance of this common scheme. …..176. Likewise, Defendant Schwartz, the DNC, the DSCC, the DCCC, President Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Vice-President Gore, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes, OBL Director Melissa Moss, OBL Deputy Director Sally Painter, then-White House Director of Public Liaison Alexis Herman, DNC Finance Chairman Marvin Rosen, DNC/Clinton-Gore fundraiser Terence R. McAuliffe, Deputy Assistant Secretary John Huang and other currently unknown

individuals conspired to manage the affairs of Defendant Loral through a pattern of racketeering activity in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d)…."

The Washington Times 9/8/99 John McCaslin "...On the line was Don Alexander, commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service under Presidents Nixon, Ford and Carter. Terror shot through our body...... "I think there's a substantial tax issue involved," he begins, "with the 'little' help the Clintons got from McAuliffe." So it was President Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, and their extraordinary $1.35 million home-loan guarantee from Clinton-Gore (and now Hillary) fund-raiser Terry McAuliffe, that Mr. Alexander was inquiring about. "The tax angle that people have been ignoring in this wonderful thing McAuliffe is doing for Mr. and Mrs. Clinton," he says, "is that McAuliffe faces a gift-tax issue, and a serious one." He explained in textbook-detail tax codes surrounding loan guarantees like Mr. McAuliffe's, painting a far different impression than the one unveiled at the White House last week. Pointing out it was under no obligation to discuss Mr. McAuliffe's role in the financial transaction, the White House saw fit anyway to explain that the 42-year-old Democratic fund-raiser, real estate developer and golfing buddy of Mr. Clinton wasn't actually giving any money to the first family. .....Finally, the White House was assured by the Office of Government Ethics that Mr. McAuliffe's loan guarantee was not a "gift," which the Clintons would need to report on annual financial-disclosure forms. Rather, the guarantee was merely a promise for the future with no current cash benefit. To the contrary, Mr. Alexander opines. "The guarantee certainly has a cash benefit," he says, adding that the White House is "applying a set of rules that is unrealistic [and] that have little, if any, bearing on how these transactions should be treated for tax purposes." Says Mr. Alexander: "The issue is, assuming Mr. McAuliffe is doing this [purely] for generosity, which perhaps is doubtful, that he's made a gift to the Clintons equal to the value of the cost of getting the equivalent secured guarantee from a third party, like a commercial surety. "And that would be pretty darn expensive," he says of the gift tax Mr. McAuliffe perhaps faces. "The rates start pretty high, 37 percent." ...."

Progressive Review 9/7/99 Sam Smith "….Terry McAuliffe, the wheeler-dealer who slapped down $1.35 million to let the Clintons buy their New York dream house, could be called as a witness in a Teamsters corruption trial next month. McAuliffe, a Washington lawyer and deal-fixer who owns a title-insurance company, is an unnamed player in the indictment of Teamsters political director Bill Hamilton .... Hamilton has been charged with conspiracy, embezzlement of union funds, mail fraud, wire fraud, making false statements to an election officer and perjury before the grand jury. Prosecutors say Hamilton illegally schemed with McAuliffe to swap union money for Democratic cash. At the time, McAuliffe - who hasn't been charged - was the top money man for the Democratic Party. ….."

New York Post 9/6/99 Brian Blomquist "…Terry McAuliffe, the wheeler-dealer who slapped down $1.35 million to let the Clintons buy their New York dream house, could be called as a witness in a Teamsters corruption trial next month. McAuliffe, a Washington lawyer and deal-fixer who owns a title-insurance company, is an unnamed player in the indictment of Teamsters political director Bill Hamilton, who is set to go on trial Oct. 12 in New York, in a case being prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White. Hamilton has been charged with conspiracy, embezzlement of union funds, mail fraud, wire fraud, making false statements to an election officer and perjury before the grand jury. Prosecutors say Hamilton illegally schemed with McAuliffe to swap union money for Democratic cash. At the time, McAuliffe - who hasn't been charged - was the top money man for the Democratic Party. …."If there was anything to it, charges would have been brought - and they weren't," Ben-Veniste said, although the investigation is continuing…."

Judicial Watch 9/3/99 Larry Klayman "…The government watchdog group Judicial Watch said today that the loan scheme being used to by Bill and Hillary Clinton to buy a house is illegal and improper. First, the $1.35 million loan "guarantee" by Chinagate fundraiser Terence McAuliffe is nothing less than an outright gratuity to the President personally, which is illegal under government ethics and bribery laws. Federal court testimony in Judicial Watch’s Chinagate case has already shown that McAuliffe was involved in illegal fundraising and influence-peddling -- this seems more of the same. Judicial Watch also questioned why The White House Counsel’s Office, which "approved" the loan scheme, is giving the Clintons’ personal legal advice at taxpayer expense. Second, there is no ethical or legal way for a bank such as Bankers Trust Co., which reports indicate is foreign-owned, to give a million dollar mortgage to a couple who professes to be $5 million in debt. And no bank can use an illegal "guarantee" from a Clinton fundraiser as collateral for any loan. "This loan scheme blatantly violates government ethics and banking laws. Bill and Hillary Clinton should be subject to the same standards for a mortgage as every other American couple," said Judicial Watch Chairman Larry Klayman. Judicial Watch will immediately investigate and challenge the loan scheme and warned that any bank improperly making loans to the Clintons could be subject to severe criminal and/or civil liabilities. Judicial Watch notes there is an ethical way for the Clintons to buy a home -- liquidate their million dollar trust and use those proceeds to buy a modest house outright. They don’t need to buy one valued at $1.7 million. "Based on their history, laws against bank fraud and bribery seem of no importance to Bill and Hillary Clinton. Bill and Hillary Clinton continue to think they’re above the law. Judicial Watch is committed to reminding them they are not," stated Klayman…."

Washington Post Peter Baker and Susan Schmidt 2/26/97 "…In Ickes's files, the idea of using overnight stays in connection with campaign fund-raising first appeared in writing in the White House response to a Jan. 5, 1995, memo from Terence R. McAuliffe, then national finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee, who outlined several strategies to "energize" generous givers. Clinton welcomed the idea. "Ready to start overnights right away," he scrawled in response. McAuliffe included a list of "our ten top supporters" as possible beneficiaries of special access, but that wasn't enough for Clinton. "Get other names at 100,000 or more, 50,000 or more," he wrote…. Among the 10 on McAuliffe's initial list were Arthur Coia, president of the mob-influenced Laborers International Union of North America; Carl Lindner, a financier and banana company tycoon also known for large gifts to Republicans; and Ernest G. Green, a civil rights leader and businessman whose life story was made into a television movie…."

Big Brother and the MoneyTree Paul M Rodriguez "….McAuliffe, a prodigious fund-raiser himself, was linked in the mid-eighties to Manatt, Phelps, Rothenberg, Tunney & Evans, a national legal/lobbying firm with offices in, among other places, Los Angeles and Washington. When Huang was sent by the Riady family to set up financial operations in Little Rock during the mid-eighties, the Lippo executive hired Manatt, Phelps (along with the Rose Law Firm in Arkansas) to assist in setting up several concerns - specifically, according to press accounts, the California headquarters of the new Lippo bank.

Big Brother and the MoneyTree Paul M Rodriguez ". . . Around the same time McAuliffe was working at the DCCC he also started his own Los Angeles law firm, McAuliffe, Kelly & Raffaelli, with a man named Peter Kelly, who worked at Manatt, Phelps' Los Angeles office when that firm was helping Huang set up Lippo. Also at Manatt, Phelps during that time was Michael "Mickey" Kantor, the Clinton administration's U.S. trade representative who succeeded Brown as commerce secretary. Shortly after teaming up with Kelly, McAuliffe set up a Washington office for his new legal/lobbying firm. He also helped open a federally chartered bank at about the same time, bringing in Charles Manatt, the former chairman of the DNC and one of the senior partners in Manatt Phelps, the firm that was hired to legally represent Federal City National Bank and assist, separately, Huang and Riady in work on the Lippo bank.

Big Brother and the MoneyTree Paul M Rodriguez "….. . . . By the mid-to-late eighties, Huang had become well-known within Democratic Party circles as a financial contributor with access to others in the Asian community who would also donate large sums of money. FEC records show that Huang and other Asians were giving substantial sums to Democrats, including House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri who in 1987-88 made a bid for the White House. Gephardt's finance chief at that time was McAuliffe who, according to press reports, was instrumental in providing the congressman with loans from the Federal City National Bank. It is not known how many other political campaigns the McAuliffe bank was involved in but it appears to be part of a pattern. (Federal City since has been bought out by another bank.)

Big Brother and the MoneyTree Paul M Rodriguez "….."McAuliffe is not stupid, let me tell you, and he's one of the best in the fund-raising businessi The reason he's so good is that he knows where everybody is," like Huang, "and what they are doing." (McAuliffe has told reporters that he barely knows Huang and has only said hello to him on a couple of occasions.)

5/20/98 Geoff Dutton "…Marineland Ocean Resort Inc. bought the land in April 1996, planning to fix up the aging hotel, restaurant, marina and other facilities while managing the marine park for the park's nonprofit owner. In October 1997, MOR filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy…… International Resorts USA Inc., a Florida corporation formed last week to bid on the property, announced it had bought MOR's delinquent mortgages from two banks Friday. International Resorts attorney Jason B. Burnett said his client would postpone debt payments and foreclosure for a chance to bid on the property. That makes International Resorts USA the latest in a growing list of interested buyers coming forward in recent weeks - none providing too much in the way of details, however. Burnett, a Jacksonville attorney with the firm McGuire Woods Battle & Boothe, said International Resorts is an investment group made up of people with theme park experience, although he declined to name the investors. Department of State records show the corporation was formed last Wednesday by Ronald Benison of Flintridge, Calif.; Terence R. McAuliffe of McLean, Va.; and Ralph V. Hadley III and Richard R. Swann, who share a Winter Park office.

10/11/96 Ensec International Inc. (NASDAQ:ENSC) Friday announced that it has appointed two additional persons as outside directors to its board of directors, Raymond E. List, PE and Terence R. McAuliffe, Esq. The appointments of Messrs. List and McAuliffe increased the number of members of the board of directors of the company to five….. McAuliffe is the chairman of American Heritage Corp., a premier builder of single-family homes in Central Florida. He also serves as chairman and chief executive officer of Jefferson National Title Insurance Co. and as chairman of American Marketing Services Inc. McAuliffe serves on the board of directors of Beacon Energies, Made in the USA Shopping Network Inc., and The Center for National Policy. McAuliffe formerly served as vice chairman of Federal Capital Bank, N.A. and as chairman of Federal City National Bank. McAuliffe received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. and a Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University, Washington, D.C…..Ensec International Inc. designs, sells and services security systems for large commercial or governmental facilities, ranging from single function installations to high-end integrated security systems. Since its inception, the company has installed over 400 security systems in the United States and Brazil. The company's principal executive offices are located at 751 Park of Commerce Drive, Suite 104, Boca Raton, Fla. 33487, and its sales office is located at One World Trade Center, Suite 3357, New York, N.Y. 10048.

The New York Times 2/13/88 Section 1; Page 8, Column 1; National Desk Richard Berke "…Representative Richard A. Gephardt's Presidential campaign and political action committee received unusual, unsecured loans totaling $200,000 in 1986 and 1987 from two banks whose top officers now hold key positions on Mr. Gephardt's campaign…… Gephardt campaign officials said the loans were perfectly legitimate and that most of the money had been paid off. They said it was common and perfectly legal for campaigns to borrow money from banks operated by political supporters. A $125,000 loan to the Gephardt campaign was made in August by the Federal City National Bank here, whose current chairman, Terence R. McAuliffe, was on the bank's board at the time of the loan and is the campaign's national finance chairman. Mr. McAulifee, who continues to be the chief fund-raiser for the Gephardt campaign, said today that he abstained from voting on the loan…..Mr. McAuliffe said his bank never granted unsecured loans to campaigns ''unless they are backed 100 percent by matching funds.'' Asked why the bank made such a loan to the Gephardt campaign, he said that another Washington had told the Federal City Bank that it would advance the money for the loan. He said his bank had a letter from the other bank ''that they had approved the loan,'' ….''From our bank's perspective, the loan was as good as secured,'' he said. …..Asked why his bank went to another bank for the money, he said: ''This goes on all the time in the banking business.'' Asked why another bank would grant an unsecured loan on behalf of his bank, he said, ''I thought they were crazy to do it in the first place.'' But Mr. McAuliffe said the other bank reneged on its pledge. He said the bank apparently had second thoughts on loaning money to a campaign that did not have adequate collateral. Neither Mr. McAuliffe nor John Duffy, Federal City's senior loan officer, would furnish the letter or disclose the name of the bank they said had initially pledged to make the loan….."
5/14/99 Wall Street Journal Paul Gigot "…Al Gore wants to run for president as the heir to Bill Clinton's ideas but not to his ethics. So why in the name of fresh starts would the vice president make his new campaign chairman Tony Coelho?…..Mr. Coelho's comrade-in-arms-twisting then was none other than Terence McAuliffe, the Clinton fund-raiser whose ethical innovations in 1996 included renting out the White House for "coffees." Now the pair will be reunited to exploit loopholes to raise cash for Mr. Gore. For a candidate whose 1996 Buddhist temple visits are a liability in 2000, a Coelho hire isn't exactly an act of remorse. Maybe there's still room on the team for John Huang. Just win, baby. Mr. Coelho's other specialty is hardball. During the 1994 campaign, according to the Washington Post, Mr. Coelho urged Mr. Clinton to use the "Contract With America" as an excuse "to charge that Republicans had a secret plan to gut Social Security."…."

AP 9/25/97 "…In his earliest known use of the White House for fund-raising, President Clinton hosted a series of private breakfasts with wealthy Democrats to help raise money in 1994 for the party's health care fund, documents show. "BC will have breakfast - to raise $," then-White House deputy chief of staff Harold Ickes wrote in notes of a May 9, 1994 meeting obtained by The Associated Press…..The events pre-date the coffees and telephone solicitations from the 1996 election that are at the heart of the current fund-raising investigations in Congress and the Justice Department. ….. Internal White House documents show, however, that presidential aides viewed the breakfasts as fund-raisers. For instance, Ickes addressed the issue to then-Chief of Staff Mack McLarty in a May 7, 1994 memo entitled "scheduling fund-raising events." ….. The fact that these were political events also weren't lost on donors - either DNC chairman David Wilhelm or the party's chief fund-raiser, Terence McAuliffe, are listed as attending most of the breakfasts…… "

Capitol Hill Blue 9/16/99 Ben Anderson ".....The Federal Elections Commission has agreed to investigate the $1.35 million house loan guarantee signed by Democrat fundraiser Terry McAuliffe on behalf of President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton on the verge of a full-fledged campaign for the US Senate. The FEC responded Wednesday to a complaint filed by the Conservative Campaign Fund alleging the loan guarantee between McAuliffe and Mrs. Clinton is illegal. The Clintons, through White House attorneys, have maintained the arrangement with McAuliffe is legal. CCF chairman Peter Flaherty said the FEC has "repeatedly and consistently held that personal loans and guarantees for personal loans to candidates are the same as campaign contributions, and therefore subject to the $1,000 limitation for personal contributions to candidates for federal office." In a letter to Flaherty on Wednesday, FEC attorney Andrew Turley informed Flaherty that his complaint had been received and instructed that any additional information regarding the complaint should be notarized and forwarded to the FEC. According to Turley, McAuliffe, the President and Mrs. Clinton will be formally notified of the complaint within five business days....."

New York Post 9/15/99 Editorial "....Lost in all the furor over the First Couple's new upscale home in the tony town of Chappaqua is the fact that the Clintons are stonewalling over precisely how the $1.7-million house is being paid for. All that's known for certain is that the Clintons obtained a sweetheart deal on a mortgage - below market-rate - after their close friend and super-fund-raiser, Terry McAuliffe, agreed to cosign the loan. But what are the precise terms of this historically unprecedented deal? The Clintons, says the White House, "have no intention of revealing what was promised in their deal with McAuliffe." .... We'd expect to hear such self-styled government watchdogs as Common Cause and NYPIRG demanding a lot more specifics from the Clintons about the terms of this deal. So far, however, there's been nothing but silence from the knee-jerk good-government types. Compare that, for example, with the uproar over Ronald Reagan's acceptance of $2 million to deliver a speech to Japanese businessmen - which, in any event, took place after Reagan had left office. Or the clamor over the same president's first national-security adviser, Richard Allen, forced to step down amid accusations he'd accepted $1,000 and a watch from Japanese journalists in return for arranging an interview with Nancy Reagan. (Never mind the fact that Allen was completely exonerated of any improprieties.) ..... Look at it this way: When Bob Dole offered to loan Newt Gingrich the money to pay the $300,000 fine assessed by the House Ethics Committee, Rep. David Bonior (D-Mich.) angrily asked: "Is this a sweetheart deal ... or is this a deal any American could have?" ...."

Wall St. Journal 9/10/99 Editorial "....We guess Terry McAuliffe doesn't have to bring anything to the Clintons' Chappaqua housewarming party. Oops, sorry, that $1.35 million that passed between them was a "loan," not a gift. "Gift" is a word that has a very special meaning in national politics. Before January 1993, the Beltway political culture was fairly crazed over this subject, lest someone accused of the "appearance of impropriety" end up on the town's front pages. During the Bush years, two Justice officials who came to our offices for a lunch of sandwiches and soda handed over $20 lest someone accuse them of taking a gift. As the saying goes, times change. Still, sure is interesting, isn't it, as a piece of Clintonesque political art? It's hard not to admire the way they've finessed the political gift rules. The Clintons never touched the money; it was deposited in an account, and the interest on that deposit flows to Mr. McAuliffe, not the Clintons. There's kind of an immaculate conception quality to the $1.35 million. It just dropped from the sky and lo, the Clintons got a jumbo loan with a $1,000-a-month break on the interest rate. If it were the Bible, they'd call it a miracle, like the loaves and the fishes. Also smelling like a gift to us is the Clintons' sudden creditworthiness, insofar as all agree they couldn't qualify on their own, owing to the massive legal indebtedness piled up because of one of the borrowers' transgressions against Paula Jones, etc. In any event, it's not hard to see the spirit of this transaction: The essence of a political gift is a benefit. If there was no benefit, what was Mr. McAuliffe doing in this to begin with?.....Recall also that while the Democratic Party paid back the Chinese contributions made to the Clinton campaign, it had use of the funds in the meantime, just as the Clintons will now have use of the McAuliffe money. Come to think of it, we wouldn't mind some reassurance that this money actually originates from him rather than the Chinese, Indonesian, or some such. One more thing about the McAuliffe whatchamacallit. What Terry McAuliffe did in essence is make a contribution to Hillary's campaign. Its whole purpose is to enable her to establish residence in New York, thus the money is absolutely essential to her campaign. Christie Todd Whitman just quit because she couldn't raise $12 million in $1,000 units, the individual limit for Senate campaigns. In the Hillary race, no McAuliffe "loan," no residency, no campaign. His contribution would seem to be more than $1,000. Even loans to a campaign need to be reported. Where is the campaign-finance reform chorus when we need it?...."

Wall Street Journal. 9/10/99 "....Michigan Rep. Pete Hoekstra, chairman of a House Oversight and Investigations subcommittee, speaking yesterday on the Teamsters campaign scandal: "The entire Teamsters investigation has fallen into a black hole. Nothing has happened. We had meetings with Justice about the Teamsters probe and the involvement of Richard Trumka, the treasurer of the AFL-CIO, Terry McAuliffe and other players. The compelling argument by both the Democrats on the committee and the Justice Department was you can't go there because it would jeopardize an ongoing investigation. What we find now is that none of these probes were aggressive in any area whether it be Teamsters, campaign fund-raising scandals, Waco or China. Those were never followed up on. Every time we wanted to bring in some of these witnesses we heard, 'We can't talk about this,' but don't call these witnesses because you will jeopardize an ongoing investigation. With the Reno Justice Department we would behave very differently in the future if they said there was an ongoing investigation, because there probably isn't one. But that was a painful lesson for us to learn. When the good guys are the bad guys it makes it tough to find the truth." ...."

The Washington Times 9/10/99 John McCaslin "....Well, before the Clinton-McAuliffe deal was struck, Mr. Campbell checked into loans as they pertain to exploratory committees. "Press reports . . . immediately raised the issue of a possible improper payment to a federal official, i.e. the President of the United States," he notes. "But as someone who is strongly considering a run for federal office for the first time, I was immediately interested in the implications of the deal on the other Clinton: Hillary." Who because she has an exploratory committee is subject to federal law governing campaign contributions. Mr. Campbell wrote to the Federal Election Commission to obtain a copy of the FEC "Campaign Guide for Congressional Candidates and Committees." In Chapter 5, the publication addresses federal law and regulations regarding bank loans obtained by a candidate. "Under the heading Guarantees or Endorsements, it states: 'An endorsement or guarantee of a bank loan is considered a contribution by the endorser or guarantor and is thus subject to the law's prohibitions and limits on contributions.' "Hmmm," he says. "I am certainly no expert on campaign finance law, and I only know about the Clintons house deal from what I have read in the press, but I think Mrs. Clinton and Mr. McAuliffe could be in some trouble here." Mr. McAuliffe guaranteed a huge bank loan for Mrs. Clinton, who reportedly is purchasing the house together with her husband, he says. "If that is the case, then for the purpose of accounting for any campaign contribution, Mrs. Clinton would be assigned one-half of the loan as her share, or $675,000," he says....."

Pensions & Investments 5/17/99 National Legal and Policy Center National Legal and Policy Center -- Organized Labor Accountability Project..... UNION CORRUPTION UPDATE May 24, 1999 -- Vol. 2, Issue 11

ELECTRICAL WORKERS (IBEW) DOL Sues Union Fund Tied to Clinton-Crony McAuliffe The U.S. Dep't of Labor filed suit May 5 against two trustees of the $8.3 billion Nat. Electrical Benefit Fund charging improper dealings between the fund and top Clinton-fundraiser Terence R. McAuliffe. According to DOL, NEBF trustee John Grau and ex-trustee Jack F. Moore imprudently lent over $6 million in pension assets. NEBF is operated jointly by the Int'l Bhd. of Electrical Workers, from which Moore retired as secretary in 1997, and the Nat. Electrical Contractors Ass'n, of which Grau is a vice president. The scam involved a $6 million loan in 1992 to Columbia Land & Development Corp. of Orlando to buy a subdivision called Country Run which was to be developed into 545 lots. McAuliffe and his wife, Dorothy S. McAuliffe, own Columbia. The loan was in default from Dec. 1992 to Oct. 1997. DOL says NEBF should have known the loan couldn't be repaid in full with interest. The suit seeks the trustees to reimburse the fund for losses, including interest. The McAuliffes also own Am. Capitol Management, a partner with NEBF in a separate investment called Am. Capitol Group I Assets LP, which guaranteed payment of the Columbia loan. In a separate 1991 investment, NEBF paid $38.7 million to buy five apartment complexes and a shopping center near St. Petersburg. The partnership bought the properties from the Resolution Trust Corp., which had taken control of them from a bank in receivership that had been owned by McAuliffe's father-in-law. DOL alleges NEBF imprudently purchased a $2.45 million interests in ACGIA, a move that reduced the value of the ACM guarantee on the Columbia loan. McAuliffe's holdings in ACM had been collateral for the loan. ...."

AP 9/10/99 Shannon McCaffrey"...A conservative group charged Friday that Hillary Rodham Clinton violated federal election law in having Democratic fund-raiser Terry McAuliffe co-sign for her $1.7 million New York home. The complaint, filed with the Federal Election Commission by the Conservative Campaign Fund, alleges that personal loans and guarantees for personal loans have always been treated the same as campaign contributions and are subject to the same $1,000 limit. Mrs. Clinton is eyeing the U.S. Senate seat in New York being vacated in 2000 by retiring Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan. ''It's clearly illegal,'' Peter Flaherty, chairman of the Conservative Campaign Fund, said. Mrs. Clinton's campaign spokesman, Howard Wolfson, called the loan guarantee ''perfectly legal and appropriate.'' ''It's not surprising that a right-wing special interest group would be attacking Hillary Clinton. We expect that will happen quite a bit,'' Wolfson said. ....."

Business Wire 9/10/99 Mary Ann Liebert "....Wait a minute, Mr. President-- Before you and Hillary accept Terry McAuliffe's offer to personally collateralize your mortgage on the house you've selected in Westchester County, I hope you will consider me for this remarkable privilege. I presented the idea to my husband at dinner. ``I would like to use some of our assets to collateralize a mortgage for the house the Clintons have chosen to buy in Chappaqua. It's not that far from where we live.'' ``Why?'' demanded my husband, a pediatric surgeon. ``Why on earth would you ever want to do that??'' He knew better than to think I might be joking. He pushed his dinner away. ``Let the Clintons get their mortgage on their own. The way we did and the way thousands of Americans do it all the time.'' ``This President and First Lady are not like other people,'' I said. ``They have their own set of rules. And,'' I reminded him, ``The President's credit is not so good at this time. All those legal bills.....'' ....... But this is not a crazy idea. Not at all. In fact, from a public relations point of view, it might make very good sense. My privately-held publishing company publishes 60 medical journals with esoteric titles such as Human Gene Therapy and Hybridoma. Providing the collateral for the First Couple's mortgage lets the world know of the company's success and is sure to open doors for new and exciting projects and collaborations. It will be good for business. Overnight, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., will become a household name. Perhaps for years to come. Picture this on Jeopardy: Answer - ``Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.'' Question - ``Who collateralized the Clintons' mortgage?'' I will have much more than 15 minutes of fame. And perhaps I can buy influence. Why not? It's the American way in our political system. Pay to play. I'll be the ultimate player....."

The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC) 9/11/99 James Rosen "....Before Terry McAuliffe, a major Democratic fund-raiser, agreed to guarantee the $ 1.35 million mortgage Bill and Hillary Clinton took out on their new home in New York, the president asked Erskine Bowles for the same favor. His former chief of staff turned him down. That, at least, is one account published in The Washington Post. Bowles, though, is refusing to comment on the report. Bowles said the information in the Post story didn't come from him. After it ran last Saturday, he said he received a number of calls from reporters asking him to talk about the report - but turned them all down. "I'm not going to make any comment about it whatsoever," Bowles said in an interview from his office at Carousel Capital, the Charlotte merchant bank he founded and returned to after leaving the White House last fall....."

Washington Times 9/13/99 Jerry Seper "...The Democratic fund-raiser who guaranteed President and Hillary Clinton's purchase of a $1.7 million house in New York is expected to be a key figure in the trial of a top Teamsters official accused of illegally funneling $1.1 million in union funds to the Democratic Party. ..... The plan ultimately resulted in the union donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democrats during the 1996 election campaign. Mr. Hamilton, who pleaded not guilty in the case, was accused in an April 1998 indictment of conspiracy, embezzlement, mail fraud, wire fraud, making false statements and lying to the grand jury. His attorney, Robert Gage, has said his client is innocent and looks forward to "his day in court." If convicted, he faces up to 30 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines. Mr. McAuliffe has denied any wrongdoing, saying through his attorney, Richard Ben-Veniste, that he was not a target of any federal probe and was "cooperating fully" in the investigation. In sworn testimony before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, Mr. McAuliffe said he had no active role in discussions about the plan -- which triggered a 1996 grand jury investigation resulting in several indictments of union officials and Mr. Carey's eventual removal from office. Federal authorities said that while an August 1996 memo on the kickback scheme bore the name of DNC finance director Richard Sullivan, Mr. Sullivan told authorities it was authored by Laura Hartigan, a top fund-raising official in the Clinton-Gore campaign who worked directly for Mr. McAuliffe. ...."

Chicago Sun-Times 9/13/99 Robert Novak "....On May 5, the U.S. Labor Department filed a civil suit alleging that a union's pension fund had been fleeced in a scam proposed by Terence R. McAuliffe. Department officials are not eager to talk about the case that seems certain to remain dormant through this year. No wonder. Federal bureaucrats might well flinch at pursuing a complaint that deeply involves President Clinton's benefactor. This is the same Terry McAuliffe who is the foremost fund-raiser of the Democratic Party and who forked over $1.3 million of his own money to guarantee a mortgage with a German-owned bank for the Clintons' new home in Westchester County, N.Y. But oddly, the Labor Department suit is not McAuliffe's biggest potential embarrassment. He could be a witness in an impending federal trial of Democratic-Teamsters corruption in which he would be questioned about the illegal, mutually beneficial swap of the party's and the union's cash. McAuliffe, 42, became Clinton's intimate by raising millions for him and is playing a similar role for Vice President Al Gore's presidential campaign and Hillary Rodham Clinton's Senate effort. An imprudent Clinton considered McAuliffe as secretary of commerce and pleaded with him to become Democratic national chairman...."

Chicago Sun-Times 9/13/99 Robert Novak "... It was imprudent because of McAuliffe's mixing of government, politics, union affairs and personal business--as shown in the Labor Department complaint. He was close to Jack Moore, who in 1997 retired as general secretary and principal money manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. McAuliffe and Moore collaborated in politics and in business. Now, Moore is a defendant, and McAuliffe is prominently mentioned in the Labor Department suit...... This is embarrassing enough for McAuliffe, but the Teamsters corruption trial, scheduled to begin in New York on Oct. 12, is potentially far more menacing. Former Teamsters political director William Hamilton is the criminal defendant charged with orchestrating a money-laundering conspiracy. The union promised inflated contributions to the Democratic Party in return for rerouting Democratic funds to ensure the 1996 election of Teamsters President Ron Carey......"

newyorktimes 9/23/99 Don Van Natta Jr. "…..In the tense days and hours before and after they signed an agreement to buy a white house in Chappaqua, N.Y., for $1.7 million, President Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton sought financial assistance from former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin and two former White House chiefs of staff, according to several people with knowledge of the arrangement. But Rubin, as well as the chiefs of staff, Thomas F. McLarty 3d and Erskine B. Bowles, declined to help the Clintons buy the first home they will own since 1983, several people with knowledge of the requests said today. They said that Bowles had originally committed to being the guarantor but declined on Sept. 1, just three days after the Clintons signed an agreement to buy the house under the condition their loan would be guaranteed. The couple then quickly put out feelers to Rubin and McLarty before finally asking Terry McAuliffe, the prolific Democratic fund-raiser, who agreed to guarantee the Clintons' mortgage by depositing $1.35 million in the bank as collateral….."

TIME Magazine 12/21/98 Ed Barnes ".... Washington never cared for his father, and JAMES P. HOFFA, the newly elected president of the Teamsters Union, knows Washington will not care for him--not when Democratic Party leaders find out what he plans to do: reopen the campaign-finance scandal, take on the D.N.C. and scrutinize its fund-raising apparatus. How does Hoffa propose to go where Congress wouldn't? Sources close to Hoffa say his first act as president-elect was to give the go-ahead for a multimillion-dollar civil-racketeering suit against, among others, the D.N.C. The suit would primarily target disgraced former Teamsters president RON CAREY and other Teamsters officials (Read Carey running mate John Morris) for allegedly embezzling nearly $1 million in cash from the union. But it would also cite top Democratic fund raisers, including TERRENCE MCAULIFFE, who was recently appointed chief fund raiser for Al Gore. ..... As part of their case, Hoffa's lawyers plan to detail the "work product" of CHARLES RUFF, now White House counsel, who briefly worked for the Teamsters under Carey. In 1993 Ruff allegedly paid JACK PALLADINO, a San Francisco private detective, more than $150,000 out of Teamsters funds for unspecified services. ...."

AP WIRE 10/14/99 "....President Clinton and his wife secured substitute financing for the home they are purchasing in Chappaqua, N.Y., the White House announced today. The new arrangement with PNC Mortage Corp. of America comes after Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton dropped a much-criticized plan to accept a loan guarantee from Terry McAuliffe, a friend and major Democratic fund-raiser. ....."

The Detroit News 10/17/99 Richard Ryan ".....The trial of former Teamsters Union political director William Hamilton, scheduled to begin in New York on Monday, has the potential to seriously rock organized labor and reach deep into the White House....... Among those implicated in the scheme are Terry McAuliffe, the chief fund-raiser for President Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign, and Richard Trumka, the secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO who played an instrumental role in last week's critical labor endorsement of Vice President Al Gore. McAuliffe, who earlier this year put up $1.7 million to help the Clinton's finance their New York home, is expected to testify in the trial in federal district court in New York. The Clintons, sharply criticized for their use of McAuliffe's money, subsequently obtained conventional financing. Hoffa has called the Hamilton trial -- and its potential for revealing just how far up the chain of command at the White House and AFL-CIO the illegal plot went -- the "Rosetta stone of the Teamsters." ....."

The New York Times 11/18/99 "…. A former Democratic official has testified that Terence McAuliffe, President Clinton's friend and chief fund-raiser, played a major role in promoting an illegal scheme in which Democratic donors were to contribute to the Teamster president's re-election campaign, and in exchange the Teamsters were to donate large sums to the Democrats. The official, Richard Sullivan, the Democratic National Committee's former finance director, testified in Manhattan at the trial of William Hamilton, the Teamsters former political director, that McAuliffe urged him and other fund-raisers to find a rich Democrat to donate at least $50,000 to the 1996 re-election campaign of Ron Carey, the former Teamsters president. During the three-week-long trial, Sullivan testified that McAuliffe had said that if a Democratic donor made a large contribution to the Carey campaign, then the Teamsters would contribute at least $500,000 to various Democratic Party committees….."

CNSnews.com 11/19/99 Ben Anderson "…..Former Teamster political director William Hamilton, Jr was convicted in federal court Friday on six counts of perjury, mail fraud, wire fraud, embezzlement and conspiracy. The jury deliberated less than two days before delivering the verdict in the trial which implicated one of Vice President Al Gore's campaign finance advisors and a close associate of President Bill Clinton…….During Hamilton's trial, a witness for federal prosecutors implicated one of Gore's top campaign finance officials, Terence McAuliffe, in a scheme to swap funds between donors, political groups and Teamsters President Ron Carey's re-election campaign. Former Democratic National Committee Finance Director Richard Sullivan testified during the trial that McAuliffe, then the 1996 Clinton-Gore campaign finance chairman, urged DNC officials to find a wealthy donor to contribute to Carey's re-election campaign. In return, the Teamsters would donate half a million dollars to numerous Democratic Party organizations. McAuliffe is not charged in the case. His attorney Richard Ben-Veniste maintains that his client did nothing wrong and is cooperating with the federal prosecutors. Ben-Veniste, former chief of the Watergate task force, served as Special Counsel to the Senate Whitewater Committee Democrats from May 1995 to June 1996……"

The Wall Street Journal 11/22/99 Glenn Burkins "…. With the conviction of a former Teamsters political director on fraud and embezzlement charges, union officials want attention to turn to the roles played by others in efforts to raise money for former Teamsters President Ron Carey's re-election bid……With Mr. Hamilton's conviction, Teamsters President James P. Hoffa said the government must now turn its attention to prosecuting others allegedly linked to the scheme. Mr. Hoffa didn't mention Mr. Carey by name but said Mr. Hamilton's conviction was an "important step toward closing a dark chapter in Teamster history." Mr. Hoffa and his union have said that they want alleged participants in the scheme to be prosecuted and have suggested they might file civil lawsuits to recover funds……. The government's inquiry centered on grand jury testimony painting an intricate conspiracy that was said to reach all the way to the Democratic Party, touching President Clinton's chief fund-raiser, Terry McAuliffe. On Oct. 28, Richard Sullivan, a former finance director of the Democratic National Committee testified that Mr. McAuliffe concocted a scheme to swap funds between the Teamsters and the Democratic Party….."

New York Times 12/12/99 Jeff Gerth "…..On a sweltering June evening this year President Clinton headlined yet another Democratic Party fund-raiser, but this time the guest of honor was Terry McAuliffe, Mr. Clinton's closest and most loyal Washington friend as well as his tireless money man. Shedding his prepared remarks, the president said, "I love this guy." It is easy to understand why. The ebullient McAuliffe says he and his staff have raised about $275 million, an unprecedented sum, for Clinton's causes: election campaigns, the 1997 inaugural celebration, a legal defense trust, the millennium festivities, the presidential library and Hillary Rodham Clinton's Senate campaign. "Terry's more wired than your local electric plant," Mrs. Clinton said at the fund-raising dinner. …."

New York Times 12/12/99 Jeff Gerth "…..His closeness to the first couple and the expanding network of political contacts he has built in the Clinton years have also enhanced an enterprise that Mr. McAuliffe has built more quietly: a web of business deals, from telecommunications to real estate, that the fund-raiser keeps far from the public spotlight. His business confederation, a veritable McAuliffe Inc., has generated tens of millions of dollars, but McAuliffe keeps his affairs so private that he does not even have a business listing in the Washington telephone directory. His quietly acquired private fortune is illustrative of changes in the political culture here. Raising money for politicians was once a ticket to an ambassador's post or other influential job in the government. Other presidential money men have hung shingles as lobbyists, openly trading on their access, or peddled influence as lawyers. Charting a new course, McAuliffe has transformed the art of raising money for public figures into the art of raising money for himself, leveraging a personal fortune from his political fund-raising contacts. Although he is a lawyer and once headed a lobbying firm, he resigned from the firm in 1994 when he began raising big money for the Democratic Party….."

New York Times 12/12/99 Jeff Gerth "…..In 1995 the Justice Department began examining Washington real estate deals involving McAuliffe, court records show. The inquiry ended in 1997 when the Prudential Insurance Company of America paid $317,500 to settle a civil suit in which it had been accused of failing to disclose a $375,000 consulting arrangement in 1993 with McAuliffe in connection with Prudential's lease of office space to a federal agency. This year, McAuliffe's role in a questionable plan to swap contributions in 1996 between the Teamsters union and the Democratic Party surfaced during the federal trial in New York of the former political director of the union, who was convicted of fraud and conspiracy. McAuliffe, in an interview, acknowledged discussing a potential swap. "You help me, I'll help you. That's politics," he said….."

New York Times 12/12/99 Jeff Gerth "…..In late 1994 McAuliffe and Clinton had breakfast. McAuliffe said the president asked what he could do to help and McAuliffe replied that he should be more accessible to donors. A few days later McAuliffe sent his memorandum asking Clinton's secretary to arrange breakfast, lunch or coffee for top supporters so they could "discuss issues and exchange ideas with the president." Clinton wrote on the back of the memorandum -- words Mr. McAuliffe said he never saw -- that he was "ready to start overnight visits right away." ……"

NewsMax.com 1/20/2000 Carl Limbacher "….New York talk radio maverick Lynn Samuels has turned up an interesting development in the Clinton quid-pro-quo department. On Wednesday she reported on her website: "CASHING IN OR BUSINESS AS USUAL - On Tues. Jan.18, 2000 President Clinton proposed giving up to $3000 in tax credits to help the 2 million Americans who must provide LONG TERM CARE for elderly or disabled relatives. On Jan 19, 2000, Terry McAuliffe was appointed to the Board of Advisors of the Carlstadt, NJ company Infu-Tech. The press release announcing McAuliffe's appointment identifies Infu-Tech as "a leading provider of high quality, cost efficient specialty pharmaceutical and medical services to patients in their homes, ambulatory infusion sites and in LONG TERM CARE facilities……. "

Time Magazine Online 6/5/00 Michael Weisskopf "……Terry McAuliffe has reinvented the rules of fund raising and shattered all records, and he has become rich along the way. Is he the poster boy for reform?...... If anyone can upstage Bill Clinton, it is the man who pays the President's way. So when Terry McAuliffe got everyone hooting and hollering at a Democratic National Committee barbecue last week, Clinton was clapping the loudest. McAuliffe chaired what was supposed to be a tribute to the only Democrat twice elected President in 50 years. But many guests who paid $25,000 a table at Washington's MCI Center also came to salute that other guy on the dais: the fund raiser in chief…….."

Freeper wildandcrazyrussian "… Here's an excerpt from "The Coming Conflict with China" by Richard Bernstein and Ross Munro: "Since 1981, there have been only four years during which Haig did not make at least one trip to China, and on most of those trips he was receivd by China's top leaders, Li Peng and Jiang Zemin, as well as by CITIC chairman Rong Yiren. Haig was the only American who attended China's 1989 National Day celebrations commemorating the founding of the People's Republic, held only four months after the Tiananmen massacre. Haig appeared on the rostrum beside the top Chinese leaders and a couple of days later was received by Premier Li Peng, who gushed: 'The Chinese people will never forget the contributions made by Nixon, Kissinger, Haig, and other old friends to the growth of Sino-U.S. relations.'" ….."Meanwhile Haig has written op-ed pieces and made statements in which he has opposed attempts to confront China because of its human rights record and urged the United States to find ever greater means of cooperation. In the spring of 1996, one of the congrssmen trying to attach conditions to he renewal of MFN for China was Christopher Cox, a fast-rising California Republican. Earlier that year, Cox played a key role in shepherding a resolution through the House declaring that the United States was obliged to come to Taiwan's aid if China took military action against it. The introduction of the resolution on March 7, with eighty Democratic and Republican co-sponsors, was instrumental in President Clinton's decision to send a second carrier task force to the Taiwan area. The day before the MFN vote, Haig called Cox and berated him, accusing him of trying to destroy U.S.-China relations. 'Cox was irate', says his aide, Mark P. Legon. 'It was an absolutely unsolicited and inappropriate phone call. We wondered who he's paid by, but we couldn't find out.'" …."

Mother Jones 9/1/99 Ken Silverstein "…The early part of 1999 found retired general Alexander Haig in constant motion. In February, he was off to Seoul, South Korea, where he was a VIP at Blessing '99, a Unification Church event at which some 40,000 couples exchanged wedding vows at a sports stadium during a ceremony conducted by Sun Myung Moon himself. The following month, Haig returned to Palm Beach, Florida--where he owns a mansion worth more than $ 4 million--for a party to celebrate the 60th birthday of former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney. In April, Haig was in Washington, D.C., for yet another birthday party--NATO's 50th--as well as a dinner sponsored by business groups at the Willard Inter-Continental Hotel in honor of Chinese premier Zhu Rongji, who was on an official visit to the U.S. capital. Soon thereafter, Haig was named a "Strategic Board Advisor" to SDC International Inc., a Palm Beach-based firm that is in negotiations to acquire Tatra, a Czech truck manufacturer. The press release announcing his appointment said that Haig would "draw on his extensive contacts in government, business, and diplomatic circles" in helping SDC export its equipment…."

Mother Jones 9/1/99 Ken Silverstein "…He also serves as an unelected foreign-affairs mandarin, with interests that span the globe from Washington to Ankara to Beijing and a stature that permits him to pursue the same imperatives he did as Reagan's first secretary of state: putting commerce before human rights, peddling weapons abroad, and maintaining political and military ties with some of the world's most authoritarian regimes……. But many people, including prominent conservatives in and out of government, say Haig is a particularly cynical example of a public official who has cashed in on his credentials. Many of these sources--including some powerful Beltway players--demanded anonymity as a condition of speaking with Mother Jones. Not so retired Army colonel, author, and syndicated columnist David H. Hackworth. "Haig didn't become a multimillionaire based on his military record or his brains," he says with characteristic frankness. "In the military he was the ultimate perfumed prince who brownnosed his way to the top by always being a horse holder to a top guy.... He didn't invent the revolving door, but he became the ultimate master at making it spin."…."

Mother Jones 9/1/99 Ken Silverstein "… Following a tour of duty in Vietnam, Haig in 1969 was made an aide to Henry Kissinger, President Nixon's national security adviser. Like his boss, Haig was a hawk on Vietnam and, during his time in the Nixon White House, was intimately involved in U.S. plotting against Chile's elected president, Salvador Allende, overthrown in 1973 by Gen. Augusto Pinochet, with significant help from the CIA. By the time the Watergate crisis exploded, Haig had become Nixon's chief of staff…..After Nixon was forced to resign in 1974, President Ford put the loyal Haig in charge of NATO's military operations. He stepped down from that post in 1979, served a brief stint as president of defense manufacturer United Technologies Corporation, then signed on as secretary of state for the incoming Reagan administration…..So long as a regime, however repressive, allied itself with the United States' interests in the Cold War, Secretary of State Haig would embrace it--as so many of his predecessors had done. He supported the apartheid government in South Africa, pushed for military aid to the junta in Turkey, coddled the Suharto dictatorship in Indonesia, and was a staunch supporter of the Marcos kleptocracy in the Philippines. After right-wing government forces in El Salvador raped and murdered four American churchwomen, Haig responded by informing a House committee investigating the atrocity that the vehicles the nuns were riding in may have tried to run a roadblock. Never mind that the women were found with bullets in the backs of their heads, 20 miles away from the roadblock in question….."

Mother Jones 9/1/99 Ken Silverstein "…Not surprisingly, the general's client roster has included several defense firms: United Technologies, McDonnell Douglas, Boeing, and International Signal and Control Corporation, a company, according to the Wall Street Journal, that paid him to help market cluster bombs to Pakistan and weapons fuses to China. In addition, Haig has served on the boards of (among other companies) America Online, Interneuron Pharmaceuticals, MGM Grand, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Chase Manhattan, General Atomics, and Texas Instruments. All of these seemingly disparate enterprises share a common interest in international markets, a realm in which Haig's governmental experience and contacts are highly valuable…… In the case of United Technologies, certainly, Haig's ties to foreign leaders have proved golden. The Washington Post reported that in 1983, the year after he was pushed out as secretary of state, he flew to Manila and helped persuade then-dictator Ferdinand Marcos to cancel a preliminary sales agreement with Bell Helicopter. Marcos instead signed a $ 63 million contract for 17 civilian and two Black Hawk military helicopters made by UT subsidiary Sikorsky Aircraft--a switch opposed by his own Air Force. In December 1992, Haig traveled to Turkey and helped nail down a $ 1.1 billion helicopter deal for his employer. "He was highly regarded and extremely well received by senior officials in the [Turkish] military establishment," says Morton Abramowitz, U.S. ambassador to Turkey under George Bush. "They don't necessarily buy things for that reason alone, but it certainly helps you get a foot in the door and make your case."

Mother Jones 9/1/99 Ken Silverstein "…One example is the U.S.-China Policy Foundation, which Haig serves as an "Honorary Advisor." The organization covers airfare for congressional staffers' trips to China and otherwise seeks "the continued improvement of U.S.-China relations." Haig is also affiliated with the American-Turkish Council, which works to bolster business and military ties with Ankara, and the Hannibal Club, which performs similar activities on behalf of Tunisia………Haig also lends business a helping hand in Indonesia (though his marquee value has no doubt diminished since his ally Suharto was driven from office last year). In March 1997, he accompanied a group of congressional staffers and corporate executives--including officials from Federal Express, Mobil, Caterpillar, and United Technologies--on a tour there. The trip, which was sponsored by the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council, came after months of ethnic and religious riots during which hundreds had been killed. While in Indonesia, the tour group met with Suharto and several government ministers. Steven Clemons, then a staffer to Sen. Jeff Bingaman, was on the trip and says Haig's presence was one reason such high-level doors swung open. "He was a big deal over there," recalls Clemons, who is now at the New America Foundation, a centrist think tank. Haig spoke on several occasions during the trip and, Clemons says, "it was all warm and fuzzy stuff.... He never had a negative thing to say."

Mother Jones 9/1/99 Ken Silverstein "…But it is in China that Haig has carved out a special niche as a door opener for American companies. The general has been a steadfast advocate for China ever since he led the advance team for President Nixon's historic 1972 visit. Later, as secretary of state, he earned the respect of the Chinese leadership by holding fast against the powerful Taiwan lobby in Washington. (He saw China as a useful ally in the struggle against the Soviet Union.) Haig continues to speak out for Beijing in his present role. Perhaps the most striking example came when he turned up at Tiananmen Square on October 1, 1989--four months after the notorious crackdown--to mark the 40th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic. The only American to grace the proceedings that evening, Haig knew that the United States and all other Western ambassadors would be boycotting the event, but he shared the podium with Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, who congratulated him on his courage in appearing.

Mother Jones 9/1/99 Ken Silverstein "…When Deng's daughter, Deng Rong, visited the United States in 1995, Haig threw a party for her at Worldwide's Washington offices. "His remarks that day were extraordinary," says a person who attended. "He was dripping with contempt for human rights activists who try to influence China policy." Ironically, it is conservatives--those who share Haig's sensibilities on so many other issues--who are angriest with him on this score. "It's tragic that a man who has contributed so much to his country would now become an apologist for China," says Ed Timperlake, a former high-level Pentagon administrator under Ronald Reagan……Current and former Hill staffers tell Mother Jones that Haig has called members of Congress on China's behalf, be it to urge that Beijing be admitted to the World Trade Organization (WTO) or to suggest that China have its most-favored-nation trade status renewed. "He doesn't register as a foreign lobbyist, but he's effectively a voice for a foreign government," says Mark Lagon, a former foreign-affairs adviser to the Republican House leadership. A current Hill staffer who closely follows China says of Haig, "He's a guy we worry about because every time we try to put together a piece of legislation [critical of China], Haig gets on the phone to Republican members and we suddenly find that we've got less votes than we thought we did." ….."

Mother Jones 9/1/99 Ken Silverstein "…If Haig is valuable to Beijing, the reverse is also true. The general serves as an adviser to the China Ocean Shipping Company, the state-owned firm involved in a controversial bid to take over closed U.S. Navy facilities in Long Beach, California. Beyond that, when he travels to China, Haig routinely meets with top officials, a level of access that has allowed him to help clients sell Beijing everything from air conditioning equipment to military materiel. To Goldberg, none of this is inappro-priate. "General Haig has been out of office for 17 years," he emphasizes. "He's a private citizen. Former government officials also have the right to engage in business activities, particularly when those activities promote American interests." To his critics, though, Haig's relationship with Beijing is based on an unseemly quid pro quo. As one former GOP government official remarks, "It's very simple. If he were critical of China on human rights or any other issue, his access would dry up and the companies that use him would no longer do so." …."

Wash Post/AP 10/4/99 Larry Margasak "....Vice President Al Gore's campaign chairman, Tony Coelho, has not fully repaid a $300,000 personal loan that was cited in a stinging government report alleging U.S. mismanagement at a world's fair in Portugal, Coelho's lawyer acknowledged Monday. State Department investigators have said taxpayers may be liable for any unpaid balance on the personal loan Coelho took out while he was commissioner general for the U.S. pavilion at "Expo98" in Lisbon. Stanley Brand, Coelho's lawyer, said his client still owes about $100,000 but the debt is "in the process of being paid off." Brand did not say when the loan would be fully repaid. He reversed his comments of Saturday, when he contended the entire loan had been paid off......"

NEWSMAX,COM 10/5/99 Debra Saunders "....Veep Al Gore's latest headache is a State Department inspector general's report about Gore 2000 campaign chairman Tony Coelho's "questionable payments" as head of last year's U.S. pavilion at the World Exposition in Portugal. Coelho received no salary during the post, but it had its perks. He stayed in an $18,000-a-month apartment in Portugal, flew first class, and arranged to get free first-class tickets for his wife. Coelho's niece got a job, too. As an assistant, she earned $2,500 per month, $900 more than the office manager, according to the Washington Post. Coelho gave his niece's resume to his former chief of staff, who became an independent contractor for the Expo and hired Debra Coelho. Still, Coelho's attorney, Stan Brand, explained yesterday that some official told Coelho that his niece's employment wasn't illegal nepotism, "because he did not advance her for employment." But that's just the frosting. There is much more to this story than Coelho and friends living large. For one thing, the inspector general cited "the destruction of certain records" as an impediment to understanding exactly what happened in Portugal. Brand insisted Coelho didn't destroy any documents during any investigation. You'd think the folks in the State Department might want to look into who held a shredding party. The best part about the story, first broken by the Center for Public Integrity, is that it utterly deflates the image of Coelho as some hotshot D.C. fixer. (You can read Bill Hogan's report for the center at www.public-i.org.) ....."

Washington Post 10/7/99 Charles Babcock ".....Tony Coelho, chairman of Vice President Gore's presidential campaign, reported last year that he had nearly $2 million in income in the previous 18 months and more than $55 million in assets--most of it in stock in a funeral home company--according to a financial statement he filed during his tenure as commissioner of the U.S. pavilion at the World Exposition in Lisbon. When he took over the Gore campaign last May, news reports described Coelho's business successes and failures in the decade since he resigned from Congress in 1989, based on interviews and documents from publicly traded companies. The filing he made in connection with the Lisbon Expo provides the first comprehensive account of his holdings at the time. The report was released by the Center for Public Integrity, a watchdog group that also made available last weekend a State Department inspector general's audit that criticized Coelho's management of the expo in Lisbon. Coelho's personal financial statement shows, for example, that he owned more than 1.2 million shares of Service Corporation International, a Houston-based funeral home firm on whose board he serves. At the time Coelho signed the disclosure statement, its stock was trading at $39 a share, making it worth nearly $49 million. It is not known whether he has sold the stock since. Yesterday it traded at less than $9 a share. ....."

Progressive Review 10/5/99 Sam Smith "...Media Monica Jane Mayer of the New Yorker quotes a friend of W.J. Clinton as saying that the president thinks Gore is running for the White House only to please his late father, concluding that "but for his father, [Gore] would have been a professor or something more solitary." The Mayer back-stab is the latest sign of a covert operation against the vice president, whose relationship with the Clinton has never been as warm as alleged....."

Frontpagemag.com 9/24/99 David Horowitz "....The September 27, 1999 issue of The New Yorker features a politically motivated caricature of myself (The Cold War Thrives in Sunny California) by Jane Mayer, co-author of the diatribe against Clarence Thomas (Strange Justice) that was recently made into a film for TV. When Mayer called to interview me for The New Yorker, I told her my low opinion of her "journalism" and suggested that in light of the Clinton-Lewinsky follies, an apology by her to Clarence Thomas was in order. She pretended not to understand what I said. I cooperated with her anyway. It was not because I had expectations that she would report fairly on what I said, but because I didn't want to give her the opportunity to print an extreme caricature of myself and punctuate it with the statement "Horowitz would not answer my calls." For the record, let me say that since, in my opinion, Jane Mayer was incapable of reporting a story accurately, and that she was only going to use the occasion to write a political smear, I was hardly surprised by the result. There is thus no reason to write this response at all, except that it affords me the opportunity to throw light on the techniques by which a great American jurist was tarred and feathered by a dishonest and mean-spirited partisan of the left, posing as a journalist....."

Judicial Watch 10/5/99 "....Judicial Watch forced the Clinton White House to admit, under oath, that Joe Lockhart, Bill Clinton's current spokesman, referred a reporter to the Pentagon for confidential information on Linda Tripp, information protected by a federal law known as the Privacy Act...... In written interrogatory responses filed in federal court, the Clinton White House admitted a direct connection to the Tripp Pentagon file release: "[Former Clinton Press Secretary Mike] McCurry recalls being informed by his deputy Joe Lockhart that Mr. Lockhart had received a telephone call about Linda Tripp from Jane Mayer of The New Yorker, and that Mr. Lockhart referred Ms. Mayer to the Department of Defense. Mr. McCurry does not recall specifically what was stated by Mr. Lockhart or himself." Mayer then spoke to Clinton political appointee and Pentagon official Kenneth Bacon who ordered that his underling, Clifford Bernath, release the information to Mayer. Judicial Watch uncovered Bacon's role, which was initially covered up by the Clinton Administration, in a deposition of Bernath. Linda Tripp has testified to Judicial Watch that Clinton confidante and White House lawyer Bruce Lindsey told her she would be "destroyed" if she came forward and exposed illegal activities she witnessed in the Clinton White House - including Filegate. In fact, Tripp's FBI file was obtained by the Clinton White House. So not only is Tripp a material witness in the Filegate matter, but a member of the putative plaintiff class of Filegate victims. Judicial Watch also uncovered Pentagon documents showing that Secretary of Defense William Cohen was likely involved in the release of the Tripp information. Other evidence shows Cohen countenanced the cover-up of the true circumstances of the Tripp information release. Judicial Watch is investigating the Tripp Pentagon file release because the Court ruled that any misuse of Tripp's file is evidence of a pattern of conduct by the Clinton White House in its misuse of Republican and other FBI files....."

Ether Zone Online 9/14/99 Gretchen Glass "....Leon Panetta - Director of the Office of Management and Budget (January 1993 - July 1994) White House Chief of Staff (July 1994 - January 1997) ......As first reported in the New York Times 6/28/99, Mr. Panetta was told of the Chinese espionage in July 1995. Panetta claims that he did not tell the President - in fact, if you believe the White House spin, since Mr. Panetta left office before the White House claims the President was informed in July 1997, you must assume that Panetta never so much as mentioned it to the President. It was Mr. Panetta's job to inform the President. As a lawyer, Mr. Panetta should have been well aware of the implications of the illegal fundraising and the cover-up of the espionage. Let's see what the facts are and let's see if you believe Panetta kept the 'secret', or if you think he and Clinton decided to cover it up....."

Ether Zone Online 9/14/99 Gretchen Glass ".... From the Boston Globe in 1998: "The Oval Office door was slammed shut. No one, not Stephanopoulos, not even friends from Hope or Hollywood, could enter without Panetta's permission. Aides were told to refine their briefings for the president and were often ordered to practice them before Panetta first. It was a shock for most people in the White House, the president most likely included, and it was a success. The flow of the president's day changed dramatically." "Panetta had the doors tightly closed to anyone who fails to get his permission to enter." (Freely translated, the 'revolving door' to the Oval Office was controlled by Panetta - he personally approved of every lowlife who entered the Oval Office with illegal propositions and illegal campaign dollars.) And also from the Boston Globe: "Panetta often met him[Clinton] in his private residence shortly before 9 a.m., to brief him, as the president pulled on his pants, and from there they were off at a rapid clip." (During one of those intimate moments - Panetta surely could have called a time-out to say - "By the way, Mr. President, the Chinese are robbing us blind at the nuclear labs.") ....."

Ether Zone Online 9/14/99 Gretchen Glass "....And the Washington Times on 7/5/99 described the Clinton/Panetta relationship: "Mr. Panetta, the government official who probably spent more time with Mr. Clinton than anybody else at the time..." .......Part of the now infamous 1996 campaign were the regular weekly strategy meetings. Mr. Panetta was a regular participant - in fact, according to the exhibits from House Hearings, Panetta was third on the list (after the President and Vice President) to receive the critical campaign financial schedule. Panetta was, to say the least, a key player in the illegal fundraising. House Report 3/5/98: "In the frenzied drive to raise such large amounts of campaign money, the Democratic Party dismantled its own internal vetting procedures, no longer caring, in effect, where its money came from and who was supplying it. Worse, their campaign eviscerated federal fundraising laws and reduced the White House, key Administration offices, and the Presidency itself, to fundraising tools. ....."

Ether Zone Online 9/14/99 Gretchen Glass "....Coordinator for the illegal White House fundraising with the DNC, Harold Ickes, was a Deputy that Panetta inherited from McLarty. Ickes orchestrated all the campaign activities at the White House and kept in close contact with the illegal activities at the DNC. The first note of record is the December 2, 1994 memo from Ickes to Panetta regarding the DNC financial situation, spelling out the litany of problems and shortfalls - "In short, there are very serious money problems to deal with." The memos from Ickes to Panetta, including plans for the infamous White House fundraising coffees, continued through the 1996 election. Panetta attended the regular Wednesday night strategy meetings on fund-raising which included DNC officials. Panetta even attended the infamous White House Coffees hosted by the President - the earliest of record was May 3, 1995....."

Ether Zone Online 9/14/99 Gretchen Glass "....So, throughout the 1995-1996 period, Panetta was deeply involved with the Communist and criminal traffic going through that 'revolving door' which he controlled. He was well aware of the necessity to keep that door moving. So now we have Panetta in constant, close contact with the President and hip-deep in the fundraising. What else was Panetta juggling in July 1995 when he was hit with the espionage briefing? From Judicial Watch, Panetta and, Clinton's fourth White House Chief of Staff, John Podesta were involved in the planning and implementation of the illegal taxpayer financed foreign trade missions used for DNC fundraising. There is also strong evidence that in the spring of 1995, Panetta and then-Deputy White House Chief of Staff, John Podesta were involved in the obstruction of justice in regard to an investigation into then-Commerce Secretary Ron Brown's 'allegedly' illegal taxpayer financed trade missions. The Panetta/Podesta team's involvement with Brown in this matter would put them in close contact with Brown's lawyer, Reid Weingarten. Curiously, Mr. Weingarten is/was also the lawyer for the illegal fundraisers Charlie Trie and Pauline Kanchanalak - and other Clinton embarrassments. ...."

Ether Zone Online 9/14/99 Gretchen Glass "....Documents obtained by Softwar from the U.S. Commerce Department and from the Computer Systems Policy Project (CSPP, a consortium of U.S. computer companies) shows that on June 6, 1995 the CSPP had a secret meeting in the White House on super-computer and encryption export policy to Communist China and Russia. Investor's Business Daily, 6/9/99: "In June 1995, Clinton lifted the ban on exports of 'cryptographic items' to China. Such items could help China break U.S. military codes if they're used with high-speed computers." And that same month China transferred missile parts to Pakistan. To add to the 'confusion', in July 1995, Monica Lewinsky began working for Mr. Panetta. Clinton frequently visited Panetta's office where Lewinsky characterized these encounters as "continued flirtation." (Again, we ask: During one of those perverted exhibitions, Panetta surely could have called a time-out to say - "By the way, Mr. President, the Chinese are robbing us blind at the nuclear labs.") ....Then there are all the other things on the Communist Chinese agenda in which Panetta was involved. There was the takeover of the Long Beach Naval Station, the MFN (then Most Favored Nation) and Commerce Department waivers. And last, but not least, the release in July 1995 of the GAO report telling out that China was still behind with their military plans, because they lacked some of the technology that Panetta would soon find out they had stolen!...."

Ether Zone Online 9/14/99 Gretchen Glass ".... Okay, now the stage is set - Panetta is in over his head with the illegal fundraising, efficiently operating that 'revolving door' and shuffling 'alleged' spy and illegal fundraiser John Huang and others in and out of the Oval Office, helping Ron Brown cover his criminal activity, juggling Monica and the Prez and the rest of the balancing act mentioned above. You must admit, this was one busy person. The stakes were high - any adverse news regarding China would topple Clinton's house of cards, cut off the illegal Chinese fundraising and spell political suicide for the 1996 Clinton/Gore campaign. Enter then-Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary with the bad news - Chinese nuclear espionage had been discovered - the Chinese had stolen America's most advanced nuclear warhead. What to do, what to do? Panetta then called then-CIA Director John Deutch to get confirmation, which he did. This 'happy threesome' had control of the biggest spy story since the Rosenbergs. Let's review who they are. ..."

Ether Zone Online 9/14/99 Gretchen Glass "....We have the infamous Hazel O'Leary who informed Panetta. She had already proven her flagrant disregard for national security. She was in the process of haphazardly declassifying secret documents without review and had banned personnel badges that clearly indicated whether the bearer had a security clearance and, if so, how high. Her reasoning: Such badges were discriminatory. O'Leary also ended the practice of requiring reports to DOE headquarters about foreign nationals from "sensitive countries" who visited the unclassified areas of the Nation's nuclear weapons laboratories, and reportedly had leaked (or was in the process of leaking) the design of the W-87 warhead to U.S. News & World Report, which published a diagram of the weapon in their July 31, 1995 issue. This communist sympathizer, herself, is a lengthy sordid story. So it's a given - O'Leary would go along with any type of cover-up if the secrets she worked so hard to make public and get into the hands of our enemies, were finally being disseminated to the communists. OK, Hazel is in the bag. ......It was indeed a time of great risk to the corrupt election process and the furtherance of the President's communist driven "engagement" with China. We are to believe that Panetta never saw fit to inform the President of the espionage? Is any human capable of keeping a secret, the most important to be encountered in a hundred lifetimes, from the person with whom you are in closest contact, when you are duty bound to convey such a secret? What about the weekly intelligence briefing with the President? Did no one see fit to inform him about the Chinese espionage? Or were these briefings replaced by fundraising activities involving individuals with ties to the communist country jeopardizing our national security? ...."

Ether Zone Online 9/14/99 Gretchen Glass "....Investor's Business Daily, 6/10/99: "In a recent Atlantic Monthly article, Yale University professor Paul Bracken reported China's jaw- dropping reversal in two missile-targeting tests. The first round of six missiles fired in July 1995 yielded just a 50% hit rate. The second round - in March 1996 - saw 100% success. If, on the other hand, the president was warned in July of 1995, as he surely should have been, then the administration ignored the Chinese nuclear espionage for more than two years -- even as it was pursuing its strategic partnership with China's leaders, who, simultaneously, were engaged in a massive operation to finance Mr. Clinton's reelection." Thank you Mr. President and Mr. Panetta for your betrayal of America! .......Another major opportunity for Panetta to at least mention the espionage to the President came in September 1995. Clinton, who had been the primary lobbyist for the transfer of the Long Beach Navy base to the Communist China's state-owned shipping company, COSCO, met with Panetta to instruct him to push the transfer forward. Might it not occur to a person with an IQ above 30 that it just might be important, at this point, to mention something about the espionage? Why did Panetta participate in the illegal presidential campaign and cover up the espionage? A good bet would be to hang on to the 'prestigious' title - "White House Chief of Staff". It would certainly guarantee his highly lucrative future. ....."

Ether Zone Online 9/14/99 Gretchen Glass "....Now, let's see how Mr. Panetta struck it rich in the private sector after his stellar performance as an illegal fundraiser, doorman to the communist and criminal element, facilitator of ongoing Chinese espionage at the labs, and various and sundry other 'accomplishments' during his tenure in our government. From the AP 3/13/97 - Less than 2 months after leaving the White House, "former presidential chief of staff Leon Panetta has a new job in Monterey - a $900-a-day consulting position as a consultant tom California State University Chancellor Barry Munitz and as a Distinguished Scholar to conduct seminars at California State University at Monterey Bay. Panetta's wife, Sylvia, also has been hired to work for the chancellor. She will receive $500 per day to serve on an America Reads Higher Education Task Force. As a consultant, Leon Panetta will advise the university chancellor on national policy on higher education and ways to work with Washington, she said. He will not be a lobbyist." Oh, sure... Now let's see, that's around $350,000 per year for the Panetta family....."

Ether Zone Online 9/14/99 Gretchen Glass "....And the continuing Communist Chinese connection? "Washington, D.C. - Former White House chief of staff Leon Panetta, who also served in the Clinton administration as director of the office of management and budget, has joined the international advisory board of Fleishman-Hillard. He will work to identify and win new business for the firm and will provide counsel on a host of issues, according to chairman John Graham." And from the St Louis Business Journal: "Fleishman-Hillard buys stake in of course have offices in Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Another reason why Panetta didn't want to rock the boat with China... From the Associated Press 3/9/97 "Panetta and his successor, Erskine Bowles, also mounted a defense of the Clinton administration's aggressive fund-raising activities before the 1996 election, saying they were forced to collect a lot of money to stop the Republican agenda from winning." Now that's a sound reason to sell out the country! ....."

Ether Zone Online 9/14/99 Gretchen Glass "....Regarding the espionage cover-up, the Washington Times on 7/5/99 said it all: "...Either these three senior White House officials [Berger, Lake and Panetta] are among the most incompetent aides ever to serve a U.S. president, a prospect that, admittedly, is difficult to believe in Mr. Panetta's case. Or they are lying..." ......Panetta wrote a very interesting article, which he published on 4/23/98 just 15 months after putting himself a country's width away from the White House, entitled "The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth But Big Money is Inheriting the Political Process"...... It appears obvious that Mr. Panetta knows exactly what he did wrong and is trying to write and talk up the justifications in his defense. Panetta had hundreds of opportunities to inform the President of the espionage at the regularly scheduled intelligence briefings - and hundreds, if not thousands, of other opportunities. Do you believe he didn't? ......"

Freeper Elle Bee Report 11/27/99 "….Ed Barnes of TIME also reports (December 21, 1998) on Ruff's felony violation of the LMRDA when in 1993 Ruff took about a quater of million dollars from Teamster President Ron Ca$h & Carey and passed more than $150,000.00 through to Clinton "bimbo supressor" Jack Palladino. He then moved to the White House as General Counsel. You can find that story linked on a Wall Street Journal. editorial posted yesterday, entitled Of Guns and Goons.

Freeper Elle Bee Report 11/27/99 TAS 1997 Byron York "….. On August 16, 1984, several attorneys gathered in a conference room at Covington & Burling, a blue-chip law firm with offices just blocks from the White House. They had come to take depositions in the case of Cipollone v. Liggett. A landmark in the history of tobacco litigation, the case was named for Rose Cipollone, a New Jersey woman who died from lung cancer in 1981 after a lifetime of smoking…… The Cipollone suit was widely reported in the press, but the high-powered Washington lawyer's involvement was seldom, if ever, mentioned. Now, however, that lawyer is in the news. His name is Charles Ruff, and he is the Clinton administration's new White House counsel. Of course there is nothing improper about an attorney representing the tobacco industry. But the appointment of Ruff is surprising, since the administration has declared war on tobacco and has repeatedly used tobacco connections in attempts to discredit its opponents..."

Freeper Elle Bee Report 11/27/99 TAS 1997 Byron York "….. Ruff, 57 years old, has long been a part of Washington's Democratic establishment. A graduate of Swarthmore College and Columbia University Law School, he traveled to Africa in the early 1960's to teach law at the University of Liberia. There he contracted a mysterious, polio-like disease that left him confined to a wheelchair. In 1967 he came to Washington as an attorney in the criminal division of the Justice Department. From there he moved back to academics, joining the faculty of Georgetown University in 1973. Later that year he got the job that helped make his reputation--a high-ranking position on the Watergate Special Prosecution Force. Ruff is often remembered as the last Watergate special prosecutor, the man who turned off the lights, packed up the papers, and closed the office in June 1977. But in fact he had been part of the investigation nearly from the start; he joined in July 1973, just two months after original special prosecutor Archibald Cox set up shop….."

Freeper Elle Bee Report 11/27/99 TAS 1997 Byron York "….. It was an insider's strategy, and Ruff displayed his mastery of the game in the case of Virginia Democratic Senator Charles Robb, a politician facing a scandal that seemed sure to wreck his career. In the late 1980's, rumors circulated around Washington that Robb had attended parties at which there had been extensive cocaine use…. For a while it seemed certain that Robb himself would be indicted in the affair. But that changed when Robb hired Charles Ruff, who immediately went to work on his Justice Department connections. It turned out an old friend, George Terwilliger, was overseeing the Robb case….. "

Freeper Elle Bee Report 11/27/99 TAS 1997 Byron York "….. a short time later he came to the rescue of the Clinton White House. This time he worked his legal magic for health care czar Ira Magaziner, who found himself caught in a jam that could have sent him to jail. When Magaziner and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton organized their health care task force and its working groups, they issued a strict edict: Everything having to do with the project had to be kept strictly secret….Lamberth offered Magaziner a choice. He could face a civil hearing--before Lamberth himself--on the issue of whether he had lied intentionally; if found guilty, he would likely be fined for his actions. Or he could take his chances on facing possible criminal charges. Magaziner called Charles Ruff……"

Freeper Elle Bee Report 11/27/99 TAS 1997 Byron York "….. Ruff holds a major IOU from Ohio Senator John Glenn, who is the ranking Democrat on the committee that will investigate the Clinton fundraising scandal. In late 1989, Glenn faced a scandal of his own, when he and four other senators were accused of doing favors for savings and loan crook Charles Keating in return for large campaign contributions…… Glenn again hired Ruff, who approached the Federal Election Commission (FEC) with a simple request: would they please make an exception to the $50,000 rule for Glenn? After all, Ruff argued, Glenn had tried to pay off the debt, but could not find enough donors willing to contribute today to a campaign that had failed in 1984. Furthermore, bending the rules for Glenn would not influence the election, which had been lost years before…."

Freeper Elle Bee Report 11/27/99 TAS 1997 Byron York "….. After missing out on a chance to work for Bill Clinton's first administration, Ruff surprised many observers when he left Covington & Burling in 1995 to work for District of Columbia Mayor Marion Barry as the city's corporation counsel. For one thing, he had to give up a large income from Covington & Burling (Ruff received $711,000 in termination payments from Covington, and financial disclosure records indicate he has investments worth between $2.1 million and $4.8 million)….. Then, in January of this year, Clinton tapped Ruff to be White House counsel.

Research by Freeper ohmlaw00 3/9/00 "…

EXERPTS FROM PUBLISHED ARTICLES AND TRANSCRIPTS:

QUESTION: There was a report in The New York Times a few days ago, which said that the U.S. attorneys office in New York had referred some information to public integrity about possible illegal Venezuelan money that went into the Democratic Party through the Castro family andthat the Justice Department just kind of sat on it, didn't do anything. Can you comment on that?

HOLDER: I'm not familiar with that. But let me just say this is about the public integrity section in general and about Lee Radek in particular.

There have been a lot of news reports about the section and about how they've not performed, and about Lee Radek and about his performance in connection with the campaign finance task force. I think those reports are simply erroneous and don't go to that section, which I was a member of for 12 years, and certainly don't deal in adequate way with Lee Radek's abilities.

He is a very tough, aggressive prosecutor. He's a person who has been charged with the responsibility of leading one of the more important parts of the department and has done so, I think, in a good manner for a substantial number of years.

I'm not sure exactly why people have taken out against him,against the section as well. But I think that the people in that sectionand Lee Radek do a really good job, have done a good job, and have theconfidence of the attorney general and me.

QUESTION: Isn't there a disagreement, though, between Mr. Radek and Mr. LaBella, as has been repeatedly reported, over the direction of the campaign finance investigation, and whether it's aggressive enough and whether it's looking at the issues broadly enough?

HOLDER: I think they actually work pretty well together. I mean, we have meetings concerning independent counsel matters. The public integrity section has the primary responsibility for handling that Chuck LaBella attends. We have meetings about the campaign finance task force that Chuck LaBella has primary responsibility for, and Lee comes to those meetings.

I think that there is a good relationship between the two investigatory bodies and between the two men as well.

QUESTION: Can you just explain how those two groups relate in the campaign finance investigation? I saw LaBella quoted the other day saying, you know, Radek is not a member of the task force. So how does public integrity actually work with the campaign finance task force in this investigation? Who does what? Who's in charge?

HOLDER: Public integrity has primary responsibility over independent counsel matters. The campaign finance task force has primary responsibility over campaign finance matters. Chuck heads up the taskforce; Lee heads up the public integrity section.

But there's a lot of overlap. And that's why it's necessary that they attend meetings of the other and that there is a constant flow of communication. And I think that, that flow of communication is actually a good one.

QUESTION: So public integrity would not get involved in decisions about indictments on people who are not covered by the independent counsel law, for example?

HOLDER: No, I wouldn't go that far. I'd say that as an institution, public integrity would not. On the other hand, people in the public integrity section in the meetings that we would have in the attorney general's office would certainly be asked their opinions and would share those opinions.

QUESTION: The Republicans, or some of them at least on the Hill, and the attorney general and -- testified last week were grabbing on repeatedly to the quote by Mr. Radek that he does not support the independent counsel statute and that he doesn't agree with the statute.

QUESTION: Is that -- is that a problem? Is that leading to some of the difficulties? Reported difficulties?

HOLDER: I mean, Lee Radek has administered the Ethics in Government Act for a number of years, both as a line attorney, a deputy chief in the public integrity section and now as the chief of that section. And I would dare anyone to find a specific instance where he has not followed the law as he was supposed to have done.

Evidence of Ted Sioeng's ties to Chinese intelligence, the report says, was mishandled. No charges. He's now in Belize living off his U.S. investments. Maria Hsia, another Chinese agent, according to U.S. intelligence data, coordinated a Buddhist temple fundraiser attended by the vice president. She goes on trial for minor violations next year, facing probation at worst.

The Buddhist temple event laundered illegal contributions. California Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Mansfield quickly launched the first investigation but was ordered to stop and told that an independent counsel should handle it by the head of the Justice Department's public integrity section, Lee Radek. But Radek at the same time was telling the Attorney General, Janet Reno, that an independent counsel was not needed. The investigation for a short time stalled and temple nuns destroyed evidence, later admitting it was to protect the vice president.

Finally, long time Clinton friend and fundraiser Charlie Trie. FBI surveillance caught documents being shredded at Trie's Little Rock home.

Additional agents with warrants were sent to stop it but were called back at the last minute because Reno felt they lacked probable cause.

Shredding continued. Tree has plea bargained to an expected probation sentence to be handed down in two weeks.

It's hardly a coincidence that Justice Department Public Integrity Section chief Lee Radek, who unsuccessfully sought to block Mr. Smaltz' investigation (and ultimately successful) prosecution of Mr. Espy' s chief of staff, Ronald Blackley, is the same official who has incessantly lobbied Miss Reno not to name an independent counsel to investigate the campaign-finance scandal. For months, FBI agents assigned to the Justice Department's task force, which is headed by none other than Mr. Radek, bitterly complained about its slow pace, believing Mr. Radek, a turf-obsessed bureaucrat, was far more interested in controlling the investigation than in advancing it.

Ten months into the investigation, the utter incompetence of the task force became so glaring that even Miss Reno could no longer defend it. After being humiliated by developments uncovered by the media, Miss Reno was forced to replace the overwhelmed head of the task force with an experienced prosecutor, Charles La Bella. Miss Reno gave Mr. La Bella responsibility for investigating the Asian connection, an area where several indictments are said to be imminent. Mr. Radek, meanwhile, retained authority over the politically sensitive issues involving White House-based telephone fund-raising by the president and vice president. It was on the latter issue that Miss Reno had to rule early this month whether to seek an independent counsel. It didn't take Mr. La Bella long to realize that FBI Director Louis Freeh's longstanding recommendation for the appointment of an independent counsel was right on the money, so to speak. According to Time magazine, Mr. La Bella argued that Mr. Radek's reasoning in opposing an independent counsel amounted to "pablum."

Overruling Messrs. Freeh and La Bella, Miss Reno went with the pablum instead. Nobody was surprised - least of all, no doubt, the federal courts. Responding to Mr. Radek's efforts to block Mr. Smaltz from expanding his investigation, two different federal courts - the Special Division of the U.S.

Court of Appeals, which monitors the actions of independent counsels, and a U.S. District Court, where Blackley was convicted - ruled, for all practical purposes, that Mr. Radek's (and Miss Reno's) arguments in the Espy case were pablum.

Thus, two federal courts have confirmed that neither the attorney general nor her senior subordinate understands the independent-counsel statute they are required to implement.

Every time Attorney General Janet Reno tries to close the door on the case against Bill Clinton and Al Gore, something else slips out. Which is exactly what happened last week when a new piece of paper threatened at the last minute to upend Reno's conclusion that the President and the Vice President did nothing wrong when they dialed up donors for cash. This time the lead came not from news reports or Republicans but from Democrats. Just days before, Democratic National Committee lawyers turned over a document prepared for D.N.C. finance chairman Alan Solomont that named 30 fat cats who, in exchange for a telephone call from the White House, might be lured onto the party's finance board. The price of entry: a donation of $100,000 or a promise to raise $250,000. Next to each name was a tiny box indicating whether the call should be made by Clinton or Gore.

Reno's team immediately telephoned the donors themselves: Had they heard from Clinton or Gore? Was there a pitch for hard money or soft? The hurried checking continued right until Tuesday morning--just hours before Reno announced her decision. As it turned out, Solomont never sent the document to the White House. But the last-minute scramble over a belatedly discovered document was just another reason Reno's own FBI has clamored openly for an independent counsel to investigate the entire mess.

Reno refused to take that step last week, saying she did not yet see evidence that the President or the Vice President had broken any laws. Republicans immediately condemned Reno as a White House stooge, but the real damage to the Attorney General was internal. Her decision exposed a private fight with FBI Director Louis Freeh, who believes Reno has an inherent conflict of interest when it comes to probing her boss. And it may have emboldened some Justice officials into broadening the investigation to explore a simple but far-reaching premise: that the Democrats engaged in a widespread conspiracy to evade the nation's weak campaign-finance laws.

For more than a year Reno has viewed the scandal as a series of narrow, unrelated legal questions, not a massive plot. That's partly because Reno's a careful prosecutor and partly because the stories of Asian money, fake donors and trading favors for cash have often dribbled out in incomprehensible pieces. But Reno's reluctance to view these parts as belonging to a larger whole may also be the product of the curious way she has managed the department's internal probe. Three months ago, Reno brought in Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles LaBella from San Diego to shake things up, but there was a catch, officials told TIME. Reno put LaBella in charge of the Asian connection and many other suspected campaign-law violations but kept a department veteran, public-integrity chief Lee Radek, in charge of pursuing the most politically sensitive question: whether Clinton and Gore broke the law with their dialing for dollars.

This division of labor has bred a lot of resentment. Reno has created two competing teams of prosecutors. Add to that FBI agents who, like Freeh, believe that an independent counsel is the wisest course, and the result is a squabbling muddle. Lines of responsibility are blurred. LaBella has tried to maintain a "detente" with Radek, but as a Justice Department official puts it, "it's not warm and fuzzy between them." The disputes are left for Reno to settle, which she does, but only after free-for-all senior staff meetings.

The chaos spilled into the open as Reno prepared her decision on the White House phone calls. Arguing on one side was Radek, who advised against an outside counsel. On the other was LaBella, who said Radek's legal reasoning amounted to "pablum." Last Tuesday, before her announcement, Reno tried some shuttle diplomacy. She took a hard-to-miss walk across Pennsylvania Avenue to FBI headquarters, both to consult Freeh and to be seen consulting him. And Reno was careful to say a few hours later that the investigation proceeds. Just where it will lead has a lot to do with whether Labella pushes Radek aside--and whether Reno lets him.

Already, LaBella has let it be known that he is closing in on the Asian-money connection, eyeing transactions by Charlie Trie, Pauline Kanchanalak and Johnny Chung, all of whom may have raised funds for the Democrats from overseas sources. Those cases could help LaBella tighten the screws on fund raiser John Huang, who enjoyed the closest ties with White House officials, including Clinton and Gore.

But as long as Reno resists appointing an independent counsel, she may be doomed to second-guess her own decisions. Just last week her aides said they were reopening another aspect of the case Reno has already closed. Justice investigators want to probe whether "issue ads" prepared by the d.n.c. and the White House in 1995 were Clinton campaign ads in disguise. If so, such ads would violate campaign giving and spending rules. Reno rejected that idea in the past, but release of White House videotapes of fund-raising events--including footage of Clinton boasting about a legal end run--have prompted investigators to take another look. Reno's likely to be doing a lot more of that, each time her department--or anyone else--turns up another surprise.

http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a38a3eab82756.htm

New York Times columnist William Safire describes Justice Department official Lee Radek as "the chief of the cover-up" involving 1996 campaign finance violations by higher-ups in the Clinton administration.

Mr. Safire said he bumped into Mr. Radek the other day at Loeb's delicatessen on 15th and I streets and asked him why the trial of Maria Hsia, a former fund-raiser for Vice President Al Gore, was being held in Washington rather than in California near the Buddhist Temple where she is accused of illegally laundering campaign cash via Buddhist nuns.

" 'We thought it would be a better venue,' the chief of the cover-up replied. From his concealing standpoint, he's right - the nation's capital is far better for acquittal or most lenient sentencing of the defendant."

Mr. Safire also noted that by holding the trial here, Janet Reno's Justice Department "was certain it would get a Clinton-appointed judge," because the chief federal judge has been bypassing normal procedure in such cases.

THE WASHINGTON TIMES 3/14/00 Jerry Seper "…… A top Justice Department official ordered federal prosecutors just before the 1996 presidential election to stop an investigation into suspected illegal fund raising by Vice President Al Gore at a California Buddhist temple. Lee J. Radek, head of the department's Office of Public Integrity, said in a secret Nov. 1, 1996, cease-and-desist order that the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles "should take no steps to investigate these matters at this time." Justice Department actions in the case, including the timing of the Radek letter, are now the focus of congressional investigators, The Washington Times has learned…….."

THE WASHINGTON TIMES 3/14/00 Jerry Seper "…… A House investigator, who also asked that he not be named, noted that the Radek letter went out 10 days after accusations first surfaced about questionable campaign donations by Asian-Americans to the Democratic National Committee, including hundreds of thousands of dollars from John Huang, who helped arrange the temple event. He said that had the Los Angeles probe leaked so close to election, the media "would have had a field day." Assist