MSNBC Jim Miklaszewski 8/11/98 "Five years ago, the Pentagon commissioned a report that predicted an onslaught of terrorist attacks against the United States, but it kept the study secret. NBC News obtained a copy of the classified forecast, titled Terror 2000, and its predictions have come true. DRAFTED BY 41 terrorism experts, the report was considered so disturbing by Pentagon officials that they refused to release it to Congress or the public. "They said: This is outrageous, this is crazy," said Marvin Cetron, an author of the report, explaining the feelings of fellow participants. "They felt it was too far out and it would scare the hell out of the general public."."

Fox News & Dallas Morning News 3/6/99 "…Federal agents failed to tell the security staff for Gov. George W. Bush about a plot by a group of militant separatists to kill him two years ago, The Dallas Morning News reported Saturday. An FBI informant who infiltrated the antigovernment Republic of Texas said he told the agents about two meetings when assassination was discussed. Dudley M. Thomas, director of the state agency that protects the governor, said his officers should have known about the threats. But FBI agents said they didn't confide in the agency because the threats were not considered credible…."

8/18/98 Orlando Sentinel Charley Reese "Contrary to the rhetoric of the Clinton administration and the Beltway Babblers, terrorism is not a criminal act in the ordinary sense. Terrorism is a political act, a response to U.S. foreign policy. It is an act of war waged by people too weak to have a conventional army or one large enough to take on the United States. Therefore, capturing an individual terrorist does not even address the problem. People who execute terrorist actions are expendable, replaceable soldiers. Catch one, kill one, and two will take his place. Because the terrorism is political, so, too, is the solution. One ends terrorism by ending the policies that create it.. The Clinton administration perpetuates this wrong evaluation of reality by implying that terrorists are evil and mad, like some demons, who, for no rational reason, strike out at the innocent. They like to say, as if they were heroic defenders en route to liberate France, ``We will not be deterred.'' Notice, however, that they never say what we will not be deterred from doing. "

WorldNet Daily 9/4/98 Joseph Farah "Forget the sideshow of Monica Lewinsky. It's time for Americans to consider whether Bill Clinton is the man they want in the White House as the world plunges into the brink of political, social, ethnic, religious and economic upheaval. Here are just a few of the hot spots: *The failure of the Russian economy:.*The rise of terrorism: ..*Iran's move toward Afghanistan:. *The resurrection of Saddam Hussein: ..*The instability of central Africa: .*A wider Balkans conflict:.. *The grudge match in central Asia: India and Pakistan.The conflict in Cyprus: .*Israel and the Palestinians.*North Korean threat: .*The U.S. economy in crisis: With the Asian and Russian economies falling like dominoes, the American economic boom appears to be on the verge of failing..*China and Taiwan:. *The Y2K crisis: .There are many more potential flashpoints. All of them are made more dangerous by the vacuum of moral leadership and the lack of commitment to principles and ideals that made America a shining city on a hill. It's time for Americans to get a grip. Bill Clinton is not up to this job.."

Freeper John Wurtz 10/15/98 reports " Central bankers around the world are in sheer terror of what is coming in the world economy. A third of the world is in depression. A third of the world is in recession. We are most of what's left and it looks grim for 1999 as Greenspan sees giant waves of US layoffs looming in the wake of cheap imports and foreigners unable to buy our exports. Forget inflation - we're headed for a serious deflationary recession or worse. Any stock rally may be a last chance to bail out before a massive downturn in the market."

USA Journal Online 10/26/98 Jon Dougherty ".In case you haven't noticed, Hollywood is doing us all a favor for a change. Since not many people believe what they hear on the mainstream media and fewer people read newspapers anymore, Hollywood is using our televisions and movie houses to issue us a warning. Take heed; this is important. A couple of new movie releases - a made-for-television movie on NBC last night and a big screen production to be released this week - are about terror or terrorist-related scenarios in which government must step in to corral the people to "deal" with the problem. This is especially ironic, considering that the U.S. government has been using U.S. cities for U.S. troops to practice "invading" for over three years now. And it is ironic considering what most people who should know have been saying about the very real threat of terrorism in the United States. We've already witnessed some of it at the World Trade Center and, in my opinion, in the shooting down of a U.S. airliner in New York within the past few years... Most potential enemies today have no such fear of the Clinton administration. After watching the Clintonites bungle virtually every foreign policy challenge they've faced for the past six years [and seeing what the Clintons will do for campaign money], they have concluded that their window of opportunity is fast approaching."

USA Journal 12/15/98 Jon Dougherty ".A report cited yesterday in the New York Post should serve as a wake-up call to Americans who are foolishly unconcerned about potential terrorist attacks on our native soil. The Post - citing information gleaned from this week's issue of Time magazine - said that "intelligence sources" told Time that Saudi terrorist Osama Bin Laden "could be targeting New York City and Washington, D.C. for deadly bombing attacks." The Post said "the bloody violence may come as bin Laden plans his revenge on the United States for the cruise-missile attacks that blew up his terrorist camps in Afghanistan last August." "Among other likely city targets are the World Trade Center, the Empire State Building, Times Square and Rockefeller Center during the holidays," the report noted. Well, rat's bit. I'd say that considering the bungling of the Clinton administration in the arena of foreign policy over the past six years, this information isn't a shocker but is entirely believable. Bungling foreign policy - while not necessarily affecting our precious stock market -- is aggravating to people of other nations because we allow them to look to this country far too often to solve their problems. But the leaders of other nations are usually interested in having the American taxpayer - not the U.S. State Department - provide these "solutions," if you follow me. Without American money, most countries that look to us for support now would cease to do so in a heartbeat..."

From Freeper Brian Mosely AP 12/15/98 ".Army officials downplayed the threat posed by the spill of 140 gallons of the deadly nerve agent Sarin at the first chemical weapons incinerator in the continental United States.."

New York Times 1/28/99 William J. Broad Judith Miller Freeper Stand Watch Listen ".But civil libertarians and some Administration officials fear that such military power could slowly expand to threaten the privacy, liberty and lives of private citizens. Defenders of the plan, including Pentagon officials, insist that it would do no such thing and that the nation needed homeland defense to deal with terrorists armed with deadly germs, chemicals and skills for attacking the nation's key computer networks.."

San Francisco Examiner 2.2.99 Rob Morse ".AMERICA was settled by people escaping czars, kings and other despots with armies at their disposal. Nowadays the czarist threat is strictly domestic. We already have a drug czar whose troops wage a continually losing war against drugs, despite broad powers of search and seizure. Now we have a terrorism czar with secret armies already in the field, and more to come. I don't know about you, but that terrifies me more than terrorism does. Richard A. Clarke, appointed by President Clinton as the government's counterterrorism coordinator, has a secretive mentality, a desire to raise public fears and an $11 billion annual budget to fight the threats Clinton says are under the bed. That vast space beneath the national box spring has to be filled, now that communism has crawled out and slouched away. Our terrorism czar not only wants to protect America from chemical and biological attack, he wants to protect us from those who attack business and governmental computer systems.. Just what America needs - more SWAT teams, and military ones, even though the military has traditionally been barred from civilian police work. The federal teams, to be attached to the National Guard, are meant to go to the scene of chemical or biological attacks and help local authorities. The teams are to be called Rapid Assessment, Identification and Detection, or RAID, as in the chemical warfare we wage on bugs.. Befitting an age of wide-screen Dolby disaster, Cohen says we live under the threat of "catastrophic terrorism." You'll hear that phrase often in coming months, and it bodes ill for our rights. "We're going to have to reconcile how much we're willing to give up in the way of our individual liberties in order to be secure," said Cohen in a speech in December. ."

Drudge 4/2/99 Freeper Rudder "...In the past 48 hours, the NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY in Ft. Meade, Maryland has intercepted information coming out of Yugoslavia -- information involving an apparent plot to target the Georgetown home of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. "The NSA intercepted a discussion of a street address in Georgetown," one well-placed source told the DRUDGE REPORT late Friday from Washington. "When it became clear that it was Albright's house, the agency immediately passed on the information." Albright's house is located in an elite residential section of Georgetown and neighbors have not been officially advised of the development. But word was spreading throughout the neighborhood on Friday. "Why are we not being told about what is going on?" one neighbor questioned. "This is something we should know about! We are walking on eggshells." The WASHINGTON POST is holding details of exactly what was intercepted by the NSA, according to publishing sources. It is not known if the paper is planning to report the development. One resident in Georgetown, that spoke to the DRUDGE REPORT on condition of anonymity, is angry that Albright has not moved to a more secure location during the NATO bombing campaign of Yugoslavia. "She should not be this exposed, living in that house during all of this," said the source, who lives doors down from Albright..."

World Net Daily 2/26/99 David Bresnahan "...Sgt. Jeff Norgrove was a crew chief on board a Night Stalker helicopter. He served in Somalia supporting the Rangers, in Honduras with the Delta Force, and in other areas. He is well acquainted with the training and activities of the elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment Airborne -- the Night Stalkers. Norgrove added his confirmation that black helicopters do exist and have been flying around U.S. cities on training missions for years. WorldNetDaily has previously reported that Army public affairs officers have also confirmed such reports.... Night Stalkers recently carried Delta Force soldiers in and out of numerous towns in Texas for various training exercises over a two-week period. Operation Last Dance brought controversy when reports in WorldNetDaily were confirmed that live fire was used in civilian areas.... Some Night Stalker training exercises are conducted over U.S. cities without permission from local officials. The goal of such exercises is often to see how far they can go without being detected. Many civilians have faced ridicule over the years for reporting black helicopters coming out of nowhere and disappearing into the night. Such sightings were Night Stalkers on training missions, and the people who reported them should not be labeled as extremists or wackos, according to Norgrove. Night Stalkers often are sent on missions directly into cities to see how far they can get before someone calls 911. They monitor police frequencies and listen for when a complaint comes in. When they are reported to local police they abort the mission.... Norgrove is concerned about the possibility that Night Stalkers and Delta Force soldiers might one day be sent on a mission to fight American citizens. "If it were to ever come down to and actual weapons confiscation scenario, I don't know if I could honestly tell if they would do it or not. I would probably say that 60 percent of them would not do it, because they're well versed about why they're there -- for the Constitution and for domestic and foreign things," he explained. But would they fire on American civilians? "You know what, I would probably guess some of the younger ones would, especially some that are coming out now. Now, when I was in we were pretty rock-steady. We realized what we were there to do was to fight terrorism and outside threats. When we would train in the cities themselves we realized this was training for when we were put elsewhere. That was spelled out to us then. It wouldn't surprise me at all if people took that attitude now. Things have changed quite a bit in the past six or seven years," explained Norgrove. He confirmed that he participated in exercises in which live rounds were used on a number of training missions in U.S. cities. "Now I don't condone that. Especially in a city setting, or even in a rural setting," he commented...."

Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph 3/1/99 "…CIVIL LIBERTARIANS, FOR instance, responded with alarm to a report in The Washington Post that Defense Secretary William Cohen is seeking "a permanent task force, headed by a general officer, to coordinate the military's response to a chemical or biological attack on the United States." …THESE HARSH CRITICISMS are justified when put in context of the administration's overall record on such matters, which shows a pattern of chipping away at various freedoms. For instance, at the administration's behest, Congress inserted a provision in defense authorization legislation last year allowing federal agents to conduct "roving wiretaps" - tapping not only a suspect's phone lines, but the lines of any phones he may be likely to use. The FDIC adopted a regulation requiring banks to provide the government with sensitive information about deposits. The administration has also pushed for such measures as broader federal wiretap authority, expanded federal access to the travel records of suspected terrorists and broader definitions of terrorism to allow federal agents wider investigatory powers…."

WorldNetDaily.com 6/4/99 Alan Keyes "...But whatever kind of "victory" Bill Clinton claims, I think that the rest of us ought to hang our heads in shame. The NATO campaign has followed a strategy that we know to be wrong and deeply immoral. The moral norms that as a decent and civilized people we have worked to establish condemn a strategy that aims to break and destroy the civilian people of a country in order to achieve political objectives. The classic definition of terrorism is the use of force against civilians in order to get them to do your bidding as a result of the terror induced in their hearts. And we have been practicing a strategy based on just such a use of force..."

WorldNetDaily 6/3/99 Tanya K. Metaksa "....Now when one Hollywood celebrity suggests that a Hollywood icon should be "shot" there are no editorials, no gnashing of teeth, just deafeningly cold silence. Has Spike Lee forgotten his civil rights history? As president of the Screen Actor's Guild, Charlton Heston led the Hollywood contingent of no more than 30 (including those that came from New York) to the now famous 1963 March on Washington. Remember most "parlor liberals" didn't participate in "the March." If Spike Lee knew anything about Charlton Heston he would have read his book, "In the Arena," and know it ends with an excerpt from Dr. King's famous speech. But America's civil rights history also has its birthplace in the struggle to own firearms..... But, there is the rest of the story. Because of this "racial incident" the Ku Klux Klan in 1927 lobbied for the passage of Michigan's first gun control law, which required citizens to acquire purchase permits after mandatory inspections prior to acquiring a gun. Guess who this law was aimed at? ....In self-defense the Monroe chapter of the NAACP decided to exercise their right to keep and bear arms. In 1957, 60 members of the Monroe chapter of the NAACP affiliated with the National Rifle Association of America. They received firearms training. And, when the Klan motored in for another night of tyranny, they came face to face with the Second Amendment. The terrorists failed that night because one right prevailed. You see, Spike Lee, the Second Amendment is colorblind. You may think it funny to suggest that someone who has been and remains in the forefront of our civil rights struggles should be shot. But I don't. I didn't think it was funny when Ice-T and Time Warner recorded a song called "Cop Killer," and neither did Charlton Heston. He stood before the Time Warner Board of Directors at their annual meeting and read to them the disgusting lyrics that advocated killing cops. You may not agree with Charlton Heston, but you know where he stands: fighting for freedom....."

New York Times 6/25/99 Stephen Labaton "...An unusual coalition of liberals and conservatives persuaded the House of Representatives to approve legislation Thursday to make it much harder for Federal and state law enforcement authorities to confiscate property before they bring criminal charges in narcotics and other cases. By an unexpectedly lopsided vote of 375 to 48, the House for the first time rolled back 30 years of criminal measures passed at the height of Government "wars" on drugs and terrorism. Those measures substantially broadened the power of Federal and state authorities to seize houses, cars, cash, boats, planes and other assets before filing criminal charges. But in recent years the seizure of property from people who were never convicted -- and in some cases never even faced charges -- raised concerns among both liberals and conservatives that the powers were being abused....."

Seattle Times 7/18/99 John Omicinski "...Infighting and confusion among eight Cabinet departments and 96 federal agencies have left the nation without a national strategy against terrorists or states developing arsenals of so-called weapons of mass destruction, said a panel led by former CIA Director John Deutch and former Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa. "The U.S. government is not effectively organized to combat proliferation" of terror weapons, the report concluded.... "Nearly nine years after this wake-up call," said the report, "and after billions of dollars of (weapons of mass destruction) technology expenditures, we see that there has been relatively little progress made in any of the areas vital to combating WMD proliferation." ....The report revealed that fissionable material had been stolen seven times from Russian facilities since 1992, but it didn't speculate where the bomb-making agents wound up. Indirectly, the report pointed a finger of blame at President Clinton. Better government organization could not overcome "a lack of commitment at the top," it said, while calling on the president to appoint a "National Director for Combating Proliferation." National Security Director Sandy Berger is too overwhelmed to focus on proliferation, said Specter, and a "czar" is needed with direct access to the president and the power to knock heads among the departments...."

Insight 8/9/99 J Michael Waller "...Proliferators of weapons of mass destruction have found creative ways of financing their doomsday work -- through unwitting American investors. So concludes a bipartisan commission chaired by former CIA director John M. Deutch..... The Deutch commission recommends that the federal government consider options for denying proliferators access to U.S. capital markets, including national-security disclosure requirements for foreign-government-controlled or -affiliated organizations seeking entry to U.S. capital markets. Among the U.S.-based financial houses managing Communist Chinese bonds are CS First Boston, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan Securities and Chase Manhattan. The financial section of the 280-page Deutch report vindicates years of lonely work by Roger W. Robinson of the Center for Security Policy. Formerly senior director of international economic affairs on President Reagan's National Security Council, Robinson virtually has been alone in warning that Communist China's multibillion-dollar bond issues in the United States are duping U.S. investors into bankrolling Beijing's secret weapons-of-mass-destruction programs -- weapons that China willingly provides to regimes such as Iran, Iraq, Libya and North Korea....."

The Center For Security Policy 7/21/99 "... Why was President Clinton's Rose Garden statement yesterday -- in which he urged Senate hearings this fall and final action on the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty -- all but ignored today by the Nation's leading newspapers?.... Whatever the reason, the White House press corps' failure to publicize these presidential remarks does not bode well for the power-play that anti-nuclear activists within and outside the Clinton-Gore Administration hope to unleash in the next few weeks in a bid to secure Senate advice and consent to this controversial and fatally flawed accord....The following were among the more egregious misrepresentations in Mr. Clinton's statement: "We have, today, a robust nuclear force." The fact is that we are not sure whether today's U.S. deterrent is "robust." In the interval since 1992, when the United States unilaterally suspended its underground nuclear test program, officials at the national laboratories responsible for certifying the stockpile have been reduced to making informed guesses about the actual condition of our arsenal.... "Nuclear experts affirm that we can maintain a safe and reliable deterrent without nuclear tests." Actually, some do; some don't. In fact, until Mr. Clinton's first Secretary of Energy Hazel O'Leary blackmailed the U.S. nuclear laboratories into agreeing to support the CTBT, virtually no one in positions of responsibility for the American deterrent believed that it could be safely and reliably maintained in the absence of periodic underground testing... "If our Senate fails to act, the treaty cannot enter into force for any country." The implication is that if, on the other hand, the Senate does act, the CTBT will come into force. This is not the case. Unless and until all other nuclear powers -- including North Korea, which has shown no interest in joining the treaty regime -- become state parties, the Comprehensive Test Ban cannot, by its own terms, come into force.... He declared: "The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty will strengthen our national security by constraining the development of more advanced and more destructive nuclear weapons, and by limited the possibilities for more countries to acquire nuclear weapons. It will also enhance our ability to detect suspicious activities by other nations." In fact, due to the inherent unverifiability of a "zero-yield" Comprehensive Test Ban, there is no way to say for certain whether other nations are exploiting the ability to conduct undetectable low-yield and/or de-coupled tests to develop "more advanced and more destructive nuclear weapons." .....More to the point, there is now an active world market for nuclear weapons-related know-how and technology. Nations no longer need to test their own nuclear devices; they can buy tested ones from the likes of Russia and China..... "

APWashington 7/25/99 Cassandra Burrell "…Today's terrorists find ways to raise their own money -- through drug trafficking, for example -- rather than rely on direct help from foreign governments, the State Department's acting counterterrorism coordinator said Friday….. Groups involved in the bombing nearly a year ago of U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, he said, ``are more in the mold of the new terrorist threat -- groups that are often self-financed with less direct linkage to state sponsors.'' ….A growing connection of narcotics trafficking and terrorism can be seen around the globe, Sheehan said. ``You can see it in Colombia, all the way through the Bekaa Valley in the Middle East, all the way out to South Asia and in Afghanistan and in other parts of the world,'' he said…. Today's terrorists also are more violent. ``These terrorists want a `body count,''' Sheehan said. ``For this reason, our efforts against terrorism must remain strong and consistent.'' …"

AP National Jeannine Aversa 7/25/99 "…The Clinton administration is preparing to allow U.S. companies to sell food and medicine to three countries listed as terrorist states -- Iran, Libya and Sudan. The regulations are expected to be issued soon and would allow U.S. companies to obtain a license from the Treasury Department to sell food and medicine to three countries, a department official said Friday….."

World Net Daily 7/23/99 Jon Dougherty "…Under the auspices of combating illegal drugs, guarding borders and preventing terrorism, new provisions in the House and Senate Defense Appropriations Bills seek to increase the use of the U.S. military in domestic law enforcement. According to sources, the bill would end the requirement for local law agencies to reimburse the federal government for any local use of military equipment, as well as enable the Department of Defense to deploy military troops in cases of anticipated or actual terrorist attacks….. For example, one provision would remove the requirement for local law enforcement agencies to reimburse the DOD for use of military resources, at the discretion of the Secretary of Defense. "That is currently the main practical check on the use of military equipment by local police," Kopel told WorldNetDaily. He added that he is worried about an overall growth in the federal government's "tendency to militarize local police officers." …"

Washington Post 7/26/99 William Cohen "…The United States now faces something of a superpower paradox. Our supremacy in the conventional arena is prompting adversaries to seek unconventional, asymmetric means to strike our Achilles' heel. At least 25 countries, including Iraq and North Korea, now have -- or are in the process of acquiring and developing -- weapons of mass destruction. Of particular concern is the possible persistence in some foreign military arsenals of smallpox, the horrific infectious virus that decimated entire nations down the ages and against which the global population is currently defenseless. Also looming is the chance that these terror weapons will find their way into the hands of individuals and independent groups -- fanatical terrorists and religious zealots beyond our borders, brooding loners and self-proclaimed apocalyptic prophets at home. This is not hyperbole. It is reality. Indeed, past may be prologue….What would that day look like? A biological agent would sink into the respiratory and nervous systems of the afflicted. The speed and scope of modern air travel could carry this highly contagious virus across hemispheres in hours. Indeed, the invisible contagion would be neither geographically nor numerically limited, infecting unsuspecting thousands -- with many, in turn, communicating the virus to whomever they touch. The march of the contagion could accelerate astoundingly, with doctors offering little relief. Hospitals would become warehouses for the dead and the dying. A plague more monstrous than anything we have experienced could spread with all the irrevocability of ink on tissue paper. Ancient scourges would quickly become modern nightmares… As part of a federal interagency effort launched last year by President Clinton and led by the National Security Council, the Defense Department is doing its part to prepare the nation for the catastrophic consequences of an attack that unleashes these horrific weapons…. First, any military assistance in the wake of a domestic attack must be in support of the appropriate federal civilian authority -- either the Department of Justice or the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Second, an unequivocal and unambiguous chain of responsibility, authority and accountability for that support must exist. Third, military assistance should not come at the expense of our primary mission -- fighting and winning our nation's wars… Fourth, our military response efforts will be grounded primarily in the National Guard and Reserve…. Special National Guard teams are being positioned around the nation to advise and assist communities upon request. Finally, we must not and trample on American lives and liberties in the name of preserving them. Fears about the military's role in domestic affairs are unfounded, as evidenced by a long history of reasonable and successful military support to communities ravaged by natural disasters, such as fire and flood…."

AP 7/23/99 Michael Sniffen "…The FBI halted the popular public tours of its headquarters building Friday for an indefinite period in response to an unconfirmed, nonspecific threat against bureau facilities in this city, a spokesman said. NBC News reported that the threat concerned possible terrorist attacks by followers of Osama bin Laden, the wealthy Islamic radical who is charged in this country with masterminding last August's bombings of U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans. Law enforcement officials, requesting anonymity, would say only that ``recent events suggest it's fairly evident Bin Laden's followers would be the prime suspects.''…"

WorldNetDaily 7/26/99 "...The government has announced that it "requires a new smallpox vaccine to deal with the consequences if smallpox were used as a terrorist weapon against the civilian population." That announcement, via the Commerce Daily Bulletin, was the first time the government has asked for smallpox vaccine to be manufactured in over 26 years. The virus is supposed to have been officially eradicated from the face of the earth in 1972, but few believe that it was. There have long been reports that some countries and terrorist organizations have secret smallpox samples and have been developing the virus as a bio-weapon. The United States currently has only 15.4 million doses of vaccine and last Wednesday the government not only put out a call for a minimum of 40 million additional doses of vaccine, but also said it sought vaccine manufacturers who could "achieve FDA licensure and initiate large-scale production of a new vaccine in the shortest time possible."... According to the articles' writer, Richard Preston (author of the best-selling "The Hot Zone," about the deadly African Ebola virus) the U.S. government has a classified list of over 11 nations or groups suspected of either already having a secret stockpile of smallpox, or of trying to steal, or buy one. This list includes Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, North Korea, Iraq, Iran, Cuba and Serbia. Also suspected are the terrorist organization of Osama bin Laden and the Aum Shinrikyo sect of Japan which released nerve gas in a Tokyo subway in 1995. Preston points out that last year "North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan in a test. ... "

http://www.worldtribune.com/photo-tease-front-2.html 7/29/99 "...- The Clinton administration has launched an effort to warn Americans that they are susceptible to a biological or chemical weapons attack. .... "A chemical or biological strike on American soil could quickly surpass any community's ability to cope," Cohen wrote. U.S. military officials said the Cohen article was part of a government effort to make Americans aware of the nonconventional weapons threat. They said the Pentagon and other U.S. agencies agree with a recent report by former Central Intelligence Agency director John Deutch that urged more cooperation between agencies and greater measures to prepare for a biological attack....."

Navy News & Undersea Technology 8/2/99 Lisa Troshinsky "...Due to the increased threat of terrorism on U.S. soil, the Navy and Coast Guard are transforming their capability from protecting U.S. ships in foreign ports to protecting their ships in U.S. ports. At the same time, with the availability of new technologies, the services are beefing up their ability to protect U.S. assets in ports worldwide. The United States is now able to deploy heavily-armed small boats, underwater sensors, and command and control capabilities to U.S. ports where U.S. aircraft carriers or Military Sealift Command (MSC) ships, that have less security, are loading up for deployment overseas. ...The regional head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation counter-terrorist operations stated that a large number of portable weapons have passed into the hands of various organizations since the break-up of the Soviet Union and that the expectation is that sooner or later these weapons will be used against CONUS (Continental U.S.) targets. Previously, the protection of U.S. ports was primarily a Coast Guard mission; but with the increased threat, the Navy has stepped in to help carry out the new mission. To replace or purchase updated equipment needed to protect U.S. ports, the Navy and Coast Guard are currently buying hardware. Also, a Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) working group to review asymmetrical warfare and coastal security was started three to four months ago to review capabilities. ...."

New York Post 8/5/99 Niles Lathem "... Eight months after landing on the FBI's Most Wanted list, terror kingpin Osama bin Laden has become one of the most popular figures in the Middle East - with thousands of fanatics now ready to do his bidding. And U.S. officials fear that the millionaire Saudi expatriate - bunkered down with his four wives and 15 children in a remote mountain region in Afghanistan - is set to activate his followers for a series of new attacks on U.S. interests - including financial centers in New York. "He's bigger than life because of all the focus on him. He's got followers he doesn't even know about ready to die for him," said terrorism expert Harvey Kushner of Long Island University. ...Law-enforcement agencies are said to be particularly concerned about some kind of attack on New York and have recommended stepped-up security at the New York Stock Exchange and the Federal Reserve Bank. "I believe he is operating under the assumption that if the United States is going to go after his money, then he's going to go after America's money," said Kenneth Katzman, a former CIA analyst now at the Congressional Research Service. More chilling still is the possibility that bin Laden has acquired chemical weapons. Experts say there is evidence that there have been meetings between al-Qaeda operatives and Iraqi chemical scientists, and that bin Laden has constructed crude laboratories for chemical-weapons development in Afghanistan...."

Drudge (Tomorrow's Washington Post) 8/7/99 "...According to publishing sources, the Sunday WASHINGTON POST will feature an explosive article exploring a new book by two Chinese colonels who advocate "terrorism, narcotics trafficking, drug smuggling, environmental degradation and computer viruses" as methods to defeat America in the "war of the future"! POST reporter John Pomfret was granted a rare interview in Beijing with Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui, the authors of "Unrestricted War" -- both of whom express a deep fear of an America that imposes its ways around the world through various methods including war..... "

Kanwa news 7/10/99 "...The Chinese press has highly praised a newly published book called 'Go-beyond-the-limit War' recently. Inside the Chinese army, some scholars believe that this book will give a birth to a new military thinking in China. Co-authored by Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui, both the senior colonels of the Chinese air force, this book was published by the Literature and Art Publishing House of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. .... The so-called 'GBLW' means mainly include the action of computer hacking, the city guerillas, and the 'financial terrorism' etc.. The book states, 'although China is not wealthy, it is not a problem for it to spend 100 billion US dollars in attacking an unprepared power. This is enough to create a financial crisis'. ...."

Washington Post 8/8/99 John Pomfret "...Among their sometimes creative and sometimes shocking proposals for dealing with a powerful adversary are terrorism, drug trafficking, environmental degradation and computer virus propagation. The authors include a flow chart of 24 different types of war and argue that the more complicated the combination - for example, terrorism plus a media war plus a financial war - the better the results. From that perspective, "Unrestricted War" marries the Chinese classic, "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu, with modern military technology and economic globalization...."

WORLD TRIBUNE.COM 8/9/99 "...Saudi fugitive Osama Bin Laden is believed to have up to 20 nuclear bombs and is seeking to launch a massive terrorist strike against the United States, a congressional investigator and author says. Yosef Bodansky, a researcher of the House Task Force for Counterterrorism and author of a new book on Bin Laden, told a news conference on Friday that Bin Laden has been seeking to follow up on his bombings of two U.S. embassies in east Africa one year ago. Echoing U.S. officials, Bodansky said Bin Laden was thwarted in plans to blow up the U.S. embassy and two consulates in India in last December and January. Bin Laden has biological, chemical and nuclear weapons, Bodansky said. The nuclear weapons include suitcase bombs acquired through Chechniyan rebels and received technical help from Iraq..... Bodansky said Bin Laden remains in Afghanistan. He said the Saudi is located in Islam Darva, about 80 kilometers northwest of Kandahar. When he wants to communicate with the outside world, he travels to Jalalabad...."

NATIONAL PRESS CLUB 8/6/99 "...PRESS CONFERENCE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB MORNING NEWSMAKER WITH YOSSEF BODANSKY, AUTHOR; SUBJECT: INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM NATIONAL PRESS CLUB WASHINGTON, D.C. 10:00 A.M. EDT FRIDAY, AUGUST 6, 1999 "...MR. BODANSKY:... Essentially, if one is to sum up the situation today as far as international terrorism, Islamic terrorism is concerned, we're sitting on a volcano. We feel the earth rumbling, with perhaps the smoke coming from a variety of cracks. Everybody knows that eruption is essentially inevitable, probably imminent, but nobody knows where it's going to erupt, how soon, and exactly where.... The first key event took place in the first days of December last year, in that when bin Laden received the fatwah, a religious decree from the high court of Afghanistan, the leading Ulama -- religious court -- permitting, among other things, the use of weapons of mass destruction against innocents -- against American civilians. Terrorists in the past have had weapons of mass destruction -- never in the quantity and quality of bin Laden's -- and we'll go into that in a few minutes. The important thing is never have they had any authorization to use them. And this is the first time, considering the fact that bin Laden is the guest of the Taliban, he is seeking permission, justification or legitimization to use these weapons from the same group of learned individuals that also guide the Taliban is of extreme importance. Then, on July 15, Sheik Omar Bakri Muhammad, an individual that sits in London and defines himself as the "eyes and ear" of bin Laden, issued an open letter to bin Laden that was read in the mosque the next day, Friday the 16th, in which he urged him to come and strike out now. The letter itself is of extreme importance because of bin Laden's agreement with the Taliban. In accordance with that agreement, bin Laden is not to initiate anything, but as an emir, he is obliged by Islamic law to answer the demand of his disciples to lead them in a jihad if they so wish. So there is this greater justification for him to do something without violating his agreement with the Taliban....."

NATIONAL PRESS CLUB 8/6/99 "... Bin Laden does have chemical, biological -- a diverse collection of chemical, biological weapons, as well as nuclear weapons. This is a few of the ex-Soviet suitcase bombs acquired through the Chechens. Far more important than the possession of items of one kind or another, including production capacity, is the fact that his organization has been able to recruit a large number of experts, including experts in weaponization and experts in delivery. Most of them are what we call "lily white," i.e., they have never been in any trouble with security services in any country, so we don't have anything about their faces, fingerprints and the like. And they can operate wherever they want to...."

Associated Press 8/8/99 William Mann "...Sen. Orrin Hatch predicted Sunday the United States eventually will make an example of Osama bin Laden but refused to say whether that might include killing the accused terrorist leader. Hatch, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the CIA and FBI know where bin Laden is, generally know what he is doing and are aware that top Arabs are funneling money to him, Hatch said. ``Ultimately, we're going to get him,'' predicted Hatch, a Utah Republican seeking the GOP presidential nomination. ``And ultimately, we're going to make an example of a person who literally is causing death all over the world, or at least trying to cause death all over the world.'' ..."

NATIONAL PRESS CLUB 8/6/99 "...We have high hopes that they will indeed be able to deliver bin Laden or any of his assistants. But beyond what we know or don't know about the inner dynamics of the Pakistani government, there is a very, very simple objective logic to it. Bin Laden is the hottest commodity. The moment they hand him over to the United States, alive or dead, they're not going to have it any more. They will not be able to dangle it and to trade it for support, understanding or anything else from the West. So it does not serve their national purpose to hand him over. Furthermore, as Pakistan is getting more and more into a variety of rogue-state behavior in the nuclear field and vis-a-vis India, they need greater and greater, quote "understanding," unquote, from the United States. Therefore, they need to heighten and to increase the value of the bin Laden commodity. And the only way to increase the value of the bin Laden commodity is to make the United States want him even more. And why should we want him even more? After he strikes again...."

BBC 8/8/99 "...India's Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, has called on the United States to declare Pakistan a terrorist state. He was speaking at a rally in the northern state of Punjab - bordering Pakistan - at the start of his campaign for September's general election. Delhi accuses Islamabad of supporting insurgents in Indian-administered Kashmir. Addressing large crowds, Mr. Vajpayee accused Pakistan of renewed cross-border attacks in Kashmir, and said it was trying to open up new fronts with India. "Peace with Pakistan is not possible until Pakistan withdraws the terrorists. I assure the countrymen that the neighbours will not be allowed to succeed in their attempts," Mr. Vajpayee told supporters in the industrial town of Ludhiana. Pakistan has denied involvement in the 10-week military conflict in the Kargil sector of Kashmir...."

Inside The Navy 8/9/99 Christopher Castelli "... Deadly foreign-sponsored terrorism will bloody American soil in the 21st century, and the United States and other major powers will struggle to contain foreign crises similar to Kosovo and Rwanda, says an assessment by a national security commission chartered by the Pentagon. In the next 25 years, U.S. citizens on American soil will increasingly become targets of foreign terrorists armed with weapons of mass destruction, the commission will tell Defense Secretary William Cohen on Aug. 15 when it submits a report on the future global security environment....But some key themes planned for the first of the commission's three reports -- the threat of terrorism and WMD, the possible failure of states, and the crises that can happen when governments lose control -- echo observations first made in 1997 by the QDR and the National Defense Panel. Based on the summary, dated July 1, the Hart-Rudman commission's first report is likely to paint a grim picture of a world in which today's understanding of geography, technology, and ethics will certainly be challenged in new ways -- frequently with potentially dangerous consequences....Increasingly, the United States will become subject to terrorism attacks that military superiority will be helpless to prevent, the summary states. "For the first time since the War of 1812, Americans will die on continental American soil, potentially in substantial numbers, as a result of foreign action," the summary predicts...."

Hot Daily News - ISLAMABAD, Pakistan 8/9/99 AP "...One year after terrorist bombs ravaged its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and killed 224 people, the United States is no closer to arresting the man it believes masterminded the attacks. Washington has put suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden on its 10 Most Wanted List, offered a $5 million reward for his arrest and tried to make international pariahs of his hosts, Afghanistan's Taliban rulers. The efforts have largely failed. Because of fresh but unspecified terrorist threats, the United States is closing embassies and halting its popular public tours of FBI headquarters in Washington......The Taliban, who control 90 percent of the country and preach probably the harshest brand of Islam operating in the world today, seem unlikely to give up a man extolled as a hero by radical Islamic groups. In July, however, the Taliban did end their pretense of not knowing where bin Laden was, acknowledging he still lived in Afghanistan and still was a guest to be protected. They also denied reports he was planning to seek sanctuary in another Islamic country....``Bin laden is training his own people for terrorist activities around the world,'' said an Afghan who once trained with bin Laden at Tora Bora, also in eastern Afghanistan. ``They include Sudanese, Algerians, Tajiks, Iranians and Egyptians,'' he said. ``Osama has dozens of camps. They train on anti-aircraft guns, explosives, chemical and biological weapons.'' The same Afghan warrior, who didn't want to be identified because he feared for his life, said he had been trained to use chemical and biological weapons. The training was conducted by a North Korean.

UPI 8/10/99 "...The Clinton administration warns Americans (Tuesday) that they should avoid travel in the tribal areas of northwest Pakistan along the frontier with Afghanistan, where indicted bomber Osama Bin Laden has found safe haven. The State Department says there is a "growing body of information" suggesting Bin Laden, who has been indicted for masterminding the bombing last year of American embassies in east Africa, is planning an attack against U.S. interests in the Northwest Frontier Provinces of Pakistan. .."

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM 8/11/99 "...U.S. military planes carrying commandos have landed in Pakistan in what appears to be the start of an offensive against Saudi fugitive bomber Osama Bin Laden, Arab reports said. The reports said the U.S. warplanes landed in Islamabad on Monday. The United States has denied the report. Bin Laden is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan and the ruling Taliban faction have called on Muslims to stop the incursion by Washington. Al-Jazeerah television, monitored by the BBC in Jordan, said the two planes landed at two airports around Islamabad. It said dozens of U.S. military commandos took up combat positions near the planes and barred anyone from approaching the area. Al-Jazeerah reported that the operation was in apparent preparation for a military strike against Bin Laden. Bin Laden has been accused by the United States of having responsibility for the bombing of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania a year ago that killed at least 226 people, including 12 Americans. Earlier, the Afghani opposition on Monday accused the ruling Taliban of massacring hundreds of villagers in territory north of Kabul captured and occupied for three days last week...."

http://www.timesofindia.com/120899/12worl6.htm PTI 8/12/99 "...DUBAI: The privately-owned Qatari television Al Jazeera has stood by its report that US military planes had landed in Pakistan with commandos to strike at terrorist mastermind and Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan. The television's correspondent in Islamabad in a late night telecast on Tuesday said his information came both from well-informed Pakistani sources and the Pakistan-backed Taliban, which is fighting to extend its control over the remaining 10 per cent of territory in Afghanistan. The correspondent said the US embassy in Islamabad had been secretly evacuating its diplomatic staff fearing retaliation from the Taliban backers. Already about 75 Americans had left Pakistan....."

WorldNet Daily 8/12/99 J R Nyquist "... According to Yosef Bodansky, a researcher attached to the House counter-terrorism task force, a Middle East terrorist is now believed to have as many as 20 suitcase nuclear bombs. In addition, this same terrorist is alleged to possess biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction. Supposedly, Chechnyan rebels managed to steal nuclear suitcase bombs from the Russian military. These bombs were then smuggled out of Russia and sold to Osama bin Laden, an international fugitive and terrorist hiding in Afghanistan..... More recently, Clinton Administration officials have accused Osama bin Laden of plotting bomb attacks against the United States Embassy and two consulates in India. The U.S. government has offered five million dollars to anyone who provides information leading to bin Laden's arrest or conviction. In Afghanistan bin Laden is considered a war hero for risking his life in the struggle against Moscow's client armies. Therefore, it is not surprising that many Afghans were dismayed at the idea that bin Laden was a threat to America....Bodansky's sources, however, are suspect. One must always treat the claims of Russian officials with near-total skepticism. Can we really believe that the anti-Soviet bin Laden would work closely with former Soviet commandos who were his deadly enemies in the past? And what sort of Russian special forces soldier would assist an anti-Russian terrorist? It is doubtful that any such person has ever existed in the ranks of Soviet or Russian special forces. In the last analysis, it is more likely that Bodansky has been fed false information. The same goes for the Saudis, who have probably been duped by Russian intelligence agents.... The most alarming thing about the bin Laden story is the way it helps the nuclear war strategy of the Kremlin. According to the highest ranking defector from the Russian General Staff, Colonel Stanislav Lunev, a surprise Russian nuclear strike would begin with the deployment of 7,000 Spetsnaz commandos to the United States.....The United States early warning network consists of three DSP launch detection satellites and six radars. The satellites are presently in geosynchronous orbit over the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. These satellites are able to detect Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) and Submarine Launch Ballistic Missiles (SLBMs) once their engines are ignited during a launch sequence. Each of the three DSP satellites has a ground station with uplinks. If these ground stations are destroyed by suitcase nukes, and if the early warning radars are damaged, the United States would be blinded....Now that we've been told that any Spetsnaz commandos caught on American soil are probably working for bin Laden, we will be looking the wrong way...."

FoxNews Reuters 8/15/99 "...Afghanistan's ruling Islamic Taliban movement is holding talks with the United States about Saudi-born terrorism suspect Osama bin Laden, an independent Afghan news agency with good Taliban contacts said Sunday. Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) quoted informed sources as saying New York was the venue for the first talks since Washington ordered a cruise missile strike on bin Laden's suspected Afghan hideouts on August 20 last year. The Pakistan-based agency said the Taliban had made it clear to the United States that bin Laden, accused of masterminding U.S. embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam a year ago, remained their "guest'' and they would not ask him to leave...."

msnbc.com 8/6/99 Preston Mendenhall "...Until now, it's been the stuff of movie scripts and science fiction. A mad leader or terrorist from a rogue state threatens the world with a pilfered nuclear arsenal. But heading into the new millennium, there appears to be a precariously thin line between fact and fiction. The "nuclear club" is now host to nuclear armed powers with uncertain futures, smaller states with large agendas and a host of pretenders probing the perimeter for a way inside. ...'

Agence France Presse 8/9/99 "... A series of bomb attacks allegedly carried out by Moslem extremists have rocked two southern Philippines provinces, injuring two people and spreading panic, officials said Monday. A homemade bomb allegedly planted by the Abu Sayyaf group exploded early Monday inside a high school in Basilan province, causing no injuries but forcing officials to suspend classes for the day, provincial governor Wahab Akbar said. The school blast came barely 12 hours after Abu Sayyaf rebels Sunday night lobbed a grenade into the provincial office of the education department in Basilan, wounding a security guard and a passerby. The victims, Ramon Duran and Saudi Maulana, were rushed to a nearby hospital where they are in critical condition, Akbar said. Meanwhile, two homemade bombs allegedly planted by the larger rebel group the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) also exploded in Ipil town in Zamboanga del Sur province Sunday evening, but caused no injury. The first explosive, placed outside a restaurant in Ipil went off about 8:00 p.m. (1200 GMT). Seconds later, a second explosion was heard outside an electronics store some 500 meters (yards) away from the restaurant, local military spokesman Major Albert Gapilano said. ..."

Agence France Presse 8/10/99 "...Eight Britons and two Algerians were condemned as terrorists Monday by a Yemeni court and jailed for between seven months and seven years for planning a murderous bombing campaign. Judge Jamal Mohammad Omar, pronouncing the guilty verdicts, told a packed Aden court the 10 men had "associated to form an armed gang intending to carry out murderous acts of sabotage and terrorism." Defence lawyers immediately lodged an appeal. Two British Moslems, Mohsin Ghalain, 18, stepson of London-based Islamic firebrand Abu Hamza al-Masri, and Malek Harhara, 26, of Yemeni origin, were both jailed..."

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 7/8 1999 Jonathan B. Tucker & Amy Sands "...In a January speech to the National Academy of Sciences, President Clinton warned that "the enemies of peace realize they cannot defeat us with traditional military means" and are therefore working on "new forms of assault," including chemical and biological weapons (CBW).....At first glance, the threat of chemical and biological terrorism seems to be increasing. Before the late 1980s, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) typically encountered about a dozen incidents a year involving terrorist threats or actual attempts to acquire or use chemical or biological materials-or (rarely) radiological or nuclear materials. In 1997, however, the FBI opened 74 investigations involving CBW or nuclear materials, and in 1998, it launched 181 investigations.1 Nevertheless, about 80 percent of these cases turned out to be hoaxes and the remainder were threats, small-scale attacks, and failed attempts at delivery. In the United States, a mass-casualty attack with a chemical weapon has never occurred-and only one successful incident of biological terrorism has been reported. In 1984, members of the Oregon-based Rajneeshee cult deliberately contaminated restaurant salad bars in the town of The Dalles with salmonella bacteria, affecting 751 people temporarily with a diarrheal illness. Their objective was not to kill people but rather to sicken voters and keep them at home so as to throw the outcome of a local election in the cult's favor..... ....."

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 7/8 1999 Jonathan B. Tucker & Amy Sands "...The historical record suggests that only a tiny minority of terrorists will be motivated to carry out an indiscriminate chemical or biological attack, and that few if any of this subset will possess the necessary technology and expertise to actually accomplish it.

Thus, the most likely incidents of chemical or biological terrorism in the future will involve hoaxes and relatively small-scale attacks. Moreover, although chemical or biological agents are often termed "weapons of mass destruction," some terrorists have sought to employ such agents in a limited manner to assassinate individuals. Of course, governments cannot afford to be complacent about the potential for high-casualty chemical and biological attacks by terrorists who gain access to military-grade agents and delivery systems-particularly if they receive assistance from a state..... Nevertheless, ad hoc or "transnational" terrorist organizations, such as the group that bombed the World Trade Center, have inspired growing concern because they may be only loosely affiliated with a state sponsor and hence less constrained. Terrorists with ample financial resources might also seek to purchase technical know-how by recruiting scientists formerly employed by countries with advanced chemical or biological programs, such as the Soviet Union, South Africa, or Iraq..... The potential threat posed by lone terrorists and small splinter groups, who can easily slip through the surveillance net, may lower confidence in the ability to prevent acts of chemical or biological terrorism before they occur. Even so, better profiling of terrorist groups should enhance the ability of law enforcement officials to assess the credibility of terrorist threats and to manage the current epidemic of anthrax hoaxes...."

New York Post 8/13/99 "...Just last week, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, speaking on the first anniversary of the deadly U.S. embassy bombings in Africa, vowed to wage an all-out war against terrorism. This week, President Clinton turned that promise into a joke by offering to commute the justifiably harsh prison sentences of 14 FALN terrorists, including the wife of its bomb-maker mastermind, the notorious William Morales. The FALN, for those who may have forgotten, was a small group of separatists who launched a deadly "war of nerves" to bring about independence for Puerto Rico. Over a six-year period, the group claimed responsibility for more than 100 bombings that took six lives and injured some 130 people. New Yorkers had particular reason to fear the FALN: In 1975, it bombed Fraunces Tavern in the Wall Street area, killing four...."

Sacramento Bee 8/15/99 Nando Media AP "...A Puerto Rican independence activist imprisoned for anti-American bombing attacks says he is unlikely to accept an "insulting" conditional clemency offer from President Clinton, a local newspaper reported Saturday. Elizam Escobar is the fourth of 16 convicted activists to speak out against the pardon offer, which the Clinton administration made Wednesday..... The Justice Department said the 16 activists are eligible for clemency if they renounce violence, agree not to meet with other people with criminal records and write to request clemency. Eleven prisoners would be released immediately, two more after serving additional time and three would have unpaid fines lifted. "What I can't accept is that it restricts my association with the independence movement as a condition of probation," Escobar said, quoted by the paper. "They want to keep punishing us and exclude us from political life on the island."..."

TimesofIndia 8/20/99 Mahendra Ved "…For the unemployed Uighur Muslim youths, a six-month contract for $20,000 to wage a "jehad", be it Kargil, Kabul or Dagestan, is an attractive proposition when compared to the average $25 salary if they were employed. They get enrolled in Xinjiang in China where they are targeted for their religious beliefs and political opposition to Beijing. They also come from the neighbouring Central Asian Republics of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, where their activities are under constant watch by the authorities, ostensibly under Chinese pressure. A score of them were killed in Kargil, and the matter was taken up with the Chinese. The trend, reflecting the foreign-sponsored spread of religious extremism, has caused concern among the Central Asian Republics, forcing the governments to act. Authoritative reports here say Pakistan's ISI representatives recruit these youths either as tourists or students. They also travel as Hajis, and when the pilgrimage is over, they disappear. Once the journey begins, the youths' parents receive the money. "In Central Asian context, this is big money. So, even if the son does not return home, the family is well off," says an Asian diplomat who has been monitoring these movements. They travel on passports of different Islamic nationalities, which can be procured at a price…."

10/96 James K. Campbell, Cmdr. US Navy, Paper "Wepaons of Mass Destruction in Terrorism, The Emerging Threat" "Recognizing the weapons of mass destruction threat in general terms, President Clinton signed Executive Order No. 12938 on November 14, 1994. This order declared a national emergency with respect to the unusual and extraordinary threat proliferation of weapons of mass destruction pose to the national security, foreign interest, and economy of the United States. On November 9, 1995, a continuation of this order was declared by Executive notice. This declared state of a national emergency has continued."

NY Times 8/27/99 David Johnston "…A wide range of Federal law-enforcement agencies that were asked to review a clemency petition filed by imprisoned members of a Puerto Rican nationalist group unanimously opposed any leniency in the weeks before President Clinton offered to commute the sentences of 16 members of the militant organization, officials said Thursday. The clemency petition was flatly opposed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Prisons and United States Attorneys in Illinois and Connecticut, the officials said...."

Jane's Defence Weekly 8/25/99 Bryan Bender "…The US Department of Defense (DoD) is considering re-locating the offices of senior civilian and military officials in the vast Pentagon complex due to what is perceived as their increased vulnerability to sniper fire, rocket-propelled grenades and other potential terrorist threats, according to officials. Many senior-level civilians and military officers ­ including Defense Secretary William Cohen, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the secretaries of the army, air force and navy and numerous under- and assistant secretaries ­ are located in the five-sided building's outer-ring of offices, known as the 'E-ring'. However, with large windows and other ..."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 8/21/99 Prof George Johnson "…In 1972, the United States signed the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, calling for the destruction of all stocks of offensive bioweapons agents, and termination of all bioweapons research. Research on bioweapons in this country ground to a halt. Russia also signed the treaty, but instead of stopping, it massively expanded its bioweapons program. The cessation of American vaccination for smallpox (a disease the World Health Organization declared eradicated worldwide in 1980) was viewed by the Russians as another opportunity to gain military advantage. It began a program to use the smallpox virus as a. weapon – that is, to modify the virus so that particles of it could be efficiently disseminated in tiny aerosol droplets. Russia then set out to produce the weaponized smallpox virus on a very large scale. By 1989, dozens of tons of smallpox reportedly had been produced. It is not easy to make a bioweapon. Plague and most other disease-causing bacteria and viruses are simply too difficult to grow and dispense. Only smallpox, and anthrax are easy to produce, easy to dispense and deadly. When dispersed as an aerosol, smallpox has a case fatality rate of 30 percent, anthrax more than 80 percent….. With the economic meltdown of the Soviet Union, the Russian bioweapons program ground to a halt. Many scientists working for it migrated to other countries seeking employment. Iraq, Libya, Iran and Syria actively recruited them. No one knows what bioweapon samples these scientists might have taken with them. That is the nightmare we face, that smallpox is no longer confined to two vials stored in laboratories here and in Russia - a genie in two bottles but rather has been released. Rogue states and religious cults may well have access to it….."

New York Post 9/8/99 Editorial "...Maybe the White House is telling the truth, after all. Maybe President Clinton's clemency offer to 16 FALN terrorists really wasn't motivated by his wife's Senate campaign. The evidence: The Clinton administration is acting as though it believes that violent terrorists just don't belong in U.S. prisons. Two weeks ago, to scant public notice, the Justice Department opened the prison gates to violent radical Silvia Baraldini. An Italian diplomat's daughter, she was sentenced to 40 years in prison in connection with several robberies carried out by black militants - including the 1981 Brink's armored-care holdup in Nyack, in which two cops and a security guard were murdered. Baraldini also has been linked to the jail break in which Joanne Chesimard - now living in Cuba - fled a New Jersey prison. And she was sentenced to an additional three years in a separate case for criminal contempt after she refused to testify before a grand jury investigating the FALN. Over the past decade, the Justice Department - citing the violent nature of her crimes - had rejected five requests by the Italian government to let Baraldini serve the remainder of her sentence in a Rome prison. This year, however, the request was granted. Why? Because the Clinton administration felt it needed to make a conciliatory gesture in order to placate Italy's left-wing government, which was angered by the bizarre acquittal last spring of U.S. Marine pilot Richard Ashby, whose low-flying plane sliced a gondola cable in the Alps, killing 20 people...."

Jewish World Review 9/8/99 Cal Thomas "...THE CONTROVERSY that erupted following President Clinton's offer to pardon 16 jailed Puerto Rican terrorists belonging to the FALN if they promised not to do it again misses something. President Clinton may have discovered a brilliant way to reduce the surplus prison population that is costing the taxpayers billions of dollars and warehousing people, many of whom will go back to prison for other crimes should they be released. Imagine the conversations now taking place in jails throughout the country. Inmates may think if they promise never again to murder, rape, rob, forge checks, burglarize, embezzle, perjure, drive while drunk, sell or do drugs, kidnap or commit other crimes, they, too, could win commutations...."

Washington Post 9/7/99 Lynne Duke William Claiborne "…Twelve Puerto Rican militants imprisoned as members of a violent independence movement yesterday accepted President Clinton's offer of conditional clemency, an initiative that sparked heated opposition, even from Hillary Rodham Clinton. By accepting clemency, the prisoners have agreed to obey several conditions: that they renounce the use of violence for any purpose and accept restrictions on their travel and their right of free association. They will also be subject to the same restrictions placed on any paroled felon…."

Orlando Sentinel 9/7/99 "….Under increasing White House pressure, at least five Puerto Rican prisoners eligible for immediate release under President Clinton's controversial clemency offer will accept the deal today, friends said Monday. Word also is expected today from another six prisoners on whether they too will accept the offer for immediate freedom as long as they renounce violence….."

AP 9/7/99 "…All but two jailed Puerto Rican nationalists have indicated they will accept President Clinton's offer of clemency, the White House announced today. Two others whose fines would be reduced have more time to respond. "The president expects all those who accept the conditional clemency grant to abide fully but its terms, including refraining from the use of advocacy of the use of violence for any purpose and obeying all the statutory conditions of parole,'' White House press secretary Joe Lockhart said in a statement….."

New York Post 9/6/99 Deborah Orin "…The Clinton White House forgot one key thing - the FALN bombers had real victims who still suffer horribly. When those victims decided to speak out and fight back, it suddenly got very hard to claim that members of the Puerto Rican bombing group were freedom fighters who deserved a get-out-of-jail card. Very hard when you looked at the fingerless right hand of New York City Detective Richard Pastorella, maimed and blinded in both eyes as he tried to defuse an FALN bomb on New Year's Eve 1982. Very hard when Joe Connor, his voice shaking, said his dad was blown up on his ninth birthday - and he hates to think his dad's life counts for nothing because Bill Clinton wants to put his wife in the Senate. Once the victims spoke out, a storm escalated as mainstream Democrat after Democrat - Sen. Daniel P. Moynihan, former Mayor Ed Koch - blasted the idea….."

AP 9/1/99 "…A House committee subpoenaed all administration records Wednesday related to President Clinton's decision to offer clemency to 16 Puerto Rican militants. Subpoenas issued by Rep. Dan Burton's Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, which were obtained by The Associated Press, seek records from the White House, Justice Department and the Bureau of Prisons. Sen. Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, also requested information from the Justice Department in anticipation of expected congressional hearings on the matter sometime this month. In a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno, Hatch, R-Utah, said he was troubled by published reports indicating the Justice Department did not make a formal recommendation to the White House on the clemency issue despite the law enforcement officials' vigorous objections. He also said he was bothered by reports that there were Bureau of Prison recordings of the inmates in which they plotted to again use violence…."

AP 9/1/99 Shannon McCaffrey "…A House committee subpoenaed all administration records Wednesday related to President Clinton's decision to offer clemency to 16 Puerto Rican militants. Subpoenas issued by Rep. Dan Burton's Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, which were obtained by The Associated Press, seek records from the White House, Justice Department and the Bureau of Prisons. Sen. Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, also requested information from the Justice Department in anticipation of expected congressional hearings on the matter..."

THE WASHINGTON TIMES 9/1/99 John Godfrey "…A Senate committee will make a formal inquiry into President Clinton's decision to offer clemency to 16 members of a Puerto Rican group that bombed U.S. military and political sites. "U.S. policy toward terrorism has always been clear and consistent: We must make no concessions to terrorists. President Clinton's abrupt reversal of U.S. policy deserves scrutiny by Congress," Sen. Paul Coverdell, Georgia Republican, said in a written statement yesterday. Mr. Coverdell heads the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on terrorism….."

Wall St. Journal 8/30/99 Joseph Connor Thomas connor "…t was a beautiful winter day, Friday, Jan. 24, 1975, when our family was shattered by the bombing of Fraunces Tavern in New York. Our father, Frank Connor, was brutally murdered in the attack, an attack for which the Puerto Rican terrorist group known as the Armed Forces for National Liberation, or FALN, claimed responsibility. Our mother had spent much of the day preparing a special meal to celebrate our recent ninth and 11th birthdays. We never ate that meal. Shortly after coming home from school, we learned that our father had been with clients at Fraunces for lunch that day. After an agonizing vigil, his colleagues at Morgan Guaranty delivered the final, devastating news to our mother, our grandmother and us. Our father was 33 when he was killed. The only child of an elevator operator and a cleaning lady, he was born and raised in a working-class section of Manhattan, attended City College and worked his way from the ground floor up to a successful career in business. His 95-year-old mother, like the rest of our family, has never recovered from his death. Although our mother has remarried and we now have families of our own, not a day passes without our feeling the void left in our lives. And now, President Clinton has offered clemency to 16 incarcerated members of the FALN with terms of up to 70 years still to serve. The president calls them "nonviolent." True, none of those being offered pardons were convicted of planting the Fraunces Tavern bomb, or for that matter of any murder. But they were the core members of an organization responsible for more than 100 bombings across the U.S. during the 1970s and 1980s that killed six and injured many more….."

Inside Politics (Washington Times) 8/30/99 Greg Pierce "…"Some Justice Department officials are still simmering over President Clinton's decision last month to commute the sentences of 16 Puerto Rican nationalists," Newsweek reports in its latest issue. The magazine said "the most damning evidence" against the nationalists, "is still-secret audiotapes made by the Bureau of Prisons." "The tapes record at least some of the prisoners saying that 'as soon as they get out of there, they were going to return to violence,' one law enforcement official said. As a result, the Bureau of Prisons -- which rarely participates in pardon and clemency debates --strongly recommended against leniency. …."

Fox News 8/30/99 "….Some imprisoned members of a militant Puerto Rican nationalist group discussed returning to violent ways if they go free under a plan by President Clinton to have their sentences commuted, a magazine report said Monday. Secret audiotapes made by the Bureau of Prisons recorded at least some of the prisoners saying that "as soon as they get out of there, they were going to return to violence,'' Newsweek quoted a law-enforcement official as saying in its issue dated Sept. 6. It said that as a result of the tapes the Bureau of Prisons - which rarely participates in pardon and clemency debates - strongly recommended against leniency for the 16 members of the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN), which authorities said made 130 bomb attacks on political and military targets in the United States between 1974 and 1983 The New York Times reported Friday that Clinton bypassed objections of the FBI, the Bureau of Prisons and several U.S. attorneys general when he offered to reduce sentences of the 16 imprisoned members, convicted on charges of conspiracy, possession of unregistered firearms, and other crimes not directly linked to deaths or injuries….."

New York Times 8/31/99 Gov. Frank Keating "…On April 23, 1995, President Clinton came to Oklahoma to stand with us in the wake of the worst domestic terror bombing in American history. He called that act "a terrible sin." He told us justice must be done. And as we buried 168 friends and neighbors and cared for hundreds who were grievously wounded, we believed him. Today, one of the Oklahoma City bombers, Timothy McVeigh, is awaiting execution. His co-conspirator, Terry Nichols, faces life in prison with no possibility of parole. Those sentences are just. Sadly, President Clinton is now considering offering clemency to 16 other terrorists, members of the Puerto Rican group F.A.L.N. This group's terror cells have been responsible for some 130 bombings in American cities. They killed at least six people and injured more than 70. The terrorists to whom he has offered clemency were convicted of crimes that directly supported bombers and killers, from conspiracy and transporting weapons to aiding in an armored car robbery -- acts very similar to those committed by Mr. Nichols in support of Mr. McVeigh. The F.A.L.N. terrorists deserve to serve the sentences imposed on them by American juries…."

Washington Times 8/31/99 Tod Lindberg "…The world is, to be sure, a dangerous place, what with thousands of nuclear weapons in none-too-stable Russia, China bent on increased militarization, an irrational government in rapid decay in North Korea, India and Pakistan now at nuclear daggers drawn, Saddam's ambitions intact in Iraq, and a number of what Thomas Friedman calls "super-empowered" individuals, such as Osama bin Laden, bent on upsetting the status quo. To judge by the polls, Americans seem rather blase about all of the above, having grown accustomed to peace and prosperity in the course of a decade of both. That leaves the worrying to elite opinion, and elite opinion has by and large been happy to oblige. Our partisan system ensures that, at all times, at least some people are decrying a world going to the devil. More seriously, others have stepped forward to warn that the position of pre-eminence we gained when the Cold War ended is only temporary in character, soon to give rise to new challenges as our power declines in relative terms and others rise. …."

newsday.com 8/31/99 James Pinkerton "…THE CLINTON administration has enmeshed itself in the politics of terrorism or, more precisely, the politics of forgiving and forgetting terrorism, from the 50 states to Puerto Rico to Italy. The White House and the Justice Department have sent a clear signal: Even convicted violent terrorists who remain defiantly remorseless for their crimes can expect lenient treatment-if they have friends in high or vote-rich places. ….And so the key question isn't just what role, if any, the prospective New York Senate candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton played in the sudden decision to appease powerful Puerto Rican-American politicians in New York by offering to release 16 Puerto Rican terrorists. It's also whether the proposed release is linked to the actual release of an Italian national who was sent to prison in part because she refused to testify against those same Puerto Ricans. At a time when the president is trying to rally the forces of international antiterrorism, it seems strange that the United States is unlocking the terrorists it has managed to catch at great cost……"

World Net Daily Exclusive 8/31/99 David Limbaugh "…. So, you still don't think the president's character matters? Then, consider this. The Constitution provides that the president shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for federal offenses, except in cases of impeachment…… Chief Justice Taft, speaking for the Court in Grossman, explained the purpose of this awesome grant of power: "Executive clemency exists to afford relief from undue harshness or evident mistake in the operation or enforcement of the criminal law. ... Our Constitution confers this discretion on the highest officer in the nation in confidence that he will not abuse it." Let's remember these sobering words as we feast upon another Clinton outrage. By now, most of you are probably aware that President Clinton offered clemency to 16 Puerto Rican members of FALN (Armed Forces of National Liberation), a terrorist group advocating independence for Puerto Rico. FALN made 130 bomb attacks on political and military targets in the United States between 1974 and 1983, killing six and injuring dozens, including several New York police officers…."

Washington Post 9/1/99 Michael Kelly "…From 1974 to 1983, two organizations seeking independence for Puerto Rico -- the Armed Forces of National Liberation (known for its Spanish initials as FALN) and a splinter group called Los Macheteros -- waged a terror campaign against American police, political and military targets. The groups carried out at least 130 bombings, which killed six people and seriously wounded dozens. Eventually, 16 defendants were convicted on charges ranging from armed robbery to weapons violations to sedition. None was found to have been directly involved in any of the lethal bombings. But, for their unquestioned involvement in the campaign that produced those murders, all 16 received very heavy sentences. Puerto Rican political activists, New York politicians representing Americans of Puerto Rican lineage and liberal human rights activists have long campaigned for clemency for the FALN prisoners. But this campaign was hampered by the awkward fact that none of the prisoners ever showed the slightest interest in expressing regret for the murders and maimings committed by FALN or in renouncing future acts of terror. (Indeed, Newsweek reports, U.S. Bureau of Prisons audio tapes have captured some of the prisoners saying they would return to violence upon release.) …."

Reuters 9/4/99 "… White House officials gave 16 jailed Puerto Ricans nationalists until Friday at 5 p.m. EDT to renounce violence or lose the clemency offered by President Clinton on Aug. 11, an administration spokesman said Saturday. In a letter sent Friday to the lawyers for the jailed members of the Armed Forces of National Liberation, known by its Spanish acronym FALN, the Clinton administration set the Friday deadline, Jim Kennedy, the spokesman, said. ..."

Fox News Wire 9/5/99 Reuters "…A key Senate Democrat added his voice Sunday to the chorus urging President Clinton to drop a clemency offer for 16 members of a Puerto Rican guerrilla group that is suspected of carrying out at least 130 bombings in the United States. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary panel, said the president should not wait five more days, as he has proposed, for the Puerto Ricans to forswear violence as a condition of release from prison…."

New York Post 9/3/99: Deborah Orin & Gregg Birnbaum "…

Tampa Tribune Reuters Anthony Boadle "…Bomb attack victims and Republican congressmen denounced President Clinton Wednesday for freeing jailed members of a Puerto Rican nationalist group, a move they said was aimed at helping his wife win a U.S. Senate seat. Republicans have called congressional hearings and subpoenaed White House and Justice Department documents related to Clinton's offer of clemency to 14 members of the FALN, a radical group that was responsible for a series of bombings in the 1970s and '80s. The Republicans want to know why the president overruled the objections of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Prisons in granting clemency….."

AP 9/14/99 Shannon McCaffrey ".... The FBI, scheduled to testify at a Senate hearing on clemency granted to 16 Puerto Rican militants, backed out at the last minute under pressure from the White House, a Republican senator asserted today. Sen. Paul Coverdell of Georgia accused the White House of ``trying to build a fortress around their decision'' to grant clemency to the Puerto Rico nationalists. ``I think it's pretty clear that the White House is behind this,'' Coverdell said. ``You've got to wonder what would cause the White House to bypass a chance to explain themselves.'' ....The FBI did not return a phone call seeking comment. But a Justice Department letter to Coverdell signed by acting Assistant General Jon P. Jennings explained that because the power to grant clemency is the president's exclusively, there are constitutional questions about whether it would be appropriate for FBI officials to testify. ...."

CNN 9/14/99 ".....Citing the president's right to the "confidential advice" of his senior staff, the White House is refusing to cooperate with a Senate inquiry into President Bill Clinton's decision to grant clemency to 16 convicted Puerto Rican nationalists. "The Constitution of the United States vests exclusive power to grant clemency in the president," wrote Cheryl Mills, deputy counsel to the president, in a letter to Sen. Paul Coverdell (R-Georgia). Coverdell, who is chairing hearings on the issue, had asked for the testimony of Beth Nolan, the White House counsel; Maria Echaveste, deputy chief of staff; and Jeffrey Farrow, co-chairman of the Interagency Group on Puerto Rico. "The senior staff of the White House serves the president by providing confidential advice on a wide range of policy issues," Mills wrote. "Both Congress and this administration have adhered to the long-established precedent that, consistent with principles of separation of powers, the president's senior advisers traditionally do not testify before Congress on such issues." ....."

Ft Worth Star-Telegram/NY Times 9/14/99 William Safire "....It is as if Bill Clinton looked us directly in the eye and, waggling his finger, said: I want you to listen to me. I never discussed clemency for terrorists with that woman, Ms. Clinton. Not a single time; never. That is in essence his line in pretending he was not using the power of the presidency to help get the first lady a job in New York. ...... Although a charge of "sedition" has been an abomination in America since 1801, these were no mere protesters exercising free speech. These convicted gunrunners incited followers to "armed struggle" that killed 6 people and maimed scores more. Ignoring opposition by law enforcement officials, the least clement president in recent history--who turned down 3,000 other pleas--OK'd this one. Then his political ploy backfired. When Hillary saw she was losing more upstate and suburban votes than would come from New York City Hispanics, she frantically reversed field......Too late; most of the convicts grabbed the deal to walk and are now hailed as heroes. "I did not discuss it with her," insists the president who discusses every political angle with her. ....Try that for credibility; He supposedly panders to an ethnic group that his wife needs without even a hint from her, and when the misuse of his pardon power to shore up her campaign becomes a front-page controversy--they never talk....."

AP 9/14/99 Shannon McCaffrey "....The Senate denounced the Clinton administration's clemency deal with Puerto Rican separatists on Tuesday, and one Republican accused the administration of blocking FBI testimony at a hearing on the deal. In a 95-2 vote, the Senate criticized the arrangement that allowed 11 Puerto Ricans on Friday to leave federal prisons where they had been held for nearly two decades. The House approved a similar resolution last week 311-41. Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat and Clinton administration loyalist, said he voted for the resolution because the administration failed to give him a reason to vote against it....."

Chattanooga Free Press 9/16/99 ".... In plenty of time to avoid a dangerous and outrageous mistake of presidential judgment, the FBI warned President Bill Clinton against his plan to free 16 Puerto Rican terrorists. The Bureau of Prisons warned him against it. Former federal prosecutors warned him against it. Many outraged American citizens warned him against it. But with Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton proposing to run for the United States Senate in New York -- and New York having 1.3 million Puerto Ricans -- Mr. Clinton did not listen....."

UPI 9/16/99 "... Attorney General Janet Reno says President Clinton has invoked executive privilege barring testimony by White House aides or access to documents directly relating to his decision to grant clemency to 16 Puerto Rican prisoners. Clinton's decision was transmitted in a letter to Rep. Dan Burton, R- Ind., Chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform. Clinton offered clemency to 16 Puerto Rican prisoners, members of the FALN liberation army, none of whom had been involved directly in terrorist acts in the United States...."

CNN 9/14/99 "....The Justice Department on Tuesday prevented the FBI from testifying at a Senate hearing on President Clinton's decision to grant clemency to members of the Puerto Rican independence group FALN. In what appeared to represent continued tension between the Justice Department and the FBI, a senior Justice official sent a letter to Foreign Relations subcommittee chairman Sen. Paul Coverdell (R-Georgia) late Monday saying, "We cannot authorize their appearance at tomorrow's hearing." The letter was signed by Acting Assistant Attorney General Jon Jennings, who heads the Justice Department's Office of Legislative Affairs. "In light of ... the fact that the hearing may, in significant part, address the exercise of an exclusive presidential prerogative, we are carefully reviewing this matter and consulting with the White House regarding how most appropriately to proceed," the letter said. ....An FBI official told CNN Monday that Assistant Director Neil Gallagher intended to testify before congressional panels about the FALN issue on Tuesday and Thursday of this week and would express the FBI's opposition to the president's clemency offer. An FBI official told CNN on Tuesday, "They pulled the plug on us," referring to the Justice decision to prevent the FBI testimony. ...."

New York Post 9/15/99 Brian Blomquist Robert Hardt Jr. "....The Senate yesterday voted 95-2 to condemn President Clinton's clemency to 16 Puerto Rican militants - as the White House stonewalled questions on how the decision was made. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the White House stonewalling was a key reason for voting to condemn Clinton's clemency grant. "I have repeatedly requested information on these cases. I have been given no such information and therefore have voted to support the resolution," Schumer said. Sen. Paul Coverdell (R-Ga.) charged that the White House, in a last-minute move, "pulled the plug" on a witness from the FBI who was set to testify to a Senate hearing on Clinton's controversial clemency decision. The stonewalling appears only to have fanned the flames against Clinton's clemency, which led to the freeing last week of 11 jailed members of the FALN, a Puerto Rican terrorist group responsible for 130 bombings and six deaths. In a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno, Coverdell wrote, "It is completely unacceptable for the administration to refuse to discuss the president's decision to offer clemency to 16 convicted terrorists."....."

Wall Street Journal 9/14/99 Howard Safir NY Police Commissioner "...With last Friday's release of 11 of the 14 FALN terrorists, President Clinton has committed an ill-advised and egregious error. He has broken the fundamental rule in addressing terrorism: Never negotiate deals with terrorists. Mr. Clinton has sent the message that the lives of American citizens, and of the heroic police officers who defend them, are disposable. As the police commissioner of New York City, I represent 40,200 officers and take responsibility for the safety of 7.4 million residents. I have become all too familiar with the violence that has been perpetrated by the members of the Puerto Rican separatist group known as the FALN and the manner in which my city and my officers have suffered at their hands. During a nine-year reign of terror, the FALN was responsible for at least 150 bombings that killed six people and injured more than 70. The brunt aimed at the people of New York City, who endured more than 70 attacks and accounted for four of the deaths and 57 of the injuries...."

New York Post 9/15/99 Eric Fettmann "...NOW that Bill Clinton has significantly lowered the bar on the standards for keeping unrepentant criminals behind bars - particularly if freeing them might conceivably help his wife's political career - it's not surprising that Jonathan Pollard's supporters are pressing the White House to grant him clemency, as well. Sentenced to life imprisonment in 1985 for delivering military secrets to Israel, the former U.S. Navy analyst has become a cause celebre for large segments of the Jewish community; in Israel, not surprisingly, he is generally regarded as a hero on all sides of the political spectrum. There are strong arguments that Pollard should never again enjoy freedom, and they have been made repeatedly by the Justice Department and the intelligence community. But there is also a persuasive case to be made that there are enough gray areas - particularly in the way the government has dealt with Pollard - to merit a serious review. ...."

Inside The Pentagon 9/14/99 "....American soil will likely be bloodied by deadly terrorism in the 21st century and the U.S. military will be called upon frequently to deal with security crises, says a report prepared by a national security commission chartered by the Pentagon. The U.S. military may be unable in the next 25 years to prevent terrorists from killing large numbers of innocent citizens on American soil, the report states. War will remain bloody, and the vulnerability of the United States to non-traditional attacks will grow with rapid advances in information technology and biotechnology, it adds. For many years to come, Americans will become increasingly less secure and "much less secure than they now believe themselves to be," the report states. The report is the first of three that will be produced by the commission, which is undertaking a sweeping review that Defense Secretary William Cohen has called the most comprehensive effort of its kind since the National Security Act of 1947. The panel, which recently renamed itself the "U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century," is planning to unveil the report to the public on Wednesday (Sept. 15) at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. The group, under the leadership of former Sens. Gary Hart (D-CO) and Warren Rudman (R-NH), had been called the Hart-Rudman Commission....."As the desire for self-determination spreads, and many governments fail to adapt to new economic and social realities, minorities will be less likely to tolerate bad or prejudicial government," the report says. Therefore, the number of new states, international protectorates, and zones of autonomy will increase, and many will arise from violence, the commission predicts. The major powers will struggle to devise an accountable and effective "institutional response" to such crises, the report states....."

The Washington Post 9/9/99 Michael Kelly "....Advocates of clemency have claimed that all or almost all of the 16 prisoners had -- prior to this week's statement -- expressed regret for these actions and had renounced violence. The White House has been forceful in advancing this claim. In a column on this subject last week, I wrote that "none of the prisoners ever showed the slightest interest in expressing regret for the murders and maimings committed by FALN or in renouncing future acts of terror." False, said James Kennedy, a spokesman for the White House counsel. All of those offered clemency had expressed regret and renounced violence, insisted Kennedy. "Each of them has indicated that they were renouncing violence, and they have a number of statements that were made in different settings to that effect," Kennedy told me. "They have spoken of their repudiation of violence and their intention to disavow their past actions and pursue peaceful paths." In support of this claim, Kennedy's office directed me to the President's Interagency Group on Puerto Rico, which faxed me a package of documents. The documents included a joint statement made by the prisoners to Congress in 1997 and a selection of individual statements. The joint statement rationalizes FALN's terror campaign as service in "a just cause, seeking to end colonialism, a crime against humanity," and asserts FALN's "right under international law to use all means available." The statement adds that FALN (in the commission of 130 bombings) exercised this right with "respect for human life," and took "all possible measures to ensure that innocent people [were] not harmed." But, the wretched thing continues, "that is not to deny that in all liberation processes, there are always innocent victims on both sides."...... Indeed, none of the 16 prisoners has ever admitted to complicity in any of the fatal bombings or expressed specific remorse for those bombings. No one has ever apologized to the families of the murdered. The statement signed by the 12 who have accepted commutation does renounce the use of violence, but it expresses no contrition or responsibility for past actions. ....."

Fox news 9/9/99 "....The U.S. House of Representatives criticized President Clinton Thursday for granting clemency to members of a Puerto Rican nationalist group responsible for a series of bombings in the 1970s and 1980s. The Republican-controlled chamber voted 311-41 to pass a resolution that said the president "should not have granted clemency to the FALN terrorists.'' Twelve jailed members of the FALN, the Spanish acronym for the Armed Forces of National Liberation, accepted Clinton's offer Tuesday and will be freed in the next few days after serving 16 to 19 years. Republican congressmen, who rushed the resolution through in one day, said Clinton's decision was politically motivated and aimed at helping his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, win Hispanic support for her likely U.S. Senate candidacy in New York. They said the president was being soft on terrorism....."

New York Post 9/9/99 Marilyn Rauber "....A top aide to John Cardinal O'Connor said yesterday the archbishop of New York never backed clemency for FALN terrorists - despite White House claims that he did. "He has not taken a position on this. I don't expect that he will," said O'Connor's spokesman, Joe Zwilling. "We've been trying to set the record straight." The White House has invoked O'Connor's name to bolster Clinton's controversial decision to offer clemency to 16 members of the radical Puerto Rican independence group that was tied to 130 bombings..."

http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/DailyNews/faln990909.html 9/9/99 "....A resolution condemning President Clinton's offer of clemency to 16 Puerto Rican militants sailed through the House of Representatives today by a vote of 311-41. "This action is more than misguided. It is more than wrong. It is a very real threat to the safety and security of the American people," Rep. Thomas Reynolds, R-N.Y., said of the president's clemency offer....... Today's House vote, which came after a heated debate, is little more than symbolic as the president has the sole authority to make clemency grants. ....Another New York Democrat, Rep. Nydia Velasquez, blamed the resolution on politics surrounding the Senate race. .....Meanwhile, a spokesman for Cardinal John O'Connor said the Catholic leader was not among the supporters of the prisoners' release, as some activists and officials had claimed. O'Connor's spokesman, Joe Zwilling, said the cardinal had written a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno asking for a review of the prisoners' cases but had never called for clemency. ....."

Washington Post 9/10/99 Charles Babington "....President Clinton, facing mounting criticism for granting clemency to members of a Puerto Rican terrorist group, yesterday gave his fullest explanation yet for the decision, saying he was swayed by his lawyer's recommendation, the lengthy sentences already served by the members, and the lobbying of former president Jimmy Carter, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and others...."

New York Post 9/9/99 Marilyn Rauber "....A top aide to John Cardinal O'Connor said yesterday the archbishop of New York never backed clemency for FALN terrorists - despite White House claims that he did. "He has not taken a position on this. I don't expect that he will," said O'Connor's spokesman, Joe Zwilling. "We've been trying to set the record straight." The White House has invoked O'Connor's name to bolster Clinton's controversial decision to offer clemency to 16 members of the radical Puerto Rican independence group that was tied to 130 bombings in the 1970s and 1980s. Tuesday, Clinton spokesman Joe Lockhart told reporters: "This is an issue that the Council of Churches, Cardinal O'Connor, [South African Bishop] Desmond Tutu, former President [Jimmy] Carter, have all urged the president to take action on." ...."

New York Post 9/10/99 Marilyn Rauber Murray Weiss "....Democrats deserted President Clinton in droves yesterday as the House voted overwhelmingly to condemn as "deplorable" his clemency offer for 16 FALN militants. In one of the sharpest repudiations ever of Clinton's policies, 93 Democrats joined all 218 Republicans in accusing Clinton of "making terrorism more likely" by sending "an unmistakable message to terrorists that the United States does not punish terrorists in a severe manner." Seventy-one Democrats, including House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt, opted not to vote at all. Only 41 Democrats, many of them House liberals, stuck by Clinton's decision - a decision that his own wife, who's mulling a New York Senate run, now opposes. "Making concessions to terrorists is deplorable," the House said in a non-binding resolution pushed by Rep. Vito Fossella (R-S.I.). ...."

http://www.nypostonline.com/editorial/13835.htm 9/10/99 Editorial "... Congress wants some answers from the White House about President Clinton's outrageous clemency deal with the FALN. But the administration has gone back into its customary stonewall mode, crying wolf yet again with a specious claim of "executive privilege." "The Constitution specifically and exclusively provides for the president to have sole power to grant clemency," says White House legal spokesman Jim Kennedy. "Failure to protect that privacy puts at risk the rights and powers given to future presidents." Nonsense. Congress, sadly, may not be able to undo Clinton's politically motivated clemency deal, but that doesn't mean the legislative branch can't ask questions about it. Especially in a case like this - where there are far too many unsettling questions that need to be asked. A growing movement in Congress - Democrats as well as Republicans - wants those questions answered. Yesterday, the House overwhelmingly approved a symbolic resolution condemning the clemency offer. Only 41 congressmen voted no, while scores of Democrats joined the GOP in assailing the president. ....."

Jewish World Review 9/10/99 Julia Gorin "....WHO EVEN KNEW that the Puerto Rican community wanted 16 terrorists released from prison? I never heard anyone desperately clamoring for the FALN members' freedom until Bill Clinton offered it. Oh there were always the activists and the politicians, but that's how many people? Like six all together? Is this really what New York's at-large, law-abiding Puerto Rican citizenry wants? Even if it were, surely there must be less hazardous ways to court the Puerto Rican vote for Hillary's Senate run. For example, why not offer every Puerto Rican family free roundtrip airfare to la isla bonita? Or invite them to a barbecue at the White House....."

Newsday.com 9/10/99 Pete Yost "....The Puerto Rican nationalists granted clemency by President Clinton began leaving prison today, including one who drove out of an Indiana prison in a gold Mercedes, ending a 90-year sentence. ``I'm elated that I'm free, here with my family,'' Ricardo Jimenez told reporters as he left the prison south of Terre Haute, Ind. His sister was among two other people in the car. Jimenez, who lived in Chicago before his arrest, has said he wants to return to Puerto Rico. Dan Dunne, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, said 11 of the 16 people offered clemency by Clinton were being released today....."

http://www.usnewswire.com/topnews/Current_Releases/0908-142.htm 9/8/99 "...TO THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES: With a view to receiving the advice and consent of the Senate to ratification, I transmit herewith the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 15, 1997, and signed on behalf of the United States of America on January 12, 1998. ......In recent years, we have witnessed an unprecedented and intolerable increase in acts of terrorism involving bombings in public places in various parts of the world. The United States initiated the negotiation of this convention in the aftermath of the June 1996 bombing attack on U.S. military personnel in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, in which 17 U.S. Air Force personnel were killed as the result of a truck bombing. That attack followed other terrorist attacks including poison gas attacks in Tokyo's subways; bombing attacks by HAMAS in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem; and a bombing attack by the IRA in Manchester, England. Last year's terrorist attacks upon United States embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam are recent examples of such bombings, and no country or region is exempt from the human tragedy and immense costs that result from such criminal acts. Although the penal codes of most states contain provisions proscribing these kinds of attacks, this Convention provides, for the first time, an international framework for cooperation among states directed toward prevention of such incidents and ensuing punishment of offenders, wherever found. In essence, the Convention imposes binding legal obligations upon States Parties either to submit for prosecution or to extradite any person within their jurisdiction who commits an offense as defined in Article 2, attempts to commit such an act, participates as an accomplice, organizes or directs others to commit such an offense, or in any other way contributes to the commission of an offense by a group of persons acting with a common purpose.....WILLIAM J. CLINTON THE WHITE HOUSE, September 8, 1999....."

The Ayn Rand Institute 9/10/99 Andrew Bernstein "...While President Clinton's recent recommendations for tighter gun-controls met with general approval, his move to pardon FALN terrorists is encountering widespread criticism. Yet the two proposals stem from the same mistaken belief - i.e., that the fundamental cause of any crime is the weapon used, not the person using it. Clinton endorses measures such as a requirement that all guns in the home be locked up, and a mandatory waiting period for buying a gun, even after a check of the purchaser's records shows no criminal history. Why? Although it is true that guns can be used for crime, so can almost anything else. The overwhelming majority of gun owners are not criminals. A private individual's possession of a gun - unlike, say, his possession of a cruise missile - may serve a perfectly legitimate purpose. People use guns for hunting, collecting and - most important - self-defense against criminals. Why should such valid activities be punishable by law? ...... What explains Clinton's attempts to restrict innocent gun owners w hile pardoning terrorists? Why is he so hostile toward guns, yet so accommodating toward actual criminals? The answer is he believes that guns or bombs, rather than the character of those who use them, are responsible for the criminal act. From this it follows that guns should be banned while perpetrators should be pardoned. Such twisted logic results in policies that consistently aid the guilty and harm the innocent...... This consequence of abetting criminals while harming the innocent is a hallmark of many of Clinton's policies. Saddam Hussein, for example, is allowed to continue his reign in Baghdad, with his capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction unchecked. The Chinese dictatorship - which openly considers America its primary enemy, steals U.S. nuclear secrets and threatens military action against a free Taiwan - is appeased by Clinton with most-favored-nation status. The terrorist Osama bin Laden, who was involved in the bombing of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, is still free more than a year later. It is only the American citizen, seeking a gun for self-protection, who is the target of a serious crackdown by our government....."

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/faln990910.html 9/10/99 "....Eleven of the 14 Puerto Rican nationalists granted clemency by President Clinton left prison today, more than 16 years after they began serving time for planning bomb attacks. Clinton had extended clemency to 16 Puerto Rican nationalists, but two rejected the offer. Of the 14 who accepted, 11 were released today from eight prisons across the country, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons said. One must serve another five years of his sentence, and two others who were not in jailed had their fines lifted. In Dublin, Calif., four female prisoners walked out of a federal prison this afternoon....."

Boston Globe - (www.boston.com) 9/11/99 Susan Milligan "....When it began, only a small constituency cared about the freedom of 16 inmates who were part of an armed, violent struggle for Puerto Rican independence. But after a series of miscalculations by the White House, the debate over what should happen to the 16 prisoners - 11 of whom were released yesterday - created a massive political explosion. Indeed, the aftershocks are still coursing through New York, Washington, and San Juan: President Clinton, who offered clemency to the 16, is being derided in Congress and by law enforcement officials for being soft on terrorism. His wife, Hillary, has so angered Puerto Rican leaders over her position against clemency that she risks losing a critical base of support in her bid for the US Senate, while looking like a panderer to other voters....Furthermore, prosecutors did not have available to them the federal antiterrorism act, which was passed in 1990 - seven years after the Armed Forces of Liberation members in question were convicted, Romero-Barcelo noted. Even Amnesty International, the leading organization monitoring political prisoners, refuses to give the 16 convicts the status of ''prisoners of conscience.'' ''To be a prisoner of conscience, you cannot commit violence, and you cannot advocate violence,'' said Amnesty International spokesman Sean Crowley. ''This is a terrorist organization. These people don't qualify.'' ...."

http://www.newsday.com/ap/rnmpnt07.htm 9/11/99 AP James Anderson "....Crowds waving flags and chanting nationalist hymns hailed a group of pardoned prisoners at San Juan airport Saturday, even as some leaders warned that the controversy surrounding their release could hurt the island. ``These people are not terrorists. They are heroes, and we support them 100 percent,'' said Leonore Munoz Gomez, 59, who has objected to the widespread condemnation in the United States of President Clinton's offer of clemency for 16 pro-independence militants. Eleven were freed Friday after some 20 years behind bars. Two prisoners rejected the offer, one accepted a deal to serve five more years and two who had already served out jail sentences were forgiven outstanding fines....."

Washington Times National Weekly Edition 9/13-19/99 Andrew Cain "....Two White House aides -- one prominent, one little known -- were instrumental in bringing a clemency recommendation for 16 Puerto Rican terrorists to President Clinton's desk. Mr. Clinton made his offer Aug. 11 based on the recommendation of Charles F.C. Ruff, who days before left his job as White House counsel. But Jeffery Farrow, the little-known co-chairman of the President's Interagency Group on Puerto Rico, had publicly pushed Mr. Clinton to act on a clemency request for the jailed terrorists as far back as November 1997. "I would say it is important to respond to the clemency petition, as tens of thousands of letters have been written to the president about it," Mr. Farrow said, according to a story in the San Juan Star that ran Nov. 9, 1997. Mr. Farrow, a former Carter administration aide, now says he was more of a conduit for the petitioners' request than a White House advocate for clemency. ....."

New York Post 9/13/99 Deborah Orin Maria Alvarez "....Defiant freed FALN convict Ricardo Jimenez yesterday refused to apologize for his role in the terror bomb group - claiming he's a "freedom fighter" while the United States is out to "terrorize" Puerto Rico. "It is an international crime that the United States has retained Puerto Rico in a colonial status," Ricardo Jimenez told NBC's "Meet the Press." "There's been an objective by the United States government to terrorize the Puerto Rican nation ... You have never, never respected us," said Jimenez - who arrived in Puerto Rico around 7:30 last night. Jimenez rode out of jail in a flashy gold Mercedes last Friday thanks to President Clinton's controversial clemency deal, which cut his 90-year jail sentence to 19 years served and let him walk free. He was convicted in 1982 on seditious conspiracy, armed robbery and weapons charges. Jimenez was asked several times by NBC anchor Tim Russert if he wanted to apologize to the families of FALN bomb victims but he never did so, arguing instead that the United States deserves the real blame. He said he was acting against colonialism and that's "rightfully just" just like the American Revolution and George Washington. ...."

New York Post 9/14/99 "....'Acts of terror in all their forms have no place in a democratic society," State Department spokesman James P. Rubin said late yesterday morning, at about the same time that the FALN terrorists set loose by President Clinton last week were getting acquainted with their new surroundings. Rubin was referring to the latest of several recent apartment bombings in Moscow. And he was absolutely correct, even if the president that he works for doesn't understand the point - that there is no living with terrorism, no matter where the bombs happen to go off. Just as there should be no quarter shown to terrorist bombers - irrespective of the causes that motivate them, and the length of time that has transpired since their victims were buried. The passage of time is a critical element in the FALN controversy. Maybe Bill Clinton thought that New York had forgotten all about the bombings that killed six and wounded 130 in the late '70s and early '80s. (Fat chance.) ...."

New York Post 9/14/99 Maria Alvarez Marilyn Rauber ".... Freed FALN prisoners yesterday vowed to join forces to resume their political activism - starting with a mass rally next week - and claimed they have the OK from the feds. "We plan to be together - all of us," Ida Luz Rodriguez said outside the federal courthouse in San Juan. "Being in jail has not broken my spirit." The move came despite a federal parole rule that bars parolees from associating with anyone with a criminal record - such as fellow FALN convicts - "unless he has permission of his parole officer." Nine members of the Puerto Rican terrorist group, freed on parole Friday after President Clinton granted them clemency, said U.S. probation officials in San Juan stipulated only that they must inform their probation office before any get-together. Eustaquio Babilonia, deputy probation chief in San Juan, declined to discuss the restrictions, other than to note they have pledged, as a condition of clemency, "not to engage and promote violence." A probation spokesman in Chicago - where two other freed FALN members are living under that district's jurisdiction - wouldn't comment on whether the co-mingling ban has been lifted for the pair, but noted "it is the normal practice" to enforce the ban......"

New York Post 9/18/99 Brian Blomquist "....John Cardinal O'Connor, in his first statement on the FALN flap since his brain surgery, stressed yesterday he never asked President Clinton to free the Puerto Rican terrorists from prison - contrary to White House claims. In his weekly column for Catholic New York, O'Connor tried to settle the dispute about his role in the FALN controversy. "I did not ask for the release of the Puerto Rican federal prisoners called FALN," he wrote. O'Connor wrote in yesterday's column that he wanted "simply a review" of whether the FALN members deserved clemency - confirming a story last week in The Post - and that he never urged any action at all. "It has been my long-standing custom to raise questions rather than give advice on such matters," O'Connor wrote. The White House had invoked O'Connor's name in offering clemency to 16 Puerto Rican terrorists - 14 of whom accepted the offer. ...."

ABC (Australia) 8/29/99 Chris Bullock "....Chris Bullock: The allies of World War II were the first to develop sophisticated BWs. The British were the first to abandon them after the war, preferring nuclear weapons. The United States kept going until the end of the 1960s. Christopher Davis: It's often been said that the United States program was a failure, it didn't work, that's why they abandoned it, and it was pretty small change. This is not so. I will give you just a couple of facts off here: there were seven BW agents weaponised and stockpiled by 1969. That means you've gone through the entire program of research, from the literature all the way up to producing weapons that you can deploy. One of the most fascinating things which I always point out on this slide is the US Naval BW trials flotilla. If it had gone off on its own in some unilateral declaration of independence, it would have formed the fifth largest Navy in the world, and that was just for the trials. This gives you an idea of just how big the program was. Huge. Some things that were looked at: a biological agent capability for Polaris, never done, but certainly looked at. The Snark cruise missile project, that was never produced but that was the way that the industrial BW program of the United States was going for a proper dissemination system, and in fact in 1969 just before it closed down they were seeing the results of successful trials in the Pacific.....Chris Bullock: The sensitivity in Australia and New Zealand is because of the size and importance of the farming sectors. When the Soviets were developing their germs through the 60s, 70s and 80s, the West was suffering from what Christopher Davis calls 'nuclear blindness'; the US and Britain, he says, could not see beyond the nuclear threat. The real breakthrough in Western knowledge about the Soviet's biological weapons program came with the defection to the United States in 1992 of Dr Ken Alibek. Ken Alibek, (that's his Westernised name) worked at the top of the Soviet Union's Bioweapons Directorate for 20 years. He's detailed the germ agents they developed, such as anthrax, smallpox, Ebola, Venezuelan encephalitis and many other genetically engineered bugs for which there is no vaccine or prophylactic treatment. Ken Alibek told of his surprise at the difference in mentality between Washington and the Kremlin about what should and shouldn't be used in germ warfare. Ken Alibek: When I came to the United States we had a lot of discussions on how for example one or another country would be developing biological weapons. And do you know what was interesting to me, it's a widely accepted idea in this country that biological weapons could be developed just in one case; if there is protection or treatment or prophylaxis against one another agent. In the United States, until this country terminated its program, there was a requirement; if there was no treatment or prophylaxis you cannot use a given agent for developing and manufacturing biological weapons. People were trying just to apply exactly the same mentality to other countries involved in developing biological weapons. For example, for the Soviet Union, the best biological weapons were biological weapons without any possible treatment and prophylaxis. Ebola was considered one of the best possible agents for biological weapons; Marburg, smallpox and huge number of attempts to genetically alter diseases like plague, anthrax, tuleramia. In the late '80s the country was able to start developing new prototypes of bacterial biological weapons based on multi-resistant strains, meaning that all existing treatments available in the West wouldn't be possible to apply because these agents would overcome antibiotic treatments. We cannot ignore this situation. I'm 100% sure that some biological weapons and their killing capability are more effective than some forms of nuclear weapons. Thank you....."

Fox News (Hannity &am