AGANA (Guam) - Republican National Committee Chairman Jim Nicholson praised the U.S. Supreme Court for it decision to hear the appeal of a lower court decision challenging the authenticity of the 1998 gubernatorial election results in Guam.
     ``I am confident that the Supreme Court will call for another election based on the merits of the case,'' said Nicholson. ``The Court agrees with Republican candidate Joseph Ada that the irregularities of the election call the final outcome into question.''
     The ruling comes after numerous reports of voter fraud in the 1998 gubernatorial election. In April, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an earlier decision and ruled in favor of a runoff election after Democrat Carl Gutierrez failed to get the majority of votes required for victory in the November election.
     ``The gubernatorial election for Guam is nearly a year overdue,'' said Nicholson. ``The Court should call for a runoff election. The people of Guam will not allow their elections to be stolen.''
     As a concerned citizen and a resident of Guam, I consider the dicision on the gubernatorial election runoff to be extremely important and very valuable, although, it's not the answer. I think that it, however, sends a signal that 1) we, Americans on Guam, do exist - many Americans in the U.S. mainland including local, state, and national "leaders" do not know where Guam is on the globe, 2) it also shows that fraud, waste, and abuse have been and still are widespread on Guam - a result of the blatant disregard to the rule of law and the democratic principles by those in power since after World War II, which have been draining the U.S. Treasury all these years for all the wrong reasons, and 3) it may, in addition, bring about the most important - the urgent need to clean up the acts of the past 55 years, polluted our once pristine and healthy environment that was favorable for raising a family in what used to be a paradise. Doing so will make way to implement a really comprehensive land use plan for the good of Guam and the U.S. today and into the new millennium.
     Political rhetoric has bothered me since I was a boy in 1947, which has not changed to this day. It appears to me that the officials in the Government of Guam and the Federal Government, the island's Colonial Masters, do not have the common sense to permit the indigenous people of Guam to exercise their fundamental rights and individual economic freedoms so they can be self-reliant again as they once were. The local government officials have gone from economically suppressing its own people in favor of the easy money from Uncle Sam to borrowing and stealing from them. The "Oath of Office," in practice has been, "On my honor I will do my best to enrich myself and to hell with the rest."
     A historic perspective is needed. Our turf in Guam was brutally attacked and occupied by two warring nations (Japan and America) during World War II, dumped on with toxic waste including mustard gas after the war, and our people were betrayed and left to be stewed by politicians. Regardless which party is in office, they use their own recipe of power, arrogance, and greed, which position Guam in a perpetual tail spin spiraling downward politically, socially, and economically. To this day, there is no action in motion, local or national, to address the war crimes committed against the people of Guam by either nation.
     On the other hand, the U.S. had actually absolved Japan for any and all wrong doings in Guam during WWII. The U.S. makes all decisions that affect our life and our future without a voice to this very day. It is also common knowledge, on Guam, that the federal government had executed a land grabbing frenzy, after World War II, taking privately own lands from the northern tip to within four miles of the southern end of the island without just compensation. Clearly the taking was much more than needed not to mention for the wrong reason, the destruction of people using nuclear bombs.
     I served in our Navy's submarine force for 21 years and had made vigilant, deterrent patrols, in nuclear powered submarines, to keep the enemy from attacking and occupying our country and taking our freedoms away. But what my government officials had done and are still doing with the land on Guam made all the sacrifices of our men and women and those who have given the ultimate sacrifice not only for naught, but also totally lunatic. This blatant violation of property rights on Guam is a worldwide embarrassment for all Americans, to say the least.
     It is very obvious even to a casual observer that power, arrogance, greed, selective governing, and taxation without representation are how we on Guam are governed since WWII. The spin-off from these injustices is the reason we are living in a community plagued with disorder and crimes that are out of control. Self-representation has now caused major erosion in family values and community values. The conditions on Guam speak for themselves.
     With yet another innocent victim of a gruesome murder recently, which seems to be increasing in number and horror, this time of an eleven year old boy who was stabbed to death and his body was burned to ashes, I ask myself, What kind of a community do we have? Many people agree with me that we, on Guam, are living in a community where the rule of law and the democratic principles are clearly being ignored, starting with the one at the top for the easy U.S. dollar from Uncle Sam.
     Many may disagree with me, but I'll say it again: First and foremost, under all is the LAND. The land and the rights thereto (a bundle of rights), and its fruits thereof, must be respected.
     Those who control the land have the power to control others. Those in power are economically always better off than the working class who are always struggling to make ends meet, which is comprised mostly of those without land and those who have been denied the use of their land while paying the taxes.
     In pre WWII Guam USA with individual economic freedoms, Guam was living up to its indigenous name, "Guahan" meaning, "we have." Before WWII, Guam had thriving commercial copra production, cattle grazing, slaughter house, beef market, sawmill, and auto repairs and consolidation of fresh produce for delivery with fresh beef, pork, chicken and other food items and potable water to ships calling port here to mention a few. Today, even with the creation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture with grants for farmers, Guam has not come close to matching prewar productivity that was without government help. That ought to send a signal to someone, but no one seems to care as long as Uncle Sam's money continues to pour in. However, there is no amount of money from the federal government or from any other country that can satisfy greed.
     The balance today, in Guam, if any, may be found in the argument by some who believe they are owned by our federal government - a result of the destruction of private property interests after WWII and the federal handouts that took a strong political foothold, with foodstamps, housing, and free medical care.
     Now hear this. Personally, I have been paying taxes on the Urunao Beach property for decades all for naught. In fact, my family have had the chance and had arrived at a very respectable agreement with foreign conglomerate twice, once in the 70's and again in the 80's for the development of the Urunao property. A well known and a respected CPA on Guam, Mr. Al Pickens, had expressed his opinion on K-57 Radio that had at least "the 80's proposed project at Urunao Beach was granted the permit, Guam's gross product would have been increased by an additional $1B per year."
     Yes, if individual economic freedoms were not denied, GovGuam would have been in healthy financial condition. As it is, GovGuam is close to shutting down due largely to the lack of funds. In addition, the government retirement pay may also in jeopardy.
     People have no idea of the amount of money, energy, and time spent, in over five decades, trying to transform a very damaging negative cash flow situation into a positive one that has everything to do with the denial of economic use of ones land by the government. It is also common knowledge that the federal government had used the Urunao property after WWII for war surplus dump in three separate sites.
     Note that the orchestrated cover up of the desecration of the sanctity of private property has made GovGuam totally impotent and unable to implement a comprehensive land use plan. Incidentally, we have since learned that the latest so-called "plan" by GovGuam, under "I Tano'-Ta" is preposterous and fraudulent. The testimony of people island-wide was not considered. Worse yet, the plan was in existence prior to the consultant ever having been contacted. In other words, we have been had, again.
     Fraud, waste, and abuse have been the practice on Guam for the past five decades regardless which party is in office. It has become the status quo since World War II. This practice is very damaging to Guam and and the nation and has to cease. All three branches of our government, at both levels, have to come together on this issue because private property rights is what we are all about as AMERICANS.
     We must stop this blatant disregard to the rule of law and the democratic principles. We must right this historic wrong so that we can actually move forward by implementing a really comprehensive land use plan, a plan that would address aviation and ground transportation safety, conservation, and development in harmony with the environment. A sound town planning throughout this finite 225 square mile landmass would prevent tragic and devastating accidents that have already claimed the lives of many healthy people in the prime of their lives unnecessarily. Similarly, a comprehensive land use plan will preserve the very finite land resource and the environment for today and into the next millennium socially, politically, and economically.
     History attests that the Guam Economic Development Authority, Guam Visitors Bureau, and various GovGuam agencies have provided opportunities to outside interest, with tax rebates. Yet, the original landowners of Guam have been suppressed economically in their own homeland.
     The original landowners of Guam are conditioned to be contented with government handouts and/or government employment, in jobs that require little spirit, industry or effort. This has produced people who whine a lot about what a bad hand fate has dealt them and nothing ever gets done. At the same time, those who aspired to accomplish good things for Guam are either fired or forced out of their jobs in fear of their lives. The fear is almost always associated with the abuse of power and illegal drugs, both of which are an epidemic on Guam. The bottom line is, the Clinton administration has created social disorder in our island community.
     The denial of ones economic freedoms, in America, raises a very critical question. Why are we paying the taxes and why are we volunteering to serve in the uniform service when it's all for naught? Since property rights is what we are all about, then the land issue here on Guam is a glaring example of incompetence at the highest level. This issue represents a breach of the fiduciary responsibility and duty by the Clinton White House and public officials on Capitol Hill. There is downright orchestrated fraud. Obviously, it's time we restore the fundamental principles proven to be good and are still good.
     Obviously, damages have compounded with the passage of time and there is hell to pay. I hope and pray that it will not come to an outbreak of uncontrollable civil disobedience first before we right the wrong. However, tension is rising on Guam as we have seen in various land protests. People worldwide are fighting and dying for the right to farm their own land. I hope it will not come to that among Americans on American soil.
     Today, many people on Guam are in a constant struggle between two conflicting orientations - the common belief that a person must earn his or her keep v.s. the pervasive influence of government handouts, which now ironically includes land by way of concrete home for a dollar or vacant parcels of land for a dollar a year for 99 years. The Land Scam that was started by the federal government is perpetuated by the local government indeed.
     But why must our government deny its own people their individual economic freedoms? Guamanians have been denied the ability to be self-reliant since World War II. We now have three (3) generations of healthy and capable Americans who have become weak , disoriented and dependent on government handouts.
     It has come to pass that Pay Checks, from some facsimile of government jobs even without actually working, are considered sacred and have become the object of our community's perfection.
     Consequently, the new found distopia in Guam, to a great many people, is just another Marxian formula for exploitation of the masses - No Visible Means of Support Equals a True Sign of Success.
     The unwritten, "Declaration Of Dependence" is echoed so eloquently by our former Non-voting Delegate to Congress, Mr. Ben Blaz, when he said . . . "We have met the enemy, and the enemy is us." As Demosthenes, the ancient Greek Orator, said, "Nothing is so easy as to deceive one's self; for what we wish, that we readily believe. In other words, we have been rationalizing all these years because it is so much easier to do nothing. We have been justifying all the wrong actions by passing new laws that continue to compromise the fundamental principles. Yet, the fundamental principles have been proven to be good and are still good, but they are ignored in favor of the easy money.
     The law of the land is still Private Property Rights . . . Protect Them! Here's an easy calculus for Congress: Free the land - Free the people. "It's the economy stupid.
     I am very sorry to say that today on Guam, disorder abounds and we are in a tail spin spiraling downward politically, socially, and economically due largely to the abusive use of power, blatantly disregarding to the rule of law and the democratic principles. Again, we must right this terrible and historic wrong once and for all, for Heavan's sake, and for our children's future, set us free in the new millennium.

     [Editor's Note: A brief history of Guam in the Marianas Island region. Tony Artero, is the Bureau Chief for the Daily Republican Newspaper's Pacific News Bureau on Guam. He is also a former Submariner in the U. S. Navy. Guam, a U.S. possession, was seized by the Japanese Navy on December 11, 1941. Mr. Artero's family played a key role in the heroic WWII humanitarian effort to successfully feed and hide a U.S. Navy radioman George Tweed from capture by the Japanese who occupied Guam. The U. S. Marines' Campaign of Guam started on July 21 1944 and was marked by a record tonnage of naval bombardment with 7,000 U.S. casualties and 11,000 Japanese killed. Guam was retaken by the Marines on August 10, 1944. It was subsequently made the Headquarters of the U.S. Navy in the Pacific Ocean on Jan. 29, 1945.]

Copyright 1999 The Daily Republican Newspaper. All rights reserved.

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Friday September 24, 1999
McCain VS Buchanan
One-Upsmanship surfaces in Republican Party.
By William Heartstone, Staff Writer

WASHINGTON - Presidential rival candidate John McCain told reporters in a hastily called news conference Thursday, "I am appalled by Pat Buchanan's comments."
     This week Mr. Buchanan unveiled his new book, "A Republic, Not an Empire" which analyzes the President Franklin D. Roosevelt(D) administration's timing and entry of the United States into the battle to defeat Adolf Hitler.
     Mr. Buchanan's argument that explores FDR's role in directing U.S. foreign policy leading up to World War II.
     Buchanan makes a persuasive case for Roosevelt's ineptness during the latter part of 1941 when Hitler was preoccupied on the Russian front and did not represent a physical threat to the United States. Mr. Roosevelt is depicted in Buchanan's account of stirring up anti-German sentiment in order to distract Americans from worsening U.S. domestic economic conditions.
     Mr. Buchanan's text questions Roosevelt policy and implies that FDR should have avoided entry into the conflict instead of inflaming American public opinion for his own political sellf-interest. Mr. McCain's verbal assault on Buchanan seems to fall flat in view of McCain's own shortcomings which he recently detained in his own book, "Faith of our Father." He writes about his U.S. Naval Academy experience in 1954, were he was "...in conflict with the Academy's authorities and traditions, a four-year course of nsubordination and rebellion."
     Worse still, is McCain's disclosure of his personal chagrin when he "...graduated in 1958 only a few steps above the bottom of the class."
      McCain, writes, "The most important lesson I learned there was...serving something greater than my self-interest." He had his chance, when in 1967 he was captured by the North Vietnamese who coerced McCain to sign a confession that he had committed war crimes.
     Mr. Buchanan depicts his critics as "outraged...because they fear that Pat Buchanan may move to the Reform Party and take the conservative movement with him. When you see the cheap little shots they are delivering, you know, it may be time to build a new conservative movement and let these people go."
     Book sales are off the charts, naturally.

Copyright 1999 The Daily Republican Newspaper. All rights reserved.

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Tuesday September 22, 1999
The Wrong Message
Even the First Lady said her husband lies.
By Andrew Ping, View from the Terrace

SACRAMENTO - When he campaigned for office for the first time, President Clinton promised greater security for the American people. He was going to put more police officers on the streets. He was going to help stop crime.
     Granting clemency to a dozen terrorists simply isn't a way that the President can claim to protect the public. It's ridiculous, in fact. He claims they were sentenced for being associated with the terrorist group, and not actually guilty of causing bodily harm to others. Most reasonable people call that sort of association "aiding and abetting." When it comes to the death of innocent people, most people think that those who aid and abet deserve a stiff sentence. Clinton's action is indefensible.
     Most reasonable people also see a fairly obvious connection between clemency for the Puerto Rican terrorists and Mrs. Clinton's run for a New York Senate seat. Mrs. Clinton says there's no connection, and even asked President Clinton to withdraw his offer after it became unpopular enough. This is the same First Lady who said that her husband's lies were justifiable based on childhood trauma.
     This is the wife of the man who, just over a year ago, declared with feigned righteous indignation that he had no sexual relation whatsoever with Monica Lewinsky. The Clintons are clearly not worthy of public trust.
     Looking at the big picture, the pattern's fairly obvious. China has been allowed to pilfer nuclear secrets without any repercussions. The Branch Davidians were blown up without any punishment for officials who illegally assaulted private citizens with paramilitary forces. Even earlier, President Clinton was willing to sacrifice the cohesion of our military by ordering the inclusion of homosexuals as a political gesture.
     We have more police in some areas, but corruption and abuse of power are rampant, forcing the good officers to leave the force or their morals behind. Slobodan Milosevic was left in power to plague Eastern Europe.
     All of these events and trends point to the clear fact that Mr. Clinton hasn't done anything to make the United States more secure from any threats, foreign or domestic.
     Instead, he's promoted corruption and glorified criminal behavior. All citizens who care about their country, their families and their security would do well to rally against the policies, legacy and lackeys of a man who has clearly placed himself in opposition to the public good.

Copyright 1999 The Daily Republican Newspaper. All rights reserved.

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Tuesday September 21, 1999
Revisiting Waco
Waco is starting to sound, feel and smell familiar!
Review and Outlook

NEW YORK - The siege at Waco in 1993 is the sort of complicated mess that can end up on the doorstep of any White House. But the Clinton White House seems to operate under some unique genetic map, which instinctively triggers legal corner-cutting and then coverups. Waco is starting to sound, feel and smell familiar.
     We all recall how Charles La Bella, Justice's investigator of the 1996 Clinton-Gore campaign funding scandals, was isolated and ushered out of the department after he called for an independent counsel to take over his job. Precisely the same thing has happened to a Waco prosecutor.
     Bill Johnston, the assistant U.S. attorney in Texas, warned Attorney General Janet Reno that her own department might be involved in a coverup of the Waco disaster.
     Now we learn that the Justice Department then removed Mr. Johnston and his boss from the case on the pretext that there'd be an appearance of conflict of interest if they were called as witnesses. But it hasn't treated anyone else who is likely to become a witness this way.
     Obviously, the six-year delay in the release of key details of Justice's final assault on Waco is a matter of extreme sensitivity for Washington Democrats who must figure out every six weeks or so how to survive inside the Clinton orbit. While Ms. Reno made a grand show of sending U.S. marshals across the street to seize evidence from the FBI's building, it's now clear that Justice lawyers preparing its defense in a civil suit filed by the families of dead Branch Davidians had the crucial information all along.
     House Democrats meanwhile, led by Rep. Henry Waxman, claim that Republicans were informed back in 1995 of the pyrotechnic devices used at Waco, but in making that point they concede that Justice had the information too. Hill Democrats are clearly sensitive about any suggestion of their own complicity in a possible coverup.
     Who can forget Rep. (now Senator) Charles Schumer's highly successful attempts to sidetrack the House hearings on Waco with discussions of the National Rifle Association's contacts with Republicans and alleged child abuse by David Koresh? Mr. Schumer's smoke did more than anything else to obscure realities we're now facing.
     Webster Hubbell, the convicted felon from Little Rock, was Justice's point man with the White House on the Waco siege. He also is in a sensitive frame of mind. In his recent memoirs he obviously makes excuses for his role in approving the use of dangerous CS gas against the Branch Davidians. He even claims to have come up with a "solution" to the standoff hours before the final assault began, but was blocked from entering the FBI building until after the gas rounds were fired. Sure would be nice if former Senator John Danforth could establish the truth of this claim.
     What precisely is at issue here? It is clearly in the public interest to have a full and complete historical record, in part to defuse conspiracy theorists who already believe the government is out to get them. More precisely, at issue in Senator Danforth's independent probe of Waco is whether and how law enforcement overreacted. The Branch Davidians were a particularly deranged sect, and four Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents were killed in the initial raid that started the seven-week siege. But we will probably never conclusively learn who or what started the fire that killed dozens of Mr. Koresh's followers that day.
     In any event, law enforcement did learn an important lesson from Waco. No similar incident has occurred during the administration of FBI Director Louis Freeh. In 1996, for instance, a group of con artists in Montana named the Freemen were safely lured out of their armed standoff with the Feds through the use of more patient tactics.
     But the unfinished business of Waco persists in the public mind: Was there a coverup? Is there something beyond the death of two dozen children to explain the extreme sensitivity of the FBI, the Justice Department and Congress on the issue?
     It is certainly interesting that one of Mr. Danforth's primary missions is to explore the implications of the 1878 "Posse Comitatus" law. It forbids use of the U.S. military in domestic law enforcement actions.
     The Texas Rangers seem to have uncovered evidence that members of the Army's elite Delta Force anti-terrorist unit were at Waco. The law provides for a Presidential waiver in case of emergencies; President Reagan signed a waiver, for example, to use Army units to quell prison riots.
     The White House claims no one ever asked President Clinton to sign a waiver for Waco. So Mr. Danforth has to determine, was Delta Force at Waco, and if so, on whose authority? Obviously it didn't move there on its own, and breaches of the military chain of command are a serious national issue.
     Mr. Danforth will need a thorough investigation and candid report to still the drums of conspiracy. A sequel to an Emmy-award winning independent film on Waco, for example, will soon question the denial that the White House counsel's office ever considered a Posse Comitatus waiver.
     Indeed, Mr. Danforth may find himself plowing some of the same ground covered by Kenneth Starr. Lisa Foster, widow of the late White House Deputy Counsel Vincent Foster, told the FBI that her husband was deeply troubled by Waco and blamed himself for the death of the children there. A Waco file was inventoried in the contents of his office.
     Mr. Danforth says he is reluctant to question President Clinton about the issue of a Presidential waiver from Posse Comitatus. That is understandable, given the fate of the last prosecutor to ask probing questions of the President. Yet considering the sorry credibility of the White House, the Justice Department and the FBI, he has a responsibility to make sure the record is straight and complete.
     Otherwise, we'll all be adding Waco as one more item in the high pile of Clinton contradictions from which we're all supposed to "move on."

Copyright © 1999 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Monday September 20, 1999
U.S. Marines Landing on Timor
Refugees evacuated to Darwin after Indonesian-backed
militias go on a rampage in protest!
Associated Press

DARWIN, Australia (AP) - Amid the roaring engines of military transport planes, a team of 13 U.S. Marines walked across a runway in Australia Saturday, the first to arrive in a contingent of American forces that will participate in an international mission in East Timor.
     The Marines arrived aboard a C-130 transport plane at the air force base in Darwin, the northern coastal city that is the staging area for the peacekeeping mission.
      Up to 200 American troops will provide logistics, communications and intelligence for the Australian-led force, which is expected to number between 7,000 and 8,000 troops.
      ''We're providing unique assets that are not available to the international effort,'' said Lt. Col. Rick Mingo of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force.He and a dozen other troops arrived with trucks and other equipment from their base in Okinawa, Japan.
     Australian troops at the air force base, meanwhile, assembled boxes of U.S.-supplied rations that had arrived a day earlier for East Timorese refugees.
     Many refugees were evacuated to Darwin after Indonesian-backed militias went on a rampage in East Timor in protest against the territory's Aug. 30 vote for independence from Indonesia.
     Mingo planned to set up a command post for Brig. Gen. John Castellaw, deputy commander of the Okinawa-based Marine force. Castellaw has been involved in other humanitarian military operations, including Operation Provide Comfort in northern Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War.
     The American forces will play a support role, unlike in other international peacekeeping operations such as Kosovo and Bosnia, where American soldiers were on the ground to patrol the peace. The Pentagon has no plans to deploy combat troops in East Timor.
     For now, no U.S. aircraft will fly into the half-island territory. But U.S. planes such as Air Force C-17, C-130 and C-5 transports will ferry othernations' heavy equipment into Darwin.
     It is possible that later on, U.S. planes will fly into the provincial capital of Dili or the Baucau airport east of Dili, the Pentagon has said. In that case, 30 to 40 American troops who specialize in remote airport operations may go in to organize refueling operations and air traffic control.
     The Americans will be drawn from a variety of U.S. military installations in the Pacific region, including those located in Japan, Hawaii and Guam.
     Also contributing to the force are France, Canada, Portugal, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand and New Zealand.

Copyright 1999 The Associated Press. Comment

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Friday September 17, 1999
White House refuses to answer
as Congress questions terrorist clemency
President ordered bomb making terrorists released from
federal prison then quickly got then out of the country.
By Howard Hobbs, Editor & Publisher

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton's decision to grant clemency to 12 Puerto Rican FLN terrorists raises widespread doubts about justificatiion for use of presidential autonomy in the matter. Is the president's claim of executive privilege just another mis-calculation in a long list of dubious conduct since Clinton was elected?
     For a running summary of Mr. Clinton's refusal to cooperate with Congressional inquiries, consider his role in the IMF-Russian banking improprieties, the 1993 siege at Waco, the investigations of the White House travel office firings and, worse still, White House deputy counsel Vincent Foster's suicide. This is a portrait of the true William Jefferson Clinton, the one history will not forgive for his penchant of stonewalling Congress and American taxpayers.
     On Wednesday,White House press secretary Joe Lockheart, hurled accusations at Congressman Dan Burton (R), chairman of the Committee, "...we've gotten something like 700 subpoenas from him. He has publicly stated that his mission is to get the president."
     Attorney General Janet Reno joined the attack with, "The White House staff and the Department of Justice act as confidential advisers to the president as part of the clemency review process, and executive privilege has long been understood to protect confidential advice generated during that process."
     The Senate Judiciary Committee has also been finding fault with the Clinton administration in a number of other venues. For example, a Senate panel is set to issue subpoenas within the week in the Clinton clemency debacle. The Senate is also preparing to release a videotape of Janet Reno's closed-door testimony on the embarassing investigation of possible espionage by nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee.
      Adding to the growing tide of recriminations, Orrin Hatch (R) Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman, has told reporters he is assembling a bipartisan Waco task force for open hearings on Clinton's illegal use of U.S. Army troops against Waco civilians in 1993 that resulted in the deaths of 4 FBI agents and 81 civilians.
      The Foreign Relations terrorism subcommittee is now investigating the Puerto Rican terrorists clemency fiasco, in the face of the full committee's hearings next week on Clinton's failed Russia foreign policy.

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Tuesday September 14, 1999
Justice Department Unmasked
Flammable Gas Grenades Fired Church
Evidence of a massive cover-up by the Clinton administration in deaths.
By Howard Hobbs, Editor & Publisher

WASHINGTON -- Internal FBI documents coming to light on Monday reveal the active participation in widespread cover-ups since 1993 by some of the highest officials in the Clinton administration. Public attention is now centering on a clumsy cover-up which would have kept the public in the dark about a 1993 Clinton administration order sending a U.S. Army Ranger Unit to illegally take up arms against American citizens. That order lead directly to a confrontation followed by a devastating fire when 81 civilians were trapped and burned alive inside the Branch Davidian Church near Waco, Texas.
     The documents cast new light on how the Clinton administration concealed the truth about FBI use of incendiary tear gas grenades and finally opens up some of the darker aspects of the cover-up. Renewed public outcry is calling for White House accountability and for punishment of all public officials involved, starting at the top. After 51 days of seige by the Army and a host of law enforcement agencies, the Church was burned to the ground with its members still inside, That was on April 19, 1993.
     Documents filed at that time appear to point the finger at the Clinton administration which deliberately mislead the public and Congress denying use of explosive gas grenades. Attorney General Janet Reno told reporters this week she, "...did not see any documents on the subject until two weeks ago." However, documents released to the public on Monday, clearly include the use of the explosive military tear gas [mortar] rounds in he raid. Ms. Reno has maintained that even though she is responsible for the actions of the Justice Department, and the FBI, she denies responsibility for the fire or the deaths or the FBI destruction of evidence that the fire started by use of gas grenade weapons. Reno has stated she was not uniformed that the gas grenades she authorized for use at the Davidian Church were explosives.
     Justice Department officials would not discuss the issue on the record.
     Representative Dan Burton (R) said Reno failed to inform Congress about the combustible weapons after it was revealed on Friday that a 1993 FBI lab report had been sent to the Government just as the Oversight Committee was preparing for Waco hearings in 1995.
     Even though the FBI had sent the report to the Justice Department, the portion of the report which contained the finding of evidence of the use of to a flammable tear-gas grenades was omitted from the report. On Monday, Congressman Henry Waxman(D) acknowledged that the documents, provided to the Justice Department by the FBI confirm they used combustible military tear-gas grenades at the Church.

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- Afternoon Edition -
Monday September 13, 1999
G.O.P. Plans Broader Look at Waco Fire
"We don't want people in charge of things like
Waco if they're not doing their job properly."
Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Angered by the failure of the Justice Department to produce crucial documents, Republican lawmakers on Sunday promised a broader investigation of the tear-gas assault on the Branch Davidian compound than the one planned by a special counsel appointed by Attorney General Janet Reno.
     Republicans on Sunday continued to press for Ms. Reno to step down, with the Senate majority leader, Trent Lott of Mississippi, saying President Clinton should name a new Attorney General.
     But Clinton's chief of staff, John D. Podesta, expressed continuing support for Ms. Reno, declaring on CBS: "She's a tough-minded person. She is going to get to the bottom of this."
     The special counsel, John C. Danforth, a former Republican senator from Missouri, said he would try to avoid a political inquiry in the re-examination of the assault by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on the compound near Waco, Tex., in 1993.
     Representative Dan Burton, Republican of Indiana and the chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, which will review the Government's role in the assault, said Danforth would concentrate on possible criminal activity while "we're going to be taking a broader look."
     "We need to find out who's responsible," Burton said on "Fox News Sunday." "We don't want people in charge of things like Waco if they're not doing their job properly."
     Danforth, appearing on five news programs Sunday, said his investigation would have a narrow focus and would seek to avoid politics.
     "It's not going to be sort of a general sweeping investigation into whether or not good or bad judgment" was used by Government officials in the 51-day siege in which about 80 Branch Davidian followers died, Danforth said.
     Asked about lessons learned from Kenneth W. Starr's investigations of President Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton, Danforth said, "This cannot be absolutely open-ended where one issue sort of morphs into another.
     He said that he would work with Congress but that "what I would like to do is to wait until the very end to issue a report and not have a running commentary between now and then."
     Ms. Reno last week asked Danforth to determine whether there had been a cover-up and whether the Government was involved in starting the fire that killed the cult followers.
     The renewed criticism of the Justice Department and Ms. Reno was prompted by news that an F.B.I. report the department turned over to Congress in 1995 was missing the one page that mentioned the use of military-style tear gas cannisters capable of starting a fire.
     A department spokesman said that the key page had been turned over to lawyers for survivors and families of Branch Davidian members who were suing the Government, and that the special counsel would have to look into why it never reached Congress.
     Burton, in a letter to Ms. Reno that was made public on Sunday, said the omission of the page "raises more questions about whether this committee was intentionally misled during the original Waco investigation."
     Senator Lott has said previously that Ms. Reno should resign. On Sunday, he urged Clinton to take that decision out of her hands, if necessary, and replace her.
     "I would think the President should consult with her and move to a different Attorney General," Lott said on CBS's "Face the Nation." "Ibelieve the time has come where that would help the sense of justice at the Justice Department."
     Lott asserted that Ms. Reno had shown a pattern of incompetence on issues like purported Chinese theft of nuclear secrets and illegal campaign Contributions.
     Senator Robert G. Torricelli, Democrat of New Jersey, who has suggested that Ms. Reno step down because of issues other than the raid, said someone must be held accountable.
     Ms. Reno was asked on Sunday by Burton to provide interviews this week with three Justice Department officials, including James G. Touhey Jr. Earlier this month, Touhey wrote a memorandum detailing his discovery that some copies of the 49-page F.B.I. laboratory report, including the copy sent to Congress, did not include the last page, which mentioned the use of military rounds.
     The Justice Department insisted that reports of the use of two such tear-gas rounds did not change the conclusion that the fire had been set by cult members.

Copyright 1999 The Associated Press. Comment

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Saturday September 11, 1999
U.S. & Russia To Set Up
Joint Y2k Missile Center
To intercept mistakenly signaled missile launch against U.S.
By Charles Aldinger

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Russia will sign an agreement next week for their military officers to jointly staff a center in Colorado as the new year dawns to watch for false warnings of missile attacks sparked by year 2000 computer bugs, the Pentagon said Friday.
     Defense Secretary William Cohen and Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev will sign the agreement to set up the temporary center Monday during talks in Moscow to improve military cooperation, a senior Pentagon official told reporters.
     The official, who asked not to be identified, said up to 20 Russian officers would be assigned to the ``Center for Strategic Stability and Y2K'' between late December and early January at U.S. Space Command headquarters at Colorado Springs.
     The confidence-building operation will use U.S. early-warning satellites and advanced computers, and could reassure Moscow if Y2K computer problems in Russia mistakenly signaled a missile launch somewhere in the world.
     Both Russia and the United States have thousands of long-range nuclear missiles and officials on both sides are anxious to avoid an unlikely but potentially disastrous mistake.
     The official, who briefed reporters on Cohen's two day visit to Russia Monday and Tuesday, cautioned that neither side felt ''we are teetering on the edge of a potential false launch or anything of the sort,'' but that the step was a sign of cooperation.
     ``And at this time of Y2K transition, were there to be some sort of problem, it would certainly be useful to have our people in direct contact and direct communications with one another,'' he said.
     Formal agreement for the center was reached quietly in late August as U.S.-Russia relations improved following strains over Moscow's strong opposition to NATO bombing of Serbia, the official said.
     The center would watch out for any indications of possible missile launches by or gainst either of the two countries.
     ``The Russians have agreed that this facility should be established and have agreed to participate in it,'' the official said. ``Secretary Cohen and Minister Sergeyev will be signing the joint statement in Moscow committing the two sides to proceed with this particular effort associated with our wider set of cooperation on Y2K.''
     Cohen and Sergeyev will also discuss plans for a permanent joint early missile warning center to be established later in Moscow. Presidents Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin have already agreed that such a center should be set up.
     The two defense leaders will meet at the defense ministry in Moscow Monday to discuss a wide range of issues, including nuclear arms cuts and controversial plans by the United States to establish an anti-missile defense system.
     En route home to Washington Tuesday, Cohen will fly to the Arctic Circle on northern Russia's Kola Peninsula for a first hand look at Russia's destruction of submarines at Severodvinsk under arms bilateral arms reduction agreements.

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Saturday September 11, 1999
First National Celebration
of Constitution Day
Reagan Presidential Library & Museum on September 17, 1999
By Louise Leigh

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. - For the first time in American History there will be a national celebration of Constitution Day on Friday, September 17, 1999. This will be cosponsored by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, as well as other Presidential Libraries.
     Thirty-nine of our Founding Fathers signed the Constitution and adjourned the Constitutional Convention, at exactly 4 PM on September 17, 1787.
     At exactly 4 PM EDT on September 17, 1999 there will be a national celebration. It will begin with the recitation of the Preamble of the Constitution emanating from the Capitol in Washington, DC. Following the Preamble there will be a roll call of all the 50 United States on a national conference call from the Capitol of each state and then bells will ring across America to honor our Constitution.
     Independence Hall in Philadelphia and Independence Hall in California (exact replica) will be the original program sites. The celebration will be broadcast on National Public Radio and on Channel 1. We are also anticipating TV coverage. Schools, churches, service clubs, and the public are invited to join in this national celebration
     Last years celebration was limited to a nationwide conference call with many of the Governor's offices representing their State. This year we hope to have every Governor's office representing their State on the roll call of the United States.
     Urge your churches to ring their bells, people to wear red white and blue, display flags, have a copy of the Preamble on hand and a bell, so they may join this annual national celebration to honor our Constitution.

     [Editor's Note: For more information contact Louise Leigh, Founder Email: lla@linkonline.net Fax:626-443-6223.]

Copyright 1999 The Daily Republican Newspaper. All rights reserved.

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Friday September 10, 1999
Investigation of botched FBI raid
Why were 80 U.S. civilians killed at Waco church
by FBI agents and U.S. Army special forces?
By Howard Hobbs, Editor & Publisher

WASHINGTON - Attorney General Janet Reno on Thursday named former senator John Danforth(R) to investigate an alleged Clinton administration cover-up of U.S. Army involvement in a botched Justice Department attack on a Waco church that resulted in the deaths of 80 persons in The Mount Carmel Church.
     The Daily Republican Newspaper account earlier this week revealed that the Clinton White House approved the use of potentially incendiary tear gas for use by the FBI and a U.S. Army unit that may have sparked a fire in the church near Waco Texas that incinerated church buildings and 80 persons inside. The FBI and Justice Department have denied such involvement.
     Less than 10 days ago, however, the FBI acknowledged that a "very limited number" of military explosive tear gas canisters were fired at a concrete shelter adjacent to the Davidians' church buildings. The admission is inconsistent with public statements made by Janet Reno when she testified before the House Judiciary Committee less than two weeks after the standoff's end Reno said that based on the briefings she'd been given, "It was my understanding that the tear gas produced no risk of fire." And in its voluminous October 1993 report documenting the final assault, the Justice Department made no mention of any pyrotechnic devices. In fact, the Justice report stated: "The gas delivery systems the FBI used were completely non-incendiary."
     Senior FBI officials were in key positions during the Waco fracas included Danny Coulson, assistant FBI director who told reporters he was unaware, at the time, that gas grenades deployed aganist the 80 people inside the church building.
     Mr. Danforth, speaking to the nation on live television coverage on Thursday said, "My job is to answer the dark question or the dark questions - Was there a cover-up? That's a dark question. Did the government kill people? ... How did the fire start?"
     Reno has admitted it was she who authorized the FBI to deploy tear gas grenades but she claims to have told the FBI of her concern about a possible fire that might result from FBI tactics used at the church building.
     In the wake of Ms. Reno's admissions this week, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott(R) called for Reno to resign.
     Making matters worse, lawyers for surviving family members of the Branch Davidian Church are proceeding with a court action alledging the United States government of responsiblity for the deaths of their families.
     At issue is the legal justification for use of deadly force while the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was attempting to serve an arrest warrant on members of the Church that set off a military assault and a resulting deadly fire. When the smoke cleared, sixteen ATF agents were wounded and four were dead. Inside the church 80 men, women, and children had been incinerated. The devastation was so complete that coroners have never been able to establish an exact count of the dead, however.
     Aerial infrared tapes recently disclosed by the FBI reveal that a radio transmission at 8:08 a.m. was captured on tape that has an FBI agent reporting to his commander that military tear gas grenades "...bounced off the concrete structure..." adjacent to the wood church building. Surviving family members of the Davidian Church have claimed that the blaze was ignited by tear gas grenade devices fired by the FBI.
     The military M651 grenades burn for about 30 seconds to heat-up the solidified tear gas inside. Caught on national televison coverage a U. S. Army tank was photographed battering down the wall of the church building and firing the military M651 grenades inside. Evidence of a fierce fire starting inside the building followed.

Copyright 1999 The Daily Republican Newspaper. All rights reserved.

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Thursday September 9, 1999
Dark Anniversary
Sixty years ago Nazis invaded Poland
By David Hudson, Der Spiegel

BERLIN - Sixty years to the day after the Nazis invaded Poland, President Johannes Rau, the first German head of state to participate in commemorative ceremonies in Gdansk, calls for stronger ties between the bordering nations.
     Their roles may be largely ceremonial and their handshake on the "Bridge of Peace" linking the towns of Frankfurt an der Oder in Germany and Slubice in Poland might be disparaged by cynics as a mere photo op, but the meeting between German President Johannes morning signals the beginning of substantial talks on future relations and the role of Poland in an increasingly politically and economically integrated Europe.
     German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder heads for Warsaw on Friday for two days of discussions with Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Busek where the focus is expected to be on strengthening economic ties and Germany's campaign within the European Union to allow Poland into the club.
     "The twentieth century was a century of wars," Rau said at a ceremony in the port city of Gdansk, once known by its German name, Danzig, and he voiced his hope that the twenty-first would be a century of peace. Sirens sounded at 12 noon in memory of those who fell to the Nazi blitzkrieg launched by Hitler before dawn on September 1, 1939. In his speech, Rau also called for a resolution in the stalled negotiations for an agreement on the amount German industry is to pay as compensation for surviving Holocaust victims and those forced to work for the Nazis during World War II.
     Adding to the documentation, Julian Borger reports in the "Guardian" on records recently handed over to Polish officials from Moscow linking the Ford Motor Company to the death camps, "Although it was unclear how deep or extensive Ford's contacts with the camp administration were, the documents are likely to provide ammunition for former slave labourers who are suing the company in a US court over claims that they were forced to work in the Cologne plant run by Ford's German subsidiary."
     "I spent 730 days in the IG Farben concentration camp in Auschwitz," says Hans Frankenthal, 73. "We continue to call for the immediate dissolution of the firm, which symbolises the collaboration between industry and the state in Nazi Germany." The quote comes from Michael Leidig's report in "The Daily Telegraph" on the IG Farben shareholders meeting in Frankfurt on Wednesday. The shareholders did vote to set up a fund of three million marks (over US$1.6 million), but The Nationwide Alliance Against IG Farben has called the offer "ridiculously low".

Copyright 1999 Der Spiegel Magazine. All rights reserved.

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Wednesday September 8, 1999
The Art of Chaos
Clinton's DOJ/US Army Waco siege debacle
By Howard Hobbs, Editor & Publisher

WASHINGTON - Two commonly held tenets of military social history are that soldiers reflect the societies that produce them, and that war transforms, often profoundly, those who experience it.
     Much has been made of the brutal frankness in chilling scenes from the recent Steven Spielberg film Saving Private Ryan where the U.S. Army, whether in the heat of battle or coldbloodedly, shoot down surrendering Germans who moments earlier were shooting them to pieces. One particular scene near the film's end contains the execution of an enemy soldier. The director no doubt intended this to be emotionally satisfying to audiences and, by many accounts, numerous packed houses have erupted in cheers when the bad guy gets it.
     For the past 30 years many of the brightest and best leaders in the Army provided guidance, directly or indirectly, to those who wrote field manuals, training circulars, or lesson plans on the subjects of professional ethics and leadership.
     From 1968 to 1998 the list of Army values underwent four major revisions, expanding from three to seven in number, and the definition of leadership went from the traditional Chinese Sun Tzu's Art of War to more of a process of modifying the nation's combat power and readiness for use against American civilians in special operations, like that which took place on the private property of the Branch Davidian Compound outside Waco Texas on February 28, 1993.
     Federal records now have established that a U.S. Army military unit known by its cover name as Joint Task Force 6 was under the operational control of US Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) and the United States Atlantic Command (USACOM). This standing military unit, located just outside Fort Bliss, Texas, was a key part of the Clinton administration's Operation Alliance a joint local, state, and federal entity that provided an intelligence fusion center and rapid response for surveillance needs along the Southwest border. According to reliable sources in the Pentagon, requests for military support of law enforcement agencies would flow into JTF 6, be vetted by its staff as having the appropriate drug nexus, and be approved with deployment orders transmitted by the Joint Chief of Staff. Secretary of Defense delegated authority through CINC-USACOM and USAFORSCOM to approve missions within these parameters.
     Major projects included surveillance and reporting, and the use of aviation assets to ferry law enforcement officers. Soldiers detailed to JTF 6 were attached to that organization from their parent unit for specified periods of time; thus a Special Forces Operational Detachment with supporting aviation was part of a Rapid Reaction Support Unit assigned to JTF 6 in early 1993 for a six month period. During this same period a request came into Operation Alliance for military assets to support a BATF operation against what was being designated then as "a methamphetamine laboratory located on the outskirts of Waco."
     The request detailed the needs of the BATF - military training in the specific areas of medical treatment, communications procedures, operational plan development, review, and approval, and "room clearing discriminate fire operations," termed "close-quarter combat" by the military.
     More important, the BATF requested that Army medics and communicators actually accompany them to the forward staging base if not on the actual mission. Clearly, the request was more expansive than those normally received.
     The original request was initially approved by the JTF 6 staff. However, questions by the Commander of the Special Forces detachment relayed to his home unit legal advisor resulted in a review of the extent of Army involvement in what appeared to be a civilian matter. Consequently, in the actual operation the Army was only to provide a training site at Fort Hood, safety inspection of the training lanes set up by the BATF, and medical and communications training and equipment. According to Defense Department sources, all members of the Special Forces detachment were, however, under orders to depart from the Fort Hood site before the operation at the Branch Davidian compound took place.
     The results of the attempt by the BATF to forcibly serve a warrant at the Branch Davidian compound resulted in chaos and the deaths of BATF agents, and all of the adults and children inside the Branch Davidian property. In the initial assault, four BATF agents were killed and 20 were wounded, the greatest loss of life in the bureau's history. Six Branch Davidian members were killed and four were wounded. The resulting siege captured the attention of the nation, and its tragic, fiery conclusion two months later resulted in the deaths of 74 Branch Davidians, including 21 children under the age of 14.
     The BATF knew of the requirement to establish a drug nexus in order to obtain needed military support from JTF 6. Authoritative evidence conclusively demonstrates that any precursor chemical or methamphetamine connection at the Waco compound had occurred in 1987, fully six years before the raid. It is probable that David Koresh was in fact responsible for expelling the member involved in the fledgling illegal drug activity, going so far as to report the offender to police.
     The six year lapse in these events clearly undermines a the Clinton White House rationale for attacking the Branch Davidian people, yet the BATF request for authority to launch the attack nevertheless boldly asserted the "drug nexus."
     However, it was eventually to became clear from reports and investigations following the disasterous raid on the civilians at the Davidian compound that BATF's primary interest in this case stemmed from their conclusion that the Branch Davidians were "stockpiling automatic weapons" in their compound.
     That conclusion perhaps could have been foreshadowed by a series of odd events related to the BATF request for U.S. Army Special Forces support. They were the peripheral nature of BATF in drug operations, the lack of involvement of the specialized drug laboratory reaction force, and the extensive nature of military support requested.
     All provided strong indications that further investigation should have been carried out before taking any action whatever to force an entry into the private property of the Davidians. Yet, the commanding general of the JTF testified before Congress that he saw no reason to check out the BATF request.
     So it was that the U.S. Army's special operations forces were on the Branch Davidian's private property along with BATF agents, What were they doing? Storming a religious compound. No matter how delusional the Davidian leaders may have been, no military involvement in the matter could have been justiified. The Clinton administration's act of making war against U.S. citizens through the agency of the U.S. Army has forever compromised public support of this nation's military forces.
     This event is easily the single most debilitating event to occur within the Army since the tragedy at My Lai. Making matters worse, it is even more destructive because it took place on American soil, and is a clear violation of the Posse Comitatus Act and raises the issue of military involvement in a case of First Amendement religious freedoms.
     In the United States Marine Corps, in an earlier time, the art of war included intimate knowledge that battles to take the high ground must give way to healthy skepticism and critical analysis by command officers. In testimony before Congress, an officer who questioned the legality of the proposed mission at Waco related that his JTF 6 counterpart, a higher-ranking officer, had indicated that the calls for close examination of command authority to attack civilians was "unwarranted and an obstacle to mission success."
     That courageous officer objected to the mission and asked probing questions about the legality of the role of the Army in the Waco disaster.
     The soldiers present at Waco were seasoned commissioned and noncommissioned officers with substantial operational experience. The propriety of the Waco mission did not comport with their training and experience. By simply following orders, however, they involved the Army in a violation of Posse Comitatus contributed to a great scandal, potentially subjected themselves to personal liability, and unnecessarily complicated the criminal prosecutions which are now subject to reversal by the court.
     The Special Forces Command of JTF 6 has promulgated a list of prohibited training events related to counter-drug support. This policy letter proscribes close-quarter combat training and accompanying law enforcement agencies, in addition to restricting intelligence-gathering. That policy is now spelled out in the Department of the Army, Memorandum, Policy on Training Domestic Law Enforcement Agencies (DLEA) January2 1996, and signed by J. T. Scott, Lieutenant General, US Army, Commanding. The Secretary of Defense has now issued a written policy requiring his personal approval for support to civilian law enforcement agencies in situations of confrontation or use of lethal force.]
     The Clinton White House relies on the constitutional and statutory authority of the President of the United States to maintain public order and domestic tranquillity. Those who consider the Posse Comitatus Act a giant bulwark preventing the Army from enforcing the law may be shocked to learn that the relevant enabling mechanism is fairly straightforward. The language of the act itself specifies that activities expressly authorized by the Constitution or by statute are exempt from the act's restrictions. One such exception is the statutory authority of the President to use federal troops to quell domestic violence. [10 US Code Sections 331 through 334.] Upon receipt of a proper request for assistance from a state governor, the President issues a proclamation identifying that a breakdown in public order has occurred, and orders the intransigent individuals to disperse. Once it is clear that the order to disperse is not being followed, the President then orders the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Attorney General, to quell the insurrection and restore public order. This presidential authority to use federal troops is not subject to judicial review.
     In view of the Waco calamity and debacle Americans might be justified in expecting an increase in domestic deployments of US military forces in the immediate future. American citizens need to recognize that each instance of use is accompanied by new and unprecedented challenges by the Clinton White House.

Copyright (C) 1999, Copyright The Daily Republican Newspaper. All rights reserved.

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Friday September 3, 1999

Cold War Reprise
"The Iron Curtain" screamed Izvestia headlines!
By Brian Whitmore, Staff Writer - St. Petersburg Times

MOSCOW - A revival of McCarthyism. A new Iron Curtain. The freshly erected Berlin Wall. Monica Lewinsky and Kenneth Starr.
     These are the images several Moscow newspapers were evoking Thursday to explain a two week old money laundering scandal - in which Russian mob bosses, with Kremlin complicity, reportedly spirited as much as $15 billion in embezzled public and corporate funds through the Bank of New York. And analysts say that this paranoia, denial and finger pointing will find a fertile audience among Russia's disillusioned population.
     "The Iron Curtain," screamed a front-page headline in the daily newspaper Izvestia, over an article about U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers' announcement Wednesday that future IMF loans to Russia are in jeopardy. The story, accompanied by a photo of a solider peering through the Berlin Wall , claimed that Summers' announcement "could be the first step in the isolation of Russia." The Interros holding company, run by Vladimir Potanin - whose name has surfaced in connection with the scandal - has a majority stake in Izvestia.
     Not to be outdone, Kommersant, recently bought by business tycoon and Kremlin insider Boris Berezovsky, ran a front-page story entitled "McCarthyism Lives. And His Cases Are Fabricated." The story claimed the Bank of New York money-laundering reports are zakaznoi, or made to order.
     Kommersant attempted to call the accuracy of these reports into question by citing a comment made by Vyacheslav Soltaganov, head of Russia's tax police. Earlier this week, Soltaganov told reporters that a correspondence he received from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow requesting a joint investigation into the Bank of New York money-laundering scandal turned out to be false. He did not clarify how the documents may have been falsified. The U.S. Embassy would say only that the U.S. government enjoyed "fruitful cooperation" with Russian law-enforcement bodies.
     The Kommersant story came complete with a Cold War vintage photograph of Senator Joseph McCarthy testifying before Congress in the 1950s - during the so-called "Red Scare." There was also a biography of McCarthy for anybody who might be interested.
     "Political fashions change. Now, 'Soviet threat' has been exchanged for 'Russian mafia.'"
     Vasilyev goes on to write that the new Western practice of equating Russian business with the mafia may result in foreign banks refusing to do business with Russian banks and clients "simply because they are Russian." This, Vasilyev writes, will "deprive us of the ability to transfer money to our relatives and children who reside abroad."
     Perhaps concerns of growing anti-Russian sentiment in the West are not without basis. The Wall Street Journal, for example, reported Thursday that U.S. authorities suspect Russian organized-crime groups of placing moles in major Western banks and securities firms.
     Perhaps the most original - and amusing - take on the matter was provided by Vremya MN, a daily partially financed by the Central Bank. Writing that "Russia is suffering from the American presidential elections," the paper compared the Bank of New York scandal to last year's Monica Lewinsky fiasco.
     "The idea that a whole scandal could be provoked by Republicans who aspire to occupy the White House would have been unrealistic prior to the scandal involving Ms. Lewinsky," Vremya MN wrote. "But [now] to use materials like bank transfers, international financial relations and 'the Russian question' looks respectable, and even conservative."
     The laundering allegations have led to the White House calling future IMF loans to Russia in doubt. The U.S. Congress has also scheduled hearings on the matter for later this month.
     "If Russia believes that this is some Western conspiracy, that is both unfortunate and dangerous," said Andrew Parmentier, a spokesman for U.S. Representative James Leach, Chairman of the House Banking Committee, which will hold the hearings. "Russian democracy is at stake and America needs a strong, democratic Russia."
     "There is so much more at stake here than politics. It is the Russian people who have lost the most here. These loans were given to Russia to help its transition to a market democracy, and thieving oligarchs should not be allowed to get in the way of that," Parmentier said.
     Analysts say the anti-Western conspiracy rhetoric will play well with the general public.
     "Accusations that the West is attacking Russia will unfortunately have considerable resonance in our society," said Alexei Levinson of the Russian Center for Public Opinion Research. Russians are sufficiently cynical about their public officials and have no illusions about them being honest.What is important here is emotions, and this scandal is pushing most of Russia's emotional buttons."

©1999 Copyright The St. Petersburg Times.

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Tuesday August 31, 1999

Reno warned:
Waco evidence possibly withheld
File on FBI use of pyrotechnics hidden!

By Lee Hancock / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - A Waco federal prosecutor wrote Attorney General Janet Reno on Monday to warn that "individuals or components within the Department of Justice" may have long withheld evidence from her and the public about the FBI's use of pyrotechnic grenades on the day the Branch Davidian compound burned.
     Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Johnston said he felt compelled to warn Ms. Reno after he was given a 5-year-old document that discusses the use of "military gas" by the FBI on April 19, 1993. He said he was concerned because the document, a three-page set of notes detailing an interview with members of the FBI's hostage rescue team, included handwritten notations suggesting that it be kept from anyone outside the department's legal staff.
     "There are handwritten notes on the documents discussing whether or not they should be disclosed, and, obviously, they have not been," said Mr. Johnston, the federal prosecutor involved longest in the Branch Davidian investigation.
     "There was discussion about whether they should be turned over," he said. "Obviously, the decision was made somewhere in Washington that they were not to be."
     Asked about the matter late Monday, Justice Department spokesman Myron Marlin said, "I wouldn't comment except to say that the attorney general received assurances that pyrotechnic tear-gas devices would not be used and were not used. And she has pledged to get to the bottom of this."
     Mr. Johnston said he was presented with a copy of the document last week after officials divulged that the FBI had, in fact, used pyrotechnic tear gas on April 19.
     A former senior FBI official told The Dallas Morning News that he had learned that two M651 CS tear-gas grenades had been fired at an area adjacent to the compound by members of the FBI's hostage rescue team. The official has maintained that use of the grenades had nothing to do with the fire that consumed the compound.
     The issue has sparked a House committee investigation and also prompted angry congressional demands for an independent investigation of the FBI because Ms. Reno and other senior FBI and Justice Department officials have long maintained that nothing capable of sparking a fire was used by the government on April 19.
     The compound burned that day with Branch Davidian leader David Koresh and more than 80 followers inside. The fire erupted about six hours after the FBI began using tanks and tear gas to try to force an end to a 51-day standoff.
     On Monday, the House Government Reform Committee issued subpoenas records concerning the use of pyrotechnic tear gas by the FBI.
     The subpoenas ordered the prosecutor and the Rangers to appear on Sept. 7 in Washington.
     Mr. Johnston has been assisting the Rangers since late June in an ongoing inquiry to identify questioned evidence that has been in the possession of the Texas Department of Public Safety since the Branch Davidian standoff.
     The use of pyrotechnic devices on April 19 is a key issue in a pending wrongful-death lawsuit filed by surviving Branch Davidians and families of those who died.
     The lawsuit contends that the government's negligence or deliberate actions caused the 1993 tragedy.
     "One of the key issues in this case is who started the fire," said Joe Phillips of Houston, one of the lead lawyers for the Branch Davidians.
     "Here the government is sitting on a piece of evidence that would guarantee that we could get the issue heard by a jury.
     "If the lawyers in this case knew about that information and, in the face of our evidence showing pyrotechnics were used, just sat on this and on the court," Mr. Phillips said. "That's something that we were entitled to and should have been given access to long ago."
     Tim Evans, a Fort Worth attorney who defended one of the Branch Davidians in the 1994 criminal trial arising from the Waco standoff, expressed outrage Monday that the document seen by Mr. Johnston was never disclosed by federal prosecutors.
     "The credibility of the federal agents was extremely important to the government's case in many issues, not just this. This succession of lies would have destroyed their credibility," Mr. Evans said. "Their lies have infected this case like maggots. Yet incredibly they still want us to pick out the maggots and swallow the rest of their story. I think America is about to choke."
     Mr. Johnston said he has been ordered not to discuss the specific wording of the document or the handwritten notes. The notes apparently were added after the document was prepared.
     The document was written by a paralegal working for the U.S. attorney's office in preparation for the 1994 federal prosecution of surviving Branch Davidians.
     The paralegal was interviewing members of the FBI's hostage rescue team, which was involved in the final assault on the Branch Davidian compound.
     Mr. Johnston said the document indicates that he may have been present during the interviews. He said he did not recall the interviews and said the
     "If that document says I was there, then I was there. While I don't recall it, I can say the term 'military gas round' meant little or nothing to me, because I am unfamiliar with military ordnance," he said.
     "I'll bet that the attorney general would like to have known about these documents long before now, and my letter is an attempt to bring these and other facts to her attention."
     Federal officials in Washington who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed Monday that the 1993 notes surfaced last week along with a 1996 FBI legal memo.
     The officials said the memo was written by the FBI's general counsel's office after civil Justice Department lawyers notified them about the 1993 notes and also asked about allegations being raised.
     FBI officials questioned members of the hostage rescue team and then prepared a memo stating that two military gas grenades had been launched about 6 a.m on April 19, six hours before the compound burned, one federal official said.
     The officials said that no one involved in preparing the memo realized that the term "military gas" appeared to be shorthand for pyrotechnic tear-gas grenades. Ordnance experts say all CS tear-gas grenades used by the U.S. military are pyrotechnic devices.
     The federal officials said that the notes referring to the use of military gas were among thousands of Justice Department documents subpoenaed for1995 House hearings on the Branch Davidian standoff. One federal official noted that the military jargon used in the note was probably unfamiliar to and overlooked by congressional investigators.
     Another federal official familiar with the document said it may have been marked with nondisclosure warnings because of an agreement made with Congress prior to the 1995 hearing.
     "Its release would violate the privacy act, because it included the names of specific individuals," the federal officials said.
     A spokesman for the House Government Reform Committee said Monday that the panel, which held the 1995 hearing, knew nothing about the documents in question.
     "We intend to get them, and we will get to the bottom of this," said committee spokesman Mark Corallo.
     Mr. Johnston acknowledged that his letter to Ms. Reno may open him to criticism but said he felt he needed to ensurethat the attorney general was personally aware of the documents.
     "There's been significance given to these documents in the last few years because of the civil suit.Whether or not thesedocuments have been or should have been given to plaintiffs and criminal defense attorneys is an issue that the department is going to have to answer," he said.
     "I am very concerned," Mr. Johnston said. "I would rather not discuss the details of my letter to the AG, but I can certainly tell you that I'm very concerned that information which should've been made known to her and to the public has not been."

©1999 The Dallas Morning News

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Friday August 27, 1999

Kremlin Tied to $15 Bln Mob Fraud
The $10 billion scandal just keeps growing and growing!

By Brian Whitmore, Staff Writer

MOSCOW - In what is quickly turning into a public-relations nightmare for President Boris Yeltsin, a U.S. newspaper added another report of alleged involvement by Russian government figures in laundering of billions of dollars through U.S. banks - this time naming names of current and former officials.
     USA Today reported Thursday that Russian organized crime figures laundered at least $15 billion though four accounts at the Bank of New York and one at New York-based Republic National Bank. Law enforcement officials are probing five current or former officials to determine their roles in laundering the money, the report said. Russian Prosecutor General's Office, the paper named the five as: Yeltsin's daughter Tatyana Dyachenko, former deputy prime ministers Anatoly Chubais and Oleg Soskovets, former finance minister Alexander Livshits and Interros President Vladimir Potanin.
     USA Today did not say what role any of the five played in laundering the money. It said that law enforcement officials said the money might have included money loaned to Russia by the International Monetary Fund.
     Attempts to independently verify the USA Today report met with denials from U.S. and British law enforcement officials. In a telephone interview from London, Mark Steels, a spokesman for the National Criminal Intelligence Service, denied that anybody from that organization had provided any information on the matter to either USA Today or any other news organization.
     "Nobody from NCIS ever said any such things to any individual or any news organization," Steels said. "Moreover, nobody at this organization has spoken to anybody at USA Today. We have written a formal complaint to USA Today and are asking for a correction."
     Steels declined to comment on the details of the USA Today report, other than to say that the NCIS was "exceptionally unhappy about it."
     Joseph Valiquette, a spokesman for the FBI's New York field office, wouldn't comment on the USA Today report, saying: "The FBI has not even acknowledged that an investigation exists."
     Russia's acting Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov on Thursday called for the Federal Security Service to "check the facts cited in the Russian and foreign press reports on the scandal around the Bank of New York."
     The USA Today report came hot on the heels of a story in the Italian newspaper Corriera della Sera on Wednesday claiming that the Swiss company Mabetex - which won lucrative contracts from the Kremlin to renovate government buildings - had provided Yeltsin and his two daughters with $1 million in so-called "pocket money." And that bombshell came right after a Wall Street Journal report Tuesday, claiming that $200 million from IMF loans to Russia may have been laundered through the Bank of New York.
     The Kremlin press service released a statement through Interfax on Thursday saying that "Yeltsin, his wife and children have never opened accounts in foreign banks." Likewise, Chubais, in a statement released to the media Thursday, said: "Never have I had bank accounts abroad. Not during my years in government or the presidential administration and not now."
     Allegations of corruption and money laundering among Russian government officials are potentially damaging for Yeltsin and Russia because they could undermine confidence in Russia among foreign governments, lending institutions and aid agencies - on which the cash-strapped government depends for loans and other assistance.
     The media blitz has gained the attention of the U.S. House of Representatives Banking Committee, which has scheduled congressional hearings on the matter for mid-September.
     "We are still in the information gathering stage but the committee is interested in how involved," said Andrew Parmentier, a spokesman for Congressman Jim Leach, the committee's chairman.
     The money laundering scandal broke last week when the New York Times ran a story claiming that Russian organized crime groups had spirited as much as $10 billion through accounts in the Bank of New York. The report claimed that the laundered funds were used for activities ranging from contract murders to the narcotics business.
     Banking committee chair Leach used strong language in connection with the scandal, saying, "With regard to the Bank of New York, the question is whether they were unwittingly duped or were willing facilitators in what may be the greatest example of kleptocratic governance in modern history."
     The New York Times reported that some $4.2 billion passed through the bank in more than 10,000 transactions between October 1998 and March 1999 alone. The bank has suspended two employees who handled the accounts, Natasha Gurfinkel Kagalovsky of New York and Lucy Edwards of London, both of whom are married to Russian businessmen.
     Gurfinkel Kagalovsky is the wife of Konstantin Kagalovsky, who from 1992 until 1995 was an adviser to the Russian government and its representative to the IMF. Kagalovsky also worked at the now defunct Bank-Menatep and is currently vice president of the giant oil company Yukos. Edwards is married to Peter Berlin, described as the owner of Benex, a company which had accounts at the bank. None of the four has been charged with a crime.
     New York Times reports, like those in USA Today, linked the accounts to Semyon Mogilevich, whom U.S. law-enforcement officials have tied to a wide range of activities ranging from arms trafficking to extortion to prostitution.
     The report said Mogilevich used an American firm called YBM Magnex, which produced industrial magnets, as a money-laundering vehicle, and that investigators had found evidence linking Magnex to Benex.

     [Editor's Note: The St. Petersburg Times is published by the independent Moscow Times.]

Copyright (C) 1999, Copyright The St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.

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