-Caveat Lector- CARDINAL DENIES BACKING CLEMENCY By MARILYN RAUBER WASHINGTON - 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." White House scandal spokesman Jim Kennedy yesterday cited O'Connor's 1996 letter to Attorney General Janet Reno asking her to review whether "justice has been served by [their] time already spent in prison." But Zwilling said it would be "wrong" to conclude that the cardinal, who wrote to Reno after he met with clemency advocates at their request, was pro-clemency. "That [letter] does not indicate or imply in any way that he has taken a position or was suggesting an outcome," Zwilling said. Tom Connor, whose father, Frank, was killed by an FALN bomb in 1975, said he believed the White House was being misleading. "It makes their position more credible if they can list all these luminaries," Connor said. In a letter last year to Connor's brother Joe, the cardinal said "many factors" should be considered in deciding clemency, including whether they express "remorse for these crimes" and a "renunciation of violence." None of the 16 has voiced remorse for the bombings and 12 have renounced violence in order to meet Clinton's clemency requirement. The GOP-led House and Senate are pushing resolutions blasting Clinton for the clemency deal - to try to force Democrats to pick sides on the issue. But Congress cannot stop Clinton from doing the deal. Republicans claim Senate Democrats will filibuster to try to stop a vote on the resolution. Senate hearings next Wednesday will delve into whether Clinton, over law-enforcement objections, offered clemency to help his wife win Hispanic votes in her possible run for a New York Senate seat. House probers are considering subpoenaing some of the terrorists, who could be freed from jail as early as today, to testify at their hearing. The White House has denied any political motives and Mrs. Clinton, who last week denounced the clemency deal after opposition escalated, has insisted they never discussed it. Supporters say the radicals have spent enough time in jail - an average of 19 years - citing the fact that none were convicted of any of the actual bombings. The convictions included bank robbery and seditious conspiracy. "We might as well let John Gotti out. He wasn't convicted of murder," said NYPD Detective Anthony Senft, whose face had to be rebuilt after a 1982 bombing. **COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
