-Caveat Lector-
November 2, 1999
ALL THE PRESIDENT'S SCANDALS
Sprung terrorists threaten security, says Reno report
Justice, FBI decry release
of unrepentant revolutionaries
By Scott Park
© 1999 Human Events
Editor's note: In collaboration with the hard-hitting Washington,
D.C., newsweekly, Human Events, WorldNetDaily brings an Internet
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The greatest scandal of the Clinton presidency may be yet to
come. It includes some of the same elements of the previous
Clinton scandals, but also one crucial additional element. It is
about national security -- but does not center on Communist
China. It is about a Justice Department cover-up -- but revolves
around successful prosecutions that were later unmade, rather
than prosecutions that were never made. Yet, it involves neither
sex nor campaign money -- as far as is known.
It unmistakably does, however, raise the question of whether the
president engaged in an outrageous abuse of his constitutional
power -- a question that ought to make Democrats nervous because,
during January's Senate impeachment trial, it was the Democratic
Party line to insist that a president could not be impeached if
he obstructed justice or committed perjury, but only if he
misused his constitutional authority.
Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee released the
unclassified version of a report from Attorney General Janet
Reno, titled, "The five-year interagency counterterrorism and
technology crime plan." The report concludes that many Cold
War-era terrorist threats have diminished or disappeared. But
Reno cited one notable exception:
Increased threat "Puerto Rican terrorist groups...are an
exception and represent an ongoing threat," said Reno's report. "
They have previously used violence in an attempt to achieve
independence for Puerto Rico. In an 11-year span, Puerto Rican
terrorists were responsible for more than 100 bombings and
arsons, in both Puerto Rico and on the U.S. mainland. Factors
which increase the present threat from these groups include
renewed activity by a small minority advocating Puerto Rican
statehood, the 100-year anniversary of U.S. presence in Puerto
Rico, and the impending release from prison of members of these
groups jailed for prior violence."
The obvious conclusion? The Justice Department believes that,
when President Clinton released a group of Puerto Rican
terrorists in August, he was using his power as president to
"increase the present threat" of terrorism against the United
States. Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee Oct. 20,
Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder, a Clinton political
appointee, made a feeble attempt to argue that the report was not
referring to the Puerto Rican terrorists Clinton released, but to
some other Puerto Rican terrorists due to be released in the near
future. Alarmed members of the Senate Judiciary Committee
demanded to know exactly who these other soon-be-liberated
terrorists were, but Holder could not provide an answer.
Questioned on the matter again the next day at a press briefing,
Holder once again implied that the report was speaking not about
the Clinton-released terrorists, but about other Puerto Rican
terrorists who would be released because their prison terms were
about to expire. But he still did not specify who these other
terrorists were.
Congressional sources, however, do not believe there are any
other terrorists. They believe Reno was referring specifically to
the terrorists Clinton released. Bearing out this suspicion, a
week after the hearing, the Justice Department still could not
provide an answer to Human Events. But at least they did not
claim executive privilege on the question. In response to a Sept.
1 subpoena from the House Government Reform and Oversight
Committee and to a letter of the same date from the Senate
Judiciary Committee, the Clinton White House has invoked
executive privilege to prevent any White House staff member from
testifying to Congress on the matter, and to deny Congress the
right to review any of the communications that took place between
the Justice Department and the White House regarding the release
of the terrorists.
After the Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to
authorize its own subpoenas to the Justice Department, but before
the committee actually filed the subpoenas, the department agreed
to let Pardon Attorney Roger Adams and Deputy Attorney General
Holder testify Oct. 20. At the hearing itself, Holder invoked
executive privilege in refusing to say whether he gave the
president an opinion on the clemency issue. The committee,
however, had secured a copy of a July 25, 1997, letter from
then-Pardon Attorney Margaret Love to then-White House Counsel
Charles Ruff clearly stating that she had submitted to him "a
report recommending denial of clemency for 17 Puerto Rican
prisoners."
The evidence gathered by the committee so far reveals a long
string of anomalies attached to the President's inexplicable
decision to release these terrorists:
Terrorists never petitioned for clemency. The FALN terrorists
themselves never asked for clemency. A July 1993 letter from Love
to the deputy attorney general explained, "Apparently because
they regarded themselves as political prisoners, the five refused
to apply for parole or executive clemency after their
imprisonment and did not submit formal clemency applications. A
letter from an attorney, who claimed to be their legal
representative, was accepted in lieu of a formal petition."
"Although a formal clemency application by an inmate is not
mandatory," a Justice Department spokesman said, "we ordinarily
do require inmates for whom clemency is being considered to
submit a signed application, to ensure that they actually desire
this relief and will accept it if is granted."
Clemency advocates knew terrorists weren't repentant. Notes from
a November 1997 meeting among Adams, Holder and Democratic reps.
Jose Serrano of New York, Luis Gutierrez of Illinois and Nydia
Velasquez of New York indicate that when Holder asked whether the
terrorists had really repented, Serrano gave evasive answers.
"Whether you are repentant or not goes to who we are as a human
being," he said. "The fact that they have not applied reinforces
the political nature of who they are."
According to notes from an April 1998 meeting with clergymen who
supported clemency, Holder asked the Rev. Paul Sherry, who
claimed to have met with most of the FALN members, whether or not
they had renounced violence. "Rev. Sherry said they would not
change their beliefs. This probably meant they would not change
their beliefs about Puerto Rican independence, although he gave a
carefully phrased answer that did not make it entirely clear that
they had renounced the use of violence."
Jailhouse tapes show no repentance An April 1999 phone call taped
by the Bureau of Prisons features Adolfo Matos, one of the FALN
terrorists to whom Clinton offered immediate release, speaking
with a woman named Lydia.
Lydia: "Are you willing to ask for a pardon?"
Matos: "No. I don't have to ask forgiveness from anybody ..."
Lydia: "Don't you feel ashamed of it?"
Matos: "No, no, no, my love, I have nothing to be ashamed of, or
feel that I have to ask for forgiveness. I don't have to ask for
forgiveness because my conscience is at peace with itself."
Justice solicited a repentance statement. The Justice Department
repeatedly urged Gutierrez, who acted as a liaison with the FALN
prisoners, to secure statements of remorse. He promised Holder
they would be forthcoming, but they never materialized.
FALN convicts never renounced violence. A collective statement,
signed by the FALN prisoners, not only does not renounce
violence, it rationalizes it.
"Invoking the right under international law to use all means
available does not mean we used them with no respect for human
life," the statement said.
U.S. attorneys and FBI opposed clemency. Adams wrote talking
points for Holder to use when he informed U.S. attorneys that
Clinton would release the terrorists. The notes indicate that the
prosecutors opposed clemency.
"The United States Attorney's Office [in the Northern District of
Illinois] recommended strongly against commutation of sentence,"
wrote Adams. "Four of the defendants who are receiving some form
of clemency were convicted in Connecticut for offenses relating
to their involvement with a group known as Los Macheteros ('the
Machete Wielders')," and, he added, "they were convicted of
crimes relating to an armed robbery of a Wells Fargo office in
which more than $7 million was taken...The United States
Attorney's Office strongly opposed clemency in these cases."
In an unsent letter to Rep.Henry Hyde, R.-Ill., FBI Director
Louis Freeh said that "the FBI was unequivocally opposed to the
release of these terrorists under any circumstances and had so
advised DOJ."
Terrorists conspired to make war against U.S. In a letter to Rep.
Henry Waxman, D.-Calif., Clinton said, "Whatever the conduct of
the other FALN members may have been, these petitioners, while
convicted of serious crimes, were not convicted of crimes
involving the killing or maiming of any individuals." The actual
indictments they were convicted on, however, charge them with
conspiring to use force against the authority of the government
of the United States. A federal prosecutor familiar with the FALN
case told Human Events that the FBI deserved kudos for catching
these terrorists before further acts of violence were committed.
"That's to the FBI's credit, not [the FALN's]," she said. "The
FBI took them down on the day they were planning to blow up
military offices and rob a Chicago Transit Authority fare
collector. They were in [a safe house] making actual bombs. They
were planning to rob that armored car and to kidnap an executive.
He would probably have been killed." The FBI duped the FALN by
secretly substituting inert materials for the actual explosives
they were loading into their bombs.
"It's absurd to argue that, because they were stopped before they
were able to harm someone, that they should get some sort of
credit for this," said the prosecutor. "Just because they weren't
caught committing violence doesn't mean it's not a violent
conspiracy."
Terrorists' conspiracy did kill and destroy. Pardon Attorney Love
further said in her '93 letter: "The 18 Puerto Ricans whose
release is now sought by Dr. Falcon's organization were convicted
by federal and Illinois state courts in the 1980s for various
offenses, including the 1977 bombing which killed a Mobil Oil
company employee and an armed robbery of $7.5 million from an
armored car."
Current sentencing guidelines would have been just as severe.
Clinton and others have claimed that FALN members were given
inordinately long sentences and that under current guidelines
their penalties would be less severe. But in response to an
inquiry from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch,
R.-Utah, Tim McGrath, the staff director of the U.S. Sentencing
Commission, wrote that under the new rules, FALN members not only
would have been given sentences just as severe, but most likely
would have been charged under the Treason guideline.
"Because the object of the FALN conspiracy, and the conduct
alleged as part of the conspiracy, amounted to an avowed intent
by the members of the conspiracy to wage war against the United
States, a court could appropriately find that the most analogous
guideline is ... Treason."
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