ACCESSION NUMBER:379013
FILE ID:
DATE:02/10/95
TITLE:CONGRESSIONAL REPORT, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10 (02/10/95)
TEXT:*PO5504 02/10/95
CONGRESSIONAL REPORT, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10
(Terrorism, Yousef, Croatia) (650)
PROPOSED BILL WOULD MAKE TERRORISM A FEDERAL OFFENSE
As part of a bipartisan effort to crack down on international terrorism,
three senators February 10 introduced the "Omnibus Counter-Terrorism Act of
1995," legislation crafted by the Clinton administration.
At a joint news conference, Republican Senator Arlen Specter, chairman of
the Senate Committee on Intelligence, and Democratic Senators Joseph Biden
and Herb Kohl, described the legislation.
Kohl said the legislation would, for the first time ever, make it a crime in
the United States to raise funds on behalf of organizations that are
engaged in terrorist activities. "We cannot -- and will not -- tolerate
the fact that terrorists who strike outside our borders, receive aid and
comfort within them," he said.
"Fundraising for groups like Hizballah and Kach, who traffic in terror and
violence, cannot be permitted in any way, shape or form," he said.
The legislation, he added, also creates an important new mechanism that will
facilitate the expulsion of aliens currently in the United States who are,
or have been, engaged in terrorist activities.
Specter complimented President Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno for
preparing the legislation. Specter said there is a "vital need for extra
force in our laws against terrorism."
"As it stands now," he said, "there are holes in the anti-terrorism laws
which hinder the investigation and prosecution of international
terrorists."
The bill, he said, "will define for the first time acts of terrorism
committed in the United States to be in violation of our federal laws."
It will create a new federal statute and establish stiff penalties for acts
of international terrorism including murder, kidnapping, maiming, assault,
or the destruction of property within the United States.
The bill would also create a special court to handle deportation actions
relating to terrorist activities, improve the detectability of plastic
explosives, and expand prohibitions on the sale of nuclear materials.
The incomplete system of anti-terrorism laws that now exists in the United
1tates hinders the investigation and prosecution of terrorists, the three
Senators said.
GILMAN HAILS CAPTURE OF ALLEGED WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMBING MASTERMIND
House International Relations Committee chair, Benjamin Gilman of New York,
hailed the capture this week in Pakistan of Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, alleged
mastermind of the February 1993 bombing of the New York World Trade Center
that killed six people and injured 1,000 more.
In a February 9 statement, Gilman said the capture and extradition of Yousef
from Pakistan demonstrates that the United States "will not tolerate, nor
let go unpunished, acts of terrorism against our citizens, property and
internal security."
Gilman commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Louis
Freeh, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the State Department's
Diplomatic Security Service, and the government of Pakistan for
"outstanding coordination and cooperation in tracking down and extraditing
this alleged terrorist from abroad."
"This successful mission," he said, "reinforces the need to make
counterterrorism a high priority in our foreign policy."
PELL SPEAKS OUT ON THE DANGER OF RENEWED WAR IN CROATIA
Senator Claiborne Pell, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, says he is "very concerned about the situation in Croatia, where
the Krajina Serbs have refused to consider an international peace plan for
the country, and where President Tudjman has indicated that he will ask
UNPROFOR (U.N. Protection Force) troops to leave when their mandate expires
in March."
Speaking February 9 on the floor of the Senate, Pell said, "Frankly, I am
concerned that the U.N. withdrawal will precipitate renewed fighting
between the Serbs living in Croatia and the Croatian government, and
indeed, even between Serbia and Croatia.
UNPROFOR's presence there since early 1992 has prevented the re-emergence of
full-scale war, Pell said. "Without UNPROFOR to patrol the demilitarized
zones," he added, the current cease-fire "is likely to collapse."
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