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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