DATE=08/10/98 TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP NUMBER=6-10853 TITLE=THE EMBASSY BOMBINGS BYLINE=ANDREW N. GUTHRIE TELEPHONE=619-3335 DATELINE=WASHINGTON EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS CONTENT= INTRO: THE BOMBS THAT CAUSED MASSIVE DESTRUCTION AND GREAT LOSS OF LIFE AT AND AROUND THE TWO U-S EMBASSIES IN NAIROBI, KENYA AND DAR-ES-SALAM, TANZANIA HAVE PROMPTED COMMENTARIES OF HORROR AND CALLS FOR RETALIATION ACROSS THE COUNTRY. JOINING US NOW WITH A SAMPLING IS _________________ AND TODAY'S OPINION ROUNDUP. TEXT: THE LINE OF MANY EDITORIALS IS THE SAME, CALLING THE ATTACKS "COWARDLY" AND AGREEING WITH PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON THAT WHOEVER IS FOUND TO BE RESPONSIBLE WILL BE FOUND AND PUNISHED. HERE ARE SOME THOUGHTS FROM "THE PORTLAND [MAINE] PRESS HERALD." VOICE: SADLY, SUCH COWARDLY ATTACKS AGAINST PEOPLE GOING ABOUT THEIR ORDINARY LIVES HAVE BECOME ALL TOO COMMON IN OUR TIME. TERRORISTS COUNT ON THE PUBLICITY SUCH ATTACKS GARNER TO FRIGHTEN THEIR TARGETS INTO GIVING THEM SOMETHING THEY WANT. AMERICANS AND OUR FRIENDS ABROAD NOW ONCE AGAIN RESOLVE NEVER TO GIVE THE BOMBERS ANYTHING BUT RELENTLESS PURSUIT AND, UPON THEIR CAPTURE, FULL AND APPROPRIATE PUNISHMENT. TEXT: ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE NATION, "THE SEATTLE TIMES" WRITES: VOICE: WHAT HAS COME TO BE A NEAR CERTAINTY, THE BOMBERS WILL BE DISCOVERED AND DEALT WITH, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER. SUCH IS THE ULTIMATE FUTILITY OF THESE ACTORS. THE PERPETRATORS, AND THEIR SPONSORS, CAN BE UNMASKED AND PUNISHED ... THE DEATHS IN AFRICA REMIND US THAT OTHERS WHO REPRESENT OUR INTERESTS ABROAD HAVE TO BE PREPARED FOR PROFOUND SACRIFICE AS WELL. THE MURDER OF FOREIGN-SERVICE PERSONNEL IS YET ANOTHER REBUKE FOR THOSE WHO MALIGN THE PUBLIC SERVICE OF AMERICANS IN HARSH LANDS WHO FACE UNFATHOMABLE HAZARDS. TEXT: ON LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK, "NEWSDAY" SAYS THE TWO CAR BOMBS AND THE CARNAGE THEY CAUSED HAVE HELPED WASHINGTON PUT ITS CURRENT FRENZY OVER AN ALLEGED AFFAIR BY THE PRESIDENT INTO A MORE ACCURATE PERSPECTIVE. VOICE: THERE'S NOTHING LIKE TWO TERROR BOMBS AND THE DEVASTATING CARNAGE THEY WREAKED .... TO JAR WASHINGTON OUT OF ITS SCANDAL-INDUCED DAZE. THE HUGE CAR BLASTS THAT KILLED AS MANY AS 80-PEOPLE - - INCLUDING SEVERAL AMERICANS - - IN KENYA AND TANZANIA ... PUT INTO PERSPECTIVE THE RELATIVE TRIVIALITY OF THE MONICA LEWINSKY MATTER. THIS WAS A REALITY CHECK FOR THE WHITE HOUSE AND THE NATION'S INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES, WHICH SEEM TO HAVE HAD NOT THE SLIGHTEST INKLING THE ATTACKS WOULD OCCUR. ... THIS IS A TIME WHEN THE NATION COULD WISH THAT [MR.] CLINTON'S AUTHORITY AND DIGNITY HAD NOT BEEN WEAKENED AS MUCH AS THEY HAVE BEEN ALREADY BY THE LEWINSKY SCANDAL. TEXT: IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LOWER 48-STATES, "THE KANSAS CITY STAR" EDITORIALIZES: VOICE: PRESIDENT CLINTON CONDEMNED THE 'COWARDLY ATTACKS' THAT KILLED ... SCORES OF PEOPLE .... 'WE WILL USE ALL THE MEANS AT OUR DISPOSAL TO BRING THOSE RESPONSIBLE TO JUSTICE NO MATTER WHAT OR HOW LONG IT TAKES,' THE PRESIDENT SAID. SINCE U-S LAW ALLOWS CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR TERRORISTS WHO ATTACK AMERICANS ABROAD, THOSE WERE NOT IDLE WORDS. NOR SHOULD THEY BE. TEXT: "THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER" WANTS CONGRESS TO APPROVE MORE MONEY TO MAKE THE REMAINING U-S EMBASSIES SAFER. VOICE: WHILE MOURNING THE LATEST VICTIMS, CONGRESS SHOULD STOP PINCHING PENNIES FOR THE STATE DEPARTMENT. NO OTHER EMBASSIES IN SUPPOSEDLY SAFE LOCALES SHOULD BE LEFT VULNERABLE FOR LACK OF FUNDS. WHY OFFER THIS NEW BREED OF TERRORIST ANY EASY TARGETS? TEXT: "THE NEW YORK TIMES" PICKS UP THAT SAME THEME, NOTING: VOICE: IT WILL NEED TO BE DETERMINED WHY THE TWO EMBASSY BUILDINGS, BOTH CONSTRUCTED BEFORE THE WAVE OF TERRORISM AGAINST AMERICAN EMBASSIES IN THE EARLY 1980'S, HAD NOT YET BEEN UPGRADED TO MODERN SECURITY STANDARDS. AMERICAN EMBASSIES SHOULD HAVE THEIR BUILDING FACADES REINFORCED, THEIR GLASS COATED WITH PLASTIC FILM TO PREVENT SHATTERING AND THEIR SECURITY PERIMETERS EXTENDED. AMERICA AND OTHER COUNTRIES HAVE MADE MODEST PROGRESS IN CURBING INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM ... BUT AS YESTERDAY'S ATTACKS MADE UNCOMFORTABLY CLEAR, TERRORISM, BOTH FREELANCE AND GOVERNMENT-SUPPORTED, IS FAR FROM DEFEATED, AND AMERICAN EMBASSIES REMAIN VULNERABLE. TEXT: IN TEXAS, THERE IS SOME SPECULATION THAT PRESIDENT CLINTON'S TROUBLES AT HOME MAY BE ENCOURAGING TERRORISTS ABROAD, IN THIS COMMENTARY FROM "THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE." VOICE: A PERTINENT QUESTION TO ASK IN THIS INSTANCE IS WHETHER THE COWARDLY BOMBERS FELT EMBOLDENED BY A PERCEIVED IRRESOLUTENESS BECAUSE OF PRESIDENT CLINTON'S CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS. BUT ONE ANSWER TO SUCH ATTACKS IS TO BE RELENTLESS IN TRACKING DOWN THOSE RESPONSIBLE AND RESPONDING JUSTLY AND FORCEFULLY TO THEM. /// OPT /// TEXT: FOR REACTION FROM SOUTHERN FLORIDA, WE TAKE NOTE OF THIS COMMENT IN "THE MIAMI HERALD." VOICE: THE BOMBINGS WERE YET ANOTHER UGLY REMINDER OF THE REACH AND COMMITMENT OF INDIVIDUALS DERANGED ENOUGH TO MAKE INNOCENT PEOPLE THE TARGET OF THEIR DEPRAVITY. IT HAPPENED IN OKLAHOMA CITY THREE YEARS AGO, WHEN TIMOTHY MCVEIGH SET OFF A BLAST THAT KILLED 168 PEOPLE, INCLUDING INNOCENT CHILDREN. AND IT HAPPENED IN BEIRUT 15 YEARS AGO WHEN AN EXPLOSIVES-LADEN TRUCK DROVE INTO A U-S MILITARY BARRACKS, BLEW UP, AND KILLED 241 MARINES. LOSS OF LIFE UNDER SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES IS NEVER ACCEPTABLE. WITH ENHANCED SECURITY MEASURES, U-S EMBASSIES CAN BE MADE LESS VULNERABLE TO CAR BOMBS. WITH U-S RESOLVE, THE BOMBERS MUST ALWAYS FEEL VULNERABLE TO BEING HUNTED DOWN AND PUNISHED. /// END OPT /// TEXT: AND LASTLY, THIS SUMMING UP FROM "THE BOSTON GLOBE," THE DAY AFTER THE BLASTS. VOICE: ALL 164 U-S EMBASSIES ARE OUTPOSTS OF THE LEADING NATION ON EARTH. AS LONG AS THE UNITED STATES REMAINS IN THAT POSITION, THE EMBASSIES WILL BE POTENTIAL TARGETS OF THE DISAFFECTED AND THE CRAZED. THEY ALSO OUGHT TO BE ACCESSIBLE TO ANYONE WHO WANTS TO VISIT OR EMIGRATE TO THE UNITED STATES OR SIMPLY WANTS TO LEARN FROM THE U-S STRUGGLE TO EXPAND THE REACH OF FREEDOM AND HUMAN DIGNITY. AS WITH THE U-S CAPITOL, ANY PLAN FOR BUNKER-LIKE FORTIFICATIONS TO GUARANTEE ABSOLUTE SECURITY WOULD BE INIMICAL TO THE SYMBOLISM AND FUNCTION OF THE PLACE. THE SLAIN AMERICANS, ALONG WITH THE KENYANS AND TANZANIANS WHO DIED, WILL BE MOURNED AS VICTIMS OF A SUDDEN, SENSELESS ACT OF VIOLENCE. BUT THE U-S PRESENCE ABROAD IS VITAL TO PROTECT THE INTERESTS OF THE NATION ... NO ACT OF TERROR SHOULD INHIBIT THAT MISSION. TEXT: ON THAT NOTE, WE CONCLUDE THIS SAMPLING OF COMMENT ON THE TWIN BOMBINGS LAST FRIDAY IN EAST AFRICA THAT KILLED MORE THAN 200 PEOPLE AND INJURED OVER FIVE THOUSAND MORE. NEB/ANG/KL 10-Aug-98 2:09 PM EDT (1809 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .