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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 22, 1992)
news digest Clinton’s transition ‘planning’ team opens for business li i i lc is, /\rK. — i nirieen floors above downtown Little Rock in a half-empty, nondescript office, first steps arc under way to shape the ad ministration Bill Clinton hopes to lead as president. “You have reached the Clinton-Gore Plan ning Foundation,” says the telephone answering machine in the office a few blocks from Clinton’s presidential campaign head quarters. Aides to the Democratic nominee stress that there is no transition team at work here — just a “transition planning team. But it is designed to be the forerun ner of a transition team, which — if the campaign is crowned with success — will usher in a new era of Demo cratic rule in Washington. Transition teams arc the talent hunters who help the president find Cabinet officers and other lop aides. They also serve as employment agen cies to help reward loyal campaign workers with government jobs. Already, Democrats eager after a dozen years of Republicans in the White House are firing off resumes to the office whose official name is the “Clinton-Gorc Presidential Planning Foundation.” » “We’ve received a number of re sumcs, many unsolicited, as you can imagine, given the situation Bill Clinton finds himself in,” says cam paign Chairman Mickey Kantor. “It is a transition planning team,” says Kantor. “There is no transition team. That would be premature.” Clearly, this is an operation with plenty of growing room. A handwritten sign on the door identifies the office only as “Suite 1320.” The office walls arc bare. A four-foot poster of the Arkansas gov ernor leans against a chair in the cor ner. “America’s Choice,” it says. Kantor says the foundation is not picking Clinton’s Cabinet or prom is ing administration posts yet. instead, it is building a program that can help Clinton make those choices after the election. He insists that the office is not a sign that front-running Clinton is cocky. “Obviously, this is the responsible thing to do,” Kantor said. “You have to begin the planning process so if you win, you can make a smooth transi tion.” Some of those with experience in watching and implementing presiden tial transitions dismissed any notion that Clinton might be showing over confidence in setting up such an of fice. - „ Banker didn’t act alone in Iraqi plot, he says ATLANTA — Prosecutors ig nored evidence of a broad scheme lo illegally loan Iraq S5.5 billion because it did not fit their theory that an Atlanta banker acted alone, defense attorneys charged Mon day. In a motion to withdraw the guilty plea of Christopher Drogoul, attorneys charged anew that the U.S. government and Italian bank ing officials were aware of Drogoul’s activities. U.S. District Judge Marvin Shoob wascxpcctcd lodecidc Tues day whether to accept the motion. The government, in a memo randum opposing the motion, told Shoob that Drogoul has consis tently acknowledged his guilt. Drogoul, the former Atlanta branch manager of the Italian owned Banca Na/ionalc del Lavoro, pleaded guilty in June lo 60 counts of bank fraud and other charges. His loans, allegedly hid den from regulators and bank offi cials, helped fund Iraq’s military buildup before the Persian Gulf War, investigators contend. Drogoul’s attorney, Bobby Lee Cook, announced four days into a T • • — sentencing hearing last week he would seek to withdraw the plea. “Mr. Drogoul declines to be made the palsy,” the motion said. Drogoul, then represented by a public defender, pleaded guilty in an attempt to avoid a life sentence, according to the motion. The agreement was contingent on Drogoul’s continued coopera tion with prosecutors. In extensive questioning since June, Drogoul has said that bank officials in Rome and the U.S. government “prob ably knew what BNL Atlanta was doing,” the motion said. “However, Mr. Drogoul could not make the facts as he understood them fit within the government’s politically correct ‘rogue banker’ explanation,” the motion said. “In stead of following the trail to BNL Rome and Washington, (investiga tors) ignored Mr. Drogoul’s infor mation.” Cook has said Drogoul is the victim of a massive cover-up. Shoob has expressed skepticism that Drogoul acted alone, and con gressional investigators have al leged wide participation in the scheme. Bush offers U.S. support for stronger peacekeeping urn i c.u ixa i iuins — ^resident Bush offered U.S. support Monday to strengthen international peacekeep ing and urged overhauling foreign aid programs to get away from Third World handouts. “We propose to alter fundamen tally the focus of U.S. assistance pro grams to building strong, indepen dent economics that can become con tributors to a healthy, growing global economy,” Bush said in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly. He enthusiastically endorsed the cal I by U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali fora new agenda “to strengthen the United Nations’ ability to prevent,contain and resolve conflict across the globe.” Some 40,000 troops are serving in U.N. peacekeeping operations. “From Cyprus and Lebanon to Cambodia and Croatia,” Bush said, “the blue beret has become a symbol of hope amid all that hostility.” Bush also backed an indefinite extension of an international agree meni acsigncci 10 mock me spread oi nuclear weapons. He proposed transferring funds lrom U.S. foreign aid programs to create a SI billion fund to support American businessmen in providing expertise, goods and services in coun tries converting to frec-markct econo mics. Some 40,000 U.S. jobs would be created under the program, the White House estimated. Bush’s call for revamping foreign aid could lead to a bipartisan^effort if he wins re-election. A prominent Sen ate Democrat, Patrick Leahy of Ver mont, has proposed reconsidering the S14 billion U.S. program next year and several senior House Democrats have called for major changes in the past. Since World War II, Bush said, foreign aid has served as a Cold War weapon. “But foreign aid, as we’ve known it, needs to be transformed,” he said. ‘‘The notion of the handout to less developed countries needs to give way to cooperation in mutually pro ductive economic relationships.” ousn said mat as nations rely more on the private sector and free markets the higher their growth rale. While the presidentsaid that “mem ber stales must always retain the final decision on use of their troops,” Bush alsoacknowledgcdthat“robusl peace keeping requires men and equipment that only member states can provide.” The president added, “These forces must be available on short notice on the request of the Security Council with the approval, of course, of the governments providing them.” He urged the scores of presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers assembled for the annual special ses sion to resist any temptation “to turn inward”andnot“to build wallsagainst anything new.” “To turn inward and retreat from the world is to invite disaster and defeat.” British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd told reporters, “It was full of interesting ideas... especially on the peacekeeping side.” “A very positive speech,” said Marrack Goulding, the U.N. undersecretary-general for peace keeping. rsixon aides testily American airmen were left in Laos W AittiiXCj I UIN — 1 WO 01 Kicn ard Nixon’s Pentagon chiefs told a congressional panel Monday that the government believed American air men were left alive in Laos and not returned at the end of the Vietnam War. Separate testimony by Melvin R. Laird and James R. Schlcsingcr, both of whom served as President Nixon’s secretary of defense two decades ago, supported conclusions by leaders ol the Senate investigating committee that not all Americans came home at the war’s end. “I think it’s quite extraordinary when two former secretaries of de fense both give evidence document ing that they had information, or they believed personally, that people were atrt c and not accounted for in Opera tion Homecoming,” Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.,chairman of the SclectCom mittec on POW-MIA Affairs, said. Laird and Schlcsingcr appeared as — II It is evident that the Laotians gave no true accounting of the Americans who had been taken in Laos. James R. Schlesinger former defense secretary ■----- AA “ the panel began the first ever under oath, public questioning of the high est ranking officials of the Nixon ad ministration about their efforts to win release of American POWs as they negotiated an end to the long, bittei war in Southeast Asia. Henry A. Kissinger, Nixon’s na tional security adviser and secretary of stale who conducted the negotia tions with the North Vietnamese, was scheduled to undergo questioning Tuesday. Laird, a former Wisconsin con gressman, was Nixon’s defense sec retary for four years of the fighting, from 1969 lo 1973, when he moved lo the White House as presidential ad viser to help Nixon battle the growing Watergate scandal. Schlcsingcr was Nixon’s director of Central Intelli gence and became secretary of de fense in 1973. Both testified that downed Ameri can airmen were contacted on the ground in Laos by U.S. forces in numbers greater than were ever ac counted for. During the peace nego tiations with North Vietnam, U.S. officials were given a list of only 10 prisoners in Laos. “It is evident that the Laotians w w gave no true accounting of the Ameri cans who had been taken in Laos,” Schlcsingcr said. Documents released by Sen. Bob Smith, R-N.H., vice chairman of the committee, show that as many as 350 U.S. personnel were missing or cap tured in Laos. Schlcsingcr speculated that some may have been executed. Kerry said others may have been killed in com bat on the ground or died of exposure in the jungle. Laird testified that the Pentagon had solid information, such as letters, eyewitness reports or direct radio con tael, on about 20 American airmen who survived downings in Laos. Laird said he notified Nixon of these esti mates in late 1972. Only 10 were released the next year. Nixon, in a televised address to the nation on March 29, 1973, declared that as a result of the Paris peace accords with North Vietnam, “All of our American POWs arc on their way home.” Comm iticc mem bers have asserted that evidence shows that statement was false, and that its acceptance as fact severely damaged subsequent efforts to unearth the truth about miss ing Americans. Laird, questioned about Nixon’s statement, said he was no longer de fense secretary at that time and had no input into the statement. But he said he regretted Nixon made it. “1 think it was unfortunate to be that positive,” he said. Nebraskan Editor Chris Hopfensperger Night News Editors Kathy Stslnausr 472-1766 Mike Lewis Managing Editor Kris Karnopp „ Kim Spurlock Assoc News Editors Adeana Lenin Kara Morrison Assoc. News Editor/ Wendy Navratll Art Director Scott Maurer cw Writing Coach ' General Manager Dan Shattll Editorial Page Editor Dionne Searcey Production Manager Katherine Pollcky Wire Editor Alan Phelps Advertising Manager Todd Sears Copy Desk Editor Kara Wells ' Sales Manager Jay Cruse Sports Editor John Adklsson Classified Ad Manager Karen Jackson „ Arts & Entertainment Publications Board Chairman Tom Massey Editor Shannon Uehllng 468-8761 Diversions Editor Mark Baldridge Professional Adviser Don Walton i Photo Chief William Lauer 473-7301 „ FAX NUMBER 472-1761 rhe Daily Nebraskan(USPS 144-080) Is published by the UNL Publications Board, Ne braska Union 34, 1400 R St., Lincoln, NE, Monday through Friday during the academic year; weekly during summer sessions Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by ononmg 472-1763 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The public also has access to the Publications Board. For information, contact Tom Massey, 488-8761. Subscription price is $50 for one year Postmaster: Send address changes to the Daily Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34,1400 R St.,Lincoln, NE 68588-0448. Second-class postage paid at Lincoln, NE, ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1992 DAILY NEBRASKAN Abusive priests target of board rMn/"1 miiL _n_• * <• VIIIV.OW- llll ailC^UlIWI^ UI clergy sexual abuse rising, the nation’s second-largest archdiocese on Mon day announced a toll-free hotline and an independent board to investigate priests accused of molesting children. The policy established by the Arch diocese of Chicago may be the most comprchcnsivecvcr developed by any of the 188 U.S. Catholic dioceses, Cardinal Joseph Bemardin said at a news conference. The policy goes beyond legal re quirements and exceeds recommen dations made in June by a panel that analyzed 59 eases of abuse reported in the archdiocese since 1963, Bemardin said. “I share the anguish of all those uiiciurn ny mis iragcay: me vicums, their families, their communities and priests,” said Bemardin, the leader of 2.3 million Roman Catholics in north eastern Illinois. “While I cannot change the past, I can do something about the future.” Under the policy, a toll-free hotline will be established to handle com plaints, and all allegations will be reported to the state agency that handles child-abuse eases, Bernardin said. That agency, the Illinois Depart ment ofChildrcn and Family Services (DCFS), notifies prosecutors when appropriate, he said. ’ A nine-member board made up of six lay people, including a former abuse victim who is now an attorney, and three priests will review all com plaints and determine accused priests’ fitness to serve, Bemardin said. The board was chosen by the arch diocese but will report only to Bemardin. “I accept the clinical data which suggest that once it has been demon strated that a priest is an abuser, he should never again return to parish ministry or any ministry which might place a child at risk,” the cardinal said. The new policy also includes im proved psychological screening of seminarians and belter courses in sexual development, as well as per sonnel records that follow a priest throughout his career.
