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(12/10/02 5:31am)
WASHINGTON -- Underpinning the U.S. review of Iraq's 12,000-page arms declaration, "there's skepticism and there's fear" about Saddam Hussein's nuclear ambitions, President Bush's spokesman said Monday.\nWhite House press secretary Ari Fleischer also said the United States had security concerns about sharing its own intelligence with United Nations inspectors trying to verify Saddam's insistence that his regime has no weapons of mass destruction.\n"We're going to continue to work with the inspectors to help to get them the information so they can do their job. ... Of course, at the same time, we want to make sure that sources and methods are not compromised in any information that could be conveyed to the inspectors," Fleischer said.\nHe withheld judgment on the arms declaration that Iraq turned over to the United Nations Security Council on Saturday. The United States wants to study the material "thoroughly, completely and fully and thoughtfully," Fleischer said.\nU.S. officials were still helping the Security Council president copy and distribute the material by Monday afternoon, he added.\nOver the weekend, a military adviser to Saddam suggested that Iraq was close to building an atomic bomb a decade or so ago -- a "wistful" admission of how much Iraq "yearned to get nuclear weapons," as Fleischer described it, and proof that the United States is right to be skeptical of Iraqi denials now.\nSaddam, the Iraqi president, insists his regime has no programs for developing banned nuclear, biological or chemical weapons. Bush says Saddam is lying.\nUnder a U.N. Security Council resolution unanimously approved last month, international weapons inspectors are in Iraq trying to validate those claims along with the information submitted on Saturday.\n"On the broader picture yes, there's skepticism and there's fear about Iraqi intentions and abilities," Fleischer said.\nOn the narrower question of determining the validity of Iraq's declaration to the U.N. Security Council, "that process deserves respect and it deserves thoughtful judgment and we will not rush to it," Fleischer said.
(12/05/02 4:53am)
WASHINGTON -- Voicing fresh terrorism fears that stretch from Africa to the Middle East, President Bush said Wednesday he believes the al Qaeda network was behind last week's attacks in Kenya and that terrorists have disrupted the Israel-Palestinian peace process.\nBush, fielding reporters' questions at a White House bill-signing ceremony, declined to criticize the Israeli government, whose troops fired Tuesday on a taxi at a West Bank checkpoint, killing a 95-year-old Palestinian great-grandmother.\n"I am concerned that terrorists have disrupted the ability for peace-loving people to move the (peace) process forward," Bush said. "... And so I fully understand the Israeli government's attempts to stamp out terror, because we'll never have peace as long as terrorists are able to disrupt."\nHe added that he is as worried "about the plight of the Palestinian people, concerned about suffering that has taken place as a result of the activities of terrorists."\n"The net effect of terrorism is to not only stop the peace process, but to cause suffering amongst all the people of the region, and that's why our war against terrorism must remain steadfast and strong wherever terror exists," the president said.\nHe did not directly reply when a journalist asked if he believes the terrorists at work in the West Bank are part of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. But Bush did finger bin Laden operatives for last week's coordinated attacks on Israelis in Kenya -- a hotel bombing and the firing of missiles at an Israeli charter flight.\n"I am concerned about al Qaeda anywhere. I believe that al Qaeda was involved in the African bombings in Kenya. I believe al Qaeda hates freedom. I believe al Qaeda will strike anywhere they can in order to disrupt a civil society and that's why we're on the hunt," the president said.\nWhite House press secretary Ari Fleischer later said that Bush was not speaking definitively about the culprits or ruling out involvement by other possible terror groups. "He's sharing with you suspicions you've heard from previous quarters," Fleischer said.\nQuestioned about world opinion, Bush said the United States is unfairly cast as waging war on Islam because "the propaganda machines are cranked up in the international community that paints our country in a bad light." He ticked off a litany of American accomplishments in postwar Afghanistan, among them the fact that girls can now attend school in that country.\nArmy Lt. Gen. Dan K. McNeil, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, was at the White House earlier Wednesday and gave a briefing in the Situation Room about improved humanitarian conditions, Bush said.\n"The Muslim world will eventually realize -- if they don't now -- that we believe in freedom, and we respect all individuals. And unlike the killers, we value each life in America," Bush said. "Everybody is precious, everybody counts, and to the extent we need to continue to make that message work, we will try to do so. But the best thing we can do is show results from our activities"
(11/21/02 4:12am)
PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- President Bush warned European allies Wednesday that NATO countries face threats from terrorism in this century as dangerous as those from German armies in the past, imploring member nations to stand together against Iraq's Saddam Hussein.\nResistant nations such as Germany will have to make their own decisions as to "how, if, and when they want to participate," Bush said.\n"The world needs the nations of this continent to be active in the defense of freedom; not inward-looking or isolated by indifference," he said.\nOn the eve of a NATO gathering guarded by American warplanes overhead and overshadowed by the Iraq crisis, summit host Vaclav Havel, the Czech president, said his people prefer that Saddam Hussein peacefully surrender his weapons of mass destruction.\n"If, however, the need to use force were to arise, I believe NATO should give honest and speedy consideration to its engagement as an alliance," he said.\nNATO Secretary-General George Robertson, previewing a gathering to expand and modernize the alliance, predicted there will also be "total unity of the heads of state and governments on support for the U.N. Security Council resolution" on Iraq. But it's too early to say what that support would mean for NATO, Robertson added.\n"Even in this beautiful city, I don't think it is wise to cross bridges before you come to them," he said.\nOn the cobblestones of picturesque Old Town square, several hundred demonstrators -- thousands fewer than were threatened -- protested the summit that convenes Thursday.\nAmong them were about three dozen leftists whose banners read, "No war in the name of democracy" and "Don't drop bombs! Drop Bush!"\nTucked into the security of locked-down hotel across town, Bush told students that "great evil is stirring in the world."\n"We've faced perils we've never thought about, perils we've never seen before, but they're dangerous, they're just as dangerous as those perils that your fathers and mothers and grandfathers and grandmothers faced."\nAdministration officials disclosed that U.S. ambassadors in 50 countries -- including Germany -- have been told to solicit support from allies for personnel and equipment to assist American forces in the war on terrorism and, possibly, on Iraq.\nBritish Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said his country was among those receiving a request, "but no decision has been taken on that." Britain's position would be discussed in Parliament on Monday, he said.\nIn Copenhagen, Danish lawmakers approved on Wednesday the participation of Danish soldiers and equipment in any international force in Iraq, if necessary.\nBush invoked the United States' involvement in World War II as he exhorted allies to join America now.\n"U-boats could not divide us," Bush told the students, who sat silent through his speech. "The commitment of my nation to Europe is found in the carefully tended graves of young Americans who died for this continent's freedom."\nDuring a separate meeting with Havel earlier in the day, Bush sought to quiet European fears that he is hungry for war. He promised consultation with allies, saying a military clash with Iraq was his "last choice" -- and an avoidable one.\nIt is still possible Saddam could get the message, Bush said. "If the collective will of the world is strong, we can achieve disarmament peacefully."\nAides said afterward that Bush still believes it is highly unlikely that Saddam will comply, thus war planning is fast under way. Bush discussed Iraq behind closed doors with President Ahmet Necdet Sezer of Turkey, whose country shares a border with Iraq and offers military bases critical to any U.S.-led attack.\nBush had no plans to meet with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, whose recent re-election campaign infuriated the president by focusing on opposition to Bush's Iraq policy. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the two leaders were likely to exchange greetings at a black-tie summit dinner Wednesday.\nOf Germany's opposition to using force against Iraq, Bush said: "It's a decision Germany will make just like it's a decision the Czech Republic will make, just like it's a decision Great Britain will make. It's a decision that each country must decide as to how, if and when they want to participate, and how they choose to participate."\nThe Czech government mobilized 12,000 police officers, 2,200 heavily armed soldiers and special anti-terrorist units to protect the presidents and prime ministers converging on this "city of 1,000 spires."\nMiles above, U.S. fighter jets patrolled Prague airspace, supplementing Czech pilots who circled at lower altitudes in Soviet-era planes. Intelligence officials fear the leaders are an inviting target for terrorists.\nOn Thursday, NATO is to approve invitations to seven former communist states: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Bush said the alliance should reach even further.\n"We strongly support the enlargement of NATO, now and in the future. Every European democracy that seeks NATO membership and is ready to share in NATO's responsibilities should be welcome in our alliance," he said.\nNATO is also due to announce plans for a 21,000-strong rapid response force that could mobilize in seven to 30 days to confront threats from terrorists, renegade governments or regional crises.
(10/30/02 3:50am)
WASHINGTON -- One week before Election Day, President Bush signed legislation Tuesday revamping the nation's voting system and guarding against the kinds of errors that threw his own election into dispute two years ago.\n"When problems arise in the administration of elections, we have a responsibility to fix them," Bush said as he gathered several Democratic and Republican lawmakers behind him at a signing desk.\n"Every registered voter deserves to have confidence that the system is fair and elections are honest, that every vote is recorded and that the rules are consistently applied. The legislation that I sign today will add to the nation's confidence," Bush said.\nThe ceremony, staged in a White House office-building auditorium, began Bush's two-day respite from campaigning for GOP House, Senate and gubernatorial candidates in next Tuesday's elections.\nUnder the "Help America Vote Act," states will receive $3.9 billion in federal money over the next three years to replace outdated punch-card and lever voting machines or improve voter education and poll-worker training.\nThe new law's protections against voting error will not affect next week's balloting but are scheduled to be mostly implemented in time for the 2004 congressional and presidential vote, which will most likely include Bush's re-election bid.\nIt was Bush's bitter 2000 Florida recount battle with Democrat Al Gore--with its confusing "butterfly ballots," half-perforated punch ballots and allegations of voter intimidation--that gave rise to the legislation. Bush's election was ultimately decided by the Supreme Court.\nThe president made no mention of that Florida debacle in his brief speech. The state, governed by the president's younger brother Jeb, more recently had a rocky Sept. 10 primary. Various problems delayed some vote tallies for a week and polling places did not open on time. The federal government will post civil rights monitors at the polls in several Florida counties next Tuesday.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush signed into law Tuesday a $40 billion package to rebuild after last week's terrorist attacks. He also put his signature to the congressional resolution authorizing him to use military force against those responsible.\n"Our whole nation is unalterably committed to a direct, forceful and comprehensive response to these terrorist attacks and the scourge of terrorism directed against the United States," Bush said in a statement.\nCongress passed the legislation last week with unprecedented speed and near unanimity.\nBush also signed legislation expediting benefit payments to injured firefighters and police, or to the survivors of public safety officers killed when hijackers slammed jets into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon one week ago.\nHundreds of firefighters and scores of police officers were killed trying to rescue workers inside Trade Center towers before they collapsed.\nMost of the $40 billion will go to recovery and other efforts in New York; Virginia, where the Pentagon is located; and Pennsylvania, where a fourth hijacked plane crashed, reportedly en route to Washington. Bush will be able to spend about half the package with virtually no congressional restriction.\nNew York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani praised Bush's support for the city.\n"We will get everything we need to rebuild to fight back," Giuliani said on CNN's "Larry King Live." "When he came to New York the other day, he could see that New Yorkers are united behind him."\nCongress and the White House are also considering legislation that would help bail out the financially strapped airline industry.\nBush thanked the House and Senate for giving him the power to wage war on terrorists and the prime suspect in these attacks, Osama bin Laden. The president promised to continue to consult with Congress as he plots the United States' military response.\n"Those who plan, authorize, commit or aid terrorist attacks against the United States and its interests -- including those who harbor terrorists -- threaten the national security of the United States," Bush said.\n"It is, therefore, necessary and appropriate that the United States exercise its rights to defend itself and protect United States citizens both at home and abroad"
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador -- President Bush promised Sunday to push for free-trade policies for economically strapped Latin America and said the United States "is wide open" to buy goods from around the world. \nWinding up a journey to Mexico, Peru and El Salvador, Bush also pledged to promote immigration policies that link workers from the region with American jobs. \nBush said it was in the best interests of the United States to have a "prosperous and peaceful" Latin America, a region known for decades of civil war, poverty and strife. \nTrade, Bush said, will "reinforce the region's progress toward political, economic and social reform." \nBush said trade between El Salvador and the United States approaches $4 billion a year.\n"Trade means jobs. Trade means that people who want to work are more likely to find jobs," Bush said. "We're going to continue to pursue the Free Trade of the Americas (agreement), which aims to encompass the entire hemisphere." \nBush also rejected Democratic criticism of his trip. Antonio Villaraigosa, a former speaker of the California state Assembly, said Saturday the trip was aimed at currying favor with Hispanics in the United States. \nThe president said he was disappointed with the remarks. \n"Sometimes in Washington, D.C., people cannot get rid of old habits, which is petty politics," he said. \nBush's new free-trade pitch came just days after he slapped new tariffs on steel and softwood lumber imported to the United States. Those retaliations came in part because the administration concluded foreign governments were unfairly subsidizing those industries. \nAsked about U.S. subsidies for agricultural produce that hurt smaller countries, Bush said he could do little about such programs approved by Congress. \nBut, he said, "Our market's wide open." \nSalvadoran President Francisco Flores and his wife, Lourdes, met Bush and first lady Laura Bush on their arrival. Hundreds of military personnel in their ceremonial uniforms stood at attention. \nBush greeted his counterpart with an embrace and Mrs. Flores with a kiss. \nOn the eve of his visit, Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, said the president was promoting trade and democracy. \nBush was spending just less than six hours in the country. But it was time enough "to really celebrate a region that 10, 15 years ago, nobody would have given a chance to be living at peace," Rice said ahead of the stop.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
WASHINGTON -- Victims of violent crime, too often an afterthought in the courts, deserve a constitutional amendment guaranteeing their rights, President Bush said Tuesday. \n"The protection of victims' rights is one of those rare instances when amending the Constitution is the right thing to do," he said, endorsing a proposal introduced Monday in the Senate by Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. \nIf approved by a two-thirds majority of the House and Senate, and then ratified by at least 38 of the 50 states, the amendment would declare: \n"The rights of victims of violent crime, being capable of protection without denying the constitutional rights of those accused of victimizing them, are hereby established and shall not be denied by any state or the United States." \nIt would require that victims be notified of public court proceedings, allow victims to testify in sentencing and parole hearings about their experiences and require courts to consider claims of restitution for victims. \nIn 2000, Americans were victimized in more than 6 million violent crimes. "Behind each of these numbers is a terrible trauma, a story of suffering and a story of lost security. Yet the needs of victims are often an afterthought in our criminal justice system," Bush said at the Justice Department. \n"It's not just, it's not fair, and it must change." \nThe proposed amendment would not allow for new criminal trials or specific claims for damages. And courts would have the ability to restrict victims' rights if they substantially conflicted with public safety or the administration of justice. \nThe Senate Judiciary Committee approved a similar proposal last year, but threats of a filibuster kept the full Senate from voting on it. \nOpponents, led by Democrat Patrick Leahy, now chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, argued a federal statute would be the proper place to address victims' rights, not the Constitution, and a new law could be accomplished more quickly. A spokesman said Tuesday that Leahy's view remains unchanged, although he has not received a copy of the latest proposal. \nKyl countered that a constitutional amendment is called for because state courts -- governed by state laws, not federal statute -- are where most criminal cases are resolved and "despite their best intentions, judges and prosecutors just don't pay as much attention if it's just a statute." \nBesides, Kyl said, victims deserve rights as powerful as those the Constitution grants to accused criminals. \nExisting victims' rights laws, which vary by state, "are insufficient," Bush said. \nLast month in Utah, for example, the state Supreme Court suggested that a victims' rights law might be flawed because it may interfere with a defendant's right to a speedy trial. In that case, the court upheld the dismissal of a claim by the mother of a 10-year-old boy who was sexually abused. \nThe mother told prosecutors she wanted to object to a plea bargain that allowed the defendant to plead guilty to a misdemeanor, but she was not allowed to talk to the judge about her concerns until the day the man was sentenced. \nBush quoted victims as saying their courtroom experiences were like a "huge slap." \n"When our criminal justice system treats victims as bystanders," he said, "they are victimized a second time"
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
WASHINGTON -- President Bush committed $320 million in humanitarian aid to the "poor souls" of Afghanistan Thursday as he and allies from Mexico to Qatar moved ahead with plans against terrorists sheltered by Afghanistan's ruling Taliban. \n"In our anger, we must never forget we're a compassionate people," the president said. \nHundreds of foreign service personnel, integral to Bush's effort to build an international coalition against those responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks, cheered Bush's speech at the State Department. \nFear of a U.S. military strike on the Taliban has chased thousands of destitute Afghan civilians into neighboring Pakistan. As many as 1.5 million Afghans, already weakened by years of drought and civil war, could seek food and refuge in neighboring countries in the coming months, the United Nations estimates. \nBush sought once more to assuage suspicion that his is a campaign against Muslims in general. \n"This is not a war between our world and their world," he said. "It is a war to save the world." \nThe new relief funds, which include $25 million in emergency aid that Bush authorized over the weekend, will go to the United Nations, the Red Cross and other groups providing food and medicine to Afghans and refugees. \n"We will fight evil, but in order to overcome evil, the great goodness of America must come forth and shine forth," Bush said. "And one way to do so is to help the poor souls in Afghanistan."\nThe humanitarian campaign will also include military air-drops of supplies, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told reporters as he rounded up support in the Middle East and Central Asia. \n"We're applying diplomatic pressure from around the world," Bush told Labor Department employees during an afternoon visit there. "I promise you this: I will enforce the doctrine that says if you house the terrorists, you're just as guilty as the terrorists themselves." \nThe State Department is expected to issue its latest list of terrorist organizations Friday. The list is virtually unchanged from the one compiled two years ago, two Bush administration officials said. \nBut its issuance serves as a reminder to Americans it is unlawful to provide money or other material support to the groups under a 1996 law, and U.S. financial institutions must freeze their assets. \nBush met in the Oval Office with Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the Arab ruler of Qatar, an oil-rich Persian Gulf emirate that has pledged "to stand by the United States." \nEarlier Thursday, Bush telephoned the emir of Bahrain and Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski. The president lunched with congressional leaders working on legislative responses to terrorism, and then called Russian President Vladimir Putin. \nOn Friday, Bush meets with Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze. He sat down with Senate Republican leader Trent Lott of Mississippi and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., Thursday, outlining the difficulties the Soviet Union had when they sent troops to Afghanistan, with thousands of soldiers killed.
(04/26/02 4:35am)
CRAWFORD, Texas -- Amid the serenity of rustling grasses, President Bush and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah confronted the rising tensions over Israel, Iraq and Islamic terror that are straining their nations' 70-year alliance. \nThe leaders met Thursday at Bush's ranch home with a formality he normally leaves at the Texas state line. \nThe president, in a business suit, watched out the breezeway window for the Saudi leader, whose five-car motorcade rolled into the circular driveway a bit late. Cowboy boots and an oversized silver belt buckle were Bush's concession to the laid-back style that usually prevails here. \nHe welcomed Abdullah, who wore a flowing brown robe, with a long handshake and quiet exchange of pleasantries before showing him inside for talks that were expected to be less comfortable. \nAgainst the backdrop of flaring anti-American anger on Arab streets, the crown prince bore a warning to Bush that U.S. backing of Israel -- and seeming tolerance of Israeli military offensives against Palestinians -- had damaged prospects for Mideast peace. \n"We believe the administration could have been stronger on (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon, made it clearer to him that negotiations cannot be done under the barrel of a gun," Nail Al-Jubeir, a spokesman for the Saudi embassy, told reporters here. \nAl-Jubeir said the crown prince brought a frank message: "The message is, Sharon has been acting up, and the U.S. government needs to rein him in. We cannot maintain the peace process with this stuff going on." \nImages of Israeli-inflicted devastation in Palestinian refugee camps "make it more difficult for friends of the U.S. to stand up with the U.S.," he said. \nMore broadly, Arab leaders have warned of serious damage to U.S.-Arab relations and to tenuous Arab support for the U.S. anti-terrorism war, which Bush wants to expand into Iraq. \nSome oil prices surged Thursday on fears that Abdullah would threaten to choke off Saudi oil to the United States. Al-Jubeir denied that.\n"We've always been a reliable source of oil, and we'll continue to be," he said. \nThe American side was there in force: Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and White House chief of staff Andrew Card. \nCheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other top administration officials laid the groundwork by meeting first with Abdullah on Wednesday in Houston. \nDespite the suit and tie, Bush aimed to inject warmth into his first face-to-face meeting with Abdullah. A small table in the breezeway was set for a cozy lunch, and aides said Bush hoped to tap Abdullah's own love of land -- he owns an enormous farm in Saudi Arabia -- by showing him around some of Prairie Chapel Ranch's wooded canyons, abloom with Texas bluebonnets and wild pink poppies. \nSaudi and other Arab leaders take strong issue with Bush's support for Sharon, who has kept Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat under virtual house arrest in the West Bank while Israeli forces, in defiance of Bush's own April 4 demands, press forward in a bloody hunt for Palestinian terrorists. \nFurther straining the U.S.-Saudi relationship -- at a time when Bush is trying to stick to a zero-tolerance policy against terrorists -- are recent displays of Saudi support for Palestinian suicide bombings of Israeli civilians. \nSaudi Arabia's ambassador to Britain published a poem praising such "martyrs," and the Saudi government has sponsored a telethon that collected $100 million to help the bombers' families. Powell testified to the Senate this week that some of that money may have gone to elements of the militant Hamas organization. \nAbdullah wants Bush to pressure Sharon to release Arafat. \nBush hoped Thursday's meetings would advance the Mideast peace process. \nIt was Abdullah who gave momentum earlier this year to an initiative meant to quell Mideast violence by offering peace and full recognition to Israel in exchange for the territory Jordan and Syria lost in the 1967 war. \nAbdullah's plan also includes the creation of a Palestinian state, an idea for which Bush has voiced support. Also under review is an international conference on Mideast peacemaking. Bush so far has been noncommittal, and Arafat's participation in any such conference remains in dispute.
(10/11/01 6:30am)
WASHINGTON -- Suspicious that Osama bin Laden is using American TV to send coded messages, the White House asked the networks Wednesday to think twice before airing his terrorist organization's videotaped messages. \n"At best, this is a forum for prerecorded, pre-taped propaganda inciting people to kill Americans," White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said. \nAt worst, the broadcasts could contain signals to "sleeper" agents, he added. "The concern here is not allowing terrorists to receive what might be a message from Osama bin Laden calling on them to take any actions." \nFollowing a conference call with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and Fox agreed they would not broadcast transmissions from bin Laden's al-Qaida group without first screening and possibly editing them. \nOne day earlier, CNN and NBC's cable network aired unedited a tape of al-Qaida spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith praising the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States and warning there would be more. That message, like one from bin Laden just after U.S. military attacks began in Afghanistan on Sunday, was picked up from Al-Jazeera television, the only station now broadcasting from within Afghanistan. \nAn administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said CIA analysts studying the broadcasts detected nothing specific but made a compelling enough argument about the risk of coded messages that the administration rushed to put President Bush's highest ranking national security official on the phone to TV executives. \nA third official noted that bin Laden and his spokesman both wore white turbans, the Muslims' traditional color of martyrdom, in the two tapes aired since U.S. military attacks began on Sunday. Bin Laden also wore combat fatigues. \n"He wears a camouflage jacket to signify he's at war." said retired CIA counterterrorism expert Vincent Cannistraro. \nAt the Center for Media and Public Affairs, a news-media watchdog group, Matthew Felling called the administration's request "a silky form of censorship ... uncomfortable but understandable." \n "Because bin Laden is resourceful, he would use our cultural tools as weapons, be they airplanes or airwaves," said Felling, the center's media director. \n Ibrahim Hilal, chief editor of Al-Jazeera, scoffed at the notion of hidden signals and said the terrorists were sophisticated enough to communicate with each other directly. "I don't think the United States, who taught the world about freedom of expression, should now begin to limit it," Hilal said in an interview. \n The warning about al-Qaida broadcasts was the latest in a series of White House efforts to limit the flow of information about its war against the terrorists and the Afghan Taliban militia that shelters them. \nBush, angry about leaks to reporters last week, abruptly shut down classified briefings to all but eight members of Congress.\nThe State Department also tried to block the government-funded Voice of America radio station from airing an interview with a Taliban official. \nAnd last month, Fleischer publicly scolded the host of TV's "Politically Incorrect" talk show for controversial comments on the terrorist attacks and admonished all Americans "to watch what they say"
(09/13/01 5:28am)
WASHINGTON -- The White House and Air Force One, two potent symbols of the American presidency, were targets of Tuesday's suicide bombers, government officials said. \nSketching a scenario that is normally the stuff of Hollywood thrillers, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer cited "real and credible information" that the hijacked airplane that slammed into the Pentagon was originally intended to hit the White House. \nAir Force One, which was with Bush in Florida at the time of the attacks, also was in the terrorists' sights, Fleischer said Wednesday. "That also is one of the reasons why Air Force One did not come back to Andrews (Air Force Base, Md.) where some people may have thought it would." \nHe refused to say what kind of attack might have been aimed at the presidential jet. \nAsked if evidence pointed to an assassination plot that went awry, Fleischer said he would tell reporters only what he knew about the prospective targets, "and I think you can draw your own conclusions."\nThe astonishing disclosure came seven years to the day after a Maryland man with a history of mental illness crashed a stolen light plane against the south side of the White House, an act that showed how vulnerable the mansion can be. It was reopened Wednesday for regular tours and some 400 people streamed through, receiving small American flags as they left. \nThe Bush administration was eager to explain Wednesday, in considerable detail, why Bush did not return immediately to Washington and take clear charge after the terrorists who struck at New York's World Trade Center turned to the nation's capital. \nThroughout Tuesday, images of the Pentagon in flames, smashed by a hijacked airliner, and White House aides fleeing across Pennsylvania Avenue provided a sharp contrast with pictures of Bush heading for an underground bunker hundreds of miles away. \nFleischer said national security officials learned that both the White House and Air Force One were targets just as Bush's Boeing 747 lifted off Tuesday morning in Sarasota, Fla., where the president was to make an education speech. He already had announced on national television that he was hastening back to Washington. That plan was scrambled in mid-flight, and all who were aboard Air Force One, for a destination then unknown, were ordered to turn off their cell phones lest signals from the phones give away the plane's location. \nBack in Washington the White House had been evacuated and Secret Service snipers with automatic rifles sealed off a two-block perimeter. Vice President Dick Cheney remained inside the complex and was shuttled among several "secure locations," including the Situation Room in the basement of the West Wing, where he and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice were in touch with Bush by telephone and videoconference. \nUnder a tight wrap of secrecy, Bush first flew to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana and then to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, home of the U.S. Strategic Command and an underground bunker with specialized equipment allowing Bush to meet via video teleconference for 65 minutes with his national security team at the White House. \nHe joined them there at dusk, helicoptering from Andrews to the South Lawn under cover of three decoy Marine choppers. \nSensitive to any suggestion that Bush was in hiding and not at the helm, officials said at the time they were only adhering to the Secret Service and military playbook for national emergencies when they bounced Bush around from one secret destination to another. On Wednesday, Fleischer said the main plan was to land Air Force One where no one expected it. \nSecurity remained extraordinarily tight Wednesday at Andrews, home base for the presidential air fleet. The main gate was blocked by a Humvee, a heavy truck and a bus. Guards were armed with machine guns.
(09/12/01 7:10am)
WASHINGTON -- A grim-faced President George W. Bush condemned ghastly attacks in Washington and New York on Tuesday and vowed to "find those responsible and bring them to justice." \nIn the second Oval Office address of his presidency, Bush said the United States would retaliate against "those behind these evil acts," and any country that harbors them. \n"Today, our nation saw evil," he said. \nBush said the government offices deserted after the bombings Tuesday would open on Wednesday. \nSeeking to comfort an anxious nation, he said, "These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve." \nHe asked the nation to pray for the families of the victims and quoted the Book of Psalms, "And I pray they will be comforted by a power greater than any of us spoken through the ages in Pslam 23. \nIn his address, Bush said: "Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom, came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts." He said thousands of lives were "suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror"