Posted on 04/15/2004 8:08:23 AM PDT by nwrep
DECEMBER 1996 : (KAMAL ARRIVES IN US, WEEKS LATER HE WOULD MURDER 7 TOURISTS AT THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING IN NY CITY) Ali Hassan Abu Kamal, a Palestinian, arrives in the US. (Several weeks later he kills seven tourists at the Empire State Building.)
DECEMBER 1996 : (CIA DIRECTOR DEUTCH STEPS DOWN) CIA chief Deutch, who had replaced James Woolsey who had quit the administration in disgust, steps down. He had implemented "sensitivity seminars" to improve "tolerance" —apparently forgetting that terrorists don’t get "sensitivity training." By the time the thoroughly discredited Deutch departed in December 1996, CIA morale and the ability to collect human intelligence, "HUMINT," had hit rock bottom.
DECEMBER 2, 1996 : (CLINTON ADMITS HE GOT A LETTER FROM MOCHTAR RIADY ON NORMALIZING RELATIONS WITH VIETNAM) Clinton acknowledges that he received a letter in 1993 from Mochtar Riady urging him to normalize relations with Vietnam. Clinton called it a "straightforward policy letter."
(* Normalizing relatioins with Vietnam is something that would excite John Kerry a good deal- what are his connections to Riady if any?)
(* Normalizing relatioins with Vietnam is something that would excite John Kerry a good deal- what are his connections to Riady if any?)
I'll see what I can find on that, but meanwhile one thought: When Kerry was developing his links to the Sandinista lobby in the 1980s--which would've been the period when Clinton was governor of course, and note the chronological parallel--he got involved in that investigation of allegations of CIA drug trafficking, and his committee on that was getting much of its information from Nicaraguan/Sandinistan sources. My guess is that Kerry's link to Riady-related stuff in Arkansas and Asia alike may have developed partly (though probably not exclusively) through Kerry's ties to Cuban/Latin American activities (which probably built on Ted Kennedy's own ties, I have a hunch; Kerry's friends Tip O'Neill and Chris Dodd probably also figure in). I remember that China used to distribute stuff through Cuba, so that might factor into it. I have some old books on the work of Kerry's committee, I'll dig through and see if I can find anything pointing towards Riady.
House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, Illinois Republican, said on CNN´s "Late Edition" that Congress needs to investigate the FBI "to make sure it is operating as it should." He added: "We can´t tolerate big mistakes, especially if it has an influence on the outcome of justice, as it may in this case, a very, very important landmark case." However, a former prosecutor in the case said that she believed the foul-up was unintentional and that the documents should not affect the outcome of the case.
"He has confessed to the crime. The evidence during the trial was absolutely overwhelming," Beth Wilkinson said on ABC´s "This Week." "I believe it is very unlikely that there will be any information that would be useful to Mr. McVeigh." Yet Miss Wilkinson´s comments did not assuage critics of the FBI, who are demanding that disciplinary action be taken against the bureau. Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating yesterday blasted the FBI for failing to hand over the documents at the time of the trial. "If there is information that the agents knew were supposed to be presented at trial in Denver, were not presented in trial at Denver in violation of the discovery order, severe disciplinary action needs to be taken against those people," he told Fox News.
There was something on her a while back in the Terri Nickols OKC case where she talked with two witnesses about their conflicting testimony BEFORE the trial. One was a chemist, wasn't supposed to gett together with the other or some such thing.
MARCH 1996 : (PEOPLE IN GUAM DONATE $900,000 TO DNC, GET CHANGE IN CLINTON WHITE HOUSE POLICY ON IMMIGRATION RULES IN RETURN) Folowing Hillary Clinton's visit, residents of the commonwealth of Guam donated nearly $900,000 to the DNC. following that cash infusion, the White House changed its position on Guam's immigration policy.
MARCH 1996 : (CLINTON WITHDRAWS HIS SUPPORT FOR AN IMMIGRATION REFORM BILL AFTER GETTING HUANG MEMO) The bill would end automatic entry for the siblings of natuaralized citizens. Clinton withdrew his support about a month after receiving a memo from John Huang stating that the top Asia-Pacific priority was to keep sibling preference in place, so it is reasonable to assume that Clinton withdrew his support in order to keep preferences in place and avoid displeasing his Asian donors, particularly since this came after a large contribution of $1.1 million from a John Huang fundraiser held in February. This would be reported in the Boston Globe on January 16, 1997.
MARCH 1996 : (RON BROWN TESTIMONY DELAYED) Ron Brown was granted a delay in scheduled testimony in civil case -Judicial Watch.
* Charlie Trie presented Michael H. Cardozo, executive director of the Presidential Legal Expense Trust (a defense fund that President and Mrs. Clinton set up to help pay their legal bills) with two manila envelopes containing checks and money orders for more than $450,000. The fund returned about $70,000 of this immediately, but deposited $378,300.
MARCH 4, 1996 : (WHITEWATER TRIAL OF SUSAN & JIM MCDOUGAL, JIM GUY TUCKER BEGINS) Thee Whitewater trial of Susan McDougal, Jim McDougal and Gov. Jim Guy Tucker began with the questioning of 56 potential jurors
,b> MARCH 12, 1996 : (CHINA FIRES DUMMY WARHEADS TOWARDS TAIWAN) Headlines were about China’s continued tensions with its Asian neighbors, especially Taiwan - by China’s firing M-9 ballistic missiles, carrying dummy warheads into target zones 30 miles off the shore of Taiwan
MARCH 14, 1998 : (CLINTON OVERRIDES WARREN CHRISTOPHER'S DECISION ON CHINA; OVERRULES BOTH THE STATE DEPT & PENTAGON NAD PLACES OVERSIGHT WITH COMMERCE DEPT) Clinton reversed Sec of State Warren Christopher’s decision, overruling both the State Department and the Pentagon - which wanted to keep sharp limits on China’s ability to launch American made satellites using Chinese rockets - and turned oversight of granting permissions for such launches to Commerce, which was in favor of permitting them.
* Commerce email said to put a low key spin on news to "not draw attention to the decision"
* At a meeting in Peking one month after the crash of the Loral Sattelite, the insurance companies threatened to withhold coverage from future launches unless China submitted its findings on the cause of the crash to an "Independent Review Committee."
MARCH 1996 (TRANSFER OF AUTHORITY ON LAUNCH LICENSES FROM STATE TO COMMERCE) The Clinton administration transfers responsibility for approving Chinese satellite launch licenses from the State Department to the Commerce Department. - "U.S.-China Techonology Transfer: Annotated Timeline 1980-January 1998," by Bates Gill, GlobalBeat, NYU.edu, June 22, 1998
MARCH 15, 1996 : (HUANG MEETS WITH GORE) White House W.A.V.E. records indicate a meeting between John Huang and Vice President Gore.
MARCH 18, 1996 : (GUNS SMUGGLED TO USA FROM CHINA INTERCEPTED) Undercover Customs and BATF agents accepted delivery of guns smuggled aboard the COSCO ship Empress Phoenix, as part of an ongoing sting operation dubbed "Dragon Fire." Besides the smuggled guns, which they recommended for the California street gang market, the Chinese operatives explained that they were ready to sell everything from grenade launchers to shoulder fired Red Parakeet surface to air missiles, which they boasted could "take out a 747". The COSCO crates contained 2,000 Poly Technologies AK-47's, the largest seizure of fully operational automatic weapons in the history of U. S. law enforcement.
MARCH 19, 1996 : (PROBE WIDENS TO INCLUDE RON BROWN & ASIAN PACIFIC ADVISORY COUNCIL) Independent Counsel Pearson obtained subpoenas that showed his probe had widened to include Ron Brown's ties to possibly illicit fund-raising activities involving the Democratic National Committee and a DNC-affiliated group called the Asian Pacific Advisory Council.
MARCH 20, 1996 : (JUDGE RULES CLINTON CAN GIVE TESTIMONY BY VIDEOTAPE INSTEAD OF IN PERSON, DENIES CLINTON REQUEST TO HAVE QUESTIONS IN ADVANCE) A federal judge ruled in favor of President Bill Clinton's request that he be allowed to give testimony in the trial of Jim and Susan McDougal, the president's former Whitewater partners, by videotape. The president's supporters describe the decision as a major victory for the president, who sought to avoid appearing in person. But the judge denied Clinton's request that questions be provided in advance.
MARCH 21, 1996 : (TRIE PASSES DONATIONS TO CARDOZO) Little Rock businessman and friend of Bill Clinton, Charles "Charlie" Yah Lin Trie, gives Michael Cardozo of Clinton's Presidential Legal Expense Trust two manila envelopes containing $460,000 in questionable donations.
MARCH 23, 1996 : (TAIWAN ELECTIONS) Lee Teng-hui was the resounding victor in the Taiwan Presidential election and would become, in the words of a buoyant newspaper advertisement appearing earlier in the campaign, "Our First Made-in-Taiwan President." An ebullient Lee announced: "At the time when our country is under threat and intimidation, we are able to complete this election successfully because we believe deeply that this is a historic call of mission." That was the closest he got to a direct reference to China, although the President-elect said he would "defend forever the road of democracy."
MARCH 1996 : (US APPROVES STINGER SALES TO TAIWAN, ETC, BUT DENIES TAIWAN'S REQUEST FOR SUBMARINES) U.S. approves sale to Taiwan of Stinger surface-to-air missiles, a sophisticated targeting and navigation system for fighter jets, plus electronic warfare equipment. Taiwan's longstanding request for submarines is denied, however. China called the Stinger sale a violation of the 1982 US-Sino joint communique. - "U.S.-China Techonology Transfer: Annotated Timeline 1980-January 1998," by Bates Gill, GlobalBeat, NYU.edu, June 22, 1998
MARCH 1996 : (HELMS-BURTON ACT aka 'CUBAN LIBERTY & SOLIDARITY ACT OF 1996' SIGNED INTO LAW) Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (Libertad) Act of 1996, widely known as the Helms-Burton Act. President Clinton originally opposed the Act, but signed it into law in March 1996, following the downing by the Cuban Air Force of two light planes flown by members of an anti-Castro organization based in the US.
MARCH 1996 : (ALGERIA, GIA TERRORIST BOMBING & TRAIN AMBUSH) Two are killed in another GIA bomb in the Berroughi and ten are killed in a train ambush in western Algeria.
MARCH 8, 1996 : (CIA & STATE DEPT OFFICIALS REPORTEDLY MEET WITH SUDANESE OFFICIAL IN WASHINGTON DC OVER TERRORIST INFORMATION) ...a month after the U.S. Embassy was closed in Khartoum, Sudan, C.I.A. and State Department officers met secretly with a Sudanese official in Washington. They asked the Sudanese to turn over the names of more than 200 bin Laden operatives allowed into Sudan since 1994, information on Iranian and Arabic radicals in the country, and the whereabouts of the three Egyptians suspected of trying to kill Mubarak. - "Missed opportunities' in bin Laden hunt," Chicago Tribune (check source)
MARCH 1996 : (FL : USF, THREATS RECEIVED FROM A GROUP CLAIMING TO HAVE TIES TO ISLAMIC JIHAD & NEONAZIS) The USF Oracle student newspaper receives a letter from a group claiming connections to the Islamic Jihad and neo-Nazis. The group threatens to bomb a USF building and kill a white female professor on April 29.- source needed
MARCH 3 , 1996 : (ISRAEL, HAMAS SUICIDE BOMBING) Eighteen killed and ten wounded in Hamas suicide bomb attack on bus in Jerusalem.
MARCH 4, 1996 : (ISRAEL, HAMAS SUICIDE BOMBER ATTACKS SHOPPING MALL) Thirteen civilians are killed and scores wounded when another Hamas suicide bomber attacks a shopping mall in Dizengoff Street, Tel Aviv.
MARCH 20, 1996 : (IRAQ VIOLATES UNFETTERED ACCESS AGREEMENT) UNSCOM reports Iraqi resistance, violating the “unfettered access” agreement.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
MARCH 25 , 1996 - JUNE 1996 : (MONTANA FREEMEN STANDOFF) The so-called Montana Freemen begin a confrontation with Federal authorities in Montana, USA. Some twenty five members of the group hold out until surrendering in June 1996.
MARCH 25, 1996 : (DAVID HALE SENTENCED FOR DEFRAUDING SBA, TRAVELGATE ) David Hale was sentenced to 28 months in jail and ordered to pay back $2,000,000. for his guilty plea on charges of defrauding the Small Business Administration.
* Whitewater special counsel Kenneth Starr extended his investigation to include Travelgate testimony given by former presidential aide David Watkins. Attorney General Janet Reno had asked the court that appointed Starr approve the move, out of concern that her separate Justice Department inquiry could "seriously interfere with the independent counsel's ongoing investigation." In 1993, Watkins told the General Accounting Office that an evaluation done by a private accounting firm evaluation inspired the firings. However, in a memo that appeared in January, Watkins claimed that it was Mrs. Clinton who demanded that the travel office staff be dismissed. He writes, we ... knew that there would be hell to pay if ... we failed" to remove the travel office employees "in conformity with the first lady's wishes."
MARCH 27, 1996 : (WHITE HOUSE : HUANG ATTENDS DINNER WITH CLINTON) White House W.A.V.E. records indicate John Huang's attendance at a DNC dinner with the President. MARCH 29, 1996 : (WHITE HOUSE : HUANG MEETS WITH ICKES) White House W.A.V.E. records indicate a meeting between John Huang and Harold Ickes.
* A federal appeals court denied a request by President Bill Clinton to reconsider its January decision allowing the president to be tried on the Paula Jones sexual harassment complaint during his presidency.
MARCH - JUNE 1996 : (IRAQ : UN INSPECTORS DENIED ACCESS) UN inspection teams denied access to militarily sensitive sites. - http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/page/0,12438,793802,00.html
APRIL 1996 : (UK : IRA aka IRISH REPUBLICAN ARMY TRIES TO BLOW UP LONDON BRIDGE, DEVICE FAILS TO GO OFF) In April the IRA tried to blow up Hammersmith bridge in London but the large device failed to explode.
1996 : (GERMANY : ATTA BEGINS ATTENDING AL QUDS MOSQUE) Atta begins attending Al Quds mosque, where young men from many Arab countries congregate. Investigators believe Al Quds mosque is where Atta was radicalized, either through meeting extremists or by direct recruitment by an agent of bin Laden. They also believe Atta met two other young Arabs at Al Quds who would become members of the Hamburg terror cell and, later, the suicide pilots on Sept. 11 -- Ziad Jarrah and Marwan al-Shehhi Atta grows a beard during this time, a sign of his growing fundamentalism. He also writes out a will, which is witnessed by some of his friends at the mosque. He urges them not to be sad when he dies.
APRIL 1996-1999 : (AL QAEDA : HAMBURG CELL : JARRAH LEAVES LEBANON FOR GERMANY) In April 1996, Ziad Jarrah leaves Lebanon for Greifswald, Germany, where he studies German for two semesters before qualifying to take other university courses. After a year in Griefswald, Jarrah continues his studies at the University of Applied Science in Hamburg, where he stays until 1999. Once in Hamburg, Jarrah rents a room from a German landlady in a genteel suburb. Jarrah begins dating -- and then living with -- a Turkish-German woman, a secular Muslim like himself, who is about to start medical school In Hamburg, Jarrah begins a college course in aircraft engineering. After a few months, his landlord, Rosemary Canel, notices small changes that suggest a new commitment to Islam. According to Canel, he grows a beard and keeps a small prayer mat in his room. He also starts spending time at the Al Quds mosque with al-Shehhi and Atta.
APRIL 1996: (MOVEMENT FOR ISLAMIC CHANGE THREATS TO ATTACK US SERVICE MENBERS) One of the more shadowy groups being probed was the Movement for Islamic Change, a Saudi dissident organization that had issued statements in April and June 1996 threatening attacks on U.S. service members. Within days, the U.S. dispatched Federal Bureau of Investigation agents to Saudi Arabia to assist in the investigation. - "Khobar Towers Bombing in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia," the Washington Post, June 25, 1996
APRIL 1996 : (NY TIMES REPORTS THAT DRUG DEALER CABRERA WAS SOLICITED BY DEMOCRAT FUNDRAISER WHILE IN CUBA) The solicitation tookplace before a December 1995 fundraiser.
APRIL 1996 : (TRIE APPOINTED TO CLINTON'S COMMISSION ON US=PACIFIC TRADE) Trie was officially appointed to the President's Commission on U.S.-Pacific Trade and Investment Policy, just two weeks after dropping off to Mr. Cardozo the two manila envelopes containing checks and money orders;
*Wah Lim, Chinese-born American citizen and senior vice president and engineer at Loral Space and Communications wrote a letter to China Aerospace Corp. in April 1996:
" Equally important, I believe, is the task of using this failure as an opportunity to insure that the Long March launch vehicles have the best reliable record in the future. Even if that means your engineers and Cgwic takes a little more time to implement several phases of improvements over time; I believe it is worth it. We, at Space Systems/Loral would like China Great Wall to be a strong supplier of launch services and we will do everything in our power to help you. "
A few weeks later, the technical information was provided to China Aerospace.
APRIL 1, 1996 : (WHITEWATER INQUIRY : D'AMATO ACCUSES DEMOCRATS OF STONEWALLING) Accusing Senate Democrats of "stonewalling" on the Whitewater inquiry, Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (R-N.Y.) announced that the Whitewater hearings he chairs will resume under the Banking Committee's jurisdiction unless Democrats drop their demands that hearings end by mid-June.
APRIL 3, 1996 : (CROATIA : US COMMERCE SECRETARY RON BROWN'S PLANE CRASHES) Within 3 weeks of the policy change by Clinton - a plane carrying Ron Brown, U.S. commerce secretary, and 34 others, crashes in rocky terrain over Croatia. There are no survivors. Pearson's investigation was closed soon after Brown's plane crashed. Unfinished matters, including the investigation of Hill and Brown's son Michael, were turned over to the Justice Department.
* Huang’s ex-boss, Charles Meissner Assistant Secretary for International Economic Policy at the Department of Commerce, also died in the same plane crash with Ron Brown.
APRIL 3, 1996 : (CIA FINDS THAT CHINA SUPPLYING PARTS FOR PLUTONIUM REPROCESSING PLANT IN PAKISTAN) The CIA discovered evidence that China is supplying parts and technicians for a plutonium reprocessing plant in Pakistan.
APRIL 1996 : (CIA FINDS THAT CHINA WAS SUPPLYING RING MAGNETS TO PAKISTAN) CIA discovered evidence that China sold 5,000 ring magnets to Pakistan - used to develop nuclear weapons.
APRIL 4, 1996 : (UNABOMBER TED KACZYNSKI IS ARRESTED) Theodore J. Kaczynski is finally arrested by the FBI under suspicion of being the so-called Unabomber. In total three people were killed and 23 wounded in the 16 bombings attributed to Kaczynski since 1978.
APRIL 4, 1996 : (EGYPT : TERRORISTS KILL 18 TOURISTS) Islamic militants ambushed, shot and killed 18 Western tourists outside their hotel in Cairo on April 4, 1996 - "A Short History of World War IIIA Lesson of the Future.," by Sal Rosken, The Partial Observer , 2 March 2003
APRIL 8, 1996 : (CLINTON MEETS JOHN K. H. LEE , ILLEGAL DONATIONS TO DNC) Bill Clinton meets John K. H. Lee, the South Korean Chairman of Cheong Am America Inc., whose firm made an illegal $250,000 campaign contribution to the DNC
APRIL 22, 1996 : (MEMO IS SENT TO ANTHONY LAKE CONCERNING A LETTER WRITTEN BY TRIE ON CHINA & TAIWAN; LORAL'S AIDING CHINA PLAYED DOWN) Memo is sent to Anthony Lake regarding a letter written by Charlie Trie regarding China/Taiwan.
William Schweikert, Loral's technology transfer control manager, told the IRC that because the accident review involved getting information from China and not providing information to China, there was no need for Pentagon export security officials to be present. He also said that merely accepting or rejecting China's onclusions on the crash would not constitute technical assistance. Later the same day, committee staff director Nick Yen traveled to Washington and briefed officials of the Departments of State, Transportation, Commerce and Defense on what the IRC planned to do, Loral's outside experts said.
President Clinton announced the appointment of Charlie Trie to the newly created Commission on the United States-Pacific Trade and Investment Policy ("the Commission"). Several circumstances surrounding Trie's appointment to and involvement with the Commission, however, indicate that Trie's political contributions and fundraising were critical factors in the Administration's decision. At the time of Trie's appointment to the Commission, he had contributed a total of $205,000 to the DNC. When allegations surfaced of Trie's involvement in campaign finance illegalities, Trie fled the United States for China and sent a letter to the Commission apologizing for the impact of the scandal on the Commission's work and expressly stating that he would no longer be participating in Commission activities. However, the Administration never formally revoked Trie's appointment, and he remained a member until the Commission submitted its final report in April 1997. - Need original source to confirm dates
APRIL 24, 1996 : (CHINAGATE/CAMPAIGN FUNDING SCANDAL : TRIE, CARDOZO) Mr. Trie returns to Cardozo's office with another $179,000 in questionable contributions.
APRIL 24, 1996 : (CHINAGATE/CAMPAIGN FUNDING SCANDAL : LAKE, TRIE) Anthony Lake responds in a letter regarding Charlie Trie letter on Taiwan Issues.
APRIL 26, 1996 : (CHINAGATE/CAMPAIGN FUNDING SCANDAL : TRIE, ANN BROWN, GORE, CLINTON) Clinton forwards a letter to Charlie Trie regarding Taiwan Issues. Chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission Ann Brown attends White House coffee chat in Al Gore's office and meets with a leader of a trade group she regulates.
APRIL 29, 1996 : (CLINTON PROMISES TO PARDON SUSAN MCDOUGAL) Although the Clintons and McDougals have been estranged for years, a "very cordial" Clinton gave James McDougal a brief tour of the White House Map Room, where Clinton's Whitewater deposition had just taken place. During this meeting, McDougal would later allege, Clinton assured him that he would pardon Susan McDougal.
APRIL 29, 1996 : (AL GORE RAISES ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CASH AT HUANG'S BUDDHIST TEMPLE FUNDRAISER) Al Gore attends an illegal Democratic National Committee (DNC), John Huang-organized fund-raiser at the Hsi Lai Buddhist monastery in California which raised $140,000.
APRIL 30, 1996 : (WHITEWATER CASE : DEMOCRAT SENATORS JOHNSTON & REID'S EFFORT TO REMOVE INDEPENDENT COUNSEL STARR ARE REBUFFED BY COURT) Two U.S. senators seeking the removal of Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr were rebuffed by the court that appointed him. "This court has no power of removal over independent counsels," U.S. Court of Appeals Judge David Sentelle wrote in a letter to Sens. Bennett Johnston (D-La.) and Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Sentelle informed them that by law, only Attorney General Janet Reno has the authority to remove Starr.
Gorelick bump...
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