Posted on 08/06/2005 8:35:38 PM PDT by doug from upland
LIFE AFTER TERROR
By JOSEPH F. CONNOR
YOU sometimes hear how the first World Trade Center attack was a warning that the city ig nored. But it wasn't the first: Tomorrow is the 30th anniversary of the New York terrorist attack that killed my father, Frank T. Connor — the Jan. 24, 1975, bombing of Fraunces Tavern.
The killers struck on a warm, clear and pleasant winter's day. My dad, a 33-year-old officer of Morgan Guaranty Trust, was having lunch with clients. The bomb killed him and three others in unspeakably gruesome ways. One of his colleagues was decapitated; silverware from the table was lodged in the torsos of the others. This is the grotesque reality of terrorism.
A man goes to work one day, and out of nowhere his life is taken from him and his family. I was 9 years old, my brother Tom, 11.
The cowardly attack was meant to kill many more than those four innocents but immediately before the blast the bomb was kicked out of the way by an unsuspecting restaurant employee — shifting the brunt of the explosion away from the main dining area and directly into my father's table.
All these years later it is still hard to accept that his lunch party actually moved to "a better table" only minutes before the explosion.
This is the inexplicable randomness of terrorism.
The attack turned out to be the deadliest of the 130-plus bombings by the FALN, terrorists who claimed Puerto Rican independence as their cause. In due course, the group's members were caught or driven into hiding.
Those were different times. Our family never received so much as a phone call offering help from our state or federal representatives or the Red Cross. There were no lawsuits. When a family acquaintance offered his legal services, we dismissed him as an ambulance chaser.
But in many ways, we were better off "forgotten." We had friends, family, faith and each other for support. We cried together alone and focused our energies on looking ahead — doing all the things that my dad would have wanted for us.
My Irish-born mother Mary earned her GED and went on to graduate from college in 1986. Grandma Connor, through the grief of losing her only child, dedicated herself to my mother in raising my brother Tom and me.
The first question I remember asking the day of my father's death was, "Is grandma still our grandmother?" The definitive way in which my mother answered, "Yes, of course she is" reassured me that our family would stick together. That set the tone for our lives going forward.
We never felt like victims. Like my mother and grandmother, Tom and I were pushed to self-sufficiency, and rose to the challenge, focusing on school and sports, graduating grade school, high school and college, beginning careers, marrying and having children.
We are driven by never letting my father's memory down. Not to overcome the obstacle of his death would have diminished the meaning of his life and we loved him far too much for that.
We put the notion of terrorism aside — until August 1999, when the wound was reopened.
That's when President Bill Clinton offered executive clemency to 16 core members of the FALN.
Hillary Clinton was then eyeing the Senate seat soon to open up in New York, and pardons for the FALN were a longtime priority for many prominent city Democrats. We were outraged — our father was being betrayed for cheap politics. We "went public" as a family for the first time. Enlisting the same energies that saw us through the previous 24 years, we fought to keep those thugs in prison. We failed there — 14 of the 16 accepted clemency and were released that September. We were successful in that we did not back down; the issue should haunt the Clintons in the years to come.
Because times have changed in many ways — the next time terror hit our family, it hit the entire American family.
Like our father 26 years before us, Tom and I commuted every day through the World Trade Center. On 9/11, we were horrified eyewitnesses to the planes hitting the towers — and to working people just like us falling or jumping to their deaths.
I thought I might die that day — only blocks from Fraunces Tavern. But I managed to get home to Danielle and the kids. They would not grow up without their dad, like I did.
Tom and I got out — but our closest cousin, and our father's godson, did not. Steven Schlag worked on the 104th floor of the North Tower. Killed at 41, he left a wife and small children — like our father.
Like so many who waited with us in hope for word on our father that January evening in 1975, Tom and I sat in vigil at Steve's house that horrible September 2001 evening, waiting for word from him.
I remember staring bleary-eyed at Steve's father Donald (my father's first cousin and as close to a brother as he could have been), suffering through this nightmare yet again. Through my own tears and shock I tried to lend hope, while knowing there was none.
Our family has endured and learned from the effects of terrorism for 30 years. We know there are no magic words to make it better. But I want to offer some words of hope to those families more recently affected: Even now, more than three years after the fact, you are on a lifelong, daily struggle. It may feel overwhelming at times, but you can overcome by drawing on your lost loved one, each other and your faith in God for strength.
Thirty years after Fraunces and a grown man, I still grieve every day for my father, but push on — as our whole family has since his death, never letting him down and always keeping his memory alive.
I can think of no better way for my father, Frank Thomas Connor, to be remembered than as a symbol of hope for those facing the struggle we began 30 years ago.
Joseph F. Connor works in the financial services industry.
Hillary Clinton was then eyeing the Senate seat soon to open up in New York, and pardons for the FALN were a longtime priority for many prominent city Democrats. We were outraged — our father was being betrayed for cheap politics. We "went public" as a family for the first time. Enlisting the same energies that saw us through the previous 24 years, we fought to keep those thugs in prison. We failed there — 14 of the 16 accepted clemency and were released that September. We were successful in that we did not back down; the issue should haunt the Clintons in the years to come.
This strong man has earned our respect. Bless you Joe.
Armed Forces of Puerto Rican National Liberation
Fuerzas Armadas Liberacion Nacional Puertoriquena (FALN)
Popular Boricua Army
Ejercito Popular Boricua
Macheteros
Throughout the late 1970’s and mid-1980’s the Armed Forces of Puerto Rican National Liberation ("FALN" or in Spanish, Fuerzas Armadas Liberacion Nacional Puertoriquena) and the Popular Boricua Army (Ejercito Popular Boricua), commonly known as the Macheteros, claimed responsibility for numerous bombings and robberies, causing a reign of terror in both the United States and Puerto Rico. The FALN operated in the continental United States, while the Macheteros were active mostly in Puerto Rico.
United States law enforcement first learned of the existence of the FALN on October 26, 1974, the date the group issued a communiqué taking credit for five bombings in New York. . Ultimately, over the next decade, FALN activities resulted in 72 actual bombings, 40 incendiary attacks, 8 attempted bombings and 10 bomb threats, resulting in 5 deaths, 83 injuries, and over $3 million in property damage.
Similar to the FALN, the existence of the Macheteros became publicly known when the group sent a communiqué to the United Press International in which they claimed credit for the death of a Puerto Rican police officer on August 24, 1978. The goals of the Macheteros were complete autonomy and sovereignty for Puerto Rico. In order to achieve their goals, the Macheteros conducted an armed struggle against the United States Government, mainly represented through attacks on military and police, in several cases causing the death of U.S. servicemen. In a January 1981 attack, Macheteros commandos infiltrated a Puerto Rican Air National Guard base and blew up 11 planes, causing approximately $45 million in damages.
The capture and conviction of the individual members of the FALN and Macheteros brought an end to the reign of terror in Puerto Rico and the United States. Although a few random assaults may have occurred, mostly in Puerto Rico, the continual assaults on New York, Chicago, and law enforcement and Naval officers in Puerto Rico virtually came to a halt.
On August 11, 1999, President Clinton extended offers of clemency to sixteen terrorists incarcerated in federal prison. Prior to these offers, he had offered clemency to only three federal prisoners.
Doug, you are, as ever, SO RIGHT. I remember reading this letter in the paper. I still cannot believe the people of the great state of NY saw fit to give that awful woman a job. She certainly shall not ever be President. Better I should wear a burkha and bow down to the false moon-god allah than that harridan should rise any higher than she already has.
I just gotta get out of the NYC metro area. My peeps done let me down. They let me down Miss Thing, they let me down.
Perhaps the New York FReepers can join Joe in a FReep of her office when she is in New York.
"Perhaps the New York FReepers can join Joe in a FReep of her office when she is in New York."
Count me in for that!
bump
Report: Clinton Lobbyist Was FALN Terrorist Leader
Crime/Corruption Breaking News News Keywords: 14 PUERTO RICAN KILLERS FREED
Source: Florida Times-Union / Associated Press
Published: 12/12/99 Author: SHANNON McCAFFREY / AP Writer
Posted on 12/12/1999 04:35:54 PST by newsman
WASHINGTON (AP) — The activist who successfully lobbied the White House for the release of 14 jailed Puerto Rican separatists was a leader in the terrorist organization FALN, a congressional report obtained on Saturday alleges.
The report said that Luis Nieves Falcon corresponded with several top Clinton administration officials on the clemency and was a member and leader of the militant Puerto Rican independence group.
The report, prepared by Rep. Daniel Burton's Committee on Government Reform, included letters documenting Falcon's correspondence and at least one meeting with the Clinton administration. And it cited federal law enforcement sources who had requested anonymity in declaring him a leader of the terrorist group.
Falcon did not immediately return phone calls place to his home in Puerto Rico on Saturday.
FALN — the Spanish initials for the Armed Forces of National Liberation — was responsible for a wave of bombings in the late 1970s and early 1980s that left six dead and dozens wounded.
Burton, an Indiana Republican and frequent critic of the president, blasted the Clinton administration for negotiating with a terrorist.
``The fact that the White House and the Department of Justice were negotiating with a terrorist leader, and working with him as partner to achieve the goal of letting the terrorists out of prison is unconscionable,'' Burton wrote.
Jim Kennedy, of the White House Counsel's Office, said Falcon was one of the leading advocates for the prisoners release, but was not involved in negotiations.
``The notion that the White House negotiated with a terrorist is pure partisan fantasy,'' Kennedy said.
Kennedy would not comment on whether Falcon was a terrorist or not.
Subpoenas issued by Burton's committee turned up letters to Falcon from seven high-ranking Clinton administration officials, including then-White House Counsel Bernard Nussbaum and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Maria Echaveste. Most were routine letters acknowledging the receipt of information and letters which Falcon had sent on the prisoners behalf. Others answered Falcon's questions about the transfer of prisoners and other inquiries.
But Burton said the frequent correspondence with Falcon was an ``insult to the victims'' of FALN bombings who have testified at recent Capitol Hill hearings that they were unable to even get letters to the administration answered.
The documents indicate that Falcon met at least once with a Justice Department official.
And they suggest he was scheduled to attend a White House meeting in December 1996 on the clemency, though it was unclear if he actually did. Administration officials said Falcon had been inside the White House in March 1996 with several lawmakers and advocates to deliver letters of support for the prisoners release. They were unaware on Saturday of any other visits and said he had never met with the president.
President Clinton ignited a firestorm of controversy in August when he offered clemency to 16 Puerto Rican separatists affiliated with the FALN or its sister organization in Puerto Rico, Los Macheteros. The clemency was conditioned on the prisoners renouncing violence. Fourteen accepted the offer.
Critics accused the president of extending the clemency to boost the standing of his wife's Senate candidacy in New York, which is home to about 1.3 million Puerto Ricans. Subpoenas from Burton's committee then unearthed a March memo from Jeffrey Farrow, co-chairman of the president's interagency group on Puerto Rico, which surmised that the prisoners release could benefit Vice President Al Gore in his bid for the presidency.
Gore has said he had no prior knowledge of Clinton's clemency decision and has declined to take a position on it.
Clinton has insisted that politics did not play role in his decision. He said he based it on the lengthy prison terms the nationalists were serving. None of those offered clemency were directly involved in activities that killed or maimed anyone, administration officials say. They were convicted of seditious conspiracy, and possession of weapons and explosives.
Thanks for posting the link.
WRITE TO PRESIDENT CLINTON:
William J. Clinton Foundation
55 West 125th St.
New York, NY 10027
CONTACT the Clinton Presidential Center or Foundation offices in Little Rock:
William J. Clinton Foundation
1200 President Clinton Ave.
Little Rock, AR 72201
SEND A SCHEDULING REQUEST for President Clinton:
David Slade, Director of Scheduling
William J. Clinton Foundation
55 West 125th St.
New York, NY 10027
Email: scheduling@owjc.org
Fax: 212-348-9541
In her 1999 book Hell to Pay, Barbara Olsen says that Hillary expected to be Attorney General but was stymied by LBJ's having installed an anti-nepotism law in reaction to the Attorney Generalship of Robert Kennedy.According to Olsen, Hillary's system for cementing her influence in the White House was to select the Attorney General and many other people in the White House, to be in meetings at which the spouses of staff were pointedly excluded - and to openly browbeat Bill in front of the staff in order to establish her alpha position.
There are two chances that Hillary didn't hire Craig Livingstone - slim, and none. Hillary has already been plenty close to the Presidency, thank you very much.
The other riveting thing in that book was the fact that Hillary was Jimmy Carter's man in the Legal Services Corporation scam, in which government money was used to fund "legal services for the poor" - in the form of legal activism aimed at establishing socialist "law" by judicial fiat. When Reagan came into office, LSC essentially absconded with federal money and entrenched itself, fighting a legal rearguard action to keep Reagan from taking control of it.
Powerful Story, Doug. Thanks for keeping it alive.
Q ERTY8BUMP!
I hope so too, Doug. He is an eloquent and sincere spokesman as to why Hillary should never be in the
White House again. Joe could be part of some simple, but very powerful television ads against Hillary in
the 2008 campaign.
Joe, if you're reading this thread, welcome to Free Republic.
Thank you so much for posting this moving and informative memorial to his father by Joe Connor. I wouldn't have wanted to miss it. I'm going to send it to everyone in my address book, and tell the story at every opportunity.
May God's continued blessings surround his family, and that of his cousin Steve.
It should be pointed out that what the Clintons did would be the same if Bush pardoned Al Quaeda and gave all the jailed terrorists clemency. There's NO DIFFERENCE!
Bttt
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