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lots of stuff, python names, xquery to html, xml regex clean-ish
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HadleighJae
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pythonCode/personTestingOutput/ins-rich.xml
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pythonCode/personTestingOutput/ins-rich.xml
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<xml><p>
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------
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The Wrong Number BBS * ParaNet<special>sm</special> Pi * (201) 451-3063 24 hrs. 14.4 HST
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------
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FILE NAME: INS-RICH.TXT
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SOFTWARE TO DIE FOR
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<ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent> Lawyer <ent type='PERSON'>Elliot Richardson</ent> Talks About Murder and the <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent>
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by
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<ent type='PERSON'>James Ridgeway</ent>
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[from "MOVING <ent type='PERSON'>TARGET</ent>" in the September 24, 1991
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issue of the "Village Voice:"]
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<ent type='GPE'>WASHINGTON</ent>--"It is far worse than <ent type='EVENT'>Watergate</ent>," says Elliot
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<ent type='PERSON'>Richardson</ent>, the former attorney general who stood up to President
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<ent type='PERSON'>Richard Nixon</ent> during that <ent type='NORP'>Republican</ent> scandal. "For Christ's sake,
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this October Surprise business we are talking about is [built from]
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truly horrible things ... I don't know whether it's true or not.
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[But] there are a number of elements in the situation that are hard
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to account for."
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Convinced that freelance journalist <ent type='PERSON'>Danny Casolaro</ent>, who claimed
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to have uncovered a sprawling conspiracy linking the October
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Surprise and the <ent type='GPE'>Iran</ent>-contra scandal to a contract dispute between
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<ent type='ORG'>the Justice Department</ent> and a software company named <ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent>, was
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murdered in a <ent type='GPE'>West Virginia</ent> hotel last month, <ent type='PERSON'>Richardson</ent> has asked
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<ent type='ORG'>the Justice Department</ent> to open a federal investigation into his
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death. But even though <ent type='PERSON'>Richardson</ent>, who is <ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent>'s attorney, has
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made both informal and direct personal pleas to acting attorney
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general <ent type='PERSON'>William</ent> P. Barr for a full investigation, he has so far
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received no reply.
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And that's not the first time that <ent type='PERSON'>Richardson</ent> has been ignored by
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<ent type='ORG'>the Justice Department</ent>. <ent type='PERSON'>Richardson</ent> wrote former attorney general
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<ent type='PERSON'>Dick Thornberg</ent> in 1989 seeking an independent counsel in the <ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent>
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case; <ent type='PERSON'>Thornberg</ent> never replied.
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"I have never understood why ... I mean, I was attorney
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general when <ent type='PERSON'>Thornberg</ent> was a U.S. attorney. I appointed him
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chairman of a committee of U.S. attorneys, newly formed for the
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first time. I am a responsible former public official. I am not a
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wild-eyed nut."
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So why didn't <ent type='PERSON'>Thornberg</ent> respond to <ent type='PERSON'>Richardson</ent>'s letter?
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"You tell me. I would have responded to a responsible lawyer
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whether I ever met him or not." When asked if he thought the lack
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of a reply was insulting, <ent type='PERSON'>Richardson</ent> said, "Certainly. Let's say
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it's not easily explained, OK?
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"The key thing about the death of <ent type='PERSON'>Casolaro</ent>," <ent type='PERSON'>Richardson</ent>
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continues, is that "although others were seeking to delineate . . .
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the 'octopus' [<ent type='PERSON'>Casolaro</ent>'s term for the wide-ranging conspiracy], he
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was the only one who told people who have no reason to misrepresent
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what he said that he had hard evidence, and was on the point of
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getting conclusive evidence. No one else made that claim. ... He
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told four people, one at a time. The idea that he committed suicide
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with a razor blade under these circumstances seems highly
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implausible."
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The investigation of <ent type='PERSON'>Casolaro</ent>'s death is still in the hands of
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the <ent type='GPE'>West Virginia</ent> authorities, who ruled it a likely suicide August
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14. But it is already apparent that there is more than meets the
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eye to both the freelancer's "suicide" and the <ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent> case--and that
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sealing a 10-year-old cover-up isn't necessarily the only
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conceivable motive.
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"This is a case in which any one of a number of potential
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defendants would have every reason to commit murder," says
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<ent type='PERSON'>Richardson</ent>, "and in which the litigants have every reason to fear
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for their lives."
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THE ORIGINS of the dispute over <ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent>, at least, are clearly
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understood. A former analyst with <ent type='ORG'>the National Security Agency</ent> and
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onetime contract employee of the <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent> (where he prepared analyses of
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the foreign press), <ent type='PERSON'>Bill Hamilton</ent> founded <ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent> in the early 1970s
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with his wife, <ent type='PERSON'>Nancy</ent>. <ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent> was initially begun with grants from
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<ent type='ORG'>the Justice Department</ent>'s <ent type='ORG'>Law Enforcement Assistance Administration</ent>;
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when <ent type='ORG'>Congress</ent> killed <ent type='PERSON'>LEAA</ent> in 1980, the <ent type='PERSON'>Hamiltons</ent> transformed <ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent>
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into a for-profit firm and continued to do business with <ent type='ORG'>Justice</ent> on
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a contract basis. Today, they are business partners with <ent type='ORG'>IBM</ent>.
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By that time they had developed a software package called <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent>
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that enabled <ent type='ORG'>law enforcement</ent> agencies to-keep up-to-the-minute tabs
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on cases as they wound their way through the courts. It was
|
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designed for district attorneys in large cities, and had been
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installed on a pilot basis in two large U.S. attorneys' offices.
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With <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent>, a U.S. attorney could sit before a computer screen and
|
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quickly find where any particular case stood, locate defendants and
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witnesses, track every motion, and even follow an ongoing
|
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investigation from its history down to the detective's most recent
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report. As computers became smaller, increasing efficiency and
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speed, the <ent type='PERSON'>Hamiltons</ent> modified <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent>, adding new functions and
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making it speedier and more flexible.
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In 1982, <ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent> signed a $10 million contract to install <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent>
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in U.S. attorney offices across the country. At first <ent type='ORG'>Justice</ent>
|
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balked at paying fees for what it argued was public domain software
|
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that had been developed under <ent type='PERSON'>LEAA</ent> grants, but on advice of its own
|
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counsel, the department ultimately agreed to pay for the
|
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proprietary, enhanced version of <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent>--whenever it was used.
|
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Despite this agreement, <ent type='ORG'>the Justice Department</ent>'s contracting
|
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officer steadfastly refused to pay <ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent> for the use of <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent>, and
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by 1985 it had withheld nearly $2 million from the <ent type='PERSON'>Hamiltons</ent>. At
|
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that point <ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent> sought refuge in Chapter 11 bankruptcy and
|
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proceeded to sue <ent type='ORG'>Justice</ent>. In January 1988 <ent type='ORG'>the Bankruptcy Court</ent>
|
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awarded <ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent> $6.8 million in damages plus counsel fees. <ent type='ORG'>Justice</ent>
|
||||
appealed that ruling, but in November 1989 the federal district
|
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court for <ent type='ORG'>the District</ent> of Columbia upheld <ent type='ORG'>the Bankruptcy Court</ent>'s
|
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findings. Nevertheless, last spring the U.S. Court of <ent type='ORG'>Appeals</ent> ruled
|
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that the case had been tried in the wrong courts for the past
|
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several years, and must be retried; <ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent> is appealing to the
|
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Supreme Court, and if that fails, the <ent type='PERSON'>Hamiltons</ent> will file a new,
|
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expanded suit.
|
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While on this level the <ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent> affair appears to be a fairly
|
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typical contract dispute, in fact the case has been marked from the
|
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beginning with extraordinary behind-the-scenes politicking to wrest
|
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control of <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent> from <ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent>. First, <ent type='ORG'>the Justice Department</ent>
|
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refused to recognize <ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent> as the rightful owner of the software it
|
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had developed; then the chair of <ent type='ORG'>Hadron Inc</ent>., a software outfit
|
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controlled by a friend of then-attorney general <ent type='PERSON'>Edwin Meese</ent>, tried
|
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to buy the program from <ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent>. When <ent type='PERSON'>Hamilton</ent> refused, <ent type='ORG'>Hadron</ent>'s
|
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chair told him, "We have ways of making you sell."
|
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<ent type='ORG'>Next</ent>, a venture capital firm, citing high-level <ent type='PERSON'>Reagan</ent>
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administration connections, tried to inveigle the <ent type='PERSON'>Hamiltons</ent> into
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signing over their voting rights on <ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent> stock. When the <ent type='ORG'>Justice</ent>
|
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Department's refusal to pay fees forced the company into Chapter 11,
|
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<ent type='ORG'>Justice</ent> officials didn't let up. They tried to force <ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent> into a
|
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Chapter 7 liquidation, which would have finished off the company
|
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completely. And when that didn't work, <ent type='ORG'>Justice</ent> officials encouraged
|
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a <ent type='GPE'>Pennsylvania</ent> computer company to launch its own hostile takeover
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bid.
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Why such a fuss over computer software? In its court filings
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<ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent> alleges it is a victim of a conspiracy by <ent type='PERSON'>Meese</ent> and his
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friends, who stole <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent> to make money. Chief among <ent type='PERSON'>Meese</ent>'s
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cronies in the affair was <ent type='PERSON'>Earl Brian</ent>, currently chair of embattled
|
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Infotech, Inc., which has large holdings in the bankrupt Financial
|
||||
News Network and <ent type='ORG'>United Press International</ent>--not to mention <ent type='ORG'>Hadron</ent>,
|
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the company that tried to buy <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent> from <ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent>.
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A combat surgeon in <ent type='GPE'>Vietnam</ent>, <ent type='PERSON'>Brian</ent> was appointed secretary of
|
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<ent type='GPE'>California</ent>'s Department of Health and Welfare in 1970 by then-governor Ronald <ent type='PERSON'>Reagan</ent>. When <ent type='PERSON'>Reagan</ent> moved to <ent type='ORG'>the White House</ent>--with
|
||||
<ent type='PERSON'>Meese</ent> as his counsel--<ent type='PERSON'>Brian</ent> served as the unpaid chair of a task
|
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force on health care cost reduction; <ent type='PERSON'>Brian</ent> also served along with
|
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<ent type='PERSON'>Meese</ent> as a member of a "pro-competition" committee in the White
|
||||
House. <ent type='PERSON'>Edwin Thomas</ent>, another longtime <ent type='PERSON'>Meese</ent> associate who had
|
||||
worked for <ent type='PERSON'>Meese</ent> at <ent type='ORG'>the University</ent> of San Diego Law School and a
|
||||
member of <ent type='PERSON'>Reagan</ent>'s <ent type='GPE'>California</ent> cabinet, joined them on the <ent type='PERSON'>Reagan</ent>
|
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transition team in 1980. The relationships between these three
|
||||
<ent type='GPE'>California</ent>ns first created a stir when <ent type='PERSON'>Meese</ent> went before the <ent type='ORG'>Senate</ent>
|
||||
to be confirmed as attorney general in 1984.
|
||||
An investigation by an independent counsel revealed a suspicious
|
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series of events. Early in 1981, <ent type='PERSON'>Thomas</ent> lent Mrs. Ursula <ent type='PERSON'>Meese</ent>
|
||||
$15000; at the time, <ent type='PERSON'>Thomas</ent> was working directly for <ent type='PERSON'>Meese</ent> as
|
||||
assistant counsel to the president. Before he made the loan, <ent type='PERSON'>Thomas</ent>
|
||||
discussed <ent type='PERSON'>Brian</ent>'s Infotech (then operating under the name of <ent type='ORG'>Biotech</ent>
|
||||
Capital Corp.) with Mrs. <ent type='PERSON'>Meese</ent>, and despite the fact that the
|
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<ent type='PERSON'>Meese</ent>s were hard up for cash, she promptly took the money <ent type='PERSON'>Thomas</ent> had
|
||||
loaned her and bought <ent type='ORG'>Biotech</ent> shares for her two children. <ent type='PERSON'>Meese</ent>,
|
||||
who knew about the loan, did not report it on his financial
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disclosure forms.
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||||
Then, in July 1981, <ent type='PERSON'>Brian</ent> loaned <ent type='PERSON'>Thomas</ent> $100000. In addition,
|
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<ent type='PERSON'>Thomas</ent> made calls to <ent type='ORG'>the Small Business Administration</ent> on behalf of
|
||||
a loan application from a <ent type='ORG'>Biotech</ent> subsidiary; the <ent type='ORG'>SBA</ent> eventually
|
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granted the loan. No wrongdoing was ever adjudged in any of this.
|
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In its court briefs, <ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent> cites the assertions of various
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<ent type='ORG'>Justice</ent> officials connecting <ent type='PERSON'>Meese</ent>, <ent type='PERSON'>Brian</ent>, and <ent type='ORG'>Hadron</ent>, Inc., with
|
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the harassment of the <ent type='PERSON'>Hamiltons</ent>' company. One whistleblower even
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called a senator to warn that, once <ent type='PERSON'>Meese</ent> was made attorney general,
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he would award a friend with a "massive sweetheart contract" to
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install <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent> in every litigation office of <ent type='ORG'>the Justice Department</ent>.
|
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After <ent type='PERSON'>Meese</ent> was named AG, the chief investigator of the <ent type='ORG'>Senate</ent>
|
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Judiciary Committee, Ronald LeGrand, called <ent type='PERSON'>Hamilton</ent> to pass on a
|
||||
warning. He said that an unnamed senior official at <ent type='ORG'>Justice</ent>--whom
|
||||
LeGrand had known for years and trusted--had told LeGrand that the
|
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<ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent> case was "a lot dirtier for <ent type='ORG'>the Department</ent> of <ent type='ORG'>Justice</ent> than
|
||||
<ent type='EVENT'>Watergate</ent> was, both in its breadth and its depth."
|
||||
Up to this point, the <ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent> case still appears to be little more
|
||||
than a contract dispute with overtones of political corruption. But
|
||||
it doesn't stop there. As it turns out, there is considerable
|
||||
reason to suspect that while <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent> may have been meant as a plum
|
||||
for one of <ent type='PERSON'>Meese</ent>'s cronies, it may also have played a role in an
|
||||
international espionage operation conducted by the <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent>. And that's
|
||||
where the case really begins to get interesting.
|
||||
|
||||
ACCORDING TO THE HAMILTONS, a high government official, nearly
|
||||
speechless in his disgust, dropped by to tell them he had discovered
|
||||
that the theft of <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent> had actually begun with the military. The
|
||||
<ent type='NORP'>British</ent> and U.S. navies needed a software program to conduct their
|
||||
zone defense against <ent type='NORP'>Soviet</ent> submarines in the <ent type='PERSON'>North</ent> Atlantic,
|
||||
according to their informant. All <ent type='NORP'>Soviet</ent> subs leave from the same
|
||||
base near the <ent type='LOC'>Arctic</ent> circle, where they are easily detected, and
|
||||
have to run a gauntlet of listening devices in the deep waters
|
||||
between <ent type='GPE'>Iceland</ent> and <ent type='GPE'>Ireland</ent> before they break out into the open
|
||||
ocean. With the help of painstakingly accurate maps of the
|
||||
seafloor, the <ent type='NORP'>Russians</ent> have long been able to run through the
|
||||
intricate twists and turns of the deep marine trenches near <ent type='GPE'>Iceland</ent>
|
||||
at such speeds that they are usually able to lose their trackers.
|
||||
<ent type='NORP'>American</ent> and <ent type='NORP'>British</ent> subs needed a computer program that would allow
|
||||
them to follow every move of a <ent type='NORP'>Soviet</ent> sub and project its course and
|
||||
position; they tried everything available, but no software could
|
||||
follow all the variables quickly enough. Out of curiosity, they ran
|
||||
a test with <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent>--and it worked. So they simply appropriated the
|
||||
program.
|
||||
That, according to the <ent type='PERSON'>Hamiltons</ent>' source, is how the theft got
|
||||
started. But there is actually much more evidence to support
|
||||
another theory of how and why the government started playing games
|
||||
with <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent>.
|
||||
Several different former intelligence agents have told the
|
||||
<ent type='PERSON'>Hamiltons</ent> about various foreign countries that suddenly started
|
||||
using versions of <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent> in the mid-1980s, ranging from <ent type='GPE'>Iraq</ent> to
|
||||
<ent type='GPE'>South Korea</ent>. These governments could use the program not only to
|
||||
track criminals but for complex covert operations and to identify
|
||||
"undesirables"--like revolutionaries. They suggest that the <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent>
|
||||
obtained copies of the <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent> software from <ent type='ORG'>the Justice Department</ent>
|
||||
and sold it to various police and intelligence agencies overseas;
|
||||
once installed, <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent> actually became a high-tech bug, storing
|
||||
secrets of the unsuspecting host government, including intimate
|
||||
details of its internal police operations and intelligence service.
|
||||
<ent type='NORP'>American</ent> agencies could then penetrate and read the software.
|
||||
"It was highly adaptable to tracking information of the kind that
|
||||
intelligence agencies like to track," <ent type='PERSON'>Richardson</ent> says, "and the <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent>
|
||||
adapted it to that purpose. Then, relying on <ent type='PERSON'>Earl Brian</ent>, [they]
|
||||
started peddling it to foreign intelligence agencies."
|
||||
The <ent type='PERSON'>Hamiltons</ent> got the barest inkling of the intelligence
|
||||
implications for the first time last year. On November 5 their
|
||||
daughter <ent type='PERSON'>Patty</ent>, who is a regional sales manager for <ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent>, got a
|
||||
call from <ent type='ORG'>the Department</ent> of Communications in the <ent type='NORP'>Canadian</ent> federal
|
||||
government. They told her that <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent> was widely used in <ent type='GPE'>Canada</ent>--it
|
||||
had been installed in 900 different locations--and he wondered
|
||||
whether she would help fill out a questionnaire about using the
|
||||
software in both English and <ent type='NORP'>French</ent>.
|
||||
This was all news to <ent type='PERSON'>Patty</ent>, since <ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent> had never sold <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent> to
|
||||
anyone in <ent type='GPE'>Canada</ent>. Playing dumb, the <ent type='PERSON'>Hamiltons</ent> filled out the
|
||||
questionnaire. Then, on a business trip to <ent type='GPE'>Montreal</ent> in January,
|
||||
<ent type='PERSON'>Patty</ent> dropped in on <ent type='ORG'>the Department</ent> of Communications for a chat.
|
||||
She asked the officials about the questionnaire and where <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent> was
|
||||
being used. The <ent type='NORP'>Canadian</ent>s checked their codes and told her it was
|
||||
on line with the Royal <ent type='NORP'>Canadian</ent> Mounted Police and with an agency
|
||||
they did not know.
|
||||
Then <ent type='PERSON'>Patty</ent> made an unannounced visit to the responsible official
|
||||
at Mountie HQ, who promptly denied all knowledge of <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent>, and
|
||||
dismissed <ent type='ORG'>the Department</ent> of Communications as a bunch of "kooks."
|
||||
When <ent type='PERSON'>Patty</ent> returned to <ent type='GPE'>Washington</ent>, <ent type='PERSON'>Bill Hamilton</ent> tried to, find out
|
||||
where the <ent type='NORP'>Canadian</ent>s had gotten <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent>, but suddenly everything had
|
||||
changed: <ent type='ORG'>The Department</ent> of Communications begged forgiveness for
|
||||
their error, saying it wasn't the <ent type='LOC'>Mounties</ent> at all but the
|
||||
international development office that was using <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent>. When
|
||||
<ent type='PERSON'>Hamilton</ent> told them the software had never been sold to anybody in
|
||||
<ent type='GPE'>Canada</ent>, they backtracked, apologized once again, and said that, in
|
||||
fact, no one was using it.
|
||||
That's when Michael J. Riconosciuto, a researcher and self-described arms expert, came forward. Riconosciuto had first called
|
||||
<ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent> out of the blue in the spring of 1990, and he has continued
|
||||
to do so from pay phones around the West. He claimed to have worked
|
||||
as research director for a joint venture between the Wackenhut
|
||||
Corporation, the big security outfit, and the <ent type='ORG'>Cabazon</ent> <ent type='NORP'>Indians</ent>, who
|
||||
have a reservation at <ent type='GPE'>Indio</ent>, <ent type='GPE'>California</ent>. The joint venture
|
||||
supposedly manufactured military material, such things as night-vision goggles, machine guns, fuel air explosives, and biological
|
||||
and chemical weapons for foreign governments, including those in the
|
||||
Middle East and <ent type='LOC'>Central America</ent>, and for covert operations of one
|
||||
sort or another. The <ent type='NORP'>contras</ent> were to be a prime market. The
|
||||
<ent type='ORG'>Cabazon</ent> tribe enjoyed quasi-sovereign status, allowing the arms
|
||||
manufacturers to operate outside stringent restrictions on the
|
||||
manufacture of armaments in the rest of <ent type='GPE'>the United States</ent>. As an
|
||||
added sweetener, the <ent type='NORP'>Indians</ent> could take advantage of minority set-aside contracts.
|
||||
Riconosciuto claims, in an affidavit given to <ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent>, to have
|
||||
made modifications on <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent> software provided him by <ent type='PERSON'>Earl Brian</ent> for
|
||||
both the <ent type='NORP'>Canadian</ent> <ent type='LOC'>Mounties</ent> and the <ent type='NORP'>Canadian</ent> Security and
|
||||
Intelligence Service. <ent type='PERSON'>Brian</ent>, he says, was the man who had sold the
|
||||
software to the <ent type='NORP'>Canadian</ent>s. Riconosciuto is currently in prison in
|
||||
<ent type='GPE'>Washington</ent> state awaiting trial on drug charges, and his statement
|
||||
would be of dubious value--except that many of the details do check
|
||||
out independently. For one thing, <ent type='ORG'>the San Francisco Chronicle</ent> ran a
|
||||
series of articles on the <ent type='ORG'>Cabazon</ent> <ent type='NORP'>Indians</ent> last week that seemed to
|
||||
bear out the claims about weapons manufacturing on the reservation.
|
||||
|
||||
BY THIS <ent type='ORG'>TIME</ent> the <ent type='PERSON'>Hamiltons</ent> were pretty sure <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent> had been pirated
|
||||
abroad, and they began to hear stories of <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent> cropping up in all
|
||||
sorts of foreign countries. Ari Ben-Menashe, a former <ent type='NORP'>Israeli</ent>
|
||||
intelligence asset, provided an affidavit that says that in December
|
||||
1982 <ent type='PERSON'>Rafael Eitan</ent>, the <ent type='NORP'>Israeli</ent> government's counterterrorism
|
||||
adviser, told him he had obtained <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent> from <ent type='PERSON'>Earl Brian</ent> and Robert
|
||||
McFarlane, then <ent type='PERSON'>Reagan</ent>'s national security adviser. In 1987 Ben-Menashe said he was at a meeting in <ent type='GPE'>Israel</ent> where <ent type='PERSON'>Brian</ent> said he owned
|
||||
<ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent>. Ben-Menashe said he had been assigned to stop a sale of
|
||||
chemical weapons by <ent type='NORP'>Chilean</ent> arms dealer <ent type='PERSON'>Carlos Cardoen</ent> to <ent type='GPE'>Iraq</ent>.
|
||||
"Mr. <ent type='PERSON'>Carlos Cardoen</ent> ... stated to me that he brokered a deal
|
||||
between Dr. <ent type='PERSON'>Brian</ent> and a representative of <ent type='GPE'>Iraq</ent>i ... military
|
||||
intelligence for the use of <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent>," he recalled.
|
||||
<ent type='PERSON'>Richard Babayan</ent>, an <ent type='GPE'>Iran</ent>ian arms dealer, said in an affidavit
|
||||
that during 1987 he met a member of <ent type='GPE'>Iraq</ent>i intelligence who told him
|
||||
<ent type='GPE'>Iraq</ent> had acquired <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent> from <ent type='PERSON'>Brian</ent> on the recommendation of the
|
||||
<ent type='NORP'>Libyan</ent> government. He went on to say he was told by an official of
|
||||
<ent type='ORG'>the Korea Development Corporation</ent>, which he said was a front for the
|
||||
<ent type='NORP'>Korean</ent> <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent> that <ent type='PERSON'>Brian</ent> had sold <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent> to the <ent type='NORP'>Korean</ent>s as well.
|
||||
The <ent type='PERSON'>Hamiltons</ent> also continue to get tips about <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent> popping up
|
||||
all over <ent type='GPE'>the United States</ent>. Although it formally denies using the
|
||||
program, high <ent type='ORG'>Justice</ent> Department officials have told the <ent type='PERSON'>Hamiltons</ent>
|
||||
that <ent type='ORG'>FBI</ent> officials had admitted the software in their field offices
|
||||
is a renamed version of <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent>.
|
||||
The possibility of <ent type='PERSON'>Promis</ent> being employed as an espionage tool is
|
||||
given further credence by the curiously disinterested attitude of
|
||||
government in getting to the bottom of the <ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent> mess. <ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent>
|
||||
itself has been unable to obtain subpoena power from the courts
|
||||
except for a brief period last spring, but those subpoenas were
|
||||
frustrated when the <ent type='ORG'>Appeals</ent> court threw out the case just as the
|
||||
deadline for <ent type='ORG'>Justice</ent> to turn over the documents approached. Senator
|
||||
<ent type='PERSON'>Sam Nunn</ent>'s <ent type='ORG'>Senate</ent> Permanent Investigations subcommittee conducted an
|
||||
investigation, but received little cooperation from <ent type='ORG'>Justice</ent>.
|
||||
<ent type='GPE'>Texas</ent> congressman <ent type='PERSON'>Jack Brooks</ent>'s judiciary committee has been
|
||||
looking into the affair for the last two years, but only issued
|
||||
subpoenas last July. <ent type='ORG'>Brooks</ent> is believed to have interviewed <ent type='PERSON'>Meese</ent>
|
||||
and his friends. According to the <ent type='PERSON'>Hamiltons</ent>, the files of the
|
||||
<ent type='ORG'>Justice</ent> Department's chief litigating attorney on the case have
|
||||
disappeared.
|
||||
|
||||
UNLIKE THE MURKY October Surprise scandal or the compromised
|
||||
congressional investigations into <ent type='GPE'>Iran</ent>-contra, the facts in the
|
||||
<ent type='PERSON'>Inslaw</ent> case are clear. <ent type='ORG'>Emerging</ent> from a low-level bankruptcy court,
|
||||
they paint a virtually indisputable case of corporate theft,
|
||||
political corruption, and the very real possibility of international
|
||||
espionage. The issue goes straight to <ent type='ORG'>the White House</ent> and involves
|
||||
officials at the highest levels of <ent type='ORG'>the Justice Department</ent> in what
|
||||
appears to be a deliberate campaign of intimidation, theft, and
|
||||
corruption. By now, that ought to have led to a serious
|
||||
congressional investigation.
|
||||
Unlike <ent type='GPE'>Iran</ent>-contra, no one in this case has pleaded national
|
||||
security as a defense, though that's likely before it's over. But
|
||||
in a sense, it is already too late for that. The facts are too
|
||||
well-delineated. If the opinions of two judges are correct, this
|
||||
case ought to result in criminal indictments of past and present
|
||||
<ent type='ORG'>Justice</ent> officials.
|
||||
As <ent type='PERSON'>Elliot Richardson</ent> says, "Why in the world would this one group
|
||||
of informers ever have come together and cooked up all this stuff?
|
||||
How did they keep it consistent from day to day among themselves as
|
||||
to who told what to whom? There is a hell of a load of stuff
|
||||
they've told to various people, including staffers, journalists, the
|
||||
<ent type='PERSON'>Hamiltons</ent>, me. The picture they paint is relatively coherent and
|
||||
consistent ... and then you add the stonewalling by <ent type='ORG'>the Department</ent>
|
||||
of <ent type='ORG'>Justice</ent>. I have never understood why."
|
||||
|
||||
--
|
||||
daveus rattus
|
||||
|
||||
yer friendly neighborhood ratman
|
||||
|
||||
KOYAANISQATSI
|
||||
|
||||
ko.yan.nis.qatsi (from <ent type='EVENT'>the Hopi Language</ent>) n. 1. crazy life. 2. life
|
||||
in turmoil. 3. life out of balance. 4. life disintegrating.
|
||||
5. a state of life that calls for another way of living.
|
||||
|
||||
</p></xml>
|
||||
Loading…
Add table
Add a link
Reference in a new issue