Homeless Couple Gets Help
The FBI videotape's revelation that incendiary tear gas canisters were used
at Waco with the knowledge of at least two of its agents there and the
political fallout this is generating leads at USA Today ,
the Los
Angeles Times and the Washington Post . The New York Times
fronts a story about tension between Janet Reno and Louis Freeh (ditto the
WP ) but leads instead with an evergreen: the failure of an American
diplomatic mission (led by Madeleine Albright) to produce a peace accord
between the Palestinians and Israel, a story that is fronted at the LAT
and WP . The sticking point du jour is how many Palestinians in Israeli
jails should be released. Israel is willing to spring 350, but the Palestinians
want another 50 the Israelis are saying no to.
USAT's lead mainly dwells on the imminent outside investigation of
Waco, saying that its honcho could be named as early as today and that
candidates include two Republican ex-senators. The WP has this as well.
But the Post and especially the LAT focus instead on wringing significance from the
videotape released yesterday by the DOJ. The WP says it shows a "hurried
and seemingly casual decision" arrived at by the then-head of the FBI's hostage
rescue team, Richard Rogers, in a discussion with a subordinate to allow one of
the team members to use incendiary military tear gas cartridges against an
underground shelter near the main compound building. The Post notes that
in a subsequent FBI account of the Waco assault, Rogers made no mention of the
incendiary rounds. The LAT adds that when in an appearance before
Congress, then-FBI director William Sessions testified that his agents did not
use any flammable munitions at Waco, Rogers was sitting behind him. The
Post adds that in court documents, FBI officials stated that no
videotape existed covering the phase of the operation when, it turns out,
Rogers' directive was issued. Rogers, the LAT reminds, was later removed
from his hostage team job, because of his role at the Ruby Ridge, Idaho
standoff the year before Waco in which an unarmed woman was killed by a sniper
under Rogers' command.
The LAT raises another interesting point: Did senior DOJ and FBI
officials in the Washington command center listening to "sporadic" radio
communications from Waco hear the conversation on the videotape? The paper
quotes Carl Stern, then Reno's press spokesman, who was at the command center
that day, as saying that he does not recall hearing it.
There is much discussion in the stories about how these revelations have
hurt the credibility of federal law enforcement. But somebody else's
credibility takes a hit too: the media's. It's a little hard to believe that if
dozens and dozens of children of a fringe-left group had died in similar
circumstances, the mainstream media would have left the story to a documentary
filmmaker.
A WP front-pager reports that George W. Bush vowed yesterday that if
elected president, he would strip federal funding from failing public schools
and give the money to parents for tutors or to help them transfer their kids to
other schools, including private ones. The NYT and LAT run the
story inside. The coverage notes that Bush never used the word "voucher."
The Wall Street Journal reports a new finding in the unraveling
Russian funds scandal: hundreds of corporate and individual bank accounts at
dozens of banks around the world are now suspected of receiving parts of the
estimated $10 billion that is missing. On some days, some of these accounts,
says the paper, received transfers of more than $100 million.
The NYT goes top-front with word that President Clinton and Hillary
Clinton have signed a contract to buy a $1.7 million, 11-room colonial home in
Chappaqua, New York. They will close in November. The Times runs the
item under a nice headline, WITH SOME HELP, CLINTONS PURCHASE A WHITE HOUSE.
The "help" refers to the $1.35 million in collateral President Clinton's chief
fund-raiser, Terry McAuliffe, put up to secure the house loan. The paper quotes
one source as saying that since the Clintons have assets of just over $1
million but legal debts of $5.2 million, "banks were a little bit wary about
providing such a large mortgage without some extra security." The WP
reports that the angel was supposed to be former White House chief of staff
Erskine Bowles, who bowed out at the last minute, to "the consternation of the
Clintons." Isn't it a little surprising that the papers don't mention the
similarity to the way Richard Nixon got his house with a little help from his
rich friends?
The NYT reports that until yesterday afternoon, Ebay was offering for
bidding a "fully functional" human kidney. The opening bid was $25,000 and the
last bid was $5,750,100 before the company ended the auction, no doubt because
trafficking in organs is a felony.
The WP reports that AOL, having reprogrammed its computers to allow
much longer screen-names, has also taken the step of preventing subscribers
from using as their log-ons any of the celebrity names that are now for the
first time technically available. So, the paper explains, no
[email protected] unless you're Him. Today's Papers is reminded of something
it just learned about the NYT online. The paper requires readers to
register with a screen-name, but doesn't require real names. One potential
reader suggested he'd like the screen-name, "IhatetheNYtimes." No, the Electric
Lady told him, that one's already taken. Would you like "IhatetheNYtimes3"?
