[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 119 (Tuesday, September 14, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10817-S10818]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    GRANTING CLEMENCY TO TERRORISTS

  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I had been presiding and listened intently 
to the debate that has been taking place. I have a couple of thoughts 
which I think have not been addressed.
  For one thing, we recognize that this has to have been politically 
inspired, that you do not offer clemency to known terrorists without 
some type of motivation to do so. If one has been watching the media 
and if one has been listening to this debate, one has to come to the 
conclusion that it was politically motivated. There can be no doubt 
about that. Of course, there are a lot of Puerto Ricans in the United 
States and in some of the States such as New York, New Jersey, and 
Florida, perhaps, who could determine the outcome of a vote. So we have 
politicians catering to them.
  I suggest to you, Mr. President, that while this is onerous enough, 
this is not happening in a vacuum because at the same time people are 
going after this voting block by offering clemency, something else is 
going on right now, something that not many people are aware of, and 
that is, for the last 57 years we have been able to use an island 
called Vieques off the shores of Puerto Rico as a bombing range, as an 
amphibious training base. This is classified and characterized by the 
Navy, as well as the ground troops, as an imperative area for our 
training and our readiness.
  I guess what I am saying is, there is no place else in the Western 
Hemisphere we can use for this kind of training. It is high-altitude 
bombing training and also amphibious training. What this also means is 
when we are about to deploy a ship such as the U.S.S. Eisenhower they 
will not be able to train because of a moratorium on training on 
Vieques.
  How does that relate to this subject at hand? It relates directly in 
that the reason we are having problems with the range which we have 
used successfully for 57 years and which is an imperative part of our 
state of readiness is that it is unique, but they have stopped us from 
doing it through a moratorium because of the people of the island of 
Vieques. There are only 9,000 residents on this island who are saying, 
all of a sudden: Well, we decided we don't want to have bombing on the 
far end of this island.
  This island is over 20 miles long. The bombing range is way over on 
one side. There is a buffer zone in between that is a national park on 
which we have spent literally millions of dollars to satisfy that 
handful of people who want us to abandon the range.
  What do we have going on right now? We have people who are running 
for high office--and I do not think there is any reason to mention who 
they are at this time--going in and holding press conferences in Puerto 
Rico, saying: We want to stop the bombing that is taking place on this 
range; we want to deactivate the range.
  Those individuals who are running for office in Puerto Rico are going 
one step further. Right now, there are four groups of protesters. These 
protesters are down on the firing range, walking around where there are 
live ordnances on the ground, picking them up, throwing them around, 
and someone is going to get killed. Consequently, having witnessed 
this, when I came back I wrote a letter and made a phone call to Janet 
Reno, our Attorney General, to insist she apply the law to these 
trespassers to stop them from doing that.
  I do not know what her motivation is, but she refuses to do it, and 
she is selectively interpreting and enforcing the law. I suggest that 
the Senator from Utah was correct when he said the Attorney General is 
asleep at the switch while the White House is running the Justice 
Department. We are allowing the White House to run the Justice 
Department insofar as clemency is being offered to these terrorists, 
but also running the Justice Department by not enforcing the law in 
getting these people out of harm's way.
  I can stand on the Senate floor today and say that I believe someone 
is going to be killed, and when that someone is killed, it is going to 
be the fault of our Attorney General and her boss, the President, 
because they are selectively not enforcing the law at this time.
  While it is bad enough we allow terrorists to go unpunished--we turn 
them loose on society; we somehow fall into this mindset that 
punishment is not a deterrent to crime for political purposes--it is 
even worse, in my opinion, to take away the one thing that is 
necessary, the most significant, an important training area, from our 
military in order to prepare to defend America.
  So I think this thing has gone far enough, and I do believe it is 
politically inspired. I do believe that was the reason for the offer of 
clemency. I do believe that is the reason so many politicians right now 
are saying: Fine, we'll go ahead and close the range.
  One last thing on the range. I know this message will get out to the 
right places when I say it. It is true that the people and the citizens 
of the island of Puerto Rico would like to have this range deactivated. 
But they also at the same time want to keep our facilities that are so 
significant in making contributions to their economies, such as 
Roosevelt Roads.
  As chairman of the Readiness Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on 
Armed Services, I went out and told them I am going to do everything 
within my power--if they deactivate this range; and are successful in 
doing this, through the White House and the President's efforts--to do 
what we can to move those functions that take place in Roosevelt Roads, 
to deactivate that and bring those back to various installations in the 
United States that are only partially utilized.
  So that is going out as a warning. I think it is time we take this 
whole thing very seriously and try, just for a while, to get politics 
out of this process which we have been discussing.
  Lastly, yes, it is significant. We are talking about a President who 
has offered clemency to a bunch of people, some terrorists, who have 
inflicted crime on American citizens. When you stop and think about how 
the young people of America are looking at this and saying, ``Well, I 
guess there's not anything wrong with participating in this kind of 
activity,'' this is morally wrong, and it should be stopped.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. CRAIG addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Idaho.
  Mr. CRAIG. I ask unanimous consent to speak up to 5 minutes in 
morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, the other morning on the ``Today'' show--
which many of us wake up and listen to as it relates to the morning 
news or the late-breaking events--there was a Puerto Rican terrorist 
who the day before had just been released from prison under the 
clemency that President Clinton had granted him.
  During that interview, he was consistently asked if he was 
remorseful, if he was concerned about the lives of American law 
enforcement officers that had been taken by him and other terrorists 
such as himself. In all instances, he did not answer.
  He went on to speak of the cause and the movement and why 
independence was more important than anything else--independence as it 
relates to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, not his personal 
independence. But never once did he speak in any tone that would 
suggest he was sorry, only that he was glad to be free. I think anyone 
who had been imprisoned by a court and found guilty would want that.
  I listened to him and grew increasingly more angry--and I must use 
that word ``anger''--at a President who is at this instant once again 
trying to have it both ways on an issue that I know the Presiding 
Officer and I are very concerned about--and that is the misuse of 
second amendment rights in our country by citizens of our country. And 
oh, by the way, that Puerto Rican terrorist is an American citizen, is 
a citizen of the United States by birth in the Commonwealth of Puerto 
Rico. He was not a foreigner who knew nothing about our law; he was an 
American citizen who violated a Federal firearms statute.

  When I say I speak with a certain amount of anger in me that we have 
a President who is living up to his double standard reputation once 
again in the twilight days of his administration, he is coming to the 
American people and saying: Give me more Federal firearms laws so I can 
enforce them and make the streets of America safer. If we have

[[Page S10818]]

heard it once, we have heard it five times from the bully pulpit of the 
White House in the last 6 months: And oh, by the way, to all you 
Americans who did not catch my sleight of hand, I want to release a 
bunch of terrorists who were accused and found guilty of violating 
Federal firearms laws and give them clemency.
  Mr. President, the American people and this Congress are simply not 
that dumb. We know you live a double standard and that you speak it 
oftentimes for political purposes. And on this one you got caught. But, 
because of the power of the office, you moved ahead and done it anyway.
  For that I am sorry and wish we could pull that back. But at least, 
as a Senate, we can speak loudly, as the House did, and force this 
President to be honest with the American people, if not for just a 
moment because he has not been honest with us.
  So, Mr. President, if you want to offer clemency, when somebody is 
found guilty of the misuse of Federal firearms laws, then do not come 
to this Senator or this Senate and ask for more Federal firearms laws 
with which you can play.
  I find myself on the floor more often than I would like defending the 
second amendment. But I find it necessary and responsible as a Senator 
who takes an oath of office to uphold our Constitution because I 
believe the second amendment is, in fact, a constitutional right in 
this country. But I have been very cautious in directing or steering 
the Senate in the crafting of new Federal firearms laws to make sure 
that we do not take away from those fundamental constitutional rights, 
and yet the President wants sweeping new power in those areas and then 
wants to arbitrarily and politically decide when to forgive and forget.
  Sorry, Mr. President, this time you do not get it both ways. Fool me 
once, my fault; fool me twice, no, I think not. That is what is 
happening. I am glad the American people have finally caught on.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative assistant proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. HUTCHINSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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