[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 121 (Thursday, September 30, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1757]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         LEE RULES OUT ASSASSINATION IN SHOOTING INVESTIGATION

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 29, 2004

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I submit the following article for the 
Record:

                 [From the Taiwan News, Aug. 30, 2004]

         Lee Rules Out Assassination in Shooting Investigation

       U.S.-based forensic expert Dr. Henry Lee who was 
     investigating the March 19 shooting of President Chen Shui-
     bian has concluded that the incident was not an assassination 
     attempt.
       Lee, who handed his analysis to a Taiwan government 
     official in the U.S. early yesterday, said that he was unable 
     to issue a conclusive report, but advised that his findings 
     in examining the forensic evidence could help criminal 
     investigators in their own probe.
       ``An important finding on the bullets, one made of copper 
     and the other of lead, is that they both have clear barrel 
     marks,'' Lee said to reporters in New York after he submitted 
     his 130-page report and a CD containing 150 photos to Andrew 
     Hsia, director general of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office 
     in New York, Saturday morning local time.
       ``This means a chance for clearing up the case, as long as 
     (criminal investigators) can find out the right (gun) 
     barrel,'' Lee said. ``This case was not a political 
     assassination because (in such a case) a more powerful weapon 
     than a homemade pistol would have been used,'' he told 
     reporters.
       He further advised that criminal investigators in Taiwan 
     should crackdown on illegal firearms and ``check (the barrel 
     marks) of all seized firearms to find the gun.''
       His findings could also help in locating the factory at 
     which the illegal gun was made, the forensic expert said, 
     adding that he was still uncertain whether or not the two 
     bullets were fired from a single gun or from two guns with 
     the same make of barrel.
       The analysis Lee presented in New York yesterday was the 
     final report following four months of advanced scientific 
     examinations carried out by him and his colleagues.
       According to Lee, his analysis of the evidence had helped 
     him to reach a more precise conclusion regarding the location 
     of the ``hot zone'' area from which the shots were fired.
       He acknowledged that on his trip to Taiwan earlier this 
     year he had had difficulty solving the case because of the 
     shooter's use of a homemade handgun. The chance of clearing 
     the case would be improved once criminal investigation agents 
     could find the gun, Lee said at the time.
       Lee made a three-day trip to Taiwan in April at the 
     invitation of State Public Prosecutor General Lu Ren-fa, who 
     had hoped to solve the case before his retirement in 
     September.
       Speaking with reporters in New York, Lee stressed that his 
     investigation was free of any political influence. ``We'll 
     let the evidence speak (for itself),'' he said. ``The report 
     is presented according to evidence and has nothing to do with 
     political disputes or (the shooter's) motive, neither is it 
     involved with the ongoing criminal investigation,'' he said.
       He further noted that it would be better if the details of 
     his analysis were published by Lu or by the Taiwan criminal 
     investigative authorities.
       Lee sealed the report before presenting it to Hsia, who is 
     responsible for delivering it to Taipei. Prosecutor General 
     Lu is anticipating that he would receive the document today.
       Commenting on the ``truth commission'' proposed by the 
     opposition parties in Taiwan to conduct an independent probe 
     into the incident, Lee said that he hopes ``the committee 
     will examine the truth (found by forensic evidence) and give 
     the criminal investigators more room to solve the case.''

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