-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.aci.net/kalliste/ <A HREF="http://www.aci.net/kalliste/">The Home Page of J. Orlin Grabbe</A> ----- Impeachment Watch Impeachment Trial More Likely after Evasive Clinton Angers House The White House sweats PRESIDENT CLINTON'S evasive answers last week to 81 questions about the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal may have cost him the sympathy of members of the House of Representatives. Fears were voiced that Mr Clinton's refusal to admit that he had lied to a grand jury might mean that the House will narrowly favour his impeachment for perjury. This could come within a fortnight after what seems a certain House Judiciary Committee vote to oust the President. Orrin Hatch, the Senate judiciary committee chairman, is a Utah Mormon Republican and once offered to go easy on Mr Clinton if he told the full truth. But he is now lobbying Republican leaders to prepare for a trial. For the first time Trent Lott, the Senate Republican leader, is mentioning the possibility of a trial. He has been silent on the issue for most of the year. Senate rules state that William H Rehnquist, the Chief Justice, would preside over a trial beginning at 1pm the day after senators receive the article, and would continue in session until a judgment was reached. The general feeling is that, as happened in 1868 when Andrew Jackson escaped impeachment, the Senate would eventually bury the idea. However, in swiftly moving developments yesterday it became clear that there is singular alarm at the White House, where aides warned wavering Democrats to hold the line, saying that a trial could paralyse the country. More alarm was expressed by the New York Democratic congressman Charles Schumer, who has just won a Senate seat and sits on the crucial House Judiciary Committee. He said a full House vote might be inevitable. Republicans say that if necessary Mr Clinton could field witnesses for his defence at next Tuesday's hearing. A debate would ensue, with the party's line being to hand the impeachment issue to the full House. Just what would happen in a full House debate is a nail-biter. Republican head-counters have identified only five of their House members dead set against impeachment. But with at least three Democrats inclined to vote for impeachment, the President would need a minimum of 14 of the 228 House Republicans to rescue him. The London Telegraph, Dec. 5, 1998 Technology to China Dept. of Justice Investigates CIA in Satellite Case Hughes Electronics in the line of fire The Justice Department has initiated a criminal probe of the CIA to determine whether the agency obstructed justice when it provided information to Hughes Electronics Corp. about the scope of an ongoing congressional investigation into the transfer of sensitive U.S. space technology to China, according to senior federal government officials. High-ranking CIA officials, including the agency's general counsel, have agreed to testify next week before a federal grand jury in Washington about information provided earlier this year to Hughes, which has supplied the CIA with satellites and sophisticated communications equipment for decades. Government sources say the CIA provided information to Hughes about the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's technology transfer investigation that might have enabled the firm to anticipate the moves of congressional investigators. The Justice Department initiated the obstruction probe at the request of the Senate committee, sources said. The committee became alarmed after learning that the CIA had informed Hughes of names of company officials that the agency had previously supplied to the committee to assist in its investigation, sources said. A CIA spokesman said the agency is fully cooperating in the obstruction probe. Another CIA official, speaking on background, acknowledged that the agency may have erred in providing certain information to Hughes. But the information was turned over in the normal course of business between the agency and one of its major classified contractors with no intention of interfering with the investigation, the official said. The CIA official also stressed that agency employees who shared information to Hughes did so in their official capacities with approval of their superiors, not as individuals acting on their own. The official said that some of what the CIA gave Hughes pertained to the investigations precisely because there was no intent to hide anything, and that agency officials informed the committee of their communications with Hughes. Hughes spokesman Richard Dore said, "Hughes has not been provided information by the CIA regarding the details of federal criminal investigations involving Hughes." Much of the information provided by the CIA to Hughes is contained in CIA documents subpoenaed by the Senate and by federal investigators conducting a parallel probe into the transfer of U.S. technology to China, sources said. Hughes and Loral Space & Communications Ltd. are under investigation by the Justice Department and two congressional committees for their role in transferring technology to the Chinese after Hughes and Loral satellites were destroyed in two Chinese rocket explosions. Government sources said it is highly unusual for the Justice Department to investigate a fellow federal agency -- particularly one as sensitive and secretive as the CIA -- for possible obstruction of justice. Sources said the matter began this fall when a CIA analyst specializing in Chinese technology, Ronald Pandolfi, was called to the Senate committee and told staff members that he had concluded in 1995 that Hughes had been too aggressive in marketing high-technology equipment in China. At the time, according to an account from several sources, Pandolfi conducted interviews with Hughes executives about their work in China, causing Hughes to complain angrily to the CIA that he was operating outside of customary channels. The CIA office that regularly deals with Hughes reprimanded Pandolfi, who, after being summoned by the committee, in September laid out a set of accusations against the firm, sources said. Aware of Pandolfi's views, the CIA gave Hughes a heads-up about his discussion with the committee and offered to supply the panel with the names of Hughes executives who might explain the disagreement, sources said. Meanwhile, in a related development of concern to federal investigators, the House select committee looking into the transfer of sensitive U.S. space technology to China has indicated that it wants to grant immunity to certain Hughes employees from future prosecution based on information they would provide to Congress. One federal government source said that some of those employees are subjects of the Justice Department probe. Federal investigators are concerned by the prospect because congressional immunization can complicate any attempt to prosecute those individuals on any future charges. In one celebrated instance, former White House aide Oliver North had his federal conviction in the Iran-contra scandal overturned after arguing that witnesses who testified against him may have relied on some of the immunized testimony he supplied Congress. The controversy involving Hughes is rooted in its practice, shared by other aerospace firms, of launching commercial communications satellites atop Chinese rockets because they are much less expensive than Western launchers, particularly the market-leading French Ariane launcher. Hughes also works closely with the CIA and the National Reconnaissance Office designing and manufacturing truck-sized satellites that eavesdrop on earth from 22,000 miles in space. The firm, in the elite of trusted contractors for the U.S. intelligence community, has had intimate ties with the CIA for decades, since the time the company was run by swashbuckling aviation pioneer Howard Hughes. It's not known whether U.S. government officials believe Hughes's communications with Chinese authorities in 1995 about space technology harmed U.S. security in any way. But Air Force intelligence officials have concluded that Loral's transfer of data in 1996 may have hurt U.S. national security by helping the Chinese to improve their ballistic missiles. In both cases, the companies' disclosure of technical data followed failed launches of China's balky Long March rockets carrying the firms' satellites into space. In January 1996 a Long March rocket lifting off from a remote mountainous site in southwestern China exploded, destroying the Hughes satellite aboard and raining down fiery metal that killed dozens of villagers. Chinese space officials, traditionally defensive and close-mouthed, blamed the Hughes satellite, saying it had caused the explosion. Western space executives scoffed at the accusation. The Chinese stance presented a quandary for Hughes, since the firm wanted to remain in favor with China's space program as a cheap launch alternative. But Hughes officials privately explained to some in the U.S. space community that the Long March rocket was responsible for the accident. The Chinese "became unglued" at what it viewed as Hughes's audacity, an industry official said. Amid the recriminations, Hughes sought and received Commerce Department approval to review with the Chinese some of its findings about the explosion's cause. Pentagon officials are supposed to monitor such contacts to ensure U.S. engineers don't disclose information that could help China design more capable ballistic missiles. But in this case, military monitors kept tabs only peripherally on Hughes's talks with the Chinese, sources said. The Justice Department probe focuses on whether Hughes misled Commerce about how much data it planned to give the Chinese, and whether Hughes disclosed more than Commerce had approved. The company has insisted it provided the Chinese only vague information that could not possibly have harmed U.S. security. Loral is under investigation for its activities following the destruction of one of its satellites in the February 1996 explosion of a Long March rocket. U.S. officials say the explosion killed more than 200 villagers in a torrent of burning rocket fuel. Because of China's record of misstatements following past Long March failures, insurance industry executives who had insured the $85 million Loral satellite demanded that Western space officials investigate the cause of the mishap. Loral headed the panel, and its members included Hughes representatives. In May 1996, a Loral staff member on the panel faxed the Chinese a copy of its after-accident report. Loral superiors informed the State Department immediately about the disclosure, saying it was the result of a subordinate's inattention to security rules. Loral, too, insists the data couldn't have helped China build better missiles. The Washington Post, Dec. 5, 1998 US vs. Europe Rubin vs. Lafontaine WASHINGTON - Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, heading into talks Friday with the new leftist German finance minister, Oskar Lafontaine, praised Europe's help in spurring global economic growth. But few other signs of agreement emerged from the talks. Mr. Rubin rejected Mr. Lafontaine's proposals for shifting the political balance within the International Monetary Fund and fended off the view that Europe should be given a stronger voice within the Group of Seven leading industrial nations. ''The Europeans have contributed very constructively in what has been a very complicated set of issues over the last year,'' Mr. Rubin said, ''most recently with their bilateral contribution to the support package for Brazil.'' Twenty industrial countries, including the United States, Germany, Britain and France, will provide $14.5 billion to a $41.5 billion rescue package for Brazil pulled together by the International Monetary Fund last month. Mr. Lafontaine indicated that Mr. Rubin rejected the new German government's view, shared by some other governments in Europe, that the IMF's policy-making Interim Committee should be granted more power. Mr. Lafontaine said he believed it was ''well worth considering'' the idea of giving more power to the committee, a group of ministers that meets twice a year, as proposed by the IMF managing director, Michel Camdessus. Mr. Lafontaine also said Mr. Rubin had urged him to consult other Group of Seven members on European nations' demands to bolster their voice in the group. ''Mr. Rubin said we should do some more coordination on this with the Canadians and the Japanese,'' Mr. Lafontaine said after a closed-door meeting with the U.S. Treasury secretary. There is some concern about increasing the number of participants at G-7 meetings, he added. The 11 countries preparing for the introduction next month of a single European currency proposed a plan this week to give the currency bloc its own voice at G-7 meetings - in addition to the seats occupied by individual countries in the European Union. The Group of Seven comprises the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada. Of those, Germany, France and Italy are set to take part in the single currency. Washington has indicated its resistance to such proposals, insisting that any change would have to be agreed upon unanimously. Mr. Lafontaine said there had been no discussion of interest rates in his meeting with Mr. Rubin on Friday, the day after coordinated rate cuts across Europe. For months, the Clinton administration had been urging Europe to do more to propel global growth. On Thursday, the central banks of Germany and France cut the rates at which they do most of their lending to banks to 3 percent from 3.30 percent. Minutes later, the other 11 countries participating in the single currency also reduced benchmark rates. Mr. Lafontaine also was scheduled to meet with Mr. Camdessus, the IMF managing director, and the president of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, on Friday. Also on Friday, Hans Tietmeyer, the president of the Bundesbank, said that U.S. and European economies remained robust. But he said new risks and uncertainties posed by global developments were beginning to slow growth in industrialized economies. ''In recent weeks the financial markets have at least calmed down a little,'' Mr. Tietmeyer said in the text of a speech to be delivered at a conference in Luxembourg. ''The world financial crisis, which many people predicted, looks unlikely to occur at the moment.'' Referring to the round of coordinated interest rate cuts, Mr. Tietmeyer said the move was a response to both the monetary situation and overall economic conditions. He also reiterated that Europe had largely managed to achieve price stability. Internatonal Herald Tribune, Dec. 5, 1998 Land of Mochtar Riady Suharto Faces Arrest and Probe into Financial Dealings The perils of being an ex-President Indonesia's former President Suharto could be put under house arrest while he is questioned about his wealth and that of his family and associates, the president's spokesman said yesterday. The attorney-general, Andi Ghalib, said the former president, who has been a recluse in his house in central Jakarta for much of the past six months, might be interrogated next week. President B.J. Habibie told Mr Ghalib on Thursday to speed up his investigation, echoing a request by parliament and going some way to meet student protesters' demands for an immediate trial. Diplomats said Mr Habibie and General Wiranto, commander of the armed forces, appeared ready to break a secret agreement reached earlier with Mr Suharto that he would not be prosecuted if he stepped down from the presidency. But they doubted Mr Habibie was willing to go far in this investigation, which could spread to his own business interests. Some suggested he might instead be using the investigation to warn Mr Suharto against trying to undermine his government. There are suggestions from diplomats and Indonesian analysts that Mr Suharto or some of his associates may have paid groups of demonstrators to run riot in recent weeks, a traditional practice in Indonesian power struggles, either to block the elections planned for next year or just to warn Mr Habibie of the havoc they could create if corruption probes go too far. Recent clashes with the military have only roused students to a new wave of protests, however, and emboldened Mr Habibie to tighten the screws on Mr Suharto and his family. Newspapers reported yesterday that Martiono Hadianto, the director-general for customs at the finance ministry, had demanded $452m in unpaid import duties and sales taxes from Timor Putra Nasional, the car company owned by Mr Suharto's youngest son. Yesterday Mr Martiono was appointed president of the state oil company Pertamina, long a source of cash for Mr Suharto and his associates. Mr Martiono, a Habibie protégé, is the first outsider to head Pertamina. He is expected to step up efforts to clean up the company. Mr Martiono takes over from Soegianto, who had been slow to cancel contracts with the Suharto family and introduce tenders for new contractors. When Mr Soegianto did cancel crude import contracts with two companies of the Suharto family earlier this autumn, employees of these companies won new contracts. Newspapers also reported that a state-owned coal company had ended two coal-mining contracts with Mr Suharto's eldest daughter, Siti Hardianti Rukmana, and one close associate. The ministry for public works yesterday told a toll road company owned by Ms Hardianti that it wanted a higher share of toll revenues. The Financial Times, Dec. 5, 1998 ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. 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