Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Sen. Clinton questioned on pardons ■ Former first lady denies knowledge of brother's actions by John Solomon Associated Press WASHINGTON — Awash in controversy, Sea Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday, “I did not have any involvement in the pardons that were granted or not granted” by her husband just before he left office. At a crowded news conference, the former first lady said she didn’t know that her brother, Hugh Rodham, had lobbied on behalf of two men who sought relief from Bill Clinton in the waning days of his presidency. She added she was “very disappointed” to have learned Rodham had been paid $400,000 to do so. She also said she had no prior knowledge that her campaign treasurer had helped prepare official papers for other pardon-seekers. With the controversy swirling, Mrs. Clinton was driven to Capitol Hill from her new home a few miles away for an attempt at damage control. Without any opening remarks, she invited reporters to question her. They did, and she remained composed throughout, at one point addressing a reporter as “my dear.” Mrs. Clinton turned aside questions about the pardon decisions her husband had made, telling reporters they should address those issues with him and his staff. She specifically declined to answer when asked whether he should agree to appear voluntarily before congressional committees looking into the pardons. The former first lady said she had heard rumors last week about her brother’s involvement, but didn’t follow them up. She said she learned definitively about his role Monday night, while she was at the movies. She said she was “heartbroken and shocked ... and extremely disappointed.” She said she hadn’t spoken to her brother since — and doesn’t want to. The pardon controversy has plagued her husband’s departure from office and shadowed the beginning of her term as a newly elected Democratic senator from New York. The twin disclosures also opened up a new area for congressional investigators. They, as well as federal prosecutors in New York, were already looking into a controversy over Clinton’s pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich and his business partner. The Associated Press learned Thursday that Mrs. Clinton’s campaign treasurer, William Cunningham IE, helped obtain last-minute pardons for two convicted felons. Cunningham is a law partner of longtime Clinton adviser Harold Ickes, and said Ickes referred two Arkansas pardon-seekers, both Republicans, to him about a week before Bill Clinton left oflice on Jan. 20. “Harold does not do this kind of work, and we are partners, so Harold contacted me and asked if I would speak with them,” Cunningham told AP in an interview. “I told them I would be happy to review the paperwork and submit the applications.” Cunningham said his and Ickes’ firm was paid just $4,000 for the work of preparing and sending the applications to the Justice Department. He said neither contacted the White House nor discussed the pardons with Hillary Clinton or the former president. Cunningham said he didn’t believe his role as Mrs. Clinton’s treasurer during her Senate campaign had any effect on the ex-president’s decision, “My connection is really with Senator Clinton andnot the president,” Cunningham said. “These applications really cried out on the merits that these are the folks who should be pardoned, and the fact that their request was assembled by me really operates independently,” he said U.N. tribunal convicts 3 Serbs of rape, torture BY J.EROME SOCOLOVSKY Associated Pufess THE HAGUE, Netherlands - A U.N. war crimes tribunal Thursday convicted three Bosnian Serbs standing trial on charges of rape and torture, the first case of wartime sexual enslavement to come before an international court. The tribunal convicted Dragoljub Kunarac and Radomir Kovac of sexually assaulting and torturing Muslim women at rape camps during the Bosnian war. Kunaric was sentenced to 28 years imprisonment, and Kovac got 20 years. The court said Kunarac was involved in a “nightmarish scheme of sexual exploitation” that was “especially repugnant.” “You abused and ravaged Muslim women because of their ethnicity, and from among their number you picked whomsoever you fancied,” said the presiding judge, reading the first verdict. The third defendant, Zoran Vukovic, was convicted of raping and torturing a 15-year-old girl but acquitted of most other charges for lack of evidence. He was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment. Presiding judge Florence Mumba went through the testimony of woman after woman who had given horrendous accounts of rape and torture in the Bosnian town of Foca, a city southeast of Sarajevo, after it was overrun in April 1992, when Muslims were herded into separate prison camps for men and women. The women, both in their testimony and in the verdict, were identified by ‘You abused and ravaged Muslim women because of their ethnicity, and from among their number you picked whomever you fancied.’ Florence Mumba Presiding judge numbers rather than names to avoid further shame. The defendants stood in silence, wearing headphones as the judgment was read in somber tones. Dirk Ryneveld, the lead prosecutor in the case, welcomed the verdicts and commended “the bravery of the victims who came forward to tell their stories.” Peggy Kuo, another prosecutor, said “the length of the sentences shows that the court takes these kinds of crimes seriously.” Mumba said the defendants carried out their rape in full knowledge of the systematic attack against the Muslim population ordered by the Bosnian Serb leadership. They were not “political or military masterminds behind the conflicts and atrocities,” she said. “However, they thrived in the dark atmosphere of the dehumanization of those believed to be enemies.” The verdict in the case follows months of testimony from dozens of witnesses, including 16 former rape victims who came to The Hague to confront their alleged former tormentors. The trial began March 20. The women told how Bosnian Serb paramilitary soldiers entered detention centers and selected women and girls as young as 12 for nightly gang-rapes and sexual torture. They were charged with about 50 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including rape, torture, enslavement and outrages upon personal dignity. The crimes carried maximum life sentences. The tribunal was established by the U.N. Security Council in 1993 to go after the alleged architects of the Bosnian war’s bloody “ethnic cleansing” campaigns, including the former Bosnian Serb president, Radovan Karadzic, and his military chief, Ratko Mladic, who remain at large. Prosecutors indicted the three irregular soldiers to spotlight the widespread use of rape as a weapon throughout the 1992-1995 war. - you know that little voice inside that says "I can't"? this summer, [crush if]. • Bring your “can-do” attitude to Camp Challenge. Where you'll get paid to learn how to become a leader and acquire skills that’ll help you meet the challenges you’ll face in your career. Apply today at the Army ROTC department, with no obligation. Before that voice tells you to take a vacation. ARIVIYROIC Unlike any other college course you can take. Contact Major Tony Barber, Legare College on the Horseshoe 777-3639 Russian minister urges discussion of missile defense by Deborah Seward Associated Press MOSCOW — Setting the tone for Russia’s first direct contact with the Bush administration, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Thursday the time had come for serious dialogue with the United States on missile defense and other nuclear issues. At a news conference two days before he meets Secretary of State Colin Powell for the fiist time, Ivanov said the world political climate depends on relations between the United States and Russia “We are in the mood for the most active dialogue at all levels, starting with the highest level... on the entire range of issues in Russian-American relations,” Ivanov said. Ivanov refused to comment on the arrest this week of Robert Philip Hanssen, a career FBI agent who was chaiged with spying for Russia, saying he thought the U.S.-Russia agenda was sismificantlv hrnarler than that issue. Powell and Ivanov will meet Feb. 24 in Cairo. Ivartov said the meeting place was chosen because both diplomats had plans to be in the Middle East at the same time. A chillwind has been blowing between Washington and Moscow since Bush took office last month, with U.S. officials accusing Russia of trying to revive its Soviet ambitions and selling missile technology to countries like North Korea and Iran. Ivanov’s measured, almost bland assessment of U.S.-Russian relations contrasts with the tough talk from Defense Ministry and Kremlin officials who in recent weeks have accused officials in Washington of maligning Russia’s reputation. Saying U.S.-Russian relations had “significant potential in guaranteeing international security,” Ivanov added that “we realize perfectly well that, to a great extent, the world climate depends on just how relations with the Russia and the United States take shape.” The agenda for Saturday’s meeting includes missile defense, NATO expansion, the Middle East, Iraq, the Balkans and other issues, in no particular order, Ivanov said. But it is missile defense that is likely to be the hottest question. Russia opposes U.S. plans to develop a national missile defense system* and this week presented NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson with an outline for a non-strategic missile defense proposal for Europe to counter the American initiative. Ivanov repeated the standing Russian argument that a U.S. missile defense program would violate the 1972 ABM treaty and destroy global strategic stability. “If we pull out one of the links of such a security structure, then it could fall apart,” Ivanov said. Tvannv 'nrnnncpH hnlHinar multilateral talks to assess the threats that have prompted the United States to consider developing its own missile shield. “I think the whole issue of START and ABM that we put together under • the term strategic stability requires very serious dialogue with the participation of the United States and other states concerned — European and China,” he said “Even the strongest world power cannot solve such problems alone,” Ivanov said. “Historical experience shows that. We propose finding joint paths. ” He also proposed holding talks on developing a global system of control of rockets and rocket technology. ~ "■* t ’ ; ' 1 V MITSUBISHI ; motors WUEilSEl^SttiEuftlflkgzsBtS^R wake up and driver | World Briefs ■ More than 100 dead after violence in Indonesia JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) Gangs carried the severed heads of their victims through a Borneo island town where more than 100 people * have died in brutal ethnic violence this week. Security forces on Thursday patrolled Sampit in Central Kalimantan province, the Indonesian part of Borneo island, where clashes between indigenous Dayaks and migrants from other parts of the country first erupted Sunday. The violence highlights the breakdown of law and order in Indonesia as the archipelago emeiges from more than three decades of authoritarian rule and old ethnic hatreds erupt into bloodshed. President Abdurrahman Wahid left for a two-week trip Thursday to the Middle East and Africa, saying he was not worried about leaving Indonesia mired in a political crisis and ethnic . violence. ■ Sub commander has uncertain future after accident WASHINGTON (AP) - When the Navy needed to strut its stuff, it could count on Cmdr. Scott Wkldle to get the job done, those who know the beleaguered submarine commander say. “He’s the one that’s chosen when they want to send a submarine to show off on Armed Forces Day in some major port in California,” said his friend John Peters, a retired Navy submarine captain. Whddle, 41, now VJU1VV, Ul< VUV1^,«V1U1> Uivw his submarine’s collision with a Japanese fishing and training vessel. Two civilians were at control positions in Waddle’s submarine when the accident occurred. The Navy relieved Waddle as commander of the USS Greeneville after the Feb. 9 accident that sank the Ehime Maru, which was on a one month training cruise with Japanese high school students. ■ India extends Kashmir cease-fire for three months NEW DELHI, India (AP) - India extended its unilateral cease-fire against Islamic separatists in Kashmir for another three months in an effort to boost peace efforts, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said Thursday. The government had decided to extend the cease-fire at a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, but the duration of the extension — until the end of May — was not announced until Thursday in Parliament. • The government first declared the cease-fire in late November to coincide with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. This latest extension was the third.