8B
Nation/World
Wednesday October 7,1998
President's fate in proposals
Democrats to meet to find new plan for GOP resolution
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — With the House set to begin a historic journey into presidential impeachment, outnumbered Democrats struggled yesterday to craft an alternative to the Republicans' open-ended investigation. The Democrats, facing defections, could not immediately agree on how to limit the time and scope of an inquiry.
House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, scheduled the vote for tomorrow.
Clinton Investigation
The White House, meanwhile, complained the House proceedings were neither fair nor bipartisan.
"There is a certain sense that the die is cast on this issue," Lockhart said, adding that the White House was not yet giving up.
"I can't speak for the Republican caucus but it does appear after watching this for the last month that the leadership is pursuing a strategy for electoral advantage," said White House representative Joe Lockhart.
Later Lockhart said the White House saw little chance now of stopping a House vote in favor of impeachment proceedings.
The Judiciary Committee voted 21-16 Monday night to send the GOP resolution to the full House, which is virtually certain later this week to approve only the third presidential impeachment investigation in the nation's history.
Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., said Democrats will meet again today to discuss options to the GOP resolution. Several members said that beyond trying to win support for a Democratic alternative.
Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., playing a key role in writing an alternative, said his proposal, which lost in committee, would require — before an inquiry begins — a determination of whether the conduct of which Clinton is accused of by investigators is grounds for impeachment.
Democrats clearly have a problem with conservatives in their party. Rep. Charles Stenholm of Texas, who has a tough reelection race, said he supports the Republican resolution.
Republicans have predicted they will get significant Democratic backing in the full House, which has dozens of conservative Democrats not found on the committee.
"Last night's vote was a culmination of a monthlong preconceived political strategy by Republicans in Congress," Lockhart said. "From the day they dumped out the Starr report to subsequent document
dumps with salacious and gratuitous material, they had a strategy, a political strategy, to try to embarrass the president."
While chief Republican investigator David Schippers reported that he found 15 substantial and credible potential grounds for impeachment, not a single committee Democrat budged to support the Republican impeachment resolution. All 21 GOP members voted in favor of the resolution; all 16 Democrats voted against.
The committee's proposal has no time limits and would not be confined to information referred by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr on Clinton's relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
Abbe Lowell, the committee's chief Democratic investigator, concluded in his report that no grounds for impeachment existed. "The president was engaged in an improper relationship which he did not want disclosed ... (that is) the core charge that Mr. Starr suggests triggers this grave constitutional crisis," he told the committee.
Schippers expanded Starr's list of 11 possible impeachable offense to 15, but most of the allegations still revolved around: the truthfulness of Clinton's testimony in the grand jury and the Paula Jones sexual harassment case; whether Clinton tried to obstruct justice to conceal his affair; and whether he tampered with witnesses, trying to enlist Lewinsky, presidential secretary Betty Currie and friend Vernon Jordan, among others, in the concealment effort.
Albright discusses West Bank accord
Secretary of State travels to negotiate peace talks
The Associated Press
JERICHO, West Bank — After inconclusive back-to-back talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said yesterday both sides still had to make tough choices to reach a West Bank accord.
Albright said, as she stood alongside Yasser Arafat in the Palestinian leader's headquarters. "Time is not on our side."
If we don't move quickly we may find ourselves without a process of peacemaking."
Albright  wore matching peace-dove earrings, bracelet and pin, as she gave no indication pesky details, and Israel's
Arafat declined to be drawn out on the security issue.
"Peace means security, peace means freedom," he said.
Albright: Says time is waning to save peace process.
demand for tougher Palestinian measures against terrorism, had been cleared up.
"We recognize there are tough choices that have to be made by both sides as we approach the Washington summit." Albright said of the three-way talks Press Clinton intends to hold later in the
month with Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The aim is an Israeli pullback on the West Bank, the acquisition of more territory for the Palestinians and the start of negotiations over such issues as the future of Jerusalem and Palestinian aspirations for a state.
Whatever the outcome, Albright said the United States intends to pursue a better relationship with the Palestinian Authority.
She did not elaborate in response to a question whether the Clinton administration was setting the stage for dealing ultimately with a Palestinian state.
Earlier, in Jerusalem, there was no report of progress in Albright's meeting with Netanyahu, and a senior Israeli official, David Bar-Illan, said the Palestinian Authority had done nothing in the runup to the planned Washington summit to ruter terrorists on land under its control.
Albright placed highest priority on security measures but said there were a number of issues where parallel movement by Israel and the Palestinians was needed.
Netanyahu, for his part, said Israel had met its obligations — meaning a willingness to relinquish more land on the West Bank — and "the crucial question" was whether the Palestinians would reciprocate.
Bar-illan complained specifically about anti-israel provisions that remain in the Palestine Liberation Organization's covenant and the presence, he said, of 13 indicted terrorist suspects in the Palestinian police.
With the admonition that "time is running out," Albright is trying to narrow differences between the two before their meeting with Clinton.
"There is a sense of urgency," Albright said. "The United States can do a great deal, but the leaders have to be willing to make decisions."
But Netanyahu said there would be no agreement for an Israeli pullback unless the Palestinian Authority carried out its commitment to clamp down on Islamic militants opposed to the peace process.
And Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, speaking to Associated Press Television News in Jericho, accused the
Clinton administration of allowing Israel to drag its feet on living up to past accords.
If Albright is unable to put the pieces together — most importantly secure from Arafat new guarantees to uproot terrorism — Clinton could come up short in his bid to play peacemaker in the Middle East as he successfully did in Northern Ireland.
Arafat: Still is pushing for freedom for all Palestinians.
"I don't expect her to come back with all the issues resolved," State Department spokesman James P. Rubin said en route Monday.
Albright's aim is to "whittle away, clear some underbrush" to set the stage for intensive negotiations in Washington, he said.
Amnesty International points finger at America
WASHINGTON — Amnesty International has launched a yearlong campaign taking the United States to task for human rights violations and is calling on the country to set up independent bodies to monitor allegations of police brutality and other abuses.
The Associated Press
In a report on human rights in the United States, the London-based group accused the United States of maintaining a double standard: decrying other countries while not abiding by international treaties and principles of human rights itself.
Amnesty cases cities like that of Anthony Baez, who died in a 1994 struggle with a police officer, as evidence that such problems exist within U.S. borders. The officer placed Baez in a choke hold after becoming enraged when a football hit a squad car.
"When the U.S. House is not in order, it makes it far harder for the U.S. to take the kind of leadership
role in international human rights that many of us in Amnesty would like to see it take," said William Schulz, executive director of the American chapter.
Amnesty, a longtime vocal opponent of capital punishment, admonished the United States for its continued use of the death penalty. The group called the system racist, arbitrary and unfair.
International standards dictate that law enforcement officers should use force only as a last resort and in proportion to the threat they encounter. But the report accuses police of frequently disregarding these standards, pointing to the
1997 case of Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant allegedly tortured by New York City police.
The report also criticized officers who use stun guns — a handheld device that emits an electric shot — or who "hog tie" suspects by binding their wrists and ankles together.
Stun guns, like any tool, can be misused, said a spokesman for the National Association of Chiefs of Police. But "it's actually one of the better devices, if used properly," said Gerald Arenberg.
Arenberg also acknowledged that police
can benefit from oversight, urging those who believe they have been victimized to contact such authorities as the FBI or state attorney. The Justice Department plans to review concerns raised by the group, said department spokeswoman Christine Dibartolo, adding that some of the cases already are under investigation. While the United States prides itself so keen for it.
While the United States prides itself as a haven for the persecuted, asylum seekers often end up thrown in
jail, detained indefinitely and treated as criminals, said the report.
Immigration and Naturalization Service officials stressed that people are not detained simply for seeking asylum and denied that they are detained for prolonged periods.
"The seeking of asylum is not what gets you in detention," said INS spokesman Andrew Lubenes. Those who enter the country without proper documents or who falsify their identity can be placed in the expedited removal process, but can be granted asylum by an immigration judge, he said.
Chinese, British governments agree on Hong Kong governing
The Associated Press
BEIJING — China and Britain declared a comprehensive partnership today, pledging to increase cooperation on everything from environmental protection to closer military ties.
The new phase in relations follows the smooth handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China 15 months ago.
"Both sides consider that the time is right for the opening of a new chapter in relations between China and the United Kingdom," British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji said in a statement after talks today.
Blair is the first British prime minister to visit China in seven years. His five-day trip capes efforts to repair the damage to relations debating Hong Kong, especially from British moves to increase democracy before returning the colony to China on July 1, 1997.
Blair and Zhu discussed human rights, the global financial crisis and the conflict in Kosovo, among other topics, said Chinese Foreign Ministry representative Tang Guoqiang.
Zhu welcomed Blair by emphasizing the rapport they established during the Chinese premier's April visit to London. "Although we
Zhu told Blair he should make himself at home and feel free to raise any issues he liked.
have only met a few times, it seems we have known each other for many years," Zhu said. Zhu told Blair he should make himself at
Blair raised the issue of human rights and urged Zhu to open talks on Chinese-ruled Tibet with the exiled Dalai Lama. Before leaving Britain, Blair had pledged to discuss those concerns but said he would do so quietly in keeping with the softer approach most European Union governments and the United States have adopted.
Tang, the Chinese representative, said human rights and Tibet were only mentioned briefly, and he said Zhu reiterated that the Dalai Lama must recognize China's sovereignty over Tibet and Taiwan.
Trying to brighten the atmosphere for Blair's visit, China signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights at the United Nations on Monday.
Zhu also announced that President Jiang Zemin has agreed to visit Britain next summer, the first Chinese head of state to do so in the 49-year history of the People's Republic.
Blair praised Hong Kong's smooth transition to Chinese rule, and said, "We are very happy about the present situation in Hong Kong."