S6838 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE May 18, 1995

Mr. President, with respect to the incidents at Ruby Ridge, ID, back on August 21, 1992, I have talked to FBI Director Freeh; FBI Deputy Director

Potts; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and

Firearms Director John Magaw; Jerry

Spence, Esq., the attorney who represented Mr. Randy Weaver in the

criminal proceedings in the Federal

court; Randy Dade, the county attorney of Boundary County; and have attempted contact, traded calls with Special Agent Glenn, who is the agent in

charge in Salt Lake City.

My preliminary findings—and these

are obviously preliminary—show me

that there are very important questions which require congressional oversight on the appropriate use of force in

taking someone into custody and on

the initiation of investigations by Federal agencies like the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.

In discussing the incidents at Ruby

Ridge, ID., and in taking them up in a

preliminary way with the Director of

the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and

Firearms, John Magaw, there is a serious question as to how that matter all

began.

Last Saturday, when I was in Des

Moines, IA, I had occasion to talk at

some length with Mr. Randy Weaver,

who was tried and acquitted on murder

charges. I had a chance to talk to his

daughters Sarah and Rachel, ages 19

and 13. His 3-year-old daughter Elisha

was present as well but was not in a position to shed any light on what occurred.

Picking up just one strand in the few

moments that I am able to speak on

the issue now, Mr. Weaver recounted

how he had been contacted by a man

who had asked him about acquiring

sawed-off shotguns. Mr. Weaver advised

that he thought that the individual

was an undercover agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. And that was later confirmed by

Director Magaw, who told me that it

was a confidential informant who had

gone to contact Mr. Weaver on the subject of purchasing sawed-off shotguns.

When that matter was tried, according to the information given to me by

Mr. Magaw, Mr. Weaver was acquitted,

on what Mr. Magaw said were borderline entrapment circumstances. When I

questioned Mr. Magaw about what he

meant by borderline entrapment—I

know when I talk about this with the

Presiding Officer, the distinguished

Senator from Ohio, Mr. DEWINE, knowing what entrapment is, it is really not

borderline; it is either entrapment or

not. And if it is a matter of acquittal,

there is no entrapment.

For those who do not know the details of entrapment—and it is a complex situation—that is when the idea

comes from law enforcement and it is

planted in the mind of the individual

who ultimately does the conduct, undertakes the action which is the cause

of an indictment.

I think we need to focus on the specifics as to what happened there to give

congressional oversight from some of

us who have had more experience along

that line so that we do not become engaged in the law enforcement agency,

the Government itself, setting up circumstances which begin the chain of

conduct which results in the indictment and look what happened beyond

that in the Weaver matter because the

law will not support a conviction if it

is entrapment by the law enforcement

agencies.

I am going to have to speak at length

to this later, Mr. President. But one

other matter that I wanted to touch

upon in the Ruby Ridge incident was

the question of the use of force and the

question of whether it was excessive. I

do not want to come to any conclusions. There has been considerable

comment about whether the rules of

engagement were changed and whether

that was what led to the censure of

Special Agent Larry Potts, who has

since become the Deputy Director of

the FBI. And in my discussions with

Mr. Potts, which were relatively limited because we were scheduled to meet

at a later time when he will have an

opportunity to have his attorney

present, Mr. Potts advised me that

there had been no change in the rules

of engagement. And that raises a very

fundamental question as to the conduct and the use of force by Federal

law enforcement when Mr. Weaver was

taken into custody in a very sad situation where a U.S. marshal was killed,

where 14-year-old Sam Weaver was

killed, and where Mrs. Randy Weaver

was killed. That is a tough subject but

certainly deserves and requires our attention.

I touch upon those matters only

briefly at this point, Mr. President, because I had said I would be making an

inquiry, a preliminary inquiry, and I

wanted to report on that. We had

scheduled the hearings initially for the

Terrorism Subcommittee for this

morning, and those have been deferred

until the full committee will take up

the matter at a later date.

I had wanted to touch on the Waco

incident again to at least refer preliminarily to the report by Dr. Allen Stone,

of Harvard, who was a panelist selected

to help in that inquiry, but since it is

almost 9:30 and I am due in the Finance

Committee—and I have already taken

the time of my distinguished colleague

from Colorado—I am going to conclude

these very brief remarks with the hope

of being able to come back a little

later in morning business to talk additionally, to report further on my preliminary inquiry. I thank the Chair

and I again thank Senator CAMPBELL.

Mr. President, before my colleague

starts, may I just add, perhaps unnecessarily, that I reserve the remainder

of my time.

I thank the Chair and yield the floor.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under

the previous order, the Senator from

Colorado [Mr. CAMPBELL] is recognized

to speak for up to 15 minutes.

(The remarks of Mr. CAMPBELL pertaining to the introduction of S. 817 are

located in today’s RECORD under

‘‘Statements on Introduced Bills and

Joint Resolutions.’’)

Mr. DOLE. Was leader time reserved?

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is correct, leader time was reserved.

THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, this weekfend, an important advertisement will

be appearing on our television screens.

The ad will feature two prominent

Americans—Dr. William Bennett and

C. Delores Tucker, chair of the National Political Congress of Black

Women.

Dr. Bennett is a Republican. Ms.

Tucker is a Democrat. Both agree that

the entertainment industry must be

held accountable for the mindless violence and loveless sex it serves up each

day to our children.

Of course, there are many fine people

in the entertainment industry and

there are many fine movies, songs, and

television shows. And, thankfully, it

appears that Hollywood is finally beginning to understand that familyfriendly films can also be box office

hits.

That is the good news.

The bad news is that too much of today’s entertainment continues to operate in a moral vacuum, without a redeeming hope, and without any suggestion that virtues are important, that

morality is, in fact, preferable to immorality.

We cannot ignore this simple truth:

culture does count.

Cultural messages can and do bore

deep into the hearts and the minds of

our impressionable young. And when

these messages are negative ones—repeated hour after hour, day after day,

month after month—they can rob our

children of that most precious gift of

all: their innocence.

One of the leading cultural influences

in America today happens to be one of

our largest corporations, Time-Warner.

Now, Time-Warner has produced

much entertainment over the years

that has enriched the cultural life of

our country. But unfortunately,

through its affiliation with companies

like Interscope Records, Time-Warner

is now on the cutting-edge of the misogyny business. As Ms. Tucker will

explain in her television ad, and I

quote:

Time-Warner’s music division promotes

music that celebrates the rape, torture, and

murder of women. The lyrics are vulgar, offensive, and do terrible harm to our children.

Columnist John Leo puts it another

way. He calls Time-Warner’s affiliation

with Interscope the ‘‘cultural equivalent of owning half the world’s mustard

gas factories.’’

Last month, I urged all Americans to

join with me in refocusing the spotlight on the entertainment industry. I

said that ‘‘shame is a powerful tool and
May 18, 1995 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S6839

we should use it.’’ So, it is gratifying

to see two concerned Americans, with

different backgrounds and different political views, joining forces to put some

much-deserved public heat on one of

the giants of the entertainment industry.

Let us also be very clear that Government censorship is not the answer.

We have more to fear than to gain from

putting Washington in charge of our

culture.

But just as Time-Warner has the

right to produce and sell its harmful

wares, concerned Americans like Bill

Bennett and Dolores Tucker also have

the right to call upon the executives of

Time-Warner to think less about shortterm profit and more about the longterm good of their country.

So, I want to congratulate Dr. Bennett and Ms. Tucker for taking this

initiative. I know that Dr. Bennett

cites courage as one of the great virtues in his great ‘‘Book of Virtues’’ and

with this bold advertising campaign, he

has proven that courage and good citizenship are alive and well in America

today.

Mr. President, I will just say, maybe

as a suggestion, it would be well for the

Time-Warner executives and Bill Bennett and Ms. Tucker to sit down and

talk about this, try to work it out, try

to have a dialog. I hope that there will

be some meeting of the minds and some

agreement to start this discussion, to

start a dialog because, as I have indicated before, it is very important to

Americans, particularly America’s

children.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I was

NRA FUNDRAISING RHETORIC

fpleased to see the National Rifle Association apologize for some of the statements in their recent fundraising letter. The NRA has done the right thing.

They should not have used some of

that language in the first place. Alleged abuses of power by Federal law

enforcement authorities are a fair and

legitimate subject of debate—for Congress and for the American people. But

it is wrong to impugn the motives and

actions of the courageous men and

women who risk their lives every day

in enforcing our laws.

Mr. President, words do matter.

Statements do matter. Our debate

should recognize that fact. I ask that

the article from today’s Washington

Post on the NRA apology be printed in

the RECORD.

There being no objection, the article

was ordered to be printed in the

RECORD, as follows:

[From the Washington Post, May 18, 1995]

NRA EXECUTIVE ISSUES APOLOGY FOR LETTER

ATTACKING U.S. AGENTS

A National Rifle Association official apologized yesterday to law enforcement officials

and others offended by a recent fund-raising

letter describing some federal agents as

‘‘jack-booted thugs.’’

‘‘I really feel bad about the fact that the

words in that letter have been interpreted to

apply to all federal law enforcement officers,’’ NRA Executive Vice President Wayne

LaPierre said in a telephone interview from

Phoenix.

‘‘If anyone thought the intention was to

paint all federal law enforcement officials

with the same broad brush, I’m sorry, and I

apologize,’’ LaPierre said.

Lapierre’s apology comes after a week of

steadily mounting criticism of the NRA,

which began May 10 when former president

George Bush revealed that he had resigned

from the group in protest of the letter.

Lapierre said the letter was intended to

criticize only isolated actions, primarily involving the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and

Firearms.

But at least one section of the letter offer

a more general condemnation of federal law

enforcement efforts.

The letter, sent to the NRA’s 3.5 million

members in March over LaPierre’s signature,

said that ‘‘in Clinton’s administration, if you

have a badge, you have the government’s goahead to harass, intimidate, even murder

law-abiding citizens.’’

MORE SHELLS FALL ON

fSARAJEVO

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, on Monday

more than 1,000 shells fell on Sarajevo—5 people were killed and 25

wounded. Yesterday Bihac was being

shelled. Today a Sarajevo marketplace

was hit by a mortar shell. The response

to these attacks on U.N. designated

safe havens reflects the United Nation’s latest de facto policy: Blame the

Bosnian Government for trying to defend its people, and dispatch NATO

planes to buzz overhead. Meanwhile

contact group negotiators are desperately trying to sweeten a deal for

Serbian President Milosevic.

Let us face it, the protection of U.N.

safe havens has become a fraud. The

enforcement of weapons exclusion

zones has also become a fraud. The

United Nations is not fooling anyone

even with its blame both sides rhetoric.

According to news reports, the United Nations is considering mandate reduction for its forces in Bosnia. In my

view that has already happened, and

without a U.N. Security Council vote.

The General Accounting Office recently released a study on U.N. operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina prepared

at my request. In painstaking detail

the report explains how the United Nations is not doing the job it was tasked

to do in Bosnia.

The GAO report confirms what many

of us already knew: that the U.N. operation in the former Yugoslavia is ineffective, that UNPROFOR is not carrying out its mandates. It also indicates

that UNPROFOR has lost its credibility and has impeded NATO’s ability to

carry out air strikes in defense of U.N.

designated safe havens and U.N. forces,

facts that are very clear in light of

events over the last 2 days in Bosnia.

I would remind my colleagues that

even though there are no Americans

participating in UNPROFOR, the United States has been subsidizing this

failed endeavor for several years now,

to the tune of more than $1.1 billion in

direct support and $1.4 billion more in

indirect support.

It is high time that we review our

support for this flawed policy. The

facts are clear: This operation is a failure, an expensive failure. It seems to

me that increasingly UNPROFOR’s

real reason for being is to prevent a

change in policy, specifically to prevent the lifting of the arms embargo on

Bosnia.

Mr. President, I simply urge all of

my colleagues to read the GAO’s report. I believe that after reading it, one

would be hard pressed to argue that

this operation is worth Bosnia being

denied its fundamental right to self-defense.

I say, along with Senator LIEBERMAN

of Connecticut, it is our hope that we

will be able to vote on lifting the arms

embargo in the Senate some time in

June. It seems to me that everything is

falling apart and we are getting less

and less response from the United Nations. I must say I have no quarrel with

the U.N. Protection Forces, the men

and women there. They are certainly

exhibiting courage and bravery. But it

seems to me that the time has come for

a total review of our policy. I suggest

to the President of the United States

that he provide the leadership in this

review and that we do it as quickly as

possible.

I thank my colleagues and I yield the

floor.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I

want to comment on Senator DOLE’s

remarks on the floor of the Senate

today with reference to violence in the

United States in the mass media of

America and its role in terms of violence. I want to commend the Senator

for making the point. Those two American citizens, one Democrat and one

Republican, have no idea what a service they are doing for the people of this

country, if they can just get the media

to understand that they, too, have a responsibility. They have lots of freedom.

But where is all the violence coming

from? We are making excuses and talking about it all the time, as if Government is to blame and this is to blame.

The truth of the matter is people are

just seeing so much violence, and they

are outdoing each other to show us a

different and new way that is becoming

part of some of American citizens’

lives. They see it, and they do not have

regard for life.

Mr. DOLE. The children see it.

Mr. DOMENICI. Yes. Then you have

14-year-olds committing the acts they

have seen on television 50 times. Sooner or later—we cannot legislate in that

area. It is very difficult. Sooner or

later we have to come to our senses,

and I commend the Senator for his remarks.

Mr. DOLE. I thank the Senator.

FRESHMAN FOCUS ON THE

fBUDGET

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, our

freshman focus group continues today

and will continue on through the next

week.