The New York Post
August 13, 1999
 
 
CLINTON PARDONS TERROR

                 Just last week, Secretary of State Madeleine
                 Albright, speaking on the first anniversary of the
                 deadly U.S. embassy bombings in Africa, vowed
                 to wage an all-out war against terrorism. This
                 week, President Clinton turned that promise into a
                 joke by offering to commute the justifiably harsh
                 prison sentences of 14 FALN terrorists, including
                 the wife of its bomb-maker mastermind, the
                 notorious William Morales.

                 The FALN, for those who may have forgotten,
                 was a small group of separatists who launched a
                 deadly "war of nerves" to bring about
                 independence for Puerto Rico. Over a six-year
                 period, the group claimed responsibility for more
                 than 100 bombings that took six lives and injured
                 some 130 people.

                 New Yorkers had particular reason to fear the
                 FALN: In 1975, it bombed Fraunces Tavern in
                 the Wall Street area, killing four.

                 It also bombed Police Headquarters in 1983,
                 maiming for life three cops who tried to defuse the
                 bombs. One, Salvatore Pastorella, was blinded
                 and lost the fingers on his right hand; another,
                 Anthony Senft, was partially blinded; the third,
                 Rocco Pascarella, had his right leg amputated.

                 Another FALN blast, at the Mobil Oil building on
                 East 42nd Street, sent shards of glass into Charles
                 Steinberg, a 26-year-old newlywed lawyer, killing
                 him instantly.

                 That explosive, like most of the others, was
                 planted by Morales, the murderous FALN master
                 bomber, who escaped from custody and now
                 lives a life of relative luxury in Communist Cuba.

                 His wife, Dylcia Pagan, was among those offered
                 clemency by the president. She was convicted of
                 conspiring to bomb 48 buildings in the Chicago
                 area in the late '70s. Twoothers covered by
                 Clinton's offer took part in a 1983 armored truck
                 heist in West Hartford, Conn.

                 The president will also free Luis Rosa, one of 11
                 FALN members arrested in Evanston, Ill., in
                 1980. Documents uncovered by federal agents
                 indicated the group planned to kidnap millionaire
                 industrialist Henry Crown and hold him for
                 ransom. Earlier FALN activities in the Chicago
                 area included more than a half-dozen bombings.

                 Even now, the imprisoned FALN terrorists claim
                 to be "prisoners of war" - after their arrests, they
                 refused to participate in their trials. Their release
                 has come about thanks to a celebrity-studded PR
                 campaign.

                 The White House claims the releases are justified
                 because those involved "never killed anyone."
                 Maybe not - but their colleagues certainly did.

                 And no one among those who are about to be let
                 loose on the streets - in exchange for a mere
                 promise to refrain from violence - was in the
                 slightest bit ignorant of their movement's deadly
                 tactics, or reluctant to take part in them.

                 These people took part in violent crimes on behalf
                 of a murderous movement. They are not, in the
                 offensively silly description of Rep. Jose Serrano
                 (D-Bronx) "political prisoners, because their
                 offenses were complicated by the political
                 ramifications." No cause justifies criminal attacks
                 designed to kill innocent people - or engaging in
                 other acts to support those attacks.

                 Like Jimmy Carter's earlier decision to pardon
                 Puerto Rican nationalists who shot up Congress
                 and tried to assassinate President Harry Truman,
                 Clinton's clemency offer is an outrageous insult to
                 those who suffered at the FALN's hands.