Posted by DRD on December 15, 1999 at 08:51:57:
In Reply to: Wen Ho Lee Case posted by concerned on December 13, 1999 at 10:59:59:
From http://www.huaren.org ...
www.huaren.org has set up a linkage to www.wenholee.org and has provided
a cyberforum for all global Chinese to respond and sound off.
Attached below is George Koo's piece submitted to the Pacific News.
It is an excellent think-piece and it will be published in tomorrow's
Oregonian in Portland, Oregon.
Believe, this is not our usual garden-variety criminal defense case.
This is a political case which is unprecedented, because apart of the focus
on an obscure, naive scientist, it affects ethnic Asian scientists and
their disparate treatment in a country which prides itself as a constitutional
democracy, a country of laws.
Interestingly, in this open season of demonization of things China and
Chinese, not even HongKong's number one capitalist, Li Ka Shing
(Hutchison-Whampoa), is immune.
The public outpouring from throughout the world amongst ethnic Chinese
overseas is palpable, and this cuts across partisan lines across the
Taiwan Straits. Who would imagine that red-baiting would extend to a
poor little scientist of ethnic Chinese descent from Albuquerque, and a
capitalist from HongKong?
Join us in a cyberforum at www.huaren.org
WHY THE WEN HO LEE CASE STICKS IN THE CRAW
COPYRIGHT PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE
660 Market Street, Room 210
San Francisco, CA 94104
415-438-4755
http://www.pacificnews.org
COMMENTARY-670 WORDS
EDITOR'S NOTE: No one doubts the seriousness of the charge of
mishandling nuclear secrets. But from the start, the charges leveled against Los
Alamos scientist Dr. Wen Ho Lee have smacked of political McCarthyism to many
in the Asian American community. PNS commentator George Koo is a business
consultant and political activist in Silicon Valley. His email is
gekoo@dttus.com.
BY GEORGE KOO, PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE
SILICON VALLEY -- Chinese Americans across the country regard the
indictment of Dr. Wen Ho Lee on charges of mishandling nuclear secrets
as a travesty of justice, one which affects the future of all Asian
Americans.
Just what is it that sticks in our craw about this case? Consider the
following:
Dr. Lee has not been charged with espionage, despite a year of
government claims that he, a native of Taiwan, was a spy for China. Instead, under
statutes 2275 and 2276 of the Atomic Energy Act, he has been charged with
receiving and tampering with information relating to national security -- the
first and only person ever charged under these statutes. Significantly, he was not
charged with violating the next statute, 2277, which prohibits disclosure of
information relating to national security.
At the core of the 59 counts against Dr. Lee is this: he downloaded and
reloaded secure data. The lead prosecutor has just about conceded in
public that he does not expect the charges which carry life imprisonment to
stick.
The defense will argue that Dr. Lee is a victim of selective
prosecution, and will introduce evidence of at least 30 instances in which secure data were
similarly mishandled by others but no charges were brought.
Defense attorneys repeatedly offered to have Dr. Lee undergo polygraph
tests -- the same tests the Energy Department has now installed to safeguard
Los Alamos secrets -- to clarify and verify certain issues relating to
missing computer tapes. The prosecution refused all offers. To date, the
prosecutor has also failed to provide a list of the allegedly missing tapes to the
defense.
By arresting Dr. Lee on a Friday afternoon -- rather than contacting his
attorney and requesting that he be brought in -- prosecutors ensured that he
would be held for at least a weekend before bail could be arranged.
In a further effort to intimidate Dr. Lee in hopes of bargaining a
guilty plea to lesser charges, the prosecution has asked that he be detained without
bail for the duration of the case, even though he hardly fits the profile of a
'flight risk.'
Dr. Lee owns property, has family in the United States and has
cooperated with the prosecution throughout the process, including turning in his
American passport.
Given the more than 1000 FBI interviews, 1 million computer files and
mounds of documents the defense must now review, the case will likely take one
to two years to prepare before it can come to trial.
Up to now, the defense has studiously followed the letter of the law and
never attempted to try the case via deliberate leaks to the media. The
prosecution, by contrast, has been trying the case in the news media since March 7, 1999
when the New York Times, quoting unnamed sources, reported that the
government was about to arrest a Chinese American scientist for espionage. As
reputable attorneys have rallied to Dr. Lee's defense, along with prominent
national Asian American organizations like the Committee of 100, the defense has begun
to capture media attention.
Underscoring the political nature of the case, Attorney General Janet
Reno, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, National Security Advisor Sandy
Berger, FBI director Louis Freeh and others met with top White House staff the
weekend before Dr. Lee's arrest to debate the merits of the case. Not
everyone was reportedly in favor of pressing on. Nevertheless, the Clinton
administration opted to appease its political adversaries. Dr. Lee, already a victim of
racial profiling, in the words of former Los Alamos security chief Robert
Vrooman, is now the White House's newest scapegoat.
In view of these facts, the message is clear. If Asian Americans stay
home and keep quiet about the case of Wen Ho Lee, you better plan to apologize to
your children and grandchildren later. To any American of conscience with a
love for this country, regardless of ethnicity, you must speak out because a
major underpinning of what makes this country great is being discarded in
favor of bigotry, racial prejudice and political expediency.
(12131999) **** END **** (c) COPYRIGHT PNS