National Desk
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
SOUTH
RUDOLPH SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON, APOLOGIZES TO VICTIMS
ATLANTA – Victims of Eric Rudolph’s bombs confronted him in court yesterday, describing him as a small man who cowardly fled amid his carnage, before a judge sentenced him to life in prison.
Just before his sentence was handed down, Rudolph apologized to the victims of the 1996 Olympics blast in Atlanta. “I can’t begin to truly understand the pain that I have inflicted on these innocent people,”Rudolph said, reading a statement. “To those victims, I apologize.”
Rudolph addressed the court after 14 victims and relatives told of the horror he caused and their wishes that he suffer for the rest of his life. A 10-minute video tribute to Alice Hawthorne, the woman killed in the Olympics blast, was also shown.
– Associated Press
COAST GUARD SEARCHES FOR 31 MISSING CUBANS
MIAMI – The Coast Guard searched the Florida Straits yesterday after three Cubans rescued at sea said they had been aboard a boat that sank with 31 others aboard.
The three were rescued Sunday about 30 miles north of Matanzas, Cuba, by a merchant ship and taken back to Cuba, where they told officials that they were on a 28-foot boat that sank. The Cuban government notified the U.S. Coast Guard, which began its search about 50 miles south of Key West late Sunday.
The Coast Guard said it found a capsized boat about 16 miles from where the trio were found, but it could not be determined if it was the boat they had been on. No bodies were immediately found.
Petty Officer Ryan Doss said the crew of a Coast Guard ship was looking for bodies or debris. It wasn’t known where the boat was headed, Officer. Doss said, but “34 people in one boat is usually an indication that they were trying to enter the United States illegally.” The boat should have been carrying 10 people at most, he said.
– Associated Press
WASHINGTON
PENTAGON FINDS NO EVIDENCE THAT HIJACKER WAS IDENTIFIED BEFORE 9/11
The Pentagon said yesterday that Defense Department investigators had found no evidence to support allegations by a GOP congressman and others that a secret program had identified lead hijacker Mohamed Atta more than a year before the September 11, 2001, attacks.
The findings by the Pentagon further undermine assertions by Rep. Curt Weldon, a Republican of Pennsylvania, and two military officers that a small data analysis program called “Able Danger” had identified Atta and three other hijackers as early as 1999, but that Defense Department lawyers prevented the information from being shared with the FBI.
“While we continue to review the documentation and conduct interviews, and while there are some who allege specific documents exist, the Defense Department has not discovered any documentation that shows Mohamed Atta connected to Al Qaeda prior to the attacks of 9/11,” a Pentagon spokesman, Bryan Whitman, said.
The allegations surrounding Able Danger were first made by Mr. Weldon in a little-noticed paragraph in his recent book, “Countdown to Terror,” which focuses primarily on assertions about Iran that American intelligence officials have dismissed as fabrications. But the story took off two weeks ago with several prominent news accounts that relied on Mr. Weldon and Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Shaffer and led to internal reviews by the Pentagon and the September 11 commission.
– The Washington Post
DRUGS, COUNTERFEIT MONEY LEAD TO CHARGES AGAINST 87
The guests thought they were headed to an early afternoon wedding on a yacht docked near Atlantic City. They ended up in jail instead, courtesy of an elaborate ruse by federal authorities hoping to bust up an international smuggling ring.
Lengthy undercover investigations on opposite sides of the country resulted in indictments of 87 Asians and American citizens on charges of smuggling counterfeit money, drugs and cigarettes into America, law enforcement officials said yesterday.
Authorities said they seized $4.4 million in high-quality fake $100 bills, more than 1 billion counterfeit cigarettes worth $42 million, and ecstasy, methamphetamine, and Viagra worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Some of the cigarettes were made in China, said acting assistant Attorney General John Richter.
Agents also seized $700,000 in fake U.S. postage stamps and blue jeans worth several hundred thousand dollars, FBI Deputy Director John Pistole said.
Fifty-nine people were arrested over the weekend in 11 cities in Canada and America, including Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia.
– Associated Press
EAST
AMID COMPLAINTS, ONLINE THESAURUS PULLS DEFINITION OF ‘ARAB’
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – An online thesaurus struck a listing yesterday for the word “Arab” after Arab-American groups complained the entry listed derogatory synonyms.
The entry, which appeared on thesaurus.com, listed the word as a noun meaning “beggar,” and gave 16 pejorative synonyms, including “homeless person” and “welfare bum.” The American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee contacted the synonym book’s online publisher Friday to complain about the entry; the American Arab Forum also criticized the listing yesterday.
Several hours after Roget’s Thesaurus was called by the Associated Press, all entries for “Arab” had been pulled from the site.
– Associated Press