European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 8, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 a the stars and stripes monday october 8,1990 . Rosentha killer Only Winner in Fri s pan am probe the Young woman was murdered 21 months ago when she was a drama student just out of her teens. The Fri is sure it knows who did it How and Why. The Fri is so confident that the evidence has been spread before the Best Friend of the killer. The Fri knows that he is hiding the killer in his own House. But the Friend refuses to turn him in. Yet the Fri turns Down All requests by the parents of the Young woman for any of the evidence that it already has Given to the killers protector a and thus to him. Finally the parents Send a letter to William b. Sessions the Fri director asking the inescapable question. Why can you Tell the killer and his protector what you know but not us to this comes no answer. The victim is Theodora Cohen who lived with her parents in port Jervis . She would have been 22 on sept. 10. The decision of the Fri to disclose evidence to the criminal but withhold it from Theodora a parents is part of a bigger mystery. That is Washington a refusal to make Public what investigators have Long known about the bombing of pan am 103. This is a paragraph from the letter to sessions sent by Susan and Daniel Cohen the parents and relatives of some of the 188 other americans killed on the plane a the unanimous View of responsible journalists and experts on terrorism throughout the world is that the atrocity was carried out by Ahmed Jibril a popular front for the liberation of Palestine general command which operates under the Protection of Syria and the murder was financed by High officials in the iranian government. No one in the administration has Ever challenged this  Correct. I have heard the verdict of syrian iranian responsibility Given privately by american German British and israeli anti terrorist experts beginning soon after the bombing each time More definitively. A few weeks ago Secretary of state James a. Baker Iii again put the investigators Case to Syria this time to president Hafez Assad. Once More the syrian dictator turned Down the . Request to Nail Jibril who operates from a base near Damascus. But it is All a bitter comedy. It is fatuous Andrew j. Glass distributed by King features Syndicate to expect help from Assad. He trained and harboured the killers wove them into the syrian secret police. That makes him a co conspirator in pan am 103 and decades of other Jibril terrorism a candidate for life in prison or hanging. And it is disingenuous of me to write As if there really is a mystery about Why the Western governments will not divulge to the Public the evidence it has Laid several times before the syrians. Everybody who follows the Case can guess the reason. It would be politically embarrassing. Publicly revealed evidence that Iran and Syria were responsible for the terrorists would make it awkward for the West to do business with either. It would also show How easily terrorists can Duck in and out of other Arab nations and that the German police covered up some strange mistakes. Fri functionaries protect sessions from questioning about pan am 103, even about the relatives letter. The Fri sure does know How to put a Story across when it smells a to miniseries lurking. Now it is embarrassing even to listen to the painfully amateurish stonewalling of its spokesmen about How the investigation is still going on so it is All a big secret no comment. Secret the Fri knows that virtually All the information that experts around the world have gathered about the pan am 103 Case has been uncovered by newspapers and magazines and in the Fine Book by Steven Emerson and Brian Duffy called a the fall of pan am 103.�?� this Case is not the private affair of the Fri or the . Government. Ahmed Jibril a palestinian who was and probably still is a syrian officer has said this in Public a there will be no safety for any traveler on an israeli or american  professional terrorists do not Bluff. Ahmed Jibril has been trying to teach us that for the 20 years he has been placing bombs on planes a pan am Swissair austrian airlines and god knows How Many others. Confirmation of the truth about pan am 103 is being kept not Only from the victims relatives but potential victims a airline  it time for our government to Tell us what the taxpayer pays to find out and what the killers already know when does the bitter comedy end must we have another terrorist act c new York time incumbents running scared in election year a key White House operative was asked Why president Bush did not use the threat of shutting Down the Federal government to save the deficit reduction package. A because some people might respond a shut it Down Why that a a Good idea a a Richard g. Darman the Bush budget director replied. Darmand a response reflects the thin political ice on which the bipartisan budget negotiators had skated. Now that the ice has cracked an inevitable search for winners and losers from the president on Down has begun. The failure grew out of the deep ideological differences Between Liberal democrats who thought the Deal Cut too much from such popular Benefit programs As medicare and conservative republicans who thought it called for too Many new taxes. When Bush and congressional leaders  Bridge that Gap and chose not to Side with one or the other View the rival ideologues formed an unholy Alliance that Sank the $500 billion debt Relief package. The defeat also occurred because some Junior legislators on both sides of the aisle did not like the fact it had been crafted in secret by a tightly knit leadership group whose privileged members could protect their own pet parochial concerns. A a it a not so much a Lack of leadership As a Lack of followers a said Stephen Hess of the Brookings institution a Washington think tank. A everyone wanted to March to his own  the outcome May Bode the death Knell of Domestic sum Mitry. It was the culmination of a Back Bench revolt which had been brewing in the House since the mid-1960s, when the former system of All powerful speakers and entrenched committee chairmen first came under serious Challenge. A we will of course keep in touch with the White House but i do not anticipate a and i underscore do not anticipate a the resumption of anything that would be considered Summit talks a said House speaker Thomas s. Foley a Wash. Fridays Early morning collapse also confounded the conventional Wisdom that the Senate with its free form rules would prove the More intractable body than the relatively Rule bound House. When the vote camp., it was Clear than Many House members had their Eye on the midterm elections Only a month away. Thus All eight House members seeking Senate seats voted against the package. And the three House members running for governors seats also All voted no. So did the 25 House members who political analysts said faced the toughest re election contests. Contrast 44 of the 78 members who Are unopposed in then re election bids supported the budget package. I .9n to e Ottier hand it common cause a watchdog lobby released a study that showed 75 percent of House incumbents seeking re election this year remained a financially  so the fact that most voted against the package despite their theoretical Security reaffirmed the adage that All smart politicians run scared. Nevertheless some analysts thought they had made a mistake. A if the Congress Ever wanted an anti incumbency revolt they have just voted themselves one a said Douglas Bailey a Republican Campaign consultant a it is a demonstration to All the world that the suspicion that Congress can to do anything is right a Bailey added. A they think they Are correctly Reading the political Tea leaves but they Are misreading them  among the big losers in the House debacle Bailey said was the House Republican whip Newt Gingrich of Georgia who openly opposed the leadership plan. A Newt Gingrich has written himself off from a Wing of the Republican party that includes the president of the United states a Bailey claimed. A the president is also a loser. It is Clear he is not in command Here and is not feared As a presidential  but a Gingrich Deputy Republican rep. Bob Walker of Pennsylvania said a the real winners Are the american people who said very clearly to the Congress that they wanted the budget Summit agreement turned Down. They spoke loudly and clearly to every member of Congress Over the last couple of Days. And they decided that they were going to stand with the Folk Back  Cox news service