European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 29, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes saturday december 29, 1990william Safire journalists uncover what can t thanks to recent Independent investigations by three news organizations we now have a far better fix on a Central question facing military and diplomatic pol icy in Kors in the persian Gulf what is the status or Saddam Hussein s quest for nuclear weapons a for the first two thirds of this year most Western intelligence evaluators dismissed the iraqi potential for producing atomic weapons without outside help As Likely Only a within five to it  complacent estimates now appear to have been in error. Stimulated to re evaluate by the interdiction at Borders of parts being smuggled into Iraq by intercepts about transactions Between Brazil and Egypt and Iraq and provoked by facts presented and questions raised in this space world Spoo Kery in november came up with a revised consensus timetable less than five years fun deliverable bombs and a crude device available for explosion within eight months. The a crude device Quot a which could be a land mine or truck bomb on a grand scale a was based on enriched uranium known to be in iraqi hands and ostentatiously offered for International inspection in Baghdad its seals could he broken and made into a bomb within a few months a second Cache of 80. Percent enriched uranium provided secretly by the soviet Union in the past might he made into a follow up terrorist threat the More fearsome weaponry an Arsenal that could he placed As warheads on Long Range missiles would re Jigger the world s Power balances. What could be Learned about that curiously intelligence agencies Are More limited than supposed in Many investigations. The Cia cannot walk into a German Plant and interrogate the Centrifuge expert to helped solve a production problem in Iraq s factory 10. Not even German authorities Are inclined to  that. But journalists can Given a few leads and an invite lion to compete on the most worrisome Story of the Day they can probe and publish what expensive satellites done to show. That a what has been happening lately. Walter Busse a. Gorman scientist who worked for Man techno logic in Munich was identified Here As a Good Man to Sec about uranium enrichment Gas centrifuges in Iraq. Reporters for Toni sunday times of London and the new York times subsequently banged on that company a door. A on dec 16 the London paper s a a insight team published a detailed account of the bomb acquisition scheme including an interview with bus Sci a longtime colleague Bruno Stegmier. In 1987 he was hired by Iraq to examine a Centrifuge Laboratory Complete with equipment secretly assembled from a half dozen nations and to give expert advice to iraqi technicians on How to extract u-235 from a yellow James Kilpatrick cake Ore. A year later Stegmier accompanied Busse to Iraq to help solve a production problem of factory 10, near Samarra where the centrifuges that would be used to enrich uranium were being fabricated. Trucks from that factory regularly head South to the fortified nuclear facility at Tuu Aitha the sunday times reports where it speculates a a a cascades of centrifuges is being assembled. Tracked to his Home in Bernau in Bavaria the 78-year-old Busse presented the Industrial version of the Eichmann defense a if you arc producing parts you done to know what they Are parts  he was Only filling orders. A ,.w a a. Stegmier 57, now suspended by his company was also visited by a reporter from the Bonn Bureau of the new York times. A i did not betray any secrets a he  a a the German newsmagazine per Spiegel which reported that the . Recently gave Bonn a list of 50 companies in the iraqi procurement ring writes that investigators  not believe Stemmler a protestations. A new York times reporter followed the yellow cake Road to Brazil where Hugo Piva a just Back from Iraq where he assisted in missile design a denies helping provide their i nuclear program with uranium Ore from the High tech Center in Sao Paulo. Well see All this news gathering activity tells us much about what the iraqis have and where it is it also lights fires under prosecutors like Joseph Whitley the latest . Attorney in Atlanta to fail to pursue the $3 billion financing of iraqi purchases in the Lavoro Bank Casey the sunday times of London puts iraqis nuclear weapons capability at two years the new York times Sticks to a Broad a within the decade a considering what we now know of the appointments in Samarra in 1987, id say the Saddam bombs would be ready to drop on us in Early 1993. Quot. A a \ c new York times a. Here we go again. When Oral arguments resume in january the St preme court will hear two eases that Are Likely to Send Mere laymen climbing the Walls in search of common sense. As you May have guessed the cases Deal with the exclusionary Rule ,. One Case involves Charles Steven Acevedo who was nabbed with a Quantity of marijuana in his lunch hag. The other in to Ive s a j Uva n i 1 e Offe n Der 11 o a rid h o took to his heels when he saw a police car. In both cases the question is should the evidence thus obtained have been excluded at their trials in recent years the supreme court has gone through repeated agonies of indecision Over the exclusionary Rule. Determining a a a reasonable search or seizure is tougher than pinning Down obscenity or defining an establishment of religion. The justices keep trying to find a Bright lines a but the Only lines they find Are smudged. Take the Acevedo Case to be argued on Jan 8, it goes Back to october 1987, when Federal agents in Hawaii intercepted an express package destined for an apartment on Stevens Avenue in Santa Ana Calif. The package contained nine Clear bags of marijuana. Agents let the shipment continue but kept the address under surveillance. Shortly after the package arrived Acevedo entered the apartment empty handed Only to emerge 10 minutes later carrying a brow n lunch bag that appeared to be full Acevedo put the bag in the trunk of his car and drove away. Police stopped him opened the trunk found the sack opened the sack and found the marijuana oops the police it appears could open the trunk without a warrant but they could not open the sack without a warrant. The evidence was excluded since at least 1977, the High court has1 been making such Fine distinctions under the a automobile exception to the fourth amendment. Justice Harry Blackmun wearily described the courts several opinions As a a vacillation a a charitable term. Cases have turned upon the character of a Footlocker and the opacity of a Green plastic bag. Was contraband on the seat in the Glove compartment in the spare tire now we shall learn about marijuana in a lunch bag. The Case of Young Hodari d., scheduled for argument on Jan. 14, turns upon the meaning of a a seizure under the fourth amendment. In i9ss police in Oakland Califon routine patrol through a drug infested neighbourhood saw several boys clustered around a car. As the squad car approached the Driver sped Oft Hodari and the other youths scattered. Police officer Jerry Pertoso gave Chase. He caught up with Hodari. When they were about 11 feet apart the boy threw away an object Pertoso picked it up cocaine. The juvenile court judge admitted the evidence and gave the youngster five years of renewed custody As a Ward of the state 0n Appeal the California court of Appeal reversed the courts curious Rea. Soiling was that an officer who chases a suspect has effected a  the officer May not have physical control Over the suspect but the suspects Freedom has been infringed by the Pursuit. If a person sees a policeman and immediately flees that is not sufficient cause for the cop to Chase after him. As precedent for this unmitigated nonsense the California court mistakenly looked to a Michigan Case decided by the supreme court in 1988. The Case involved Michael Mose Chesternut who was walking along a Street when a squad car came by. Chesternut took off. Police kept up with him. Chesternut discarded a packet. It turned out to be cocaine. Sub. Sequent search turned up heroin As Well the supreme court ruled unanimously that a in this particular cases the police conduct did not amount to a seizure but the court ducked the larger question is the act of fleeing by itself sufficient to constitute a reasonable suspicion that would justify Pursuit the question that was left unanswered in Chesternut will now be tackled in Hodari. But tackles can be missed and tackles can be evaded and the nine justices will be shaking their Heads Over this one. The whole purpose of the exclusionary Rule and it is an excellent purpose a is to deter misconduct by police. If the cops cannot introduce evidence that is unconstitutionally acquire what is the Point in acquiring it. But  cops Are Hamstrung in their difficult and dangerous work by weird jul Dicia constructions the people must be the losers in their War against criminals. That makes no sense to laymen. It ought not to make sense to jurists either. C Universal press Syndicate