European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 26, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday september 26, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 13 commentary William Safire Bush Victory on israeli Loans May be costly a of George Bush is on the verge of a pyrrhic Victory. He picked a fight with Israel just before a peace conference demanding that loan guarantees to soviet refugees be delayed again giving him a lever to Force Israel to freeze settlements and in effect hand Over the West Bank. He knows his veto would be sustained in Congress As All others have. He has Washington Post and new York times editorialists behind him. In a test of strength he would humiliate Israel and its american supporters delighting Arab despots. But at what Cost by inflicting unforgettable punishment Bush would boost super Hawk Ariel Sharon in Israel win unwanted backing Here from Gleeful Neo isolationists hearted the Lunatic fringe harm his party and earn a place in history As Domestic Polarizer rather than global peacemaker. Cool Heads in Congress Are looking for a Way to Avert this political armageddon. The key player according to senators on both sides of the aisle is Patrick Leahy the Vermont Democrat whose Senate committee controls All foreign Aid appropriations. Pat Leahy is a Maverick establishment tarian a parsimonious Liberal an italian Irish Yankee. His agriculture committee failed in its oversight of commodity credits to Iraq through the Bank of Lavoro and he has been an implacable foe of the stealth bomber. He is his own Man however and was the Democrat that George Bush counted on after a private meeting excluding John Sununu to delay Senate consideration of the loan guarantee to House soviet immigrants to Israel. Leahy delivered the Senate version of the House passed Bill will not be taken up until Congress returns from its Post thanksgiving recess probably at the end of january. Nobody knows what assurances Leahy received from Bush about support of the Bill but bipartisan deals Are rarely one Way. According to Senate colleagues who have been approached by Leahy Over the weekend Here Are the elements of the Leahy Compromise a the $10 billion guarantee spread Over the coming five years will be part of a a must pass Bill tied to All other foreign Aid including Egypt a it will not be stand alone legislation that can be singled out for veto nor will it be subject to further delay. A for every Dollar Israel spends on settlements in the West Bank the loan guarantee will be reduced by one Dollar. This answers the a a fungibility argument which holds that guarantees for housing within pre-1967 Israel would free up Money that could then be used to Settle the West Bank. It enables Bush to assure arabs that no american Aid is directed to israeli West Bank settlement. How much of an economic disincentive would the Dollar for Dollar proviso be last year israeli spending on new settlements was about $85 million if Israel spends say $100 million next year that much in loan guarantees would be deducted from the years $2 billion. Whose figures would be used the Leahy Compromise envisages a government accounting office continuing onsite review not dependent on israeli Arab or state department estimates. A the guarantee will be tied to israeli economic reforms. This will be met with cheers from conservatives who wish Israel Well and wish it to abandon old socialist economics in Jerusalem it will make necessary habit breaking palatable. According to a jowly office of management and budget official in a baseball Cap such reforms would affect the amount needed for . Budgetary set aside which could be brought Down to 5 percent of the guarantee or $100 Mil Liona year As credit ratings improve israelis say it could go As Low As i percent. Would the israelis accept the Leahy approach which permits the president to hold a million soviet jews hostage for four months As a negotiations whip forces settlement spending to come out of israeli defense dollars and dictates systemic changes they Don t have much Choice. Will or. Bush Init into the Compromise he could Semi Secretary of state James a. Baker Iii to the Congress with a different plan or double Cross Leahy by vetoing All foreign Aid if Israel does not follow orders at the peace table. Lie might still win but As i Luta Reh reported King Pyrrhus to have said a another such Victory Ami we Are  c the now York i lines James j. Kilpatric Kinslaw Case May Bear the stench of murder some months ago writing about the i Slaw Case i said the affair was beginning to stink to High heaven. With the death of Danny Casolaro a free Lance investigative reporter the stench grows worse. Temporarily the verdict seems to be that Casolaro killed himself in a Martinsburg w.va., hotel room last month. No one who knew him accepts that explanation. He was an outgoing talkative vital person he was on top of a major break in a Story he had been pursuing for eight years he was headed for a family party. Everything about the Story rings falsely. Casolaro was not Well known within the Washington press corps but editors who did know him have described him As a dogged reporter who would not leave the Trail of a Good Story. In investigating the i Slaw Case Casolaro was on to the Best Story of his life. He had a Book in the making. I have been writing about the i Slaw Case off and on for the past two years. It involves the scandalous treatment of Bill Hamilton a Washington inventor and computer expert. His company known As i Slaw developed a software program known As promis. It worked so superbly that he sold it to the department of Justice for use in tracking the flow of court cases through the Oil ices of . Attorneys. It was a big contract for a tiny firm but Hamilton s jubilation was Short lived. Officials at the department of Justice including a former i Slaw employee whom Hamilton had fired suddenly began finding Petty objections to the contract. The department withheld payments. Driven into bankruptcy court Inshaw fought Back. A bankruptcy judge after prolonged hearings ruled flatly that the government had a a stolen promis through a trickery fraud and  that judgment was upheld on Appeal to a Federal District court. All this happened while de Meese was attorney general. Meese has denied any personal involvement but officials under him launched a cover up that continues to this Day. Under attorney general Dick Thornburgh the department resisted an impartial investigation at every step. When a Senate subcommittee attempted to look into the affair the department stonewalled. When a House committee tried its hand Thornburgh refused to testify. Something stinks. Promis was sold exclusively to the . Department of Justice but the program has turned up in Canada and in various nations in Europe. Someone is marketing stolen goods. There is reason to believe that Casolaro went to Martinsburg to crack the Case. He had told friends that i Slaw was part of an a a octopus of criminal activities in High places including the Bocci and the savings and loan scandals. Hamilton and other friends of Casolaro a have tried to reconstruct his last hours. They Are convinced the suicide was faked. They see murder. On the night of monday aug. 5, Casolaro spoke by Telephone with three separate confidants. He told them he had just returned from interviewing a source in West Virginia. He now knew the i Slaw Story but he would have to go Back to Martinsburg to wrap it up. Casolaro drove Back to West Virginia on thursday aug. 8, and checked into room 517 at the Sheraton hotel. On Friday evening he telephoned his Mother in Northern Virginia to say he would be late in getting Back for a family birthday party but he was headed Home. About 1 of clock on saturday the l the hotel maids found Casolaro a body in a bloody Bathtub. Reports of the circumstances Are both sketchy and conflicting. Reportedly there were crude slash Marks on each Arm. Arteries had been severed. By one account Casolaro had used a broken Beer bottle by another account a broken Glass. In a third account we read that a razor Blade was found beneath his body. Casolaro a brother a surgeon said he never could get Danny to have a physical examination because Danny would t let his Finger be pricked for a blood Sample. Without permission from anyone West Virginia officials ordered Caso Larous body speedily embalmed. There was a note Quot in a sorry especially to my  Casolaro was a novelist and a writer of Short stories. Associates say he had a Florid style. I he note if authentic seems completely out of character. Casolaro was known it carry stacks of Manila fold is with him. Police said there were no papers in his room or in his car. A witness says he met with  about 4 of clock Friday afternoon and the Teporter Hail the folders at that time. The witness  Casolaro certain documents unrelated to the  use i he documents have disappeared. Former attorney general i 11 n to Richardson in Slaw a chief counsel has asked the Mil for a full blown investigation. Under the circumstances nothing less could suffice. C Quot. I p a a a a