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Editorials
Wednesday, February 16, 2000Abuse of FOI law hid
U.S. embarrassmentIN complying with the Freedom of Information Act by releasing documents to the public, the federal government may black out portions on the grounds of national security and executive privilege. However, those exemptions can be abused to cover up embarrassing information. The State Department clearly engaged in such abuse in denying knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the killing of two American men in Chile.The issue: Newly declassified documents show the State Department hid information about the deaths of two Americans in Chile in 1973.
The two men -- Charles Horman, 31, and Frank Teruggi, 24 -- were killed during the 1973 overthrow of the Chilean Socialist government of Salvador Allende by the forces of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. Horman and Teruggi belonged to a group of young leftist Americans attracted by Allende's socialist experiment in the early 1970s. They worked in Santiago for a newsletter that reprinted clippings from American newspapers critical of U.S. policy in Chile. Their deaths were dramatized in the 1982 movie, "Missing."
When Horman's widow sought information about her husband's death, U.S. Embassy officials would confirm nothing beyond what she had been able to find out. Officials told Charles Horman's father that leftists may have kidnapped his son. Heavily censored documents released by the government in 1980 appeared to clear the American and Pinochet governments of any responsibility for Horman's and Teruggi's deaths.
However, spurred by Pinochet's 1998 arrest in Britain on charges of human-rights abuses, President Clinton ordered the declassification of all documents shedding light on human-rights abuses during the Pinochet era in Chile. Finally, documents released following Clinton's order, removing the black lines that had hidden large swaths of information, have made clear that the State Department knew from the beginning that the Pinochet government had killed the two Americans. Moreover, the documents reveal that the CIA might have played a role.
When State Department officials in 1980 debated how much information should be provided to the Horman family in its wrongful-death lawsuit against the government, one official warned that "classification should not be used to prevent embarrassment of government agencies or officials." That is the law, and federal agencies need to be reminded to obey it.
Gun registration laws
need strengtheningHAWAII may have the toughest gun-control laws in the country, but the November killings at the Xerox Corp. building on Nimitz Highway have prompted an onslaught of legislation to strengthen them. Nearly 80 bills related to firearms have been introduced in the current Legislature. But attention should be focused on two areas: periodic gun registration and regulation of ammunition purchases.
Byran Uyesugi, who has been charged in the seven killings at Xerox, owned 18 guns, including 11 handguns, five rifles and two shotguns. He was denied purchase of a 19th gun in 1994 after a required background check showed he had been arrested for criminal property damage. However, he was allowed to keep his arsenal. If he had been required to re-register his guns every year, Uyesugi could have been denied control of all his guns.
The Hawaii Firearms Coalition is supporting legislation aimed at requiring yearly gun re-registration. It also supports legislation to permit sales of ammunition only to legally registered gun owners. Governor Cayetano, who is a gun owner, supports both measures.
The ammunition restriction could deter people from using guns they possess illegally. Dominic Kealoha committed suicide last month after a 13-hour standoff with police by shooting himself with a gun that had been reported stolen in a recent burglary.
A law requiring ammunition purchasers to prove that they legally own guns may or may not have prevented the Kealoha tragedy.
Opponents of gun-control legislation maintain that people who want to obtain guns and ammunition illegally will be successful regardless of such laws. Dr. Max Cooper, vice president of the Hawaii Rifle Association, asks what is to stop people who steal guns from stealing bullets as well.
The argument that legislators should enact only laws they can expect everyone to obey is absurd. Enforcement of gun laws will be enhanced by registration requirements that are most likely to isolate and reveal offenders and make other violations more difficult.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
