By Walter Pincus Washington Post Staff Writer CIArun agents who had infiltrated terrorist groups in recent years aided in intelligence gathering that helped prevent two attacks in the past seven months against U.S. embassies abroad, new CIA Director George J. Tenet told Congress earlier this year. Tenet declined to provide details of the operations, including where they occurred. But in making even that minimal disclosure, he was signaling that while covert action remains a primary activity at the CIA in the postCold War period, there has been a departure from the spy service's often criticized history of clandestine operations directed at influencing foreign government policies or attempting to remove political leaders, according to agency officials. [continues 1219 words]
`Shocking' find: Group working to keep drug lookalike treat from kids BY BRYAN MONROE Mercury News Staff Writer A San Jose grandmother is fighting to have a white, powdered candy that is packaged in test tubes taken off the shelves, saying it looks like a vial of cocaine and could encourage drug use among children. ``When I saw it, I was shocked,'' said Peggy Allred. ``I just couldn't believe they'd be allowed to sell something like this.'' Some parents, teachers and police share her concern. Officers say the candy could be mistaken for drugs, and that if they found it, the child could find himself behind bars. [continues 1100 words]
OLYMPIA Federal dollars are funding an antimarijuana campaign led by Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, even as backers of a statewide initiative seek legalization of marijuana and some other illicit drugs for medicinal use. Supporters of Initiative 685, which voters will approve or reject in November, say Owen's antimarijuana effort amounts to a a governmentfunded opposition campaign. The federal money paid for multiple copies of an antimarijuana handbook and audiovisual material, plus the salary of an adviser to the program. Owen says the $170,000 Marijuana Awareness/Education Effort is an outgrowth of his 10 years of antidrug work, not an attempt to campaign against I685, which he vehemently opposes. [continues 947 words]
Copyright 1997 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau WASHINGTON In blistering remarks aimed at a fellow Republican, former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld withdrew Monday as the nominee for ambassador to Mexico and sent the selection process back to square one. Weld's decision ended a summerlong contest of wills between the more liberal New England Republican and conservative Republican Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "This morning I asked President Clinton to withdraw my name from the Senate so I can go back to New England, where no one has to approach the government on bended knee to ask it to do its duty," a ruddyfaced Weld told reporters during a packed White House news conference. [continues 966 words]
