BY NANCY ROSENSTOCK
NEW YORK - In the weeks since a Trans World Airline 747 jet crashed over the Atlantic July 17, killing all 230 aboard, President William Clinton and Republican politicians have stepped up a bipartisan campaign calling for stiffer "antiterrorism" measures. These include increased inspections at airports, investigations into airport workers' backgrounds, expanding the use of police wiretapping, and putting chemical tracers in explosives.

The crash of TWA flight 800, which had just taken off from Kennedy Airport here, bound for Paris, was the second worst disaster in U.S. aviation history. The cause of the crash has not yet been determined. Most of the wreckage was still under water two weeks after the disaster, and investigators admit they still "need the forensic evidence." Almost immediately, however, the big-business media began painting the picture that the crash was the result of a bomb or missile, and downplaying the possibility of a mechanical failure.

This campaign accelerated after a pipe bomb went off July 27 at the Olympic Centennial Park in Atlanta, killing one woman and injuring 111 others. A Turkish TV reporter also died of a heart attack while running to cover the blast.

A security directive issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on July 25 states that on international flights, "the luggage and carry-on items of certain passengers will be emptied and searched and in some cases bags will be X- rayed and scanned with an explosive detection device." Continuing with the directive, the FAA said, "Passengers will be subject to the increased searches if they have a passport from or plan to travel to Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria." In addition, the FAA mandates that "other passengers on international flights will also be subject to increased searches if they fit a profile based on how and when they bought their tickets."

The New York Times reported July 26 that "on international flights, some passengers and their luggage will be selected for special attention, depending on their nationality and itinerary, among other factors."

The massive FBI investigation has been largely directed against airline workers. Every worker that had contact with the TWA plane, whether in Athens where it originated or in New York, has been interviewed by the FBI. This includes baggage handlers, food service workers, mechanics and others. Background checks have also been run.

The New York Times ran a front-page article July 29 headlined, "Limited Checks on Workers Who Have Access to Planes." In it John Kifner wrote, "Dozens of workers -hired with only the most cursory of background checks - have access to planes waiting on airport tarmacs and, security experts say, could easily plant a bomb aboard an airliner."

Kifner goes on to quote Henry DeGeneste, a former superintendent of the Port Authority Police, which oversees the three New York area airports. "This is the major hole in the system," DeGeneste said, referring to airline workers. "I would be less concerned with the luggage screening; what I would be concerned with is what goes on the tarmac."

The article also suggests that airport workers, particularly low-paid ones, are thieves who could easily be bought off. It points to the theft of a diamond necklace from the Duchess of York's luggage last December by a 19-year-old baggage handler at JFK International Airport. Kifner quotes Richard Critta, an airline "security expert," as saying, "If I were a terrorist, I probably would go to a subcontractor" for help.

Immigrants from the Middle East are one focus of the investigation. Immediately following the crash, the July 28 Times stated, the FBI set up a command center in the Federal Building in Manhattan and began the process of tracking "terrorists." According to widely publicized media reports, high on the FBI's list were associates of Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, who is currently on trial in the bombing of the World Trade Center in Manhattan.

The FBI also went after supporters of Omar Abdel Rahman, the Egyptian cleric who was convicted last year in a frame-up trial, accused of plotting to bomb several buildings in New York. Several of Rahman's followers were put under active surveillance.

Brian Duffy wrote in the July 29 issue of U.S. News and World Report that Athens "has long been a favorite operations base of pro-Palestinian terrorists" and that "Yousef is a Baluchi with strong ties to the Afghan mujeheddin and radical Islamic groups supported by a handful of wealthy Saudis." The New York Times reported that Osama bin Laden is also being investigated by the FBI. Bin Laden is from Saudi Arabia and the Times said he "is affiliated with Islamic militant fighters based in Afghanistan."

Deportations under `antiterror' law
Duffy's article also hints at U.S. military moves, saying if the possible bombing leads to a connection with Iran, Iraq, Libya or the Sudan "President Clinton would be faced with difficult decisions about how and whether to retaliate."

The "Group of 7" and Russia adopted a 25-point "antiterrorism" plan in Paris July 30. Officials of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States agreed to measures that include restricting access by those termed terrorists to electronic communications, including the Internet; tightening restrictions on money transfers; strengthening border controls and cracking down on forged travel documents; and developing or simplifying extradition agreements.

In Washington, Clinton vowed to push for legislation the first week in August that would expand wiretapping authority and allow prosecution of those charged with terrorism under federal racketeering laws -making them subject to asset forfeitures and longer sentences. These are measures Clinton tried to include in an earlier "antiterrorism" law signed in April this year, but was unable to get through Congress. "I think we're going to have a package," said Republican Sen. Larry Craig, head of a bipartisan congressional task force that is working with the White House on this.

One piece of the earlier legislation that did pass allows the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to detain without a legal hearing an immigrant who is not a naturalized citizen and who has been convicted of a crime in the United States, which includes most felonies and some misdemeanors. And while the deportation hearing is under way, the person can be held in jail.

This provision has begun to be enforced. For example, the INS recently picked up Lorraine Parris at JFK International Airport. She was returning from Guyana, her country of birth, with her U.S.-born husband. Why? In the 1970s, Parris had been convicted of marijuana possession. She is now in an immigration jail awaiting deportation. According to the Carib News, hundreds of immigrants with U.S. residence permits (green cards), just like Lorraine, have been arrested since Clinton signed the law April 24. Previous explosion, fuel leaks
While speculation on possible bomb theories dominates the daily news, the July 27 Seattle Times carried a front-page story that received scant notice elsewhere. Aerospace reporter Byron Acohido wrote that in the mid-1970s, another Boeing 747 owned by the Iranian military blew up in a similar mid-air explosion near Madrid. The cause of the blast was never determined, but an electrical spark igniting fuel in the wing was suspected. The crash "provides authorities with an extensive analysis of how a catastrophic mechanical failure can detonate a 747 jumbo jet," the Times article said.

In June 1976, as the Madrid investigation was under way, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) "issued an airworthiness directive, ordering 747 operators to inspect for fuel leaks in the dry bay [of the aircraft]. Most found leaks," Acohido wrote.

At the time, the plane that blew up this year also happened to be owned by the Iranian military under the former U.S.-backed regime of Shah Reza Pahlavi. The plane "was exempt from civil- aviation rules and directives because it was in military service," the Times article notes. "Boeing spokesman Doug Webb said he could not say whether the fuel-system upgrades were made once the jet was repurchased by TWA in December 1976."

Investigators in the recent crash announced July 26 the results of the preliminary analysis of the plane's cockpit and flight data recorders. Acohido wrote, "The voice recorder showed no signs of a crisis among the cockpit crew, and some analysts are citing that as evidence that the crash was not caused by a mechanical failure. However the NTSB [National Transportation Safety Board] report on the Madrid explosion noted that the voice recorder also provided few clues in that crash."

He continued, "NTSB Vice Chairman Robert Francis did say yesterday that one of the TWA pilots noted an `erratic fuel-flow gauge two minutes before the recording ends but didn't mention the problem again."

George Stephanopoulos, President Clinton's advisor, said after the latest directive by the FAA that "we felt it prudent to reassure people, even before a final judgment was made, about the safety of the airlines."

Other recent incidents had already shaken many people's confidence. In May, ValuJet Flight 592 crashed near Miami, killing all 110 people on board. On July 6, an engine on a Delta plane taking off from Pensacola, Florida, exploded, killing two people. Now with the TWA crash, the government is working overtime to keep the focus off of any safety problems.

Faced with declining profit rates and intense competition between different carriers, airline bosses have been cutting costs and wrenching deep concessions from airline workers over the past several years -undermining safety.

At TWA, which has been in and out of bankruptcy twice in the past eight years, workers have taken major concessions all in the name of "saving" the company. New hires, ramp service workers and mechanics, start at a lower rate of pay and most are hired only on a part-time basis. Vacations have been slashed and pensions have been frozen. Cost-cutting has been the motto for the airline bosses. Starting flight attendants at TWA must pay for their own six-week training program and then receive a base pay of only $12,000 a year. 1996 was the first year the government approved regulations that guarantee flight attendants minimum rest periods, which can be as little as nine hours between flights.

Delta has cut about 12,000 jobs just since 1994 and USAir just went through a round of cutbacks, including layoffs cuts at its maintenance base in Miami. The Associated Press reported that Delta officials rushed to reassure the public "there was no connection between the [July 6] accident and deep cost-cutting."

Nancy Rosenstock is a member of the International Association of Machinists and works at TWA in Newark, New Jersey.  
 
 
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