Clinton : Mini-Weapons in Future

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Monday December 27 6:40 PM ET Clinton: Mini-Weapons in Future By ANNE GEARAN Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Clinton predicts the 21st century will bring cures for AIDS and cancer, but also the threat of chemical and biological weapons so tiny they can be held in a hand.

``I wish I was going to live to be 150. I'd love to see what happens,'' the president said in a CBS ``60 Minutes II'' interview to be telecast Tuesday night.

In his speculative, off-the-cuff remarks, Clinton said a chemical or germ warfare attack is possible in the United States during the new century. He did not spell out the scenario in which he thought someone might launch such an attack.

``I think it's highly likely that someone will try (to launch a chemical or germ attack),'' Clinton said in the interview, which was taped last week. The network released a transcript Monday.

``The organized forces of destruction will take maximum advantage of new technologies, and new scientific developments, just like democratic societies do,'' Clinton said.

``Bad guys'' will try to harness the same kinds of technological advances that have produced tiny, hand-held personal organizers and computers, he said.

``Now you've got these gadgets where you can use as a telephone or a typewriter, and do e-mail and all that,'' Clinton said. ``Well, the same miniaturization will apply to biological and chemical weapons.''

The president added that he is trying to make sure the United States is ready for such innovations.

``We've just got to be ready,'' he said. ``There will always be bad guys out there in the world who will try to take advantage of people's vulnerabilities.''

Clinton, who often speaks of scientific research with evident fascination, said he thinks the new century will bring a cure for many kinds of cancer, a high-tech, computerized fix for paralyzing spinal cord injuries and a vaccine for the deadly AIDS virus. The lengthening of human lifespans will continue, he predicted.

Meanwhile, Clinton is spending the last week of the 20th century working on the millennium speech he will give on New Year's Eve as well as the budget he plans to submit to Congress early in the year, spokeswoman Julia Payne said Monday.

Like many Americans, Clinton will also take some time off this week. Although the weather is blustery in Washington, the president is not ruling out golf. And he may help his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, begin her move to their house in Chappaqua, N.Y., where she is establishing residency for a Senate run.

Clinton spent a couple of hours at work Monday morning, and planned to do the same each day this week, Ms. Payne said.

``Part of what he is doing, believe it or not, is working on the 2001 budget,'' even though the ink is barely dry on the 2000 spending plan, she said.

During the afternoons, Clinton plans to relax with his wife and daughter, as well as his mother-in-law and other visiting relatives.

The Clintons are not going to the Renaissance Weekend in Hilton Head, S.C., for the New Year's lectures and discussions as they have in years past.

The president has no scheduled speeches or other public appearances until New Year's Eve, when he and Mrs. Clinton attend two millennium commemorations during the day and then are hosts for the big celebration on the National Mall.

Clinton has invoked the dawn of a new millennium often this past year - telling audiences of his hopes for peace, racial harmony and scientific advance. He will probably concentrate on those themes in an address near midnight Dec. 31 at the Lincoln Memorial, and again in his final State of the Union address on Jan. 27.

A lot of the focus at the White House and elsewhere has been on the possibility that vital computerized services may fail as 1999 turns to 2000.

Clinton's Y2K point man, John Koskinen, has said there is no need for panic or extraordinary preparations, and Clinton himself said recently he plans no special precautions.

Koskinen will brief Clinton regularly this week, and the White House is setting up a Y2K command center to monitor possible problems with electrical power systems, phone service and the like.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/19991227/pl/clinton_2.html

-- LOON (blooney10@aol.com), December 27, 1999

Answers

Bill "President for life" Klinton is just letting you know what HE is planning to unleash on you in the next century...

-- (Me@here.now), December 27, 1999.

hhmmm.....no public appearances or scheduled speeches till new years eve.....wanna bet he will be in hiding? And where will he be, when he gives this new years eve speech? I think it a bit strange , under the circumstances that our leader will not be in the public eye, calming the masses. Seems as though ,to me, he may have another plan!!

-- untrusting (asever@ready.com), December 27, 1999.

A cure of cancer? http://www.sonic.net/~kryptox/politics/carton.htm Not while the Government perpetuates a cause.

-- Liers at Our Door (letthetruth@beknown.com), December 27, 1999.

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