ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 11, 1997 TAG: 9704110081
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
Vietnam vet confirmed as ambassador to Vietnam
WASHINGTON - One-time fighter pilot Pete Peterson was confirmed Thursday as the first U.S. ambassador to Vietnam, a country that imprisoned and tortured him for 6 1/2 years.
Peterson will ``travel back to a place he found quite uncomfortable the last time he resided there,'' said former Vietnam POW John McCain, R-Ariz., before the nomination was approved by voice vote.
Vietnam veteran Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said the approval had a huge significance for the nation. By sending Peterson, he said, Americans were ``ceasing to treat Vietnam as a war and beginning in earnest to treat it like a country.''
Other ambassadorships President Clinton is considering, The Associated Press has learned, include:
Tom Foley, former House Speaker, to Japan.
John C. Kornblum, head of the State Department's European bureau, to Germany.
James Collins, a current ambassador at large, to Russia.
Mark Parris, a National Security Council specialist on the Middle East, to Turkey.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS
House bars federal funds for illegal assisted suicide
WASHINGTON - In a move many Democrats decried as political grandstanding, the House voted Thursday to bar federal funding for the already-illegal practice of assisted suicide. Republicans said the action was needed to pre-empt a possible Supreme Court ruling.
Most Democrats, including all of Virginia's representatives, ended up joining the one-sided 398-16 vote for passage, indicating the strong distaste for doctor-assisted suicide among lawmakers. But the result masked a strongly partisan division over the bill's relevance.
Supporters said it was crucial for Congress to act before the Supreme Court rules on several cases that could affect laws in 42 states outlawing assisted suicide.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS
LENGTH: Short : 47 linesby CNB