THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 6, 1995 TAG: 9505060304
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: EAST LANSING, MICH. LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
President Clinton warned on Friday that the public must gird for a long-term struggle against domestic terrorism, and he offered a scathing critique of paramilitary groups who think ``government is in a conspiracy to take your freedom away.''
``There is nothing patriotic about hating your country, or pretending that you can love your country but hate your government,'' Clinton told graduates of Michigan State University.
``How dare you suggest that we in the freest nation on earth live in tyranny?'' Clinton chided. ``How dare you call yourselves patriots and heroes?''
The speech offered the president's first extended remarks concerning the right-wing militias that have gained prominence since the Oklahoma City bombing. Michigan is home to one of the nation's largest and most active citizen militias.
Bombing suspect Timothy James McVeigh lived for a time in Decker, about 85 miles away, at the farm of James Douglas Nichols, who is being held as a material witness in the case and has ties to the Michigan Militia.
``I say this to the militias and all others who believe that the greatest threat to freedom comes from the government instead of those who would take away our freedom,'' Clinton said. ``If you say violence is an acceptable way to make change, you are wrong. . . . If you appropriate our sacred symbols for paranoid purposes and compare yourselves to colonial militias who fought for the democracy you now rail against, you are wrong.''
Mark Price, operations officer for the Michigan Militia, told the Associated Press that Clinton ought to meet with the people he is talking about.
``I would say, sit down with some members of the Michigan Militia, talk to them man to man,'' Price said. ``We are working men of the community and we love the Constitution of the United States and will defend it against all enemies, foreign and domestic.''
Last week, Clinton cited the Oklahoma City bombing in condemning extremist rhetoric on public airwaves, and to argue for an administration proposal to give federal law enforcers more surveillance power over suspected terrorists.
Friday, he offered the tragedy as a broad metaphor for the challenges faced by a free society.
Clinton warned modern technology like the Internet has a ``dark underside'' that, combined with America's traditional openness and liberty, leaves the nation ``very, very vulnerable to the forces of organized destruction and evil.''
Clinton also used his Michigan trip to expand on last week's criticism of extreme rhetoric on the airwaves. While aides then insisted Clinton was not necessarily referring to talk-radio hosts, Clinton made his point plain in an interview published Friday by the Detroit Free Press. ``I cannot defend some of the things that Gordon Liddy has said,'' Clinton said.
Liddy has come under sharp criticism for giving on-air advice about the best way to shoot federal agents in a gunfight, but Clinton did not specify his complaints against the talk-show host.
Clinton also acknowledged that most militia members across the nation are law-abiding citizens who exercise their right to free speech by criticizing the government. He stressed that he would continue to do everything possible ``to protect your right to do so.''
But, he said, there have been too many ``lawbreakers'' among those who espouse anti-government and hate philosophies. He said no one has a right ``to resort to violence when you don't get your way.''
KEYWORDS: TERRORISM by CNB