Word: raab
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...scoffs outgoing U.S. Customs Commissioner William von Raab in a departing blast. "We are fighting an uninspired war of attrition. A war of words. The drug issue is not a priority right now. I don't think our Government, either in Congress or the Administration, has the stomach necessary to win this battle...
...eight years as Customs commissioner, Von Raab's penchant for independent action and colorful talk has landed him in a series of well- publicized scrapes. He was an early and vehement critic of Washington's see-no-evil policy toward Panama strongman Manuel Noriega. He appalled civil libertarians by proposing to shoot down suspected drug-smuggling planes. He infuriated the State Department by trying to mark passports of drug smugglers caught at the border. He promoted the "zero tolerance" program that called for prosecuting people apprehended with small amounts of drugs and confiscating their cars, boats and planes...
This week Von Raab, 47, leaves office with an encouraging prod from Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady. Treasury officials say Brady asked Von Raab to be gone late Monday, after he presides at a ceremony marking the 200th anniversary of the Customs Service...
...valedictory, Von Raab has written to Bush warning that drug czar William Bennett's efforts are being undermined at the Cabinet and sub-Cabinet levels by "political jockeying, backstabbing and malaise." Von Raab has warm words for Bush but scorns the President's cautious, pragmatic advisers, including Brady, Secretary of State James Baker and Attorney General Dick Thornburgh. Except for drug czar Bennett and HUD Secretary Jack Kemp, he says, the Bush team is afraid of taking risks and making waves...
Customs officials said last week that Operation C-Chase signals a more aggressive and cooperative international approach to uncovering money- laundering activities and prosecuting banks that, wittingly or not, play the game. Said U.S. Customs commissioner William Von Raab: "The bottom line is that whatever kind of financial institution you are, if you have crooks for customers, then you are a crook." Considering the billions of dollars in narcotics cash deposited every year in banks, that statement undoubtedly put honest bankers everywhere in a heightened state of alertness...