ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Tuesday, August 6, 1996                TAG: 9608060075
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-3  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press 

CLINTON SIGNS ANTI-TERRORISM BILL EUROPEAN UNION RAPS LAW TARGETING SOME INVESTMENTS IN IRAN, LIBYA

Aggravating tensions with allies, President Clinton ordered sanctions Monday against foreign companies that invest in Iran and Libya. ``You simply can't do business with people by day who are killing your people by night,'' the president said.

Germany and France denounced the move as a barrier to international trade. The 15-nation European Union also protested. And Iran predicted the new law was ``doomed to failure'' because of the allies' objections.

The United States already was under fire from Canada, Mexico and other allies for a measure Clinton signed into law that penalizes foreign businesses that invest in property the Cuban government confiscated from current American citizens.

Clinton said he expected the allies would eventually come around to his way of thinking. But he also said, ``Where we don't agree, the United States cannot and will not refuse to do what we believe is right.''

With Americans still awaiting answers to the TWA crash and the bombing at the Olympics, Clinton spoke out against terrorism in an Oval Office bill-signing ceremony and in a speech at George Washington University.

``Terrorism is the enemy of our generation, and we must prevail,'' the president said. He singled out Iran and Libya as ``two of the most dangerous supporters of terrorism in the world.''

Clinton was joined at the White House by relatives of victims of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Also present were two of the Americans who had been held hostage at the American Embassy in Iran at the end of the Carter administration.

Clinton said the sanction bill would heighten pressure on Libya to extradite two suspects in the Pan Am explosion.

And Victoria Cummock, president of Families of Pan Am 103, responded, ``Today marks an important day in America's war against countries that use terrorism as an instrument of national policy against American citizens and the free world.''

The new law, which cleared Congress on July 23, requires the president to penalize foreign firms that invest $40 million or more annually in the energy sectors of Iran and Libya. ``The act will help to deny them the money they need to finance international terrorism or to acquire weapons of mass destruction,'' Clinton said.

The law would not cover existing contracts; instead, it affects only future investments, the administration said.

LENGTH: Medium:   58 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  AP. President Clinton signs into law Monday a measure 
          that will require his office to penalize any nation investing $40 
          million or more annually in the energy sectors of Iran and Libya. 
          "Terrorism is the enemy of our generation, and we must prevail," he 
          said.