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BUSH PLAN FOR BELTWAY LEAKED
 Rumsfeld Favors Forceful Actions to Foil Sniper Attacks
 Washington, D.C.- (GNS)
- The White House is developing a detailed plan, modeled on the postwar occupation of Japan, to install an American-led military government in Virginia, Maryland and Washington D.C., senior administration officials said today.
     The plan also calls for secret trials of suspected snipers and a transition back to an elected civilian government that could take years.
     In the initial phase, the Beltway Zone, as it would be known, would be governed by an American military commander - perhaps Gen. Tommy R. Franks, commander of United States forces in the Persian Gulf - who would assume the role that Gen. Douglas MacArthur served in Japan after its surrender in 1945.
     One senior official said the administration was "coalescing around" the concept after discussions of options with President Bush and his top aides. But this official and others cautioned that there had not yet been any formal approval of the plan and that it was not clear whether the governors of nearby states had been consulted on it.
     The detailed thinking about an American occupation emerges as the administration watches local and state police agencies "take forever", creating a situation where polls now show more Americans are afraid of snipers than of terrorists, which, according to adminstration officials, "weakens the war effort."
     Today marked the first time the administration has discussed what could be a lengthy occupation.
     Officials say they want to avoid the chaos and in-fighting that plagued federal forces at the outbreak of the Civil War, although they acknowledged the Civil War was an effort to end slavery while this would be an effort to regain control of the headlines.
     Mr. Bush's aides say they want full control over the Beltway while American-led forces carry out their principal mission: finding and destroying the secret sniper network that has grabbed headlines from the president's war plans, and implementing seach & destroy missions "wherever active opposition is found."
     The description of the emerging American plan and the possibility of secret trials could be part of an administration effort to warn snipers in the Beltway and elsewhere in the country of an unpleasant future if they continue their random attacks, and to warn state and local officials of the consequences that come with failure to control these outbreaks.
     Asked what would happen if this action ultimately lead to an elimination of the concept of state government, a senior official said, "That would be nice."
     The official suggested that the American military might enter and secure the states anyway, not only to eliminate weapons of mass destruction but also to ensure against anarchy and dissent.
     Under the compromise now under discussion with some unidentified governors, according to officials familiar with the talks, the U.S. Congress would approve a resolution requiring the dismantling of Virginia and Maryland and specifying "consequences" that other states would suffer for defiance.
     The revelation of the occupation plan marks the first time the administration has described in detail how it would administer individual states and how it would keep the country unified while searching for snipers.
     It would put an American officer in charge of Virginia and Maryland for a year or more while the United States and its allies searched for snipers and anti-Administration literature and operatives.