GOP Raps Clinton on Crime, Suggests Military Build Jails

Republican leaders Friday called President Clinton soft on crime and outlined their own get-tough approach--including immediate construction of military stockades to house violent criminals.

Speaking at a three-day party strategy session in advance of Nov. 8 elections, Rep. Newt Gingrich of Georgia, the House Republican Whip, said new emergency stockades on surplus military bases would help “shatter the culture of violence and overwhelm the relatively small number of truly destructive people in our midst.”

“We should build as many stockades as necessary and as quickly as though this were wartime and people were dying--because they are,” Gingrich told a breakfast meeting of party officials.