Banner Graphic, Volume 21, Number 127, Greencastle, Putnam County, 1 February 1991 — Page 2

A2

THE BANNERGRAPHIC February 1,1991

Bad times in Baghdad

Allies fly 77 bombing missions overnight; Iraq seeks Arab help

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) Allied warplanes flew 77 air raids overnight, an Iraqi military spokesman said today. Iraq appealed to Arabs for help in its “historic, heroic, rare stand” against the U.S .-led allied forces. Also today, Iraq claimed to have shot down three allied aircraft overnight. PENTAGON SOURCES said Thursday one U.S. military aircraft with a crew of 14 was downed behind Iraqi lines. Members of Congress said later the aircraft was a modified C-130 and went down over Kuwait, but they gave no further details. Since the air war began Jan. 17, Iraq claims to have shot down more than 200 aircraft and missiles. The allies say they have lost 24 planes, 19 of them in combat. They say 59 Iraqi planes have been destroyed. The Iraqi military spokesman, quoted by Baghdad radio, did not mention targets in Iraq and Kuwait of the latest allied bombing. OTHER REPORTS said Iraq’s southern port of Basra and two cities in that country’s northern oilproducing region were hit, as well as units of the elite Republican Guard near the Kuwaiti frontier. Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency, like Baghdad radio monitored in Nicosia, said Basra and the nearby cities of Faw, Abu Al-Khasib and Zubair were bombed by the U.S.-led forces from Thursday night through this morn-

Refugees say Baghdad being bombed nightly; no utilities there

RUWEISHED, Jordan (AP) Fresh meat and vegetables are plentiful in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and people fill the streets by day, but at night they run for cover from allied bomb attacks, refugees say. Many who arrived on Thursday said bombs had pocked the entire country and that that civilians had been Juried in the allied pounding. HASSAN SAID Abdul-Magid, an Egyptian, said allied planes destroyed his workshop and house in Tikrit, but apparently had intended to strike an ammunition dump about a mile away. He said one Egyptian neighbor died in the raid on Jan. 24.

Bush vists three bases, sends go-slow signal on ground war

WASHINGTON (AP) President Bush is saluting U.S. troops and their families at three Southern military bases, as his administration signals it won’t be provoked into a premature ground war with Iraq. The president was Hying today to two bases in North Carolina and one in Georgia that have deployed troops to the Persian Gulf. He also planned to meet privately with families of U.S. prisoners of war. IT WAS BUSH’S first trip outside the Washington area this year and his first visit to military installations since he spent Thanksgiving Day with troops in the gulf region. His first stop was the Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station at

Soviet VP claims Communist Party gaining power, dumping Gorbachev

MOSCOW (AP) The Soviet vice president said the Communist Party is regaining influence and indicated Mikhail Gorbachev might be replaced as its chief, the state news agency reported today. The remarks by Gennady Yanayev were reported the same day that soldiers and security forces are to begin joint patrols in all major Soviet cities. Some reformers and leaders in the Soviet republics view the move as a sign of an emerging dictatorship. Banner Graphic (USPS 142-020) IMMylwnw CotaMtehM IBM TNaHoraM DaNy OrapMc EMaMtehM 1883 TotoMoiro 883-8181 BoMlxliM Miy oacoßt Sunday and HaiMay* fry BannerarapMc, Inc. at IM North Jadiaon St, areoncaotlo, IN 4SI3S. IrconOdiw poetMO POM at Orooncootlo. IN. POSTMASTER: Sand adafraaa cNangoo to Tho SannorOrapMc, PjO. 800 MS, Breoncaotlo, IN 4SI3S Subscription Ratos Por Wook, fry carrier *IXO Per Wook, by motor route. *IXB MaM Subscription Ratos RJt. In Rest of Rest of Putnam County Indiana U.S.A. 3 Months *2I.M *3S.M *25-M S Months *40.00 *48.00 *50.00 1 Year *7B.M *SS.M *M.M MaM subscriptions payable In advanco._not accepted In town and where motor route service Io available. Mewrber of tho Aeoodated Prose The Associated Press Is entitled exclusively to the eeo for republication of all the local news printed bi this newopapsr.

ing. “The sound of American aircraft, coupled with the roar of missiles fired by the attacking forces on Iraqi cities and the boom of Iraqi anti-aircraft batteries, could be heard the whole night,” IRNA said. IN PARIS, THE Defense Ministry said French warplanes carried out two raids early today in Iraq against units of the Republican Guard installed near the Kuwaiti frontier. The Jaguars and Mirage FICR reconnaissance targeted Republican Guard command elements, and all planes returned safely to base, the ministry said. Kurdish rebels said the allies bombed two airports and an oil refinery in Kirkuk and a military barracks in Erbil on Thursday, causing heavy losses. A RADIO STATION run by Iraq’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and monitored in Iran reported that after the bombing of the Kirkuk airports, trailers were seen carrying the charred wreckages of several planes, the Iranian news agency said. According to IRNA, the radio also said warplanes bombed Kirkuk’s power plant, located 65 feet below ground level. It said columns of thick smoke blanketed the area for several hours. There was no mention of human losses. Baghdad radio appealed today to other Arabs to help it confront “all these evil forces” arrayed against

“Who is going to compensate all the people? Who?” he asked angrily. “Didn’t Bush say he’s not going to bomb civilians?” Allied commanders say they have tried to avoid civilian targets, but many refugees said personal property had been destroyed in the air war. THE ALLIES recently announced they had shifted the focus of the attacks, which began with the war on Jan. 17, to Iraqi troop concentrations in Kuwait and southern Iraq. Refugees say the daytime attacks have stopped but that air raid sirens still wail at night

Havelock, N.C., to address Marines and their families from both the air station and nearby Camp Lejeune. Later, Bush was to fly to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, N.C., and then to Fort Stewart in Savannah, Ga. He was flying on to Florida for a private visit with his mother, Dorothy Walker Bush, 89, at the family home in Kobe Sound, near Palm Beach, before returning to Camp David, Md., for the weekend. BUSH’S TRIP coincides with the first American deaths in ground combat in the gulf, where allied forces battled an Iraqi incursion into Saudi Arabia on Wednesday

THE VICE PRESIDENTt also spoke as Gorbachev himself is showing a new hard line in dealing with opposition to Kremlin rule in the Baltics, the press and elsewhere. In past weeks, many reformers have lost faith in Gorbachev as a champion of a more open, democratic Soviet Union. Speaking Thursday at a closeddoor session of the party’s Central Committee, Yanayev delivered a strong defense of the party and Gorbachev. He then added: “I should like to stress, however, that the party is alive not because Gorbachev is general secretary of its Central Committee. If he ceases to be general secretary, another leader will come. But the ideals and goals of the party, if cleared of the distortions that appeared in various periods of our history, will remain alive,” Tass quoted Yanayev as saying. IT WAS THE first public indication that party leaders are questioning Gorbachev’s position as general secretary. Reformers have often criticized Gorbachev’s dual role, and rumors have repeatedly arisen during meetings of the policymaking Central Committee that he might be ousted as party chief. Separate reports on a meeting of the party plenum made no mention of Gorbachev, who by tradition

The Nintendo Solution

In \ J \ x v| li^'wM

“YOUR IRAQI BROTHER is confronting countless armies with composure and fearlessness,” the announcer said. “Such armies have never before assembled against one country. “Nevertheless, your Iraqi brother is standing like a lofty mountain, unshaken and unafraid. “Who is like your Iraqi brother,

“There was much more bombing before, maybe 20 times a day,” said Ghannum Gumma, a 29-year-old Egyptian ironworker. “Now it’s 10. ... It was day and night, and now it’s only night.” WATER AND electricity remain largely out of service in Baghdad, a city of 4 million people, as well as in other Iraqi towns, the refugees said. But they reported many people who fled during the first wave of bombings were returning. Samir Ibrahim, an Egyptian who owns a Baghdad auto parts store, said he left shortly after the raids began but came back 10 days later to pick up an exit permit.

and Thursday. Amid speculation of an impending Iraqi offensive, administration officials were insisting that the United States would not begin a potcnually costly ground war to dislodge the Iraqis from Kuwait until the time was ripe. Both administration officials and congressional leaders have made clear they hope to confine the fighting to relatively safer air attacks as long as possible. “WHEN WE’RE READY to move, we’ll move,” presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said. He called the current allied strategy “exactly right.” Bush met privately with Jewish

delivers a speech to the Central Committee. The body has about 500 members. Gorbachev repeatedly has denied any plans to leave the party post, arguing the dual role is essential to his ability to govern. He rose to power in March 1985 as head of the party, at the time the undisputed ruling body in the country. He later took on the title of president and gradually reduced the party’s power. IF HE LEFT the post, Gorbachev still would hold the far more powerful post of president. But it would be the first time the Soviet leader has not been chief of the Communist Party. The Central Committee session had been scheduled to last one day, but officials told reporters it might be extended into today. Yanayev, the career party official nominated by Gorbachev in December for the new vice presidency, said Gorbachev’s combined posts are “a benefit for both the party and the state,” the state news agency Tass reported. “The president needs the Soviet Communist Party, because it is the only powerful party which has a realistic program and enjoys people’s confidence. It was perceptibly shaken recently, but now it is being regained. The petty needs the

who is like him making this historic, heroic, rare stand? No one, no one can possibly make such a stand except you, Arab brother. “ALL YOU HAVE TO do is to take the first step. All you have to do is begin. Stab the nation’s enemies in any way you can,” the commentary said. Iraq said earlier Thursday it was holding female American soldiers

“The day I left, Baghdad was empty. When I went back ... it was crowded,” he said. REFUGEES SAID the government had ended its outright ban on gasoline sales and was issuing coupons to car owners allowing them to buy about a quart of fuel a day. The flood of refugees expected by aid agencies again failed to appear Thursday. Only about 400 people, mostly Egyptians, crossed the border by noon. Most stacked their tattered suitcases in a desert tent camp about 20 miles cast of this town, awaiting transport home or to larger

leaders Thursday. His visitors later said the president told them he was not ready to mount a ground war immediately. “He’s not anxious for a ground war at this point,” said Shoshana Cardin, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. “He trusts that there will be more aerial war.” SHE ALSO SAID Bush promised there would be no ceasefire or bombing pause. At the Pentagon, Army Lt Gen. Thomas Kelly, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, signaled a similar reluctance to initiate a ground campaign. He said Iraqi President Saddam Hus-

■l* KM nI

MIKHAIL GORBACHEV: On his way out?

president too,” Tass said. THE PARTY’S credibility has plummeted in the last several years as Soviets were allowed to express pent-up frustrations with more than 70 years of heavy-handed Communist rule. But a worsening economy and strident demands by the Soviet republics for more freedom have prompted calls for stronger central control and a hardline crackdown. Several top reformist officials, including former Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze, have left the government in recent weeks, complaining of a turn to the right. Gorbachev has suggested suspending his own free press law, and a

as prisoners and that it would treat them well “in accordance with the spirit of the lofty Islamic laws.” The official Iraqi News Agency said the women were among Americans and Saudis seized in the fierce battle for the Saudi border town of Khafji. American officials have said that one woman who was on a transport mission was missing in northern Saudi Arabia.

camps farther inside Jordan. REFUGEES SAID only a few hundred people were waiting on the Iraqi side of the border. They said the 310-mile highway from Baghdad was littered with cars and trucks that had been hit by bombs or had crashed after hitting giant bomb craters. Suleiman Jaffar, a 23-ycar-old worker from Sudan, said he and three friends abandoned their car when a Saudi Arabian jet buzzed them along the highway. “We left the car, then the plane came again and bombed our‘car. I saw the Saudi flag on the plane,” he said.

sein wants such a ground battle, and that the Saudi border invasion was designed to provoke a ground response. “The bombing campaign is going very well,” Kelly said. “It would seem to me we wouldn’t want to engage in a ground war right now. I think that really is upsetting to our principal adversary, Mr. What’s-his-namc, Hussein.” THE STATE Department reported that some 70 acts of terrorism have been carried out worldwide against the United States and its allies since the war began, some by groups believed loyal to Iraq.

Kremlin crackdown in secessionist Lithuania and Latvia has left at least 19 civilians dead. IN HIS REMARKS Thursday, Yanayev also lashed out at Russian Federation leader Boris Yeltsin for his constant criticism of Kremlin policies, and he blasted calls in the West to reduce aid to the Soviet Union over the Baltic crackdown. “Any attempt to talk with the Soviet Union a great power, although living through tremendous hardships in the language of diktat is doomed to failure,” Tass quoted the vice president as saying. Soviet reformers worried, meanwhile, that hard-liners will use the new patrols to consolidate influence over Gorbachev.

A 4 i < Middle East Roundup

By The Associated Press Here are developments in the Persian Gulf war: Around the Gulf:

• Fighting raged again Friday in the beach town-tumed-battleground of Khafji, which has changed hands twice in as many days. The Iraqis overran it Wednesday; the allies recaptured it Thursday. Pool reports described incoming rocket and artillery fire in the distance and heavy pounding from allied air strikes, possibly from bombing by B-52 bombers. Witnesses saw wounded being carried out of the city and said the route between Khafji and Iraqi-occupied Kuwait was still open, giving the Iraqis a route of attack. Saudi Gen. Khalid bin Sultan said his troops, backed by U.S. Marines, had cleared out Iraqi troops on Thursday afternoon, capturing 400 Iraqi soldiers, killing or wounding 200, and destroying 45 armored vehicles. “They lost 90 percent of their forces,” he said. • Allied planes attacked a 10-mile-long Iraqi armored column headed into Saudi Arabia, according to military sources and a pool press report B-52 bombers, refueling in the air as they attacked, pummeled the column, said to be as much as 1,000 vehicles long. The dull thumps of explosions were heard as A-10 tankbuster planes and Apache helicopters attacked, according to the report from a British newsman traveling with; Britain’s 4th Armoured Brigade; near the border. His story quoted an ; intelligence report that at least 100 Iraqi tanks had been destroyed since Tuesday night. • Israel said an Iraqi Scud-type missile struck the occupied West \ Bank, but there were no reports of: injury or damage. The attack (about 6 p.m. or 11 a.m. EST) was eighth ‘ Iraqi missile attack aimed at Israel' since the war began. • Much of the recent ground I fighting has been in darkness, and ' U.S. commanders in Saudi Arabia have a new concern: that Iraqi J troops may be equipped with night-' vision equipment Early intelligcnce assessments were that allied I forces would essentially own the - nighttime hours of the war because - of their superior ability to see tar- I gets and move troops and armor. I But it now is evident that the Iraqis I have some of their own night-vi- I sion equipment, although not as I much or as high-quality as that of - U.S. forces, said a source in I Washington, speaking on condition - of anonymity. It is believed the ‘ Iraqi equipment came from - European suppliers, the source said. - Washington: • Pentagon sources said Thursday that another U.S. military aircraft had been lost in the Gulf War. Its crew of 14 was reported downed behind Iraqi lines. Members of Congress said after briefings from Pentagon officials that the aircraft was a modified version of the C-130 equipped with small cannons and machine guns. The lawmakers said the plane was capable of flying at low altitudes and destroying bunkers and; gasoline trucks with heavyfirepower. The Pentagon source refused to say if the plane was downed over Iraq or Kuwait. • At the Pentagon, Lt. Gen.; Thomas Kelly said a search was under way for two soldiers one man and one woman missing since Wednesday. “I do not want to say where they’re lost because we hope to get them back,” he said Thursday. The two were not directly involved in the fighting at the northern Saudi port of Khafji, the military said. Financial: • The Nikkei Stock Average of 225 selected issues lost 136.44 points, or 0.59 percent, closing the week at 23,156.70. The index had shed a total of 280.11 points in the previous four trading days. • Oil prices rose moderately. The price of the benchmark North Sea Brent crude for March delivery was quoted at 20-30 cents higher than overnight closing levels of $20.30$20.40 a barrel in New York. Elsewhere: • The United Nations Security Council on Thursday smothered an attempt led by Cuba and Yemen to publicly debate a cease-fire in the Gulf War. The council decided not to meet yet for debate on the war despite the demands of the two states and at least six non-council members.