Tuesday, February 3, 1937
Page 2
Daily Ncbraskan
News
By The Associated Press
"" " ,J, . .i
Senate report: Israel started arms deals, diverted fund
s
JERUSALEM A parliamentary
committee announced Monday it will
conduct hearings on whether Israel
promoted American arms sales to Iran
and had a role in diverting profits to
rebels in Nicaragua.
Testimony in a 64-page U.S. Senate
report indicated Israel initiated the
U.S. arms sales to Iran and played a role
in funneling profits to the Contras
fighting the Nicaraguan government.
The Israeli government on Sunday
denied such findings.
Abba Eban, chairman of the Knesset's
Defense and Foreign Affairs Commit
tee, said he wrote a letter to Prime
Minister Yitzhak Shamir asking that
the government provide a written
explanation of its role in the arms
scandal.
"Israel's official statements have
only been reactions and do not give a
positive, contiguous account of Israel's
actions and the principles that guided
it," Eban said in a statement distrib
uted to reporters.
Eban said he asked for a "detailed
document that will explain the go
vernment's actions and rationale on
the subject of (selling) weapons to
Iran."
Committee member Simcha Dinitz
told The Associated Press that a six
member subcommittee on intelligence
services would begin closed-door ses
sions Tuesday by questioning two Israeli
officials named in the Senate report.
He identified them as Amiram Nir,
the prime minister's adviser on anti
terrorism, and David Kimche, former
director-general of the Foreign Minis
try. They acted as liaison to Washing
ton in the arms deals.
The Senate Intelligence Committee
report published Friday listed Nir and
Kimche as initiators of some of the
sales. The report said Nir and Defense
Minister Yitzhak Rabin suggested
diverting funds from the sales to the
Nicaraguan rebels.
"Not only did I not propose, neither I
nor any authorized Israeli, proposed
that Israel help the Contras .directly in
any way," Rabin said on Israel Army
Radio on Sunday.
"On the contrary, I rejected a request
by an American member of the National
Security Council who proposed this to
Israel." The hearings will be secret and
closed to the press, Dinitz said.
Senior Israeli officials have said
Israel also has agreed to provide the
Senate panel headed by Daniel K.
Inouye with written testimony from
Nir, Kimche and two Israeli arms deal
ers involved in the weapons sales.
Israel has been supplying arms and
spare parts to Iran since late 1981,
some of them directly and others through
third countries and international wea
pons dealers. Former Defense Minister
Ariel Sharon confirmed news reports in
1982 that Israel had sold Iran arms but
said Israel stopped doing so at the
request of the United States. However,
persistent news reports said shipment
of spare parts and light weapons ship
ments were resumed soon after.
Official reportedly knew of arms sale before disclosure
Reagan names new CIA cMef
WASHINGTON Robert Gates, a
CIA official who reportedly urged dis
closure of secret arms sales to Iran
before they were revealed, was picked
by President Reagan on Monday to
replace the ailing William J. Casey as
director of the spy agency.
The 73-year-old Casey, recuperating
from surgery seven weeks ago for a
brain tumor, was invited to become a
counselor to the president when and if
he can return to work.
Gates, 43, has been the No. 2 official
at the CIA since 19(32 and has been
running the agency in Casey's absence.
A 20-year veteran of service in the
CIA and the White House National
Security Council as a Soviet affairs
expert, Gates is widely respected on
Capitol Hill and likely will not have
difficulty winning Senate confirmation.
However, he is certain to be grilled
about the CIA's role in the secret sale
of arms to Iran and the diversion of
profits to the Nicaraguan Contra rebels.
A report by the Senate Intelligence
Committee said Casey, in testimoney
about the affair late last year, "was
general in nature" and left many
questions unanswered.
Casey suffered a seizure last Dec. 15
a day before he was to appear before
the Senate Intelligence Committee
and underwent surgery three days later
for removal of a cancerous tumor.
The committee's report, released
last week, said a CIA analyst went to
Gates last Oct. 1 and said he was
concerned that money from the secret
arms sale to Iran were being diverted to
Central America.
According to Gates' testimony in the
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report, he and Casey urged then-national
security adviser John Poindexter to
have Reagan make the Iran initiative
public, rather than have it leak out "in
dribs and drabs."
The arms-sale deal was revealed
Nov. 3 by a pro-Syrian publication in
Lebanon.
In Brief
Spokeswoman: Liberace near death
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. Liberace, the piano virtuoso whose flashy
garb and gentle wit made him a television and concert favorite for 40
years, was reported noar death on Monday at his desert home here. Spokeswoman
Denise Collier said she didn't know if Liberace, 67, was conscious.
Liberace was hospitalized Jan. 23 for what a spokesman reported to be
anemia. He returned to his home here four days later, and Collier said then
that he was gravely ill, suffering from anemia, emphysema and heart
disease.
Spokesmen vehemently denied a report he was suffering from AIDS.
'It ain't over until it's over'
PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. A plump, pampered groundhog named Punx
sutawney Phil predicted at least six more weeks of winter Monday when
he was pulled put of an electrically heated and lighted burrow and
reportedly saw his shadow.
Despite an overcast sky at sunrise, Phil's handlers from the Punxsu
tawney Groundhog club claimed that he glimpsed a faint shadow.
Groundhog Day folklore has it that if a groundhog, also known as a
woodchuck, sees its shadow, six weeks of winter follow.
Early returns show overwhelming approval
MANILA, Philippines President Corazon Aquino won a
decisive victory Monday as Filipinos overwhelmingly
endorsed her proposed consitution and another 5 12 years
of her leadership, unofficial returns showed.
Filipinos backed the draft charter by a 4-to-l margin
nationwide, according to the unoffical count by the private
National Movement for Free Elections. Only in the northern
Luzon Island stronghold of former President Ferdinand E.
Marcos did a majority of voters appeal1 to have rejected the
proposal.
Final, official returns from the Commission on Elections
were not expected before next week.
The private vote-count showed an approval margin of
more than 80 percent 5,374,617 to 1,294,656 with 27
percent of the 86,703 precincts reporting nationwide.
Mutinous soldiers linked to Marcos attempted a revolt
last week but were put down by government troops. Some
military officials, including one of the coup leaders, have
criticized the government's peace overtures to end the
18-year-old Communist insurgency.
Voters were asked to state "yes" or "no" on whether they
supported ratification of the 20,000-word draft, which
sharply reduces the power of the president, restores a
bicameral legislature, bans the military from political
activity except voting and expands human rights guarantees.
The charter, completed in October by a 48-member
commission appointed by Mrs. Aquino, also guarantees her
a six-year term.
The army placed 79 of its 81 battalions on alert in case of
trouble following last week's failed coup attempt.
Mrs. Aquino cast her "yes" vote early Monday in a
schoolhouse on her family's nearly 15,000-acre sugar
plantation, Hacienda Luisita, in Tarlac province, about 60
miles north of Manila.
The charter provides for self-rule for the Moslem minority
and land reform for the peasants but leaves details to a
Congress to be elected May 11.
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4Biby M V attorney recommends
custody for biological father
HACKENSACK, NJ. - The court
appointed attorney for "Baby M" urged
a judge Monday to grant custody of the
infant girl to her biological father and
deny visitation rights to the surrogate
mother who gave birth to her.
The surprise recommendation came
during the emotion-packed opening of
the second phase of the trial that will
test for the first time the legality of
surrogate parenting.
The custody phase of the trial began
with William Stern testifying that the
baby he fathered is "the most impor
tant person in my life" and the lawyer
for the surrogate mother contending
that she can provide the most loving
home.
Attorney Lorraine Abraham, ap
pointed by the court to represent the
infant's interests, said she recom
mended against visitation rights for
the surrogate mother "at this time."
Abraham told the judge her decision
was based on findings by a psychiatrist,
social worker and psychologist who
interviewed the surrogate mother, Mary
Beth Whitehead, her husband, Richard,
and Stern and his wife, Elizabeth.
Abraham said the "overwhelming
weight" of her experts' findings com
pelled her to join in their recommenda
tion but did not elaborate.
Testimony in the trial's first phase
last month centered on the validity of
the contract under which Whitehead, a
29-year-old housewife, agreed to be
artificially inseminated with Stern's
sperm and accept $10,000 to bear the
baby for the childless couple.