News Digest By The Associated Press
Mines block channel; Iranians suspected
MANAMA, Bahrain — Mines
blocked a key shipping channel in the
southern Persian Gulfon Monday, and
sources said the U.S. Navy suspected
Iran was avenging the Navy attack on
an Iranian minelayer.
A Pentagon official said in Wash
ington that the Navy might attack any
vessel it determined to be carrying
mines, even if it was not caught laying
the explosives in international waters.
White House spokesman Marlin
Fitzwater said the rules of engage
ment had not changed, and a senior
administration official said the rules
did not include pre-emptive strikes.
I .
But a Pentagon source said the
rules already were fairly broad.
“The key is finding hard evidence,
conclusive evidence, that mines arc
aboard the ship," he said. “If we have
it pinned down that a ship is in inter
national waters and carrying mines,
then we might move in.”
Another well-informed source said
the Navy was “looking at options" on
dealing with “intensified “ Iranian
activities in the area.
One U.S. military source said the
mine threat was putting a serious
burden on the Navy.
-■ ■ »
Iran-Contra testimony:
U.S. missed opportunity
WASHINGTON — U.S. offi
cials passed up a chance in 1985 to
talk directly to a high Iranian offi
cial eager to improve relations,
instead strengthening the hand of
Iranian radicals through arms
sales, a former White House con
sultant contended in Iran-Contra
testimony released Monday.
Michael Ledeen, a former con
sultant on terrorism who look part
in early discussions with Isrcal
about the Iran arms sales, said the
Iranian official “believed it pos
sible to, in essence, change the
nature of the Iranian regime
through peaceful, parliamentary
methods.”
In this testimony, given pri
vately in March, June and Septem
ber to House and Senate investiga
tors, Ledeen said the official be
lieved the changes could lead to
Iran’s abandonment of terrorism
and to better relations with the
west.
The official, who is not named,
is said to have been eager to coop
erale with the United Stales, asking
only for small arms to protect
himself and his allies inside Iran
and for secure communications
equipment to stay privately in
touch with the United States, Lc
deen said.
He said the official strongly
opposed large-scale sales of U.S.
made weapons to Iran because that
strengthened his powerful oppo
nents who were resisting any ten
dency towards moderation.
Ledccn said that after talking to
the official he briefed then-Na
lional Security Adviser Robert C.
McFarlane and later William
Casey.
But he said the government
never followed up on what Ledecn
regarded as important.
At one point, he said, he urged
Casey to tell President Reagan
“that pursuing the hostages was
backwards and it was permitting
the tail to wag the dog and that we
should instead pursue the political
matter.”
“We are tracking a whole lot of
vessels to see if they are minelayers,”
he said. “Our resources arc being
stretched out to the limit.”
The sources spoke on condition of
Newest bomber
crashes after
‘bird, ingestion ’
LA JUNTA, Colo. — A BIB
bomber with six people aboard
crashed Monday in a ball of orange
flame in the Colorado prairie after
birds were sucked into the engines, but
three crew members parachuted to
safety, authorities said.
The fate of the other crew members
was not immediately known. The Air
Force said they were listed as missing.
It was the first crash of a regular
production model of the B IB, the
nation’s newest long-range strategic
bomber.
The bomber, left Dycss Air Force
Basein Abilene,Texas,early Monday
for the Strategic Training Range
Complex near La Junta, 60 miles
southeast of Pueblo, the Strategic Air
Command said.
Bob Buckhom, a spokesman for
the Federal Aviation Administration
in Washington, said the pilot radioed
air-traffic controllers that he had run
into birds during a low-level practice
bombing run. He began climbing but
reported that the two engines on the
right side had caught fire because of
“bird ingestion.”
anonymity.
The commander of naval forces for
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Mohscn
Rezaie, said Iran would attack a U.S.
frigate to retaliate for last Monday’s
capture of the Iran Ajr, which the
Navy said it caught in the act of laying
mines.
His comment was reported by
Iran’s official Islamic Republic News
Agency, which gave no direct quotes.
The agency, monitored in Cyprus,
quoted Iranian navy chief Rear Adm.
Mohammad Jussein Malekz^degan as
saying, “Moslem combatants are
ready to teach American Marines a
lesson they will never forget.”
As many as six mines were spotted
about 20 miles off the busy United
Arab Emirates port of Dubai, said
gulf-based shipping and salvage ex
ecutives.
But U.S. military sources said the
destroyer USS Kidd reported “pos
sible” sighting of only three such
mines.
The London-based Lloyd’s Ship
ping Intelligence Unit issued a notice
pinpointing an area several miles
square that it said should be “consid
ered mined.”
Schroeder says she won’t run
DENVER — A tearful Rep. Patri
cia Schrocder announced Monday she
will not enter the race for the 1988
Democratic presidential nomination,
saying “1 could not figure out how to
run and not be separated from those I
served.”
Mrs. Schrocder, a veteran of 15
years in Congress, had spent nearly
four months testing her potential po
litical and financial support, and her
announcement stunned supporters
who gathered at noon in the outdoor
Greek Theater in Denver’s Civic
(renter Park.
“1 learned a lot about America and
I learned a lot about Pat Schroeder
(thissummcr).That’swhy I willnotbc
a candidate for president,” she said.
For a few moments, she was over
come with emotion and could not
speak. Her husband, Jim, who stood
beside her at the podium, urged her to
‘‘take a minute, take a minute” to
compose herself before continuing
her statement.
After wiping her face with a hand
kerchief, she continued, “I could not
figure out how to run and not be
separated from those 1 served. There
must be a way, but I haven’t figured it
out yet.
“I could not bear to turn every
human contact into a photo opportu
nity.”
Irene Natividad, chairwoman of
National Women’s Political Caucus,
said Schroeder had made “a smart,
pragmatic political decision. I think it
was the right thing to do.”
“1 think we’re loo mature as a
movement to just go(intoacampaign)
for symbolic reasons,” she added.
“I’m grateful she went out there and
kind of broke the door down as far as
women being considered as serious
presidential candidates.”
In Brief
Ohio girl attacked, killed by two dogs
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Two dogs, a pit bull and a German cattle
dog, mauled and killed a 2-year-old girl outside an apartment building
Sunday, and police charged their owner with involuntary manslaugh
ter.
“WeTe not sure what happened exactly, but she was mauled,” said
Robin Hutchinson, a spokeswoman for Mount Carmel East Hospital
where the girl was pronounced dead. “She basically bled to death.”
Phone service resumed after disruption
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Mountain Bell crews restored telephone
service Monday after a major computer failure that cut off 33,000
customers, including police, fire and hospitals.
Ken Lay, foreman at the central office here, said about 80 percent
of the phones in this city of 56,000 were in operation by Monday
morning, 24 hours after the outage occurred.
Air Force developing burrowing warheads
OMAHA — The Air Force is moving to develop new nuclear
warheads that could blast their way underground to destroy bunkers
built to shelter top Soviet civilian and military leaders, the Omaha
World-Herald has reported.
A tentative plan has been devised under which MX missiles would
be armed with the burrowing bombs, perhaps as early as the mid
1990s, said a military officer who spoke on the condition of anonym
ity.
Gas prices drop nearly a penny nationwide
LOS ANGELES — The average price of gasoline dropped eight
tenths of a cent over the past two weeks, the Lundberg Survey has
reported.
A poll of 13,000 gas stations across the United States found the
average price of gasoline during the past two weeks was $101.34 a
gallon, said oil industry analyst Trilby Lundberg. The price includes
all grades and taxes.
At least 120 killed in Colombian mudslide
MEDELLIN, Colombia — Weary workers dug into 20 feet of red
mud Monday morning after a landslide crashed into Colombia’s
second-largest city and killed at least 120 people, including 43
children.
Some residents estimated as many as 500 people were missing after
tons of mud and rocks entombed the Villa Tina slum district on
Sunday.
<___>
Fires ’ effects may smolder for years
—
Christina Geiger/Daily Nebraskan
It will be months before special
ists finish assessing the damage to
wildlife, watersheds and timber
caused by one of the nation’s worst
forest fire seasons, and the eco
nomic damage to some small
towns that depend on limbering for
jobs will last for years.
Fires still burned out of control
this week in national forests in
northern California and southwest
ern Oregon with thousands of
people fighting them, four weeks
after swarms of lightning storms
began setting fire to the woods
across the West. Smaller fires
burned last weekend in Montana,
Utah and Wyoming.
“In terms of timber burned,
1987 is probably the worst year
since 1910," said Skip Scott of the
Boise Interagency Fire Center in
Idaho, the nation’s command post
for fighting forest fires. “There arc
a number of years that arc bench
marks for fires. 1987 will be one of
them."
"From August 3()lh to Septem
bcr 12th wc burned 726,(XX) acres
(1,134 squares miles — larger than
the area of Rhode Island). We had
1,905 fires,” Scott said. The acre
age has continued to grow since,
and California alone has some
600,000 acres of charred forest.
Thousands were briefly evacu
ated when fires threatened popu
lated areas in California and Ore
gon, at least 38 homes and acres of
other buildings were destroyed and
at least seven firefighters were
killed in accidents.
At the peak, the federal govern
ment had 2,500 firefighters at
work, plus more than 600 Army
soldiers.
At that point, at a cost of $200 a
day per firefighter, the government
was spending $4.5 million daily
just on manpower, Scott said.
Food, equipment, transportation
and aerial support at $4,(XX) to
$5,(XX) for each retardant drop sent
the cost well over $5 million a day,
pushing the total pricelag toward
the $ 1 (X) million mark,
Nebraskan
Editor Mika Reillay
4721766
Managing Editor Jen Deselms
Assoc News Editors Jinn Nyllelar
Mike Hooper
Editorial
Page Editor Jeanne Bourne
Wire Editor Linde Hartmann
Copy Desk Chief Joan Rezic
Sports Editor Jell Apel
Arts & Entertain
ment Editor Bill Allen
Asst Arts &
Entertainment Editor Charles Lieurance
Graphics Editor Mark Davis
Asst Graphics Editor Tom Lauder
Photo Chief Doug Carroll
Night News Editors CurtWaonar
Scott Harrah
Art Director Brian Barber
General Manager Oaniel Shattil
Production Manager Katherine Pollcky
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