News Digest SSsks—
Dukakis and Bush trade barbs on drugs, military
Democrat Michael Dukakis
charged Monday that an unsteady
George Bush botched his assign
ments in the battle against drugs and
terrorism, while die Republican
nominee challenged Dukakis to state
his views on the U.S. strike against
Libya and invasion of Grenada.
Bush also named a panel of na
tional security advisers including
former Secretaries of State Henry A.
Ktssinger and Alexander M. Haig as
well as Zbigniew Brzezinski, who
was Democrat Jimmy Carter’s na
tional security adviser.
Dukakis, launching a three-day
counter-offensive against Republi
can charges he would cripple Ameri
can defense and foreign policy, told
200 supporters at a union hall in Phila
delphia that Bush was “disastrously
and completely and unforgivably
wrong” for not warning President
Reagan against selling arms to Iran in
an attempt to free hostages.
Dukakis said he would restore
respect for America, which he said
bad been undermined by Reagan
Bush failures to combat terrorism,
come to grips with the trade deficit
and stop “the avalanche of drugs ...
pouring across our borders.”
“In each of these areas, George
Bush has failed,” the Massachusetts
governor said.
“I want to beat our foreign com
petitors; he’s willing to settle for
second best. I want to crack down on
terrorism; he knuckled under to the
ayatollah. I want a real war on drugs;
his answer to drug kingpins like
(Panama leader Manuel) Noriega is J.
Danforth Quayle.” governor.
Bush, at a news conference in
Washington and lateral a rally before
1,000 flag-waving Cuban-Americans
in Union City, N.J., cudgeled
Dukakis on defense and foreign af
fairs as well as the economy.
“I will really admit that I am hav
ing trouble pinning down the liberal
governor of Massachusetts on his
defense,” Bush said in New Jersey.
Bush demanded that Dukakis spell
out whether he supported the 1983
U.S. bombing raid on Libya and the
invasion “to free Grenada from its
Cuban masters.”
“I support those things. Now, does
he support them? Let’s ask him that
question,” said Bush. If the answer is
no, he said, Dukakis would show
himself to have “veered outside the
bipartisan mainstream” on national
security issues. He also asked
whether Dukakis would admit “that
your support for a nuclear freeze was
a mistake.”
Dukakis had his own questions for
Bush, ranging from the Iran-Contra
affair to why the Reagan administra
tion cut funds for the Coast Guard and
aid for state and local drug agencies
while it put “General Noriega on its
payroll.” Noriega is under indictment
on drug trafficking charges.
“Wnat kind of judgment is this?”
Dukakis asked. “What kind of priori
ties arc these? ... We need better
leaaersnip irom me next president.
Earlier, introducing Brzczinski as
one of his advisers. Bush said his
objective was “to shape a foreign
policy built on the principles of bipar
tisanship . .. realism, strength, dia
logue and engagement.”
“The U.S. must live up to its re
sponsibilities in the world. At times,
this means being willing to take ac -
tion, liberate a Grenada, teach a ter
rorist like (Libyan leader Moammar)
Gadhafi a lesson, keep the oil flowing
through the Persian Gulf,” Bush said.
“My opponent’s view of the world
leads him to question such actions, to
see them as a misuse of America’s
power, and to prefer that international
organizations take the lead.... That’s
just wrong.”
Opposition demands interim government in Burma
RANGOON, Burma — Thou
sands of anti-government demonstra
tors marched through Rangoon on
Monday, and opposition leaders
demanded that an interim govern
ment be appointed to supervise multi
party elections.
In other developments, more than
1,000 school children fasted in sup
port of the protesters, and themilitai7
said it would shoot demonstrators
spreading a report that two armed
forces commanders had threatened to
join the protest.
Gen. Saw Maung, Burma’s de
fense minister and armed forces chief
of staff, said in a nationwide broad
cast Monday night that the public and
military should support the
government’s plan to supervise
multiparty elections soon.
Saw Maung said the military had
allowed protesters to demonstrate
freely “to avoid possible misunder
standings amidst various attempts to
discredit the armed forces by way of
spreading false rumors, propaganda
and exaggerations.”
Many thousands of studcnt-lcd
demonstrators marched through the
capital, shouting demands for an in
terim government and multiparty
democracy. At least five separate
groups were counted, and estimates
of the total number of protesters
ranged from 10,000 to more than
100,000.
More soldiers were seen on the
streets Monday, but they did not inter
fere with the protesters, who dis
persed peacefully.
In their first joint statement, oppo
silion leaders again demanded the
formation of an interim government
to lead the transition to democracy.
Opposition leaders Aung Gyi, for
mer Defense Minister Tin Oo and
Aung San Suu Kyi listed their de
mands in a letter to Maung Maung. A
copy was given to The Associated
Press. The government did not imme
diately respond to the letter.
None of the opposition leaders
have specified who should be in the
interim government, saying only it
should comprise people outside the
ruling Burma Socialist Program Parly
and who are “acceptable to all the
people.” They also have not said if
they would be willing to serve in a
transitional government.
President Maung Maung has re
jected the call for an interim govern
ment.
But on Saturday he bowed to
weeks of nationwide protests and
announced that the ruling party would
relinquish its 26-year monopoly on
power and hold the first multiparty
elections since 1960.
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\ DHAKA, Bangladesh — The
president of Bangladesh appealed
Monday for more foreign aid to
feed more than 40 million people
left homeless by the flood, and
doctors tried to halt an epidemic of
(, diarrhea.
More than 250,000people were
suffering from diarrhea, the health
center said, with nearly 36,000
I new cases reported in the last 24
L hours. Many got the disease by
f drinking water contaminated by
iraw sewage and flood waters.
A senior doc tor who dec lined to
be identified said about 5 percent
of the diarrhea patients have con
tract* 1 cholera
P sident Hussain Muhammad
Ershad said the $280 million in aid
so far promised to his country was
not enough even to rebuild roads
washed away by flood waters that
cover three-fourths of the country.
He said it was too early to esti
mate the total amount of funds
needed.
“For centuries the people of
Bangladesh have lived with
floods, but never before have the
rivers unleashed such fury on her
people,” the 59-year-old former
army general told a news confer
ence.
The government puts the offi
cial death toll at 881 from the
floods, which started June 13 and
reached new heights in late Au
gust. The health control center
said 138 deaths were from diar
rhea, while the others were caused
by drownings, houses collapsing
and snake biles.
Daily tallies in Dhaka newspa
pers, however, pul the death toll at
1,647, without giving a break
down by category.
A substantial amount of emer
gency flood relief arrived Monday
in a giant U.S. military cargo
plane.
The C-5a Galaxy contained
water purification units, water
storage tanks and 10,000 five-gal
lon water containers.
Dhaka newspapers also have
reported isolated cholera cases
from people drinking flood-pol
luted water.
Ershad said there are only 8,000
doctors in Bangladesh, a nation of
110 million people. He said 30
million to 40 million people were
marooned by the flood or in need
of help.
He also said the flood had de
stroyed or damaged 8 million
houses. Since the average size of a
family in Bangladesh is six people,
that would appear to mean that 48
million are homeless, up from the
25 million reported previously.
I -
Nebraskan
Editor Curt Wagner
472-1766
Managing Editor Diana Johnson
Assoc News Editors Jane Htrt
Lee Rood
Edi tonal
Page Editor Mike Radley
Wire Editor Bob Nelson
Copy Desk Editor Chuck Green
Sports Editor Steve Sipple
Arts 4 Entertain
ment Editor Mlckl Halter
Diversions Editor Joeth Zucco
Sower Editor
Graphics Editor Darryl Mattox
Photo Chief Erie Oregory
Asst Photo Chief David Fenleeon
Night News Editor Amy Edwards
Asst Night News
Editorlitxanan Anne Mo hit
Art Directors John Bruce
Andy Manhert
General Manager Dan Shaft II
Production Manager Katherine Pollcky
Advertising Manager Robert Bates
Sales Manager David Thiemann
Circulation Manager Eric Shanks
Publications Board
• Chairman Tom Macy
475-9668
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ALLMAtIrIAL COPYRIGHT 1988 DAILY
" NEBRASKAN
Diary details events leading to murder-suicide
Del mar Coe, who killed a man
then took his own life, stalked his
victim for nearly four months, ac
cording to a diary he kept.
Coe, 46, a Lincoln Telephone Co.
operator and former teacher, kept a
detailed account of the activities of
Allie Sommer, 38, from May 12 until
Thursday, according to accounts of
the diary contained in police reports.
The bodies of Coe and Sommer
r-—
were found near a kitchen table late
Friday in Sommer’s home, where he
lived with his parents, said Chief
Deputy Lancaster County Attorney
Gary Lacey.
“I offer no explanations or justifi
cations,” Coe wrote in a note police
found in his residence. “The truth is
known only to Allie and me. Only he
and I know who is guilty and of what.”
Coe wrote elsewhere in the diary
—---1
that he was upset with Sommer for
ending their homosexual relationship
and because Sommer was dating a
woman.
Various notes found in Coe’s resi
dence indicated he feared Sommer, a
construction worker whom neighbors
described as having a gymnast's
build, would overpower him.
"I will have to make the first shot
count or he will overcome me, and
I
then I will take my own life,” Coe
wrote in the diary.
Sommer was shot twice, first in
the back and then in the side of the
head, Lacey said. Sommer was found
lying face down and he appeared to
have been leisurely walking away
from the table when he was shot,
Lacey said.
After shooting Sommer, Coe shot
himself with the .357 Magnum pistol
-1
West Geffhan hostage freed
Syrian troops rescue American
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Shiite
Moslem kidnappers freed West
Gorman hostage Rudolf Conies ad
midnight Monday, after declaring
that they were ending his 20
month ordeal in lesponsc ‘o Syrian
and Iranian intervention, an offi
cial said.
The official, an aide to Interior
Minister Abdullah Rassi, said the
55-year-old businessman was
freed at midnight in the luxurious
Verdun neighborhood of west
Beirut, outside the minister’s
home.
It was unclear why the captors
chose to free Contes there. Earlier
statements Monday said Contes
would be released at the seaside
Beaurivage Hotel, close to the
command headquarters of the
Syrian array’s peacekeeping con
tingent in west Beirut
Gottelmann arrived at the hotel
an hour after the 9 p.m. deadline.
After a 20-minute stay at the hotel,
he was whisked away by Syrian
escorts and driven in his bullet
proof Mercedes car to an undis
closed destination.
DAMASCUS — Syrian troops
today rescued an American engi
neer who was abducted by gunmen
in Lebanon, and turned him over to
the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, a
source close to the Foreign Minis
try reported.
The source identified the man
as an engineer working in Saudi
Arabia. His name was given by
various sources as Kenneth Paul
Wells, Keith Weiss and Paul
. Weels.
The U.S. Embassy in Damas
cus refused comment
The Syrian source, who spoke
on condition of anonymity, said
the engineer went to Lebanon to
many a woman whose family lives
in Baalbek. He said the American
was kidnapped Sunday by uniden
tified gunmen before he reached
his fiancee's home. He said the
man was found by Syrian troops
after an all-night search.
The American was freed and
taken to Damascus, where Foreign
Minister Farouk al-Sharaa turned
him over to U.S. Charge d’affaires
John Craig, the source said.
