News Digest
Army commander to head Lebanese government
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Lebanon’s
army commander will be the prime
minister of a six-man military gov
ernment, President Amm Gcmayel
said in a decree issued in the last
minutes of his presidency Thursday.
Gemayefs stunning choice of a
military Cabinet, led by army com
mander Gen. Michel Aoun, came
after civilian Moslem figures refused
to take part in an interim Cabinet
headed by a Maronite Catholic pre
mier.
Gemayel, 45, had to name a tran
sition government because the
deeply divided Parliament failed to
choose a new president Thursday.
The constituion bars Gemayel from
seeking another presidential term.
Earlier Gemayel was trying to
form a civilian government under
business tycoon Pierre Helou, 60, a
Maronite Catholic who is a Parlia
ment deputy.
The shift to a military Cabinet
appeared aimed at heading off the
formation of two governments, one
Christian and one Moslem, that
would have further cemented the
sectarian cantons that have formed
during a 13-year civil war that has left
more that! 150,000 dead.
The decrees appointing the Cabi
net members, who represent die six
main sects in Lebanon, came five
minutes before Gemayel’s presi
dency expired at midnight (5 p.m.
EDT).
Also Thursday, Moslems and
Christians clashed around the divid
ing Green Line, and three top com
manders of Amal, the main Shiite
Moslem militia, were assassinated.
Aoun, the Maronite army com
mander, and his five ministers will
continue serving as the army's Su
preme Defense Council, which con
trols Lebanon’s military. The de
crees, effective immediately, also
named Aoun as defense and informa
tion minister. He remains the army
commander.
■
“I leave the presidency today
worried and filled with anxiety,”
Gemayel told the nation in a five
minute farewell address televised
nationwide before issuing the de
crees.
“Today should have been a festival
in which we rejoice over the election
of a new president that would lake the
helm and the oath of office as I and m y
predecessors did,” Gemayel said
“But the people of war were stronger
than peace.”
—.. ,
Wright denies information classified
WASHINGTON — House
Speaker Jim Wright denied Thursday
that he revealed anything classified
when he criticized a covert CIA op
eration in Nicaragua, while Republi
cans pressed for formal ethics and
intelligence investigations of the
speaker’s remarks.
Wright, who has become a light
ning rod for Democrats on Central
America policy, found himself again
embroiled in controversy for his reve
lation two days earlier that the Central
Intelligence Agency had instigated
demonstrations aimed at provoking
the leftist Managua government and
sabotaging peace talks with the Con
tra rebels.
The speaker repeated that asser
tion to reporters, but contended such
CIA activity was already well known
through news reports.
“I didn’t say anything that was
revealed to me as classified informa
tion,” said Wnght, D-Texas.
While he denied breaking rules
against disclosing secrets. Wright did
not specify how he had learned of the
coven operation in Nicaragua. He
and other Democrats sought to focus
attention on the administration’s ac
lion rather lhan the propriety of
Wright’s disclosure.
“In laie August of last year I be
came aware that elements ol the U.S.
government were seeking to disturb
the domestic tranquility in Central
America, to foment disturbances with
a view to seeing if they could pro
voke" the Sandinistas into a crack
down that would derail peace talks,
Wright said.
“That seems to me just intolerably
two-faced,” he said. Wright added
that he had been given “indirectassur
ancc” that the practice has now been
halted.
House Republican Leader Robert
Michel of Illinois and Rep. Dick
Cheney, R-Wyo., chairman of the
House Republican Conference, for
mally requested investigations in
both the Intelligence Committee and
the ethics committee, which has re
sponsibility for enforcing non-disclo
sure rules.
The ethics panel, formally known
as the Committee on Standards of
Official Conduct, already is investi
gating Wright on unrelated allega
tions.
And a primary sponsor of legisla
lion to lighten Congress control over
covert CIA activities. Sen. William
Cohen. R-Maine. said the speaker’s
comments had apparently violated
non disclosure rules and jeopardized
the bill.
Cohen, the vice chairman ol the
Senate Intelligence Committee, said
the disclosure also could doom oppo
sition members who arc jailed for
anti-government protests to longer
prison terms or “a harsher fate,” and
would give the Sandinistas an
enormous propaganda boost.
House Majority Leader Thomas
Foley, D-Wash., said the legislation
to require notice to Congress of covert
actions within 48 hours, which had
been due to come before the House
next week, might be put off until the
following week because of the press
of other legislation. t
The controversy over Wright’s
statements began Tuesday when he
said he had received “clear testi
mony” from the CIA that the agency
had fomented opposition demonstra
tions in Nicaragua. He told a reporter
later that CIA officials had made the
admission under congressional ques
tioning.
House passes drug bill
WASHING I ON — I he House
on Thursday passed election year
anti drug legislation that would
severely punish recreational users
and murderers alike, but it could
lace constitutional tests if enacted
into law.
The 375-30 vote is not the final
word on Congress’ latest effort to
respond to Americans’ fears over
drug abuse. The Senate still must
consider its own anti-drug legisla
tion, and a conference will likely
be needed to reconcile competing
versions.
Despite constitutional con
cerns, even by sponsors, the lug of
election-year politics was so strong
that House members appeared
willing to enact the toughest pos
sible bill and let the courts decide
the legal questions later.
The bill received support from
207 Democrats and 168 Republi
cans, while all 30 votes against the
legislation came from Democrats,
virtually all of them liberals.
The legislation pursues many
At <4 *
avenues of comnaiung illegal
drugs, and would authorize the
addition of more than $2 billion in
spending to the nation's current
$3.9 billion anti-drug effort. The
amount could be a factor if overall
spending levels force across-the
board, automatic budget cuts.
Drug users would be subject to
$10,000 civil penalties per viola
tion for mere possession; would be
ineligible for student loans, public
housing and other federal benefits;
and would face loss of their right to
drive, if states enforce license sus
pension programs to obtain more
federal highway money.
For those who kiil during a
drug-related crime, the legislation
contains legal procedures designed
to permit use of the federal death
penalty.
But the legislation does not
ignore education, treatment, and
rehabilitation for drug abusers,
authorizing more money to the
states for such programs. Federal
and local law enforcement agen
cies would receive more money.
• i
TTTTT77 k,“”’ ..
Airlines tola to equip planes
with wind sheer detectors
WASHINGTON — The Federal
Aviation Administration on Thurs
day ordered airlines to equip all their
aircraft with devices that will help
pilots detect and escape from deadly
wind shears.
Powerful shears called micro
bursts have been called the No. 1
killer of airline passengers and have
been responsible for at least five fatal
airline crashes and 500 deaths in the
last decade, according to aviation
safely experts.
The FAA regulation was an
nounced by the Transportation De
partment, which said the devices, to
be phased into operation in all aircraft
of 30 or more seals over the next four
years, will cost $40,(XX) to $50,000
per airplane.
About 3,600 commercial jet trans
port planes also will be required to
nave the devices, department offi
cials said.
A microburst is a powerful
downburst of air caused by a sudden
change in wind direction. Such a
downburst struck a Delta Air Lines L
1011 as it was attempting to land at
Dallas-Fort Worth in 1985 and liter
ally forced the plane into the ground,
killing 134 people.
The accident focused increased
attention on developing and installing
sophisticated ground radar that would
provide advanced warning of shears
along departure and approach lanes,
but the radar is not expected to be
available until the early 1990s.
At the same time, the FAA and
industry began taking a closer look at
devices for the cockpit that would
provide pilots with a clear indication
when their plane is facing wind shear
conditions.
Piedmont Airlines two years ago
began installing the equipment being
required by thcFAA and today has the
devices in 112 of its 191 aircraft,
according to Piedmont spokesman
Mike Clark.
Under the FAA regulation the air
lines will be allowed to phase in in
stallation of the equipment over about
four years. Half of an airline’s fleet
must have the devices within 27
months, three-fourths of the fleet
within 39 months and the rest of the
fleet within 51 months.
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