News Digest
Libya, Abu Nidal seem to be resuming terrorism
WASHINGTON — Abu Nidai,
after lying low in 1987, appears to be
resuming his terrorist campaign with
support from Libya, the *op U.S.
counterterrorism official said Tues
day.
L. Paul Bremer, ambassador-at
large for counterterrorism, also told
reporters that the number of terrorist
incidents appears to be headed for a
record level of 1,000 this year, al
though the number of Americans
killed in such attacks has fallen.
“Any effort to make an assessment
of where we are in terrorism leads you
to the inevitable good news and bad
news," he said. terrorist iiicidents has fallen from 38
“The bad news is that terrorism is in 1986 to 12 in 1987 and three in the
certainly continuing. According to first half of 1988, he said,
the figures that we keep,... 1987 was Most of the increase in terrorism
the worst year in history. We had 832 consists of attacks in Pakistan by
recorded incidents in international agents of the Kremlin-backed regime
terrorism” up from 774 in 1986, he in Afghanistan, he said. He said he
said. had no evidence that the Afghan
For the first six months of 1988, government was responsible for an
“terrorism is up substantially over last airplane disaster that claimed the life
year, perhaps by as much as a third. So of Pakistani president Mohammad
it is possible that we will end this year Zia ul- Haq and the U.S. ambassador
with as many as 1,000 incidents, to Pakistan on Aug. 17.
maybe more, which would make The good news in the battle against
1988 the worst year," he said. terrorism is increased cooperation
The number of Americans killed in among the United States and its allies.
said Bremer.
“We estimate at least several
hundred incidents have been stopped
by steps that we and our allies have
taken over the last three years ...
maybe as many as 300... some major
and some not," he said. He declined to
give specifics.
About half the terrorist incidents
last year took place in the Middle
East, and there lias been an upsurge in
attacks in Peru and Colombia, he said.
Abu Nidal.aPalestinebom terror
ist whose real name is Sabri Bannah,
spent a quiet year in 1987 after spon
soring machine-gun attacks which
killed 22 people ai the Rome and
Vienna airports in December 1985,
said Bremer.
And in April 1986, the United
States bombed Libya, an act that U.S.
officials say caused Col. Moammar
Gadhafi to suspend his support of
terrorism temporarily.
The air raid and Western pressure
“has had the effect... in the case of
Libya ... to drive the terrorism that
Libya supports into different chan
nels, so that instead of using diplo
mats and business,** Gadhafi is “doing
it more through surrogates, like Abu
Nidal and the Japanese Red Army.”
Study shows AIDS virus hits victim a minute
LONDON — The AIDS virus
appears to be spreading at the rate of
one victim a minute worldwide, with
150,000 new AIDS cases likely this
year, according to a report published
Tuesday by an independent study
group.
The Panos Institute report, “AIDS
and the Third World/’ also said an
increasing number of countries are
imposing AIDS-related restrictions
on the entry of foreigners or citizens
reluming from abroad.
“Worldwide, it seems likely that a
new person becomes infected with
the HIV (AIDS) virus every minute,”
said the 200-page report
“Daring 1988,150,000 new cases
of full-blown AIDS are expected —
as many as are thought to have oc
curred in all the years of the epidemic
so far.”
Last week, Dr. Jonathan Mann,
director of the World Health
Organization’s AIDS program, said
in Vienna that he estimates 1 million
new AIDS cases will be reported
within the next five years, a number
consistent with the Panos Institute’s
projections.
Mann said 111,000 cases have
been reported to the health orgamza
lion so far. He estimated the total
number of cases in the world is at least
250,000. Between 5 million and 10
million people are infected with the
virus but have not yet developed
AIDS, he said.
AIDS, acquired immune defi
ciency syndrome, weakens the
body’s defenses against disease. It is
spread primarily through sexual con
tact and the sharing of syringes by
drug addicts. In countries where
blood is not screened, it can also be
spread through blood transfusions.
No cure has been discovered.
By mid-1988, 176 countries had
joined the World Health Network’s
AIDS repotting network, 138 had
reported cases of the disease and 151
had established national AIDS com
mittees, the Panos Institute report
said.
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Some swoon, some ask if Quayle can type
WASHINGTON — Some may
swoon, but others demand, “Can he
type?” Indiana Sen. Dan Quayle is
making an impression on women but
it’s not always the one Republican
strategists may have had in mind.
When Quayle catapulted to promi
nence as the GOP vice presidential
nominee, it was hard to ignore two
facts: Other Republicans were far
more experienced, and Quayle, blond
and fresh-faced, possessed striking
good looks.
“1 can’t believe a guy that hand
some wouldn’t be attractive in some
respect” to women, said Sen. John
McCain, R-Ariz., at the GOP conven
tion in August
Anyone tnai good-looking must
stand for really good things,” said a
supposedly surveyed woman in a re
cent Doonesbury comic strip. “I think
most women want a really hot guy to
be in charge of the country,” agreed
her friend.
McCain wasn’t kidding. But the
mock Doonesbury poll should have
been “adjusted for sarcasm,” accord
ing to the strip.
Experts disagree on whether
Quaylc will help attract women to the
GOP ticket headed by Vice President
George Bush. He’s been credited with
narrowing the gender gap, but he’s
also been compared to a “Ken" doll —
“Barbie” doll’s friend — and labeled
a hindrance rather than a help for
Bush.
When actor Tom SiAleck escorted
Nancy Reagan lo the podium at the
convention, "1 saw grown women
faint and moan," said GOP consultant
Ann Stone. "There are a lot of women
where (physical appearance) still is
important.... I don't think Quayle has
the charisma of Scllcck. But that still
has some impact."
Ann Lewis, a Democratic consult
ant and Ms. Magazine columnist,
sniffed at the thought. "Candidates
that would pass a Hollywood screen
test do not do noticeably belter than
candidates that would flunk it. Look
ing at the House of Representatives
wul bear this out," she said.
On the other hand, former actor
Ronald Reagan has had some political
success.
Recent polls showed bush had
erased a 20-point gender gap and was
winning as much support from
women as Michael Dukakis, the
Democratic nominee.
Democrats say Quayle had noth
ing to do with this development. But
GOP consultant Eddie Mahc said
Quayle has been the only variable in
the race since the conventions; thus
“you could hardly make the case that
he’s not a factor.’
At rallies across the country,
Quayle has encountered a mixed
reception. Some placards carry mes
sages such as “But Can He Type?”
and “Women Don’t Vote For Men
Prettier Than They Arc.” But many
women eagerly press forward to hear
and touch him.
Lewis predicted Quayle would
attract women who would have voted
for the GOP ticket anyv ay.
“He may cause some excitement
at parlies and gatherings, but he
doesn’t cause vote-switching among
undecided or independent women
voters,” she said. “Right now he is the
biggest single danger to George
Bush’s election. He is a land mine
that George Bush planted in his own
territory.
Republicans claim Quayle has
more than sex appeal to offer women
voters, and hold up his marriage as
exhibit A. Quaylc’s wife, Marilyn, is
a lawyer taking off more than a dec
ade to raise the couple's three chil
dren.
*ot of women in that age group
of his wife, professional women slay
ing home to raise the children, can
relate to that family,” said Mahe.
“They feel that he understands work
ing wives, women as professionals.”
Marilyn Quaylc is “the epitome of
the modem woman,” said Slone.
“ That says a lot about him, that he has
a partner that strong.”
Lewis said, "If I were a partisan
Republican desperately looking for
something good to think or say about
Dan Quaylc, Marilyn Quaylc would
be the bcstcxamplc I could think of.”
Mrs. Quaylc herself blamed the
pretty-face controversy on the news
media and recently declared, “George
Bush wouldn’t have selected some
one who could not stand in his stead
for president.”
Bui Democrats beg to differ.
“ He just goes to prove that the word
airhead is not sexist, ’ said Democratic
media consultant Bob Squicr. “It’s
like Dorian Gray for vice president.
There’s this pretty face out there
campaigning, but someplace up in an
attic somewhere is a portrait of this
guy which is painted by his record.”
Some women have reacted with
outrage to the notion that they would
vote tor a candidate because he’scutc.
And despite heated denials that
Quayle was chosen for that reason,
some Democrats see the possibility of
a backlash against him.
“Women will look at this thing as
an appalling, cynical, sexist deci
sion, said Squier. “In the end, his
negative rating will be higher among
women than Bush’s."
“What is off-putting is that every
thing in his life has been so easy for
him?’ said Lewis. If Quayle were less
handsome, she said, “at least it would
have been one thing in life he had to
overcome.”
Well, maybe there is sornetmng
Quay le has had to overcome: his good
looks
Jim Ciccone, an issues strategist
for Quaylc, says the senator “fights
the pretty face thing almost like a
woman docs. There s a predisposition
to think he doesn’t have a brain. He s
really very intelligent and that’s going
to come out in the course of the cam
paign.”