News Digest
By the
Associated Press
Edited by Bob Nelson
Bush, Dukakis prepare for final presidential debate
Neither George Bush nor Michael
Dukakis came in contact with the
voters on Wednesday, huddling in
stead with their handlers to go over
lines for Thursday’s second and final
presidential debate of the campaign.
Bush staged a brief made-for-tele
vision event before disappearing into
his debate preparation meetings. He
invited Los Angeles Police Chief
Daryl Gates in for breakfast in a subtle
continuation of his effort to make
crime control a central theme of his
candidacy.
The vice president told reporters
he intended to show the country
“what my heartbeat is” during his
face-to-face clash with Dukakis and
said he would continue depicting his
rival as a liberal. Bush also arranged
to attend the National League playoff
game between the Lew Angeles Dodg
ers and New York Mets after wrap
ping up bis debate preparation for the
day.
Democrat Dukakis had baseball
on his mind as well as he interrupted
his debate homework to play catch
with an aide while photographers
recorded the scene. Referring to the
first presidential debate and the one
last week between running mates, he
said, “We’re ahead 2-0; we’re going
to make it a clean sweep.”
He described his debate repertoire
in baseball lingo, as well, saying he
would use a “fastball, curve, slider -
maybe a knuckler” during his 90
minutes on stage.
Workers in Los Angeles erected a
.debate-night set - wooden lecterns,
red carpet and telegenic blue back
ground - that was trucked in from
Omaha, where it was used in last
week’s vice presidential debate. The
debate begins at 9 p.m. EDT on the
UCLA campus in Los Angeles.
Bush goes into the 90-minute en
counter with a modest lead in the
public opinion polls, although
Dukakis appears to have cut into the
Republican advantage since last
week’s vice presidential debate.
Republican vice presidential can
didate Dan Quayle, the subject of
anonymous criticism from senior
Bush advisers since that debate, said
as he set out on his daily campaign
rounds that if he finds out who was
talking, “I think there will be staff
changes.” .
Quayle uttered a seeming declara
tion of independence after saying his
campaign appearances had been so
tightly scripted by Bush advisers that
he was told when he could wave as he
got off his campaign plane.
“That’s all been thrown away, he
said. “I am my own handler, and if you
have any questions, ask me.”
Democrat Lloyd Bentsen had a
ready ictort for that idea. “That may
be his pilch, but 1*11 bet it’s thrown
George Bush a real curve ball,” he
said of his vice presidential rival. The
Texas senator campaigned through
Missouri and Arkansas, where he said
the Republicans “refuse to stand up
for the American economy.”
Bush’s breakfast with Republican
supporter uaies came as the vice
president worked hard to make crime
a key issue. In speeches throughout
the country, he has sharply criticized
Dukakis’ record on crime, citing a
Massachusetts prison program under
which a murderer escaped while on
furlough and attacked a Maryland
couple. Some Democratic strategists
say the issue is particularly effective
against Dukakis in California, the
nation’s largest state.
Bush said he believes he is in a
stronger position politically than be
fore the fust residential debate on
Sept 25 and added that his goal for
Thursday night is to have the voters
understand “what my heartbeat is,
what I really care about ”
New Czechoslovakian
government sworn in
PRAGUE, Czechoslovakia —
Premier Ladislav Adamec and his
Cabinet were sworn in Wednesday,
one day after the most sweeping lead
ership changes since a Soviet-led
invasion ended Alexander Dubcek’s
liberal “Prague spring” of 1968.
Adamec replaces Lubomir Strou
gal, 64, who resigned Monday after
18 years as premier and also gave up
his seat on the ruling Communist
Party Politburo.
President Gustav Husak, replaced
as party chief in December by Milos
Jakes, administered the oath. Husak
had led the party since Dubcek was
ousted.
In his acceptance speech, Adamec
appeared toconfirm expectations dial
he would not have Slrougal’s enthusi
asm for the kind of economic and
social reform being promoted by
Mikhail S. Gorbachev in the Soviet
Union.
“We mustcarry out the program of
restructuring,” he said, but “we have
no magic wand with which we could
change things overnight,” according
to a report by the official news agency
CTK.
Adamec, a 62 yearold former
premier of the Czech Republic and
deputy federal premier, often has
criticized poor economic perform
ance. He said Wednesday the govern
ment wants to function as a “unified
economic center” with firm control
over all branches of the economy.
Czechoslovakia has fared rela
tively well in comparison to Hungary
and Poland, whose large foreign debts
and stagnant economies have reduced
living standards, but economic
growth has slowed recently.
It has paid lip service to Gor
bachcv-slyle reforms, but has not
made extensive changes. One of
Adamec’s first jobs will be to work
out a program for submission to the
next session of parliament.
Shift seen in Palestinian tactics in Israel
JERUSALEM—Soldiers blew uj
four Palestinian homes and sealec
five others Wednesday in reprisal foi
the murder of Arabs who collaboratec
with Israel. Palestinians hurled a gre
nade at a troop bus but missed.
Noting an increased use of gun
and grenades by Palestinian activists
Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin sug
gested there had been a shift in Pales
tinian tactics from stones to mor
sophisticated weapons.
“Once they shift from civilian
violence to terror, for me it is prool
that they failed to achieve their goals
by what they call the inteladeh,*
Rabin said, using the Arabic work foi
uprising.
But clashes continued betweei
soldiers and demonstrators in th<
occupied territories with hospita
officials reporting four Palestinian
> wounded, three of them with plastic
I bullets.
In the Gaza Strip, sources said a
I grenade was thrown between a bus
carrying soldiers and a civilian car.
The army said no injuries resulted,
i and soldiers sealed the area and de
tained a number of Palestinians.
! A day earlier, a grenade was
. thrown at an army jeep, wounding
i two soldiers in the legs.
Rabin, speaking to a Foreign Press
Association luncheon, noted
Wednesday’s incident was the third
time grenades had been hurled in the
recent days and that a village leader
had been shot to death with an assault
rifle by PLO enforcers.
He said terror attacks had declined
i in the occupied lands in the past 10
5 months as Palestinian activists fo
I cused on large-scale demonstrations
> and stone-throwing confrontations.
But the defense minister said the
army had succeeded in stopping big
protests and in recent days there had
been a upsurge in the use of bullets,
bombs and grenades.
The army did not identify the
group behind the latest grenade at
tacks, but Arab journalists in the Gaza
Strip said rumors circulated that the
attacks were the work of Islamic
militants.
Palestinian sources said Yasser
Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organi
zation was not involved, and promi
nent Palestinians said they were not
aware of any change in PLO policy.
“1 don’t think a few such cases
signals any chanae in policy. But
whoever is behind such acts is defi
nitely not on the same track as the
PLO,” said Jonathan Kuttab, a Pales
tinian human rights activist
PLO leaders have said Palestinian
protesters had access to weapons but
had been instructed not to use them in
confrontations with Israelis.
The restraint has won Palestinians
international sympathy, and the
embargo on terror is an essential in
gredient for any Palestinian-Israeli
dialogue after Israel’s Nov. 1 general
election.
Rabin said he believed the use of
bullets by Palestinians may be an
effort to prod PLO I cade rs into taking
a stand politically on negotiations
with Israel.
But many of the recent casualties
have coincided with stepped-up ar
rest raids and the introduction of plas
tic bullets.
Since the beginning of the month,
IS Palesitinans have been killed and
scores wounded, raising the overall
death toll to 295 since the uprising
began Dec. 8.
Ten suspected Arab collaborators
with Israeli authorities have been
killed since last December, including
three who were stabbed to death in
recent weeks in Nablus, about 30
miles north of Jerusalem.
Soldiers blew up four houses in the
old city of Nablus, a low-income
neighborhood with narrow winding
streets. Five other houses were
sealed.
Maj. Gen. Amram Mit/.na, mili
tary commander of the West Bank,
said the houses belonged to Palestin
ian members of a group responsible
for killing the Arabs who cooperated
with Israel.
The United Stales has asked Israel
to stop the policy of blowing up
houses because it is done without
court hearings.
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