News Digest P„„
1 i V f f Ll X W UF Edited by jana Pedersen
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Tension in the Middle East intensifies
The United States bolstered its
forces in the Persian Gulf on Wednes
day with a call-up of reserves, and
Jordan closed its border with Iraq
because of the strain of thousands of
evacuees fleeing Iraq and occupied
Kuwait.
Iraq, meanwhile, claimed that two
aircraft flying in from Saudi Arabia
violated its airspace. The official news
agency quoted a military spokesman
as saying the planes penetrated the
southern border and flew three miles
into Iraqi airspace.
It did not identify the planes, nor
say if they were military aircraft. It
also was not clear if the spokesman
was referring to a penetration of Iraq’s
own southern border with Saudi Ara
bia or that of Kuwait, which Baghdad
now considers part of Iraq.
On the diplomatic front, cracks
appealed in what had been unprece
dented U.S.-Soviet unity in face of
the Iraqi threat. Reports from the United
Nations said Moscow was slowing
efforts to obtain U.N. approval of a
resolution to allow warships to en
force sanctions against Iraq.
In Moscow, officials disclosed that
Soviet military experts continue to
train Iraqi soldiers to use their Soviet
built weapons, three weeks after
Moscow cut weapons supplies to
Secretary of State James A. Baker
III telephoned Soviet Foreign Minis
ter Eduard Shevardnadze to urge
Moscow to cooperate more fully in
isolating Iraq, a State Department
official said, speaking on condition
of anonymity.
The response Baker received was
a request fora slowdown at the United
Nations, U.S. officials told The AP.
But they said Shevardnadze did not
threaten a Soviet veto or other means
to stop America from seeking ap
proval of a military blockade and that
in fact Moscow was using its close
tics to Iraq to urge the release of
Americans and other Westerners
trapped in Iraq and Kuwait.
Also Wednesday, a 19-ycar-old
sailor was killed in an electrical acci
dent aboard the USS Antietam, a Navy
spokesman said. Petty Officer Third
Class Daniel M. Jones, an electri
cian’s mate, was the second service
man to die as a result of the Persian
Gulf crisis. Air Force Staff Sgt. John
Campisi, 30, died Aug. 12 when he
was hit by a military truck.
The State Department announced
it would defy Saddam Hussein’s
demand to close the U.S. Embassy in
Kuwait by Friday but said it would
reduce the staff. Other nations, in
cluding Britain, have announced plans
Slate Department spokesman Rich
ard Boucher said the decision was
consistent with “our obligations to
the American private community.’’
About 2,500 Americans have been
trapped in Kuwait and an estimated
500 in Iraq since Iraqi forces invaded
Kuwait on Aug. 2.
There arc about 120 U.S. diplo
mats in Kuwait.
Jordan’s announcement that it was
closing its border came shortly after
King Hussein told a news conference
that a total of 42,000 foreigners had
crossed into Jordan during the day,
the largest number since the Persian
Gulf crisis erupted Aug. 2 with Iraq’s
invasion of Kuwait.
Interior Minister Salem Msadeh
said the border was being closed
because of “concern for the health
situation of the arrivals and to ensure
suitable arrangements for their stay in
Jordan.”
Hussein also said he would em
bark on a new round of talks with
Arab leaders in hopes of defusing the
crisis. He declined to say where he
would go or with whom he would
meet.
Speaking in his palace to a room
crowded with journalists, Hussein said
he believed “We are almost facing a
crisis of the world gone mad.”
other mostly Arab refugees fleeing
Kuwait have entered Jordan. Only a
few Westerners have been able to flee
to safety. Iraq is holding the rest in a
bid to force the withdrawal of the
U.S.-led multinational force defend
ing Saudi Arabia from Iraqi aggres
sion.
Saddam’s vow to place foreigners
at military installations as human
shields against attack drew more angry
protests Wednesday. British Foreign
Secretary Douglas Hurd called the
Iraqi president a “destructive loser”
whose tactics reflect his isolation.
Denmark suggested Saddam may be
seeking to divide the allies by freeing
some foreigners but holding others.
The State Department says 54
Americans are believed to have been
seized by Iraqi authorities, and Brit
ain says 21 of its citizens are being
held at Iraqi installations.
Iraq said Wednesday it would al
low some French and Japanese na
tionals to leave as a “goodwill ges
ture.” About 731 Japanese and 560
French citizens are trapped in Iraq
and Kuwait.
Before the announcement, an Iraqi
state newspaper warned Europe and
Japan of danger “if they walk in the
steps of Washington.” Another said
Iraq would take war “into the cities
nf anar.king nations.”
Pope John Paul II made his first
public comment on the crisis Wednes
day, pointing to “the danger of war”
and offering a prayer for peace.
President Bush ordered the Penta
gon to call up reserves for active duty
in the gulf. He did not say how many
units were called up, but sources said
as many as 40,000 may join Opera
tion Desert Shield by the end of the
month.
It was the first activation of mili
tary reserves in 20 years.
At the same time, the United States |
intensified the military buildup in the
Persian Gulf. The aircraft carrier
Saratoga steamed through Egypt’s Suez
Canal toward the Red Sea to join a
growing American flotilla, a canal
spokesman said.
U.S. and other warships have been
shadowing Iraqi vessels in the gulf to
enforce the U.N. embargo. One of
those vessels, an Iraqi tanker that
defied warning shots from an Ameri
can warship, reached Yemen’s port
of Aden Wednesday and dropped
anchor near two other Iraqi ships in
the harbor. Yemen had told the U.N.
Security Council that it would turn
away the tanker and adhere to U.N.
sanctions.
President adds
reserve forces .
to Gulf effort j
WASHINGTON - President Bush
ordered the first mobilization of re
servists since the Vietnam War on
Wednesday, declaring the part-time
soldiers “essential to completing our
mission” of opposing Iraq’s Saddam
Hussein in the Middle East.
Officials said as many as 4().(X)0
“weekend warriors” could be in
uniform by the end of the month.
“We continue to pursue our ob
jectives with absolute determination,”
Bush said of the Persian Gull buildup.”
He spoke at a news conference at his j
vacation home in Kcnncbunkport, ij
Maine, after signing the order for the
Pentagon to call up reservists.
Officials declined to identify units
that would be activated, or to say
when they would be cal led. But Army
sources said some could be called up
within 24 hours of Bush’s order.
Defense Secretary Dick Cheney,
appearing alongside Bush after re
turning from a six-country trip to the
Persian Gull, said he would decide
exactly how' many reserves local! up
after he mecLs with the military serv
ice chiefs today.
In a further sign of the scope of the
U.S. military buildup, Bush also au
thorized Cheney locxtcnd enlistment
terms of servicemen. The Pentagon
said it had no immediate comment on
how or when it might use that author
ity.
i ne call-up won quick support Irom
the chairmen of the armed services
committees in both the House and
Senate.
Rep. Les Aspin, D-Wis., called it
an “appropriate and essential act,”
and Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., said the
action would give military planners
greater confidence in the availability
of reserves in future contingencies.
The last time reserves were acti
vated for military purposes was 1968
when 35,280 were called up by Presi
dent Johnson following the Tct offen
sive in Vietnam and the North Korean
seizure of the U.S. surveillance ship
Pueblo. In 1970 President Nixon
ordered acall-up during a mail strike.
Bush, meeting with Cheney and
Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, at Kcnnebunkport,
signed an executive order that stated:
“I hereby determine that it is nec
essary to augment the active armed
forces of the United States for the
effective conduct of operational mis
sions in and around the Arabian Pcn
See BUSH on 3
