1VT XAT O "fl fXr O Associated Press
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Saddam says he’s preparing
for U.S. assault on Kuwait
Saddam Hussein said Tuesday
that Iraq was making final prepara
tions for war and expected an at
tack within days by the United
States and its allies. A U.S. senator
said President Bush’s “patience is
wearing thin.”
In the Persian Gulf, 10 Ameri
can sailors died when a steam pipe
ruptured in the boiler room of the
j USS Iwo Jima. And in Saudi Ara
bian Marine was killed in an acci
dent while driving in the desert.
Bush discussed possible mili
tary action against Iraq in a meet
ing with congressional leaders on
the gull crisis, but he told them he
could not guarantee he would con
sult them before embarking on
hostilities. He refused to comment
publicly on a report the United
States plans to discuss a timetable
with U.S. allies for a military of
fensive.
Secretary of Slate James A. Baker
III on Saturday will begin a
wccklong visit to Arab and Euro
pean countries to consult on future
steps in the gulf, officials said. The
visit will include a meeting with
Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard
Shevardnadze.
Asked about the potential for a
U.S. military strike. White House
spokesman Marlin Filzwaicr said.
“As these things unfold, of course,
there arc always scenarios for ac
lion that have lo be considered ...
bul there is no timetable for ac
tion.”
The United States has more than
200,(XX) troops in the gulf region
and has announced plans to send at
least 1(X),(XX) more.
Saddam summoned his military
commanders to a meeting in
Baghdad to complete “preparations
for urban warfare and necessary
measures to be taken in the event
of combat in (Kuwait),” the Iraqi
News Agency reported.
“We must be prepared with all
that God has given us of potential
to thwart perfidious intentions by
the United States and its allies to
launch an attack in the next few
days,” the report quoted Saddam
as saying.
While he talked of possible
hostilities, his foreign minister, Tanq
Aziz, struck a more cautious note.
Aziz told the Iraqi News Agency
that Iraq is prepared to talk with
“any Arab or international party”
provided it is not “prompted by
premeditated hostile designs.”
Diplomats in the Middle East,
speaking on condition of anonym
ity, said Saddam was reacting to
statements Monday by Baker.
Baker told a gathering in Los
Angeles: “Let no one doubt: We
will not rule out a possible use of
force if Iraq continues to occupy
Kuwait”
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Despite increase, analysts still predict recession
j Economy shows GNP growth
WASHINGTON - The U.S. econ
omy grew at a fastcr-than-cxpectcd
1.8 percent rate in the third quarter,
the government said Tuesday, but the
report failed to dissuade many ana
lysts who believe the economy is
entering a recession.
The Commerce Department report
on the gross national product showed
that consumers buying cars and other
items had continued to drive the long
est peacetime economic expansion in
U.S. history through September.
Whether the expansion reaches its
eighth anniversary in November was
a matter of debate.
“This release contradicts those who
believe we arc in a recession or arc
about to enter one,” Commerce Under
secretary Michael R. Darby told re
porters. “We expect the economy to
continue to expand at a modest pace
for the remainder of the year and in
1991.”
“I believe we’re in a recession,”
said economist Bruce Steinberg of
Merrill Lynch Capital Markets in New
York. “I think that most of the things
showing strength in the third quarter
will be weak in the fourth, particu
larly consumer spending.”
Robert G. Dcdcrick, chief econo
mist for the Northern Trust Co. in
Chicago, also believes the economy
is declining this quarter. He contended
that much of the GNP strength “was
concentrated early in the quarter. It is
by no means certain that it was grow
ing 1.8 when the quarter ended.”
Indeed, Michael Boskin, chairman
of Bush’s Council of Economic
Advisers, said, “While this is pleas
ant news about the third quarter, we
arc concerned about a sluggish fourth
quarter and the early part of 1991.”
He added that he “was certainly
pleased” with the Federal Reserve’s
action Monday in pushing down a
key short-term interest rate, a move
that might be expected to boost eco
nomic growth.
The Commerce Department had
continued bad news about the hous
ing industry Tuesday. It reported that
sales of new homes slumped 6 per
cent in September, the ninth decline
in the past 12 months and the worst
drop in half a year.
Declining sales suggest continued
contraction in the industry since build
ers often put off new projects when
inventories climb.
The gross national product report
will be revised twice in the next two
months as more information is re
ceived. The final revision of the sec
ond-quarter GNP showed the econ
omy grew just 0.4 percent rather than
the 1.2 percent first reported.
Justices hear family planning case
WASHINGTON - The Supreme
Court began scrutinizing a ban on
abortion counseling at federally sub
sidized family planning clinics Tues
day in arguments punctuated by pointed
questions from new Justice David H.
Soulcr and fellow members.
Soulcr voiced doubts about regu
lations that bar doctors and family
planning counselors from discussing
abortion even with women whose
pregnancies arc endangering their
health.
“You arc telling us the physician
cannot perform his usual professional
responsibility,” Soulcr told Solicitor
General Kenneth Starr, the Bush
administration’s lop courtroom law
ycr. “You arc idling us ihc secretary
(of Health and Human Services) in
_ In the
Supreme
I _ ~
effect may preclude professional
speech.”
Starr, conceding the ban “lilts
against abortion ” defended its valid
ity.
Although fueled by the continuing
struggle over abortion, the legal dis
pute over the regulations centers on
frce-spccch rights. The court must
decide whether the regulations com
ply with a 1970 federal law and, if so,
whether they violate the Constitution.
A decision is expected by July.
The argument is over information
available to the 5 million low-income
women who depend on family plan
ning clinics and similar health care
providers.
Last year, somc4,000 family plan
ning clinics nationwide received about
$140 million in federal assistance.
Enforcement of the regulations,
issued by the Reagan administration
in 1988, has been blocked virtually
everywhere by legal challenges.
rolice jire on Hindus trying to destroy mosque
AYODHYA, India - Govcmmcni
forces fired on thousands of Hindu
fundamentalists who broke through
police barricades Tuesday and forced
their way into a heavily guarded
mosque. Five Hindus were killed and
Nebraskan
Editor Erie Planner
472- 1766
Professional Adviser Don Walton
473- 7301
The Daily Nebraskan(USPS 144-080) #is
published by the UNI Publications Board, Ne
braska Union 34, 1400 R St , Lincoln, NE,
Monday through Fnday during the academic
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Readers are encouraged to submit story
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ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT
1990 DAILY NEBRASKAN
20 wounded.
At least 26 people were killed in
other parts of India as the decades-old
dispute between Hindus and Mos
lems over ownership of the site came
to a head.
The controversy has left at least
138 people dead in the past week,
brought Prime Minister V.P. Singh’s
government close to collapse and
further strained already tense rela
tions between India’s Hindu majority
and Moslem minority.
Singh, who opposes the Hindu
campaign to replace the 16th-century
Moslem mosque, on Tuesday repeated
his offer to resign if his party thought
it would help contain the sectarian
violence.
Hindu fundamentalists had said they
would start construction Tuesday on
a temple to the god Rama on the site
occupied by the mosque. The govern
ment said it would block any attempt
to destroy the small, one-story shrine
and arrested 90,000 supporters of the
fundamentalist World Hindu Council
in the past week.
On Tuesday, 10,000 Hindus
stormed police barricades outside the
disputed shrine. Police first used tear
gas and bamboo canes to beat back
the crowd.
Then, alter several hours of clashes
as the crowds pushed closer and closer
to the mosque, the police fired rifles.
Reporters saw four bodies, but a
government spokesman in New Delhi
later said five people were killed.
W itncsscs said at least 20 people were
wounded.
Many Hindus said they were helped
by policemen guarding the mosque,
which the fundamentalists say stands
on the spot where Rama was bom.
Most of the 20,000 policemen on duty
in Ayodhya arc Hindus.
While the crowds rushed toward
the mosque, Hindu holy men screamed
obscenities from rooftops and pelted
police with stones. At least four po
licemen were injured.
pen TReDoor
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