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By The Associated Press Edited by Jana Pedersen Conservative Party records Major win | LONDON - John Major, endorsed by Margaret Thatcher as the politi cian closest to her heart, was elected by the Conservative Party on Tues day night to succeed her as prime minister. Major, 47, fell two votes short of winning a majority in voting among the 372 Conservative Party members of Parliament, but his two opponents quickly conceded defeat and the party confirmed Major as the winner. Thatcher, ending 11 1/2 years in power, intended to submit her resig nation to Queen Elizabeth II this morning, and Major would then be called to lead the government. Major, the chancellor of the ex chequer, emerged from his official residence at 11 Downing St. Thurs day night smiling and holding hands with his wife, Norma. He had first accepted congratulations from Thatcher, who stepped in from the prime minister’s official residence next door. Major received 185 votes, two short of a majority. Former Defense Secre tary Michael Heseltine received 131 and Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd had 56. Hurd and Heseltine conceded within minutes, and party officials declared Major elected. “It is a very exciting thing to be come leader of the Conservative Party, and particularly exciting, I think, to follow one of the most remarkable leaders the Conservative Party has ever had,” Major said. “Our job now I think is quite clear. We are going to unite totally and absolutely, and we’re going to win the next general election,” said Ma jor, who will be the youngest British prime minister in this century. Thatcher said she resigned to let someone from the Cabinet stand against Heseltine. Major and Hurd both joined the race, but before the vote Thatcher’s aides spread the word that she was backing Major. “I am thrilled and delighted John Major is to succeed me as prime minister of this country,” Thatcher said in a statement. The son of a circus performer and at one time a welfare recipient, Major personifies the values of self-reliance and hard work that Thatcher had preached to the nation. Heseltinc, 57, who precipitated Thatcher’s downfall, said Major’s election “lays the basis for the unity of our party.” Hurd said the party needed to unite, and “John Major is the right leader for this task.” Opposition leaders derided Ma jor’s election as “Thatcherism with a different face.” The Conservatives’ main rivals, the socialist Labor Party, demanded a general election. “John Major is a Thatchcrette,” said Labor Party leader Neil Kin nock. “It means that the policies that brought the poll tax, recession, heavy mortgages and rising unemployment will go on.” During his five-day campaign, Major had said he would review the “poll tax,” an unpopular local tax brought in by Thatcher, but he gave no other hints of differing with her. While adopting a gentler tone on the contentious issue of Britain’s involvement in Europe, he shares her i opposition to a single European cur rency and shares her belief in tight a Great Britain’s New Prime Minister! Conservative Party legislators elected John Major | “ “ Tuesday to succeed Margaret Thatcher as the country’s leader. Profile of John Major Bom: March 29, 1 Education: High school drop-out Family: Married Norma Johnson in 1970; they have a daughter, and a son, 15. Early career: Executive of Standard and Chartered Bank for 14 years. Prior to his success In banking, Major worked as a iaborer and spent eight months on welfare. Political career: Elected to Parliament in 1979; appointed chief secretary to the treasury after the June 1987 general elections; chosen by Thatcher as foreign secretary in July 1989; named chancellor of the exchequer, the nation’s top treasury official, In October 1989. estraini on government spending. However, he insisted over the weekend, “I am not running as ‘Son -a Mr of Thatcher.’ I am running as myself, with my own priorities and my own programs.” US., Soviet Union set date of Iraqi withdrawal deadline The United States and the Soviet Union have fixed Jan. 15 as a deadline for Iraq to get out of Kuwait or face the possibility of a military strike to drive it out, diplomats said Tuesday. Three Americans, waving Iraqi flags and criticizing their govern ment, arrived in Jordan after being freed by Saddam Hussein. The deadline for an Iraqi withdrawal had been the only sticking point ] in a draft U.N. Security Council resolution agreed upon by the five permanent members of the council. The measure is expected to be voted on by the full council on Thursday. In a fresh sign that the Baghdad government is bracing for war, the Pentagon said Iraq is rapidly increasing its troop strength in Kuwait and southern Iraq. It said Iraq has 450,000 troops in the region, an increase of 20,000 over last week. : The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, mean wmic,qucsuuncu wiicuici uisreauy hi uic viunnncicsi uiincuinicu Slates to use military force to liberate Kuwait, the oil-rich emirate Iraq seized on Aug. 2. The freed Americans, whose families had traveled to Iraq to plead with Saddam for their release, told reporters at the Amman airport that the Bush administration had ignored their plight. “I was not released with help from my government,” said John Stevenson of Panama City, Fla. “It was my family who did it.” The United States has demanded the unconditional release of all of i the hundreds of foreigners held hostage in Iraq, and the Stale Depart ment has discouraged private hostage-freeing missions. Another freed American, Clyde Jesse of Buffalo Grove, 111., sug gested the United States should negotiate with Saddam. “I believe it is time we started talking,” he said. The third freed American was Fred Harrington of Bellevue, Wash. Ten Britons and five Germans were released as well. The women in the British group carried flowers; the Americans waved the U.S. and Iraqi flags. At the United Nations, the stage was set for a Security Council meeting on Thursday to consider the strongest measure yet against Iraq. | The resolution calls on Iraq to release all foreign hostages, withdraw its troops and restore Kuwait’s government by the first of the year. Western diplomats speaking on condition of anonymity said Secrc I tary of State James A. Baker III and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze had settled on Jan. 15 as the deadline for an Iraqi | withdrawal. The diplomats said they had reached the agreement in the | past 24 hours, 8l8aWWaBMIBMHKB>fcwWMI<dWWrw'lllw> WllllWWIIIiniinWIWiagaWWBWiaWWWMWWIBKllMlMlLIW Ml Nel?raskan Editor Eric Planner 472-1766 Managing Editor Victoria Ayotte Assor News Editors Darcie Wiegert sports Editor Darran Fowler Arts & Entertainment Editor Michael Deeds Diversions Editors Lee Rood Amy Edwards Graphics Editor John Bruce Photo Chief AlSchaben Night News Editors Matt Herek Chuck Green Sales Manager Todd Sears Publications Board Chairman Bill Vobejda 436-9993 Professional Adviser Don Walton 473-7301 ine Daily NeDrasKan(uc>K;> i 44-uau) is puDiisnea Dy me uni ruoncauons noara, Ne braska Union 34, 1400 R St., Lincoln, NE, Monday through Friday during the academic year, weekly during summer sessions Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by phoning 472 1763 between 9am and 5 p m. Monday through Friday The public also has access to the Publications Board For information, contact Bill Vobejda, 436 9993. Subscription price is $45 for one year Postmaster Send address changes to the Daily Nebraskan. Nebraska Union 34, 1400 R St..Lincoln, NE 68588 0448 Second class postage paid at Lincoln, Nf ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1990 DAILY NEBRASKAN senate Democrats asK questions about White House’s Gulf policy WASHINGTON - Senate Demo crats on Tuesday challenged Presi dent Bush’s Persian Gulf policy, questioning the immediate need for offensive military action to oust Iraqi forces from Kuwait and demanding a greater role in the crisis. “The question is not whether mili tary action is justified. It is,” said Sen. Sam Nunn, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which began several days of hearings on the gulf crisis. “The question is whether military action is wise at this time and in our own national interest.” The hearings were called in reac tion to Bush’s decision to send an additional 200,000 troops to the Gulf to provide an “offensive military option.” With the administration seeking U.N. approval for the use of force in the Gulf, some committee members said the president also must make the same request of Congress. House Speaker Thomas Foley, in remarks to newly elected House Democrats, underscored the point. “I would personally want to have some assurance from the administra tion that no action would be taken prior to this Congress meeting, or it would be necessary to think seriously about calling in the previous Con gress,” he said. - 66 - The question is not whether military action is justified. It is. The question is whether mili tary action is wise at this time and in our own national interest. Nunn Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman -ft - The opening day of the session also was marked by the conspicuous absence of the administration’s top military officials — Defense Secre tary Dick Cheney and Gen. Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The two will testify Monday morning. Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., said the policy change to underline a U.S. attack capability undermines the na tion’s attempts to maintain interna tional support for the sanctions “by declaring, through its own word and those of the imminent U.N. resolu tion, that our patience was almost spent.” Committee member Edward Ken nedy, D-Mass., declared, “If ever there is a case for giving peace a chance, this is it.” John Glenn, D-Ohio, said the administration has yet to make its case for military attack in the Gulf, arguing that the nation “cannot gel into a war that is not fully understood and backed by the American people. We need more than sound-bite justi fication.” The panel heard from former CIA Director James Schlesinger, who tes tified that the United States believes it will take about a year for interna tional sanctions against Iraq to take full effect. Schlesinger told the panel that was “an official estimate.” The one lime CIA director and defense secretary did not indicate the basis for his state ment. “A year, to me, seems to be in the right ballpark,” Schlesinger said, time enough “to drain off the cash that is now sustaining the smuggling opera tions that bring in food.” “His society is bleeding and it’s going to get worse with the passage of lime,” Schlesinger said. But it may lake somewhat longer for those diffi culties to lead Saddam to change his mind and withdraw from Kuwait, he said. Schlesinger said the United States must show tenacity and “we must be prepared to stay a year” in the desert of the Mideasl. Bush pledges better relations, makes trade deal with Mexico MONTERREY, Mexico - Presi dent Bush said Tuesday the U.S. economic slowdown could make it harder to obtain a free trade pact with Mexico, but pledged to “write a new page in North American history” with his veto pen if necessary to stop pro tectionist bills. Bush wrapped up a two-day slate visit and talks with President Carlos Salinas de Gortari with new agree ments on oil investment, border cross ings and on educational exchanges. In a joint statement issued shortly before the president headed home from this northern Mexico industrial city, Bush and Salinas proclaimed “excel lent cooperation” between their gov ernments and reiterated a mutual call for a free-trade agreement. In a key agreement, the pair re solved a U.S.-Mexican disagreement over the question of whether Mex ico’s vast oil industry should be open to U.S. or other foreign investment. Salinas has insisted the slate-run and subsidized oil industry be exempt from the free-trade talks. Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady told reporters here that the dispute has been eased by Mexico’s agree ment to allow an Export-Import Bank loan for drilling and supplying equip ment in Mexican oil exploration. Brady said “for the first time, the services of American companies will be welcome and sought after with regard to drilling and other supplies in the Mexican oil fields.” The two presidents also announced that both governments would work toward opening nine new border points of-entry to ease congestion at cross ing stations and to make it easier for both Americans and Mexicans to travel across across each other’s borders. Roman Popadiuk, a White House spokesman, said “both the United States and Mexico favor having new and additional ports of entry between the two countries where feasible, and alter study and approval, by both sides.” He said specific sites for the nine new crossings had not been determined. Economists say recession’s here WASHINGTON - Three out of four of the nation’s top busi ness economists believe the United States has skidded into a recession, in part because of die rapid rise in oil prices following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. “Recession is here,” the National Association of Busi ness Economists said Tuesday in a report on its canvass of 51 professional forecasters. The report reflects a sharp jump in pessimism among the economists, who just three months ago still felt the country could avoid an imminent down turn. In a survey following the Iraqi invasion, only 45 percent of the forecasters said a recession ei ther had begun or was immi nent. Just a year ago, 62 percent of the forecasters predicted the economy would escape a reces sion through 1992.