News Digest Edited by Jana Pedersen
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Retired military chiefs call for patience
WASHINGTON - Two former U.S. mili
tary chiefs urged caution in the Persian Gulf on
Wednesday, even as President Bush sent Sec
retary of State James A. Baker III to press the
United Nations for formal support of a possible
attack against Iraq.
“I counsel patience,” said retired Adm.
William Crowe, who was chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff under President Reagan. “War
is not neat, it’s not tidy, and once you resort to
it, it’s uncertain, and it’s a mess.”
Retired Air Force Gen. David C. Jones,
chairman of the joint chiefs under President
Carter, voiced concern with the latest troop
deployment, in which Bush is sending 200,000
more to bolster the 230,000 already in the Gulf
and to add an offensive capability.
Jones said his fear “isn’t that we might
choose to fight, but rather that the deployment
might cause us to fight.”
Baker went to New York on Wednesday to
personally take charge of the U.S. effort to win
formal international support of the idea of a
last-resort attack to free Kuwait from Saddam
Hussein’s forces, which invaded on Aug. 2.
“The question is how much pain we admini
ster and how quickiy, and whether we do it with
the embargo or the use of force,” said Sen. Sam
Nunn, D-Ga., whose Armed Services Commit
tee began its hearings Tuesday.
Meanwhile, House Majority Leader Rich
ard Gephardt broke with the administration
and stepped ahead of other party leaders on the
subject of military confrontation with Saddam,
announcing his opposition to the use of U.S.
military force in the near future.
And Rep. Lee Hamilton, chairman of the
House Foreign Affairs’ Middle East Subcom
mittee, said he believes it is time for Bush to
send an envoy to Baghdad to open talks with
Saddam, with the aim of making U.S. inten
tions clear and exploring non-military solu
tions to the crisis.
Sen. Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, the
former Senate Democratic leader, told Armed
Services Committee colleagues he believed
the world would welcome “patience rather
than impetuousness” before any U.S. decision
to go to war.
“When we view grandmothers and grandf a
thers who lost notone but two, three grandchil
dren, and they feel we took the action too
hastily, I think we’ll all have the time to be
sorry,” Byrd said. .
“The policy of patient strength is, I think,
our best hope,” Gephardt said, and he made
clear he was opposing any congressional reso
lution authorizing the use of force. In so doing,
he parted company with other Democratic leaders
who said Bush would have a better chance of
winning congressional backing for the use of
force if the United Nations first endorsed this
option.
“Obviously there are going to be different
opinions,” White House press secretary Marlin
Fitzwater told reporters.
Fitzwater said Bush does not plan to ask
Congress for authority to launch any attack
under the War Powers Act. The president
maintains he already has the authority to take
such action.
On Capitol Hill, Crowe and Jones recom
mended that the United States give economic
sanctions against Iraq a year to 18 months to
work before opting for military force.
And Crowe said Bush must consider the
future implications of attacking an Arab nation
in the tenuous Middle East situation.
“1 am persuaded that the U.S. initiating
hostilities could well exacerbate many of the
tensions I have cited and further polarize the
Arab world,” Crowe said.
Former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissin
ger testified, “1 do not believe we can maintain
400,000 troops much beyond the spring of next
year, and therefore our general position will be
a decision on whether to go to war.”
Greenspan says oil prices
to blame for slow economy
WASHINGTON - Federal Reserve
Chairman Aian Greenspan said
Wednesday that oil-price problems
from the Persian Gulf crisis have
pushed the economy into “a mean
ingful downturn,” confirming private
analysts’ recession talk.
Appearing before the House Bank
ing Committee, he also said the cen
tral bank can do little to cushion the
effect of higher oil prices on Ameri
cans’ standard of living.
Separately, the Commerce Depart
ment reported that the economy, as
measured by the gross national prod
uct, grew at a lackluster 1.7 percent
annual rate in the July-Septcmber
quarter, even worse than the previ
ously reported 1.8 percent rate.
Most private analysts believe the
economy has weakened sharply since
the quarter ended, an assessment
Greenspan confirmed. But he care
fully avoided describing the deterio
ration as a recession, which is defined
as a contraction of six months or more
in the GNP.
“We won’t know whether it is the
beginning of a recession or just some
aberration in economic activity for
quite a while .. .. We couldn’t con
ceivably know for certain until April
or May of next year,” Greenspan said.
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Chinese foreign minister
won’t support resolution
China’s foreign minister said Wednesday his country will not back
a proposed U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing force against
Iraq, a day before foreign ministers prepared to vote on the measure.
China is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council
and could veto the measure. At the United Nations, diplomats said they
didn’t expect such a move and predicted the resolution would pass.
Roland Dumas, the foreign minister of France, issued a “final
appeal” to Iraq to pull out of Kuwait, warning that Baghdad had six
weeks to “allow reason to triumph.”
President Bush has gathered support abroad for military action, but
he faces trouble in Congress. A leading democrat said Wednesday he
did not support the use of force against Iraq any time soon.
There also were appeals for peace in Baghdad. Iraq’s deputy foreign
minister urged Bush to open talks on the Persian Gulf crisis, although
he did not offer concessions regarding Kuwait.
Secretary of State James A. Baker III has asked that foreign
ministers represent their countries in the Security Council for today’s
vote.
Before leaving Beijing for the United Nations on Wednesday,
China’s foreign minister, Qian Qichen, said his country would not back
the use-of-force resolution.
“It has always been the position of China to call for a peaceful
settlement of the Gulf crisis and to avoid the use of force or the act of
war,” Qian told reporters.
At the United Nations, diplomats were divided over whether China
would abstain, or eventually vote in favor of the resolution after
wringing political concessions out of Washington.
“It seems rather clear that they’re not thinking of vetoing,” said
British Ambassador David Hannay.
Qian was to meet with Baker late Wednesday. China wants Wash
ington to lift economic sanctions imposed following the June 1989
military crackdown that crushed China’s pro-democracy movement.
Also speaking before leaving for New York, Dumas told the French
Parliament Iraq had given no sign of withdrawing from Kuwait, despite
earlier U.N. resolutions imposing a trade embargo, among other meas
ures.
“I call on the Iraqi leaders to understand that this is really the final
appeal being addressed to them,” Dumas said. “1 say with all serious
ness: It is up to Iraq to decide its future.”
France has said it will vote in favor of the U.N. resolution.
Oil prices were stable early Wednesday on the New York Mercantile
Exchange, with many traders waiting for the Security Council vote. Oil
was down 36 cents at $32.50 per barrel on contracts for January
I delivery.
________-1
~ 1,1 -■■ _
uovemmeni conapse
likely after protests
in Bulgarian streets
SOFIA, Bulgaria - Prime Minister
Andrei Lukanov’s government of
former Communists appeared on the
verge of collapse Wednesday follow
ing angry street protests and a threat
by Bulgaria’s largest union to join a
nationwide strike.
The official BTA news agency said
an agreement was struck under which
Lukanov would resign, but Lukanov
called the report premature.
Asked by reporters if he would
quit, Lukanov replied, “Not now.”
He said he did not know exactly when
he would resign.
BTA had said President Zhelyu
Zhelev would appoint a caretaker
Cabinet headed by a premier who
will be neither of the Socialist Party,
nor the Union of Democratic Forces
main opposition.
Pressure on the 52-year-old So
cialist premier increased hourly. He
has been increasingly blamed for the
political paralysis and economic chaos
in this Balkan country of 9 million
people.
Krastyo Pctkov, chairman of the
main Confederation of Independent
Trade Unions, said his organization
would join a 3-day-old strike by the
smaller, more radical Podkrepa union
today unless the political stalemate
was settled. His union had opposed
the strike.
Ognyan Kromov, the Confedera
tion’s vice president, said it would
start shutting down heavy industry
today.
Kromov said the union “insists on
forming a working Cabinet that would
be a competent and stable partner in
negotiations,”
Podkrepa said 870,000 workers
were on strike today in 91 cities
throughout Bulgaria, including
230,000 in Sofia.
Bulgaria is suffering through its
worst crisis since World War II. Elec
tricity, many foodstuffs and consumer
goods are rationed or simply unavail
able in many places. Even matches,
candles and kerosene are in short supply
in Sofia, and there is doubt about the
supply of heating oil.
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