News Digest Edited by Jana Pedersen
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Bush takes off on South American tour
Economic reform talks scheduled
WASHINGTON - President Bush
departed Sunday night on a week
long trip to South America that is
aimed at calling attention to the his
toric shift in the region to democratic
rule and market-oriented economic
policies.
Bush’s first stop on his week-long
tour was to be Brasilia, Brazil, fol
lowing an overnight flight from
Washington. His itinerary also in
cludes Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and
Venezuela.
At each stop he is expected to hail
the evolution to democratic rule in
Latin America and to promote his
vision of a hemisphere-wide free trade
zone.
After a decade in which U.S.
hemispheric policy was dominated
by the political upheaval in Central
America, Bush now has the luxury of
having what U.S. officials like to call
a “positive agenda” in his dealings
with Latin America.
Skeptics wonder about the utility
of his visit at a time of crisis in the
Persian Gulf, but Bush feels it is
important to seize on what he regards
as a moment of unique opportunity in
hemispheric relations.
Bush was to have made the visit in
September but postponed it because
of the Gulf situation. Secretary of
State James A. Baker III will remain
in Washington to deal with that issue.
Each of the countries on Bush’s
itinerary except Venezuela began the
last decade under military rule and
now has an elected president. Vene
zuela has had stable, democratic
government since 1958.
Beyond that, there is an emerging
consensus in the hemisphere that
radical economic reform is required
to help the region escape from the
“lost decade” of the 1980s—a period
in which production, investment and
consumption all fell sharply.
Through his “Enterprise for the
Americas Initiative,” unveiled in June,
Bush is attempting to promote eco
nomic growth by encouraging more
free trade and increased investment.
Countries that adopt reform measures
would be eligible for debt reduction.
The emergence of democratic
governments, coupled with the phas
ing out of the Cold War and the will
ingness of most countries to under
take painful economic reform, has
produced an era of unusual harmony
in U.S. relations in Latin America.
“We are at the beginning of a new
era,” says Michael Wilson, an associ
ate at the Heritage Foundation, a
conservative think tank. Some ana
lysts believe the United States would
derive immense benefits from an
economically prosperous Latin Amer
ica, a potentially lucrative market for
U.S. manufactured exports.
“Latin America, rather than Ja
pan, holds the key to the U.S. trade
deficit,” says Peter Drucker, a profes
sor of the Claremont Graduate School
in California.
Bush has pleased many Latin
countries by recognizing more than
President Ronald Reagan did the need
to combat the drug problem by adopt
ing policies that reduce demand at
home. For many years, the United
States had caused resentment by plac
ing more emphasis on efforts to re
duce supply in producing countries.
1 SUNDAY NIGHT, Dec. 2 'J MONDAY, Dec. 3
Departs Washington, D.C. & Brazil
i Arrives Brasilia, meets with president Fernando Collor de Mello at
the PlanaJto, the presidential palace
Brazilian congress
Lunch at U.S. ambassador's residence for Brazilian businessmen
State dinner at Itimarti me Foreign Ministry
the night at U.S ambassador's residence
■ Flies to Montevideo and meets President Luis
Alberto Lacalle at the Edificio Libertad, the
presidential office
Addresses Uruguayan congress
Helicopter flight to Punta del Este, private dinner,
the night at private ocean-side mansion
n SATURDAY, Dec. 8 WEDNESDAY Dec. 5
/ Venezuela, returns to Uru9uaythen Argentina
■ Lays a wreath, at the Breakfasts at Punta del Este
Pantheon where Simon Flies t0 Buenos Aires and 'W
Bolivar is entombed a weath at Plaza San Martin
■ Meets President Perez at Meets President Carlos Menem
Mirafiores, the presidential palace at ^ <^asa Rosada. fhe
■ Addresses the Venezuelan- presidential palace
American Chamber of Commerce Addresses Argentine congress
■ Returns to Washington, D.C. i CHILE Attends a rodeo and state dinner
_ at Rural Society Fairgrounds
6 FRIDAY, Dec. 7 Spends the night at U.S.
Chile then Venezuela URUGUAY... ambassador s residence
■ Addresses the Chilean- ^ /-——
American Chamber of Montevideo / £■ THURSDAY, Dec. 6
Commerce at a Santiago hotel / ^ Argentina then Chile
■ Flies to Caracas te ■ Flies t0 Santiago and meets President Patricio
■ Meets President Carlos Andres Bueros Aires AlyW'n at h'S pr'V3fe home
Perez and attends state __ _/..■ Working lunch at Alywin residence
dinner at La Casona, the ? /s ■ Flies to Valparaiso to address Chilean congress
presidential mansion / // B Returns to Santiago, attends state dinner at La
B Spends the night at U.S. ✓ Moneaa, the pres.dential palace V
ambassador's residence __■ Spends the night at U.S ambassador's residence I
^-i-■ ~ A P I
I Saddam tests SCUD missiles,
gives war ‘fifty-fifty’ chance
Saddam Hussein’s armies rattled nerves around the Persian Gulf on
| Sunday with the first test of surface-to-surface missiles since the
| invasion of Kuwait. The Iraqi president said the chances of war in the
i region stand at “fifty-fifty.”
i In Washington, Secretary of State James A. Baker III said the United
| Stales would not attack Iraq — provided Iraqi troops are withdrawn
I from Kuwait and foreign hostages are freed.
Iraq, which has been sporadically releasing captives, let more go on
Sunday. Fifteen freed Americans flew out of Iraq with former world
heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, who secured their release in
talks with Saddam.
A spokesman for the boxer said he planned to return to Baghdad at
i Christmas to try to bring out more of the hundreds of remaining
| captives, who were stranded when Iraq invaded small, oil-rich Kuwait
on Aug. 2.
Iraq, meanwhile, told the Soviet Union that it could lose its influence
in the Arab world if it sent troops to the Persian Gulf. That was
apparently in response to a warning from Soviet Foreign Minister
» Eduward Shevardnadze, who said last week Moscow would send in
soldiers if Soviet citizens trapped in Iraq were harmed.
The official Iraqi News agency quoted an Iraqi Foreign Ministry
I spokesman as saying Shevardnadze “seems to be looking for a pretext
to send troops to the region.”
The U.S. military refused to say whether the American forces went
| on alert Sunday when Iraq launched surface-to-surface missiles in what
appeared to be test launches. The test Firings reportedly were SCUD
Nebraskan
Editor Eric Planner Managing Editor Victoria Ayotte
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Selective Service on standbv
WASHINGTON - Seventeen years
after the government’s authority for a
military draft expired, the Selective
Service System is alive and well —
and on standby.
But if President Bush and Con
gress gave the order, the Selective
Service could start issuing draft no
tices within days and supply up to
100,000 young men within a month.
Bush has said as recently as last
week that he doesn’t want to see the
draft reactivated, but it’s the job of
the Selective Service to be ready —
just in case.
The agency has 270 full-time
employees, 2,000 local draft boards
and a entire system for resuming the
draft if ordered to do so
“It’s business as usual because that
is our mission — to be ready,” Selec
tive Service spokeswoman Barbi
Richardson said. “We were ready a
year ago, and we’d be ready tomor
row.”
, However, Selective Service Di
rector Samuel K. Lessey Jr. said “our
agency has had no indication that a
draft is needed in response to the
Middle East crisis.”
Still, the buildup of U.S. troops in
the Persian Gulf has led to growing
public concern and debate about the
draft, which was one of the most
divisive issues of the Vietnam War.
Former Navy Secretary James
Webb last week questioned Bush’s
buildup of troops in the Gulf, but said
“if the president is serious about going
on the offensive, he should call for an
immediate resumption of the draft”
to avoid troop shortages.
The president’s authority to draft
men into the armed forces, which had
been routinely renewed by Congress
every four years, expired on July 1,
1973, three months after the last U.S.
soldiers left Vietnam. The military
then began depending only on volun
tary enlistments.
Even if the draft were reinstated
quickly, there would be a significant
time lag before conscripts reached
the Gulf. By law, draftees may not be
sent overseas for three months after
induction.
Lawrence Korb, a Brookings In
stitution analyst who was assistant
secretary of Defense for manpower
until 1985, said it would take a year to
get conscripts trained and over to the
gulf.
“1 don’t think it (the draft) is likely,”
Korb said. “Militarily, it doesn’t make
sense.”
Martin Binkin, another Brookings
Institution analyst, said “I do not think
that the average American kid has to
worry about conscription.”
Many are worried nonetheless.
“We receive calls from mothers..
. from the young men, their wives,
their girlfriends, their grandmothers,
their grandfathers,” Richardson said.
“We let them know there is no draft
and we do not anticipate one.”
Chad’s deposed leader reportedly killed
N’DJAMENA, Chad - Rebel leader
Idriss Deby entered the capital in
triumph Sunday, and Libyan news
reports said deposed President Hisscne
Habre had been killed near the Suda
nese border.
Deby arrived in N’djamena in a
black Mercedes, escorted by all-ter
rain vehicles. He refused to recognize
the remnants of Habre’s government
as the country’s legitimate authority,
but declared that his Patriotic Salva
tion Movement would institute a
democracy.
“My worry is not to be president of
the republic,” he said. “This country
must become democratic, pluralist.
The moment has come to lay down
our arms.”
He did not rule out being presi
dent, but said the decision would rest
with his party. He was to meet later
Sunday with Alinguc Bawayeu, presi
dent of Chad’s National Assembly
and the highest-ranking politician left
in the capital.
Deby urged reconciliation with
Goukouni Oucddei, the president he
and Habrc together toppled in 1982.
Oucddei is exiled in Libya.
Deby served as Habre’s chief mili
tary adviser from 1982 to 1989, when
the president accused him of plotting
a coup. He fled to Sudan and organ
ized a rebel movement against his
onetime ally.
There were no immediate reports
of deaths in the takeover, but the
French relief agency Doctors With
out Borders said it treated 120 people
hurt in rioting Saturday.
The official Libyan news agency,
JANA, meanwhile said Habrc and
several aides had been killed between
Tine and Oum Chalouba in eastern
Chad, the site of heavy fighting be
tween government soldiers and rebel
fighters last week.
Diplomats and other sources had
said Habrc and his family flew in a
Isf -tt' .;
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l LIBYA---* l"
S EGYPT \
AOUZOLH \ \
\ STRIP r DARFUR \ \
PROVi \
SUDAN
Oum Chalouba # _| mi
x Tine/V v Khartoum \
N'Djamena]
CAMEROON V /'
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/ CENTRAL AfRICAN REP. 30° ^
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military plane to Cameroon, west of
Chad, before dawn Saturday. Habrc
was pushed out by a string of rebel
victories.
Earlier Sunday, the rebels issued a
communique claiming Habre had
sought refuge in Maroua, Cameroon,
185 miles south of N’Djamena.