By The
Associated Press
Edited by Jennifer O'Cilka
Iraq releases hundreds of Kuwaiti hostages
Former Kuwaiti hostages reached freedom
by the truckload late Thursday, chanting “USA!
USA!” and American
troops arrived in Europe
for their first hot showers
and cold beer in weeks.
In Baghdad, Iraq’s
official media pleaded for
national unity and omi
nously vowed that dissi
dents “will pay.” 5
Opponents of Saddam Hussein claimed that
the rebellion had spread to the Iraqi capital and
Iraqi refugees said an uprising in southern Iraq
continued, despite the execution of more than
400 dissidents.
Iraq released trucks and buses filled with
Kuwaitis to Red Cross officials.
A Bush administration official in Washing
ton estimated the number of released Kuwaitis
at 800 to 2,000. As the trucks rolled into the
southern Iraqi town of Safwan, the Kuwaitis
chanted “USA! USA!”
Kuwait said Iraqi troops abducted 30,000
Kuwaitis during its 6 1/2-month occupation of
the oil-rich emirate.
Gian-Battista Bacchetta, head of the Red
Cross delegation in Kuwait City, said 29 of
about three dozen Western journalists missing
in southern Iraq may be released Friday.
. Allied and Iraqi commanders meeting un
der Red Cross auspices also discussed the re
lease of 63,000 Iraqi prisoners of war.
In Iraq, Saddam struggled to put down re
bellions that broke out after he was forced to
withdraw from Kuwait. For the first time since
the unrest began, official government media
made direct reference to the threat.
An editorial in the government daily Al
Iraq warned of division and disintegration and
said “antagonists were trying to dismember
Iraq and strike at its national unity.”
Another government newspaper, Al-Thawra,
threatened:
“Everybody who tries to undermine the
security of the revolution is a traitor and a
mercenary— All of them shall regret it. They
will pay.”
In Syria, a Shiite opposition leader, Ayatol
lah Mohammed Taqi Mudaressi, said rioting
had spread to Baghdad’s al-Thawra and al
Shu’lla districts.
Mudaressi claimed government forces had
been evicted from 14 cities and towns from
Basra to Khanaqin, on the Iranian border,
Kurdish guerrillas claimed they had seized
three towns on the main highway linking the
mountain province with Baghdad. They said
they have captured 650 soldiers in recent fight
ing.
In allied-occupied Safwan, refugees told
Associated Press correspondent Edith Lederer
that forces loyal to Saddam had executed more
than 400 opponents Wednesday, but protests to
oust him continued in southern Iraq.
With Western journalists asked by the gov
ernment to leave Iraq, the reports could not be
confirmed
The Pentagon said about 5,000 troops a day
will return to the United States during the next
few days.
They include members of the 1 st Cavalry
Division of Fort Hood, Texas, the 82nd Air
borne Division of Fort Bragg, N.C., and the
101st Airborne Division of Fort Campbell, Ky.
Marine Lance Cpl. Brian Little was allowed
to return early to Little Rock Air Force Base in
Arkansas because his mother needed surgery.
He had two immediate priorities'*^
“See my mom and get drunk,” said Littie,
22. Alcohol is banned in Saudi Arabia, where
Little had been stationed since August.
“How sweet it is!" said Gen. George Lee
Butler, commander of the Strategic Air Com
mand, shortly after 21 SAC members arrived
home Wednesday at Offutt Air Force Base.
A monument was erected outside Hurlburt
Field, Fla., base of an AC-130 Spectre plane
that went down in the Persian Gulf with 14
crew members.
Kim Wallers and her husband, Capt. Dixon
Lee Walters, 29, were to celebrate their 10th
anniversary on April 10. “I think the most
painful thing is knowing I will never be able to
put my arms around h im again or hold him ever
again,” said Walters, of Navarre Beach.
More than 150 soldiers from the 24th Infan
try Division (Mechanized) stepped off C-141
transport planes at the Rhein Main Air Base in
Germany. One soldier bent down to touch the
ground and gave a triumphant yelp.
British troops will begin reluming home
this weekend and the withdrawal will be com
pleted in about two weeks, Prime Minister John
Majors said.
Congress applauds Bush;
prods for more weaponry
WASHINGTON - Congres
sional leaders on Thursday ap
plauded President Bush’s bid to
seize upon the momentum of mili
tary victory with a fresh attack on
America’s domestic needs, but
prodded him for the legislative
weaponry to match that battle cry.
“I am fully in support ot tne
president’s notion that we should
address our attention to some of
these critical national domestic
issues,” said House Speaker Tho
mas Foley, D-Wash. “I welcome
his interest and support.”
The highway and transporta
tion bill could be voted on in the
House by May, Foley said. But, he
said, “We haven’t got the crime
bill yet” from the administration,
“so it is a little hard to make a
prediction on that.”
“Some of these things are very
contentious and very controver
sial,” said House Minority Leader
Bob Michel, R-Ill., citing the dif
ficulties the administration was
having getting Congress to approve
more money for the savings and
loan bailout. But Bush can win “if
we simply have a steady hand at
the keel,” Michel said on NBC’s
Today show.
Presidential spokesman Marlin
Fitzwatcr said Bush’s call to act
on his agenda within 100 days was
“a goal (for) an effort to get our
legislation passed. We think it’s
good to have a public deadline that
holds our feet to the fire as well as
theirs.”
Bush used his Wednesday night
speech to slate again his interest in
education, saying he wanted to
“expand choice” for citizens.
Congress was w-aiting for the
administration to flesh out its pro
posals.
Bush has announced a national
energy program, but Rep. John
Dingcll, D-Mich., chairman of the
House Energy and Commerce
Committee, said he was still wait
ing for the actual legislative plan.
The Democratic-controlled
Congress appeared headed toward
another showdown on the civil
rights legislation Bush mentioned
in his speech. A House subcom
mittee plans to approve next week
the same bill Bush vetoed last year,
while the administration has re
submitted essentially the same
legislation Congress deemed in
adequate last year.
First U.S. ground troops to gulf
head for ‘mother of all parties’
DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia - The
first U.S. ground troops deployed in
the Persian Gulf crisis headed home
Thursday in jubilant spirits, looking
forward to home cooking, soft beds
and delayed Christmas celebrations.
“The mother of all parties is about
to begin,” said Spc. 4 Brannon Lamar
of Columbia, S.C.
Elements of the Army’s 82nd Air
borne Division, which arrived in Saudi
Arabia 210 days ago as President
Bush’s original “line in the sand,’’got
the green light from Bush to head
back to Fort Bragg, N.C.
An additional 900 soldiers were in
the first group to leave and were due
home Friday afternoon.
More than 100 men from the 24th
Infantry Division (Mechanized) be
gan the exodus of American forces
earlier Thursday, to be followed by
more than 14,000others over the next
week.
Back on Aug. 8, paratroopers of
the 82nd Airborne arrived in 120
degree heat at 1 p.m. in Dhahran
aboard a TransAmerica flight. Sol
diers had painted their faces with
camouflage and had their rifles loaded,
prepared to go into battle immedi
ately.
- a
The mother of all par
ties is about to begin.
Spc. 4 Lamar of Columbia,
S.C., stationed in Saudi
Arabia
-99 ~
No one knew if the Iraqi army
would follow up its lightning con
quest of Kuwait with a drive south
into Saudi Arabia. Paratroopers joked
darkly about being “speed bumps,’’ a
light infantry force deterring the full
force of Saddam Hussein’s tanks.
When the 100-hour ground war
began Feb. 24, the brigade was al
ready at work.
It was the first U.S. ground force in
Iraq, crossing the border more than
16 hours before the offensive started
from a point due south of Baghdad
and about 200 miles west of Kuwait.
Working with the French 6th Light
Armored Division, it secured the
westernmost flank of the coalition
offensive without suffering a single
casually. It helped capture over 1,500
prisoners from Iraq’s 45lh Division
and drove deep into Iraq to cut supply
lines and escape routes.
The blitz was so quick and the
surrender so great that most para
troopers never had to fight. That did
not diminish the brigade’s accom
plishments in the eyes of the soldiers,
who endured months of heat, flics,
desolation, austere living conditions
and other hardships.
“It’s like studying fora test I never
got to take. Wc were in our seats and
had the paper in front of us, but we got
an A and passed the test without having
to take it,” said Cpl. Baxter Morrison
of Fayetteville, N.C
Brig. Gen. Richard Timmons, 48,
of McLean, Va., assistant division
commander for operauons, was aboard
the first flight to arrive in Saudi Ara
bia and on the first plane to take
members of the 82nd home.
“We were President Bush’s origi
nal ‘line in the sand,”’Timmons said.
“This war will be memorable not so
much for the intensity of conflict.
What will be significant is the U.S.
military’s professional excellence.”
Gorbachev receives approval
for Soviet Security Council
MOSCOW - President Mikhail
Gorbachev won legislative approval
Thursday for eight of nine nominees
to his new Security Council, an inner
cabinet that will tackle defense, for
eign policy and economic problems.
The powerful body will have a
distinctly hard-line makeup, with only
one recognized reformer, former In
terior Minister Vadim Bakatin, among
its members.
Gorbachev also blasted the six
republics that are boycotting the March
17 nationwide referendum on hold
ing the Soviet Union together, saying
their refusal to participate was ille
gal and unlawful.” The country s top
prosecutor warned separately that
anyone trying to prevent the vote would
be imprisoned.
In approving eight of his nine
nominees to the Security Council, the
Supreme Soviet legislature handed
Gorbachev another victory in his
continuing bid to revamp the govern
ment’s executive branch and strengthen
his personal power. Legislators gave
Gorbachev approval in November to
create the Security Council, which
will advise him daily on domestic and
foreign affairs.
Bakat in, who was removed as head
of the Interior Ministry last year and
replaced by hard-liner Boris Pugo,
returned to the inner circle of the
Soviet leadership.
Communist Party conservatives had
pressured Gorbachev to remove
Bakatin, and one hard-line deputy
questioned why the reformer was
nominated to the Security Council
when “his actions led to the collapse
of the Interior Ministry.”
Gorbachev dismissed the criticism,
saying he had planned to return Bakatin
to the leadership and praising his
“potential.”
The Supreme Soviet legislature also
confirmed Pugo, Vice President
Gennady Yanayev, Prime Minister
Valentth Pavlov, Foreign Minister
Alexander Bessmertnykh, KGB chair
man Vladimir Kryuchkov, Defense
Minister Dmitri Yazov and Gor
bachev’s special Middle East envoy,
Yevgeny Primakov.
All but one are ethnic Russians.
The exception is Pugo, a Latvian who
served as head of the KGB in his
native republic.
The legislature failed to confirm
Gorbachev’s chief of staff, Valery
Boldin, to the council, although his
name will be submitted to the law
makers again.
Gorbachev said he had “absolute
trust” in Boldin, who has been his
aide for 10 years.
Boldin, 55, has been described by
some well-placed Soviet sources as a
behind-the-scenes player who con
trols the paperwork in Gorbachev’s
office. He is reputed to be aligned
with hard-liners and has played a key
role in Gorbachev’s turn away from
reform.
Boldin previously was head of the
powerful general department of the
Communist Party Central Committee
and worked for 12 years at the party
newspaper Pravda, specializing in
agriculture.
The Security Council will func
tion as an inner cabinet, handling the
defense, economy, environment and
“security from the point of view of
stability.”
ASUN
Continued from Page 1
Sen. Pam Kohlmcier, who also co
authorcd the bill, said the students
appointed to the committees did not
have to be of those orientations or
backgrounds but had to have knowl
edge of those perspectives.
ASUN President Phil Gosch had
concerns about the proposal’s consti
tutionality. “To have a racial per
spective, you have to be of that race,’’
he said.
Gosch said the bylaws did not
present a strict quota system, but they
characterized the exclusion of an
individual based on race, which is
why the Student Court declared the
original committees unconstitutional.
He also has expressed concern that
such a proposal would be against NU
Board of Regents policies against
discrimination that ASUN must ad
here to.
“It doesn’t require that they dis
criminate,” he said of the proposal,
“it just asks them to.”
Richard Wood, University of
Nebraska vice president and general
counsel, disagreed with Gosch.
“It’s a recommendation only,” he
said. “It’s not binding. I don’t see a
problem with that.”
Senators plan to introduce the
reworded bylaws at ASUN’s next
meeting.
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