'r News Digest &g„_ JaSa.
Bush vows to send planes to Mideast
Forces would provide cover
in arms searches, officials say
GRAND CANYON VILLAGE,
Ariz. — President Bush declared
Wednesday that he would send war
planes to escort U.N. helicopters
searching for hidden Iraqi weapons if
Saddam Hussein continues to impede
the inspectors. Bush said he was “plenty
fed up” with Saddam but not looking
for a new war.
Bush and other top administration
officials sought to cut short any specu
lation that new fighting was in store.
“This is not Desert Storm II,” one
senior aide said.
The president said of Saddam,
“Theie’s just determination ... that
he will comply” with the U.N. man
date for inspection and destruction of
Iraq’s nuclear and other major weap
ons facilities.
National Security Adviser Brent
Scowcroft said the warplanes would
provide air cover for the helicopters
should Saddam continue placing re
strictions on inspections, but “if he
will comply with the U.N. resolutions
there won’t need to be an ‘execute’
order.”
He said Saudi Arabia had requested
and would receive Patriot missiles for
defensive purposes. Presidential
spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said later,
“We believe Iraq still possesses sev
eral hundred Scud missiles of the type
used against Saudi Arabia during the
gulf war.”
Bush, asked about the possibility
of renewed military conflict, said, “I
don’t think Saddam wants that. I’m
confident he doesn’t’’
Bush added, “I’m plenty fed up. I
think the man will see we are very
serious about this.... He knows better
than to take on the United States of
America.”
Bush made the comments during a
hike into the Grand Canyon on a trip
to promote his environmental poli
cies.
Iraq’s ambassador to the United
Nations, Abdul Amir Al-Anbari, dis
missed the situation as “a tempest in
a teacup,” but added, “Of course, if
the coalition led by the United States
wants to commit an aggression against
Iraq’s people, certainly they are ca
pable of doing that.”
Al-Anbari said Iraq had been fully
cooperating with the United Nations
and was trying to make arrangements
so that the weapons inspectors could
do their job without violating Iraq’s
national sovereignty.
At U.N. headquarters, Secretary.
General Javier Perez de Cuellar said
he saw no sign that the Iraqis were
ready to drop their resistance to weap
ons inspections.
The senior official traveling with
Bush said, “There are some units that
will definitely go in (to Saudi Arabia)
... some within the next day or so.”
He spoke on condition of anonymity.
Pentagon sources, also speaking
privately, said one U.S. air wing had
been ordered to prepare to fly to the
region. Supporting forces would be
included in the package, the sources
said.
“We’re ready to move if so or
dered,” but the orders had not yet
come down, said a senior Air Force
officer. “My feeling is that we won’t
move, ” he added.
Other military sources at the Pen
tagon said the wing put on alert is
located at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C.
That is the home of the 9th Air Force,
commanded by Lt. Gen. Charles
Homer, the man in charge of the
highly successful air war of Opera
tion Desert Storm.
Yugoslavian
truce meets
with gunfire
ZAGREB, Yugoslavia — Com
batants in Croatia on Wednesday
inaugurated the latest cease-fire agree
ment with gunfire, bombs and shell
ing, and key mediators expressed
pessimism about peace prospects in
the secessionist republic.
The European Community-brok
ered truce, signed Tuesday, was al
ready in tatters moments after the
cease-fire deadline passed.
More than 450 people have died in
fighting in Croatia since the republic
declared its independence on June
25.
Lord Carrington, the European
Community mediator who signed the
cease-fire agreement Tuesday with
the Croatian and Serbian presidents’
and the federal defense minister, said'
. he would not return to Yugoslavia if it
failed.
“I don’t think there’s anything else
if this doesn’t work,” he said in an
interview with the British Broadcast
ing Corp. “1 mean, how can you hold
a peace-confercncc when everyone is
killing each other?”
On Wednesday, people standing
in front of the railway station in
downtown Zagreb, the Croatian capi
tal, threw themselves under cars as
gunfire and explosions were heard
nearby. Sniper fire and machine gun
blasts rattled the city.
Heavy fighting was reported in
Varazdin, northeast of Zagreb; Sibe
nik, south on the Adriatic coast; and
Vukovar in the far eastern part of
AP
Croatia.
Three air-raid alarms sounded in
the span of a few hours before and
after the truce deadline, sending people
in about 20 Croatian towns scurrying
for shelters.
r 1
Federal troops launched a major attack on the Croatian capital of
Zagreb despite a cease-fire agreement signed Tuesday. Croatian
forces have lost about one third of the republic's territory to Serbian and
Federal forces since It declared independence on June 25.
Fed says economy still stagnant
WASHINGTON — The national
economy, rather than bouncing
strongly out of the recession, is beset
with a host of problems from sluggish
consumer spending to a virtual stand
still in commercial construction, the
Federal Reserve reported Wednes
day.
The Fed’s latest survey of national
business conditions said that the re
covery “continues to be uneven across
the country" with a rebound in manu
facturing one of the few bright spots.
Some private economists were more
blunt, saying the Fed report depicted
a moribund economy that could eas
ily slip back into recession.
Even economists who are not fore
casting a so-called “double dip" re
Consumer spending,
construction sluggish
cession are predicting that me recov
ery will be one of the weakest on
record.
The Commerce Department re
ported that construction of new homes
and apartments edged up only a slight
0.6 percent in August while the number
of building permits, considered a good
sign of future activity, fell for me first
time since February, declining 4.6
percent.
The Fed survey found mat fewer
than half of the Fed’s 12 regions were
reporting further increases in housing
sales and construction in me late
summer after an initial rebound in the
spring.
The American Bankers Associa
tion said that the percentage of con
sumer loans at least 30 days past due
rose to 2.73 percent in the April-June
quarter, the second highest level in
more than a decade.
Analysts said this report showed
that debt-strapped consumers faced
with weak income growth in a reces
sion were having increasing trouble
paying bills and were unlikely to be
able to begin spending again anytime
soon.
In the new report, the Fed found
that most regions reported disappoint
ing spending with back-to-school sales
described variously as “weak, slower
than expected or disappointing.”
Iranian news agency says
hostage release imminent
BEIRUT, Lebanon—The offi
cial Iranian news agency on Wednes
day predicted the imminent release
of a Western hostage, and named
77-year-old Briton Jack Mann as
most likely to be freed.
The report by the Islamic Re
public News Agency heightened
speculation that Mann, who was
kidnapped May 12, 1989, would
become the founh Western captive
to be set free in six weeks. But
several hours after IRN A issued its
report, there was no word of any
release.
U.N. Secretary-General Javier
Perez de Cuellar has been working
to arrange a deal that would free
Western hostages in Lebanon and
about 300 Lebanese prisoners held
by Israel. The Jewish state seeks an
accounting of Israeli soldiers miss
ing in Lebanon.
After Israel freed 51 Arab pris
oners last week, the pro-Iranian
Revolutionary Justice Organization
issued a statement saying Mann —
the oldest of the 11 missing West
erners — was alive and well.
The Iranian-backed Hezbollah
is believed to be the umbrella group
for factions holding most of the
missing Westerners. Iran, which
has facilitated previous hostage
releases, recently has reiterated the
importance of learning the fate of
four Iranians who disappeared in
Lebanon in 1982.
In Tehran, Lebanese Foreign
Minister Fares Bweiz said he would
urge Lebanese officials to press the
search for the four Iranians. The
Iranians were kidnapped by Chris
tian militiamen, and reportedly were
killed.
The Iranian news agency, in a
report datelined Beirut and filed
early Wednesday afternoon, said:
“Another Western hostage in
Beirut will be released in the next
few hours, informed sources said
here early Wednesday afternoon.
“The sources added, it seems
that the retired British pilot Jack
Mann stands a better chance of
release among other Western hos
tages.’”
Kerrey establishes
panel for campaign
WASHINGTON — Nebraska Sen.
Bob Kerrey on Wednesday established
a “Kerrey for President” committee
and said he would formally announce
his 1992 plans in his hometown of
Lincoln on Sept. 30.
Kerrey, who also filed a statement
of candidacy with federal officials,
has been telling Democrats privately
that he will seek the Democratic
nomination. Two sources close to the
senator said Wednesday that he was
sure to enter the race.
When Kerrey announced earlier
this month that he was considering a
White House bid, he said his interest
was “based upon the belief that the
possibility of a belter future 20 years
from now will be determined by our
actions today.”
He said then that the theme of a
Kerrey campaign would be to create
“a stronger economy and a civilized
society.”
Documents sent to the Federal
Election Commission list Jack Quinn,
a Washington lawyer, as the cam
paign committee’s chief counsel and
Hugh Westbrook, chairman of a
Miami-based hospice management
firm, as its treasurer.
“You wouldn’t name a committee
and you wouldn’t name personnel if
you weren’t running,” said one source,
who spoke on condition of anonym
ity.
The FEC filing allows Kerrey to
start raising and spending money for
the campaign. Bob Burkett, a Los
Angeles-based entertainment indus-.
try executive and party fund raiser,
said he had already begun sounding
out potential contributors.
“We are gearing up to raise money
and I am, in that capacity, working as
finance chairman,” said Burkett.
Three Democrats already have
declared their presidential candida
cies — Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, Vir
ginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder and
former Massachusetts Sen. Paul Tson
gas.
Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton is
expected to declare his candidacy soon.
Others mulling the race include for
mer California Gov. Jerry Brown, Jesse
Jackson and Oklahoma Rep. Dave
McCurdy.
All the prospects except Wilder
and Kerrey were scheduled to speak
at a Democratic National Committee
meeting Saturday in Los Angeles.
Kerrey spokesman Steve Janjjng
said the senator was skipping the
meeting because “he’s not a candi
date yet” and he needs to prepare for
his announcement Sept. 30.
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