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i~~=_ News Digest Democrat urges new investigation of Iraq loans WASHINGTON—The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee called Wednesday for an independent counsel to investigate why the FBI, CIA and Justice Department withheld information in a case involving ille gal bank loans to Iraq. Sen. David Boren, D-Okla., wrote Attorney General William Barr say ing that “a truly independent investi gation is required to determine whether federal crimes were committed in the government’s handling”of the politi cally charged case. Boren said his committee’s inves tigation had found that the country’s top law enforcement and intelligence agencies withheld information from each other, and from the prosecution in the case of the Atlanta branch of an Italian bank which made S5.5 billion in illegal loans to Iraq. I Barr refused last summer to ap point an independent counsel to the ease and Boren joined several other senior congressional Democrats who have urged him to reverse that deci sion. Some have accused Barr of reject- < ing an independent probe because it i would spotlight the administration’s < failed support for Iraq in the 1980s and its subsequent handling of the politically embarrassing conse quences. In his letter, Boren told Barr that intelligence documents which have come to light in recent weeks under congressional pressure raise serious doubts about the prosecution of the manager of the Atlanta branch of the Italian government’s Banca Na/ionalc < del Lavoro. The prosecution has based its ease ' on the assumption that Christopher I Drogoul acted alone in lending Iraq the S5.5 billion, used in part to buy < weapons and guaranteed partly by the ! U.S. government. I Aftershocks jolt Egypt, tumble buildings CAIRO, Egypt — Aftershocks from a deadly earthquake jolted Cairo on Wednesday, toppling more apartment houses and send ing thousands of residents of an otherhard-hitcily into the streets in panic. The government said the death toll from Monday’s quake had reached more than 450, but there were no new casualties due to the collapsed buildings. Twoaftcrshocksripplcd through Cairo and the surrounding area. Ezzeddin M. Ibrahim, k,govern ment earthquake expert, said seis mographs registered one at dawn at 3.7 on the Richter scalcand another „ measuring 3.6 six hours later. Officials at the government’s earthquake operations center re fused to say how many buildings fell Wednesday. On a main street in downtown Cairo, police cordoned off an area surrounding two dam aged aparunent houses. Before Wednesday’s collapses, the government said 536 buildings nationwide had crumbled or were seriously damaged. Much of the construction in Cairo is so shoddy that the city is known for buildings that fall even without earthquakes. “Cairo is a time bomb,” said Saad Eddin Ibrahim, American University sociologist and urban planning expert. “It just takes ca tastrophes to bring it out.” In Fayoum, 70 miles southwest of Cairo and closd to the epicenter of Monday’squakc, many residents there spent Monday and Tuesday night sleeping under the stars lor fear of more deadly jolts. Thou sands ventured inside on Wednes day, only to flee again to the streets when the aftershocks struck. President Hosni Mubarak told w w reporters that the earthquake killed more than 450 people and injured more than 4,000 nationwide. Dr. Mamdouh Gabr, secretary - general of the Red Crescent Soci ety, Egypt’s equivalent of the Red Cross, estimated the number of in jured at 10,000 but said most only needed first aid. Cafro is a time bomb. It just takes catastrophes to bring it out. — Saad Eddin Ibrahim, urban planning expert Candidates gear up for round two President Bush and Bill Clinton srepped privately on Wednesday lor heir second showdown in a campaign growing testier by the day. R i vals Dan 3uayle and A1 Gore sparred at a dis tance, as if locked in a debate without ind. “I think this administration is un raveling. George I Bushisinapoliti | cal panic,” Gore said. Quayle coun tered with a re prise of his Tues day night debate charge that riinton wasn’t a man to be trusted. He also suggested in an ABCintcr iew that it had been an act of courage or Bush to raise taxes in 1990. Independent Ross Perot stayed out >f public view. Running mate James ilockdalcloldan ABC interviewer he lad been “a little taken aback by the rapidity at which these guys turned on the faucet and just started coughing out” their comments. Bush spent about 90 minutes in mock-debate with Budget Director Richard Darman standing in for Clinton and former White HouseChief of Staff John Sununu for Perot. “The overall strategy is to be strong and presidential and forceful,” said spokesman Marlin Filzwalcr. Pressed for details, he added, “I’m not giving anything away.” There seemed littlcdoubt that Bush needed a dramatic debate performance to energize a campaign running roughly 10 percentage points behind Clinton. t Clinton was in Williamsburg, Va., nursing a throat made raspy by aller gies and overuse. He, the president and Perot will debate Thursday in Richmond, Va., and again on Monday in East Lansing, Mich. Republicans conceded privately what the public polls showed: that neither the first presidential debate nor the vice presidential encounter had produced the k ind of marked shift in voter preference that Bush needs. One indicator of the potential im pact of the two remaining debates will be the size of the viewing audience. A large drop-off from carl icr viewership might suggest that many voters have already made up their minds. There were these other develop ments Wednesday: •Clinton’scampaign released let ters from his doctors reporting the Democratic candidate is in generally good health, suffers from allergies and struggles with his weight. • The president’s campaign an nounced a series of 65 radio commer cials targeted to individual areas. One dealing with auto efficiency standards will air in Michigan and Missouri, aides said. • Volunteers said the mood at Perot headquarters was dampened somewhat by the reviews Stockdalc received. “He had a little stage fright, I think,” said Paul Richards, a phone bank volunteer. “The American people want to have a president that they can trust, andean they really trust Bill Clinton?” Quayle asked on ABC’s “Good Morn ing America.” He said Clinton changes his mind repeatedly on issues. When asked whether there’s a difference between that and Bush’s acceptance of a tax hike despite a “no new taxes” pledge, the vice president replied, “There’s a difference of doing something and changing your mind when it’s for the best interests of the country, and in Bill Clinton’s ease, he’d change his mind for what’s in his own personal best interests. One’s called courage and one’s called expediency.” Stockdale defends skills in Atlanta debate’s wake a i lain i a—James Mocicaaie conceded Wednesday he was “kind of out of it” during the vice presi: dential debate but said voters shouldn’t think that means he isn’t up to the job. Political analysis said his de bate showing could only hurt Ross Perot’s against-all-odds presiden tial hopes. But one Republican strat egist doubted there would be any serious erosion in Perot’s mod est standing in the polls, argu ing that most of the Texan’s supporters real ize he cannot win and arc merely planning pro test votes. In morning-after interviews, Slockdalc attributed his sometimes uncertain or fumbling answers in Tuesday night’sdcbalc toa matchup of an everyday citizen against two polished politicians with pro grammed answers to cvcrv uucs lion. The 68-ycar-old retired admiral and former prisoner of war also appeared determined to quash any concerns about his health that might have been raised by his debate per formance. “I’m going to live another 20 years at least,” Stockdalc said. He was accompanied on the morning talk shows by his wife, Sybil, who defended him strongly. For example, when it was brought up that he had said at one point in the debate that his hearing aid was set loo low for him to hear a ques tion, she jumped in to say his hear ing problem was from Hying jet fighters, not from aging or poor health. Mrs. Stockdalc said her hus band had agreed,to be Perot’s run ning male last spring while she was ~ . » -a Don’t ever doubt that I’m qualified for the job. What we need in this thing is leadership, and I’ve been a leader in the most extreme cir cumstances you can imagine. — Stockdale vice-presidential candi date -» - away, and she added with a smile, “I’ll think carefully before l gooul of town again.” But she said more seriously that hischoicc“wasa wonderful thing.” And Stockdale added, “Don’t ever doubt that I’m qualified for the job. What we need in this thing is leadership, and I ’ vc been a leader in the most extreme circumstances you can imagine” — a reference to his time in captivity after being shot down over Vietnam. “I don’t think either one of those people up there on the platform with me last night could have handled it,” Stockdalc said. Still, political strategists and academics said the retired admiral’s debate performance couldn’t help Perot’s cfforLs to climb from a dis tant third. “You can’t get mad at the guy and he was wonderful in his own way,” said Atlanta pollster Claibournc Darden. “But he puts the brakes on any Perot momentum and turns it to a hard skid.” Some Perot supporters said Stockdalc’s performance had made them less likely to vote for the Texas businessman — a sentiment also found in post-debate polls. Bushwhacked George Analysts say president needs miracle to overcome Clinton WASHINGTON — Halfway through the debates and three weeks from Election Day, many political analysts believe the presidential race is essentially over and Bill Clinton has won. GOP leaders across the country say it will take a bolt of lightning for President Bush to win and suggest his only shot may be to follow Vice Presi* dent Dan Quaylc’s lead and be more combat ive. “America has decided. It’s Clinton,” said Henry Graff, presidential histo rian at Columbia University. He cites trends in Gallup Polls going back to 1936 to bolster this assertion. On the eve of the second presiden tial debate,GOPadvisers seemed hard pressed to suggest what Bush could do to turn things around. The GOP party line, repeated Wednesday with different degrees of enthusiasm by Republicans: Bush should follow his vice president’s example and step up his attack on Clinton’s character and trustworthi ness. Dan Quayle in Tuesday’s vice presidential debate repeatedly sug gested that Clinton was incapable of telling the truth. i - “If George Bush runs loo combat ive a campaign, he’s going to be seen as too negative and his own negatives arc going to go up,” said Stuart Rothenberg, a Republican who pub lishes a non-partisan political news letter. Clinton is “running away with the election,” said Thomas Hopper, stale GOP chairman in Tennessee. “The president needs to be very lough and very specific, because Clinton’s mes sage is selling.” “Lightning would be helpful,”said Richard Schwarm, Iowa GOP chair man. Short of generating heavenly bolls. Bush’s best hope may be lo try lo wear Clinton down with repealed body blows, Schwarm said. Bush is about 6 points down in Iowa. Thai’s better than nationally, but “at this point I’ll have lo concede that things aren T going as well as they should be,” Schwarm said. Republicans have long since writ ten off California and Illinois and Bush is way behind in the traditional ~ battleground states of Ohio, New Jer sey and Michigan. Graff, the presidential historian at Columbia, says history suggests that the race usually begins to firm up by 4abor Day and that polls taken after mid-September almost always accu rately reflect the outcome. Graff projects that Clinton will win by about 11 points. Brian Shellito/DN The most recent Gal I up poll shows Clinton at 48 percent. Bush at 33 and Perot at 12. "No one has closed that large a gap and come back to win in the history of the poll,” said Frank Newport, editor in-chief of the Gallup Poll. He noiled that Ronald Reagan in 1980 was down 4 points in mid-Octo ber, and 8 points in late October and came back to win. No one has come back from more than an 8-point defi cit in the poll’s history, Newport said. In the famous 1948 election that Bush likes to cite as his own model ol a comc-from-bchind victory, Harry Truman was just 5 points down in mid-October, Newport said. Nebraskan FNMySno me S'emc yea',.4*M»|l,S to^rS^esion"6"03''0"5 B°a,a'NWMS*aUnion 34, ,400 R Sr. Lincoln. ME. Monday mrougn •sssa’sas a? 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