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Allied planes strike missile sites in Iraq
British, French
join Americans
in nighttime raid
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ameri
can and allied warplanes raided south
ern Iraq and bombed anti-aircraft
missile sitesWcdncsday in a fiery
showdown with Saddam Hussein two
years after the Persian Gulf War and
a mere week before President Bush
leaves office.
The 30-minute, nighttime strike
by warplanes from the United States,
France and Britain was accompanied
by an order from Bush dispatching
about 1,300 American troops to Ku
wait to stand as a tripwire against any
incursion from neighboring Iraq. The
bombing fleet included 80 strike
planes and 30 support aircraft.
President-elect Bill Clinton, who
was telephoned by Bush as the attack
was getting under way, said, “1 think
it was the right decision, done in the
right way.”
Clinton said through a spokesman
that he “supports President Bush in
every action he has taken” and would
“do whatever it takes” to ensure
Hussein’s compliance with U.N. de
mands.
“Preliminary information indicates
the mission was accomplished,” presi
dential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater
said at the White House. “All of our
planes have returned to their bases.”
The United States had accused Iraq
of a lengthy scries of provocations,
including deployment of missile bat
teries in a “no-fly zone,” the firing of
a missile from an Iraqi plane at an
American aircraft and illegal border
crossings into Kuwait.
Iraq condemned the attack as “very
uncivilized” but offered to halt cross
border raids into Kuwait.
Source. U S. Pentagon AP
Hussein, appearingon Iraqi televi
sion in military uniform, said, “The
criminals have come back, carrying
their hatred and their evil with them.”
The allied bombing represented a
limited action, confined to military
targets and posing no direct threat to
the safety of Hussein, hundreds of
miles away in Baghdad. The United
States said the strike was designed to
spare civilian casualties.
Bush said the strike demonstrated
“we arc serious” in demanding that
Hussein comply with U.N. resolu
tions that setterms at the end of the
Gulf War. “You’ve got todo what you
have to do.”
Bush said it didn’t matter that the
bombing came just one week before
he left office.
“I’m president until the 20th and I
will run the foreign policy and make
these kind of decisions as long as I’m
president,” he said.
In London, Prime Minister John
Major said the world was growing
increasingly intolerant of Hussein’s
defiance.
“I hope this will pul an end to the
infringements,” Major said. “We’ve
hoped that before and it hasn’t. If he
infringes again, he must expect us to
retaliate again and we have made it
entirely clear to him that we will
certainly do that.”
Fitzwatefsaid, “We stand ready to ,
take additional forceful actions.”
The military said about 1,300 sol
diers from the 1st Cavalry Division,
based at Fort Hood, Texas, would fly
to Kuwait and join 300 special opera
tions forces already taking part in a
military exercise there.
Fitzwater said the bombing was in
retaliation for repeated provocations
by Iraq.
He said the attack provided “a very
strong warning and message to
Saddam Hussein that we are prepared
to enforce the resolutions, that we
See IRAQ on 3
Governor outlines 1994 budget cuts
_ , ..— ■■mmti ■■ ■ - mrn
By Jeff Zeleny
Senior Reporter_ _
Nebraska faces another year
of budget shortfalls, but the
deficits can be solved with
out raising sales and income taxes,
Gov. Ben Nelson said Wednesday.
During hisannual sialc-of-lhc-slatc
and budget address, Nelson detailed
his 1994 budget proposal, which was
S4.3 million less than this year’s bud
get.
“Steponc has been to pul the brakes
on state spending,” he said, “but
Washington’s heavy fool is still on
the gas pedal.”
Health care, education and the en
vironment lopped Nelson’s priority
list for the 93rd session. The Univer
sity of Nebraska was not mentioned
for cuts in the address, but Sen. Scott
Moore of Seward said the university
might not be off the hook yet.
Moore said Nelson didn’t qaakc
enough specific cuts and the Legisla
ture might have to look deeper for
bigger cuts.
“The Legislature has to cut a lot
more to make it work,” he said. “He
didn’t do as much as I hoped. I’m
going to have to be the bad guy.”
Moore, chairman of the appropria
tions committee, said he was disap
pointed with some of the governor’s
proposals. The budget is a $68 m ill ior
problem, he said.
The income tax system needs to be
fixed. Nelson said, and he is propos
ing a tax cut for 400,(XX) Ncbraskt
families — about 80 percent of the
state’s taxpayers.
Moore said he wasn’t sure tax cuts
were appropriate in this budget year.
“I’d rather raise the (sales and in
come) taxes than steal from properly
taxes,” he said.
Medicaid is at the the top of the
health-care agenda, Nelson said. Costs
have grown 48 percent over the past
two years, and will account for over
$72 million of all new expenditures in
the next two years.
“Health care continues to be a major
concern across the country,” he said.
“Costs are escalating beyond the rate
of inflation.”
Sen. Don Wesely of Lincoln, chair
man of the health and human services
committee, said the address was up
lifting and filled with good news, but
might not be realistic.
“In most everything we look at, we
have somebody gelling hurt,” he said.
“There will be opposition — none of
the ideas have smooth sailing.”
Wesely said he was glad no across
the-board cuts were recommended by
the governor, and that the highway
trust fund was an option where funds
could be taken from.
Sen. Ron Withem of Papillion also
was pleased not to see any budgctcuts
across-the-board. He said the health
care dilemma controlled the entire
budget.
Withem, chairman of the educa
tion committee, said the governor’s
proposals to not cut university funds
i were realistic if the Medicaid prob
lem could be solved.
Staci McKee/DN
Gov. Ben Nelson delivers his state-of-the-state address to
the Nebraska Legislature Wednesday morning at the state
capitol in Lincoln.
Senator encourages environmental knowledge
Change occurs
by investment,
Kerrey says
By Doug Kouma
Staff Reporter
Nebraskans must have a deep
and abiding rcspcclof ihc land
to better understand their en
vironment, Sen. Bob Kerrey said
Wednesday in a speech at the East
Campus Union.
Speaking to nearly 200 UNL stu
dents, faculty members and other par
ticipants at the first session of the
1993 Water Resources Seminar Sc
ries, Kerrey said, “If you act without
knowing about the place you live, it’s
apt to be that you’re going to make
some mistakes.’’
Kerrey urged the participants to
look at Nebraska as a larger geo
graphical region, not as a political
state. Because Nebraska makes up
most of the Missouri River Basin,
Kerrey said, residents must live dif
ferently from people in neighboring
stales.
Before government policies on en
vironmental issues can be reformed,
Kerrey said, people must extend their
view of the land where they live be
yond political boundaries and begin
to sec the region as an intricate water
drainage system comprised of many
different rivers.
“I believe the presence of these
rivers in the state of Nebraska makes
this place unique,” Kerrey said.
Kerrey stressed that people must
be willing to make an investment in
the future.
“We’re missing a vision and a
willingness to build that vision,” he
- it
I believe the presence of these rivers in the state
of Nebraska makes this place unique
~Kerrey
Nebraska Senator
-«« _
said.
In addition, people must be willing
to adjust their actions to meet chang
ing environmental standards.
Kerrey said that of all his accom
plishments as governor, he was most
proud of the state parks and recreation
areas he helped to create.
“These places can enrich our lives
in a way that 1 consider to be very
important,” he said.
Future lectures in the seminar se
ries will feature speakers from around
the world and deal with topics such as
“Global Climate Change,” “Interna
lional River Management” and “Wa
ter, Agriculture and the Environment.”
The seminar series is co-sponsored
by the University of Nebraska Water
Center and Environmental Programs
and the “Environment and Politics”
program of the UNL Departments of
Civil Engineering and Political Sci
ence.
Focusing on global perspectives of
environmental and water-related is
sues, the lectures will be presented
every Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. at the
Nebraska East Union.
The lectures arc open to the public.
Professors:
bombing
justified
By Michelle Leary
Senior Reporter
The bombingof Iraqi mis
sile sites was a justifi
able move by the United
States, two University of Ne
braska-Lincoln professors said.
Bill Avery, a political sci
ence professor, said Iraqi leader
Saddam Hussein gave the United
States numerous reasons to
strike.
U.S., French and British air
craft bombed targets in Iraq
Wednesday in retaliation for
weeks of provocations by
Hussein, which allied officials
contended violated agreements
ending the 1991 Persian Gulf
War.
“Hussein’s chcat-and-retreat
strategy warranted a response
from theU.S.,’’Avery said.“The
U.S. is not going to lake that
kind of behavior.”
I he attack was a limited one,
confined to the southern part of
Iraq and directed at surface-to
air missile batteries and sup
porting equipment.
“Hussein goaded the U.S.
into attacking Iraq, but the U.S.
is not going to go beyond United
Nation-sponsored resolutions,”
Avery said.
John Hibbing.alsoapolitical
science professor, agreed with
Avery, saying he wasn’ t opposed
to the move.
“I wish it was a move we
didn’t have tomakc, but Hussein
juslcontinucd to ignore the U.N.
guidelines,” he said. “I hope
Hussein will start taking the in
ternational community more
seriously, because the U.S. is
not going to take his antics any
more.” ,
“It was probably a tactical
mistake on our (the United
States’) part not to have removed
Hussein from presidency after
the war,” Avery said, “because
each time he engages in a viola
tion against the agreement, he
gains a slight advantage.”
Avery said there was still a
possibility that the Iraqis them
selves might remove Hussein
from office, “but the opportu- ^
nity was greater after the war
than it is now.”