f,:
It
I
The outlawed group
breaks a ceasefire
made in 1994.
By Shawn Pogatchnik
Associated Press
BELFAST, Northern Ireland —
The Irish Republican Army admitted
today that it carried out the bombing
of the British army’s headquarters here,
wounding 31 and threatening to cata
pult Northern Ireland back into blood
shed.
A telephone caller using a recog
nized codeword told the Dublin news
roan at RTE, Ireland’s broadcast^
network, that IRA volunteers detonater
two 800-pound bombs at the arrm
complex in Lisburn, southwest o
Belfast, on Monday night.
The IRA statement said the targe
had been personnel connected with th
barracks and said injuries toany civil
ians were regretted. - o ^3^
It was the outlawed group’s first
bomb attack in the British-ruled prov
ince since mid-1994.
The government had already indi
cated it believed the IRA was respon
sible.
The bombings were “certainly con
sistent with a terrorist organization that
declared an end to a ceasefire which it
had proclaimed in 1994,” Northern Ire
land Secretary Patrick Mayhew told
reporters.
The admission ends a policy ob
served since the IRA cease-fire ended
. in February to confine attacks to the
. British mainland, in order to avoid re
r taliation from militant Protestant
[ groups. Those groups have already in
r dicated they were on the verge of re
f turning to arms—and the British-ruled
province to bloody conflict,
t The bombings raise the likelihood
i that pro-British gunmen will break
their cease-fire and retaliate agahist the
IRA,
“We’re in a grave situation. I don’t
think any of us underestimate the im
pact of what happened yesterday,*'
Michael Ancram, the Na 2 British
minister in Northern Ireland, said tol
day. -, l
’ Ancram joined the chorus of poli
ticians appealing to the province’s pro?
British groups to maintain a truce. ;
But Gary McMichael, leader of a
party linked to the biggest such group,
the Ulster Defense Association, said
pressure was building to retaliate.
“There’s not much point in holding
onto the moral high ground when yOur
country’s burning down around you,”
said McMichael.
The blasts at Thiepval Barracks,
headquarters for the British army in
Northern Ireland, injured 21 soldiers
and 10 civilian employees. .TWelve
people remained hospitalized today.
The bombings inside Thiepval —
with its single heavily guarded entrance
r-. ■ r-T ■ .,M j-*.i
. K . . cn. . • • -
There’s not much point in holding onto
the moral high ground when your
country’s burning down around you.”
GabtMcMichael
leader of the Ulster Defense Association
—seemed unthinkable until Monday.
The first blast in a parking lot was fol
lowed 20 minutes lata: by a second
near Thiepval’s medical center, catch
ing the foot traffic of panicked person
nel and medics.
“It is the worst security lapse that
has ever happened,” said Col. Mike
Dewar, a former army officer in North
ern Ireland and an expert on terrorism.
The bombers most likely “forged
or stole a pass and doctored it, and ac
tually penetrated the perimeter,” Dewar
said.
As a bloody gesture against British
rule of Northern Ireland the attack’s
timing seemed obvious: The annual
conference of Prime Minister John
Major’s governing Conservative Party
opened today in southern England.
The Dublin office of Irish Prime
Minister John Bruton said the blasts
were aimed at undermining ongoing
peace talks.
Talks on Northern Ireland’s future
began in June involving nine local par
ties.
Vice prepare to field questions
Gore, Kemp expect issues to mirror those from presidential debate
BAL HARBOUR, Fla. (AP) —
When asked about the possibility of
running for president in four years, A1
Gore hastens to end the line of inquiry.
Jack Kemp shakes his head and wags
an admonishing finger at the same
question.
As they prepare for tonight’s de
bate, the candidates for vice president
are trying to keep the focus on Bill
Clinton and Bob Dole.
“It is not A1 Gore vs. Jack Kemp,”
the GOP vicc presidential nominee said
Tuesday.
In pre-debate interviews with The
Associated Press, Gore and Kemp pre
dicted their 90-minute, prime-time de
bate would closely follow the themes
of Sunday’s encounter between Clinton
and Dole. That exchange focused on
tax policy and the state of the economy,
education, welfare and other social
policies, and cm the U.S. role abroad
at the close of the 20th century.
Gore, for example, said he was de
termined to reinforce Clinton’s argu
ment that the GOP ticket’s $548 bil
lion tax-cut plan would require devas
tating cuts in Medicare and education
spending.
Kemp, for his part, said Dole had
scored points in casting Clinton as a
liberal hiding behind conservative elec
tion-year promises. Kemp promised to
follow up by taking issue with a new
Clinton campaign adjn which the
As they discussed their expecta
tions for the debate and outlined their
views of the vice presidency, the former
House colleagues voiced friendship
and respect for each other and pre
dicted their encounter would be a civil
affair.
“You can disagree without being
disagreeable,” Gore said.
As Clinton’s vice president, Gore
has taken a lead role in environmental
and technology policies, as well as in
U.S.-Russian relations. He said he
could not think of anything he would
like to add to his portfolio in a second
Clinton administration.
“Thithfully, my expectations have
been exceeded,” he said of his partner
ship with the president in the first term.
Policy differences aside, Kemp said
he was impressed ,wit^- the Clinton
would have asimiiarbond with Dole,
even though the two were political ad
versaries before their 1996 alliance.
“Bob Dole would want me to help
be the point guard for this whole idea
of reforming this tax code for the 21st
century,” Kemp said. He also pledged
to continue his efforts to court black
support for the Republican Party.
Clinton, Dole build momentum,
resume campaigns after debate
MILLTOWN, N.J. (AP) —
Hustling back to the campaign trail
after their first debate, Bob Dole
pressed his comeback quest Mon
day by insisting he’s the candidate
voters can trust; while President
Clinton pursued support in states
that normally vote. Republican.
Both candidates claimed they
tried to build on momentum from
' Sunday's showdown in Hartford,
Conn. Early polls, however, sug
gested the debate produced little
movement in the race.
Dole pressed his plan for a 15
percent tax cut by campaignin| with
Republican Gov. Christie Whftman,
who upset Democratic incumbent
James Florio in 1993 largely on the
:____
promise of a big tax cut.
In Stamford, Conn., Clinton ac
cepted the endorsement of 2,500
corporate leaders, many of whom
already were blown as Clinton sup
porters.
The president, with the luxury
of a big lead, was also campaign
ing in historically Republican
Maine and New Hampshire.
Clinton’s political aides asserted
that Clinton did well enough in the
opening debate to fortify his stand
ing in the polls—and that he would
spend less time in traditionally
Democratic states like New York
and Massachusetts where he has
built huge leads.
Couple focuses on auctions, subway lares to earn
Nobd economics prize for gtxmndhreaking studies
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) — A re
tired Colutnbiaj University professor and a
British poQlt^lL'eQdne^sft^^n. the; Hpbel
economics prize today for explaining how
information — or iack of it—shapes busi
ness decision?.
William Vickrey, an 82-year-old natural
ized American, and James Mirrlees of Cam
bridge University shared the $1.12 million
prize for groundbreaking studies in an area
of economics called “asymmetric informa
tion.”
Asymmetric information refers to when
both sides don’t have the same facts. The
buyer of a house or a used car, for example,
doesn’t have all the information the seller
does. Without the same facts, the seller has
an advantage over the buyer, who must spend
time and money to learn more. ' ' \ ' -r‘ -
Although tbeirseparate studies focused
* oil telativeJy specrnc areas such asauctiotjsg
and subway fares, their work has led to a
better understanding of economic activity
ranging from insurance and credit markets
to tax systems, the Royal Swedish Academy
of Sciences said.
Joergen Weibull, a member of the prize
committee, said a basic example of “asym
metric information” would be an employer
assessing an applicant: The employer does
not know what kind of people die applicants
are, how hard they will work or even much
about the prospective worker’s health.
“Ibis information is instrumental in de
ciding on socialsecurity, job insurance and
other factors in society,” Weibull said.
Omaha man arrested after appearing in Christensen ad
OMAHA (AP) — A young man who re
nounced gangs in a campaign commercial for
Rep. Jon Christensen, R-Neb., has had another
brush with the law.
Gustavo Flores, 19, was arrested Monday
after police found a handgun under the passen
ger seat of die car he was driving. Three pas
sengers in the car were known gang members,
police said.
Flores was wounded last month in a drive
by shooting that police described as gang-re
lated.
. Christensen said Tuesday he was “pro
foundly disappointed,” but he was not going to
give up on Flores. ~ ?/_
‘T’m going to continue to work with him and
stick with him,” Christensen said. “The will and
desire to change is going to have to come from
Gustavo.”
Christensen said he did not know if Flores
was a gang member. Flores has said repeatedly
he is not, Christensen said.
“I’ll tell you this,” Christensen said. “I know
he’s not hanging around with the right people.”
Flores also was ticketed for negligent driv
ing. Mice said the car he was driving spun out
on Interstate 80.
On Sept. 14, Flores was (me of four people
shot in a drive-by shooting in Bellevue. His
cousin, Rodolfo, was killed. No arrests have
been made in the shooting.
The commercial talked of Christensen’s ef
forts to help get Flores out of the gang and into
Boys Town. This fall, Flores started classes at
the University of Nebraska at Omaha. * J
r,;
OMAHA (AP)—-The two men charged with
the nrujrder of Kenyatta Bush planned fhatiiay
to-‘‘rape a female,” police said in an affidavit
filed in Douglas County Court, ,. " V
rt On Sept. 23, 1992, Adam fiafdett add Jer
kily Sheets ‘Tprcibly abducted Hush from North
High School,’; Detective Felands Marion wrote
in a Sept. 29 affidavit used in obtaining a war
rart for Sheets’arrest;:"
Barnett, 21, and Sheets* 22, have been
charged in the abduction, rape and staying of
Bush, a former honor student and homecorriing
queen candidate.
The affidavit said Sheets alone killed Bush.
• |-*
Authorities have said Barnett, of Omaha, aided
and abetted Sheets.
- Both men are charged with first-degree mur
der. Sheets; a former Omahap who had recently
joined the Navy, also is charged with: use of a
knife to commit a felony.
Last month, four yeafs after Miss Bush was
killed, a relative of cme of the people involved
hHhe conversation about the Bush killing told
police that she had information about the case.
The relative was interviewed later by Sgt.
Michael Butera, who obtained information that
led to Barnett and Sheets. _