Bribery scandal results in arrest
■The Peruvian intelligence
worker believed to have been
in control of the judicial
system and military has been
ousted by President Fujimori.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LIMA, Peru - President
Alberto Fujimori’s deposed
security chief, Vladimiro
Montesinos, has been detained
by the military, Peru’s independ
ent CPN radio reported Monday.
The radio station, citing an
unidentified military source,
reported the order for the arrest
was issued by Montesinos’ close
associate, Gen. Jose Villanueva
Ruestra, commander of Peru’s
armed forces.
A Defense Ministry
spokesman declined to confirm
the report, but Miguel Gutierrez,
a reporter for the opposition
newspaper La Republica, said
he confirmed the arrest with
high-ranking military sources.
Montesinos has been at the
center of a bribery scandal since
a videotape emerged last week
allegedly showing the intelli
gence man’s bribing an opposi
tion lawmaker to defect to the
president's congressional bloc.
Soon after the revelation,
Fujimori announced that he
would call new elections - and
not run as a candidate himself. It
was a shocking announcement
from the man who has led Peru
for more than a decade and who
recently won a disputed election
for an unprecedented third
term.
The radio station reported
Montesinos was being held on
the second floor of a building at
a Lima air force base, where the
National Intelligence Service
has its headquarters.
The radio Station said
Montesinos’ sister has filed a
request asking a court to order
the military to free the 54-year
old security chief. Montesinos -
once dubbed Fujimori’s
“Rasputin” - had built a wide
base of support inside the mili
tary during his years at the helm
of the feared intelligence serv
ice. He was widely believed to
control the judicial system, the
attorney general’s office and the
military.
He was suspended from his
position on Saturday when
Fujimori announced he was
“deactivating” the intelligence
agency.
. Fujimori’s foes accuse
Montesinos of spearheading
smear campaigns against the
president’s opponents in the
recent presidential elections.
His intelligence service also has
been linked to death-squad
killings and torture.
Analysts said the video,
released Thursday, caused an
irreparable rift between
Fujimori and his spy chief, who
Fujimori had relied on to help
maintain an overwhelming grip
on power.
Military experts said
Fujimori’s decision to oust
Montesinos was likely support
ed by discontented mid-level
officers, fed up with
Montesinos’ meddling in the
armed forces.
Elusive aquatic gold realized by Americans
Nick Wilson/Allsport-Newsmakers
Teenage sensation Ian Thorpe of Australia celebrates after winning his first gold in
the men's 400-meter freestyle Saturday at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney,
Australia.Thorpe, 17, won the gold in the 400-meter freestyle in a new World and
Olympic record time of 3:40.59. Thorpe, who won his second gold in the 4-by-100
meter freestyle relay, lost the 200 freestyle to Dutchman Pieter van den
Hoogenband on Monday.
■ U.S.swimmers Lenny Krayzelburg and Megan
Quann delivered on their promises, while the
odds-on favorite from Australia failed to capture
his third gold medal.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SYDNEY, Australia - Lenny Krayzelburg ful
filled the ambition of his parents who left the
rugged Ukraine for America so their son could
have a better life.
Megan Quann realized her perfect race, visual
ized time and again while in bedroom with her
stopwatch in hand.
Ian Thorpe took Australia for yet another
thrilling ride with every stroke but revealed himself
to be human after all.
Three swimmers, three poignant stories, were
linked Monday night at the Olympic pool where
Krayzelburg did the expected, Quann did what she
promised, and Thorpe did something different -
he lost.
In another double-gold day for the Americans,
Krayzelburg overcame jitters about being a heavy
favorite to win the 100-meter backstroke, while
Quann pulled off her predicted victory over
defending Olympic champion Penny Heyns in the
100-meter breaststroke.
Thorpe, the Australian sensation who already
had two golds, lost the 200-meter freestyle to
Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband.
Krayzelburg followed his parents out of the
crumbling Soviet Union in 1989 for the uncertain
hope of southern California. He was only 14, an
up-and-coming swimmer who faced the eventual
prospect of being drafted into the army.
“That wasn’t an easy thing to do to move to a
new country,” Krayzelburg said. “They had the guts
to make that move.”
Oleg Krayzelburg is a gruff, demanding man
who expects a world record from his son virtually
every time he swims. But the father broke down in
tears when he hugged his son after the race, a gold
medal squeezed between them.
"We can go home now,” the father said, a ten
der moment that surprised even the swimmer.
Quann’s victory over Heyns was justification
for all those hours spent in the solitude of her bed
room, visualizing her perfect race.
“I have a stopwatch in my hand. My eyes are
closed,” related Quann, a high-school junior from
Puyallup, Wash. “I can see the tiles on the bottom
of the pool. I can taste the water. I can hear the
crowd.”
Quann used a strong kick to win in 1:07.05.
Heyns faded to the bronze behind Leisel Jones of
Australia.
An entire nation was rooting for Thorpe, the
17-year-old Aussie superman who won his two
golds in world-record setting races.
Even when van den Hoogenband broke
Thorpe’s 200 mark in the semifinals, it seemed a
foregone conclusion that the “Thorpedo” would
get it back 24 hours later.
Van den Hoogenband and Thorpe were dead
even as they made their final turn with 50 meters to
go
The Aussie-dominated crowd overwhelmed
the hall with its signature chant: “Thorpey!
Thorpey!” Workers abandoned their posts, filling
every vacant nook of the aquatic center to get a
glimpse of tliis phenomenon.
But the Dutchman was flying over the final 25
meters, stretching ahead of Thorpe with a time of
1:45.35 - tying the one-day-old world record. The
Aussie finished second, nearly a half-second
behind, while Massimiliano Rosolino of Italy took
bronze.
“I’m not going to win every race; I’m not going
to break every world record,” Thorpe said. “It just
can’t happen.”
Van den Hoogenband seemed overwhelmed
by his victory, which gave his tiny homeland its
second gold medal and second world record in as
many nights.
Abusive U.S. Army unit
ill-trained for Kosovo
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Army unit
accused of abusing Kosovar Albanian
civilians while on peackeeping duty was
not properly trained for a mission that
required “tempering their combat men
tality,” according to an Army investigative
report released Monday.
The report detailed numerous acts of
misconduct by several members of the
82nd Airborne Division and said their
commanders shared blame for not taking
action when told of the misbehavior.
In a written statement accompanying
the report, the Army said Gen. Eric
Shinseki, the chief of staff, ordered a
review of the report’s findings. He asked
Gen. John W. Hendrix, commander of
U.S. Army Forces Command, to complete
the review and “take corrective actions as
appropriate” within 30 days.
The Army statement also said the
misbehavior “should never have
occurred” but adds that the problem was
limited to a small number of soldiers and
should not detract from the exemplary
work being done by the Army as a whole
in Kosovo, where peacekeepers have
been operating since lune 1999.
Defense Secretary William Cohen,
who is traveling in Asia, issued a brief
statement in which he called the inci
dents of misbehavior “a source of great
concern” and endorsed Shinseki’s deci
sion to review the matter further.
As reported publicly in August during
the rape-and-murder trial of Staff Sgt.
Frank J. Ronghi, the Army investigators
found evidence that several other sol
diers were guilty of abusing Kosovar
Albanian civilians.
Ronghi was sentenced to life in prison
after being found guilty of raping and
murdering an 11-year-old girl.
Nine other soldiers from his unit were
given various forms of administrative
punishment; the investigators recom
mended that commanders consider
court-martialling some of the nine, but
they were not.
The Army released the 1,100-page
report after removing some material for
reasons of privacy and secrecy.
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Flood victims forced
into roadside tents
■Two months'worth of rain have
driven Vietnamese and Cambodian
residents from their homes and have
made food scarce.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TAM NONG, Vietnam - Sitting under a
ragged tarp alongside a road, Tran Van No
huddled with the few precious possessions
he managed to save from the water that
swallowed his house: a bicycle, his pig, a
few pieces of clothing.
“I’m just afraid that a storm or strong
wind will blow this away,” said No, a 40
year-old fisherman in Vietnam’s Dong
Thap province. “Then what will I have left?”
Like No, an estimated 150,000 people
in the Mekong Delta face an uncertain
future. Officials said Monday it could be
two months before floodwaters recede
enough for them to return home.
They don’t know what the next day will
bring or what the next meal will comprise.
A similar situation is in store for neigh
boring Cambodia, where two months of
floods - the worst in 70 years - have killed
109 people.
In Vietnam, 27 people have died,
including 18 children. More than 1 million
people have lost homes, lands, livestock,
property or relatives in the two countries.
The Red Cross appealed last week for
$1.9 million in aid, with the bulk going to
Cambodia. Officials said this week an addi
tional appeal of up to $1.5 million will be
launched for Vietnam.
“The problems associated with this
massive flooding will be with us for
months,” said Richard Neville of the
International Federation of the Red Cross,
who is advising the Cambodian Red Cross.
About 350,000 homes have been inun
dated in the four Vietnamese Delta
provinces of An Giang, Dong Thap, Long
An and Kien Giang.
Meteorologists say nearly half the
provinces are submerged, with water levels
at or above those of 1996, when floods
killed 217 people.
People have taken shelter on earthen
dikes or alongside roads built on higher
ground. Home is a shanty of plastic tarp
and bamboo poles.
Throughout the province, a few
rooftops and telephone poles jut above the
water. But for the most part, the flooded
rice paddies resemble vast lakes shimmer
ing into the horizon.
"Many families have to move two to
three times because the water keeps ris
ing,” said Nguyen Huu Hien of Long An’s
flood and storm control bureau.
Along a highway leading north from
Dong Thap’s provincial capital of Cab
Lanh, homeless families have set up
threadbare encampments beside the road.
The crisis has forced neighbor to reach
out to neighbor.
Duong Nua, 49, is among the lucky few
to remain unscathed. He harvested his last
crop just days before the rains began in
July.
Blessing his good fortune, Nua offered
up his large home, built on high stilts, as
shelter for 15 or 16 families at night.
“I give them a place to sleep because
they are my neighbors,” he said.
In Cambodia, officials expect the rag
ing Mekong River to fall in coming weeks,
but the next worry for aid workers is that
people may not have enough to eat, said
Peou Sarny, the top relief official in
Cambodia.
TODAY TOMORROW
Scattered thunderstorms Showers
high 74, low 53 high 64, low 41
1
The Associated Press
■Ivory Coast
Tensions within military lead
to attackon president
ABIDJAN - Mutinous soldiers
attempting to kill Ivory Coast’s
junta leader stormed his house
Monday but were defeated by loy
alist forces.
Two presidential bodyguards
were killed in the gun battle,
which began about 3:30 a.m., said
Gen. Robert Guei, who came to
power in a December coup.
, Four others were badly
injured, officials said, though it
was not clear if the injured were
mutineers or presidential guards.
The attack came amid grow
ing tensions in the military over
pay disputes and deep political
and ethnic divisions.
Presidential elections, sched
uled for Oct. 22, are to return the
country to civilian rule. Guei has
declared himself a candidate.
■Los Angeles
Bus patrons wait in vain as
mass-transit workers strike
A transit strike forced nearly
half a million Southern California
commuters to scrounge for rides
or get behind the wheel them
selves Monday, worsening traffic
on already clogged streets and
freeways.
Some commuters showed up
at bus stops and waited in vain as
temperatures rose into the 90s.
About 4,300 members of the
United Transportation Union
went on strike over wages and
overtime Saturday, halting 2,000
buses and rail and subway lines
serving a 1,400-square-mile area.
An estimated 450,000 people
in the car-dependent region
depend on the transit system.
No new talks were scheduled,
but Metropolitan Transportation
Authority spokesman Rick Jager
said transit-system negotiators
and a state mediator were ready
to bargain.
Union spokesman Goldy
Norton said union representa
tives were waiting for an invita
tion from the mediator.
■Washington, D.C.
U.S. asks United Nations
to prosecute Hussein
The Clinton administration
urged the United Nations on
Monday to establish a war crimes
tribunal to try Saddam Hussein
and other Iraqi officials in the
deaths of up to 250,000 civilians in
Iraq, Iran, Kuwait and elsewhere.
In a speech at the National
Press Club, David J. Scheffer,
ambassador at large for war
crimes, said: “It is beyond any
possible doubt that Saddam
Hussein and the top leadership
around him have brutally and
systematically committed war
crimes and crimes against
humanity for years.”
The U.N. Security Council is
debating whether to set up an
International Criminal Court.
Establishment of the court could
take two years, and it would lack
jurisdiction over crimes commit
ted earlier, Scheffer said.
That is why, he said, a special
court is necessary to judge Iraqi
President Hussein’s rule.
Special tribunals already are
sitting in judgment over war
crimes in Rwanda and former
Yugoslavia.
At the request of the United
States, the Yugoslavia panel has
indicted Slobodan Milosevic,
president of Yugoslavia, for
crimes in the Balkans.
■Colorado
Blazes threaten homes;
more wind possible
BOULDER - Damp, cool
weather moved in Monday as fire
fighters battled an 1,110-acre
wildfire that threatened more
than 130 homes, but more wind
was possible.
Hundreds of residents
remained evacuated Monday.
The blaze slowed slightly dur
ing the night as light rain fell, but
firefighters were concerned that
30-mph wind gusts forecast later
in the day would send the flames
racing again through tinder-dry
trees and vegetation.
Firefighters said the blaze was
zero percent contained. Incident
Cmdr. Joe Hartman said 80 to 100
homes could be in danger.
