News Digest
Pentagon
failed to relay
bomb threat
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON—A Pentagon intelligence expert
on terrorism in the Persian Gulf has told Congress
that he warned of possible terrorist attacks on U.S.
forces there before the bombing of the USS Cole, but
higher-ups failed to pass the information to military
commanders, senators said Wednesday.
The intelligence official, whose name was not dis
closed, resigned in protest the day after the Cole
attack Oct 12 in Yemen, Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said
at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
Roberts said the resignation letter was given
Monday to the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Although it is not classified, the Armed Services
Committee said it would not make it public.
Yemeni authorities investigating the bombing,
meanwhile, have detained a Yemeni carpenter and a
Somali woman. Yemeni sources, speaking on condi
tion of anonymity, said Wednesday the carpenter
confessed to helping two men modify a small boat to
carry explosives and the woman confessed to buying
the car they used to haul the
ujj boat to shore, paying for it with
™ money the two men provided.
indicates his Charges had not been filed
l • against either person, the
analysis sources said.
COllld have Armed Services Committee
nlaved a Chairman John Warner, R-Va.,
' . . , said the allegations made by die
Critical role Pentagon intelligence official
in DIA’s would be discussed in detail
, ... during a closed-door committee
ability tO hearing with several Pentagon
nredict and Officials, including Vice Adm.
y Thomas Wilson, director of the
Wam ... acts Defense Intelligence Agency, for
Of terrorism whom die official worked.
rnuld “What he felt is that his
LUUIU assessment was not given that
poten tidily proper level of consideration by
occur in his superiors and, as such, was
not incorporated in” the final
Coming intelligence reports given to mil
Weeks and hary commanders in the Gulf,
, „ Warner told reporters after the
months. hearing.
Pat Rnhortc He would not say how spe
Kansas senator cific ^ DIA official was in ^
Kansas senator naming about terrorist attacks.
Pentagon spokesman Capt.
Timothy Taylor confirmed in a later interview that a
“mid-lever DIA counter-terrorism expert resigned
the day after the Cole attack, but he would provide no
other information.
Roberts said the resignation letter refers to an
intelligence assessment in June that apparently pre
dicted a terrorist attack in the Gulf.
“He indicates his analysis could have played a
critical role in DIA’s ability to predict and warn of a
potential terrorist attack against U.S. interests, and
goes further to say he is very troubled by the many
indicators contained in the analysis that suggests two
or three other major acts of terrorism could potential
ly occur in die coming weeks or months,” he said.
He said he wanted to know whether the reference
to potential for additional acts of terrorism in coming
weeks played a role in last weekend’s decision to put
U.S. forces in Bahrain and Qatar on high alert
Walter Slocombe, the undersecretary of defense
for policy, who testified before the committee along
with Army Gen. Tommy Franks, commander in chief
of U.S. Central Command, did not directly answer
Roberts’ question. Slocombe did, however, indicate
the Pentagon had no specific information about a
likely terrorist attack against an American target in
the Gulf prior to the Cole bombing.
Aside from the DIA official’s allegations, Roberts
said he personally had reviewed nine months of intel
ligence reports and concluded that someone should
have questioned the wisdom of letting the Cole stop
in Aden, the Yemeni port where a small boat sidled up
to the 505-foot destroyer and detonated explosives.
“I believe that there were enough red flags to at
least call into question the decision to stop and to
refuel in Aden,” Roberts said.
TODAY
Isolated thunderstorms
high 71, low 52
TOMORROW
Mostly cloudy
high 61, low 47
U.S.aims for peace in Israel
■ America assists in resolving the
ongoing Middle Eastern conflict by
suggesting a return to negotiations.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JERUSALEM Israeli and
Palestinian troop commanders met' at
U.S. insistence Wednesday to try to pave
the way for a truce, and relative calm pre
vailed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip:
No one was killed in clashes for the firet
time in a week, despite sporadic
exchanges of gunfire.
Israel said that if there were no new
outbreaks of violence, it could withdraw
troops from friction points, and then
look into ways of resuming peace talks.
However, army officials were skepti
cal a cease-fire would hold for long.
President Clinton has raised the pos
sibility of holding separate meetings in
Washington with Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat to assess prospects for returning
to negotiations.
The Israeli troop commanders of the
West Bank and Gaza Strip held the meet
ings with their Palestinian counterparts
Wednesday in the presence of U.S secu
rity officials.
The goal was to try to implement the
cease-fire brokered last week by Clinton.
Both sides have accused each other of
breaking promises made to the presi
dent
Israel has said the Palestinian
Authority has done little to quell shoot
ing attacks on Israeli positions. The
Palestinians have complained that Israel
has not lifted its security closure of the
Palestinian areas or withdrawn troops
from trouble spots.
In all, 128 people, the vast majority
Palestinians, have been killed in four
weeks of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. But
Wednesday saw only sporadic rock
throwing clashes.
After nightfall Wednesday,
Palestinian gunmen fired at Israeli tar
gets from several locations. Shots were
fired from the West Bank at the Jewish
neighborhood of Gilo on the southern
edge of Jerusalem. For the third day in a
row, the army responded with tank fire.
Speaking before shooting began, file
chief of operations in the Israeli army
said that there had been a significant
drop in violence over a 24-hour period.
“We must wait a day or so to see if
there is a real change,” Maj. Gen. Giora
Eilandsaid.
If calm prevailed, Israel would pull
back forces to previous positions, he
said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben
Ami said Israel could even envision
returning to peace talks.
“If, by some miracle... the violence
would stop, as a result of talks Clinton
had yesterday with Arafat and Barak,
mostly with Arafat... then we could talk
about the best way to restart the peace
talks within two weeks,” he said.
It was not clear whether Ben-Ami
spoke for Barak. The Israeli prime minis
ter has said repeatedly he no longer con
siders Arafat a peace partner.
Barak has tried to bring the hawkish
opposition into his government to
ensure his political survival before a hos
tile parliament convenes next week. If he
succeeds, a resumption of peace talks is
unlikely.
Palestinian officials softened their
tone Wednesday - just this week, Arafat
had told Barak to “go to hell” - and didn't
rule out a return to negotiations.
Rusty Russell/Newsmakers
Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore speaks to a group of supporters at the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville, Tenn. Also onstage were Tipper Gore,
vice-presidential candidate Joe Lieberman and singer Tony Bennett, who performed at the Democratic National Committee fundraiser.
Gore fights to win home turf
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JACKSON, Tenn. — A1 Gore called
it a homecoming, but a comeback was
what he sought Wednesday as the
entire Democratic ticket - two candi
dates, two wives - swept across the
state that Gore must fight to keep from
losing for the first time in his career.
“I would like to see a show of hands
from everyone who is related to me in
this crowd,” the Democratic presiden
tial nominee called out to a rally in his
grandmother’s western Tennessee
hometown.
To the dozens who shot up their
hands laughing, Gore pointed and
drawled, “Howya doin’ cousin? I got ya
covered.”
Earlier, in Nashville, he served up
more of the tough talk against
Republican George W. Bush that
appears to have pulled him back into a
tie in recent days’ national polls.
One day after vigorously rebutting
Bush’s claim that Gore represents "big
government,” the vice president dis
sected Bush’s education agenda point
by point and scoffed that it added up
to “nice-sounding rhetoric and a few
half measures.”
While Tipper Gore and Hadassah
Lieberman covered separate
Tennessee ground, Gore stumped
with vice presidential nominee Joseph
Lieberman.
Lieberman acknowledged on CNN
that the foursome’s two-day swing
through Gore’s homestate was
extraordinary this late in the race - but
no more a trouble sign than Bush hav
ing to campaign in Florida, where
brother Jeb Bush is governor.
Two recent polls put Bush and
Gore dead even in Tennessee, where
Gore’s winning streak is yet unbroken.
Between 1976 and 1990, Gore, who
still owns a farm in Carthage, claimed
four House terms and two Senate
terms from Tennessee with never less
than 64 percent of the vote.
The positions Gore has since taken
in support of abortion rights, tighter
gun control and regulated tobacco
have left him out of sync with the
state’s conservative strain.
“You know from your own experi
ence that I want to fight for you,” Gore
told Jackson supporters under a broil
ing Indian summer sun.
“I have kept the faith with
Tennessee,” he bellowed. “Now, here is
what I’m asking from you. I am asking
you to get out there in these next 13
days.”
West Tennessee is emblematic of
Gore’s voter-turnout challenge
because the predominantly black and
Democratic population here has not,
in recent polls, shown much enthusi
asm for the race.
Such indicators of depressed
Democratic turnout on Nov. 7 are also
forcing Gore to campaign this week in
traditionally Democratic West
Virginia.
Lieberman won chuckles when he
told Tennesseans that choosing
between Democrats and Republicans
should be as easy as driving a car: “Put
it in ‘D,’ you go forward. Put it in ‘R’ you
go backward.”
President Clinton will do his part
to rally minority voters behind the vice
president in Detroit, Louisiana and
California, senior Democrats said. But
the president will make his campaign
trips separately from Gore.
Explaining his decision to limit
Clinton’s involvement in the race,
Gore told WMC-TV in Memphis,
“We’re in a new time with new chal
lenges that need a new approach.”
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Chinese classes offered online
CHINESE from page 1
It’s expensive to develop courses like
the ones being taught in China, Hodgson
said, and a large number of enrolled stu
dents helps defray the cost
If the classes being taught this semester
are successful, a full-scale degree program
could be started at UNO.
The university would then be teaching
groups of 3,000 to 4,000 Chinese students
at a time, Hodgson said.
If UNO faculty members decide to pur
sue a full-scale program, they will need
approval from the university administra
tion and the NU Board of Regents.
But for now, Balasubramanian said the
courses being taught at UNO are a good
start.
UNL’s Department of Modern
Languages and Literatures is trying to find
a way to keep Chinese from being dropped
from the curriculum, she said.
It is important for American students
to know foreign languages, especially if
they are traveling abroad, she said.
“(Americans) don’t come out as being
sensitive to foreign countries because we
don’t take the time to learn the language,’’
Balasubramanian said. "That’s a draw
back.”
She said people will never understand
a foreign country if they don’t know at least
a little bit of the language.
Coral Su, a graduate student who
teaches Chinese 101 and 201 at UNL, said
she hoped the UNO program would serve
as a boon to UNL’s modern languages
department.
UNL should be more aggressive in
working to find money to continue the
Chinese language program, she said.
“This is happening at UNO,” Su said.
“Why can’t UNL do something?”
The Associated Press
■ Russia
Divers recover three
bodies from wreckage
MURMANSK — Laboring
in the frigid murk of the
Barents Sea on Wednesday,
divers found and removed the
first bodies from the wreckage
of the sunken nuclear subma
rine Kursk, Russian officials
said.
The bodies of three crew
members were found several
hours after two Russian divers
entered the submarine, where
118 sailors died on Aug. 12.
The remains were taken
from the wreckage and placed
in a special container, which
would raise them to the surface
with the divers, Northern Fleet
Chief of Staff Mikhail Motsak
said.
A team of Russian and
Norwegian divers worked for
five days to enter the subma
rine. The bodies were found
after the team finished cutting
the first hole in the thick dou
ble hull of the Kursk, Motsak
said.
■Alaska
Passenger's supposed
unloaded rifle fires inaiiport
ANCHORAGE—An airline
passenger’s rifle accidentally
went off during check-in at an
airport baggage counter.
No one was injured in the
incident Sunday. The bullet
went through a metal scanner’s
monitor and an office wall,
Alaska Airlines said.
Passengers may carry
unloaded guns in checked bag
gage. The passenger declared
the weapon and said it was
unloaded. But the metal scan
ner showed loose shells in the
case with the rifle, in violation
of regulations.
The rifle went off when the
owner opened the case to
^remove the cartridges, the air
< line said.
No immediate charges were
filed.
■ Florida
Bush and company caravan
though central part of state
SANFORD — George W.
Bush reached out Wednesday
for Florida votes he once
thought were already locked up
and accused rival A1 Gore of
“trying to scare the seniors” on
Social Security and Medicare.
Bush rolled across the cen
tral part of the state in a bus
caravan fortified by the pres
ence of his younger brother,
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and for
mer rival John McCain.
“The team that’s got the
best grass-roots operation is
the one that is going to win,”
Bush told thousands of cheer
ing supporters crowded into a
field house at Seminole
Community College.
■ Canada
Ontario lawyers work to
preventSfimShadyvisit
TORONTO — Ontario
politicians want The Real Slim
Shady to please go home.
The Canadian province’s
attorney general, Jim Flaherty,
said Wednesday that govern
ment lawyers are looking for
ways to stop controversial rap
per Eminem, also known as
Slim Shady, from performing at
SkyDome in Toronto on
Thursday night.
Some officials here say the
star’s lyrics promote violence
against women.
“Nobody wants to curb free
speech in the province of
Ontario but some of this rap-1
per’s songs go over the line,” a
member of Parliament Michael
Bryant said.
Flaherty said it’s unlikely
the government can stop
Eminem from taking the stage
at the 60,000-seat indoor base
ball stadium because hate
crime legislation in Canada
does not include violence
against women.
Nonetheless, he said, his
office made the calls “to make
sure that the federal govern
ment is looking into the status
of this person entering Canada
with the possibility that this
person would come here and
advocate violence against
women.”