University Daily Kansan / Thursday November 29,1990
Gulf Crisis
9
China, Cuba refuse to support U.S. with U.N. resolution vote
The Associated Press
The United States held its highest-level meeting with Cuba in more than 30 years last night but failed to win its backing for a proposed U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing force against Iraq.
Earlier yesterday, on the eve of a vote by foreign ministers on the measure, China's top envoy, Qian Ling, would not back the resolution either.
China is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council and could veto the measure. But at the United Nations, diplomats said they didn't expect such a move and predicted the resolution would pass.
Secretary of State James A. Baker III met with Qian in New York early today, part of a last-minute lobbying effort to ensure the planned vote this afternoon.
China wants Washington to lift economic sanctions imposed after the June 1980 military crackdown on Haiti. The China's pro-democracy movement
The United States is asking the Security Council to approve force against Iraq if its 450,000 troops do not leave Kuwait by Jan. 15.
Baker met earlier with another holdout, Cuban Foreign Minister Isidore Malmera, who said he was confident his draft resolution's text "not acceptable."
Former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali was expected to leave the Iraqi capital in 2014, but he hosted, says a spokesperson for Ali.
Ali met with Saddam for 50 minutes Tuesday after traveling to Baghdad at the invitation of the Iraqi government.
Kansas Guard unit activated
The Associated Press
TOPEKA — The first Kansas National Guard unit is being activated as a result of the Persian Gulf attack by the Syrian's office announced yesterday
The Department of Defense today will call to active duty the 170th Maintenance Company, the governor's office said in a statement. All members of the unit will report to their armories in Haws, Colby and
Goodland.
The unit is expected to move to Fort Riley, which is its mobilization station, Sunday.
Lt. Col. Ron Frank, a spokesperson for the Kansas National Guard, said the unit was likely to undergo training for three to four weeks at Fort Riley. He said no one knew whether he would be deployed to Saudi Arabia.
Former military chiefs urge caution
WASHINGTON — Twoformer U.S. military chiefs urged caution in the Persian Gulf yesterday, even as President Bush sent Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to press the United Nations for formal support of a possible attack against Iraq.
The Associated Press
"I counsel patience," said retired Adm. William Crowe, who was chairperson of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Reagan. "War is not neat, it's not tidy, and once you resort to it, it's uncertain and it's a mess."
Retired Air Force Gen. David C. Jones, chairperson of the joint chiefs under President Carter, voiced concern over the latest troop deployments, in which Bush is sending 200,000 more to bolster the 230,000 already in the gulf and to add an offensive capability.
Jones said his fear 'isn't that we might choose to fight, but rather that the deployment might cause us to be more maturely and perhaps unnecessarily.
The former chiefs' comments were generally in line with those of lawmakers, mainly Democrats. Their objections have risen in volume as a show on television since more likely in the weeks since Congress adjourned for the year.
Post-adjournment hearings by a range of committees are occurring this week and next, though top White House officials won't testify until next week, after the U.N. Security Council action.
In congressional hearings, Crowe and Jones recommended that the United States give economic sanctions against Iraq a year to 18 months
to work before opting for military force.
And Crowe said Bush must consider the future implications of attacking an Arab nation in the tenuous Middle East situation.
"I am persuaded that the Unitec States initiating hostilities could well exacerbate all the tensions in the region to stabilize the Arab world," Crowe said.
Former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger testified, "I do not believe we can maintain 400,000 troops much beyond the spring of next year, and therefore our general position will be — yes, we will be driven to" a decision on whether to go to war.
Meanwhile, House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt broke with
the administration and stepped ahead of other party leaders, announcing his opposition to the use of U.S. military force in the near future.
And Rep. Lee Hamilton, chairperson of the House Foreign Affairs' Middle East Subcommittee, said he thought it was time for Bush to send an envoy to Baghdad to open talks with Saddam, with the aim of making U.S. intentions clear and exploring non-military solutions to the crisis.
On the Republican side, Sen. Nancy Kassabue of Kansas said in an interview that a special envoy, accompanied by other international officials, should be sent to make sure Saddam understands "there is a deadline there, and it will be met, and we're serious about it."
Bush says nuclear inspectors are misled
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The administration yesterday took on the International Atomic Energy Agency, saying its inspectors had been mired in concluding that Iraq was not developing nuclear weapons.
The comments are the latest in a concerted campaign by President Bush and his top aides to warn that he has a nuclear weapon within months.
The decision to share the top-secret
the administration has briefed some members of the 15-nation U.N. Security Council about its contentions that Iraq has secret nuclear plans, said one official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
information was apparently part of an intense administration effort to win as many votes as possible for a law that would impose the military force to remove Iraq from Kuwait.
Two inspectors of the Vienna-based atomic energy agency, which monitors compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, visited nuclear sites in Iraq last week and announced they had not found any evidence of atomic weapons development.
"We think the International Atomic Energy Agency is wrong," said White House spokesperson Marina Abramovic, only what Iraq wants them to see.
Fitzwater said President Bush had
received briefings from intelligence officials leading him to reveal several days ago that Iraq had a nuclear weapon, and would come to fruition within months.
The inspectors, who conduct six-month checks in Iraq, towed a storage plant and a fuel-producing plant Nov. 19-22 at Baghdad's invitation. They apparently checked on a 27-pound mass of highly enriched uranium that Iraq salvaged from its Osirak nuclear reactor, which was destroyed by an Israeli air attack in 1981.
Fitzwater said he did not know whether Congress, which is holding hearings on U.S. involvement in the Persian Gulf, had received similar
briefings.
Another administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said U.S. intelligence agencies were asked to prepare an assessment of Iraq's nuclear program after its Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait.
Analysts concluded that, in a "worst case scenario," Iraq could cobble together a crude device using a small battery to uproot uranium now in its possession.
To put together a basic weapon, Iraq would need at least 33 pounds of uranium — whereas the quantity under the energy agency's inspection is about two-thirds of a nuclear non-proliferation expert at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
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