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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 1980)
The Battalion Vol. 73 No. 79 Tuesday, January 15, 1980 USPS 045 360 16 Pages in 2 Sections College Station, Texas , Phone 845-2611 usiastij ieves, Durisj) se Nations voice their opposition to USSR IN. General Assembly calls or Russian troop withdrawal dtoj I Assembly, in a resounding defeat for sville j Soviet Union, overwhelmingly adopted them solution calling for the “total and uncon- onal withdrawal” of Russian troops from jianistan. iffsaidj Hie resolution, approved Monday by a leave) eof 104-18 with 18 abstentions and 12 edaiilijences. came at the end of a bitter four- emergency debate. It only called for niniiift: : removal of “the foreign troops from Ireemti jhanistan’ and avoided naming the talon viet Union an aggressor, but, it was clear reference was to the Soviets. Ik document, sponsored by 24 Third irld countries, also “strongly deplores wattj :recent armed intervention.” ieeifj Diplomatic sources said it would not been ise 'one Russian soldier" to be removed wisvj in Afghanistan since resolutions passed cAllei | itbeia United Press International JNITED NATIONS — The U. N. Cen- by the 152-member assembly are only re commendations. But the vote was a stinging rebuke to the Soviets. The majority ofThird World coun tries, whose interests Russia claimed to represent in the past, did an about-face and supported the resolution while others, in cluding India, the Congo, Zambai and Uganda, abstained. The non-aligned group voted, 56 to 9, for the resolution with 26 abstaining or absent. Even Iran, whom the Soviets supported by vetoing a U.S. proposal in the Security Council the day before to impose manda tory sanctions against the Islamic country, joined in condemning the Soviet interven tion. Soviet Ambassador Oleg Troyanovsky, addressing the assembly just before the ballot, said Russian troops would be with drawn when “foreign threats” ended. Carter Carter to outline new doctrine on national television tonight United Press International WASHINGTON — President Carter is consulting with top aides and foreign lead ers on a major statement he will make announcing what the United States is pre pared to do to protect its vital interests in the Persian Gulf and Middle East. Already dubbed the “Carter Doctrine,” press secretary Jody Powell said the date and the forum for outlining the policy to the American people has not yet been set. There was a possibility he would reveal the foreign policy changes in this State of the Union address Jan. 23. Meanwhile, the president hopes Iran will wake up to the growing Russian milit ary presence on its border. “The return of the shah, as everyone in a position of authority in Iran knows, is clear ly not a possibility and it does not make sense to remain fixated on that possibility when the wolf at your door is now looking in your East window,” Powell told reporters. “The United States has had a historic interest in an independent Iran,” Powell said. “The threat to an independent Iran and to its religious and national integrity does’ not come from the United States — it comes from the north.” On Monday, Soviet Afghan forces were reported to have reached the border with Iran. With the Iranian militants stiffening in their attitude. Carter plans to go ahead “without delay” in imposing additional eco nomic sanctions against Iran. The new sanctions will be in the private commercial field since U.S. government dealings with Iran came to a halt weeks ago. Powell told reporters the threat of expul sion of Western journalists from Iran may be “an attempt to intimidate them and cause them to tailor and censor reports to bring them more in conformity with the Iranian line.” Regarding the Moscow Olympics, Powell said: “The United States would prefer not to withdraw for the Olympics, but the Soviet Union must realize that continued aggres sion would have an impact on the athletes and spectators. There have been public and private expressions of concern over the idea of participating in the Olympic games while Soviet troops are in Afghanistan. That concern is shared by the administra tion.” •d ran tells U.S. newsmen “ o leave the country he l ! J . ‘ :linen wary Council Monday night and followed arly two weeks of debate on the question nong Iranian leaders. The spokesman for the Revolutionary ouncil. Oil Minister Ali Akbar Moinfar, United Press International IEHRAN, Iran — Foreign press chief dollanj iclghassem Sadegh Tuesday set Friday as half™ edeadline for all correspondents working American news media to leave Iran, sr’slii ally cutting all Press links with the Un- d States. Sadegh said news bureau chiefs and nydoS ministrative staff would be given slightly ask# igertowind up their operations. Iran is expelling the journalists because Ivaluf (American media had “insulted the Ira- 'tonsi#!! revolution.” The press chief told the newspaper teeml tyhan that all U.S. radio and television ition I ! twks, as well as the United Press Inter- tonal and Associated. Press news agen ts, would have to close. The decision to expel American journal- tscame at a meeting of the ruling Revolu- said Iran shortly would expel the American press representatives for “publishing biased reports about Iran.” Just hours after the decision, the sources in Kabul reported the Soviet deployment and warned the Russians forces were only hours away from key Iranian oil fields and the strategic straits of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of water at the eastern end of the Persian Gulf. If this passage were sealed, oil shipments from the Gulf into open sea would be blocked. The 50 Americans being held hostage in the occupied U.S. Embassy began their 73rd day in captivity and Iran warned it was willing to wait “more or less forever” to release them if the United States refuses to return exiled Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi to face Islamic justice. The official news agency Pars said the ruling Islamic Revolutionary Council’s de cision was divided into three parts, with the first section ordering the expulsion of all correspondents of news agencies, news papers, radio and television of the “aggres sive country of America” and the second section warning all other media representa tives — especially those from Great Britain and West Germany — that they too, faced possible expulsion. The final section noted that if media with an expelled representative sent another journalist as a replacement, that reporter also would face immediate expulsion if he or she used the same approach as the pre vious correspondent. Pars quoted Moinfar as saying the Amer ican reporters had persistently distorted Iranian news and would be expelled for “insulting the Iranian revolution.” Reports of Soviet troops along Iran’s eastern border came after both Iranian Isla mic strongman Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the Iranian government sharply condemned Kremlin statements the Russians would be willing to come to the aid of Iran against “American imposi tions.” Battalion writer loses position for working on Texas Guard story By RICHARD OLIVER General Assignments Reporter Doug Graham, a Battalion cartoonist and former Texas A&M University student, has been relieved of duty in the Texas National Guard due to what his commanding officer termed “conflict of interest. ” Graham is currently working on a story for The Battalion concerning a claim by several minority members of the Texas Na tional Guard that a white technician in a Cameron, Tex., unit misused government vehicles, forged checks and kept bad re cords during a three-year period. Graham, who has been investigating the claims since December of last year, said he discovered that officers who were pressing for a more thorough investigation of the matter had been pressured into resigning from the Guard. Graham said he then discovered a “slip shod and biased” investigation was being conducted by the Guard concerning the claims. Graham said he had been told by a source that racial slurs had been made by one of the investigators concerning a few of the minority members involved. “Tve talked to a lot of people who have been less than honest, ” he said. “I’d hate to see the entire bunch of officers in the com pany annihilated because they (the investi gators) are dragging their feet getting rid of the scum in the Guard.” Graham said that early in his investiga tion he called his commanding officer, Lt. Col. Richard Perot, to inquire why several of the officers were being pressured to re sign. At the subsequent monthly Texas Na tional Guard drill in December, Perot told Graham he wanted his loyalty or his res ignation. Shortly after this drill, Graham con tinued his investigation and asked to see the Cameron unit’s special funds report, but was told he must get permission from Perot. Perot denied the request, Graham said. Last Saturday at the National Guard’s January drill in Ft. Hood, Graham said he was called before Perot and relieved of duty due to “conflict of interest.” Captains Firman Miranda and Richard Tillman, both present at Graham’s release, would not comment on the expulsion. “There’s a lot of things still pending,” Tillman said. “Everything is not final, so I’d rather not talk about it. I think you can understand this position.” Graham said at the time of his release See GRAHAM, page 4 Gold It’s up, up, and away United Press International Gold shot up to record opening prices around the world today, led by a London opening price of $683 an ounce. Analysts said fears Soviet troops might move into the oil fields of Iran and the general crisis of U.S.-Soviet relations trig gered the soaring prices. The price explosion began in Hong Kong where an opening world record price of $672 an ounce was set, only to fall hours later in London. Zurich also opened at a record price, jumping $10 an ounce to $664.50 an ounce. In the first half-hour of trading London dealers were too busy trading to give expla nations. But a Zurich bullion dealer said: “The Soviet veto of the U.S. proposal for sanctions against Iran and rumors that Soviet troops are massing on the Iranian border are causing new nervousness.” The dollar took another pounding in London, but rose everywhere else. London currency dealers cut more than a cent off its value, pricing it at $2.2875 to the pound at the market opening. It closed Monday at $2.3760, but a pound now costs 3 cents more than last Friday. Other money markets moved it up frac tionally. The dollar opened in Zurich at 1.5827 Swiss francs, up from 1.5808 francs. It rose in Frankfurt from 1.7180 marks to 1.7185 marks, eased up in Paris from 4.0175 francs to 4.0285 francs, and gained in Amsterdam from 1.8985 guilders to 1.8980 guilders. In Brussels, the opening rate was 28.77 Belgian francs compared with 28.75 francs Monday. In Milan, the dollar opened at 803.25 lire, up from 803.20 lire. Tokyo’s market was closed for a national holiday. Gold closed at $663.50 an ounce on the Hong Kong Gold and Silver Exchange. Heavy profit taking from local and over seas sellers caused the gold price to decline at the close, market sources said. Dealers said the possibility of a special meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to consider the Soviet presence in Afghanistan added fuel to the buying sentiment. Gold leaped to $670.50 an ounce in New York Monday in a dizzy climb fueled by apparent hardening of the Iranian position on the U.S. hostages and the Soviet veto of economic sanctions against Iran. Silver rose to over $42 an ounce. The latest gold-buying spree began late Friday in New York, where gold closed at $645 an ounce. The surge continued in Hong Kong and Europe Monday. Gold reached a record $660 an ounce at the afternoon fixing in London before drop ping to $656.50 at the close — a record close and a $33 jump on Friday’s $623.50 an ounce. In Zurich, gold closed at $654.50 an ounce, a record for that market and up from $621.50 Friday. Gas National price average is $1.14 per gallon By United Press International The national average price of gasoline is up to $1.14 a gallon, the Lundberg Letter reports. In major metropolitan areas, prices jumped 6 cents to $1.10 a gallon in the past month, the independent petroleum journal said Monday. “If rural and outlying areas were in cluded, the nationwide price for all grades of gasoline would be approximately $1.14 a gallon,” said publisher Dan Lundberg. Gasoline prices are higher in resort areas and other non-urban locations where lack of competition often gives dealers a better profit margin. The Lundberg Letter, which surveys 16,600 service stations in metropolitan markets around the country, found prices for full-service unleaded regular had soared by 8.8 cents to $1.08 a gallon in Houston. Houston was the only city in the December survey that was charging less than $1 a gallon for this grade. Regular unleaded at Boston’s full-service stations climbed 8.2 cents to $1.12 a gallon. The same grade rose 7.8 cents ot $1.14 a gallon in Las Vegas, 7.7 cents to $1.18 a gallon in Indianapolis, and 7.6 cents to $1.17 a gallon in San Francisco. In Miami, regular unleaded went up 7 cents to $1.13 a gallon. Lundberg said stepped-up conservation would prevent the recent round of foreign The almanac By United Press International Today is Tuesday, Jan. 15, the 15th day of 1908 with 351 to follow. The moon is moving into its new phase. The morning stars are Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The evening star is Venus. Those born on this date are under the sign of Capricorn. Civil rights’ leader Martin Luther King was born Jan. 15, 1929. American actors Lloyd Bridges and Margaret O’Brien also were born on Jan. 15 — he in 1913, she in 1937. On this day in history: In 1870, a cartoon done by Thomas Nast appeared in Harper’s oil price increases from causing runaway inflation in the United States. “The linking of patriotic concerns with a new conservation rationale will reduce gasoline consumption and help level off re tail price increases,” he said. weekly with a donkey symbolizing the Democratic Party for the first time. The symbol stuck. In 1922, the Irish Free State was formed. In 1943, the Pentagon, world’s largest building of its kind, was completed on the Virginia side of the Potomac River just out side Washington, D.C. In 1976, a federal judge sentenced Sara Jane Moore to prison for life for her attempt to assassinate President Ford in San Fran cisco. A thought for the day. Dr. Martin Luther King, Nobel Peace Prize-winner, said, “In justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”