Page 12/The Battalion/Wednesday, October 8, 1986
Peres says U.S. acting
as mediator in Israel,
Jordan peace talks
JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime
Minister Shimon Peres told par
liament on Tuesday that the
United States was acting as go-be
tween in peace talks between Is
rael and Jordan to pave the way
for face-to-face negotiations.
In a final policy statement be
fore swapping jobs next week
with Foreign Minister Yitzhak
Shamir, Peres called on Shamir to
maintain the momentum toward
peace in the Middle East when he
becomes prime minister.
Peres made Middle East peace
efforts the centerpiece of his two-
year government and said repeat
edly he will break up the coalition
if Shamir fails to pursue efforts to
start negotiations between Israel
and the Arabs.
Peres told parliament that al
though he had not achieved his
goal of talks with King Hussein,
Jordan had agreed to direct ne
gotiations.
“Between Israel and Jordan,
negotiations are under way, via
the United States,” to prepare fu
ture peace talks, he said.
U.S. officials have gone back
and forth between Israel and Jor
dan in recent years in an effort to
launch peace talks, but Peres’
speech was the first time he has
publicly indicated the Americans
were succeeding in bringing Is
raeli and Jordanian officials to
gether.
Peres will step down Friday to
clear the way for Shamir to be
come prime minister Oct. 14.
LaRouche issues response
to charges against followers
Hospital use
in U.S. dropping,
home care up
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hospital
use by Americans has plummeted to
its lowest level in 15 years, as clinics
and outpatient programs serve a
growing number of people, accord
ing to statistics released Tuesday.
There were 148 hospital stays for
every 1,000 Americans last year, the
first time since 1971 that the rate has
dropped below 150, the National
Center for Health Statistics re
ported.
Growing use of outpatient serv
ices and introduction of the Diag
nosis Related Group method of pay
ment were among the reasons for
the decline, said health statistician
Edmund Graves.
Under the DRG program, federal
payments to hospitals are set at a flat
fee based on the patient’s illness
rather than on the length of stay or
services performed. The program is
designed to encourage hospitals to
control costs.
In addition, the average length of
stay for hospitalized patients is
continuing to drop; the average stay
in 1985 was 6.5 days compared with
7.7 days a decade ago.
Warped
by Scott McCullc
60 THIS /S
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Waldo
by Kevin Thome
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STILL L05T OUT IfJ THE
FISH LOF. (ACTUALLY, IT HASN'T
BEEN MUCH OF A STORf, HUHl)
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LOT FOR DAYS, AND I KEEP
MEETING STRANGE PEOPLE!
AND THEY ALL KEEP TELLING
ME THAT THE TOW-DRAGON
HAS TAKEN THEIR CM! SO
TELL HE, WHAT IS A
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Political
extremist Lyndon LaRouche, his in
ner circle penetrated by indictments
and a sweeping federal fraud inves
tigation, declared Tuesday that he
has committed no crime and will not
submit to an arrest.
LaRouche, who was not indicted,
responded to the charges against 10
of his followers and five of his orga
nizations after a massive raid seeking
records at his headquarters.
“I will not submit passively to an
arrest, but in such a scenario I will
defend myself,” LaRouche said in a
statement read by Warren Hamer-
man, head of LaRouche’s National
Democratic Policy Committee.
LaRouche’s “personal message” to
President Reagan included charges
that Soviet leader Mikhail Gorba
chev “demanded my head, as a
price” for the Iceland summit with
Reagan this weekend.
LaRouche espouses bizarre the
ories of global conspiracy involving
the Queen of England, the Soviet
KGB and prominent Americans.
Judge claims innocence as trial continues
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal
Judge Harry E. Claiborne, saying he
feels like “a piece of meat that is
thrown out to a couple of dogs,” told
his Senate impeachment trial Tues
day he did not violate federal tax
law.
Offering perhaps the most impor
tant summation of a legal career, the
Nevada judge came alive at a lecturn
in the Senate well, after listening for
hours while others argued the case.
The convicted tax evader de
picted himself as the victim of a
vendetta by vengeful prosecutors
and vowed he would fight until his
name was cleared.
Claiborne said tax errors that led
to his conviction were caused by
hired tax preparers.
“I have not defrauded my govern
ment. I have not been corrupt in my
office. As long as that is so, I could
not walk away” and resign, Clai
borne said.
Responding to the House charges,
Claiborne attorney Oscar Goodman
said his client may have been
“grossly negligent” about his tax re
turns but was not foolish. He said it
is unbelievable to suggest thatGi
borne would deliberately try toit
fraud the government.
Goodman said the judge's uniti
reporting of income was not wi
and therefore not a criminal act.
“You owe him the obligatioi
judge him fairly and not rusk
judgment,” Goodman said.
Report: U.S. spy-catching improved, technology lags
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
United States hats improved at catch
ing spies but has neglected defensive
technology and personnel policies
that could put more obstacles be
tween spies and the nation’s secrets,
the Senate Intelligence Committee
said Tuesday.
“The hostile intelligence threat is
more serious than anyone in the
government has yet acknowledged
publicly,” the panel said in a 141-
page staff report, “Meeting the Es
pionage Challenge.”
The product of 16 months of in
vestigation, the report recom
mended 95 changes to bolster the
nation’s protection against spies.
Among the top recommendations
were:
• Reducing the number of Soviet
diplomats in this country.
• Expensive encoding of govern
ment and private telephone calls and
data transmitted by satellite.
• A new system for authorizing
leaks of classified information by
government officials who are not
publicly named.
• New secret warrants for FBI
counterintelligence break-ins, for
which no court review is now pro
vided.
• Clearing the backlog of reinves
tigations of employees with access to
secrets.
• Establishing government-wide
standards in a presidential executive
order for protecting secret data and
screening employees who handle it.
Committee Chairman David Du-
renberger, R-Minn., said spies have
provided the Soviet Union and oth
ers “billions of dollars in benefits.”
The report estimated that the
West’s lead over the Soviets in high
technology had been whittled by
spying from 10-12 years a decade
ago to about half that today.
Durenberger said the panel found
“too many secrets, too much access
to secrets, too many spies, too little
accountability for securing national
secrets and too little effort given to
combating the very real threat.”
Despite prodding from Congress,
the administration is incapable of
coming up with a budget for its secu
rity programs, Durenberger said.
“That’s more than an embarrass
ment,” he said. “It’s a giant barrier to
effective security.”
The Intelligence Committee's vice
chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.,
said, “Complacency really existed in
both Democratic and Republican ad
ministrations. There was a feeling
that people somehow would keep
the secrets.” He said thespateofip
cases in 1985 proved they wouldm
The administration’s final prop
sals are to be supplied in secreim
week to Congress.
Among a wide range of exami
of defensive security lapses
panel highlighted a little-publioa I
incident which allowed the Soviti
for the second time since 1978,!
get access to electric typewmrl
shipped to the U.S. EmbassyinMos
cow and plant electronic I
tiiem.
Freshmen & Sophomores
RE: YearBook Photos
m
freshmen
>res will
taken until Oct. 31 at AR
Photography II at 707
Texas Ave. (across from
the A&M Polo Field).
it now and avoid the Hr