Thursday, Movember 6, 1986/The Battalion/Page 13
Hind!.
U-&'
may be willing
o aid hostage release
Weapons, frozen assets requested in return
■ NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Two
ifcnian officials said Wednesday
lat Tehran is willing to work for the
■lease of American and French hos-
^ ta^es in Lebanon in return for weap-
ons, unfreezing of Iranian assets in
" w the United States and freedom for
Blitical prisoners.
] lA third official, Prime Minister
Hussein Musavi, said in a report
broadcast by Tehran radio that
■ere was no possibility of negotiat
ing with die United States.
•d Or»|But although Musavi seemed to
lie out direct talks, his comments
team i; did not appear to contradict declara-
he lintlns by the other Iranian officials
°ftht that a deal could be made. The dif-
balltealence in emphasis was seen as part
of a growing internal struggle within
ie admathe Iranian leadership,
r I watajParliament speaker Hashemi Raf-
or abdsanjani ridiculed what he said was a
nousdniission to Tehran by former Na-
e pul itional Security Adviser Robert Mc-
Dgram pdrlane and four other Americans to
lend U.S.-Iranian relations. U.S.
oecta offidals haven’t confirmed the mis-
' and sion.
haveftflBut Rafsanjani signaled that re-
- goncltion of the purported mission
rowii. does not mean Iran won’t help,
t hcll“If you want us to help you, pro-
Bled like others you do not inter-
feie with our job, we will help — if
Ir friends in Lebanon accept,” he
Is quoted as saying by Iran’s offi-
fUll Islamic Republic News Agency,
^ monitored in Nicosia. Rafsanjani is
le of the most powerful figures in
3rf j Iran’s clergy-led government,
team i«| Of course, our friends in Leb-
ison 'f| on are free,” he was quoted as say-
t eh- ing, referring to Islamic Jihad, the
lave pro-Iranian group that released
Inericaii hostage David Jacobsen
j n ^ Sunday. It claims to hold two other
,f igjjlnericans and three Frenchmen.
7nn llslamic lihad has said it killed an-
, a f lei other American and another French
■stage, but no bodies have been
ks ic lund.
rente I In London, Iranian charge d’af
faires, Seyed Jalal Sadatian, said no
los , deals had been struck with Washing-
r the ton. But, in an interview with the As-
e Cr j sociated Press, he said if the United
passe* Stales ended its hostility toward Iran
e also‘flu re l easet J Iranian assets, “out of
Imanitarian grounds we are pre-
pared to do whatever assistance we
are able to do.”
In a BBC radio interview, he
noted that Iran had been dealing
with American companies to buy
arms despite the U.S. arms embargo.
Iran needs weapons and spare parts
for its 6-year-old war against Iraq.
Musavi said that because of Amer
ican “crimes against the Islamic rev
olution,” there could be no talks with
the U.S. over financial disoutes ex
cept in the framework of accords
reached after Iran’s 1979 revolution.
According to the Iranian news
agency, Rafsanjani’s demands in
cluded release of unspecified Ira
nian assets seized after the 1979 rev
olution; recognition of Lebanese
Moslem rights; freedom for politicaj
prisoners in Israel and abroad; and
shipment of weapons purchased by
ousted Shah Pahlavi’s government.
Envoy says comments
put his life in danger
LONDON (AP) — Anglican
Church envoy Terry Waite said
Wednesday that British press specu
lation he was acting on behalf of gov
ernments in his mission to free hos
tages in Lebanon had made his
Middle East contacts nervous and
could cost his life.
“There are certain speculative
comments . . . that perhaps Mr.
Waite is used by or closely associated
with governments,” Waite, in a rare
burst of anger, told reporters at
London’s Heathrow Airport.
“Give me a break,” he said. “It is
your fellow journalist I am working
for."He was referring to Associated
Press reporter Terry Anderson, one
of six Americans still missing in Leb
anon.
Waite spoke after returning from
West Germany where American Da
vid Jacobsen, released by his Leb
anese captors Sunday, was reunited
with his family. Doctors at the U.S.
Air Force base in Wiesbaden said the
55-year-old Jacobsen had no major
problems due to his 17 months in
captivity, but they advised routine
follow-up tests.
While in West Germany, Waite
told reporters he needs more time to
work for the release of the remain
ing hostages but vowed, “I’m going
to see this through.”
He said he was cautiously opti
mistic that two of the missing Ameri
cans, Anderson and educator
Thomas Sutherland, will be released
soon.
In London, however, Waite said
the speculation prompted by Jacob
sen’s release had made his contacts
nervous and it might be a while be
fore he could pursue his efforts to
win the releases. He said he did not
know when he would return to the
Middle East.
“All I can say to those people who
write such speculative comments is
realize that that sort of comment will
cost me my life,” Waite said.
He said that on past negotiating
trips to Beirut the kidnappers con
sidered taking him hostage and once
threatened to kill him because they
were not certain he was a non-politi
cal church envoy without govern
ment contacts.
An editorial in Wednesday’s edi
tion of the Times of London said,
“Mr. Waite himself would seem to
have been used as decoy in this af
fair.” A news report in the same edi
tion said that the United States had
“used Mr. Terry Waite ... to capture
public attention in the hostage deal.”
At a news conference at the U.S.
Air Force base in Wiesbaden, West
Germany, Waite specifically denied
reports that he was being used by the
United States to divert attention
from real negotiations.
Texas senator sets priorities
’or U.S. finance committee
gtOR
ASHINGTON (AP) — With the
femocradc Party back in control of
jl U.S. Senate following Tuesday’s
eljenions, the senior senator from
Tfxas ascends to the chairmanship
,of one of that body’s most powerful
committees — finance.
■“The finance committee has the
mosi wide-ranging and all-encom
passing jurisdiction of any commit
ted in the Senate,” said Bentsen, who
is|n his third six-year term. “It raises
all the money and spends over half
of it.”
EDemocrats rejoiced Wednesday in
having reclaimed control of the Sen
ate by an impressive 55-45 margin,
including victories in several states
lit had gone Republican in the
1980 presidential election.
■Senate chairmanship positions
Will be determined by the Demo
cratic leadership Nov. 20, and since
they are chosen based primarily on
seniority, Bentsen is a sure bet to be
come the first Texan ever to head Fi
nance.
As chairman, he said he plans to
pass a trade bill, “revisit” the new tax
law, develop insurance for cata
strophic illness, defend Medicare
and Medicaid, and examine ways of
grappling with the burgeoning So
cial Security system — all of which
fall under the Finance Committee’s
jurisdiction.
Bentsen’s top priority will be pas
sage of a comprehensive trade bill
that he says will provide relief to do
mestic industries, such as steel, tex
tiles and computer chips, currently
reeling because of unfair foreign
trade practices.
“The administration has stiffed
the Senate on trade for the last two
years,” Bentsen said in a recent in
terview. “The immediate, knee-jerk
reaction ... to any major trade bill is
protectionism.”
But the senator says his trade plan
would be designed to protect indus
tries just long enough for them to re
structure and re-emerge into the
global marketplace revitalized and
ready to compete.
“Where they target our industries
I would modify the law to . . . give re
lief in the way of import protection
to an industry if it could demon
strate that at the end of that protec
tion it would be competitive,” Bent
sen said.
Since modernization sometimes
leaves portions of an industry’s labor
pool uneniployed, the senator advo
cates developing a network of re
training centers for displaced work
ers, funded and operated by both
public and private sectors.
Stock market
^posts gain
at closing
NEW YORK (AP) — The stock
narket posted a moderate gain
Wednesday, surprising analysts
ho had thought investors might
espond negatively to the out-
:ome of Tuesday’s elections.
The Dow Jones average of 30
ndustrials rose 6.60 to 1,899.04.
Volume on the New York
itock Exchange reached 183.17
million shares, up from 163.24
million Tuesday.
Some negative response had
>een considered possible in the
market to the news that the Dem-
tcrats took control of the Senate.
p In theory at least, that devel
opment raised new questions for
: investors about the outlook for
government policy on matters
such as taxes and trade.
| But analysts said they didn’t
expect any dramatic changes or
significant economic shifts in the
ftermath of the elections.
Bob Dole of Kansas, the Senate
Republican leader, said in a tele-
ision interview that he doesn’t
X>k for any rise in interest rates
as a result of the Democrats’
Stains.
After no significant selling
(materialized, the market made
everal runs at the 1,900 level in
(the Dow before finishing just
short of it.
President asks staff
to keep up support
despite Senate losses
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi
dent Reagan acknowledged
Wednesday the election did not pro
vide the outcome he sought, but he
asked his staff to stick with him in
the twilight of his presidency to con
tinue to implement policies begun
during his terms.
In a subdued but characteristically
upbeat speech to White House aides
a day after his 25,000-mile campaign
to preserve a Republican Senate
ended in disappointment, Reagan
said, “For two years more, my
friends, let us make history to
gether.”
And drawing a line from his 1984
re-election campaign pitch, he in
sisted Washington “ain’t seen nothin’
yet.”
The president called Tuesday’s
election results fairly good news
overall, despite the fact that Republi
cans lost the Senate for which he had
campaigned hardest, since the GOP
did score victories in important gov
ernors races.
Reagan’s chief political strategist,
Mitchell E. Daniels Jr., told report
ers the loss of the Senate was just a
story of close elections.
He recalled that the Republicans
had won 17 of the 21 Senate races
decided by two percentage points or
less in 1980, 1982 and 1984 and said,
“Last night, Lady Luck evened the
The president acknowledged the
results were not what he sought.
“But our agenda remains un
changed,” he said, “and I look for
ward to its attainment.
“Even in this hotly contested race,
we enjoyed widespread support on
the issues that we campaigned on.”
He cited his economic policies, ap
pointment of tough judges to the
federal bench and a strong defense,
especially SDI, the Strategic Defense
Initiative aimed at developing a
shield against nuclear attack.
“So in a sense, our message — that
same message of limited govern
ment and a firm foreign policy that
we enunciated from our first day in
office — did get across and contin
ues to get across,” Reagan said, of
fering his congratulations to Tues
day’s victors and condolences to the
vanquished.
The 75-year-old president, who
during the first two years of his sec
ond term defied attempts to label
him a lame duck, said his goals re
main to “make America more pros
perous, more productive and the
world more peaceful.”
He said he would strive to enact a
constitutional amendment to bal
ance the budget and legislation per
mitting the president to strike indi
vidual items from spending
measures passed by Congress.
LITERATGJRE AND SCIENCE*
English 489 Sec. 503
Explore the impact of
Galileo, Newton, Darwin, Einstein
on literature and culture.
Examine the way science,
scientists, and technology
have been portrayed in literature.
Read: Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut,
Galileo, In tke Matter of J- Robert Oppenbeimer
Humanities or literature elective
JSourse meets 2:00 TTh
For more information contect
Dr. Diane Dowdey
22 ID Blocker
845-8354
*Misprinted in the 1987 Spring Course Roster
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