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College Station, Texas
Tuesday, September 18,1990
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Junior David Cabrara walks through the fountain in front of the
Chemistry Building on his way to class Monday morning. Deter
gent had been put in the fountain, causing it to overflow with bub-
Photo by Phelan M. Ebenhack
bles, and Physical Plant workers spent the rest of the day clean
ing it. Joseph Sugg, Physical Plant director, said a de-foaming
agent must be used to clean the fountain.
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Solidarity leader seeks Polish presidency
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Solidarity leader
Lech Walesa said Monday he will run for presi
dent of Poland, a job now held by the general
ivho once imprisoned him and sought to crush
lislabor union under martial law.
Walesa said he hoped to speed the nation’s
transition from communism to democracy.
“Today I made up my mind. I am putting for
ward for society’s approval my readiness to be a
candidate for the post of president of the Polish
Republic in popular elections,” Walesa said in a
statement delivered from his desk at Solidarity
headquarters in Gdansk.
"For me, it is a fulfillment of the pledge I
made in August 1980,” he said, when he cat
apulted to worldwide fame by leading strikes that
helped create the East bloc’s first independent
trade union.
Post-Communist Poland’s first fully demo
cratic presidential and parliament elections are
expected as early as this fall and no later than
spring.
Walesa has hinted at his presidential intentions
for nearly a year, saying he needs to take the post
to spur political and economic reforms. In June
“Today I made up my mind. I
am putting forward for
society’s approval my
readiness to be a candidate for
the post of president of the
Polish Republic in popular
elections.”
— Lech Walesa,
Solidarity leader
he said: “I do not want to be president. I will have
to be president.”
Walesa, a 46-year-old shipyard electrician who
was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, has
split with Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki,
the former close adviser he picked to be the East
bloc’s first non-Communist government leader.
Walesa charges that too many supporters of the
old regime remain in key government and state
industry posts and that the Mazowiecki govern
ment is losing touch with Poles’ problems.
Two camps —- the beginning of a multiparty
system after four decades of Communist control
— have developed from the political feud. One,
the Center Alliance, supports Walesa for presi
dent and is identified with workers and the Soli
darity union in Gdansk. The other, known by the
acronym ROAD, backs Mazowiecki and is asso
ciated with intellectuals and the government in
Warsaw.
Mazowiecki, who points to the initial successes
of his shock economic reform plan and a host of
other changes, has not announced whether he
will run for president.
Walesa has overwhelming recognition in Po
land as the leader of the battle that toppled the
Communist regime and sparked Eastern Eu
rope’s democratic revolution. Recent opinion
polls have put his approval rating slightly below
Mazowiecki’s, but his influence remains un
matched.
The current president, former Communist
Party leader Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, has said
he will resign early from his six-year term.
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Regents to make journey to Aggieland in Far East
Members of the Texas A&M Uni
versity System Board of Regents will
inspect A&M’s campus in Japan this
week and meet with business leaders
there.
Board members will explore ways
for strengthening institutional and
international ties during meetings
with business leaders from Ko-
riyama, Japan.
Regents Chairman William McK
enzie of Dallas will head the 12-
member group.
A&M opened a branch campus in
May at the request of city and busi
ness leaders in Koriyama. Construc
tion of facilities and operational ex-
E enses for the Japanese campus are
eing paid by the city of Koriyama.
Koriyama is a metropolitan area
about 140 miles north of Tokyo and
has a population of about 300,000.
Cost of the trip to Japan is being
covered by support from the private
sector, McKenzie says.
In addition to inspecting the new
campus and being briefed on opera
tions there, the delegation will meet
with the mayor and other Koriyama
officials.
They also will meet with key busi
ness leaders in Tokyo and receive a
briefing by U.S. Ambassador Mi
chael Armacost and his staff at the
U.S. embassy.
The group departs from Dallas-
Fort Worth International Airport
Tuesday and returns next Monday.
CORRECTION
Ajunior yell leader pictured in
Monday’s Battalion was incor
rectly identified. His name is
Drew Davis.
Also in Monday’s issue, the fol
lowing details were incorrect in a
story about the Residence Hall
Association and Off Campus Ag
gies.
The Battalion incorrectly re
ported the number of half presi
dents. There are 30 presidents
and 74 total members of the RH A
general assembly.
The story also incorrectly
stated RHA and OCA members
work with the Department of
Parking, Transit and Traffic
Services to distribute parking
spaces. In actuality, two members
each from RHA, OCA and Stu
dent Government serve on the
Parking Oversight Committee,
which recommends parking
changes to the DPTTS, RHA
President Kyle Jacobson said.
Jacobson also said a statement
about the 24-hour visitation pol
icy recently implemented in two
halls was misleading. The RHA
general assembly passed the pol
icy for Epright and Wells resi
dence halls, whose hall councils
drafted the policy. RHA then rec
ommended it to Student Affairs,
which implemented the policy for
the two Southside co-ed halls.
Iraqi troops seize fleeing refugees;
mothers, wives given no explanation
KHAFJI, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Iraqi troops Monday
randomly seized young men among the thousands of
refugees fleeing Kuwait but let their sobbing wives,
mothers and other women go, refugees said.
“My boy! My boy!” one woman shrieked, beating her
hands on her chest as she described watching her 17-
year-old son disappear.
“We were just sitting in the car and they put a gun to
his face,” said the 45-year-old woman named Fatima,
tears streaming down her face. “The soldier said if he
didn’t come now we will shoot him.”
Aziza Abdullah, 18, cried for her 23-year-old hus
band, also grabbed at gunpoint from their car. “I’ve
only been married a month,” she sobbed.
Refugees said busloads of men between the ages of
17 and 40 were seen being shipped north, toward Iraq.
No explanation was given. Other young men were al
lowed to pass through.
Many refugees feared the detained would be killed,
and they mentioned the names of cousins or friends
who were shot on suspicion of resisting the Iraqi occu
pation.
“Every five minutes there is a new rule. First the
women and children can leave, but no men,” said a
member of the Kuwaiti government committee helping
screen the refugees. “Five minutes later, everyone can
leave.”
The soldiers manning Iraqi border posts confiscated
passports and other documents, forcing some people to
wait outside the border crossing for more than 24 hours
as their identification was checked for entry into Saudi
Arabia.
iepartment deputy spokesman Richard
Boucher said the confiscation of identity papers “is an
ominous sign that these citizens of Kuwait may not be
allowed to return to their homes.”
The refugees were barred from immediately leaving
the city of Khafji. Parking lots, beaches and all public
buildings spilled over with the Kuwaitis.
Since Iraq on Saturday unexpectedly opened the bor
der for the first time in more than a month, about 6,000
refugees have entered Saudi Arabia, said the vice gov
ernor of the Eastern Province, Prince Fahd bin Salman.
“It’s just a slow process for security reasons,” Prince
Fahd said during an inspection tour of the border post.
Many arrived only with IDs issued by Iraq, he said.
“We are trying to make sure that nothing is smuggled
into the country,” he said. “They could use this oppor
tunity for anything.”
To get the refugees out of the 114-degree heat and
swirling dust of a major sandstorm, they were trans
ported to air-conditioned schools where they will be fed
and housed until they have all been processed, the
prince said.
Many refugees came up to the prince to kiss his nose
or cloak as a show of respect. Some begged him to inter
cede to get them into the country more rapidly.
“Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid,” he assured them.
Refugees said the Iraqis turned back all non-Kuwaitis
except for a few Western women married to Kuwaiti
citizens.
In Kuwait, the refugees said, manhunts targeted po
lice and military officers, as well as any Westerners still
left in Kuwait.
Air F orce chief
fired by Cheney
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense
Secretary Dick Cheney fired Gen.
Mike Dugan as Air Force chief of
staff Monday after Dugan’s public
comments about contingency plans
to unleash massive air raids on Irqq
and to target Saddam Hussein per
sonally.
Dugan, in the top Air Force job
only three months, violated Penta
gon rules by publicly discussing
likely military targets inside Iraq and
disclosing classified information
about the size of U.S. forces in the
gulf area, Cheney said.
“There are certain things we
never talk about,” Cheney said in ex
plaining his decision to fire Dugan.
He cited “operational matters” such
as the selection of specific targets for
potential air strikes and the target
ing of foreign leaders.
“Gen. Dugan’s statements as re-
E orted in the press and as confirmed
y him to me — failed all of those
tests,” Cheney said.
Dugan was away from the Penta
gon on Monday and not available for
comment, his office said.
The Air Force chief took the job
in July and quickly gained a reputa
tion for openness with the news me
dia and the Congress. One gesture
that illustrated this departure from
past Air Force practice was Dugan’s
decision to give defense reporters
laminated cards listing his office
hone number and the numbers of
is chief aides.
Dugan, 53, retains his four-star
rank, but he is expected to retire.
“Protocol demands that he retire,”
a Pentagon source said. “There’s no
job in the Air Force he could really
hold now.”
A senior Defense Department of
ficial said Cheney fired the general
not simply because Dugan spoke
openly to the news media but be
cause he said things for which he
had no authority.
“It’s saying things that aren’t true;
it’s saying things that weren’t his de
cision to make,” said the official, who
spoke on the condition of anonym
ity. “He’s not in the operational
chain of command, and the idea
whether Saddam Hussein is person
ally targeted — those are decisions
that are up to the president to
make.”
Cheney fired Dugan after confer
ring with President Bush.
Before becoming Air Force chief
of staff, Dugan was commander in
chief of U.S. Air Forces in Europe.
He was a combat pilot in the Viet
nam War, flying 300 missions.
Dugan’s controversial comments,
reported Sunday by the Los Angeles
Times and the Washington Post,
were made during the Air Force
chiefs trip to and from Saudi Ara
bia, where he visited Air Force units
deployed as part of Operation De
sert Shield.
Dugan told the newspapers that if
the United States and Iraq went to
war, the Pentagon planned to un
leash an air campaign designed to
“decapitate” the Iraqi leadership by-
targeting President Saddam Hus
sein, his family and even his mis
tress.
Worn-out photocopiers
replaced by new models
By JAMES M. LOVE
Of The Battalion Staff
After more than three years of
almost constant use, the weary
hotocopiers in Texas A&M’s
terling C. Evans Library recently
were replaced with 22 new mod
els.
A! Posey, Copy Center man
ager, says the life of a library pho
tocopier is not more than three
years.
“They are used almost 24
hours a day and sooner or later
have to be replaced,” he says.
Posey says he is pleased with
the University’s new three-year
contract with New Superior
Images. The University pre
viously was under a four-year
contract with Texas Copy.
“We were happy we were able
to keep the same 5-cent copy pri
ce,” he says. “Many companies
considered were asking for 10-
cent copies.
“These new machines are not
fancier or anything, but they are
simpler to operate and less intim
idating to the user.”
He says most students making
copies are copying material from
books and are not interested in
features such as enlarging. The
machines copy letter- and legal-
size documents.
“Most* of all, they just work bet
ter,” he says. “This is the first
time in a long time all the ma
chines in the library have worked
at the same time.”
Posey also says a trained tech
nician is in the library during the
day and is on call at night in case
any copiers malfunction.
“Students are too busy to have
to wait and look for a copier that
is working,” he says. “Last year
was the worst because the copiers
were old and frequently breaking
down and A&M had a big in
crease in students.”
Express copiers have been la
beled for those making only from
one to 10 copies, he says.
“This was done to help those
students in a hurry and only mak
ing a few copies,” Posey says.
Another advantage of the new
copiers is that all library copiers
are adapted for the vendi-card
system.
Vendi-cards have magnetically
recorded amounts and can be
purchased in the library. The
card is inserted into the copiers as
a method of payment.
Posey said the system is popu
lar on campus.
Supreme Court nominee Souter
‘virtually assured’ confirmation
WASHINGTON (AP) — Su
preme Court nominee David H.
Souter said Monday at his confirma
tion hearings that letting states out
law abortion might cast doubts on
other privacy rights. Senators told
Souter, testifying on his 51st birth
day, that his confirmation was vir
tually assured.
During a third day of Senate Judi
ciary Committee questioning on con
troversial issues he would face as a
justice, Souter said he opposes a ju
dicial ban on the death penalty.
He continued to dodge questions
concerning his views on abortion but
did address the privacy-rights issue
and said his personal feelings on
abortion would not keep him from
taking part in Supreme Court deci
sions on the subject.
“A lot of people have the feeling
that your confirmation process is
over,” Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa.,
told Souter at one point.
Sen. Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz.,
told the New Hampshire judge, “I
believe you will be confirmed.”
Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and
Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, also
voiced confidence about Souter’s
success. But committee chairman Jo
seph Biden, D-Del., said some sen
ators, including himself, remain un
decided.
The 14-member committee will
send its recommendation to the full
Senate for a confirmation vote Bi
den indicated might come “in two or
three weeks.”
Asked whether he believes the
death penalty violates the Constitu
tion’s ban on cruel and unusual pun
ishment, Souter said, “I think that
would be an insupportable constitu
tional conclusion. That is an opinion
I could not join.”
Retired Supreme Court Justice
William J. Brennan, whom Souter
was picked by President Bush to re
lace, held such a view. The only
igh court justice remaining who op
poses capital punishment under all
circumstances is Thurgood Mar
shall.
But the court now is far more clo
sely divided on its 1973 abortion-le
galizing decision, Roe vs. Wade, and
Souter again Monday turned aside
questions about his personal views
on that topic.
Pressed by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-
Vt., Souter did say his personal be
liefs would not keep him from par
ticipating in abortion decisions on
the high court.