The Battalion
Rumors of war
Nation hopes, prays for peace
Associated Press
Church bells pealed for peace.
Demonstrators pleaded for peace.
But the United States on Tuesday
rasa nation preoccupied with war.
As the hours dwindled before the
expiration of a United Nations dead-
Sne for Iraq to leave Kuwait, police
icross the nation prepared for ter
rorist strikes and soldiers’ relatives
prayed and waited.
Even Mister Rogers, the children’s
television show host, joined the grim
preparations by taping messages de
signed to help children cope with
rar.
Anti-war protests continued in
virtually every large city. In San
Francisco, more than 400 people
were arrested by riot-clad police who
used clubs and chemical Mace to
dear the streets of demonstrators.
The arrests occurred after several
thousand protesters, some zipped
into body bags, blockaded the en
trance to the downtown Federal
Building. Among those arrested was
Associated Press photographer Sal
Veder, who was covering the dem
onstration and was caught in the po
lice sweep.
Estimates of the crowd size
ranged from 3,000 to 10,000.
“This is our only hope,” said Darla
Rucker, a spokeswoman for the anti
war group, Pledge of Resistance.
“We’re on our way to war, and civil
unrest is the only thing that will stop
it.”
“It’s a desperate time. We did
what we can,” said Brian Terrell,
one of two demonstrators who dis
rupted Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad’s
state-of-the-state address in Des
Moines.
Protesters in some cities took note
of the fact that Tuesday was the
birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther
King Jr., although the federal holi
day commemorating his birth is not
until next Monday.
About 100 protesters gathered in
downtown Chicago to take turns
reading from sections of a speech of
King’s against the Vietnam War.
“It is appalling that Martin Luther
King’s birthday should be used as
the date when George Bush says this
country is going to go to war,” said
Barry Romo of Vietnam Veterans
Against the War, which organized
the demonstration.
In Washington, National Park po
lice arrested 55 demonstrators who
sat and lay on the sidewalk in front
of the White House. They were
taken to National Park Service head
quarters and released without
charges, according to Maj. William
Spruill of the Park Police.
The protesters at the White
House included students from
George Washington Junior High
School who chanted, “One, two,
three, four, we don’t want your stu
pid war.” Some marchers substituted
an obscene word for “stupid.”
In New York City, more than
5,000 people gathered outside the
United Nations for a demonstration
sponsored by the African American
Coalition Against U.S. Intervention.
At least 30 people were arrested for
blocking traffic and disorderly con
duct, police said.
In part of a worldwide appeal for
peace, church bells rang at noon at
Atlanta’s historic Shrine of the Im
maculate Conception, where a small
crowd of demonstrators rang hand
bells and prayed.
Airports, nuclear power plants
and military installations improved
security and increased surveillance.
In Washington, extra police were
posted at the Capitol. Even members
of Congress were required to show
identification cards.
Detroit’s Big Three automakers
announced they were tightening se
curity at their plants worldwide. The
New York Stock Exchange began
double-checking IDs and barred
lunch-time food couriers.
The Coast Guard announced it
was improving security to defend
against seaborne incursions.
“The Coast Guard is taking se
riously the threats that have come
from the Middle East,” said Chief
Warrant Officer George Hornbeck,
commanding officer of the guard’s
Yaquina Bay Station in Oregon.
Advertisers began reconsidering
whether they wanted to spend more
than $800,000 for a 30-second com
mercial in the Jan. 27 Super Bowl.
Fans might be preoccupied with war.
War threatens to weaken United Nations coalition
HOUSTON (AP) — The pressure to break up
the American-led multinational coalition against
Iraq will escalate the longer the war continues in
the Persian Gulf, former defense secretary James
Schlesinger said Tuesday.
“We must recognize we are fighting a coalition
«ar and it is essential to maintain the cohesive
ness of the coalition,” Schlesinger said in an ad
dress to The Forum Club of Houston. “Other
wise, the Middle East will turn more hostile to us.
“The longer the bombardment goes on, the
greater the strain on the coalition. As soon as the
rictims of damage from the American bombard
ment are seen on Stockholm TV, on Parisian TV
...support is likely to fade. From the day the war
commences, the coalition is in trouble,” said
Schlesinger, also a former Central Intelligence
Agency director and secretary of energy.
Schlesinger, now with the Center for Strategic
and International Studies and a senior adviser to
the investment banking firm of Lehman Broth-
“As soon as the victims of
damage from the American
bombardment are seen on
Stockholm TV, on Parisian TV
... support is likely to fade.
From the day the war
commences, the coalition is in
trouble.”
— James Schlesinger,
former defense secretary
ers, was CIA director from 1973 until he took
over the Defense Department in 1975. The fol
lowing year, he became assistant to President
Carter and set up the Department of Energy,
where he served as secretary until 1979.
Schlesinger predicted Iraqi leader Saddam
Hussein would embark on terrorism and sab
otage and try to lure Israel into the fighting as a
means of dismantling the fragile United Nations
coalition against Iraq.
“He is prepared for what for him is likely to be
a suicidal war,” he said, adding that Saddam
would view a strike against Israel as very attrac
tive.
Schlesinger said Syria could turn against the
coalition and that the pressure would be great on
Egypt to do the same.
“Israel is perceived as an enemy of the Arab
peoples,” he said. “If the Israelis are smart, they
will wait for the U.S. to demolish the air defense
capabilities of Iraq. In my judgment, the Israelis
will follow a prudent course.”
Echoing sentiments of President Bush and
Secretary of State James Baker, he said Saddam
miscalculated when Iraqi forces moved into Ku
wait in August.
GyUDgy^lppmente
• The State Department
ordered all but four Iraqi
diplomats to leave the coun
try by midnight Jan. 15, to
prevent them from “orches
trating” terror acts.
• Rep. Henry B. Gonzalez
called for the impeachment
of President Busn Tuesday,
saying the massive military
build-up in the Persian Gulf
and potential for tens of
thousands of civilian casual
ties amount to an unconsti
tutional “king-made” war.
• In the hours before Iraq’s
deadline for abandoning
Kuwait, the price of oil slid
back Tuesday as traders
clung to hopes of a last-min
ute peaceful solution.
Iraqis support
Hussein’s plan
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Thou
sands of Iraqis marched in cities
across the nation Tuesday and
pledged to give their lives for Sad
dam Hussein in a war against the al
lied forces.
Thousands of others crammed
buses and cars to flee the capital in
the last hours before the U.N. dead
line for Iraq to leave Kuwait elapsed
at midnight Tuesday, or 8 a.m. local
time.
“The holy war is about to begin,”
said one demonstrator in Baghdad,
waving his AK-47 rifle. His son, who
was about 10 years old, held a shoul
der bag brimming with ammunition.
Officials of the ruling Baath Arab
Socialist Party said similar demon
strations were held in the major cit
ies of Karbala, Basra and Mosul, and
that altogether at least 5 million of
Iraq’s 18 million people took part.
In Baghdad, a city of 4 million,
the marchers included government
officials, students and housewives.
“We will die for you, Saddam,”
women carrying rifles shouted.
Others in Arab robes danced with
pitchforks and swords.
Most shops in Baghdad were
closed.
U.S. increases
security against
terrorist threat
WASHINGTON (AP) — From
the dome of the Capitol to the skys
crapers of Wall Street, Americans
braced Tuesday for the unfamiliar
threat of terrorism.
Iraqi officials have warned that a
U.S. attack would unleash a wave of
terrorism against Americans. And
government officials say that al
though most their information
points to attacks on Americans
abroad, they're not taking any
chances.
“There is increased security” at
the White House, said presidential
spokesman Marlin Fitzwater, includ
ing more uniformed officers and
closer inspection of people entering
the grounds. A chest-high fence was
erected on Pennsylvania Avenue
across from the White House, where
anti-war protesters gathered.
The Pentagon canceled all un
scheduled building tours as it im
proved security.
New York City police opened a
terrorism 911 hotline and a joint
command center with 15 other agen
cies, including the FBI, to gather in
telligence and help businesses and
government agencies with security
problems.
The New York Stock Exchange
double-checked IDs and barred
lunch-time food couriers.
“It’s been our experience that
they (the Iraqis) don’t always make
empty threats,” said one counter-ter
rorism official.
s Neil Gallagher, an FBI counter
terrorism expert, said Iraqi agents in
the past have attacked Iraqi dissi
dents in the United States. He de
clined to elaborate.
Lack of experience with terrorism
and the open nature of U.S. society
make Americans particularly vulner
able.
An unattended bag left in a sub
way car or post office in major U.S.
cities may not elicit any reaction.
The Washington Metropolitan
Area Transit Authority has not
taken any special steps to deal with
the possibility of a terrorist attack on
public transit in the nation’s capital,
said spokeswoman Marilyn Dicus.
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