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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 31, 1991)
The Battalion Fighting traffic A&M study shows congestion decreased in Texas cities See Page 3 Vol. 90 No. 84 CJSPS 045360 10 Pages College Station, Texas Thursday, January 31, 1991 11 U.S. MARINES KILLED U.S. forces fire missiles to halt tanks DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Eleven Marines were killed, two were injured and heavy Iraqi casual ties were reported Wednesday in the heaviest ground fighting so far in the Persian Gulf war, U.S. military officials said. The Marines were the first Ameri can ground forces to die in battle in the 2-week-old war with Iraq. The battle, which started Tuesday night, began when Iraqi tanks were spotted moving into Saudi Arabia. U.S. Marines fired anti-tank weapons and called in air strikes to repel an assault by tank-led Iraqi forces. As the fighting intensified, allied troops engaged Iraqi soldiers along a 25-mile long front extending from Kuwait’s A1 Wafra oil field to the abandoned Saudi border town of Khafji, a Saudi military spokesman said. At a news conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, U.S. commander Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf said 24 Iraqi tanks were destroyed by allied forces. By late afternoon, about 50 Iraqi troops in armored personnel car riers were holding central Khafji, said U.S. Marines and Saudi troops deployed on the outskirts of the town. It was the first time Iraq held any Saudi territory since the war be- See Clash/Page 9 SCOTT D. WEAVER/The Battalion Peter Elgohary, a sophomore petroleum engineering major from dan Wyly, a graduate student from College Station, during a pro- Houston, uses the U.S. flag to knock down a sign carried by Ben- troop rally Wednesday in the MSC. Allied troops storm town held by Iraq KHAFJI, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi-led allied forces stormed the Iraqi-held Saudi frontier town of Khafji on Wednesday night, but it was unclear whether they took the town or were driven off by Iraqi forces. Some light armored Saudi forces made it in to the center of the city, but other allied forces, including U.S. Marines, were forced into a feverish retreat when pelted by Iraqi rocket fire just south of the city. Marines said the Saudis had made it deep into Khafji and had engaged Iraqi forces, who had taken the bor der town early Wednesday in the first major ground battle of the Gulf War. It was unclear early today whether the Saudis held the town or were forced out. About an hour after the 11 p.m. (2 p.m. GST) attack, much of the al lied attacking force retreated. Seve ral armored Saudi ambulances and troop transports rushed toward the town. The attack began after 15 minutes of heavy Marine artillery fire de signed to soften up the Iraqi de fenses. Dozens of light armored person nel carriers and Qatar army MAX- 30 tanks lined the north-south high way and proceeded toward Khafji. Just as the convoy reached the city lines, Iraqi positions to the north and northwest pelted the vehicles with what Marines said were rocket-pro pelled grenades. HFV V- VI ■ - ^ SI*- I? 1 ^ ^ IfesMi Tv ^V ; ,'V^PW' ' ■' I ^ V-l- FREDRICK D. JOE/The Battalion A&M oceanography professor S.Z. El-Sayed, War with Iraq” at the An Nam Tea House an Arab-American who has been in the U.S. Wednesday night. History department protes tor 38 years, participates in the “Teach-in on sors and local residents also spoke. Teach-in gives faculty, students chance to air views on Gulf crisis By BRIDGET HARROW Of The Battalion Staff Texas A&M faculty members and students expressed their views Wednesday night at a teach-in on why the Persian Gulf War began, and what can be done to achieve and keep peace. About 150 people gathered at An Nam Tea House to hear speak ers talk about personal experi ences of war, religious values, and the effect of the Persian Gulf War on the environment. Master of ceremonies Suzanne Chase, a sophomore political sci ence major, has a 19-year-old brother stationed in Saudi Arabia. Chase said the teach-in was about “facing the facts” concerning the United States’ actions in the Per sian Gulf War. “Our purpose here tonight is not to look back on what we should have done or what means we could have taken to avoid the war from happening,” Chase said. “But rather, we are gathered here to discuss the present and the future.” Terry Anderson, associate pro fessor of history at A&M, said he thinks the United States rushed into war because of the impending 1992 presidential election. “(Bush) would be another presi- “The greatest tragedy of American foreign policy is that we never tried to adopt democratic policies in the Arab world." — Sayed El-Sayed, oceanography professor dent who did not lose the war,” Anderson said. “And of course, we only lost one, right?” Anderson, a veteran of the Viet nam War, said the Persian Gulf War is unlike Vietnam for several reasons — this time the United States knows who the enemy is, this War is not a civil war and the Moslem culture is familiar to Americans whereas the Buddhist culture in Vietnam was not. Anderson said that questions arising about the Persian Gulf War, however, are the same ques tions that arose in the Vietnam War. ‘What are the war aims?,’ ‘What is patriotism?’ and ‘Does it mean if you do not support the com mander-in-chief you do not sup port the troops?’ are some of the questions still being asked, Ander son said. Sayed El-Sayed, a professor of oceanography, said he believes the United States’ actions in the Mid dle East is an example of coloni alism revisted. El-Sayed, born and raised in Egypt, became a natural ized U.S. citizen and has been tea ching at A&M since 1961. He said Arab countries have suffered at the hands of the Brit ish, the French and now the United States. He said Bush had an opportunity to put some sem blance of order in the Middle East, but instead chose to wage war. “The greatest tragedy of Ameri can foreign policy is that we never tried to adopt democratic policies in the Arab world,” El-Sayed said. He said he has nothing good to say about Saddam Hussein, but he believes the war in the gulf is es sentially an Arab problem not to be solved by outsiders, including the United States. Another speaker, Floyd Wells, Commander of the local Disabled Veterans of America, said he be lieves no one really knows why the United States is fighting in the Middle East, but it is going to re quire “grassroots” organization to acquire and preserve peace. “Get involved at the community See Teach-in/Page 9 Former war correspondent says censorship efforts may backfire By JULIE MYERS Of The Battalion Staff Efforts to censor the Persian Gulf conflict and di vorce Americans from the realities of war likely will backfire, resulting in a backlash of war protest, says a former Vietnam war correspondent. “The ability to wage war has always depended on the public not understanding the (emotional) implications of war,” says Dr. Charles Self, head of Texas A&M’s De partment of Journalism. People die during wartime and television delivered this reality to the doorsteps of Americans during the Vietnam war. Support for the Vietnam conflict eroded when bloody images on television combined with the lack of a widely accepted justification for war, Self says. After viewing casualties on television, rational rea sons did not seem valid, only the emotional aspects of war were obvious, Self says. “Soldiers who have been in wars are those most anx ious to avoid war because they do understand the impli cations,” Self says. Self worked as a reporter for several newspapers, United Press International and as a correspondent for the Pacific edition of the Stars and Stripes during the Vietnam conflict. Self has spent most of the last 20 years at the Univer sity of Alabama as a journalism educator and re- See Media/Page 9 Conference highlights Hispanics By BRIDGET HARROW Of The Battalion Staff Prominent Hispanics from across the state and nation, including the former U.S. Secretary of Education, will highlight a two-day lecture series this weekend at Texas A&M. “Hispanics ... Success in the ’90s” is the theme of the series sponsored by the MSC Committee for the Awareness of Mexican American Culture (CAMAC). Speakers at the annual conference will discuss topics of interest to His panics, says Georgette Lopez- Aguado, CAMAC president. “We are in a new decade — 1990s,” Lopez-Aguado says. “His panics are the fastest-growing mi nority group, especially in this state.” Lopez-Aguado says CAMAC members wanted speakers to cover six areas of interests to Hispanics: business, higher education, law, me dia, medicine and politics. Guest speakers for the conference will include: • Elma Barrera, a newcaster for KTRK-TV in Houston. • Domingo Cabrera, A&M staff physician. • Norma Cantu, regional counsel for the Mexican-American Legal De fense and Education Fund (MAL- DEF). • Carlos Montemayor, chief exec utive officer for Montemayor Y Aso- ciados in San Antonio. • Alvaro Pereira, executive direc tor for the Republican National His panic Assembly in Washington, D.C. • Linda Rodriguez, president of the Texas Association of Chicanes in Higher Education. See Hispanics/Page 9 Inmate acquitted Prisoner escapes death penalty, remains jailed on former charge HUNTSVILLE (AP) — An inmate sentenced to death for killing a fellow prisoner in Texas prison gang violence had his death sentence thrown out Wednesday by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which also ordered an acquittal in the case. “It’s no surprise,” inmate Tony Rice, 33, said after learning of the appeals court decision. “Naturally, it would be ironic to say I’m not re lieved. It was just a question of when it would come. It’s a nice way for my family to start the decade.” Rice was one of four inmates on death row for ^ang-related slay ings. In winning the capital murder convictions, Special Texas Depart ment of Corrections Prosecutor David Weeks alleged they committed murders for paybacks that gang leaders offered in several ways, includ ing advancement, protection and personal favors. But Rice contended, and the Court of Criminal Appeals agreed, that evidence presented by Weeks was insufficient to show Rice would be in line for a reward from a gang known as the “Texas Mafia” if he killed fellow gang member David “Rope” Robidoux. “There was no evidence presented that a specific promise existed between appellant (Rice) and the ’Texas Mafia,’ ” the opinion wi itten by Judge Morris Overstreet, stated. “That is, there was no agreement, even an implicit one, that the appellant would receive compensation or a greater share of the gang’s profits for specifically killing Robidoux.” The prosecutor was infuriated. “This is appalling, just absolutely appalling,” Weeks said. “That is not justice. It’s not the way the law is supposed to work. “To think that a case done as brutally as this one — that he’s going to walk —just shocks my conscience. We will certainly file a motion for rehearing and take every step we can to see that this is reversed or at the very least, that he can be tried for the lesser offense. My understanding of the opinion is that there is no question that he committed the mur der. I’m just sick.” Robidoux was suspected by gang members at the Eastham Unit of being an informer and died Dec. 16, 1984 of 28 stab wounds from a knife made from a brass rod used in a toilet. Rice was charged with the slaying, convicted and sentenced to death. “If you tell me I’m guilty of allegedly murdering this individual for remuneration or the promise of remuneration and you don’t tell me who the remuneration came from, then how am I supposed to know or even prepare a defense against that kind of allegation,” Rice said. “'I hat’s impossible.” Rice, who already was serving 99 years for murder plus 15 years for burglary, said despite Wednesday’s ruling, it’s likely he never will be free. But he expressed disappointment the case ever went to trial and blamed Weeks, who was elected Walker County district attorney last year after campaigning that he brought people like Rice to justice.