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The Battalion
Vol. 90 No. 88 USPS 045360 10 Pages
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, February 6, 1991
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USS Missouri fires on Kuwait
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JORDAN < s 7>
IRAQ
Baghdad
DETAIL
MAP
British Embassy
Rashid HotaKA,
Al-Mansour Hotel
100av*e. SAU0| ;. v
U.S. Embassy
100 km.
Saddam’s
Palace
A retieat home
Presidential
Compound
Family compound,
some government
buildings In the area
AIRPORT
ARABIA
Tigris River
Euphrates River
DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Allied
warplanes and the USS Missouri’s mighty
guns shattered the morning peace from
Baghdad to Kuwait’s shores Tuesday.
The U.S. command reported the Missou
ri’s 16-inch guns opened up twice overnight
— once with six rounds that knocked out
part of a long-range Iraqi artillery battery
shelling coalition troops across the border
in Saudi Arabia, and once with 28 rounds
that destroyed an Iraqi radar site.
At midday Tuesday, the Missouri could
be seen off KhaQi, in Saudi Arabia’s north
east corner, firing its guns toward the Ku
waiti coastline again, an informed source
reported.
In another move Tuesday, Iraq banned
sales of heating oil and other fuel to its in
creasingly desperate people.
Baghdad said 428 civilians have been
killed thus far in what the official radio con
demned as “savage” bombing.
The Syrian contingent in Operation De
sert Storm engaged in its first combat, driv
ing 30 Iraqi intruders back into Kuwait with
artillery fire, Saudi officials reported.
In telephone calls and private meetings,
diplomats and government leaders con
ferred on Monday’s bid by Iranian Presi
dent Hashemi Rafsanjani to mediate a Per
sian Gulf peace.
The Soviets and Turks signaled support
for Iran’s initiative. In Washington, how
ever, President Bush said he had seen no
Iranian peace plan and saw nothing to ne
gotiate with Iraqi President Saddam Hus
sein.
“He’s got to say, Tm going to get out of
Kuwait,’ now, fast,” Bush said.
The U.S. chief executive said he was
sending the Pentagon’s top leadership —
Defense Secretary Dick Cheney and Gen.
Colin L. Powell — to the war zone this week
to assess how the U.S.-led offensive is pro
gressing.
The U.S. command reported another
2,000-sortie day in the Desert Storm air
war, and said American warplanes took
special aim again at the dug-in Republican
Guard, backbone of the Iraqi defense of
Kuwait.
• Six “packages” of B-52 strategic bombers
struck Guard positions, the command said.
It said U.S. warplanes also continued fo
cusing on resupply lines to the Iraqi troops
in Kuwait and southern Iraq, striking a 25-
truck convoy in one instance late Monday.
British officers reported strikes on an am
munition storage site south of Baghdad,
and a railway junction and rail bridge in
southeast Iraq, among other targets.
They said one-third of the key bridges in
Iraq have been destroyed.
A key U.S. Air Force commander, Col.
John McBroom of the First Tactical Fighter
Wing, told reporters Tuesday some Iraqi
ground units’ fighting “capabilities” were
cut in half by air strikes. American com
manders say they want the attacks on ar
mored vehicles and bunkers to reduce Iraqi
fighting power by half before they will or
der a U.S. ground offensive against the
half-million-man army assembled in Kuwait
and southern Iraq.
“The air war is absolutely getting to
him,” McBroom said.
In Baghdad, post-midnight explosions
shattered windows and shook residents
from their beds for another early morning
spent in basement shelters.
Witnesses said at least four allied missiles
hit the city, Associated Press correspondent
Salah Nasrawi reported from the Iraqi capi
tal. They said one was at a military site.
Baghdadis were told by official radio
Tuesday that all fuel sales to civilians had
been banned.
¥
Gorbachev
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Gorbachev
denounces
Baltic vote
MOSCOW (AP) — Mikhail S.
Gorbachev stepped up his war of
words with Lithuanian leaders on
Tuesday by re
jecting their inde
pendence poll set
for Saturday and
ordering instead
a Kremlin-con
trolled referen
dum.
Lithuanian
President Vytau-
tas Landsbergis
insisted the non
binding ballot
would be held as
planned.
“Lithuania is in observance of law
... and views the president’s decree
as impermissible political interfer
ence in the matters of the sovereign
Lithuanian state,” he said in a
statement read by spokeswoman
Rita Dapkus.
The decree followed Gorbachev’s
order for new talks with the Baltics
I and seemed a clear attempt to force
■ Lithuanians to seek independence
I only on the Kremlin’s terms. The de-
jcree did not threaten any action if
the poll was held, indicating only
| that the Kremlin would not accept its
results.
“The poll and the attempt to call it
a ‘plebiscite on the future of the
Lithuania state’ (are) legally invalid,”
jl his decree said, according to the
>■ state news agency Tass.
The poll “cannot be seen as any-
jthing other than an attempt to block
... the holding of a national referen
dum on the question of preserving
See Gorbachev/Page 9
A&M doctor
3 probes AIDS,
“-“-ifmedical ethics
By Julie Myers
Of The Battalion Staff
itfil The AIDS epidemic has pre-
^ ; sented new dilemmas to health care
Providers, said a Texas A&M profes-
IBorof medical ethics.
Dr. Don Self, head of the humani-
iftes in medicine department at the
in&M College of Medicine, ad-
Wressed “Ethics in medicine and the
|! AIDS crisis” Tuesday during a meet-
ling of the Pre-medical/Pre-dental
■Society.
I AIDS, acquired immune defi-
js” I ciency syndrome, presents a conflict
t | between the safety of the public and
jphe medical community and the
ji rights of the individual, Self said.
Because of this conflict, hospitals
and their employees are experienc-
[ing a combination of problems. Self
IHaid these include:
I I • An eight-fold increase in work-
|B>ad over the past two years. AIDS is
da labor intensive disease.
• An unbalanced medical educa-
fcon. AIDS research predominates in
llburnals and conferences.
• Decreasing resident autonomy,
ecause AIDS patients take much
d space in internal medicine hos-
j j pital units, doctors must supervise
r Scents more closely.
^=3000 I « fear of transmission.
ierS. I • Frustration with the limits of
r | ne g | technology and its inability to solve
ifce AIDS epidemic quickly, unlike
jnoxic Shock Syndrome or Legion-
See Ethics/Page 9
—lersj
;eni
Riding out fthc* st©i*m
MIKE C. MULVEY/The Battalion
James Schroter, an A&M Cycling Team member, stormy sky. Schroter didn’t mind the showers af-
rides on Highway 60 Tuesday afternoon under a ter traveling 75 miles with the team last Sunday.
Faulty radar blamed in crash
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The air traffic controller
who placed a US Air jet and a Skywest commuter plane
on a crash course was hindered by broken radar and
confusion caused by a third plane, investigators said
Tuesday.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators
probing Friday night’s runway crash at Los Angeles In
ternational Airport that killed 34 people also found
communication problems with the airport fire depart
ment.
The unidentified controller handling the USAir Boe
ing 737 with 89 people aboard and the Skywest Met-
roliner with 12 people aboard has not been interviewed,
NTSB investigator Jim Burnett said.
She will not be interviewed until all other controllers
and her supervisor have been questioned, Burnett said.
“She’s subject to medical availability,” he said, but he
wouldn’t elaborate on what that meant.
Eight survivors of the USAir jet remain hospitalized,
one in serious condition.
The controller was responsible for runways on the
north side of the airport. A ground surveillance radar
used by controllers to determine where planes were on
the field was functioning but the indicator at the posi
tion used by the north side controller was out of service,
Burnett said.
The south side indicator was functioning.
“The local controller handling the (USAir and Sky
west) aircraft could not have observed the south indica
tor without unplugging her head set and getting up
from the position, basically leaving her position, so that
was not a practical thing to do,” Burnett said.
Burnett also detailed a communication problem with
a Wings West Metroliner commuter plane that oc
curred in the moments before the USAir and Skywest
planes collided.
The first officer of the Wings West plane had the
ability to monitor the local air traffic control frequency
while talking to that airline’s airport facility, but made a
switching error that turned off the tower frequency.
MSC head promotes
leadership, balance;
challenges students
By Jayme Blaschke
Of The Battalion Staff
Newly selected MSC President Chris Britton said Tuesday he wants to
develop more leadership and balance in the 1991 MSC Council and con
tinue the MSC’s tradition of great programs.
Britton, a junior agriculture development major from Cleburne, said
he looks forward to working with Texas A&M students involved with the
Student Programs Office.
“My number one goal is to challenge students involved in the Memorial
Student Center to develop excellence within themselves,” he said.
MSC Student Programs made its first selection Monday by naming
Britton president. The student council will continue its search for other
MSC officers during the next four weeks.
Britton said the importance of balancing MSC programs, academic
success and having a social life is one thing that has to be stressed.
Having a good balance is necessary for developing leadership skills, he
said.
“In the next selection rounds, we want to look at students interested in
leadership positions in an objective, impartial manner, and hopefully pro
vide them some insight into their character,” he said.
Strong leadership is essential to continue the MSC’s reputation of ex-
See President/Page 9
ExCEL gives assistance
to minority freshmen
By Katherine Coffey
Of The Battalion Staff
A Texas A&M freshmen orienta
tion program is looking for people
interested in helping minority stu
dents excel at the university level.
ExCEL — Excellence uniting Cul
ture, Education and Leadership — is
the name of the three-year-old pro
gram started by the director of De
partment of Multicultural Services
Kevin Carreathers.
Applications for ExCEL ’91 will
be available beginning Feb. 20 for
students interested in serving as as
sistants in the program.
Darron Edwards, executive direc
tor of ExCEL, says the program is
intended to focus on different cul
tures.
“What we are stressing is for peo
ple to identify ways to preserve their
cultural identity and heritage,” Ed
ward says. “It is also meant for stu
dents to appreciate and understand
See ExCEL/Page 9
Funniest People
holds auditions
in Flagroom
Some of America’s funniest peo
ple are waiting to be discovered at
Texas A&M.
The producers of ABC’s Ameri
ca’s Funniest People will audition
A&M students from 10 a.m. to 3
p.m. Friday in the MSC Flagroom.
KTSR Star 92 disc jockey Bobby
“Slam” Duncan also will broadcast
live from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the
MSC.
Contestants appearing on the
weekly show have a chance to win a
$10,000 first prize, or second and
third prizes worth $3,000 and
$2,000, respectively.
Duncan says the show’s producer
obviously believed there are some
prospects at A&M for the show. ■
Anne Harding, MSC recreation
chairwoman and senior jounalism
major, said the show auditions at
many colleges and universities.
They also will audition Baylor
University students while in Texas.
Harding says the crew will video
tape each audition in the Flagroom
and edit the tape in Los Angeles.
The ABC crew apparently stays
away from major metropolitan cen
ters, like Houston, and concentrates
See Funniest/Page 9
Inside
2 Larry Cox^> We asked
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H Wudel O What's Up
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A&M students
give their views
on a state tax
increase to fund
education
reforms. page