The Battalion
Vol.90 No. 108 GSPS 045360 10 Pages College Station, Texas Wednesday, March 6,1991
Iraq liberates remaining allied POWs
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush ad
ministration said Tuesday it would steer
clear of the civil strife that has hit Iraq fol
lowing the Gulf War and warned Iraq’s
neighbors to do the same. The Pentagon
made plans to welcome home up to 15,000
veterans of the war during the next week.
White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwa-
ter said the administration welcomed the
release of 35 American and allied POWs to
Red Cross officials in Baghdad.
Pentagon spokesman Pete Williams said
the POWs, of which 15 are Americans, will
be flown out of Baghdad on Wednesday af
ter an allied transport carries 294 Iraqi
POWs back home. He said poor weather
had delayed the exchange, which had been
scheduled for Tuesday.
Maj. Gen. Martin Brandtner, the deputy
director of operations for the Joint Staff,
said interviews with the first six U.S. POWs
to be released indicated “they were treated
well.” '
The general said there was no reason to
doubt Iraqi claims that they held no more
allied prisoners.
At the State Department, spokeswoman
Margaret Tutwiler cautioned Iran and
other outsiders to stay out of the civil strife
that has afflicted a dozen Iraqi cities.
“The United States respects and believes
in the territorial integrity of Iraq, and we do
not believe that other states should involve
themselves in the internal matters of Iraq,
and that other states should refrain from
interfering in Iraq’s internal affairs,” she
said.
Defense Secretary Dick Cheney said “sig
nificant unrest” directed against President
Saddam Hussein has occurred inside Iraq,
but that the United States and its coalition
partners won’t get involved.
“I’m not sure whose side you’d want to be
on,” Cheney said.
President Bush hailed the troops as
“American heroes” and said “home towns
all across America” will welcome them
home soon.
“Their magnificent victory in the gulf
has brought a renewed sense in pride and
confidence here at home,” Bush said. “It’s
contagious, it’s all over our country. You
can feel it every single minute.”
Pentagon military sources, speaking on
condition of anonymity, said 4,400 mem
bers of the Army’s XVIII Airborne Corps,
including members of the 82nd Airborne
Division, would be among the first group
returning on Thursday.
The sources said Bush was expected to
welcome them at Andrews Air Force base
outside Washington, but White House dep
uty spokesman Roman Popadiuk said he
was not aware of plans for a presidential
welcome.
Within a week of the initial return cere
mony, up to 15,000 members of all service
branches are expected to be back in the
United States from the gulf area, said a se
nior Pentagon official.
The official said the redeployment of
Operation Desert Storm’s 540,000 troops
“will begin this week,” and that Bush was
expected to address the issue of the timing
of the massive return Wednesday night in
his speech before a joint House-Senate ses
sion.
Cheney and the chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Colin Powell, are
working on details of the redeployment and
welcoming ceremonies in conjunction with
Desert Storm commander Gen. H. Norman
Schwarzkopf, the official said.
Cheney has said it would take at least six
months to take the full contingent of U.S.
forces in the gulf out of the region for reas
signment.
On Capitol Hill, the House Appropria
tions Committee approved a compromise
$650 million package of war aid for Israel
and moved toward an approval vote on
$42.6 billion to finance the U.S. effort in
the Persian Gulf War.
Corps march
raises funds
for charity
By Jayme Blaschke
The Battalion
Members of the Texas A&M
Corps of Cadets are asking students
and community members to “whip
out” their wallets for the March of,
Dimes.
In preparation for the annual
March to the Brazos, cadets are rais
ing money all month for the charita
ble organization.
“We feel this is a way that the
Corps is able to give something back
tothe community,” says Conrado Al
varado, chairman of the March to
the Brazos committee. “Part of our
creed is that we are soldiers, states
men and knightly gentlemen. This
project allows us to fulfill that obliga
tion."
Among the fundraisers planned is
Quarter Day today in the MSC. The
Corps will have a table in the MSC
where people are encouraged to do
nate any loose change they have.
"This is an opportunity for the
rest of the University to get involved
with a worthy cause,” says Alvarado,
a senior political science major.
“Right now, most of the money
comes from individual outfits.”
Last year, the Corps donated
more than $45,000 to the March of
Dimes. This year’s goal is $60,000.
“We have figured that to reach
our goal, we must raise $28 per ca
det,” he says. “As of last week, over
{7,000 has been turned in.”
Different outfits have sponsored
fundraisers, spch as car washes, and
have gone door to door to solicit
contributions.
“The band claims to have raised
{10,000 already, which is incredible
for just two outfits,” he says.
Alvarado says the enthusiasm ex
pressed by individual cadets has
been tremendous as they look for
ward to the March to the Brazos.
“Last year we were informed by
the March of Dimes we were the sin
gle largest fund-raising activity in
Texas,” he says. “We are helping to
prevent birth defects in the leaders
of tomorrow.”
Besides combating birth defects,
the march serves a second purpose,
Alvarado says.
“It symbolizes a changing of the
guard,” he says. “The seniors lead
the seven-mile march, but leave
early, so the juniors lead the march
back to campus.”
Alvarado says anyone wishing to
make a donation should contact the
Office of the Commandant.
Catching artificial rays
Deanne Cook, a senior marketing major from Baytown, prepares
for a 30-minute tanning session. Cook, who is going to Cancun on
JAY JANNER/The Battalion
Spring Break, prefers the tanning salon over laying out because
she said it is more convenient.
Officials find another tampered Sudafed capsule
SF.ATTLE (AP) — A sixth suspect
Sudafed 12 Hour capsule was found
Tuesday during examination of tens
of thousands of capsules during the
investigation of three cyanide poi
soning cases, an official said.
“You can visually see that it was
different from the other capsules,”
Food and Drug Administration
spokesman Jeff Nesbit said from his
Washington, D.C., office. “Its con
tents were yellowish, or cream-col
ored.”
The capsule was one of 20 in a
plastic-and-foil “blister pack” of the
cold remedy that had been removed
from a drugstore shelf at the Ta
coma Mall in Washington.
Nesbit said the tape seal on the
box had been reglued, and the alu
minum part of the blister pack was
broken and then pushed back into
place. The capsule appeared differ
ent from the others in the pack and
probably was not a regular Sudafed
12 Hour capsule, he said.
Two people died and a third fell
critically ill last month in the Puget
Sound area after taking Sudafed 12
Hour capsules that authorities say
were laced with cyanide. The poi
sonings led the maker of the medi
cine, Burroughs Wellcome Co., to
recall the over-the-counter medica
tion nationwide.
Officials advised consumers who
have the capsules to return them to
the stores where they were bought,
and to alert authorities if anything
looks suspicious.
The discovery Tuesday rep
resented the sixth apparent tam
pering. All have been in the Ta-
coma-Olympia area, about 50 miles
south of Seattle. Investigators have
not publicly offered a motive. No ar
rests have been made.
Investigators awaited test results
on two other capsules sent to the FBI
lab in Washington, D.C. Nesbit said
he expected the capsule found Tues
day also would be sent to the FBI
lab.
He said the third capsule ap
peared similar to the other two, ex
cept the most recent pill was found
in a 20-capsule pack, while the oth
ers were in 10-packs. The lot num
ber on the blister pack also differed
from the number for the earlier con
taminated capsules.
More than 20,000 capsules had
been inspected by Tuesday morn
ing, and Nesbit said a total of 30,000
would be inspected by day’s end.
Nesbit said the third capsule
turned up after a regional seizure of
the pills. He said each of the suspect
capsules came from the closest stores
selling drugs to exits off Interstate 5
in the Tacoma-Olympia area.
In other developments Tuesday:
• State toxicology lab director Dr.
Barry Logan said his lab performed
tests for cyanide Monday on 35 tis
sue and blood samples taken from
people who died recently in western
Washington. He said all results were
negative.
• State Health Department Sec
retary Kristine M. Gebbie began a
review of regulations on all over-the-
counter capsule medications in the
state.
• FBI agent John Eyer said there
were no indications that charges
could be filed soon in the tampering
cases.
The first victim was Jennifer Mel-
ing, 28, of Tumwater, who fell ill
Feb. 2 but recovered. Cyanide poi
soning linked to Sudafed has been
blamed for the Feb. 11 death of
Kathleen Daneker, 40, of Tacoma
and the Feb. 18 death of Stan McW
horter, 44, of Lacey.
Students
help family
handle costs
By Twila Waddy
The Battalion
Friends of a Texas A&M student
who suffered a cardiac arrest while
playing intramurals last month have
established a fund to help his family
with the hospital costs.
The Association of Baptist Stu
dents created the fund for Danny
Orr, a senior civil engineering major
who had a cardiac arrest during a
basketball game Feb. 14.
Orr, 22, is now recovering at the
Medical Center in Tyler. He is ex-
“He is doing well,
much better than
expected. Sunday, he
came awake and
began talking to us..”
— Marie Darst,
Orr’s grandmother
pected to undergo extensive rehabil
itation today.
“He is doing well, much better
than expected,” says Marie Darst,
Orr’s grandmother. “Sunday, he
came awake and began talking to
us.”
Darst says Orr’s friends and fam
ily have helped during the crisis.
“The friends and family have
been marvelous,” she says. “All the
support that we have, I think it is
wonderful, and we appreciate it.”
A former president of the Baptist
student group at A&M, Orr is still a
member and participates on the na
tional level as well.
Larry Griffith, executor of the
fund, says the Orr family has insur
ance, but it only covers 80 percent of
hospital expenses. The family could
face $20,000 in hospital expenses,
which is the goal his friends seek.
The fund has just been started
and has collected $300.
“We have just started, the prob
lem is trying to get publicity,” Grif
fith says.
Orr’s cardiac arrest was caused by
Wolf Parkinson’s White Syndrome.
The syndrome causes a person to be
born with two nerves instead of one
to regulate the heart beat, he says.
“No one knew about it until after
he suffered the cardiac arrest,” Grif
fith says.
Orr, a native of Jacksonyille, is the
son of Gerold and Marilyn Orr.
For any information about the
fund, write the Association of Bap
tist Students-Danny Orr, in care of
1508 Gunsmith, College Station,
77840. All checks should be made
out to the above title.
rearm Mideast countries
U.S. plans to
WASHINGTON (AP) — Even before the smoke of
the Persian Gulf War has cleared, there are signs the
Middle East is moving to rearm — with help from the
United States.
There are U.S. plans to sell F-16s, “smart” bombs,
cluster bombs and missiles to Egypt, and to provide
new military aid to Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and
others in the region, according to Pentagon docu
ments and congressional sources.
“I don’t think the administration has got a policy
yet” for dealing with postwar Middle East arms con
trol, said Rep. David Obey, D-Wis. “It would be nice if
they didn’t start shoveling dollars until they have
one.”
Secretary of State James A. Baker III is leaving for
a nine-day trip to the Middle East that will include
discussions with leaders about arms control.
President Bush is expected to make the topic a pri
mary subject of his speech Wednesday night to a joint
session of Congress.
But the administration apparently has no intention
of imposing the kind of across-the-board moratorium
on weapons sales called for by some congressional
leaders.
“I don’t think there will be any arms embargo” by
the United States, Bush said last week.
Developments that worry some on Capitol Hill and
elsewhere include:
• A notification that the United States intends to
sell $1.6 billion in new weapons to Egypt, a leading
ally in the Gulf War. The list includes 46 F-16 fighter
planes, 80 air-to-ground Maverick missiles and 240
cluster bombs. It also includes 48 guided glide bombs
of the type the United States used to hit targets in
Baghdad.
• A recent classified report to Congress listing $33
billion in proposed weapons sales this year to Ameri
can allies around the world, with more than two-
thirds of it destined for Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey,
Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
• The administration’s apparent intention to re
imburse Israel and Turkey for hundreds of millions
of dollars in military costs associated with the Gulf
War, and indications that some U.S. weapons may be
left behind when troops withdraw from Saudi Arabia.
• A new $ 1 billion credit program through the Ex
port-Import Bank in President Bush’s 1992 budget
request, aimed at facilitating U.S. weapons sales
abroad.
“I am fearful that we are going back to business as
usual in the arms trade,” said Michael T. Klare, a pro
fessor of peace and world security studies at Hamp
shire College in Amherst, Mass.
“There seems to be a policy that we won the war, so
we can do whatever we want,” he said in a telephone
interview. That includes U.S. defense contractors
profiting from selling new weaponry in what has for
the past decade been the world’s most lucrative arms
market, he said.
But Klare said such an approach ignores a primary
lesson of the conflict: That the United States helped
build Iraq into a regional military power based on a
misguided hope that the two could share common in
terests.
“All of these surrogates have their own agendas,”
he said. “We could find ourselves once again in a ter
rible mess.”
For Iraq’s neighbors in the Middle East, the lesson
will be that Saddam Hussein’s mistake was not in
building up his military, but in buying the wrong
weapons, he added. “A lot of countries are going to
try to rebuild their arsenals along these high-tech
lines.”
White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said
Bush’s speech on Wednesday will include “some di
rections we’ll need to be considering in the aftermath
of the gulf — particularly congressional directions.
By that I mean arms proliferation, missile prolifera
tion, chemical and nuclear and biological prolifera
tion.”
Ceremony will mark
cornerstone setting
of Sanders Center
The cornerstone of Texas A&M’s Sam Houston
Sanders Corps of Cadets Center will be leveled at
4 p.m. Thursday at the building site.
The $3 million center, under construction at the
south end of Spence Park, will house a visitors’ cen
ter, library, conference rooms, Corps offices and a
museum for exhibits and a hall of honor.
Corps Commandant Maj. Gen. Thomas Darling,
who will preside during the ceremony, says he ex
pects the 19,300-square-foot building to be com
pleted this fall.
The Masonic Grand Lodge of Texas will conduct
the ceremony. A reception at Duncan Dining Hall
will follow.
To prepare for the ceremony, Coke Street will be
closed at Lewis Street from noon to the end of the
ceremony.
Motorists can avoid the area by using Lewis and
Bizzell streets. University buses normally using.the
intersection will be rerouted.
In case of rain, the ceremony will be in Duncan.