The Battalion
lol 92 No. 1 (40 pages)
‘Serving Texas A&M Since 1893”
Monday, August 31, 1992
Disgruntled protesters demonstrate outside Dome
1 Protesters speak out
ibout legalization of
narijuana. Bush's
oreign policy in
Somalia, past action
:oncerning POW's and
VlIA's, gay rights, and
ibortion
By JULIE CHELKOWSKI
Reporter of THE BATTALION
Inside the Astrodome, dele
gates and guests rallied in sup
port of the Republican party and
Ets leader. But outside the gates a
different tone was set with hun
dreds of protesters voicing their
disagreement and dissatisfaction
kith some issues held by the
r op -
A wide variety of protesters
and signs were scattered along a
portion of Kirby Drive across
from the Dome in the protest area
during the Republican National
Convention, grabbing the atten
tion of passers-by and the media.
Signs ranged from homemade
posters written in black marker
on an old piece of cardboard to
colorful banners professionally
printed and distributed.
"Legalize pot" was one of the
more popular signs of the pro
testers. The sign and it's support
er, Houstonian Patrick Curry, re
ceived honks from passing mo
torists and cheers of "All right,
man!"
Curry said this was his one
chance to get some recognition
for his support of legalizing mari
juana.
He said he believes cigarettes
and alcohol causes as much or
more harm as marijuana if
abused. And if both of those are
legal, he said, there is no reason
why using or growing marijuana
should be illegal.
"I'm not advocating the use of
narcotics or cocaine, I'm advocat
ing the legalization of marijua
na," Curry said.
"But I think it should be treat
ed as an addiction, not as a
crime."
Other advocates of the legal
ization of marijuana said Presi-
jdent Bush's life was saved by the
drug in World War II. They ex
plained that his parachute was
made with hemp (a plant whose
stems yield a fiber used to make
cords and is the derivative of a
narcotic drug such as hashish)
and he should therefore give le
galizing the drug a closer look.
Many Somalians were present
to demonstrate their dissatisfac
tion in Bush's handling of civil
unrest in the country.
"Stop the Carnage in Somalia"
and " Stop this Humanitarian
Nightmare" were some of the
signs held by Somalians.
Mohamoud Egal a Somalian-
American from Dallas said Presi
dent Bush is not doing enough to
help Somalians.
"In the past, there have been
support efforts (by Bush), but in a
limited basis," Egal said.
"When aid was given before, it
did not reach the people who
needed it most."
Vietnam veterans demonstrat
ed their opposition to Bush's past
action concerning POW's and
MIAs.
Don Shirkey who served in
Vietnam as an Air Force pilot said
the Republicans have not done
enough to find out what hap
pened to soldiers left in foreign
countries. He said the veterans
want to know what happened to
the prisoners.
"We know we left people alive
over there," he said.
"What I want to know is how
anybody can say any of them
died. We can't make people
prove they're alive. We just need
to assume they're alive and prove
they're dead."
Gay rights activists were also
well represented. They and other
demonstrators protested AIDS
and the most recent theme of the
Republican party that excludes
homosexuals — family values.
But not everyone on the
demonstration grounds was
protesting a Republican plank;
some were simply supporters.
Defenders of abortion rights
were met with some opposition
with signs such as "Warning: 7
Judgements from Jesus because of
abortions" held by John Kenneth
Rashai of Houston.
Rashai said he saw Jesus in
1977 in Jerusalem and was told to
spread a warning to women who
had abortions that they would be
met with seven punishments from
God, although he could not re
member what the seven warnings
were.
Even though the cries of the
protesters did not disturb the cele
bration behind the doors of the
Dome, they were not ignored out
side and no reports of any major
disturbances were reported in the
heavily patrolled protest area.
HUY NGUYEN/The Battalion
Pro-choice and anti-abortion forces squared off every morning at Houston Women’s clinics. Here,
pro-choice supporters link arms to prevent pro-lifers from gaining access to clinic doors.
Republican party
split on abortion
stance in platform
Lack of pro-choice support at convention
keeps topic off floor for open debate, vote
By JULIE CHELKOWSKI
Reporter of THE BATTALION
The 1992 Republican Conven
tion ended on Aug. 20, with the
party's platform decided and the
selection of George Bush to lead
the Republicans to what they
hope will be another "four more
years."
But not everyone was unani
mous on all decisions of the plat
form — the most disputed issue
being abortion.
Abortion has been a dominant
issue this election year with most
Democrats taking a pro-choice
stand and most Republicans sid
ing with pro-life.
Although pro-choice Republi
cans were out
of line with
their party's
platform that
calls for a con-
stitutional
amen d ment
banning abor
tion, and op
poses public
funding for the
procedure,
other methods such as speeches,
signs and buttons.
Secretary of Labor Lynn Mar
tin and Congresswoman Nancy
Johnson of Connecticut are two
advocates of legal abortion. On
Tuesday night of the convention
Johnson stated her position on
abortion and urged other pro-
choice Republicans to have their
voices heard.
Similar to many signs and but
tons, Johnson said she was
"proud to be both pro-choice and
pro-Bush."
The abortion issue taps another
important topic that Johnson
briefly addressed — religious free
dom.
Some Republicans have said
that with at
tempts to ban
abortion
there has
been a break
down of sep
aration be
tween church
and state.
Johnson
agreed reli
gious beliefs
"I believe government in a
democracy must preserve
the right of each of us to
live in harmony with our
most deeply held beliefs."
-Congresswoman Nancy
Johnson, advocate of legal
abortion
there was no contention — only a
call to be recognized.
On the first day of the conven
tion, delegates had the chance to
debate the abortion issde, but
failed to gain enough backing for
a petition. A majority of six state
delegations is required to bring an
issue to the floor for open debate.
Abortion rights supporters only
managed to gain support from
Maine, Massachusetts, New Mexi
co and the Virgin Islands.
Though they were not allowed
an official debate on abortion, ad
vocates in the convention ex
pressed their support through
should be kept separate from gov
ernment decisions.
"Our nation was founded by
people seeking religious free
dom," Johnson said. "I believe
government in a democracy must
preserve the right of each of us to
live in harmony with our most
deeply held beliefs."
Even though official abortion
protest and debate was stifled in
side the Astrodome, protesters
across the street on Wednesday
night had few restrictions.
See Abortion/Page A14
Hussein promises to resist 'no-fly' zone
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq — President Saddam
Hussein vowed Sunday to resist the "no-
fly" zone imposed over southern Iraq by
U.S.-led allies, but offered no specific ac
tions his government might take.
It was the first statement from Saddam
about the flight ban imposed Thursday to
protect Shiite Muslim rebels from air at
tacks by Iraq's military. The comments,
read in Saddam's name on Iraqi radio, re
stated earlier defiant statements by Iraqi of
ficials and news media.
In the 50-minute statement, Saddam
claimed the allies were plotting to partition
Iraq and the rest of the Arab world then
seize control of their oil wealth. He accused
Iran, which is predominately Shiite and
fought a 1980-88 war
with Iraq, of inciting the
allies.
It was not immediate
ly clear why Saddam
did not deliver the ad
dress himself.
In Washington, a
White House
spokesman, Walter
Kansteiner, denied
wanting to break up
Iraq. He said the action
was taken because Iraq violated a U.N. no
aggression resolution in its campaign to
crush the Shiite rebellion that began after
Saddam's defeat in the Persian Gulf War.
Despite Saddam's vow to respond to
"bold aggression," Baghdad has so far
Hussein
made no signs of breaching the exclusion
zone south of the 32nd parallel.
Senior U.S. military officers have said
they do not expect Iraq to strike at allied air
patrols because the situation could escalate
quickly beyond Saddam's control.
The allies have warned they will shoot
down any and all Iraqi aircraft that enters
the zone.
The allies established a similar "safe
haven" for Iraq's Kurdish minority in the
north last year after Iraqi troops crushed an
uprising by the Kurds following the Gulf
War.
Saddam insisted the Iraqi "leadership is
determined to reject the bold aggression
and confront it with all means available and
on all levels." Without elaborating, he said
his government "was considering the tim
ing and options."
Senior Iraqi officials have raised the pos
sibility of ending cooperation with U.N.
weapon inspections or U.N. humanitarian
efforts. U.N. officials said Sunday that a
new U.N. nuclear weapons team planned to
go to Baghdad on Monday, which would be
the first such visit since the "no-fly" zone
took effect.
The commander of U.S. military forces in
the Persian Gulf said Sunday that the allies
may put fewer planes into the air because
the Iraqis have not challenged the southern
zone.
Lt. Gen. Michael Nelson also said the al
lies had not seen any significant activity by
Iraqi ground troops arrayed against the Shi
ites operating out of the vast marshes of
southern Iraq.
Ethiopian hijackers surrender jetliner in Italy
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ROME — Five Ethiopians who
commandeered an Ethiopian jet
liner surrendered peacefully Sun
day after being assured that Italy
would not send them home to
face the death penalty.
The hijackers had released 79
passengers unharmed in Djibouti,
the east African nation that was
the first stop in an odyssey that
began late Friday in Addis Ababa
and continued on to Yemen and
Egypt before the plane landed in
Rome.
The nine crew members of the
Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 727
were released unharmed in Rome.
"It is a good ending to this af
fair, represented by the fact that it
was concluded without any dam
age or injury,"
said Carmelo
Caruso, an In
terior Ministry
official.
He said the
hijackers, including a passenger
who apparently joined the hijack
ing in Djibouti, claimed to be vic
tims of political persecution and
requested asylum in Italy.
Giorgio Castellucci, the magis
trate leading the investigation.
said that even if the five were
granted asylum, they would still
be tried on hijacking and weapons
charges. He said they had asked
permission to study in Italy.
The hijackers, armed with two
hand grenades and an unloaded
pistol, surrendered after Italian
authorities assured them that Italy
did not have a death penalty and
that they would not be sent back
to Ethiopia.
Air hijacking is punishable by
death in Ethiopia and Italy refuses
to extradite people if they could
face execution. The punishment
for air piracy in Italy is seven to 21
years in
prison.
Castellucci
said the hi
jackers had
been very
calm and had not threatened to
harm anyone. He said they were
concerned above all with not be
ing sent back to EtHiopia.
"They assured us they had not
committed any crimes in their
country but that they had wit
nessed some operations in which
people were killed and for this
reason they were put under re
strictive measures)" Caruso said.
The airliner was hijacked late
Friday after taking off from Addis
Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, on a
domestic flight. It flew first to
San'a, Yemen, and then fo Dji
bouti after Yemeni officials denied
the aircraft permission to land.
The aircraft later flew to Aden,
Yemen; Cairo, Egypt, where it re
fueled; and finally to the
Ciampino military airport in
Rome early Sunday after it was re-
fused permission to land in
Athens, Greece, Caruso said.
Inside
Aggies open
season with 10-7
win over Stanford
Page A7
Campus
Section B
Arts &
Entertainment
Section C
Football *92
Section D
"It is a good ending to this affair, represented by the fact
that it was concluded without any damage or injury."
-Carmelo Caruso, Interior Ministry official