Nation & world briefing
Walter Mondale will enter Senate race
Tim Jones
Chicago Tribune (KRT)
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Walter
Mondale returned to center stage of
Minnesota politics Wednesday
night as a modern-day Rip Van
Winkle, a former vice president,
senator and ambassador called
upon to run for a Senate seat in a
state that has changed dramatically
since his political prime.
But Mondale, 74, a revered public
figure and Minnesota’s elder states
man, is a good fit in many ways for
Democrats as they try to hold on to
Sen. Paul Wellstone’s Senate seat
and control of the U.S. Senate.
His nomination Wednesday night
is also a gamble, inviting Republican
attacks that Mondale represents the
past while Republican Norm Cole
man, 53, is the man of the future.
“Tonight the nation — in fact, the
whole world — is watching Minneso
ta, not just to see who will win, but
how we conduct ourselves. If there
was ever a time to put aside political
dogfighting, now is the time,” Mon
dale said moments after accepting
the unanimous nomination from the
Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party del
egates to replace Wellstone on Tues
day’s ballot.
Joined by his wife, children and
grandchildren, Mondale pledged to
be “your voice and Paul Wellstone’s
voice.”
Talk radio was sizzling Wednesday
over sharply partisan remarks deliv
ered by Rick Kahn, a Wellstone
friend. Some Republicans demand
ed equal time to respond to vyhat
they charged was a partisan rally for
the Democrats.
Sensing a potential political back
lash, Wellstone campaign manager
Jeff Blodgett apologized Wednesday.
“I was surprised ... and I deeply re
gret it,” Blodgett said, adding that he
did not know what Khan was going
to say. Mike Erlandson, chairman of
the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party,
also apologized.
Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventu
ra, who was booed at the ceremony,
said Wednesday he objected to the
tone of some of the remarks and, on
a talk radio program, Ventura threat
ened to appoint an Independent to
fill the remaining time of Wellstone’s
term in office.
Poll numbers released Wednesday
showed Mondale, who had not yet
announced his candidacy, with an 8
percentage-point lead over Cole
man, 47 percent to 39 percent.
© 2002, Chicago Tribune. Distributed by
Knight Ridder/Tribune Information
Services.
Labor Party resigns from Sharon’s government
Michael Matza and Soraya
Sarhaddi Nelson
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
JERUSALEM — The Labor Party’s
resignation Wednesday from the
government of Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon will force him to call early
elections or form a coalition domi
nated by hard-liners who are unlike
ly to support resuming peace talks
with Palestinians.
The resignations of Defense Min
ister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, Foreign
Minister Shimon Peres and their La
bor Party from Sharon’s government
threaten to prolong fighting between
Palestinians and Israelis. Their con
flict has killed more than 2,000
Palestinians and Israelis since Sep
tember 2000. But analysts say Israel
is unlikely to escalate its military re
sponse to the uprising. Sharon still
faces pressure from the Bush admin
istration to keep the region quiet as
the United States prepares for a pos
sible war against Iraqi President Sad
dam Hussein.
“By and large the key here is not
what Israel is doing, or what the
Palestinians are doing,” said Eytan
Gilboa, political science professor
at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat
Gan. “The key is what the U.S. is
doing, and what they are going to
do in Iraq.”
Labor’s move will likely lead to
new elections within 90 days, well
ahead of elections scheduled for
next November.
Ben-Eliezer, who wants to chal
lenge Sharon for the premiership,
would prefer a date in early spring.
Labor quit Sharon’s government
in a dispute over binding of Jewish
settlements, minutes before a parlia
mentary vote on the 2003 budget.
The budget allocated #145 million
for Jewish settlements but cut serv
ices for the poor.
Ben-Eliezer and his Labor Party
said more money should go to fund
social programs for all Israelis in
stead of supporting settlements in
the West Bank and Gaza.
Israelis elected Sharon prime min
ister because he vowed to take a
hard line against Palestinian attacks,
which have included dozens of sui
cide bombings, many directed
against civilians. When he took of
fice in February 2001, Sharon creat
ed a left-right coalition government
that included Ben-Eliezer and Peres,
a vocal proponent of peace talks with
the Palestinians.
© 2002, Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services. Knight Ridder
Newspapers correspondent Cliff
Churgin contributed to this report.
U.N. seems close to passing U.S. resolution on Iraq
Diego Ibarguen
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
UNITED NATIONS — After seven
weeks of diplomatic wrangling, the
U.N. Security Council seems certain
to approve a new resolution soon
that will govern weapons inspections
in Iraq. But precisely what it will say
is still being debated.
Diplomats say few flashpoints re
main in hammering out an agree
ment on a draft resolution that the
United States and Britain presented
last week. The draft calls for strin
gent weapons inspections in Iraq
and warns of consequences if Sad
dam Hussein does not comply.
The key questions are about the
term “material breach.” Some dele
gates think those words, which refer
to a failure to comply with U.N. reso
lutions, are a “hidden trigger,” mean
ing Washington could interpret them
as a green light to attack Iraq.
“The triggers are buried deeper,
but they are still there,” a delegate
from China, speaking on condition
of anonymity, said after Wednesday’s
Security Council meeting.
The draft resolution declares that
Iraq has been in “material breach” of
past U.N. resolutions for years.
Several nations, notably France,
Russia and China, have said they
worry that the United States might
use the words as justification to start
a war with Hussein, regardless of the
work or findings of weapons inspec
tors. But their concerns appeared to
be lessening, and talk of a consensus
was growing.
One British diplomat, who asked
not to be identified, said the remain
ing negotiations essentially would
“be about finding words or other
ways to bridge a gap of trust.”
Russian U.N. Ambassador Sergei
Lavrov said, “We don’t want auto
maticity in the use of force, and we
believe that inspectors should be giv
en the mandate, which is a help for
them, not a burden for them.”
A French delegate, who also spoke
on condition of anonymity, said
France would accept “material
breach” if it is “put in the context in
which we are sure that there will be
a new decision, at least a new assess
ment, by the Security Council” if
Iraq thwarts inspectors.
The United States has said it
would not restrict its right to go to
war without the council’s approval.
© 2002, Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
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