Nation & world briefing Oregon Daily Emerald - Monday, March 10,2003 - 3
France likely to veto U.N. war resolution
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Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON (KRT) — Secre
tary of State Colin Powell said Sun
day that the United States might
win a majority of votes this week in
the United Nations Security Coun
cil for a U.S.-backed final ultima
tum to Saddam Hussein, but that
the resolution still could be vetoed
by France.
Powell did not identify any new
Council members who now intend
to vote with the United States, and
he made clear that with or without
U.N. support, America intends to in
vade Iraq soon unless Hussein
proves within days that he is disarm
ing. If a majority of Council mem
bers endorse the attack however,
that would add the United Nations’
moral legitimacy to the action and
perhaps reduce resentment of it
around the world.
“We will have to wait and see
when the vote is taken sometime
this week, but I am encouraged by
the discussions I have been having
wun a uuiuuei ui memuers oi me
council,” Powell said on NBC’s “Meet
the Press.”
A vote could come as soon as
Tuesday. The U.S.-British-Spanish
backed resolution would give Iraq
until March 17 to disarm or face war.
The United States needs nine votes s
from the 15-member Security Coun
cil, made up of five permanent mem
bers, each with veto power, and 10
elected members.
Three permanent members —
France, Russia and China — have
vowed to block it. France, in particu
lar, has taken the lead in opposing
any step toward war.
“I would not be surprised if they
vetoed,” Powell said on Fox News. “It
would be unfortunate if France de
cided to veto this resolution ... and
France would not be looked upon fa
vorably in many parts.”
The only other declared votes so
far for the U.S.-backed ultimatum
come from Spain and Bulgaria. But
President Bush, Powell and other top
U.S. officials have been pressing the
iu elected council members very
hard to side with the United States,
even as French President Jacques
Chirac has tried to rally them
against the resolution.
White House National Security
Adviser Condoleezza Rice said Sun
day on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that
they have not really done a serious
vote count at this point. “We have
some indications here and there,”
she said. The foreign minister of
Guinea, a Security Council member,
will meet with senior administration
officials this week in Washington,
Rice said.
“If the United Nations Security
Council does act in a positive way,
and we hope it will, then clearly mili
tary force will be appropriate and
there will be support for that through
the United Nations,” Powell said. “If
the United Nations Security Council
fails to act ... the president has al
ways said he reserves his option” to
act without U.N. backing.
If anything, U.N. rejection of a res
olution giving Iraq until March 17 to
disarm could accelerate war rather
than delay it, Powell implied. Absent
a formal ultimatum, the United
States would be free to act before
that date, he suggested.
After the U.N. vote, Bush intends
to issue a public ultimatum to Hus
sein telling him to disarm or face in
vasion within days, according to sen
ior administration officials who
spoke on condition of anonymity.
That Bush speech will be a warning
as well to any arms inspectors or hu
manitarian aid workers inside Iraq
that the time has come to leave, the
officials said.
Powell disputed that the United
States is acting alone, noting support
from nations including Australia,
Bulgaria, Portugal, Spain, the United
Kingdom, and the independent na
tions of the former Soviet Union.
“We need to knock down this no
tion that nobody is on our side, that
we’re totally isolated,” he said on
Fox. “So many nations recognize the
danger and they do it in the face of
public opposition.”
Indeed, British Prime Minister
Tony Blair faces widespread revolt
by members of his Labor Party if the
United Nations rejects the resolution
this week and he continues to stand
with the United States behind invad
ing Iraq, press reports said Sunday.
As Powell and Rice worked a TV
diplomacy end game on the eve of
possible war, American bombers
launched their sixth strike in eight
days in southern Iraq, using preci
sion-guided weapons Saturday night
to target four Iraqi military commu
nications sites.
Also Saturday night, the military
dropped 720,000 informational
leaflets in Iraq. The leaflets included
messages encouraging Iraqi troops to
surrender and directing all Iraqis to
radio frequencies that broadcast mes
sages about how their lives would be
better without Hussein in power.
Knight Ridder Newspapers
correspondents Fawn Vrazo and Peter
Smolowitz contributed to this report.
© 2003, Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
News briefs
Eight shot, two stabbed
at Times Square club
NEW YORK (KRT) — Eight people
were shot and two more stabbed in a
brutal melee at a Times Square club
that erupted when a man bran
dished a chrome-plated pistol and
shouted: “I’m tired of this shit. Let’s
light this place up! ”
The brawl touched off a terrifying
stampede early Sunday as some 200
people fought to escape the Broad
way City Arcade, a cavernous enter
tainment complex at 241 West 42nd
St. Frantic patrons spilled down an
escalator from the second-floor
dance space, and at least two more
people were injured during the rush
to the doors around 2:40 a.m.
As police arrived, skirmishes
broke out below the club’s marquee
and along the typically family
friendly street — between Seventh
and Eighth Avenues — that in
cludes Madame Tussaud’s wax mu
seum and the Broadway musical
“The Lion King.”
“People went crazy,” said Franklin
Santiago, 21, of Manhattan, who was
shot in the knee and spoke to the
New York Daily News Sunday from
his hospital bed.
Police were questioning two men
in their 20s Sunday night.
One suspect was arrested at a hos
pital where he was being treated for
wounds suffered in the melee. An
other was arrested at the club. Their
names were not released.
Police last year announced a
crackdown on gang violence in
Times Square. Cops said they be
lieved this latest violence was not
gang-related — but sparked by two
rival groups of teens from Far Rock
away, Queens.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the
melee does not mean that Times
Square is once again becoming a
haven for hoodlums, drug dealers
and prostitutes. “It is a very safe
place,” he said.
— Greg Gittrich © 2003, New
York Daily News.
Strike on Broadway
continues for third day
NEW YORK (KRT) — Striking
musicians kept the curtain down on
Broadway for a third day yesterday,
as losses in ticket sales and tourism
mounted with no end in sight. Nei
ther the League of American The
atres and Producers nor the striking
musicians appeared willing to budge.
A city official pegged the econom
ic loss at $7.2 million.
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Members of Local 802 of the
American Federation of Musicians
were joined on the picket lines Sun
day by some of Broadway’s biggest
stars, including Harvey Fierstein of
“Hairspray,” Brian Stokes Mitchell of
“Man of La Mancha,” Kevin Richard
son of “Chicago” and Brad Oscar of
“The Producers.”
“We’re artists, and a machine is a
dead thing,” said Fierstein, explain
ing why he did not want to go on
stage with computerized music as a
substitute for the striking musicians.
The two sides differ over the union’s
longstanding staffing minimums for
Broadway houses, which range from
three to 26 musicians, depending on
the size of the theater. Meanwhile,
theatergoers lined up at box offices for
refunds and scrambled to see shows
not affected by the strike.
Many holding canceled tickets to
major hits like “Hairspray” and “The
Producers” tried to trade them for
future seats, only to be told they
might not be available for months.
“If the show is sold out, what can
we do?” said Patty Haubner of the
League of American Theatres and
Producers.
In Times Square, Brad Van Nos
trand handed out flyers for shows
that are still running. Nonmusicals
unaffected by the strike. “The small
r
er Off-Broadway shows are making
out tike bandits,” he said.
Still, with fewer theatergoers com
ing into the city, he did not expect
that to last.
At “Cabaret,” the only Broadway
musical not under contract with Local
802, flack Adrian Brown said lines of
those hoping to snap up last-minute
tickets were longer than usual.
— Celeste Katz, Jane Furse
© 2003, New York Daily News.
Cuba protests solitary
confinement of spies
HAVANA (KRT) — The Cuban
government on Sunday protested a
U.S. decision to put five convicted
Cuban spies in solitary confinement,
calling it “an utterly unnecessary
and irrational act” and a violation of
“fundamental principles of law.”
American prison officials couldn’t
be reached for comment. In the past
when they have put the same spies
in solitary, the officials have said it
was for the inmates’ protection.
Leonard Weinglass, a lawyer for
Antonio Guerrero, one of the con
victed agents, told a Havana radio
station: “None of them belongs in
solitary confinement. It is complete
ly unjustified as all of them are mod
el prisoners.”
The five were jailed on espionage
related charges in Florida in Septem
ber 1998 and later convicted. The
Cuban government has since treat
ed them as folk heroes, plastering
their photos on billboards, T-shirts
and banners all over the island.
Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon La
banino, Guerrero, Rene Gonzalez
and Fernando Gonzalez have all
protested their convictions, saying
they were in South Florida infiltrat
ing anti-Castro groups to try to pro
tect their country from attack.
Now in solitary, they are not al
lowed visits from their attorneys or
from Cuban government representa
tives, their attorneys say. Nor can
they use the telephone, Cuban offi
cialssaid. They are scheduled to ap
peal their convictions in a federal
court in Atlanta by April 7.
A communique from Cuban diplo
mats in Washington said the prisoners’
“exemplary behavior does not warrant
this kind of treatment. There is reason
to believe they are singled out because
they are political prisoners.”
Prosecutors have said the spies
were a threat to U.S. security and
some allegedly tried to infiltrate U.S.
military bases.
— Tracey Eaton © 2003, The
Dallas Morning News. Distributed
by Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
015993
MONDAY, TIVESDAY, WEDNESDAY
MARCH 10,11,12, 2003
NO PROBLEM!
WHAT: Dead Week Stress Relief Workshops
We will have workshops on time management, how
to handle stress, and test anxiety, as well as free
grab bags, 15 min massages and pet therapy.
WHY: It’s Dead Week. Release some stress from
papers, exams, and upcoming finals.
WHEN: Mon-Weds. Workshops will be from
1:00 to 4:00. All other activities will be all day
from 8:00-5:00.
WHERE: University Counseling & Testing Center
Student Resource Center, Room 213
Answer: Got Stress?