Violence a 'promise' near
end of Russia's mourning
State congressman
admits to forcing
sex on ex-girlfriend
David Wu tries to do damage control as reports surface
regarding his 'inexcusable behavior' 28 years ago
Hundreds mourn the September school siege for the
traditional 40-day period, while others seek revenge
BY MIKE ECKEL
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BESLAN, Russia — Wailing and
pounding their hands on dirt graves,
hundreds of people dressed in black
on Tliesday marked the end of the
traditional 40-day mourning period
for the children and adults killed af
ter terrorists seized a school on the
first day of classes.
Fears are rising that grief may
give way to violence by the mostly
Ossetian residents against the In
gush, a rival ethnic group whose
members were among the raiders
who took control of School No. 1.
Top federal and regional officials
have appealed for calm, but seething
anger is replacing sorrow in North
Ossetia, the republic in southern Rus
sia where Beslan is located.
“1 can promise you there will be
violence,” said a 47-year-old man
outside the school who gave only
his first name, Ruslan. “(The In
gush) are all bandits.”
The school’s shattered remains
yet again became the epicenter for
the anguish of those whose relatives
and friends died in the Sept. 1-3
siege. The corridors of the school —
rank with mildew and smoke, and
rife with angry graffiti — rang with
women’s wails and sobs.
In the charred gymnasium, where
more than 1,000 people were held
without food or water in sweltering
heat for three days, schoolchildren lit
thin candles and people propped up
small religious icons and photo
graphs among the flowers and stuffed
animals. One woman shook with
deaths of nearly 340 victims at
School No. 1. The hostage-takers,
apparently acting under orders from
Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev,
included some Ingush. The only
hostage-taker to have been detained
by Russian forces is a man identified
as Nur-Pashi Kulayev. Authorities
say the 31 others were either killed
in the gun battle with Russian forces
and Ossetian fighters, or killed by
residents as they tried to slip away.
Officials fear a repeat of the 10-day
war fought between Ossetians and
Ingush in the fall of 1992 over land
rights. Ingush tried to return to their
homes half a century after being ex
iled together with the Chechens un
der Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. Hun
dreds were killed and thousands of
Ingush were forced to flee the eastern
regions of North Ossetia.
Thousands of Ingush live in
squalid settlements and refugee
camps along the border between
North Ossetia and Ingushetia.
Those in North Ossetia are subject
to harassment, discrimination and,
after Beslan, death threats. Many In
gush still claim title to land and
homes now occupied by Ossetians.
Former Ingush President Ruslan
Aushev has repeatedly warned that
revenge attacks could destabilize the
entire Caucasus. But Russian authori
ties have vowed to prevent acts of
vengeance, dispatching hundreds of
extra police and troops to the region.
“The seizure of the school in
Beslan was the latest attempt to
destabilize the situation in the North
Caucasus,” the southern Russian area
that includes Chechnya, Ingushetia
and North Ossetia, Ingush President
Murat Zyazikov was quoted as saying
by the Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily.
sobs as she read the graffiti scrawled
on the walls: “Children, forgive us.”
“Many of us are afraid to go to
school now. Many of us can’t even
sleep at night,” said 16-year-old
Alona Pliyeva, who came with
about two dozen classmates from a
nearby village.
In the surrounding streets, families
set up long tables and lit bonfires for
mourning meals. Grief-stricken fami
lies could be identified by their men,
wearing beards that they planned to
shave at the end of the 40 days.
At the town cemetery, where hun
dreds of fresh graves were adorned
with flowers, bricks and wooden
marking posts, Ossetian women be
gan exchanging their black head
scarves for dark-colored ones to mark
the end of the mourning period. Red
eyed men somberly poured drops of
water or beer on the graves as offer
ings to the dead. The sounds of a cho
rus of Orthodox Christian priests
singing prayers and blessings mixed
with the wails of women pounding
the dirt graves, and yelling in Osset
ian or in Russian: “How can this be?!
How can this be?!”
“I can barely even look at her
grave. I have no words to express it,”
said Vitaly, as he stood near the grave
of his 12-year-old niece, Zarina.
Across Russia, priests conducted
services in Orthodox churches and
cathedrals, while regional politicians
urged calm amid rumors that the end
of the mourning period would bring
a wave of reprisal killings.
Some Ossetians have vowed to
seek revenge on the Ingush for the
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BY BRAD CAIN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SALEM — Democratic Congress
man David Wu has been in a fierce
battle with GOP contender Goli Ameri
to keep his seat in the Nov. 2 election,
and now questions about his re-elec
tion chances are being raised after his
admission of “inexcusable behavior”
toward an ex-girlfriend 28 years ago.
Wu has been leading in opinion
polls, but the disclosure “could po
tentially be devastating to David
Wu,” Portland pollster Tim Hibbitts
said Tliesday.
The Oregonian newspaper report
ed that when Wu was a student at
Stanford University, a former girl
friend claimed Wu tried to force her
into having sex. Wu released a state
ment saying he had a “two-year ro
mantic relationship that ended with
inexcusable behavior on my part.”
The disclosure couldn’t come at a
worse time for Wu, who for the first
time in years is facing an aggressive,
well-funded GOP challenger.
With Oregon’s vote-by-mail elec
tion set to begin Friday, Wu quickly
went into damage control mode
Tliesday. He gave interviews with
news media outlets in which he apol
ogized over and over for his actions.
Wu refused to confirm or deny any
of the details in The Oregonian’s sto
ry in which a former girlfriend from
Stanford University claimed Wu tried
to force her into having sex.
“The other person and I both felt it
was a private matter that was disposed
of a long time ago,” Wu said in an in
terview with The Associated Press.
To discuss details of the incident
now, he said, would only “compound
things by violating the privacy of the
other person.”
As for the potential impact on 1st
District race, Wu said: “I’m not the
BYERICTALMADGE
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOKYO — With only $1 billion in
hand out of $13.6 billion pledged,
Iraq’s deputy prime minister on
Wednesday called on nations to ful
fill their promises of aid at the start of
a 55-nation conference aimed at in
creasing donations for the recon
struction of Iraq.
Five members of Iraq’s interim Cab
inet, including Deputy Prime Minister
Barham Saleh, were at the two-day
conference to try to persuade partici
pants that their country is both in need
of donations and is safe enough for the
money to be effective.
The conference is the first since the
new government assumed power in
July. Organizers hope donor nations
will be more willing to deal with the
new Iraqi government than the previ
ous U.S.-controlled administration.
The meeting follows a conference
in Madrid last year in which 37
right person to ask about that; Oregon
voters will make their own evaluation
of this and other issues in the race.”
Ameri’s campaign withheld mak
ing any public statement about their
Democratic opponent’s woes.
The Republican and Democratic
congressional campaign committees
in Washington, D.C., which have
been closely tracking the 1st district
race, also avoided making comment.
Oregon Republican Chairman
Kevin Mannix called it a “serious and
sad situation.”
“Congressman Wu has come for
ward with an appropriate expression
of sorrow. It will be up to the voters
to decide whether his explanation is
sufficient,” Mannix said.
Neutral observers said the revela
tions about the 1976 incident could
be a windfall for Ameri’s campaign to
knock off the three-term incumbent.
“All of a sudden this goes from a
race that was leaning to Wu to a race
that is wide open and where any
thing could happen,” said Jim Moore,
who teaches political science at Pacif
ic University in Forest Grove.
Moore said Wu may have defused
the situation somewhat by quickly
taking full responsibility for his ac
tions and apologizing.
“There’s not been the denials and
the fudging that we saw with Neil
Goldschmidt earlier this year,” Moore
said, referring to revelations that the
former governor had sex with a 14
year-old girl while he was mayor of
Portland in the 1970s.
Hibbitts said all of the publicity
surrounding the Goldschmidt scan
dal could make the Wu story stick in
people’s minds more.
“In the wake of the Goldschmidt
situation, people might be more sen
sitive to allegations of sexual misbe
havior,” the Portland pollster said.
Pledges fall billions
short for aid in Iraq;
leader calls for help
Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh says the country
is now safe enough for the money to be effective
countries and international lending
institutions pledged $13.6 billion in
grants and loans.
But the continuing instability in Iraq
has stalled reconstruction and diverted
funds to security. Only about $1 billion
of the pledged amount has been de
posited with the World Bank and U.N.
“Please do not delay — the time to
make firm commitments is now. Hon
or your pledges now,” Saleh told dele
gates at the start of the conference.
He said Iraq’s wealth had been “ut
terly squandered by tyranny.”
Japan pledged additional aid of
$40 million to help with Iraq’s elec
tions in January. The announcement
brings to $1.3 billion the amount
Japan has put into specific projects. It
has pledged another $200 million in
the near term and a total of up to $5
billion over the next several years.
The United States is the leading
donor nation, with a pledge of $18.4
billion.