li emiriuua ai opyrghtO 19D Vol. Cl, No.22 Ann Arbor, Michigan - Friday October 5, 1990 The Michgan Dity ,I - Five Iraq hostage,, s flee Soviets u by the Associated Press Iraqi troops kissed Saddam Hus- sein's hands as he took his first known tour of occupied Kuwait yes- terday. Officials also said yesterday that three Britons and two French citizens had fled Iraq in a daring es- cape by boat. The five Europeans were found Wednesday by the Saudi coast guard drifting in the small boat in a Per- sian Gulf shipping lane off the Saudi-Kuwait border, British diplo- mats and Saudi officials said. The British escapees told Lon- don's Daily Mail newspaper that they had spent 25 hours in rough seas after taking the 10-foot boat through the marshes of southern Iraq, into the Shatt-al-Arab waterway and then into the gulf. It was the first report of Western- ers escaping Iraq since August. The Britons said they had been working on a key oil installation near the Iraqi port of Basra, and the two French citizens were barge mas- ters. They were among a small number of Europeans living on dwindling food supplies and denied permission to leave. Iraq is holding approximately 2,200 Westerners hostage in Kuwait and Iraq, some at strategic installa- tions to discourage attack by the U.S.-led military forces that began massing in the region after Iraq seized Kuwait on Aug. 2. Nine of the hostages, all French citizens, returned to Paris yesterday after being freed by Iraq. Also yester- sing a day, 173 Brazilians arrived home af- ter Brazil negotiated their release from Iraq. In the Jordanian capital, Amman, Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu of Japan met today with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Taha Yassin Ra- madan. Ramadan rejected a negoti- ated settlement to the gulf crisis as long as foreign troops remain on Arab lands, Baghdad's official Iraq News Agency reported. Kaifu insisted on Iraq's with- boat drawal from Kuwait first, said Shi- geo Takenaka, Kaifu's spokesperson. Kaifu later met with Jordan's King Hussein, who has tried to mediate the dispute, even through many of his people support Iraq. French President Francois Mitter- rand, arriving in Saudi Arabia, dis- cussed the gulf crisis with King Fahd and met with French troops in the U.S.-led multinational interna- tional force. Panel of 'U' professors discusses Gulf Crisis by Sarah Schweitzer Daily Staff Reporter A panel of distinguished faculty gathered in the Rackham Ampithe- ater yesterday before a crowd of 300 to discuss the origins and ramifica- tions of the Persian Gulf Crisis. The symposium, sponsored by the Institute for Public Policies, featured professors from the School of Business Administration and the University's political science, his- tory, and economics departments. Panelist and Professor Jill Crys- tal, of the political science depart- ment, spoke first, focusing on the political background of the region in order to put the current crisis into context. Crystal said there are two oppos- ing forces in the Persian Gulf which are sources of tension. One group, "state system" supporters, seeks to preserve the artificially imposed state boundaries put in place by previous European colonialists. The other, "state system" opponents, pursues the breakdown of these boundaries. Crystal said in the crisis, Iraq is attempting to garner support among the state system opponents such as the Palestinian Liberation Organiza- tion which has no state. The PLO is "a victim of state systems," she said. Kuwait, on the other hand, is a proponent of the state system and is appealing to its other supporters in the region. History Prof. Juan Cole contin- ued the discussion of the crisis' po- litical dimensions. Cole warned against United States unilateral military interven- tion in the Gulf, saying an air attack on Baghdad - one of several See GULF, Page 2 consider weapon limits WASHINGTON (AP) - Presi- dent Bush hailed a tentative accord requiring the Soviet Union to de- stroy thousands of tanks, artillery: pieces and armored vehicles in Eu- rope yesterday, saying it would "decisively improve the balance of military power" on the continent. The conventional Forces in Eu- rope treaty would be the largest arms-control deal in history and the first in Europe since the end of World War II. If final details are resolved, it will be signed by the 22 nations of the Warsaw Pact and the NATO alliance at the Nov. 19-21 Paris summit of the 34-nation Conference on Secu- rity and Cooperation in Europe. The accord would set a ceiling on non-nuclear forces for both alliances. Each side would be limited to 20,000 tanks, 20,000 artillery. pieces, 30,000 armored combat vehi- cles and 2,000 helicopters in the area stretching from Europe's Atlantic Coast to the Ural Mountains inside the Soviet Union. The two sides are still grappling with overall limits on combat air- craft for each military alliance. However, after long negotiations, they agreed to a limit of 5,150 war- planes in any single country, Secre- tary of State James Baker announced at a joint appearance with Bush. The agreement does not put any limit on the number of soldiers. The United States and Soviet Union agreed to skip that step in order to meet the Paris deadline. Within the overall ceilings, no country could have more than 13,300 tanks, 13,700 artillery pieces and 1,500 helicopters in the region. On Capitol Hill, Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (D-Maine) called the announcement of the tenta- tive accord good news. He said that he hoped there would be "early and enthusiastic approval" of the agreement in the Senate early next year. Bush said that despite the col- lapse of hard-line communist regimes in Eastern Europe, the con- tinent, "is still the site of the great- est concentration of armed strength in the world." KENNETH SMOLLEFVUally Economics Prof. Robin Barlow spoke at a symposium on the Persian Gulf Crisis yesterday. Barlow called the Iraqi takeover of Kuwait "bank robbery" and warned the usurpation of Iraqi oil by Kuwait would have far reaching effects for international markets. Approximately 300 people attended the conference sponsored by the Institute for Public Policies. Nursing School professor off to serve in Saudi Arabia by Chris Afendulis Nursing School Assistant Professor and Air Force Reserves Major Penny Pierce left September 24th for Saudi Arabia, called to serve in Operation Desert Shield. The only faculty member cur- rently on active duty in the Middle East, Pierce will be working as a flight nurse aboard a C-141 airborne medical unit during her tour of duty. The length of her stay in the Gulf has not yet been determined. Pierce, whose unit is based out of McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey, is on active duty for the first time in an 18-year career in the re- serves. "She felt it was her job to go," her daughter Emily, 13, said. Pierce's husband Les backed up this view, saying that she felt the need to fulfill "a commitment that she made when she joined 18 years ago." Nursing School Dean Rhetaugh Dumas and other colleagues gave Major Pierce - an Assistant Professor at the school since 1987 - a going-away party on the Friday before her departure. Nursing School Associate Dean for Student Affairs Janice Lindberg said the nurse's co-workers sent her off with a crystal heart and a rabbit's foot. Lindberg said the school sup- ported Pierce, saying that by serving in Saudi Arabia, "she represents nursing for us." Pierce's class load and other work, a concern of hers when duty called, has been taken over by her co-workers. Lindberg said Pierce notified the department of her absence at the beginning of the semester, easing the process of finding substitutes. Colleen Dolan-Greene, the University's Assistant Vice- President for Academic Affairs, said federal law requires job security dur- ing military leave. She said person- nel departments throughout the University have been reminded of this policy, in light of the Middle East mobilization. When asked about the effects of Pierce's absence on her family, her daughter answered, "We were pre- pared for it." She said she was used to her mother leaving on periodic reserve assignments. Mr. Pierce claimed that although his wife's duties take place well be- hind battle lines, she did express concern over the possibility of ter- rorist attacks on American military personnel abroad. Pierce's daughter said the family planned to correspond regularly, sending audio taped messages for her mother to listen to. She said the nurse would handle her tour of duty well, because "she's very strong." 'U' teaching * assistant dies of heart attack by Ken Walker Mark Webster, a 29-year-old teaching assistant in the University's Creative Writing program, died of a heart attack at his home Monday night. Webster graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1983. He then spent several years working in the publishing business in New York before enrolling in the Master of Fine Arts graduate pro- gram at the University last year. Webster was teaching an English 223 poetry writing course this term. Alison Swan, a teaching assistant in the Creative Writing program and a personal friend of Webster's, said Webster "really enjoyed teaching... he really was enjoying the work that he was doing with his students." "Everybody liked him, and it was a very big shock to find out he had passed away," said LSA senior Ted Pastor, one of Webster's students. Swan felt the, same. "We're all sort of reeling a bit," she said. "He was one of those neonle that program. "In his life, it was a rela- tively new thing for him," she said. Webster, along with his close friend David Wolf, had planned to start a nationally distributed magazine called The Huron Review. The magazine would have featured local and national writers. "I'm obviously shocked and deeply saddened," Wolf said of his friend who he met through the University's program. "I spoke to him that night." Wolf hopes to con- tinue with the development of the magazine and said Webster's work might be published in the Review. Program administrators have not yet decided on a T.A. to take over Webster's classes. Karen Clark, an administrative associate in the English department, said funeral services will be held on Saturday in New Hampshire, Webster's home. Twn fiand have h en estahshed Guild House. offers beans, rice, poltics by Nicole James Where can students and community members eat beans and rice in a living room while discussing Central American politics, or hear local writers read from their own works? The Guild House, located at 802 Monroe, offers such opportunities. e .a., Founded 97 years ago by women of the Christian Church, the campus ministry has established itself as . ;a place where members of different religions, races, and sexual orientations can meet and discuss ethical and moral issues. Run by a Board of Directors from various denomi- nations, churches, faculty, staff, students and commu- nity members, the House holds regular weekly events attended by a wide mix of people. Director Don Coleman said the Guild House wants to provide ways to help people find meaningful life and does not try to impose religious beliefs on any- one. The people involved with the House are interested in "struggles with justice and peace," Coleman said." The ministry works with groups such as Concerned Faculty, the Latin American Solidarity Committi, and the Women's Initiative Group. It is the "diversity and interaction of people with people" that is valued, said Co-director Ann Marie Coleman, a city council representative. There are many other events offered at the Guild House as well. John Vandermeer will be speaking on ,K43.M"Nicaragua since the Elections" today and Sarah