The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, September 24, 1991 - Page 7 State Dems chair: shift focus to Shiite group to release domestic issues for "92 election LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michigan Democratic Party Chair Gary Corbin said yesterday his party's chances in the 1992 presiden- tial election will improve dramati- cally when Americans turn their at- tention to domestic issues. Corbin said a Democratic National Committee meeting in Los Angeles over the weekend, where several of the party's presidential hopefuls made their pitches, showed the party will field a strong oppo- nent for President Bush. He declined to name any front- runners, but said all the Democratic candidates will put the spotlight on problems such as unemployment and lack of health insurance. So far, he said, Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin and Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton have the best organizations in Michigan. But he said that could change swiftly as new entrants into the race begin visiting the state. The press secretary for the Michigan Republican Party said Americans recognize they have a stake in world affairs, especially since instability in the Soviet Union could threaten that country's con- trol of its nuclear arsenal. "To say that world events at this point don't matter and George Bush's success on the world scene will not matter is ridiculous," said Bryan Flood. Corbin said Democrats can de- flect questions about their own for- eign affairs abilities by pressing the theme that Bush ended the Gulf War with Saddam Hussein still in power. "The issues surrounding the Gulf War have not been tied up in a tidy bow at this time at all," he said. Corbin said the party is better off with the late start to the 1992 presidential campaign. "Our cycles the last two times have been bloody, have been costly to Democrats and have worn out, I think, the public's welcome. This time four years ago, people were ready for the presidential campaign to be over. Now they're ready for it to begin," he said. British BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - Pro- Iranian kidnappers said early today that within 48 hours they will re- lease British hostage Jack Mann, the oldest of the Western hostages, who was abducted more than two years ago. The move by the Revolutionary Justice Organization appeared to in- dicate that a logjam in the complex negotiations by U.N. Secretary- General Javier Perez de Cuellar for a comprehensive exchange of Western captives for Arab prisoners held by Israel, and possibly European countries as well, had been broken. A handwritten communique from the Shiite Muslim group said the decision to free Mann was the ho stage result of "immense efforts" by Perez de Cuellar. He has been seek- ing to negotiate an overall prisoner swap between Israel and its Muslim foes for more than a month. Today's communique, written in Arabic, was delivered a few minutes after midnight to Beirut's An- Nahar daily and a Western news agency in the Lebanese capital. It was accompanied by an authen- ticating photograph of American hostage Joseph Cicippio, who is also held by the Revolutionary Justice Organization. Cicippio, 61, of Norristown, Pa., was kidnapped in Beirut Sept. 12, 1986. The poor-quality photo, the same one the hostage-takers had re- leased before, showed him from the Mann waist up, sporting a bushy beard and without the spectacles he usually wears. "The United Nations has inter- vened in the person of the secretary- general and other intermediaries with immense efforts to salvage the situation," it said. "They sought to narrow the gap and reachssolutions satisfactory to all parties," the 33-line commu- nique said. The Arabic language commu- nique was delivered to the Beirut newspaper An-Nahar along with an authenticating photograph of American hostage Joseph Cicippio. Revolutionary Justice is reported to be holding both Mann and Cicippio. IRAQ James Baker said. Iraq has denied its nuclear pro- "We saw earlier the tragic con- Continued from page 1 sequences of the failure to comply gram is intended to develop tions that call for inspections are with Security Council resolutions," unconditional," Secretary of State he warned. weapons. Two top Chilean police arrested for plottin SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) - The two top commanders of the secret police under the military regime of Gen. Augusto Pinochet were ar- rested yesterday and charged with plotting the 1976 car-bomb assassi- nation of former Cabinet minister Orlando Letelier in Washington. The 14 1/2-page indictment by Supreme Court Justice Adolfo Banados ordered retired Gen. Manuel Contreras and his deputy, Gen. Pedro Espinoza, brought to trial "as authors of the crime of homicide." According to the indictment, the two men plotted the murder and provided false passports for two se- cret police agents involved in the murder of Letelier and his American aide, Ronni Moffitt. g minister's murder Acting Foreign Minister Edmundo Vargas said yesterday's indictment was a step forward in re- lations with the United States, which under law could not request the extradition of the two men a second time, and had favored Chilean prosecution. "All the hurdles stemming from the Letelier case have been re- moved," Vargas said. Moffitt and Letelier, who was a Cabinet minister and ambassador to Washington under the leftist gov- ernment of President Salvador Allende, were killed by a remote- controlled bomb attacked to their car as they drove in downtown Washington on Sept. 21, 1976. exile after Allende was overthrown in a bloody military coup on Sept. 11, 1973. Two DINA agents, including an American, Michael Townley, and two anti-Castro Cuban exiles have been sentenced in the United States on charges of participating in the plot to kill Letelier. The case was reopened here last month when the Supreme Court ap- pointed Banados as a special investi- gator at the request of the govern- ment of President Patricio Aylwin, who suceeded Pinochet 18 months ago. Vargas said "this is a very im- portant step and a decision that Letelier was one of an estimated pleaeses us, because it is necessary to 1 million Chileans who went into know what happened." I How's the weather up there? ^" IE Detroit Free Press sports columnist Mitch Albom interviewed Michigan football player Greg Skepanek for ESPN's "College Gameday." The show will air Saturday morning.