10A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, April 16, 1998
NATION/WORLD
Rep. calls for restoring ties to Iran
Marching toward peace
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Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON In the most sweeping initiative
toward Tehran by a U.S. official since Iran's 1979 rev-
olution, a ranking congressional Democrat called
Tuesday for the White House and Congress to take
far-reaching steps to end containment of Iran and open
the way to restoring diplomatic ties.
By proposing strong steps to hasten the thaw in
relations, Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.) former chair
and now senior Democrat on the House International
Relations Committee, issued a direct challenge to his
peers in Congress, which has usurped control of U.S.-
Iran policy in recent years. His position may also give
the White House more room to maneuver on the con-
troversial issue.
"Confrontation has benefited neither country. Why
continue to follow a policy that for 20 years hasn't
worked?" Hamilton said in a speech to the Council on
Foreign Relations. "Our policy is not isolating Iran.
It's isolating the United States."
Among his proposals, Hamilton urged a compro-
mise on Iran's nuclear capability that would enable
Tehran to develop reactors for civilian purposes -
under international safeguards and potentially with
U.S. help - much like the 1994 pact crafted with
North Korea. He envisions U.S.-Iran talks, held
under auspices of the United Nations or the
International Atomic Energy Agency, which would
help guard against Iran's development of nuclear
weapons.
The White House also should signal to Iran that
official talk on this and other issues would lead to eas-
ing of an executive order banning U.S. trade with Iran,
Hamilton said, starting with licensing U.S. companies
to talk to Tehran in preparation for the lifting of sanc-
tions.
Diplomatic moves should include sending the first
U.S. diplomat since the 1979-81 U.S. Embassy
takeover to Tehran to initiate and coordinate
American-Iranian exchange programs, Hamilton said.
He hopes to nudge congressional debate on the
issue in a new direction and to provide support for a
White House trying to forge a new relationship with
Iran despite wariness on Capitol Hill. "I felt it was an
opportune time to do it - both due to developments
in Iran and the U.S. reaction," Hamilton said in an
interview. "I want us to take advantage of it, and I
know a lot of people in the administration are now
thinking about Iran."
Despite White House calls for a government-to-
government dialogue, Hamilton said Washington has
been unwilling to take steps to facilitate such commu-
nication. "We need to begin a policy of engagement,"
he told the Council on Foreign Relations.
Belfast resident Jim Carlin reads a copy of the Northern Ireland peace
agreement yesterday, which will be distributed to all homes in the country.
Evidence
of political
ilings
opens trial
The Washington Post
GEORGE, South Africa - The polit-
ically charged trial of former president
Pieter W. Botha on contempt charges
opened yesterday with evidence aired for
the first time in a South African court
that the apartheid-era leader authorized
assassination as part of his governme 3
campaign to preserve white rule.
The South African Truth and
Reconciliation Commission revealed a
litany of statements lifted from mintes
of the apartheid-era State Security
Council, which Botha headed, that out-
lined a comprehensive state policy to
"eliminate" or "neutralize" opponents o
the white-minority government. Though
Botha's lawyer objected to attempts to
affix meaning to those terms, Paul
Zyl, the executive secretary of the tr
commission and the first witness in the
case, said high-level security officials
have given statements to the commis-
sion that the words used by their politi-
cal bosses were direct orders to kill.
The State Security Council minutes
Formed the basis of the subpoenas that
he truth commission issued to Botha
list year in an effort to get him to
acount for his government's po
Tousands of blacks and other opj
nens of apartheid were jailed, mur-
dere or killed in riots and clashes wit
polic during the unrest that swep
SouthAfrica in the 1970s and 1980s.
ButBotha, who has called the truth
seeking process a "witchhunt" and
"circus, refused to obey the subpoenas
though 1 did submit a 1,700-page doc
ument aiswering a series of writte
questionsrom the commission. For
obeying th; subpoenas, the commiss
filed charg~s of contempt against Botha
Attempts t cut a deal to avert the tria
forced a deay of Tuesday's schedule
opening, butaltimately failed.
Botha, wh was prime minister an
then presidentfrom 1978 until 1989, i.
the only apartleid-era head of state t
stand trial. Thoigh in poor health sine
suffering a strole in 1989 and seated i
court on a special cushion because of
hip replacementlast year, he has J
up to the name cnferred upon him -
"Great Crocodile' - because of hi.
combative style cf leadership durin
the days of wite-minority rule
Yesterday, with onl, a half-dozen sup
porters in the courtroom and with hi
once-powerful Afrikaner people n
out of power, he sounded like a ma
making a quixotic last stand.
"Even if they destroy me, they c
not destroy my soul and my con
tions," he declared as he chatted wit
reporters during a break.
The Botha trial assumed a politica
focus yesterday as the prosecution le
van Zyl in a line of questioning th
cut to the core of whether Botha i
accountable for the brutal repressio
that gripped South Africa in th
1980s.
MILE
Continued from Page 1A
Ann Arbor City Councilmem
Elisabeth Daley (D-5th Ward) s
the kind of action the city had ini4
ated - which includes advising per
ticipants about safety risks -~
more effective at this point than To
the city to try and ban the event. -
"When there is a large crow
whether people are naked or no
can be a very dangerous situatiar
Daley said.
Director of University Housin
William Zeller said a great deal p
emphasis is being placed on makin
the Naked Mile an overall safte
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