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Vol. Cl, No.87 Ann Arbor, Michigan - Friday, February 1, 1991 Copyright 01991
The Michigan ay
'U'
community with relatives in Gulf war voice distress
by Joanna Broder
An English Professor interested
in theater, a Palestinian American
student studying Economics, a nurs-
ing student in her second term, and a
student from Hebrew University who
grew up in Jerusalem and is now
Visiting Ann Arbor for the year,
don't seem to share much in the way
of common experience. Looks, how-
ever, can deceive.
All four people have at least one
relative living or fighting in the
Middle East right now. Each one is
personally touched by a war which
for many seems distant and far re-
moved.
Professor Buzz Alexander's 23-
year-old son Jonathan, a member of
the Navy, shipped out for the Gulf
in the beginning of December.
Alexander explained that because
Jonathon works from a ship, com-
munication has been very difficult.
"I've had no way of knowing
what he's going through, what he's
thinking, what he's worried about,
(and) what his experience is,"
Alexander said.
Alexander, who helped organize
the early Jan. teach-in, opposes the
war. He is currently involved in or-
ganizing faculty against the war. He
is confident his son would fully
support his anti-war activities here.
Sometimes Alexander reassures
himself of his son's safety by way
of denial.
"Before the war began," he ex-
plained, "I kept telling myself it
wouldn't happen. Then once it began
I keep telling myself my son won't
be one of the one's who dies."
Probably every parent in this
position is experiencing some form
of denial Alexander said.
On Thanksgiving - a few days
before his son set sail - Alexander
saw that Jonathan did not fully sup-
port U.S. military goals.
"I would describe his attitude as
cynical of both the politics of Iraq
and the U.S.," Alexander said.
In a letter mailed to Jonathan's
aunt on Christmas, Jonathan
sounded "skeptical about U.S. pur-
poses," Alexander said. Jonathan
also wrote about how he didn't want
to be there and really had no choice.
Pointing to the loss of life and
environmental, economic, and polit-
ical consequences of the war,
Alexander said "there's no good rea-
son that we couldn't have continued
to apply the sanctions. We're going
to lose so much by what we've done
that it makes no sense to do it."
Like Alexander, Zeid Zalatimo, a
Palestinian American born in
Kuwait, has a family connection to
the Middle East. About 40 of his
relatives remain in Kuwait while
many fled in late August. Zalatimo's
mother lives in the West Bank and
he also has family residing in Saudi
Arabia, The WJnited Arab Emirates,
the Gaza Strip, and Israel.
Zalatimo said when he was able
to speak to his mother last week she
sounded "very nervous." There had
been a 24-hour military curfew im-
posed on her town, meaning that she
could not leave her house. "She's
not really sure what's going on," Za-
latimo said.
A member of Students Against
U.S. Intervention in the Middle East
(SAUSI), Zalatimo questioned why
the U.S. decided to launch a war
See RELATIVES, Page 8
People of Color
sponsor teach-in
1
by Shalini Patel
Daily Staff Reporter
Approximately 50 people at-
tended a speak out and teach-in
yesterday in the Michigan Union
to discuss the implications of the
Gulf war on people of color in the
U.S. and the Middle East.
People of Color Against the
War and Racism, a group com-
prised of about 150 people from
over a dozen campuses and com-
munity groups, sponsored the
event.
"George Bush is the most hon-
est President," said Near Eastern
Studies graduate student and
teach-in speaker Stephen Sheehi.
"He's not ashamed of his fascism."
The United States used the
Iraqi invasion of Kuwait as a rea-
son to flex its military and eco-
nomic muscle at the expense of
people of color worldwide, he
added.
Christopher McAuley, a gradu-
ate student in political science, in-
tended to address inconsistencies
in U.S. foreign policy, but in his
research he said he discovered that
policy has been consistent. "War
is so much a part of the American
make-up," he said.
Mary Ann Hinton, a member of
the Unity Tenant Organization,
discussed the discrimination
against African-Americans in
schools, housing, and the court
See TEACH-IN, Page 8
uasran Khc
IRAQ
SAUDI
ARABIA
KUWAIT
......................... . . ......
SAUDI ARABIA
E......................I
50 miles
50 km.
U.S.
lost bi
Iraqi
Associated Press
Pentagon sources said yesterday
that another U.S. military aircraft:
had been lost in the Persian Gulf
War. Its crew of 14 was reported
downed behind Iraqi lines.
Members of Congress said after
briefings from Pentagon officials
that the aircraft was a modijfied ver-
sion of the C-130 equipped with
small cannons and machine guns.
The aircraft went down over
Kuwait, lawmakers said. A Pentagon
source, speaking on the condition of
anonymity, would not say whether
the plane was downed over Iraq or
Kuwait.
The allies snatched back a Saudi
Arabian town from defiant Iraqi tank.
troops yesterday after lighting the
sky in a fierce all-night battle. Iraq
said it signaled the start of a
"thunderous storm" on the desert
floor.
Baghdad also claimed it captured
the first women prisoners of the 2-
week-old war. The United States re-
fused to confirm the report, but con-
ceded that a woman was among two
soldiers missing in action.
Allied aircraft continued to dump
a hailstorm of munitions on Iraq's
lane
ehind
lines
front-line troops in Kuwait, the
crack Republican Guards. Iraq, in
turn, lofted another Scud missile
into the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Israeli officials said there were no ca-
sualties.
And a grim ritual began on the
home front - the military began
notifying the families of 11 Marines
who were killed in the fighting
around the Saudi town of Khafji.
Allied military officials played
down the significance of the tank
battle that raged for the better part of
two days in and around Khafji, on
the Persian Gulf coast below the
Kuwait border.
The battle at Khafji "is a first
warning from the faithful men in
Iraq to all U.S. occupiers that they
will leave with their dead in bats and
coffins," Iraqi radio warned. An Iraqi
newspaper forecast "a thunderous
storm blowing on the Arab desert."
During the battle for Khafji, an-
other battle raged 40 miles to the
west, near the Kuwaiti town of al-
Wafra, where Saudi troops and U.S.
airplanes exchanged fire with Iraqi
positions. U.S. Marines reported ev-
idence of five or six Iraqi divisions
massing near there.
See GULF, Page 8
KhatjI, the scene of
the most intense
ground fighting so far.
City hospitals prepare for war
by Sona Iyengar
The war in the Gulf is taking
place half way around the world,
but casualties may reach Uni-
versity and Ann Arbor hospitals
soon after ground combat begins.
The Ann Arbor Veterans Ad-
ministration Medical Center is
prepared to receive 61 casualties
shortly after ground troops en-
gage.
This event marks a turning
point in Veterans Administration
"istory; previously the Depart-
ment of Defense treated all war
casualties unaided.
The medical center, one of
three VA hospitals in Michigan,
is also prepared to free up 141 of
its more than 200 beds within 30
days, according to a
VA/Department of Defense
(DOD) Contingency Plan.
Under the plan - which
President Bush has yet to sign
into effect - VA hospitals
around the country are commit-
ted to provide 25,000 beds
within a one-month period.
The Ann Arbor VA Hospital
has been designated one of 80
primary hospitals and would re-
ceive casualties directly from
the battleground. The contin-
gency plan divides all VA Med-
ical Centers into primary hospi-
tals, secondary hospitals and in-
stallation support centers.
The casualties brought to the
VA hospital will be stabilized
patients needing long-term care.
Military facilities in the Gulf
will treat emergency cases until
the patient becomes stable
enough to travel, said VA Hospi-
tal Public Affairs Officer Cyn-
thia Lees said.
As beds are freed, veterans
receiving care may be relocated.
Veterans who previously injured
themselves in active duty will
receive priority over incoming
war casualties. "Anything on an
emergency basis will be taken
care of," Lees said.
See HOSPITALS, page 2
EMU
regents
*vote to
drop logo
b Melissa Peerless
Daily Higher Education Reporter
The regents of Eastern Michi-
gan University voted 6-0 to accept
a proposal by University president
William Shelton to officially drop
the 61-year-old Huron Indian nick-
name and logo.
Wednesday's decision came af-
ter years of debate and discussion
over whether or not the symbol,
representing an Indian in a feath-
ered, headdress, was offensive to
Native Americans.
In October 1988, the Michigan
Civil Rights Commission (MCRC)
issued a report which found that
more than 100 Michigan colleges,
high schools, and primary schools
had team names and logos named
after American Indian tribes.
"The MCRC in October 1988
asked all universities and high
schools to change Native Ameri-
can symbols and logos. At EMU,
we established a committee com-
prised of faculty, students, and
alumni to look into the prospect of
0do~ing so" said1 Kathv Tinnell.as
House proposes
new deficit plan
by Bethany Robertson
Daily Staff Reporter
Higher education would receive
some cuts from a budget proposal
laid down by the Michigan House
Democrats yesterday as they played
their first card in state budget negoti-
ations to reduce a $1.37 billion
deficit.
The Democrats submitted their
plan to State Budget Director Patti
Woodworth as an alternative to
Republican Gov. John Engler's sec-
ond round of proposed cuts, which
were vetoed by the House
Appropriations Committee in
January. The University received a
$2.47 million cut in the first round
of budget cuts last December.
The original draft of the gover-
nor's second plan did not propose
any higher education funding cuts,
but called for large cuts in state ser-
vices and the layoff of about 3,400
state employees. The House plan
targets cuts for each House sub-
committee, including education, but
would only cause about 500 layoffs.
"We are spreading the cuts out
into more areas, being selective
rather than advocating wholesale cuts
and eliminations," said Speaker of
the House Lewis Dodak (D-Birch
Run).
Senator John Schwarz (D-Battle
Schwarz said.
But Stephen Serkaian, press sec-
retary for Speaker Dodak, said he did
not expect education to sustain large
cuts under the Democratic proposal.
"I suspect education's going to come
out pretty well; no one wants to
harm it," he said.
One definite Democrat proposal
would stop funding for higher educa-
tion during the months of July
through September. This plan would
cause payment of $90.8 million to
Michigan universities to be delayed
one quarter until Oct. 1, 1991, the
beginning of the state's fiscal year.
We are spreading the
cuts out into more
areas, being selective
rather than
advocating wholesale
cuts and eliminations'
--Lewis Dodak
Speaker of the House
"They're really not cutting
money, they're just slowing down
the payment stream and eventually
Say 'Ahhhhhhh'
Sixth grader Steve Nowak gets a natural history lesson from LSA sophomore Jennifer Feeny, who wields a
fossilized Tyrannosaurus Rex incisor in the Natural Science Museum.
WING survey reflects
little diversity coverage
by Purvi Shah
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