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Vol. CI, No.75 Ann Arbor, Michigan -Wednesday, January 16, 1991 *Cpyinght ©199
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Iraq, allied coalition
poised for Gulf war
Associated Press
The midnight deadline for Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein to pull
his forces out of Kuwait passed last
night and more than 680,000 U.S.
and allied troops began a new dead-
line - to war.
In America, President Bush de-
flected questions from reporters to
aides.
White House spokesperson Mar-
lin Fitzwater said a decision on
launching an attack against Iraq is
likely to come "sooner rather than
later" now that the U.N. deadline -
midnight yesterday - has passed.
"I would say that the president is
at peace with himself. He's ready to
make the tough decisions ahead that
are necessary," Fitzwater said.
Iraq's U.S. ambassador, Mo-
hamed Sadiq Al-Mashat, left Wash-
ington with several aides last night
on his way to London and then
Baghdad. Four other Iraqi diplomats
will remain in the embassy.
The Pentagon reported yesterday
that Saddam was showing no signs
of withdrawing his troops. Spokes-
person Pete Williams said Iraq
instead was adding to its forces and
stretching its defensive lines west-
ward from Kuwait into southern Iraq.
The Pentagon also announced
that more than 415,000 American
troops were among the allied forces
on station in the Persian Gulf, fac-
ing an Iraqi force of 545,000 in
Kuwait and southern Iraq.
Kuwait's government-in-exile
announced yesterday that "the hour
of liberation is near."
At the United Nations, the Secu-
rity Council considered a final call
for an Iraqi withdrawal. The proposed
statement makes "a last urgent,
solemn appeal to President Hussein
... to take the only necessary step,
which is to withdraw uncondition-
ally from Kuwait."
France said yesterday that its
11th-hour peace plan - which had
failed to win the support of Wash-
ington, Moscow or London - had
also elicited nothing from Iraq.
French Premier Michel Rocard
announced in Paris that the moment
to use force "has, alas, arrived."
In Baghdad and other Iraqi cities,
hundreds of thousands of Iraqis
staged government-organized demon-
strations, expressing defiance of the
United Nations deadline.
"We will die for you, Saddam!"
yelled women carrying AK-47 rifles.
Al-Thawra, newspaper of Iraq's
ruling Baath party, said in a front-
page editorial today that Kuwait is
under Iraq and "will remain so for-
ever."
"It is Bush who wanted the war,"
said the army daily, Al-Qaddissiya.
"But let him know that the furnace
of hell will be open to the Ameri-
cans and to their allies when they
come."
War preparations and protests in-
tensified as the deadline loomed.
Across the Persian Gulf region,
people fearing an Iraqi chemical at-
tack sealed their homes. Turks
streamed away from the Iraqi fron-
tier, and the last flights out of the
area before yesterday's deadline left
with few empty seats.
\ Security alerts were posted at air-
ports throughout the world and ex-
traordinary precautions were taken
from the Middle East to the United
States, which ordered all of its non-
essential diplomats out of the Middle
East.
"No blood for oil!" was chanted
at anti-war protests across the United
States, including one by 5,000 peo-
ple in front of the White House.
On the eve of the United Nations imposed deadline for using force against Iraq, Airman 1st Class Reginald Horton
awaits deployment at a Saudi Arabian air base after arriving to the region yesterday with his unit, the 31st Services
Squadron.
'U' project has military uses, say students, faculty
by Ronan Lynch
Daily Research Reporter
Several students and faculty say
research recently completed at the
University clearly has military ap-
plications directly related to fuel-air
explosives (FAEs). Both U.S. and
Iraqi forces in the Gulf are stockpil-
ing the weapons, according to recent
news reports.
In Sept. 1990, Aerospace
Engineering Profs. Charles
Kauffman and Martin Sichel com-
pleted a project indirectly funded by
the Department of the Army. The
project studied combustion of high
explosive dust particles when trig-
gered by another explosion.'
Contacted at his home last night,
Kauffman said "All of our research
involves safety in the work place."
When asked if he realized the poten-
tial military applications of his
work, Kauffman said "Who knows
what is done with what? The wheel
has ended up on tanks."
Sichel could not be reached for
comment.
FAEs have been described as the
"poor man's nuclear bomb". An
FAE uses two detonations, one to
scatter fuel such as propane or ethy-
lene oxide over a large area, and a
second explosion to ignite the fuel-
air mixture. The resulting explosion
creates a huge fireball and shock
waves. Electromagnetic pulses cre-
ated by the FAEs disable communi-
cations equipment.
The weapon, if properly deto-
nated, would have devastating effects
on troops sheltered in trenches.
Newsweek reported: "Exploded low
over troops, the fuel-air explosion
also sucks every atom of oxygen
from the atmosphere, even from in-
side the lungs of people inside blast-
proof tanks or bunkers."
In October 1989, The Illinois
Institute of Technology (IIT) re-
ceived a $2.5 million grant from the
Army to study "Detonation
Enhancement by a Solid Propellant
or Explosive Dust Layer." IIT sub-
contracted a $72,640 parcel of the
project to Kauffman and Sichel.
The University project was
funded from October 1989 to
September 1990, reported the
September 1990 issue of the
University's DRDA Reporter. In
December, Matt Green and Brad Van
Guilder, two physics graduate stu-
dents concerned about weapons re-
search, used the Freedom of
Information Act to request a copy of
the proposal submitted by Kauffman
and Sichel. The University disclosed
the project was being funded by the
Army, and it was classified. The stu-
dents received a one-paragraph de-
scription of the project.
The brief description closely
matched a project from 1981 which
had been worked on by former
University Aerospace Engineering
prof. James Nicholls. Nicholls
worked extensively on fuel-air deto-
nation for the Department of Defense
during the 1970s. In 1981, he under-
took a project called "Detonation of
Some Dusts," in which he experi-
mented with the detonation of dust
clouds of high explosives particles.
In a 1982 article, "Military
Research on Campus," Nicholls was
asked about the usage of such a pro-
ject. He was quoted as saying: "I
guess I'd be real hard pressed to
come up with a real commercial
usage of that."
Kauffman and Nicholls have
shared research interests before.
Nicholls seived as an advisor for
Kauffman's doctoral thesis, on shock
wave ignition of liquid fuel drops.
Kauffman and Sichel's recently
completed project was to explore
conditions under which a detonation
in the gaseous explosive can then
cause "sympathetic detonation of the
explosive dust layer."
University Biophysics Prof. Dan
Axelrod, a member of Concerned
Faculty, also studied the project
description.
"From the description provided
by the University, it seems to me
that the project is about creating a
solid fuel-air explosion for weapons
applications," Axelrod said yester-
day. "Although other applications
are possibly conceivable, the descrip-
tion itself, the sponsorship by the
Department of the Army and the se-
crecy surrounding the project make it
very likely that this is a weapons
project.
Axelrod studied weapons technol-
See RESEARCH, Page 2
Students
nervously
anticipate
Gulf war
by Lee Shufro
Daily Staff Reporter
Campus groups protest war,
Students of color protest
'racist' conflict in Gulf
by Shalini Patel
Daily Staff Reporter
Concerned People of Color and the ad-hoc
Committee of African Americans Against War in the
Gulf organized a rally at noon yesterday to call attention
to the disproportionate number of African Americans
and Latinos in the military as well as the plight of peo-
ple of color in America.
According to the Pentagon, people of color comprise
34 per cent of the Army and 25.9 per cent of the Marine
Corps currently stationed in the Persian Gulf. People of
color constitute about 17 percent of the population, ac-
cording to the 1980 census.
"We need to make a stand about the war in the Gulf
and at home," said second-year medical student
Kimberly Smith to the approximately 250-person
crowd. "The government wants people of color here to
shoot people of color in the Middle East."
Smith regarded last night's deadline date, which co-
incided with what would have been the 62nd birthday of
civil rights leader and peace advocate Dr. Martin Luther
2500 gather, march as
midnight deadline passes
by Lari Barager and Lee Shufro
Daily Staff Reporters
As the United Nations deadline for Iraqi withdrawal
from Kuwait could no longer be counted in days or
hours, but minutes, about 2,500 University students
filed onto the steps of the Union to chant, cheer and
simply hope for peace.
While rain poured down on the crowd, which
spilled out onto State St., blocking traffic, anti-war
movement leaders spoke nervously of the coming
deadline - holding a moment of silence at midnight.
With the deadline past, the vigil continued.
Students Against U.S. Intervention in the Persian
Gulf (SAUSI) publicity co-chair and LSA senior
Daniel Cohns, who spoke, said, "This rally shows
that the students, and mainly the people of this coun-
try are opposed to this war."
Pam Galpern, one of the rally's organizers and
speakers said, "Only today, George Bush said he was
quote 'at peace'. This country is on the brink of war
and George Bush is at peace."
"If tbh wari rhnt nrntertinn of hulman rigyhter
As the war clouds darken over
the Persian Gulf, students are going
about normal routines, busy keeping
to their daily schedules of going to
classes and worrying how much
money is left in the bank.
But now that the United Nations
deadline for Iraqi withdrawal from
Kuwait has passed, students may
confront for the first time the reality
of living in a country at war. They
face the same questions that many
college students faced during the
Vietnam War.
In the MUG students munched
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