Iraq has used nerve gas in its war with Iran and is nearing completion of up to five extensive sites for the mass production of the lethal chemical warfare agent, according to United States intelligence officials. They said they had obtained what they believe to be incontrovertible evidence of the findings. Pentagon, State Department and intelligence officials said in interviews this week that the evidence included documentation that Iraq has been buying laboratory equipment from a West German company, purchases that are believed to be linked to Iraq’s nerve gas production plans. The intelligence also shows, the officials said, that Iraq has as many as five dispersed sites for the storage, production and assembly of nerve gas weapons. Without intervention, these officials said, Iraq is estimated to be weeks or months away from the ability to mount major chemical attacks against Iran’s far more numerous troops.
A spokesman for the German Economics Ministry said today that an investigation had determined that the Karl Kolb company, a supplier of industrial laboratories, had sold a pesticide plant to Iraq that would go into operation in September. But a senior executive of the company denied that such a transaction had taken place. The ministry spokesman, Dieter Vogel, said there was no restriction on the sale of such plants, which American intelligence officials believe can be easily converted to produce the kind of poison gases that Iraq is accused of having used against Iranian troops.
President Reagan conducts a N.S.C. meeting to talk about the chemical warfare treaty.
A military spokesman said today that Iraqi warplanes and naval vessels had set four ships on fire in an attack at dawn off the Iranian coast at the head of the Persian Gulf. The spokesman said Iraqi jets later shot down two Iranian helicopters that had been sent to rescue the crews of the stricken ships, which he identified only as “enemy naval targets.” A Greek shipping company in Athens said, according to Reuters, that its 16,230-ton freighter Iapetos was set on fire at the head of the gulf when a missile struck its engine room and it was bombed from the air. A spokesman for the Stravelakis Company said the 16-member crew abandoned ship and was picked up by a tug. On Tuesday Iraq reported a similar attack against what it described as two “major naval targets” south of Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil terminal. Later Lloyd’s of London said one of the targets that had been hit was a Greek tanker, and Iran also confirmed that attack.
The Iraqi military spokesman, who read a communique today over the Baghdad radio, said the four vessels that were hit were spotted at dawn sailing toward the Iranian port of Bandar Khomeini. The Iraqi Navy and Air Force, he said, mounted “fierce attacks and managed to score direct and effective hits,” leaving the four targets burning with smoke billowing from them.
Lebanon’s warring factions agreed to halt their devastating bombardments of residential areas of Beirut. The agreement came at a meeting chaired by President Amin Gemayel in the wake of Wednesday’s heavy shelling that left 26 people dead and 136 wounded. Meanwhile, French soldiers guarding the only crossing between Christian East Beirut and Muslim West Beirut turned over their positions to 300 Lebanese policemen, although 40 French military observers stayed on. The French have so far withdrawn about 500 of their peacekeeping force of 1,270.
Washington may not abide by the limits set in the 1979 strategic arms limitation treaty with Moscow, according to a statement by the State Department.
Drunken Soviet seamen trying to cover up their binge started a 12-hour blaze that gutted a factory fishing ship off Vladivostok, according to a report in the Soviet trade union daily Trud. It said that the crewmen on the 10,036-ton vessel, used to process the catch from Soviet trawlers, were drinking pure alcohol they had smuggled aboard. The newspaper said the crewmen set fire to spilled alcohol to burn it off and that when flames raced through the ship, many of them leaped into freezing waters before a rescue could be organized. The report indicated that some of the seamen had not survived.
Thousands of homosexuals, animal liberation proponents, peace activists and anarchists — dressed in punk attire — invaded London’s normally-staid financial district to register their scorn for big business and government. Amazed businessmen watched as groups of teen-agers in pink hairdos and tight leather clothes blocked streets and disrupted traffic in what they called “Stop the City” demonstrations. Police said 360 protesters were arrested for “willfully obstructing traffic and daubing slogans on walls.”
A group calling itself “the Revolutionary Organization of Socialist Muslims” claimed responsibility for the shooting death in Athens of British diplomat Kenneth Whitty. In a typewritten statement delivered to a news agency office in Beirut, the previously unknown group said that it killed Whitty in response to what it called British attempts to resume its former colonial role in the world by spreading colonialist culture under new guise. Whitty, who ran the British. Council — a government agency that promotes British interests abroad — was slain by a lone gunman who fled on foot.
Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger appealed to Dutch officials to accept 48 cruise missiles. saying their deployment is vital to Western defense. At a press conference in The Hague, Weinberger said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s plan for deployment has been carefully tailored to balance an enormous number of Soviet SS-20 missiles targeted on Western Europe. A deeply divided Dutch Parliament is expected to vote on the missile issue in June.
Thai troops captured 40 Vietnamese soldiers after fighting a battalion-size force that crossed into Thailand from Cambodia in pursuit of Khmer Rouge guerrillas, the Thai army reported. It was the largest number of Vietnamese troops reported captured by Thailand in border clashes since Hanoi’s forces invaded Cambodia in 1979.
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s governing Congress-I Party gained 20 seats in indirect elections for the upper house of India’s Parliament today, bringing the party close to a two-thirds majority needed to institute constitutional changes. Mrs. Gandhi’s party won at least 47 of the 72 seats at stake in the 244-seat house, the Press Trust of India said. The gains brought Mrs. Gandhi within 10 seats of a two-thirds majority. There was speculation that, with the support of those who regularly vote with Congress-I, she might now have effective control. Newspapers have suggested that such control could enable Mrs. Gandhi to change India’s political system.
Meanwhile, Akali Dal, the Sikh political party, charged that the police had arrested as many as a thousand militant Sikhs in New Delhi. In Punjab state, four people were killed in a gunfight near the Golden Temple in Amritsar, holiest shrine of the Sikh religion.
Lieutenant General H. M. Ershad, the nation’s military ruler, today appointed the leader of a small political party as the Prime Minister. An official announcement said the appointment of the politician, Ataur Rahman Khan, was effective immediately, although he will be formally sworn in on Friday. Mr. Khan is head of the Jatiya Dal Party, which has supported General Ershad’s martial-law rule despite growing opposition from other political groups. General Ershad, who seized power from President Abdus Sattar in a coup in March 1982, has scheduled elections for May 27. Opposition leaders have threatened a boycott unless martial law is first ended and power handed over to an interim government. In a brief statement, Mr. Khan said he would dedicate himself to achieving a “smooth and peaceful transition to democracy.”
President Reagan meets with the U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador, Thomas R. Pickering.
U.S. reconnaissance planes are providing almost instant intelligence on rebel movements before and during combat operations, according to the commander of Salvadoran forces battling insurgents in the eastern part of the country. Washington has said the reconnaissance missions were stepped up to look for rebels who might try to disrupt the country’s elections.
Two Nicaraguan cargo boats struck mines near the port of Corinto, one day after a freighter carrying 10,000 tons of molasses was damaged by a mine in the same port. “No crewmen were hurt and the boats were not damaged.” Voice of Nicaragua radio said after the latest incidents, which brought to five the number of vessels reported to have struck mines at Corinto this month. A Soviet oil tanker was damaged when it hit a mine at another Nicaraguan port earlier this month. U.S.-backed rebels say they have mined all of Nicaragua’s ports on both the Caribbean and Pacific coasts.
An abundance of Army medals was awarded to individual Americans involved in the October invasion of Grenada, according to Army officials. The Army awarded 8,612 medals for the operation even though it never had more than about 7,000 people on the island.
A leftist Chilean guerrilla was killed and a policeman was wounded today when a gunfight erupted in the capital, the government press agency said. It was the sixth death in political violence in Chile this week. The shooting began when armed guerrillas ambushed a police van after the end of a curfew imposed to control protests against President Augusto Pinochet’s Government, the agency reported. Five protesters and bystanders were killed in protests Tuesday. On Wednesday, police clashed with mourners returning from the funeral of one of those killed Tuesday.
Leopold Senghor is the first black to be admitted to the 349-year-old French Academy. Mr. Senghor, the poet and former President of Senegal, was honored at a gala reception in Paris. The academy was founded in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu with the aim of guarding the French language and literature.
The USSR performs a nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk.
President Reagan today accused House Speaker Thomas P. O’Neill Jr. of assuming “guilt by accusation” in describing the Administration as steeped in “greed and unfairness.” Mr. Reagan responded to criticism in which Mr. O’Neill contended there had been a steady pattern of questionable dealings by Administration officials. The Speaker also charged that the Administration, in what he saw as its “fundamental unfairness,” was now seeking to make budget savings by reducing automatic benefit programs such as Social Security and Medicare. The President defended members of his Administration, saying there was “little or no basis” for charges of unethical practices and that most of the accused individuals eventually “have been cleared.” Mr. Reagan did not comment on Mr. O’Neill’s separate contention about benefit programs. But the White House stressed the President had no intention of trying to reduce such benefits as Social Security, a particularly sensitive issue in a campaign year.
President Reagan accepts a one-of-a-kind .44 caliber long barrel pistol from Smith & Wesson.
House and Senate negotiators reached agreement on a major farm bill backed by President Reagan that puts more cash into farmers’ pockets before the November election. The comprehensive package, devised by the Administration and farm state senators, would pay wheat farmers to cut production this year and next, and pay other farmers to cut back next year if surpluses mount. The bill now faces final votes in the Senate and House.
Senior officials at the U.S. Information Agency repeatedly rejected outside speakers for political reasons and then unfairly blamed career employees for putting the names on a “blacklist.” In addition, top agency officials ignored “repeated warnings about the improprieties” involved, according to the report by USIA’s Office of Inspections. The report confirmed that many politicians, scholars and journalists who appeared on the blacklist were “apparently rejected for partisan or ideological reasons.”
The Navy’s top officer wants Congress to review the War Powers Act, charging in a speech just made available that it has crippled the President’s ability to rapidly use military force in a crisis. “This nation must be ready, and must be seen as being ready, to use military power when forced to do so by our adversaries,” said Adm. James D. Watkins, chief of naval operations. “We must show American power-not American paralysis.” Watkins’ blunt speech, delivered Wednesday to the Baltimore Council on Foreign Relations, was believed to mark the first time a top-ranking military officer has spoken out publicly against the act, which Congress adopted in 1973 after U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
The Coast Guard would be authorized to spend $2.39 billion, 10% more than the Reagan Administration recommended under a bill passed by the House. But supporters of the measure passed, 348 to 38, said it would only give the Coast Guard the minimum amount it needs to operate all the programs federal laws require of it. The measure still must win Senate approval and then a separate appropriations bill must be passed.
Gary Hart and Walter F. Mondale have been stressing their differences on a wide range of foreign and domestic issues. But the differences are more complex and more subtle than the campaign oratory would suggest. The Rev. Jesse Jackson says the “rat-a-tat-tat” between the two obscures their basic similarity of viewpoint, and the record provides little to substantiate several of their key assertions against each other.
The American Jewish Committee said that American Jews care about a wide range of domestic and foreign issues as well as the security of Israel. The committee said an emphasis in the Presidential campaign over moving the United States Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was “a caricature presentation” of Jewish concerns.
Mayor Koch visited Houston to address a group of civic and business leaders. The New Yorker donned a ten-gallon hat and black lizard-skin cowboy boots, prompting a bemused observer to suggest, “He looks like Lyndon Johnson.”
A federal judge in Houston rejected a stay of execution for Ronald Clark O’Bryan, scheduled to die by injection Saturday for the 1974 murder of his 8-year-old son with poisoned Halloween candy. O’Bryan, 39, dubbed the Candy Man by fellow inmates, has steadfastly maintained he is innocent. U.S. District Judge Robert O’Conor denied the stay after hearing the motion from O’Bryan’s attorney, Stefan Presser of the American Civil Liberties Union, who said he now will take the case to a federal appeals court.
The Nebraska Supreme Court began deliberations in the impeachment trial of Attorney General Paul Douglas, accused of misdealings involving a failing savings company. In final arguments before the seven-member tribunal, prosecutor Richard Kopf said the evidence showed “to a moral certainty” that Douglas was guilty.
Canadian Lynn Williams, acting temporary international president and riding a comfortable vote lead in two countries, claimed victory over former U.S. millhand Frank McKee in the race for president of the million-member United Steelworkers of America. A survey of the union’s 23 districts in the United States and Canada showed Williams had 132,880 votes and McKee had 78,413 votes in early returns. Five of 20 U.S. districts were not included in the survey and some districts which reported did not indicate the number of locals counted. “I am claiming victory in this campaign. although the vote totals are still incomplete,” Williams, 59, the first Canadian to hold the international office, said before midnight at a Pittsburgh hotel.
Customs agents have seized $7 million worth of tank parts bound for Iran in a rail yard and at the headquarters of a small exporting company, the authorities said. Shipping papers with the 26 crates said the parts contained “automotive spares,” but the authorities said most of the equipment was engine parts for American-made M-60 tanks sold to Iran before the Government of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini came to power in 1980. The shipment was apparently meant provide Iran with parts to refurbish its tank corps for its war with Iraq, officials said. No one was arrested, but United States Attorney James Rosenbaum said the matter might be taken before a Federal grand jury. The investigation was part of a nationwide effort to halt illegal exports of military items. The parts seized Monday were from the E & F Marketing Corporation in the Minneapolis suburb of Plymouth.
The flow of lava from the Mauna Loa volcano toward the city of Hilo slowed today, but cloud cover made it impossible for the authorities to fix its exact position. Civil Defense officials said it would be next week before any homes in the city of 32,000 people were directly threatened and that there would be sufficient advance warning if an evacuation became necessary. Harry Kim, the Hawaii County Civil Defense director. said the flow was thought to have advanced only half a mile overnight. It was about six miles from suburban subdivisions and 13 miles from the heart of Hilo. Another 13 miles up the slope of the world’s largest active volcano, lava was spewing out at a steady, high volume for the fifth day. Most of the flowing lava seemed bound for Hilo. Other flows were said to be posing no threat.
At least 67 people were killed and hundreds injured by a string of tornadoes that swept small towns and greening rural areas in North Carolina and South Carolina. At least 24 twisters cut a 300-mile swath of destruction through the two states.
A house trailer resident in Bennettsville, South Carolina, told of seeing a low black funnel, whipping back and forth below the clouds and moving straight toward her home. “All of a sudden,” she recalled, “the trailer started to shake, and the hail started to pound down like stones. My mother and I grabbed my daughters and got out the door just as the whole trailer went right up into the sky.”
The mix of tornadoes, unusually severe winds and snowy thunderstorms that struck the East Coast were part of a gigantic storm system that almost reached hurricane intensity. The aberrations were due to the mixture of a vast body of warm moist air from the Atlantic being driven over cold air descending from Canada that led to extreme atmospheric instability and turmoil.
The New York Yankees trade one of the key members of their last World Championship teams when they dispatch Graig Nettles to the San Diego Padres for pitcher Dennis Rasmussen and a player to be named. Nettles, who had angered Yankees owner George Steinbrenner by criticizing him in a book.
The Oakland A’s signed Dave Kingman as a free agent, he received a two-year deal worth $1.8M. After hitting .198 with 13 home runs for the Mets in 1983, Kingman bounces back to hit .268 with 35 bombs with Oakland. He held a record for a player in his final season broken in 2016. He also held the record for the lowest batting average among players with at least 300 home runs (.236) at the time of his retirement.
The NFL Baltimore Colts move to Indianapolis in the middle of the night. Owner Robert Irsay moved the team in the dead of night on March 28–29, 1984, after the city of Baltimore proved unwilling to replace Memorial Stadium and the Maryland General Assembly was on the verge of passing legislation allowing the city to seize the team via eminent domain. The move embittered many Baltimoreans for decades, and has had a lasting impact on the NFL, including a similar controversy 12 years later that brought Baltimore its current NFL franchise, the Ravens.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1170.75 (-3.87).
Born:
Adam Pardy, Canadian NHL defenseman (Calgary Flames, Dallas Stars, Buffalo Sabres, Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton Oilers, Nashville Predators), in Bonavista, Newfoundland and Labrador.
Ole-Kristian Tollefsen, Norwegian National Team and NHL defenseman (Olympics, 2010; Columbus Blue Jackets, Philadelphia Flyers), in Oslo, Norway.
Kila Ka’aihue, MLB first baseman and designated hitter (Kansas City Royals, Oakland A’s), in Kailua, Hawaii.
History Diaries 