The U.S. Embassy in Lebanon was vulnerable to attack last month because officials responsible for security there paid insufficient attention to warnings of potential terrorist attacks, according to a report by the House Select Committee on Intelligence. The committee, in a report about the bombing that was approved by Republican and Democratic members, concluded that “the probability of another vehicular bomb attack” against United States installations in Lebanon was “so unambiguous that there is no logical explanation for the lack of effective security” at the embassy. The committee reported that the United States has information implicating one terrorist group in the bombing. The committee did not identify the group but said, “It may have received support from Iran” and may be one of several organizations that use the name Islamic Holy War.
The report, made public today as it was delivered to the Speaker of the House, Thomas P. O’Neill Jr., said, “Intelligence portrayed a situation where those responsible for security at U.S. installations in Beirut — both in Washington and on the scene — should have been on full alert and should have taken every precaution possible to thwart just such an attack as occurred.” The committee’s conclusions differed from those of President Reagan and other Administration officials, who have said that adequate security steps were under way at the embassy when it was attacked. Responding to the committee’s report, the State Department said that its own investigation into the bombing had not been completed but that “if there was negligence involved, we will find it.” A department statement also defended security measures at the embassy, noting that they were 75 percent completed at the time of the bombing.
The opposition Labor Party voted today for a policy of expelling United States nuclear weapons and dismantling the British nuclear arsenal. Under the policy, a Labor Government would be committed to scrap Britain’s 16 submarine-based Polaris nuclear missiles; cancel the Conservatives’ order to buy the more potent American Trident missile system; expel cruise missiles; and oust the United States F-111 nuclear bombers and Poseidon missile-carrying submarines long based in this country. Neil Kinnock, the party leader, smiled broadly as today’s vote was announced. He has maintained that the policy can bring electoral support because it stresses Britain’s clinging to NATO and avoids commitments, urged by left-wingers, to cut conventional military spending. Despite warnings from moderates that the nuclear disarmament policy could unsettle Europe, the British Socialists’ annual conference adopted the position by an 80 percent majority.
A group of about 40 East Germans has taken refuge in the West German Embassy in Prague, Czechoslovakia, demanding assurances of safe passage to the West, West German officials disclosed. The East Germans, who have been in the embassy for a week, want to emigrate to West Germany, the Bonn officials said. Last April, 35 East Germans managed to obtain exit visas after occupying the same embassy. Their government, however, has said that tactic will no longer work.
Greek Socialist Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou charged that a South Korean Boeing 747 jetliner downed over Soviet territory by a Soviet warplane last year, killing all 269 people aboard, was on a spy mission for the United States. “It is now a fact that it was carrying out a spying mission for the American CIA and that it had actually violated Soviet airspace to spy on targets,” he told Parliament members of his ruling party in Athens. In the speech, Papandreou offered no proof for his charge, which the United States has denied.
The Sicilian Mafia is a hierarchy, with roots in virtually all of Sicily, according to a view of the organization offered by an organized crime leader. Tomasso Buscetta’s revelations accord with the classic view of the Mafia as an organization of small groups governed by a “commission,” the leader of which has power over the Mafia throughout Sicily.
The eighth game between world chess champion Anatoly Karpov and his fellow Soviet player Gary Kasparov ended in a draw after 20 moves. After Kasparov opened the game with the Catalon variation, Karpov built a solid position, and many experts described the challenger’s play in the latter part of the game as “colorless.” Karpov holds a 3-0 lead in the match. Victory will go to the first player to win six games.
Israel will not ask for stopgap aid when Prime Minister Shimon Peres visits Washington next week, senior Israeli officials said. Speaking on Israel radio, Mr. Peres said that “the curing of the Israeli economy is a purely Israeli task.”
Soviet military experts will be sent to Kuwait to instruct Kuwaiti personnel in the use of an estimated $327 million of Soviet-made weapons purchased after Washington turned down the Persian Gulf state’s request for Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported. It quoted Defense Minister Sheik Salem al Sabah as saying that no more than 10 Soviet experts will be involved. This would be the first time that Kuwait has allowed Soviet experts on its soil, according to diplomatic sources. Kuwait previously used Egyptian and Syrian experts for training on Soviet-made weapons.
Saudi Arabia’s oil minister, Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani, conferred with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo. It was the first formal meeting of an Egyptian president and a Saudi Cabinet minister since most Arab nations broke relations with Egypt over its 1979 peace treaty with Israel. Yamani is on a mission for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Saudi sources stressed that his visit involves oil, not politics, and added that Saudi Arabia does not plan to follow Jordan’s lead in restoring ties with Egypt.
Afghanistan has concentrated troops on its border with Pakistan’s southwestern province of Baluchistan, the Pakistan Press International news agency reported today. The report, carried by the Government-controlled Pakistan Times and other daily newspapers, also spoke of “intensive Afghan military activity” in border areas of Afghanistan’s southern province of Kandahar. No official confirmation of the report was immediately available, but the Soviet press agency Tass said Afghan troops had eliminated several groups of anti-Government rebels in regions bordering Pakistan.
Sri Lanka has become a major transit point for heroin trafficking to Western Europe, a senior Government official said today. The chairman of the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board, Hema Weerasinghe, told reporters, “Heroin trafficking and abuse have become a serious problem in Sri Lanka.” Mr. Weerasinghe, a senior police officer, said most of the heroin came from Pakistan and India and was destined for countries such as West Germany, Italy and Switzerland. He said heroin trafficking through Sri Lanka had shown a “phenomenal increase” in the past three years and arrests for trafficking had risen from four in 1981 to more than 500 in the first six months of this year.
The Chinese Government, responding to skepticism about its intentions toward Hong Kong, has stressed that it will not renege on a pledge to leave the British colony’s capitalist system and life style undisturbed for 50 years after China reclaims sovereignty in 1997. Separate verbal assurances have been given in the last two days by China’s top leader, Deng Xiaoping, Prime Minister Zhao Ziyang and President Li Xiannian. The official New China News Agency has circulated their comments, reflecting concern that Peking’s credibility is being questioned in Hong Kong and the West. Today Mr. Deng met for nearly two hours with a delegation of 200 Chinese visitors from Hong Kong and Macao who had been invited to Peking for the national day celebration on Monday. Speaking of those who worried that China’s hands-off policy might later be scrapped, Mr. Deng said, “Our policy will not change and no one can change it because the policy is correct and effective.” “People support it and if someone wants to change it, people will oppose him,” he said.
[Ed: ANNNNNDDD… They lied. Surprise, Surprise, Surprise, as Gomer would say. Commies always fucking lie.]
At least 7,000 caribous drowned in two northern Quebec rivers over the weekend, Quebec government officials said. Some Eskimo leaders blamed the provincially owned utility for allowing too much water to spill over a dam, causing the animals to drown as they tried to cross the rivers.
Peruvian forestry workers shot and killed at least 40 Indians who, armed with bows and arrows, tried to stop them from felling trees in the jungles of eastern Peru, press reports in Lima said. The newspaper La Republica said the bodies of members of the Pirus and Panos tribes were found floating in the Sepahua River. The prosecutor’s office in the province of Coronel Portillo ordered an investigation.
The Socialist International ended a two-day meeting in Rio de Janeiro with eight pages of resolutions, included ones accusing Chile of violating human rights and criticizing the military regime in Paraguay. The group, representing Socialists from many nations, also condemned the continuing civil war in El Salvador and expressed grave concern that President Jose Napoleon Duarte, after four months in office, has yet to start a promised dialogue with the rebels.
The former Biafran secessionist leader, Odumegwu Ojukwu, and several former Nigerian Cabinet ministers are among 250 detainees ordered freed by the military Government, Mr. Ojukwu’s associates said today. Major General Mohammed Buhari, the Nigerian ruler, announced the release of 250 former political figures and businessmen in a speech Monday commemorating the West African country’s 24th anniversary of independence. The Army Chief of Staff, Brigadier Tunde Idiagbon, has signed orders for the detainees’ release, but it was not known whether they have been freed. Associates of Mr. Ojukwu said those ordered released include Mr. Ojukwu, former Agriculture Minister Adamu Ciroma, former National Planning Minister Adenike Oyagbola, former Steel Development Minister Audu Ogbeh and former Education Minister Biliyamanu Usman.
A cease-fire in Mozambique, which will be policed by South African troops, was agreed to by the Marxist government and the insurgents seeking to overthrow it. No details of the accord have emerged and no date has been set for the cessation of eight years of hostilities between the sides. The agreement was announced in Pretoria by South Africa’s Foreign Minister, Roelof Botha, who was flanked by representatives of both sides.
An FBI agent accused of espionage and two Soviet emigres were arrested Tuesday night in Los Angeles — the first time an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been charged with spying. According to an FBI affidavit, the agent, Richard W. Miller, admitted that he had given one of the Russians a classified document that could compromise American intelligence.
President Reagan receives the official endorsement from the Veterans of Foreign Wars (V.F.W.) for the President’s candidacy.
President Reagan participates in a signing ceremony for Proclamation 5246, National Neighborhood Housing Services Week.
President Reagan prepares for his upcoming debate with challenger Walter Mondale.
A $70 million loss will be reported by the First National Bank of Chicago for its third quarter as a result of a $308 million provision it was taking for loan losses, bank officials announced. Officials at the bank, the nation’s eighth largest, said it was the first quarterly loss they could remember and the largest loan loss provision ever. Several Banking analysts expressed fears that the move could signal similar large loan write- offs by other major banks.
George Bush paid the I.R.S. $198,000 in back taxes and interest last June after the Internal Revenue Service ruled that the Vice President had failed to report $500,000 in income from the sale of his house on his 1981 tax returns and improperly used $29,000 in leftover campaign funds. The disclosures were prompted by questions in light of the inquiry into the financial affairs of the Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate, Geraldine A. Ferraro, and the fact that Mr. Bush was the only one of the four major national candidates who had not made public such information. Attorneys for Mr. Bush said he will challenge the ruling.
A federal judge was sentenced to a two-year jail term and a $10,000 fine for tax evasion. Federal District Judge Harry E. Claiborne of Las Vegas is the first sitting federal judge in the nation’s history to be convicted of a felony.
“Fritzbusters” have toned down their activities since hecklers interrupted Walter F. Mondale’s campaign stop at the University of Southern California last month. A spokesman for The College Republican National Committee, which has been selling T-shirts and staging skits that parody Mr. Mondale, whose nickname is Fritz, said the routine was not included in two of President Reagan’s campaign rallies at which the group had expected to appear.
Despite passage of the 1982 voting rights amendments, voter registration procedures continue to be discriminatory in many parts of the country, a congressional study said. The report, produced by a House subcommittee, said the artificial and arbitrary registration barriers include limiting registration to a single inconvenient site in a county, harassing minority citizens trying to register, prohibiting registration drives in welfare and cheese lines and requiring registration-by-mail forms to be notarized, which critics say amounts to a poll tax.
The Federal Communications Commission denied a complaint by Citizens Party presidential candidate Sonia Johnson that she and her running mate, Richard Walton, were unfairly excluded from the upcoming presidential and vice presidential debates. Johnson contended the debates are an “institutionalized” part of the political process, and that the First Amendment requires non-discriminatory selection of debate participants. The FCC’s mass media bureau disagreed, saying the debates are legitimate news events exempted from “fairness doctrine” requirements to provide reasonable time for contrasting views.
Postal Service officials today unveiled a $1.5 billion program to build new post offices, buy mail trucks and cars and make other capital improvements. In keeping with the practice of holding meetings around the country, the Postal Service board of governors held their monthly meeting in Cleveland. The governors heard details of a $1.5 billion program for the 1985 fiscal year that includes spending $783 million on postal buildings around the country, including New York’s Grand Central Station Post Office. New negotiations are scheduled this week between the Postal Service and its employees, said William F. Bolger, the Postmaster General, at a news conference here Tuesday. He acknowledged that the contract dispute is heading toward arbitration, but said, “We can still reach an agreement.” The negotiations would be the first formal ones since contracts covering postal workers expired in July.
Bargainers for the United Automobile Workers and the Ford Motor Company held meetings today on individual contract issues in a new pact for 114,000 hourly workers. No formal main table session was scheduled, but a Ford spokesman, Tony Fredo, said four subcommittees met to negotiate various areas of the contract. Talks at Ford resumed Monday and the two sides have set an informal deadline of noon October 12. It is expected that the union and the company will meet this weekend. Union leaders said they hope to win the same wage and job security gains in the Ford pact that were achieved in a new contract with the General Motors Corporation. Voting is under way at union locals on that contract.
Striking workers today greeted Disneyland visitors at the the amusement park entrance but honored a court order forbidding them to picket on private property near the ticket booths. No new talks have been scheduled since federally mediated negotiations between management and more than 1,800 striking Disneyland employees ended abruptly Tuesday. Disneyland presented the same offer union members overwhelmingly rejected in a vote September 24. “There will be no further offer,” said a park spokesman, Bob Roth. “We’re still hoping for a reasonable offer we can take to our employees” said a union spokesman, Bob Bleiweiss. “The strike goes on.” Labor spokesmen have said they will take further legal action in an effort to overturn a temporary restraining order issued against pickets Tuesday by an Orange County court commissioner. The order bars pickets from private property inside the main parking lot and near the Disneyland ticket booths.
As 3,000 striking coal miners received support from their union president today, companies moving to reduce stockpiles laid off 2,000 miners who are under contract. Miners were laid off today from the Eastern Associated Coal Corporation and on Tuesday from the Consolidation Coal Company, the Pittston Company and the W. P. Coal Company, bringing to more than 5,000 the number of United Mine Workers’ members laid off since last week’s approval of a new national contract for 110,000 miners. Miners went on strike Monday against several independent companies that refused to sign the agreement. Rich Trumka, the union president, said he believes the union’s selective strikes will work against the A. T. Massey Coal Group, which employs about 2,000 of the strikers in Kentucky and West Virginia. The union also struck several other firms.
More than 10 percent of the students at Olivia High School have been suspended from extracurricular activities, including football, cheerleading and band, because they were at a beer party after which a student was killed in a car crash. “We buried one of our students last week,” said Jerry Bass, the school superintendent. ‘We felt it wasn’t appropriate to have students engage in festive or frivolous events so soon after the death of one of their classmates.” Thirty-nine of the school’s 365 students were suspended for periods ranging from four to eight weeks. Todd Mathiowetz, 17 years old, of Olivia, was killed September 23 when the car he was driving went off a road and overturned minutes after he left a party in a nearby park. The Renville County coroner’s office would not release results of a blood-alcohol test. School policy requires that students caught drinking and students present when classmates are drinking be suspended from extracurricular activities.
Despite incidents such as the recent death of running expert Jim Fixx, regular strenuous exercise reduces by 60% the overall risk of death caused by sudden heart attacks, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers at the University of North Carolina and the University of Washington found that “sudden death (due to heart attacks) seemed to occur with unusually high frequency during vigorous exercise… (but) habitual vigorous exercise is associated with an overall reduction in the risk of sudden cardiac death.”
The debt-ridden New Orleans World’s Fair should fire its president and either cut its executives’ salaries in half or fire half of the administrators, a committee overseeing the exposition’s finances said. Committee member Bob. d’Hemecourt suggested fair President Petr Spurney be replaced by Jim Brandt, vice president for planning, and the exposition reduce from seven to four the number of vice presidents by merging their tasks. The fair, which closes November 11, has lost an estimated $140 million.
The Navy gave Boston Shipyard Corp., which had blockaded a frigate in protest after the Navy canceled a repair contract, the go-ahead for a $5.5-million job on another Navy vessel. Shipyard officials were notified that “they will be permitted to proceed with the previously announced contract for the Navy’s floating dry dock ship USS Waterford,” said Navy Commander Dan Davidson. Late last week, an $8.5-million contract to overhaul the 15-year-old USS Connolle was canceled for what the Navy claimed was unsatisfactory work. The frigate was finally removed from the shipyard after a four-day dispute.
A surprise increase in freshmen is perplexing many private and public colleges and universities. The institutions’ officials, who had anticipated a decrease in enrollment because of to the declining number of 18-year-olds, did not have a precise explanation for the windfall.
The season’s first northeaster dumped as much as 10 inches of snow in New England while moisture from Tropical Storm Polo spawned showers and thunderstorms in the Southwest. Record low temperatures chilled the Southeast for the fifth straight day. A storm that earlier dropped 3.6 inches of rain in the Boston area deposited snow on all the highest mountains of Vermont, allowing the season’s first ski runs. Tropical Storm Polo brought rain to the southern Rockies and southern High Plains. Showers and thunderstorms were widely scattered from Arizona to southwest Texas, and a few showers dotted eastern Colorado. A flash flood watch was issued for parts of West Texas.
Steve “Rainbow” Trout scatters 5 hits and Lee Smith slams the door in the Cubs’ 4–2 victory over the Padres. Chicago’s offense was considerably more subdued in Game 2, though their pitching remained almost as strong. Dernier again opened the scoring for the Cubs in the first off Mark Thurmond, singling to left and coming around to score on two groundouts. In the third, Keith Moreland singled with one out and scored on a double by Ron Cey, who moved to third on the throw to home and scored on Jody Davis’s sacrifice fly. San Diego got one back in the fourth when Tony Gwynn doubled, moved to third on a groundout, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Kevin McReynolds off Steve Trout. But Chicago answered in the bottom of the fourth when Ryne Sandberg doubled in Dernier. San Diego cut the lead to 4–2 in the sixth when Alan Wiggins walked with one out, moved to second on a groundout, and scored on a single by Steve Garvey, but the Padres could get no closer against the strong pitching of Steve Trout. Lee Smith came on with one out in the ninth to get the save, and the Cubs were just one victory away from the World Series. The Cubs victory in Game 2 had Chicago’s long-suffering fans dreaming of the franchise’s first World Series championship since 1908, as they led the series 2-0. San Diego, on the other hand, heads home facing elimination unless they can win three in a row…
The Detroit Tigers took Game 2 of the American League Chamionship Series in extra innings by a 5–3 score. In the top of the first, Lou Whitaker reached on an error off of Bret Saberhagen, then back-to-back one-out RBI doubles by Kirk Gibson and Lance Parrish put the Tigers up 2–0. Gibson’s home run in the third made it 3–0 Tigers. Dan Petry pitched seven innings and gave up two runs (on Jorge Orta’s groundout in the fourth after a walk and single and Dane Iorg’s RBI single in the seventh with two on), but lost his chance at a win when Willie Hernández surrendered the tying run in the eighth inning on Hal McRae’s RBI double after a leadoff single. Detroit’s “Senor Smoke”, Aurelio López, held the Royals scoreless in the ninth, tenth and eleventh innings for the win. Johnny Grubb hit a double off Dan Quisenberry in the top of the 11th inning to drive in Darrell Evans and Ruppert Jones for the game winning runs.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1182.86 (-8.50)
Born:
Ashlee Simpson, American pop singer (Autobiography, “Pieces of Me”), in Waco, Texas.
Gary Neal, NBA shooting guard (San Antonio Spurs, Milwaukee Bucks, Charlotte Bobcats-Hornets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Washington Wizards, Atlanta Hawks), in Baltimore, Maryland.
Bruno Gervais, Canadian NHL defenseman (New York Islanders, Tampa Bay Lightning, Philadelphia Flyers), in Longueuil, Quebec, Canada.
Yoon Eun Hye, South Korean actress ( “The First Shop of Coffee Prince”), in Seoul, South Korea.
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