The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 25, 2000, Page 4, Image 4
Putin promises to talk with Chechens
by Yuri Bagr'ov
Associated Press
MESKER-YURT, Russia - Acting
President Vladimir Putin promised Thurs
day to hold negotiations with Chechen
representatives about offering the break
away republic autonomy.
In the mountains of southern Chech
nya, Russian troops have captured dom
inant heights around the town of Shatoi,
the separatist fighters’ last major com
mand post, the military command said.
Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev said
70 to 80 militants have been killed around
Shatoi since Wednesday, while two Russ
ian servicemen died. The army command
said dozens more rebels died trying to
break through the Russian lines, includ
ing 80 members of a separatist group that
attempted to cross into neighboring Geor
gia.
The claims could not be confirmed.
Both sides often exaggerate enemy loss
es.
Military commanders say 2,700 mil
itants are concentrated near Shatoi, a town
30 miles south of the Chechen capital,
Grozny, that sits in a wide area of the Ar
gun goige cutting south through the moun
tains.
Russian officials have estimated that
as many as 7,000 to 8,000 rebels remain
in Chechnya’s southern mountains, so
taking Shatoi likely would not bring an
end to the 5-month-old war. The loss of
the strategically-positioned Shatoi could
seriously damage the rebels’ ability to
fight.
Federal forces continued to rely heav
ily on aviation, with warplanes and heli
copter gunships flying more than 120
combat missions since Wednesday, the
army said. Massive air and artillery bom
bardment of Shatoi continued today.
Military officers said their comman
ders were not planning a quick storm
ing of Shatoi and would go on with the
heavy barrage for a while.
Putin, speaking on St. Petersburg's
Radio Baltica, said the military assault in
Chechnya “will necessarily be brought
to an end. We shall defeat or destroy the
terrorists.”
“There are forces in Chechnya with
whom it’s possible to hold negotiations,”
Putin said. He did not name the forces,
but he refuses to negotiate with rebel lead
ers.
“We clearly made a big mistake when
we abandoned this territory and left it
without any control” following the 1994
96 war, he said. “First of all, we’ve made
a mistake toward the Chechen people,
because they became hostages to those
bandits and terrorists.”
Putin said the Chechens could hope
for autonomy within Russia.
“Nobody wants to enslave the
Chechen people, push them into a cor
ner and present them as a defeated peo
ple,” he said.
Putin was in St. Petersbuig to attend
the funeral of former Mayor Anatoly
Sobchak, his one-time mentor and boss.
The service was held amid extremely
heavy security because of Chechen threats
to kill Putin.
In Chechnya, roads remained sealed
and civilian traffic was banned over fears
of violence linked to Wednesday’s an
niversary of the 1944 deportation of
Chechens to Central Asia under Soviet
dictator Josef Stalin. Refugees trying to
flee Chechnya were forbidden to cross
into neighboring Ingushetia.
Only sporadic shooting attacks on fed
eral outposts in Russian-held areas were
reported, and the military command said
normal traffic would resume and check
points on the Chechen-Ingush border
would reopen on Friday.
Security also has been tightened at
airports and train stations across Russia
and police were placed on alert.
-—-i
Hodges endorses
Gore for president
by Leigh Strope
Associated Press
After a few weeks of playing hard
to get, Gov. Jim Hodges has official
ly given his support to Vice President
A1 Gore’s bid for president.
Hodges’ endorsement, as well as
that of U.S. Rep. John Spratt, came
Wednesday at a town hall meeting
in Fort Mill, where Gore and Hodges
talked to a small but enthusiastic crowd
of Democrats-about their education
priorities.
“After looking at all the candi
dates, he has the best plan for educa
tion,” Hodges told the crowd of about
200. “I am proud to offer my en
dorsement to A1 Gore.”
South Carolina Democrats, who
may have felt left out by all the hoopla
surrounding this month’s GOP pri
mary, will be getting the royal treat
ment along with their caucus next
month.
President Clinton has tentatively
agreed to visit Columbia for a March
29 event honoring U.S. Rep. Jim
Clybum, D-S.C., at Allen Universi
ty’
u win ue a nuge event anu raise
us a lot of money,” said state party
Chairman Dick Harpootlian.
Gore had courted Hodges for
months with phone calls, but the gov
ernor made clear his endorsement
would have to be earned.
Democratic rival Bill Bradley had
his wife visit Hodges, but the for
mer senator never visited Hodges him
self.
The state Democratic Party also
tried to put some distance between it
and the Democratic National Com
mittee, which thwarted the local par
ty’s efforts to hold an early primary
election.
“The only way a national De
mocrat could win South Carolina is
if he’s a son of the South,” Hodges’
former chief of staff Kevin Geddmgs
said “ A1 Gore can win here if he runs
as a true Tennessean. ”
This state has not backed a De
mocrat since Jimmy Carter from
neighboring Georgia in 1976.
On his last visit here in March
1998, Gore briefly promoted Hocfges’
candidacy, then seen as a jong-shot at
tempt to reclaim the governor’s chair
for Democrats. That Gore didn’t do
more, however, irked Hodges and his
supporters.
So when it came time for the state
party’s annual fund-raiser last year,
Bradley got the invitation to speak.
And because getting labeled as a
Clinton-Gore supporter doesn’t ex
actly win accolades in South Caroli
na, the governor still has tried to re
main at arm’s length.
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tion, they don’t agree on everything,”
Geddings said.
College of Charleston political
scientist Bill Moore said Hodges was
going to get tagged as a Clinton-Gore
supporter anyhow and had more to
risk by not backing Gore.
“He is a Democrat, period. You
support your party,” Moore said.
Gore appears to enjoy the over
whelming support of the state party
establishment.
The only holdout is U.S. Sen.
Ernest “Fritz” Hollings, who has nev
er been a great admirer of the vice
president. He calls Gore “Prince Al
bert.”
■EKlEM
McCain touts self as
'Reagan conservative'
by Laurie Kellman
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Calling
himself “a proud Reagan Republican,”
John McCain touted his endorsement by
San Diego’s GOP mayor Thursday and
underlined conservative credentials in a
new ad airing in primary states from Cal
ifornia to New York.
After winning in New Hampshire and
Michigan with an appeal to Democrats
and independents as well as Republicans,
McCain is seeking to gain on rival Geoige
W. Bush among registered Republicans
here. Republicans alone will determine
which candidate is awarded all 162 of the
state’s GOP presidential delegates in the
March 7 primary.
“He’s a big spender and not a fiscal
conservative,” McCain said of Bush dur
ing a visit to California State University
at Sacramento. To support the charge
in the heart of Reagan country, McCain
said the Texas governor raised his state’s
spending by 35 percent during his tenure,
compared with President Clinton’s fed
eral spending increase of 25 percent.
Geoige bush is a lot ot things, but
a conservative he’s not,” McCain said.
Bush has linked the increase in part
to his state’s booming population and
contends that McCain’s own voting
record — including his support of a to
bacco tax bill in 1998 — reveals that the
Arizona senator compromises too easi
ly on conservative goals.
The Texas governor also accuses Mc
Cain of hypocrisy for dismissing the Re
publican establishment even as he pub
licizes new endorsements from GOP
leaders.
“Senator McCain often says one thing
and does another,” said Bush spokesman
Ari Fleischer.
Bush was taking a rare day off from
the campaign Thursday at home in Austin.
He had a full schedule Friday in Viiginia,
where Republicans will hold their pri
mary next Tuesday.
As in many states, Virginia’s gover
nor and most top GOP officials are Bush
supporters. Attorney General Mark L.
Earley said he would endorse Bush on
Friday in Newport News.
McCain’s new ad, titled “Reagan
Conservative,” takes aim at Bush and
that army of elected supporters.
“You can’t tum on your TV without
seeing an ad from the establishment try
ing to fool you about me,” McCain says.
“I’m a'proud Reagan Republican.... Give
me your vote and we’ll give you back
your government.”
Meanwhile, Bob Dole, the party’s
unsuccessful 1996 candidate, made a plea
for a “time-out” on intraparty accusa
tions “before matters get out of control”
and give the Democrats a big advantage.
Dole hasn’t endorsed either candi
date, but he has been close to McCain,
who sometimes traveled with him on his
campaign plane in 1996.
After a town hall meeting, McCain
appeared here with two establishment
figures at his side, San Diego Mayor
Susan Golding and California Secretary
of State Bill Jones.
Golding called McCain the Re
publicans’ best bet to win back the White
House,” and she said, “He will bring faith
in our country and pride in the White
House back to America.”
“I respect him more than I can say.
And he respects me. And I think that’s
something that the women who are vot
ing in the Republican Party need to un
derstand,” she said.
Unlike Jones, Golding had not pre
viously endorsed McCain.
Touting his conservatism is only part
of McCain’s strategy for the March 7
“Super Tuesday” primaries. In Califor
nia, he will augment that message with
appeals for the votes of senior citizens
by talking up his plan to use the federal
budget surplus to pay down Social Se
curity rather than for a massive tax cut,
according to senior adviser Ken Khachi
gian.
The Arizona senator also was mak
ing points aimed at independents and De
mocrats, part of his national strategy to
make the case that he appeals to a broad
er range of voters and could win a gen
eral election.
“Don’t you think that Republicans
in California would like to win a cam
paign for a change?” McCain asked the
crowd, which responded with the loud
est applause of his speech here. “In or
der to do that, my friends, we have to
practice the politics of addition.”
He took more shots at Bush for speak
ing at Bob Jones University without
denouncing the school’s ban on interra
cial dating.
News Briefs
■ Hodges’ flag plan
sent to less-friendly
Judiciary Committee
Democratic Gov. Jim Hodges’ plan
to remove the Confederate flag from the
Statehouse has run into a procedural ma
neuver with the blessing of Republican
Lt. Gov. Bob Peeler.
Peeler agreed Wednesday to send the
bill to the Senate Judiciary Committee \
instead of the Finance Committee as
Hodges wanted.
Hodges’ spokeswoman, Nina Brook,
said Peeler was obstructing progress on
the idea of putting a square, Army of
Northern Virginia battle flag at a monu
ment to Wade Hampton, a Confederate
general and former governor.
The bill went to the Judiciary Com
mittee at the request of Sen. Glenn Mc
Connell, chairman of the Rules Com
mittee and a supporter of keeping the
flag atop the Statehouse.
■ Former Mafia hitman i
arrested in drug sweep
PHOENIX (AP) — Former Mafia hit
man Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gra
vano, a mob turncoat whose testimony
helped put crime boss John Gotti behind
bars, was arrested Thursday for involve
ment with a drug ring, police said.
Gravano was not selling narcotics but
helped finance the drug ring and was a
“mentor” to the ring’s leader, Michael
Papa, the founding member of a white
supremacist gang, said Phoenix police
spokesman Jeff Halstead.
Thirty-five members of the ring, ^
which allegedly trafficked in the drug ec
stasy, were arrested including Papa, Gra
vano’s wife, Debra; son Gerard; daugh
ter Karen; and son-in-law David Seabrook.
A judge set Gravano’s bail at $5 mil
lion.
Gravano, a confessed hitman, rav
aged the Mafia by defecting to the gov
ernment, making headlines when he
helped convict Gotti and dozens of oth
er gangland cronies. Authorities called
him the most important mob turncoat in
U.S. history.
Expanded U.S. role in Kosovo would add risks
by Robert Burns
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — NATO’s struggle
for ethnic calm in northern Kosovo has
raised the stakes for U.S. involvement in
a peacekeeping operation that has no end
in sight.
The 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit,
aboard ships in the Mediterranean, is stand
ing by as potential U.S. reinforcements,
although Pentagon spokesman Kenneth
Bacon said Thursday that NATO com
manders have not asked for the Marines.
Expanding the U.S. troop presence
in Kosovo would raise the risk for a force
that has largely escaped casualties.
In Washington and other allied capi
tals, there is no appetite for a major ad
ditional buildup of troops in Kosovo. But
NATO feels it cannot let the flare-up of
ethnic violence in the city of Mitrovica
go unanswered.
Defense Secretary William Cohen has
said he expects the Mitrovica problem
to be resolved shortly, possibly without
U.S. reinforcements. France, whose peace
keepers arc in charge of the ethnically di
vided Mitrovica area, is preparing to send
600 to 700 more troops to the area.
NATO’s chief commander, U.S. Army
Gen. Wesley Clark, requested the extra
French troops and asked NATO’s politi
cal authorities for the go-ahead to put
about 1,200 other troops on a higher state
of alert for possible deployment. Among
these other troops are the 22nd Marine
Expeditionary Unit.
NATO officials are to meet on the
matter Friday at alliance headquarters in
Brussels, Belgium.
Whether to send Marines is an “open
question,” White House press secretary
Joe Lockhart said Thursday.
“We support the request General
Clark has made,” Lockhart told reporters.
“We take this mission very seriously and
we will take the appropriate steps to
deter any further violence.”
The approximately 5,300 American
troops now on peacekeeping duty in Koso
vo are in a U.S.-controlled sector in the
southeastern p;trt of the Serb province,
where the ethnic tension is less intense.
While eight Americans have died there
since peacekeeping began in June, none
of the deaths resulted from hostile action.
At a news conference Thursday, Sec
retary of State Madeleine Albright left
open the possibility of more American
troops, but noted the United States al
ready has the biggest contingent. For now,
it would be up to the Europeans to add
troops, she said.
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers expressed
concern at the prospect of deepening U.S.
involvement.
“I’m gravely concerned about the in
creasing risks to the men and women of
our armed forces,” said the chairman of
the Senate Armed Services Committee,
Republican John Warner of Virginia.
His committee held a two-hour closed
door briefing with top Pentagon officials
Wednesday.
The Senate’s top Democrat, Tom
Daschle of South Dakota, said that while
President Clinton does not need formal
congressional approval to send more troops
to Kovoso, “I think Congress needs to
be involved in terms of oversight.”
U.S. officials say the best solution
would be to rapidly increase the number
of trained international police for
Kosovo because military peacekeepers
are not well suited for a criminal justice
role.
“We must recognize that old models
of peacekeeping don’t also meet current
challenges,” Albright said. She said Clin
ton had ordered the State Department to
create an office responsible for issues as
sociated with U.S. participation in the
criminal justice aspects of peace opera
tions.
Meantime, a contingent of U.S.
Marines aboard ships in the Mediterranean
is on standby as potential reinforcements.
If called upon, the Marines most like
ly would be used in a role similar to that
of an airborne Army group that spent sev
eral days in Mitrovica this week.
In a surprise raid Wednesday, about
350 members of the Army’s 504th Para
chute Infantry Regiment swept through
an ethnically mixed neighborhood in
Mitrovica, searching house-to-house.
They arrested eight people and seized ri
fles and other weapons.
It was the first time the Americans
had been on the Serb-dominated side of
Mitovica since they and German forces
were driven away Sunday by stone-throw
ing Serbs during a weapons search.
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