test from Steve c
- To: wri-mathgroup
- Subject: test from Steve c
- From: Steve Christensen <uunet!yoda.ncsa.uiuc.edu!stevec>
- Date: Wed, 15 Aug 90 14:20:42 -0500
- Cc: at yoda.ncsa.uiuc.edu
I am just testing to see if Mailing List mail is getting to you. Please ignor. Steve C. >From uunet!yoda.ncsa.uiuc.edu!stevec Wed Aug 15 15:01:06 1990 Return-Path: <uunet!yoda.ncsa.uiuc.edu!stevec> Received: by WRI.com (3.2/SMI-3.0DEV3) id AA19117; Wed, 15 Aug 90 15:01:06 CDT Received: from yoda.ncsa.uiuc.edu by uunet.uu.net (5.61/1.14) with SMTP id AA18740; Wed, 15 Aug 90 15:21:45 -0400 Received: by yoda.ncsa.uiuc.edu id AA14777 (5.64+/IDA-1.3.4 for wri-mathgroup at wri.com); Wed, 15 Aug 90 14:21:19 -0500 Date: Wed, 15 Aug 90 14:21:19 -0500 From: Steve Christensen <uunet!yoda.ncsa.uiuc.edu!stevec> Message-Id: <9008151921.AA14777 at yoda.ncsa.uiuc.edu> To: wri-mathgroup at WRI.com Subject: test from Steve C I am just testing to see if Mailing List mail is getting to you. Please ignor. Steve C. >From chris Wed Aug 15 15:14:50 1990 Return-Path: <chris> Received: by WRI.com (3.2/SMI-3.0DEV3) id AA19320; Wed, 15 Aug 90 15:14:50 CDT Message-Id: <9008152014.AA19320 at WRI.com> Date: Wed, 15 Aug 90 15:14:42-050 From: chris To: cworld NEWSGRID (sm) US/World Headline News 1 08/15 1315 IRAQI PRES. TRIES TO NEUTRALIZE "EVIL FORCES" WITH ... 2 08/15 1234 PRESIDENT BUSH RALLIES U.S. TROOPS BEHIND MILITARY ... 3 08/15 1517 FRANCE DISMISSES REPORTS OF RIFT AMONG WESTERN ... 4 08/15 1511 U.N. CHIEF WELCOMES IRAQI OFFER TO WITHDRAW TROOPS ... 5 08/15 1447 SAUDIS TO SUBTANTIALLY CUT U.S OIL DELIVERIES NEXT ... 6 08/15 1307 EGYPT STOPPED IRAQI SHIP ENTERING SUEZ CANAL, NEWS ... 7 08/15 1348 EXTREMIST LEADER URGES FIGHTERS TO ATTACK ... 8 08/15 1428 SAUDI FIGHTER PILOTS SAY THEY COULD DEFEAT IRAQ'S AIR FORCE 9 08/15 1435 USS JOHN KENNEDY BATTLE GROUP LEAVES PORT, FAMILES ... 10 08/15 1523 SOVIETS SEE DIFFICULTIES IN EVACUATION OF ITS ... 08/15 1315 IRAQI PRES. TRIES TO NEUTRALIZE "EVIL FORCES" WITH ... (AUG. 15) UPI - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, spurned by most of his Arab allies after invading Kuwait, tried Wednesday to neutralize Western "evil forces" and secure his eastern flank by making a surprise peace offer to neighboring Iran. Saddam's proposal, which includes a prisoner exchange and a withdrawal of troops from border areas, came as Jordan's King Hussein arrived in the United States Wednesday with a Jordanian-Iraqi plan for solving the Persian Gulf crisis. An Arab diplomat said the plan called for an international conference to settle the gulf dispute, provided no more troops are sent into the area. President Bush, who plans to meet with Hussein Thursday, has warned that Jordan may be undermining efforts to enforce a U.N.-ordered trade embargo that was imposed against Iraq after Baghdad invaded and occupied Kuwait Aug. 2 in an oil and border dispute. Thousands of Iraqi troops now are massed on the Saudi border, prompting the deployment of a multi-national force dominated by U.S. troops. Bush, in an address to some 2,000 employees at the Pentagon, defended the U.S. troop presence in Saudi Arabia and the gulf and called it "one of the most important deployments of allied military power" since World War II. Bush is considering mobilizing the military reserves to help fill in domestically for the tens of thousands of active-duty men and women who are shipping out to Saudi Arabia, Pentagon officials said Wednesday. The president can call up to 200,000 reservists for up to 180 days without having to obtain prior congressional approval, the Pentagon said. In Iraq's four-point proposal to Iran, broadcast on state-run Baghdad radio, Saddam offered to start withdrawing his troops from border positions within 48 hours if Iran accepted the plan. "(Improved Iran-Iraq ties) will open the way for serious interaction with all (Moslem) believers for confronting evil forces which are after harming Moslems and the Arab nation," Saddam said in an apparent reference to the U.S. troop build-up. State-owned Tehran radio said Iraq had offered to withdraw Iraqi troops from hundreds of square miles of Iranian border territory captured during the last stages of fighting, and to share sovereignty over the strategic Shatt al Arab waterway in the northern gulf. News that Iraq might be willing to negotiate a settlement to the Persian Gulf crisis sent the Tokyo stock market Wednesday rocketing to its second-biggest one-day rally of the year, rebounding from its recent drop after Japan agreed to abide by the embargo. The talk of peace, however, prompted a flurry of dollar-selling in Europe and Japan. In Frankfurt, the dollar plunged to a record postwar low of 1.5625 German marks. The Pentagon said 45,000 heavily armed Marines were arriving in Saudi Arabia to confront Iraq in Operation Desert Shield, joining 26,000 U.S. troops already in the oil-rich kingdom as of Tuesday. In Saudi Arabia, Brig. Gen. Turk Bin Nasser, a member of the Saudi royal family, said his own forces had no qualms about fighting fellow Arabs should Iraqi troops attack the kingdom. "We would not like to see Arabs fighting Arabs, but if we have to we will do it," the general told reporters in a military pool. Iraq said about 3,000 Americans stranded in Iraq and occupied Kuwait were still being prevented from leaving the troubled region and no timetable had been set for their departure. Haitham al Najjar, first secretary of the Iraqi Embassy in Washington, said the Americans were being detained "due to the exceptional circumstances." ABC News, quoting sources in Iraq's foreign ministry in Baghdad, said Tuesday night that Iraq has labeled Americans in Iraq and Kuwait as "restrictees" who will not be allowed to leave until the crisis in the Persian Gulf is resolved. In Kuwait, some of the bravest resistance to the Iraqi occupation came from groups of women protesting in the streets, The Washington Post reported. A Post correspondent saw about 60 women demonstrate Aug. 6 in the Rumaithiya neighborhood of Kuwait City. No Iraqi troops were present. "We don't want Iraq. We don't want Saddam (Hussein)," one woman said. Another woman said, "All women of Kuwait are resenting this (invasion). They are protesting this." The report said Iraqi troops had begun firing at the women and cited one unconfirmed account that four people, including a 16-year-old girl, had died of injuries received during an Aug. 8 protest in the Jabiriya neighborhood. 08/15 1234 PRESIDENT BUSH RALLIES U.S. TROOPS BEHIND MILITARY ... WASHINGTON (AUG. 15) UPI - President Bush, rallying U.S. servicemen behind the sweeping American military action in the Persian Gulf, called on the nations of the world Wednesday to "ensure that no goods get in - and that not one drop of oil gets out" of Saddam Hussein's Iraq. On the eve of critical talks with King Hussein of Jordan, a country through which Saddam has reportedly been shipping supplies despite U.N.-ordered sanctions, Bush said, "Our action in the gulf is about fighting aggression - and preserving the sovereignty of nations. "It is about keeping our word - our solemn word of honor - and standing by old friends," he added. Bush, renewing his call on Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait, made the remarks at the Pentagon to some 2,000 Pentagon employees shortly after receiving a high-level briefing on the crisis in the gulf. Telling the military personnel that they had launched over the past 10 days "one of the most important deployments of allied military power since the Second World War," Bush lashed out at the Iraqi president for the Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait and pointed to his growing isolation. "The American people are with us. Congress is with us. Our allies are with us. And the vast majority of the Arab people are with us," Bush declared. "No one should doubt our staying power or our determination." Bush arranged to resume his work-play vacation at Kennebunkport, Maine, flying back immediately after his Pentagon briefing and pep talk. He meets at a critical juncture in the standoff with Hussein, a longtime friend, at the seaside resort on Thursday. "Sanctions are working," Bush said of the economic stranglehold put in place by the U.N. Security Council. "Ships of numerous countries are sailing with ours to see that the United Nations sanctions - approved without dissent - are enforced. And together we must ensure that no goods get in and that not one drop of oil gets out." Bush's call for concerted international action to support a tightly drawn quarantine against Iraq carried a special message for the Jordanian king, whose nation is torn between the Western blockade and the economic cost of halting trade with Iraq. Hussein, carrying a peace plan he drafted with Saddam, arrived at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington early Wednesday. Bush said he was unaware what the two Arab neighbors plan to recommend, but maintainted that he wants Hussein to halt any and all Iraqi-bound shipments through Jordan. If he fails to do so, the president says, U.S. forces may. On Tuesday, Bush said he does not believe that Saddam sees the Americans as shields against U.S. attacks. "But it's a troubling situation when people are held against their will," he told a White House news conference. ABC News, quoting sources in Iraq's foreign ministry in Baghdad, said Tuesday night that Iraq has labeled Americans in Iraq and Kuwait as "restrictees" who will not be allowed to leave until the crisis in the Persian Gulf is resolved. White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said he was not familiar with the report and thus could not comment on it. The president also offered no hope of a diplomatic solution soon to settle the showdown between Iraq and much of the world over Baghdad's Aug. 2 takeover of Kuwait. "I don't see it right now," he said. "But as (U.N.-backed economic) sanctions take effect - and it's going to take awhile - I would hope there would be a diplomatic solution." 08/15 1517 FRANCE DISMISSES REPORTS OF RIFT AMONG WESTERN ... PARIS (AUG. 15) UPI - France Wednesday denied reports of a rift among the Western powers over the Persian Gulf crisis Wednesday, saying it was prepared "to do what needs to be done" to enforce the U.N.-endorsed trade embargo against Iraq. A spokesman for the presidential Elysee Palace said so far no attempt has been made to break the sanctions, and that France's position is "equivalent" to that of the United States and Britain. The French have the second largest millitary presence among the Western nations in the Middle East. French officials also said the U.N. Security Council should further define the role of the Western naval forces in enforcing the embargo amid stepped up military and diplomatic efforts to maintain the sanctions. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, meanwhile, sent a defense minister to the Middle East to bolster Arab support for the multinational military force in the Gulf. Alan Clark, the British minister for defense procurement, will meet with leaders in Qatar, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Britain reinforced its naval contingent by ordering four more warships to the Persian Gulf and East Mediterranean to join 7 British vessels already in the region, and Turkey prevented two ships from unloading food cargo destined for Iraq. Turkish officials said a Moroccan and Danish vessel were prevented from unloading frozen meat cargo meant for Iraq when they arrived at the southern Turkish port of Mersin. A third ship flying the Mexican flag and carrying cargos for both Turkey and Iraq was allowed to unload only the goods meant for Turkey. Turkey, the first state in the region to say it would comply with U.N. Security Council sanctions imposed on Iraq for invading Kuwait on Aug 2 and annexing it, has closed a twin oil pipeline running through its territory from Iraq's Kirkuk oilfields to a Mediterranean terminal. Turkey was earning $300 million in transit charges for the pipelines, and officials said losses from suspended trade with Iraq could reach $3 billion a year. Italian Foreign Minister Gianni De Michelis, speaking on the eve of a European Community mission to Amman, indicated at a news conference that he and two other European foreign ministers visiting the Jordanian capital Thursday will offer the prospect of financial aid to Jordan to try and help it resolve its problems in return for closing one of the last remaining conduits for food and materials to reach Iraq via the Red Sea port of Aqaba. President Bush has said Jordan may be undermining efforts to enforce the U.N.-ordered trade embargo. Thousands of Iraqi troops now are massed on the Saudi border, prompting the deployment of a multi-national force dominated by U.S. troops. French President Francois Mitterrand, who has maintained that French forces would operate independently but in solidarity of those from the United States, also continued his diplomatic offensive which included 12 envoys dispatched to 24 countries and to the Palestine Liberation Organization. One of the emissaries, Claude Cheysson, a former foreign minister who met Tuesday with PLO leader Yasser Arafat in Tunis, said the Palestinian leader had pledged to intervene for the release of French citizens trapped in Kuwait and Iraq. Other envoys traveled to Syria, Jordan, Yemen, Oman, Turkey and Yugoslavia. 08/15 1511 U.N. CHIEF WELCOMES IRAQI OFFER TO WITHDRAW TROOPS ... UNITED NATIONS (AUG. 15) UPI - U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar Wednesday hailed Iraq's offer to withdraw troops from occupied Iranian territory and repatriate prisoners of war as a "major new development" toward implementing a 1987 U.N. peace plan. Perez de Cuellar said in a statement he welcomed the proposal made by Iraqi President Sassam Hussein in a letter to Iranian President Ali Hashemi Rafsanjani. The U.N. chief said the letter, which was "being carefully studied," appeared to represent "a major new development in the efforts aimed at implementing" U.N. Security Council Resolution 598, adopted in July 1987 to end the war. Iran and Iraq suspended their nearly eight-year war in 1988 under a cease-fire proposed under the resolution. But the two sides failed to agree on all aspects of the plan, which also called for a withdrawal to internationally recognized borders, an exchange of prisoners and the establishment of a committee to determine which side started the war. Perez de Cuellar said he "was encouraged" by Iraq's offer to begin withdrawing troops Friday from occupied Iranian land, as well as to repatriate prisoners of war the same day. He added he had instructed U.N. observers at the Iran-Iraq border "to be at the disposal of the parties." The Iraqi proposal came amid a Persian Gulf crisis triggered by Iraq's Aug. 2 invasion and occupation of Kuwait. Iraqi troops later massed on the Kuwaiti-Saudi border, prompting the deployment of U.S. and other troops in Saudi Arabia. Analysts said Iraq's peace offer to Tehran may have been intended to ease pressure on Iraq's eastern border with Iran while Baghdad confronts the Western troops in Saudi Arabia. The United States and Britain also have imposed a de facto blockade on Iraq. Amid the crisis, an American source said the ambassadors of the five permanent members of the Security Council "are waiting to receive instructions from their governments after yesterday's meeting in Washington to discuss the reactivation of the U.N.'s Military Staff Committee." The committee would coordinate joint U.N. military activity. The Soviet Union suggested the committee be reactivated because of concern over military action in the gulf. The suggestion followed controversy over the U.S. and British blockade. The five permanent members are United States, Soviet Union, Great Britain, France and China. One country acts as coordinator on a monthly rotating basis and this month's coordinator is the French ambassador, Pierre Louis Blanc. France was expected to call a meeting of the five members once the ambassadors received their instructions. The ambassadors from the five nations met Tuesday in Washington with Robert Kimmit, undersecretary of state for political affairs, to discuss a possible role for the U.N. Military Staff Committee. The consultations were to continue in New York, possibly Friday, according to diplomatic sources. Although the Military Staff Committee meets secretly every two weeks, it never has been used because Security Council members have not been able to agree about its functions. It was conceived as a general staff responsible to the Security Council for overall strategic planning and technical advice on military issues. The U.N. military committee is comprised of representatives of the military chiefs of staff of the five permanent security council members. Representatives of other U.N members can be invited as appropriate. It was not clear what role the Military Staff Committee would take in the crisis or whether it would replace or work with the U.S.-led multinational force that is carrying out the blockade against trade to and from Iraqi. The Bush administration has shied from the term "blockade," instead calling the attempt to prohibit commerce to and from Iraq an "interdiction." The United States, at the request of the exiled government of Iraqi-occupied Kuwait, has coordinated the multinational blockade of goods going to and from Iraq. 08/15 1447 SAUDIS TO SUBTANTIALLY CUT U.S OIL DELIVERIES NEXT ... (AUG. 15) UPI - Saudi Arabia will substantially cut oil deliveries to U.S. oil companies and other large customers next month in a reallocation of its exports, U.S. industry sources said Wednesday. "They're cutting back September liftings by 15 to 20 percent in order to reallocate their barrels," said one source, who commented on condition he remain unidentified. The source said he was told some of the reallocation would be sent to European refineries owned by Kuwait, which has been unable to export crude oil since the Aug. 2 occupation of its country by Iraq. 08/15 1307 EGYPT STOPPED IRAQI SHIP ENTERING SUEZ CANAL, NEWS ... CAIRO (AUG. 15) REUTER - Egypt stopped an Iraqi vessel loaded with foodstuffs entering the Suez canal on Wednesday because its agent refused to pay its transit fees, Egypt's Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported. Despite mandatory economic sanctions imposed on Iraq by the United Nations since Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait, Egypt has been allowing Iraqi vessels to pass through the canal. Egypt insists the waterway should remain open for all vessels regardless of nationality. But MENA said the shipping agent of this vessel, the Zein al-Qaws, had refused to pay transit fees of 12,000 dollars. The agent said he was acting on instructions from its owners, the Iraqi Maritime Company. An Iraqi tanker with 83,000 tonnes of crude oil passed through the Suez canal last week to the Mediterranean, despite a global oil import embargo on Iraqi and Kuwaiti oil. Western warships heading for the Gulf have also been using the canal. 08/15 1348 EXTREMIST LEADER URGES FIGHTERS TO ATTACK ... SIDON, LEBANON (AUG. 15) UPI - Palestinian extremist leader Mohammed Abul Abbas urged his fighters Wednesday to "hit American interests" in a show of solidarity with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Abul Abbas, leader of the 150-strong Palestine Liberation Front responsible for the 1986 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro, made the request to his followers in a statement released in the southern port city of Sidon, 24 miles south of Beirut. "My strugglers, I call on you to hit American interests and all spying centers affiliated with the Americans," Abul Abbas said. It was not known if the extremist leader, who maintains a headquarters in Iraq, was himself in the port city. Abul Abbas also implied that the interests of conservative countries in the Persian Gulf may also be targeted. But observers speculated that the threat seemed essentially designed to express solidarity with Saddam, whose invasion and annexation of Kuwait has triggered a crisis in which a formidable multi-national but mostly U.S. military force faces the Iraqi war machine along the Kuwaiti-Saudi border. The PLF has bases in the Sidon region where Yasser Arafat, the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, maintains his largest military presence in Lebanon. The PLO has expressed solidarity with Saddam's invasion of Kuwait, while Syria, which controls two thirds of Lebanon, with the exception of the Sidon area, has opposed the incursion. "I urge on you to strike at American presence in the (Persian) Gulf. Open fire on our enemies everywhere and shake the land under the feet of the aggressors," Abul Abbas said. This week, hundreds of radical Palestinian guerrillas in southern Lebanon reportedly enlisted to join Iraqi troops in any possible confrontation with Western forces deployed in Saudi Arabia. In the Achille Lauro hijacking, PLF guerrillas shot and killed Leon Klinghoffer, a handicapped, elderly New Yorker, and tossed his body into the sea. The group had also launched a series of cross-border attacks against Israel. 08/15 1428 SAUDI FIGHTER PILOTS SAY THEY COULD DEFEAT IRAQ'S AIR FORCE SAUDI ARABIA (AUG. 15) UPI - Saudi fighter pilots Wednesday boasted that they could defeat Iraq's air force and said they were finding it easy to work with British and American pilots now flying missions with them along the Kuwait-Saudi border. And they said they had no qualms about fighting fellow Arabs if Saddam Hussein decided to send his forces into the Saudi kingdom. "Nobody likes war but if he wants to fight we will fight to the death," one Saudi pilot said Wednesday before the Saudi Air Force staged a demonstration from a visiting pool of American journalists. The Saudi pilots all speak English and have been trained in the United Sates, and American and British planes make up the Saudi arsenal. Now, with a multinational defense force forming here, a Saudi squadron commander said Saudi, American and Britsh pilots are flying as a single force under a single command. "From the first day they arrived here that plan had to be implemented before we leave the ground," the commander said. A number of U.S. planes were seen parked outside an intricate hanger and maintenance area on one Saudi air base visited by the Defense Department pool. He said Iraqi planes have been spotted along the Kuwait-Saudi border but that none have crossed clearly into Saudi territory. "I don't think it wise for them to cross that border, " he said. "We will react to that. ... I'm confident that we could inflict heavy damage." The squadron commander, who said he got his first training in Selma, Alabama, and had studied at other U.S. military installations, said "as a military man" that he expected the Mideast standofff to be resolved only through combat. "I am here as an instrument of the hand of the politician, to use if they need me," he said. Should it come to war, he said, "I'm not afraid, ... I am ready." A half dozen pilots interviewed before a scrambling of Saudi jets expressed little doubt that they could defeat the Iraqi air force and also do significant harm to Iraqi tanks and other ground forces. And none said a potential war pitting Arab against Arab had made them reluctant to fight. Ground rules prohibit use of their names. "We have to put a leash on them," a Saudi commander said when asked how eager his men were to take on the Iraqis. "We have to put a leash on me " he said with a laugh. The Saudi pilots said it has been easy for them to join forces with Amercian and British pilots because of their training in the West. "What are friends for," one pilot said when asked about the flux of the outside air arsenal. "We are quite comfortable with the Royal Air Force and the U.S. Air Force. In addition to the F-15s, the Saudi air force has American-made F-5s, AWACSs and C-130s and British-made Hawks, Lightnings and Tornadoes. Inside one facility at the base was a reminder of the occassional fights in the U.S. Congress over selling the Saudis American air firepower. A plaque on one wall is inscribed with a 1986 quote from Sen. John Chafee, R-R.I., from one Senate debate on arms sale that reads,. "In my opinion, Saudi Arabia is a far better judge of its own defense needs than the members of Congress." 08/15 1435 USS JOHN KENNEDY BATTLE GROUP LEAVES PORT, FAMILES ... NORFOLK, Va. (AUG. 15) UPI - The aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy battle group left port Wednesday as families awaited word on whether it would be the fourth carrier sent to the troubled Middle East. The carrier left Norfolk Naval Station at 11 a.m. as about 150 family members and friends yelled goodbyes. Several expressed concerned about the possibility the carrier and other ships could be sent to the Middle East. "I feel confident that they'll come back in one piece," said Kelly Larson, whose husband, Steve, sailed away on one of the Kennedy's seven support ships. "Sure, we're all worried that they're going to the Persian Gulf but we're all just going to hope for the best," she saaid The official Navy position is the battle group will be available for "potential relief" of the carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower battle group, which is stationed in the Red Sea. Roughly 12,000 personnel make up the Kennedy battle group. The USS Saratoga group is in the Mediterranean and the USS Independence is in the Gulf of Oman. Navy officials in Norfolk said the Kennedy initially would carry out routine operations off Virginia while awaiting final word from the Pentagon. If the need arises, the Navy could dispatch its fourth carrier group - a third of its total carrier fleet - to the Persian Gulf area. "We're ready. We'll be safe. God bless America," a Kennedy officer said over the carrier's public address system as the ship left port. The guided-missile cruisers USS Thomas S. Gates and USS San Jacinto also left Norfolk Wednesday. Jeff Taylor, a sonar technician, waved goodbye to his wife, Marge, and two children from the deck of the Gates. "I don't like leaving my family," he said, but quickly added, "I'm pretty confident in what we're going to do." Family members said many sailors just returned from sea duty last week when they learned the Kennedy group would be leaving. They said not knowing the date of the sailors' return made this deployment more difficult. "It's just kind of, 'We're going, we don't know where,' "said Marge Taylor. A steady stream of ships has been moving out of Norfolk since President Bush ordered the military mobilization to the Middle East. Other ships leaving Norfolk with the Kennedy were the guided-missile cruiser USS Mississippi and combat stores ship USS Sylvania, the destroyer USS Moosbrugger, of Charleston, S.C.; guided-missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts of Newport, R.I., which was damaged in 1988 by a mine in the Persian Gulf, and the fast-combat support ship USS Seattle, of Earle, N.J. The hospital ship USNS Comfort, one of the first hospital vessels mobilized since the Vietnam war, left Norfolk on Tuesday. On Monday, 13 ships from Norfolk-based Amphibious Group Two began leaving to pick up the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade. The ships are picking up thousands of Marines in Morehead City, N.C., as part of a rapid deployment to Saudi Arabia. The dock landing ships USS Gunston Hall and USS Portland, as well as the USS Trenton, an amphibious transport dock, all have sailed from Norfolk to pick up Marines. 08/15 1523 SOVIETS SEE DIFFICULTIES IN EVACUATION OF ITS ... MOSCOW (AUG. 15) UPI - Iraq has agreed to allow Soviet women and children to leave the country by a tortuous overland route, but male workers are not being allowed out, the Soviet Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. Foreign Ministry spokesman Yuri Gremitskikh said the long distances and desert heat of 113 degrees will make the evacuation from Baghdad to Jordan difficult. He said the Iraqis had agreed to allow the women, children and ill people among the estimated 9,000 Soviet citizens in Iraq and Kuwait to leave the country, but only over land rather than by the easier air or sea routes. "Under conditions set by Iraqi authorities ... men are staying in Iraq," he said. "They didn't give any reason." Asked if he felt the Soviet men in Iraq were being held hostage, Gremitskikh responded: "I do not want to use that word, hostage, since hostage has a very specific notion. "And we hope that Iraq does not consider our citizens as hostages." Iraq has also reportedly refused to allow Americans and other Westerners to leave the country until the Persian Gulf crisis is concluded. "You may compare our situation with the situation of other nations," Gremitskikh said. The Foreign Ministry spokesman also announced Wednesday that the Soviet Union sent special envoy Mikhail Sytenko to the Middle East in a continued diplomatic effort to solve the crisis sparked by Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait. Sytenko, who left the Soviet Union Tuesday, will meet Iraqi leaders in Baghdad as part of his tour of the area that will also include Syria, Jordan and Egypt. "(The visit) goes along with the Soviet Union's efforts to stop the escalation of tensions in the region," Gremitskikh said. The spokesman said the Soviet Union had not decided how to respond to Iraq's demand that all foreign embassies in Kuwait be closed by Aug. 24. "There is an international legal aspect to the problem," Gremitskikh said, adding that if countries closed their embassies in Kuwait it might be seen as "silent agreement to the annexation by Iraq." "No specific decisions have been made," he said. He repeated the Soviet Union's stand that the U.N. Security Council's military staff committee should take an active role in determining how to enforce economic sanctions against Iraq, but refused to say if Moscow supported a U.N. military force. "It has been suggested that the military staff committee of the Security Council could play a certain role in the implementation of the resolution of the General Assembly with respect to sanctions against Iraq," he said. "As regards the idea concerning the establishment or non-establishment of a multi-national force, we believe the issue should be resolved within the framework of the Security Council," he said. "We are ready to participate in discussions of this idea." The Soviet Union sent two warships to the Persian Gulf area after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, but Gremitskikh said Wednesday they were there to protect Soviet shipping and the Soviet Union does not plan to participate in a U.S.-led blockade of Iraq. >From maeder Wed Aug 15 16:04:36 1990 Return-Path: <maeder> Received: by WRI.com (3.2/SMI-3.0DEV3) id AA19757; Wed, 15 Aug 90 16:04:36 CDT Message-Id: <9008152104.AA19757 at WRI.com> Date: Wed, 15 Aug 90 16:04:32 CDT From: maeder To: swolf Subject: Variables Cc: rivin Here is the description of what is a variable. Actually it is easier to say which things are not variables: - numbers and strings are not variables - sums and products are not variables - integer powers are not variables anything else is a variable. It would make sense to leave Kelly's predicate VariableQ[] in the system. This way, one could test whether an expression is legal as a variable, in the same way that the internal code verifies the variables (e.g. in D[], Coefficient[]). Here is the proposed definition: VariableQ[expr] return True, if expr can be used as a variable. The description of PolynomialQ in the book (3.3.2) should be clarified the first example is wrong (the description, not the result) These are the cases to talk about: basic case: In[1]:= PolynomialQ[x+1, x] Out[1]= True This returns True, since x+y is a polynomial in x (with coefficients being polynomials in y): In[2]:= PolynomialQ[x + y, x] Out[2]= True This can be treated as a polynomial (in f[x]), so it says true: In[3]:= PolynomialQ[f[x]] Out[3]= True It is however not a polynomial in x: In[4]:= PolynomialQ[f[x], x] Out[4]= False Roman >From uunet!LANL.GOV!tsutomu%no-sense Wed Aug 15 16:28:12 1990 Return-Path: <uunet!LANL.GOV!tsutomu%no-sense> Received: by WRI.com (3.2/SMI-3.0DEV3) id AA20050; Wed, 15 Aug 90 16:28:12 CDT Received: from p.lanl.gov by uunet.uu.net (5.61/1.14) with SMTP id AA11035; Wed, 15 Aug 90 16:51:17 -0400 Received: from no-sense.lanl.gov by p.lanl.gov (5.61/1.14) id AA06671; Wed, 15 Aug 90 14:51:08 -0600 Received: by no-sense.lanl.gov (3.2/5.17) id AA22841; Wed, 15 Aug 90 14:48:00 MDT Date: Wed, 15 Aug 90 14:48:00 MDT From: uunet!LANL.GOV!tsutomu%no-sense (Tsutomu Shimomura) Message-Id: <9008152048.AA22841 at no-sense.lanl.gov> To: ebneter at WRI.com, swolf at WRI.com Subject: mathematica vs. HP calculator