The Akron Beacon Journal from Akron, Ohio • Page 13

1 Sunday, January 13, 1991 The Beacon Journal A13 How Ohioans in House voted Regula and Eckart wait but take different paths Against: Tony Hall, D-Day-ton; Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo; Dennis Eckart, D-Mentor; Don Pease, D-Oberlin; Tom Sawyer, D-Akron; James Traficant, D-Poland; Douglas Applegate, D-Steubenville; Edward Feighan, D-Lakewood; Mary Rose Oakar, D-Cleveland; and Louis Stokes, D-Shaker Heights. The Hamilton-Gephardt Resolution calling for continued reliance on economic sanctions and diplomacy to get Iraq oat of Kuwait: For: Hall, Kaptur, Eckart, Pease, Sawyer, Traficant, Applegate, Feighan, Oakar and Stokes. Against: Luken, Gradison; Gillmor, McEwen, Hob son, Boehner, Miller, Kasich; Wylie and Regula. The Bennett-Dnrbin resolution, a non-binding measure de- daring that Congress alone has the power to declare war and that Bash mast seek authorization before conducting any of-J tensive military operation: For: Luken, Hall, Hobson, R- Springfield, Kaptur, Eckart, Pease, Sawyer, Regula, Traficant, Applegate, Feighan, Oakar and Stokes. Against: Gradison, Oxley, Gillmor, McEwen, Boehner, -Miller, Kasich and Wylie.

Centinaed from page Al exhausted before authorizing the use of American force. All other House members from the area had decided earlier to 'oppose Bush, and, like Eckart, unsuccessfully backed further reliance on economic sanctions. Regula has been a friend, but not always a supporter, of the Republican president. Just in October, after the Stark County lawmaker had defied the White House on a crucial budget vote, Chief of Staff John Sununu put Regula in national headlines by yanking Regula's tickets for the White House box at the Kennedy Center. When Regula returned to Washington on Thursday from Ohio, the certain loss of American lives in a potential war weighed heavily on his mind.

"We have people from every district (in Saudi Arabia), including reservists," said Regula. "It's not a pleasant thought." Then the two businessmen stopped by to visit. One had been taken to Iraq after the invasion of Kuwait and used as a human shield until Iraq's Saddam Hussein decided to free all hostages. The second had been able to hide in Kuwait until learning that Saddam would let foreigners leave the country. Both told Regula they believed that sanctions wouldn't force Saddam out of Kuwait.

Friday, Regula was one of about 80 House members invited to eat bacon, eggs and sausage with Bush at the White House. "He didn't put on a high-pressure thing," Regula said of the president. "He just said essentially if 'I don't have this authority, it's going to be very difficult to get Saddam out of Withholding such authority now might mean the loss of more American lives if such a decision must be made later, Regula decided. If Saddam is going to be pressured by the threat of combat, Regula said, now is the time. "If we delay, he's going to think there's a lack of resolve in the United States." Eckart, whose district includes Portage County, said he was worried about a resort to war before it became necessary.

He called Bishop Pevec and asked about the morality of authorizing the president to use force. The question Pevec asked, Eckart said, was, "Are you convinced that we have exhausted every opportunity?" Eckart said he had to answer no. Eckart made his decision late Friday and spoke on the House floor at 2:30 a.m. Saturday. The phone rang as soon as he made 10 most likely targets in Iraq Actual priority of targets in a war depends on the strategy selected.

The priority of targets here assumes that U.S. and allied forces invade Iraq with Saudi consent, Israel remains neutral, and Iraq does not resort to In Lima, kids fear war while adults busily build tanks biological and chemical weapons. Pgr Anti-aircraft missile bjJ sites protecting Baghdad, Basra yfW i Iran rj saoaam i-iusseinvmmiary L) commanders, presumed in i Known surface-to-surface missile sites and air defense radars; plus mobile missiles Airfields in Kuwai and near Basn and Baghdad Highway from Basra to Kuwait City; the main supply route for Iraqi troops defending Kuwait Salman Pak, nuclear weapons center with chemical and biological stockpile and air base nearby OK Ballistic, nuclear arms center 0 Exposed second-echelon Iraqi armored and mobile forces 0 Water desalinization plant at Kuwait City; main water source for Iraqi defense troops Front lines of dug-in Iraqi defenders in Kuwait Miles yPBj -O j-vj K7waitM Him "7i PersianGulf liililltti Here is how Ohio members of the U.S. House voted on the three gulf resolutions: The Michel-Solarz resolution, which gave President Bash the authority to wage war in the Persian Gulf In accordance with United Nations Resolntion C78: For: Charles Luken, D-Cin-cinnati; Willis Gradison, R-Cin-cinnati; Michael Oxley, R-Find-lay; Paul Gillmor, R-Port Clinton; Bob McEwen, R-Hills-boro; David Hobson, R-Spring-field; John Boehner, R-West Chester; Clarence Miller, R-Lancaster; John Kasich, R-Westerville; Ralph Regula, R-Navarre; and Chalmer Wylie, R-Columbus. his way back to his office.

The caller was a woman named Beth from San Diego who had seen him on the C-SPAN cable television service. "I just heard what you had to say," she told Eckart. "I'm grateful for you." The others who, like Eckart, research Saudi Arabia Hi Let there be no misunderstanding about the meaning of today's vote. We are absolutely united in our opinion that Iraq must get out of Kuwait. The only questions debated were what procedures will bring about that end.

Sen. John Glenn other diplomatic tool," Foley said. "The president has said again and again that he may use it and sooner than we realize." Rep. Dante Fascell, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and a supporter of the resolution, confirmed Foley's assessment. "The Congress is providing its assent for the president to use this authority," he said.

"We're telling the president: 'This resolution empowers you to use The United States and its allies have nearly 600,000 troops in the gulf region. The Iraqi army has more than 500,000 in Kuwait. Saturday's vote was the first time since 1964 that Congress has authorized the open-ended use of American military force against a foreign power. In that year, Congress with barely a whisper of dissent granted President Lyndon B. Johnson the right to wage war against Communist forces in Vietnam.

This time around, the dissent was loud and clear but not sufficient to blunt the president's argument that he needed war au Tigris River) 1 m. Saqhdad nnnn HRutba rBSalmpak Iraq XIV Iraq HtfliBasra Umm Qasr Kji Mobile "itllipS -Cv- ok defenses X. SOURCE: War game designer James F. Dunnigan; Iran-Iraq war analysis Anthony: 'Ai? Cordesman and David Segal; Center for Defense Information; research by Frank "A Grave, Knighl-Ridder national correspondent nati, a freshman member, was the only one of Ohio's 11 Democrats to back Bush. All 10 Ohio Republicans voted with Bush and against alternative resolution.

In the Senate, Ohio Democrats John Glenn and and Howard Metzenbaum voted against Bush and for the alternative. For Bush, war legal; support not strong By R.W. Apple Jr. New York Times Washington They were no clarion calls to battle, but Saturday's congressional votes were probably enough for President Bush to take the country to war, provided it is the short, sharp conflict he has envisaged. Facing their plainest choice between war and peace since World War with the first shots in the Persian Gulf perhaps only three or four days distant, the Senate and the House of Representatives reluctantly backed what Speaker Thomas S.

Foley termed "the practical equivalent" of a declaration of war. They gave Bush the benefit of the doubt, but they could express no profound national commitment. Now Bush can assert, if he decides sometime in the days and weeks to come that he must use force to evict Iraqi troops from Kuwait, that he has the constitutional authority to do so, as well as the permission of the United Nations. But if he does act, be will do so knowing he "takes, a divided nation into battle," as Rep. Ron Dellums, D-Calif commented Saturday.

The legal requirements have been met, but it is still open to question whether Bush has the solid political base he needs. Sen. Sam Nunn, the most influential figure among those who wanted to wait longer before authorizing military tried to convince Saddam Hussein he should ignore what happened in Congress. Combat would transform the situation, he said; country and Congress would rally around the president, and "there will be no cutoff of funds for our troops as they engage your forces on the field of battle." No doubt that is true. Even as committed an isolationist as Arthur Vandenberg said on Dec.

-8, 1941, "I have fought every trend which I thought would lead to needless war, but when war comes to us, I stand with my commander in chief for the swiftest and most invincible reply of which our total strength may be capable." Bush would begin a war with similar backing. The danger is duration. If the allied troops in the desert get bogged down, will the American public stay with Bush, given their doubts Those doubts were most evident in the Senate, where the resolution authorizing Bush to attack passed by only 52-47. Three votes changed from to "no" would have reversed the outcome there. It is not hard to see who might have cast the requisite three votes: Al Gore who had sounded, at hearings a month ago, much like Nunn; Bob Graham, usually a supporter of the party leadership; and James M.

Jeffords, who agonized until the very last minute. The debate subdued, extended, often impassioned was exactly the sort of clash between opposing views on a great issue that has been absent from most American political campaigns in the last decade. It took place, however, not between Republicans and Democrats but mostly within the Democratic Party. voted against the Bush resolution and for a resolution for continued reliance on sanctions were: Democrats Tom Sawyer of Akron, Don Pease of Oberlin, Edward Feighan of Lakewood, Mary Rose Oakar of Cleveland and Louis Stokes of Shaker Heights. Rep.

Charles Luken of Cincin- Knight-Hidder Tribune News thority to induce Saddam to vacate Kuwait. In the House, more than two out of every five members mostly Democrats opposed him. But many senior House Democrats were among those supporting Bush, including Armed Services Chairman Les Aspin of Wisconsin, Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski of; Illinois, Appropriations Chairman Jamie Whitten of Mississippi, Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell of Michigan and Judiciary Chairman Jack Brooks of Texas. Earlier, the House voted by an overwhelming margin, 302-131, to reassert its constitutional power to declare war. U.N.

chief in Baghdad Meanwhile, Iraq's foreign minister, Tariq Aziz, greeted U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar on his arrival in Baghdad, and the two met twice later in the day. U.N. officials said Perez de Cuellar would meet Saddam today. Assad warns Saddam Also Saturday, Syrian President Hafez Assad, in an unusual gesture, urged his sworn enemy Saddam to quit Kuwait or face a catastrophe that would only benefit Israel a common enemy.

In a radio broadcast heard in Iraq, Assad told Saddam that Baghdad "should take the courageous decision to spare Iraq a major catastrophe in order not to enable the enemies of the Arab nation to gain benefit from the present situation." The broadcast came as Secretary of State James A. Baker was in Damascus for talks with Assad, a key Arab member of the U.S.-dominated coalition against Iraq. He later flew to Turkey. IBahraln President receives approval from Congress to go to war Connecticut's Roper Institute has analyzed American views of this crisis compared to past conflicts, and he said support across the country for Bush's military policy in the Persian Gulf has been stronger than in any other such period since World War II. But in a country that soured on its last major war effort, the durability of that support is an open, much-argued question that troubles the six Lima teen-agers because they can hear their own uncertainty.

"America has been through a political revolution since the '60s," Michelle said. "Former hippies are Republicans today. People will fight." "But it is kind of scary. Every guy in the class has been called by a Marine recruiter," Joey said. "A lot of us think the nation should be there, but we don't individually want to go," Blake Smith said.

"We just live in our own little area and what the government does far off doesn't affect us, and then all of a sudden it steps in. It's kind of scary." Chris Downtown agreed: "It's the government's problem. Why don't they solve it?" "Are lives really worth oil?" Jessica Schieltz asked. "It's hard for us to tell if it's worth it or not." "Our generation is more apathetic and underinformed," Michelle said. "We're more open to propaganda." Opinion analyst Ladd has considered the question of propaganda and manipulation of information, and he said that the country's support for Bush in the gulf can't be explained away by such rationalizations as "influence of the defense industry or that the public has been duped.

"The public has been persuaded there are substantial matters at stake, from the long term down to the practical, immediate need for oil. That doesn't mean the public has to be happy about this, though, and that doesn't mean it wants war." For all their ambivalence, not one of the Lima teen-agers imagined protesting the war or trying to avoid participating. They found no inspiration in the millions who opposed the Vietnam War a generation ago. "It seems like we were just skipped over by all that," Joey said. "I don't think I could oppose the war," Blake said.

"Too many positive results could happen." "If they really needed me, I would go," Dan said. He thought about that for a moment. "But that's what I'm saying now." Yes. No. Frightened.

Brave. Sure, Unsure. United. Alone. Blake posed the issue: "Nationalism versus personal interest.

But I don't feel like I'm living in a united nation. I feel everyone has to fend for themself." Afterward, the school's principal Dan Rupert talked about his memories of the Vietnam era, about repeating history, about the wishful optimism of winning wars "with a snap of the fingers," and about the tough call between nationalism and personal interest. "In this community," he said, "nobody says it, but we're secretly glad. The tank plant was about to shut down. It would have hurt us as a private school, that's for sure." a Young people insulated; it's economy first Continued from page Al i at its most indiscriminate and vivid.

They can talk the politics and the personalities and the pros and cons, but when six Lima Central Catholic High School seniors i talked about the looming war last week, what worried them most was the ultimate possibility of a military draft. With all due re- spect, they said, they don't want to be the ones to fight this war. It was the cry of every war-I time generation. "We have plans," said one of them, then i another. "We have plans." I The possibility of personal involvement in a war requires a special adjustment from these i particular 17- and 18-year-olds, because they have grown up com-; fortably, almost obliviously, at I the doorstep of one of the coun- try's most important military manufacturing installations.

Their parents and their friends' parents have made good livings thanks to that plant, and Lima's chronic economic ups and downs have been tempered by its presence. It is the town's biggest employer, one of two General Dynamics plants in the country that build the U.S. Army's M1A1 main battle tank, a critical weapon if war erupts in the Arabian desert. Earlier last year, in the first rush of post-Cold War optimism, the teen-agers watched the adults of the town try desperately to convince the Bush administration not to write off the tank plants in Lima and Warren, and shut them down. Now, both plants are in full production, and the Lima plant's 2,500 employees are turning out 60 sand-colored, 67-ton, heavily armed and armored tanks each month.

"We didn't realize we were an integral part of a war that could happen," Michelle Sheets said. "Most of us thought of the tank plant just as a workplace," Joey Hagan said. "It's ironic that peace threatened the plant," Michelle said. "Peace," said Dan Barnhart, "was bad for our economy." "People are more worried about our economy than anything else here: 'Oh my God, what if the tank plant shuts Joey said. "We're so far from Saudi Arabia." Most Americans are, and in degrees, the act of preparing for war putting it in some kind of context, making sense of the seemingly irrational has been a national project for the last five months.

Provided with a highly visible villain in Saddam Hussein, reminded of the ways Middle East-, ern oil disputes can disrupt American life, and given the easy reflex that long ago spawned the aphorism, "my country right or wrong," it didn't take long for a majority of Americans to coalesce around the Bush administration's tough stance, and for almost everyone in Lima to embrace it, young and old. Public opinion researcher Everett Ladd of the University Continued from page Al many young Americans will die?" said Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, "For the families of those young Americans, the question will be, did they die unnecessarily? No one will ever be able to answer that question. For if we go to war now, no one will ever know if sanctions would have worked, if given a full and fair chance." However, Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, hinted that the division of the Senate was not as deep as the vote might suggest. "Let there be no misunderstanding about the meaning of today's vote," said Glenn, a veteran of World War II and the Korean War who voted against the resolution.

We are absolutely united in our opinion that Iraq must get out of Kuwait. The only questions debated were what procedures will bring about that end." Earlier, both houses rejected measures by the Democratic leadership to rely on continued economic sanctions against Iraq to dislodge Saddam's troops from Kuwait. In the Senate 10 Democrats joined 42 Republicans to give Bush his victory. Only two Republicans, Mark Hatfield of Oregon and Charles Grassley of Iowa, opposed the war resolution. If the president decides to use his new war-making authority, he is expected to attack sometime after midnight Tuesday, the deadline set by the United Nations for Iraq to withdraw.

The president said military action would be "sooner rather than later." House Speaker Thomas Foley, pleaded for rejection of the war resolution: "Don't vote for it under the notion that you are giving the president just an-.