The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 1

UO0 Armeies si CIRCULATION: 1.164,388 DAILY 1.531.527 SUNDAY TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1992 COI'YRKiHT 1992 TlIF, TIMES MIRROK COMPANY CCt 104 PAGES DAILY 3St DESIGNATED AREAS HIGHER Rail Commuter Era Begins in L.A. Metrolink: Trains carry 5,000 passengers from suburban stations on first day. No major glitches appear as service is launched with a week of free rides. By MARK A. STEIN, times si ait writer With the traditional train conductor's cry of "All aboard!" Metrolink trains Monday began carrying thousands of passengers between Los Angeles and its suburbs, ushering Southern California into a new era of rapid mass transit.

COLUMN ONE GM Saga a Lesson for America If the firm can reform and recover some of its luster, it will make a larger statement about how the United States can solve some of its own massive and complex problems. The Great Race of Car, Bus and Train TODD BIGELOW For The Times the San Fernando Valley. At right is the Golden State Freeway. At left is San Fernando Road. makes its way northern part of Angry Perot Defends Claim of GOP Smear Campaign: He assails Bush and media for questioning his assertion about plan to ruin daughter's reputation.

Southern California Regional Rail Authority officials estimated that 5,000 passengers hopped aboard the shiny, double-decked trains, taking advantage of Metro-link's free one-week introduction to race between downtown Los Angeles and suburban stations at speeds up to 79 m.p.h. Before the morning commute ended, the trains had been blessed by a Catholic priest and serenaded by a high school marching band. And at one point, in a scene that illustrated what boosters say is Metrolink's advantage over driving, the 7:26 a.m. train from Pomona cruised down the San Bernardino Freeway median past miles of cars bogged down in stop-and-go traffic. Whether Metrolink did anything to relieve that congestion as its backers have promised was unclear.

California Highway Patrol Officer Clarence Johnson said traffic appeared to be light on Monday, but within a normal range. He could not attribute the flow to any one factor. "It could be due to a number of things," he said. After the last of the morning's distinctive trains pulled into Union Station on schedule at 8:55 a.m., mass transit officials celebrated the new service with unrestrained glee. "The future of transportation in California is rail," said Gary Haus-dorfer, chairman of the Orange County Transportation Authority board.

Except for a pair of protesters who denounced Metrolink as a "boondoggle" that subsidizes affluent suburban commuters at the expense of transit-dependent bus riders, the opening day crowds who took the trains appeared to U.S. Found to Way for Iraqi By DOUGLAS FRANTZ TIMES STAFF WRITER WASHINGTON -The Bush Administration approved export licenses for computers and software that helped design Iraq's notorious supergun and a ballistic missile capable of reaching Israel and other Middle East countries, according to documents and congressional investigators. The export license for the computers was granted in the fall of 1989 to a Maryland company controlled by artillery wizard Gerald Bull, who was assassinated six months later outside his apartment in Belgium. Often called the world's greatest artillery designer, Bull had ties to U.S. intelligence and had served time in jail for violating U.S.

export laws. A prototype of the supergun By JAMES FLANIGAN TIMES STAFF WRITER It was forty years ago when the late Charles E. Wilson, then president of General Motors told Congress that "what is good for the country is good for General Motors and what is good for General Motors is good for the country." Wilson was criticized at the time for making such a brash assertion. But the sentiment, to a large extent, remains true today, even as GM turns another page in its recent sad saga. GM matters.

Its size alone $123 billion in total revenues and more than half a million employees in the United States (781,000 worldwide) make it important to the livelihoods of millions of people in dealerships and supplier firms everywhere. But the company's symbolic importance goes far beyond money and jobs. Once an example of the best U.S. industry could be, the company in recent decades has become a sorry spectacle of American industry's difficulties in responding to global change and competition. There are lessons in the GM saga for all Americans who looked on in wonder Monday at the forced resignation of Chairman Robert C.

Stempel in the story of how the firm rose, and fell, and still could rejuvenate itself in the years ahead. Other U.S. companies, from computer giant IBM to machinery maker Caterpillar, are wrestling with similar challenges. For all its troubles, economists and industry analysts agree that GM can still reform its ways and recover some of the luster it had from the 1920s through the 1950s, when it was not merely the world's largest industrial organization but also its most respected. If it does so, it will make a larger statement about how the United States can solve deep and complex problems from education to job creation.

But, as General Motors has demonstrated over the last decade, wrenching reform is easy to talk about but tough to accomplish. A multitude of causes led GM to its current low estate. But significant among them is that it departed from the elegant system its legendary chairman, Alfred P. Sloan devised for it. Sloan, who led GM from 1920 until 1956, combatted Henry Ford and his black Model by offering cars for every taste and pocket-book from Chevrolet to Pontiac to Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac.

But he did so economically, using a maximum of interchangeable parts on GM's efficient production lines to turn out. in effect, five different automobiles at the cost of what competitors would spend to produce only one or two models. Please see LESSON, A 12 THE TIMES POLL By FAYE FIORE TIMES STAFF WRITER The sun has scarcely cracked the darkness in the eastern sky. Larry Williams sits reading the Scriptures. Janet Ekland is clobbering the snooze button on her alarm clock.

Barbara Piazza is smoking her third cigarette. Another riveting work day ahead. But before they tackle it, an even more harrowing task awaits: the Monday morning Los Angeles commute. On this day, Williams, Ekland and Piazza will have more choices than any commuter in Los Angeles history as they decide how to negotiate the 45 miles that separate their cozy suburban living rooms Please see CHOICES, A3 agree. "The drive under normal conditions takes about as much time as the train, but if there is an accident it can take much longer," said Mike DeVeau, a Claremont lawyer who has been commuting to Los Angeles for three weeks to try a civil case.

"I've been late to court sever-Please see RAIL, A 23 Have Eased Supergun designed by Bull for Iraq was discovered in the mountains north of Baghdad after the Persian Gulf War. United Nations inspectors said the 360-foot-long howitzer had been tested and was capable of firing nuclear, chemical and biological warheads. The Commerce Department's approval for export of technology used by Bull adds a new element to the campaign debate over whether U.S. export policies played a role in building up Iraq's military arsenal. Critics have accused the Administration of permitting Iraq to obtain sensitive U.S.

equipment as part of its effort to influence the regime of Saddam Hussein. After claiming for months that no U.S. material was used in Iraq's weapons program, President Bush acknowledged last week that some U.S. technology sold for rammer-Please see GUN, A10 had done by altering documents it supplied to Congress and by attempting to obstruct official investigations of aid to Iraq. The Times has now published more than 100 stories, totaling By SARA FRITZ TIMES STAFF WRITER DALLAS An angry, agitated Ross Perot lashed out Monday at those in the Bush Administration and the news media who have questioned the truthfulness of his contention that he was driven out of the presidential race last July by a secret Republican plot to besmirch the reputation of his daughter.

"I am sick and tired of you all questioning my integrity without any basis for it," declared Perot. "I Canada Rejects Unity Program in Referendum By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH TIMES STAFF WRITER MONTREAL Canadians overwhelmingly rejected a sweeping package of constitutional amendments that were put to a rare national referendum Monday. The amendments were written by Canada's office-holding elite in an effort to keep united this fractious, three-ocean country, the world's largest political entity after Russia. But the unambiguous "no" will certainly scuttle the entire package and open a new and uncertain chapter in Canadian history. The package was rejected by voters in six of Canada's 10 provinces, in some cases by wide margins.

In British Columbia, for instance, about two-thirds of the voters said Please see CANADA, A8 An early morning Metrolink train southbound as it cuts through the GM Chairman Stempel Resigns Under Pressure By DONALD WOUTAT TIMES STAEF WRITER DETROIT The curtain fell on an era at General Motors Corp. on Monday when Robert C. Stempel. 59, saying he hoped to end the "chaos" engulfing the world's largest company, resigned as chairman and chief executive under intense pressure from the board of directors. But the disarray promises to continue as dazed employees look over their shoulders and the board, trying to undo decades' worth of mistakes that have driven GM into deep financial trouble, scramble to line up a new management team for the $123-billion-a-year company.

It was the bloodiest episode in Detroit's auto boardrooms since Henry Ford II fired Lee A. lacocca from the presidency of Ford Motor Co. in 1978. But the Stempel move carries a historic industrial significance that the bitter Ford -lacocca feud lacked. The first such beheading at GM since founder William C.

Durant was fired twice, in 1910 and 1920, Stempel's departure marks a passage of sorts for a once-dominant company struggling to reinvent itself in the new global economy. Stempel said he was resigning both posts immediately, but the board asked him to stay until his successor is named. That is expected within days, perhaps at next Monday's regular board meeting in New York. The most likely scenario has GM's president and chief operating officer, John F. Smith assuming the CEO's title and John G.

Smale, retired Procter Gamble chairman and leader of a group of GM directors aligned against Stempel, becoming chairman. Another strong possibility for Please see GM, A17 sure passes or fails. At the same time, Wilson's ability to attract support for the measure is weakened by his basic unpopularity. The governor's job rating inched downward and hit a new all-time low in this survey, with only 29 approving of his performance in Sacramento and 62 disapproving. The Times Poll also found very close contests over two other ballot measures-.

Proposition 161, to allow doctor -assisted suicide and euthanasia, and Proposition 167, to increase taxes on business and the wealthy. But voters overwhelmingly sup-Please see MEASURES, A18 don't have to prove anything to you people." Perot's son and aides were fielding questions from reporters at the candidate's campaign headquarters when the Texas billionaire unexpectedly came into the room to offer a spirited defense of his own veracity. He said he had been watching the proceedings on television and wanted to set the record straight. The Texas billionaire, who reentered the race Oct. 1, acknowledged that he had no proof to support his charges that President Bush's aides had been plotting a smear campaign to embarrass him and his daughter Carolyn last summer.

But he emphasized that his suspicions were heightened because whenever he tried to question Bush's top aides about the alleged plot, they refused to respond. "Don't you find it strange that at the highest levels of the Administration nobody ever called me back and said, 'Ross, this didn't "he asked. Perot also defended his claim that five men believed to be Black Panthers working on behalf of the RELATED STORIES: A14 -16 North Vietnamese were caught stalking his Dallas home about 20 years ago. But when he was asked for additional proof, he replied: "It's none of your business. It has nothing to do with the presidential campaign." Meanwhile, the controversy over Perot's allegations, which were first broadcast on CBS' "60 Minutes" on Sunday night, appeared to be sapping some of the momentum that the independent candidate's campaign had been Please see PEROT, A15 Sean O'Keefe TAILHOOK SCANDAL DECISION Acting Navy Secretary Sean O'Keefe has decided to forgo more punishment of two admirals criticized for their actions in the Tailhook scandal.

A13 1 INSIDE TODAY'S TIMES Iraqgate A Case Study of a Big Story With Little Impact Journalism: Despite hundreds of news reports, no public outrage has erupted over secret U.S. aid to Iraq. Voters Evenly Split Over Proposal to Cut Welfare Propositions: Term-limit measure has wide support in state. Contests close on euthanasia and tax increases. F6 ISRAELI RETALIATION Israel bombarded suspected guerrilla bases in southern Lebanon in a massive retaliation for a weekend attack that killed five Israeli soldiers.

A4 BOSNIANS TO U.S. The White House yielded to pressure from international relief groups and agreed to permit the immigration into the U.S. of up to 1,000 Bosnian refugees. A6 RUSSIA LOOKS EAST Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin, disappointed with the West and hungry for capital, is turning his attention to his Asian neighbors.

World Report WEATHER: Mostly cloudy today with periods of showers and possible thunderstorms. Civic Center lowhigh: 6370. Details: B5 TOP OF THE NEWS ON A2 By DAVID SHAW TIMES SIAFF WRIII Eight months ago, the Los Angeles Times published the first in a continuing series of articles charging that the Bush Administration had secretly funneled several billion dollars worth of loan guarantees and military technology to Saddam Hussein from 1986 to 1990. Directly and indirectly, the stories said, this money and materiel gave Hussein the very weapons he later used against American and allied forces in the Persian Gulf War. The Times stories many based on previously secret papers prepared by the Bush Administrationalso alleged that the Administration tried to cover up what it By GEORGE SKELTON TIMES SACRAMENTO BUREAU CHIEF Californians are evenly divided over Proposition 165.

Gov. Pete Wilson's proposal to cut welfare and strengthen his budget powers, and the measure's fate may hinge on which party does a better job on voter turnout, according to The Los Angeles Times Poll. Wilson's fellow Republicans back the initiative by more than 2 to 1 while Democrats oppose it by the same lopsided ratio, a statewide survey showed. So the partisan composition of the electorate next Tuesday probably will determine whether the hotly contested mea MEDIA IMPACT Why Some Stories Have It -And Others Don't Last in a series more than 90,000 words, on the scandal known as Iraqgate. Almost half these stories have appeared on Page 1.

Although The Times "got a good chunk of the story first," as William Safire wrote in a New Please see IMPACT, A 20.