European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 7, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 28 the stars and stripes monday april 7, 1986 Bush vows . Will maintain free flow of Oil Riyadh saudi Arabia a vice president George Bush said sunday the . Military operation in the libyan area demonstrates that America is irrevocably committed to maintaining the free flow of Oil through the persian Gulf Region. Bush speaking to american businessmen also predicted the Reagan administration would win congressional approval of a $354 million arms Sale to saudi Arabia. He said he was not in Riyadh to talk to the saudis about achieving production cuts to prop up sagging Oil prices but simply to learn from persian Gulf arabs what they were doing about the problem. Bush said the thrust of his talks with the saudis and three other Arab states he would visit in the Region would focus on political and Security matters. The . Is fundamentally and irrevocably committed to maintaining the free flow of Oil through the Strait of Hormuz. No one should doubt it Bush said. The Gulf of Sidra operation was not an attack on libyan Leader Moa mar khad Afy but was about maintaining free Pas Sage through International  Iran has repeatedly threatened to Block the strategic Strait of Hormuz the Southern Gateway to the Oil Rich Region that accounts for about 20 percent of the non communist world s crude Oil imports. After this past month no one should doubt the importance we attach to Freedom of passage in the International Waters Bush said. We take the Security of the non belligerent states of the Gulf seriously and no one should doubt  Bush said the More than 5-year-old Iraq Iran War should never have started and should be ended. The saudis and their allies in the six nation Gulf cooperation Council Alliance have been beefing up their de lenses As Iran Iraq fighting has drawn closer to their Bor Ders. Bush said the . Fleet sailed through khad Afy s line of death nine times before last month s clash in which two libyan patrol boats were sunk and a radar missile base was attacked. He said the topic of International terrorism would be part of the talks with the leaders in the Region. He is scheduled to have two meetings with King fahd before he proceeds to Bahrain then Oman and North Yemen. He pointed out that terrorism was directed against the Gulf Region As Well As the West. . Relations with the kingdom depend on More than Oil Bush said. Bush said the Reagan administration is confident that the multimillion Dollar arms Deal for anti aircraft and naval missiles would make it through Congress. He said the . Failure to deliver on an arms Deal to King Hussein of Jordan was an extreme Embarrass ment because the jordanian Monarch is a Man the administration admires for his moral  Bush backed away from reports before his departure from Washington that said he was considering talking with the saudis on achieving production curbs to prop up Oil prices. He told the businessmen he was simply learning from the persian Gulf arabs what they were doing about the problem. He said the administration does not want a crude Oil import tax but that free Market policies must be balanced against soaring unemployment in the . Energy sector. I have believed and i always will believe that a Strong Energy Industry is important for the Security of the unite states he said. Bush reiterated the . Position that the Palestine liberation organization must accept . Security Council resolutions 242 and 338 before a dialogue can be started Between Washington and the guerrilla movement. The Plo rejects the two resolutions because they do not Grant palestinians the right to self determination. Bombing from Page 1 reason you live in Berlin we live in Freedom because you Are  Nineteen of the original 25 patients evacuated to Lan Stuhl were released sunday morning said a Hospital spokesman sgt. Jim Ward. Those released suffered minor hearing damage a result of the blast and their condition was such that admission to the Hospi Tal was not required Ward said. They spent the night in transient quarters. They were driven by bus to Rhein main a where they boarded a c-9 for the re turn flight to Berlin a Rhein main spokes Man said. The plane was scheduled to Load More injured at Berlin and return to Ramstein a which is near the Lan Stuhl Hospital the spokesman said. The six patients remaining in Lan Stuhl were listed in stable condition Ward said. Their injuries included Burns lacerations and eardrum injuries. Army officials in Berlin said they were compiling a list of the injured americans. Ward identified those still hospitalized at Lan Stuhl As pfc Wade Harris 19 pfc. Tracy Billingslea 23 pvt. 2 Ronald Locke 18 sgt. Donald Han 25 spec. 4 James e. Green 23 and airman Alan Lee 21. Lee is assigned to the 1946th information systems so said an air Force spokesman in Berlin. United press International quoting a Berlin police spokesman reported that the number of people injured Rose to 204. Police authorities originally placed the toll at 155, but revised the figure upward after More people sought medical treatment mostly for minor injuries at Berlin hospitals. The a placed the figure at 191, quoting Manfred Ganschow director of the City s Security police. He said the additional peo ple had gone Home Hurt and in Shock immediately after the blast. The 1 50 . Explosion saturday demolished the discotheque s facade caused a Par tial collapse of the ceiling and blew a Hole in the floor that exposed the cellar. Windows of neighbouring buildings shattered. Injured survivors of the bombing inter viewed by the a said the explosion occurred just minutes after the club s disc jockey tried in vain to find the owner of a plastic bag containing undetermined goods. . Diplomats in Berlin said there was suspicion of libyan complicity in the blast the a reported. The libyan Angle is being explored very vigorously. Khad Afy is a very Active suspect said a . Diplomatic source who spoke on condition of anonymity. He was referring to libyan strongman Moa mar khad Afy who threatened assaults on american interests worldwide after a . Libyan naval clash in the Mediterranean two weeks ago. A . Diplomat told the a this is a very delicate situation. There Are a lot of things going on right now that should not be disturbed by  Berlin police have said they strongly suspect leftist or foreign terrorists staged the bombing but said they had no firm leads As of sunday morning a reported. Three separate claims of responsibility were made on saturday by Anonymous Call ers on behalf of Arab or German terrorist groups but the claims could not be independently verified. In Berlin a caller told a German news Agency saturday that a group called the anti american Arab liberation front had planted the bomb a reported. Berlin police said they chaos from Page 1 had no prior knowledge of the group. A caller to a second German news Agency said the red army faction a leftist terrorist group was behind the attack. The caller warned that further attacks would take place. In London a caller to an International news Agency claimed that the bombing was carried out by the Holger Meins Comman do a German extremist group that is an offshoot of the red army faction. The Berliner Morgen Post daily newspaper reported sunday that investigators were focusing on anti Western Arab militants in Berlin the a reported. The Morgen Post and the Welt am Sonn tag newspapers quoted unnamed Berlin Security officials As saying the libyan embassy in East Berlin could have served As a planning Center and conduit for whoever bombed the discotheque the a said. Welt am sonntag cited unnamed Ger Man Security sources As saying the discotheque attack seemed linked to khad Afy s vow to retaliate for . Naval Maneu vers in the Gulf of Sidra. European Security authorities Are on the highest stage of alarm against further terrorist assaults it said. Staff writers Dick Hodgson Mary Hladky and Jud Sarasohn contributed to this report. Temperatures who has lived in Berlin eight years said that a few minutes before the explosion the disc jockey held up a Brown plastic bag and asked its owner to come claim it. He asked us several times because no one claimed it then he put it Down some re t Callec �joi?8  a and oth a patrons interviewed said they could of the disco bombing who had been taken to Rudolf Virchow Hospital a German facility. J Prince Ojong 37, a Sierra Leone native not Tell whether the explosion might have firefighters control blazes by United press International firefighters mopped up two big Forest fires in Tennessee and Virginia saturday that had destroyed Over 759,000 acres of Southern Woodlands. Some 300 firefighters including College students and volunteers contained a 1,620 acre fire on private land and in the Jeffer son and George Washington National for ests near Roanoke a. Around 280 firefighters dug a containment line around a 675-acre Blaze in Tennessee in the Cades Cove area of the great Smoky mountains National Park Park spokeswoman Stephanie Gibert said the Blaze crept to within three Miles of the evacuated caves Cove Campground Friday. She said the National Park service called on its inter Agency incident com Mand team to fight the fire. The team which includes Park service employees from around the South and Federal firefighters from As far away As Wisconsin Maine new Hampshire and Arizona responded after extinguishing an 820-acre fire in the great Smoky mountains National Park near Bryson City n.c., thursday. This makes a total of 22 fires in the Park since March 25," Gibert said adding that some 16,020 acres were blackened. In North Carolina Rebecca Richards of the division of Forest resources said a statewide ban on outdoor burning still was in effect and would remain so until we get measurable  so far this year More than 49,000 fires have burned 756,678 acres of private and Public Woodlands in the Southeastern re Gion since january 1, Charlie Crail a spokesman for the Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky said saturday. Besides the Boone Crail said there Are six National forests in Mississippi four each in Alabama North Carolina and Texas three each in Arkansas and Florida two each in Georgia South Carolina and Virginia and one each in Louisiana and Tennessee. Tennessee Valley authority statistics show the first three months of 1986 were the driest on record. Been caused by the contents of the bag. Just before the explosion i smelled something like burning rubber said Ojong who suffered cuts and singed hair. And then it exploded and no one could see. It was like a Stampede. I started to go faint and just started to crawl out. An american beside me was burned red right up his  he said. Sigrid Massalski who suffered ear injuries and cuts said there were More arabs and turks in the la Belle disco than usual. But she said she could not draw any conclusions aside from the fact that it can really happen to you  Massalski said you read All those horrible things in the newspapers and you just think it could t happen to you. I m not going out anywhere like that for the next few  i d been going to this club for a Long time and there never were any problems so i am really shocked said Lampkins the american Soldier. Before i did t feel like i was a target but with or. Khad Afy i do now said Lampkins. He was referring to the Radical libyan strongman Moa mar khad Afy who threatened worldwide assaults on american interests after the .-libyan military clash in the Mediterranean late last month. Garrison said the bomb exploded just As the disco was filling up with people arriving from other nightclubs which had closed. It s always really jammed right around then she  american Soldier and a Young Turk ish woman were killed in the blast authorities said. L h 40 43 64 7942 52 38