European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 31, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Inside stripes d All chemical arms Sites not used army says Page 2 d faulty fasteners sold to military report says Page 3 d ruling halts drug testing at Justice department Page 7 d mets top pirates 1-0 in no East Battle Page 21 the stars and stripes authorized unofficial publication for the . Armed forces vol.47, no. 104 sunday july 31, 1988 3s Dolly and sunday Good morning 0 8693 a of knew last fall about cracks in Al 6 engine Blades be says by William j. Bartma Washington Bureau Washington the air Force knew As Early As last fall about potential cracks in the engine Blades of some of its Al 6 Jet fighters a problem now suspected As the cause of an april 18 crash in West Germany according to the firm that manufactures the engines. Despite repeated requests the air Force in Washington has not said when it was first informed that cracks could develop in the Blades of the general elec tric f110 engines. However both be and the air Force initially believed the cracks Only occurred in engines with extremely High numbers of operating hours according to a company spokesman. Officials with the . Air forces in Europe Reaf firmed saturday an earlier statement saying they were not notified of the problem until May 20 of this year. Following that notification the command replace the engines on 23 f-l6s that had operated for More than 550 hours. An additional eight Al 10 engines were replaced on Al 6s in Korea and Japan. The f-l6 that crashed near Hermes Keil Elzberg West Germany in april would have been in line for the Al 10 replacement since the plane had 555 operating hours on its engine. In late june a be official said that crash was caused by an engine problem and Asfar As i know that engine problem was believed to have been caused by one of these Blade  Safe has said the crash was engine related Al though no report officially has linked the crash to the Blade crack problem. The Ramstein a Pilot ejected safely in that  the Accident which occurred two weeks after a Hahn a f-l6 crashed in Forst West Ger Many the West German government asked the air Force to ground its f-l6s if technical faults could Bethe cause of the crashes. The Forst crash killed the Pilot and a German Man on the  commander Gen. William f. Kirk declined the German request. In a statement released april 21,Kirk said at this time we have found no common denominator which would serve As a basis for ground ing the Al 6  the Blade cracks first came to Light in general elec tric tests last fall to determine the engine s estimated life Span. According to company officials the crack appeared in a High time engine that had been run for the equivalent of about 3,300 flight  did a routine inspection last fall on a High see f-16s on Back Page campaigning in Springfield Michael Dukakis on the Campaign Trail blames Reagan and Bush for the Penta Friday in Illinois Waves to supporters gon scandal Dukakis referred to a greek from the Steps of the state House in proverb the fish rots from the head Springfield. Asked on saturday if he  see related stories photo p. 5. Pullout of troops from Western Iron promised by Iraq Nicosia Cyprus a Iraq prom ised saturday to pull its troops from All remaining towns it captured in Western Iran during the past week and Iran again accused its enemy of attacking a Village with chemical weapons. Iran said iraqi forces chemically bombed a Village just inside the Border near the town of Marian in Northwestern Iran and shelled villages near Sar dash in the same Region. Iran s islamic Republic news Agency said 10 civilians were wounded when chemical bombs were dropped on Bilo Village. The Agency also said iraqi conventional shells wounded 40 civilians and dam aged several houses in 10 villages arounds Ardashs in the mountainous Northwest. A military spokesman quoted by the official iraqi news Agency said Iraq forces would withdraw within 48 hours from Asre Shirin Sare pole Zahab Sumar and Amir Abad on the Central front. On Friday the iranian commander i chief Hashemi a Sfanjani said iraqi forces drove 65 Miles into Iran before Iran pushed the invaders Back toward the Border. A Sfanjani who also is speaker of the iranian parliament warned Friday that if Iraq decides to continue the War then it must know that our strength today is far greater than that of the time before the acceptance of the  Iran accepted a . Cease fire Resolution july 18. In the iraqi capital of Baghdad spokesman for the rebel fighters the National liberation army of Iran said Fri Day that iraqi forces pulled out of Esla Malad and Karand 60 Miles inside Iran after holding the cities for three Days. A seven member . Team mean while arrived in Baghdad to discuss implementing the . Resolution. The team arrived after visiting Tehran. At the United nations Secretary Gen eral Javier Perez de Cuellar denied persistent reports that his peace talks with Iran and Iraq Are in trouble. Be patient Perez de Cuellar said and we will make Progress rather soon. I am constantly in touch with the parties. I keep  the process has stalled Over Iraq s insistence on direct talks and Iran s rejection of a face to face meeting before cease fire is declared in the 8-year-old persian Gulf conflict. Speaking at a prayer service broadcast Friday on Tehran radio a Sfanjani said iraqi backed iranian rebels entered Hospital in the Western town of Eslaman bad and rained bullets on some 30 patients killing All of them. Iran said it drove the iraqi backed rebel fighters out of Islamabad and a Rand killing or wounding 4,500 invaders in a heavy Battle against forces of the see troops on Back Page we goofed Friday s comics and letters pages were inadvertently repeated in sat urday editions. The missing pages Are running today on pages 10 and 12. Stars and stripes regrets the inconvenience