European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 16, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 24 a a news briefs the stars and stripes sunday december 16,1990feeding tube removed from comatose woman Carthage to. Apr health officials obeyed a judges order and removed a feeding tube that has kept a comatose woman alive for seven years a spokeswoman said saturday. Doctors say 33ycar-old Nancy Cruzan whose Case has sparked a landmark Legal Battle since she was injured in a 1983 traffic Accident will die in a couple of weeks. Barbara shoun a spokeswoman at the Missouri rehabilitation Center in mount Vernon where Cruzan is being cared for said the tube was re moved Only a couple of hours after the judges decision was issued but the Cruzan family asked that that fact not be announced immediately. Although food and water was withdrawn Cruzan will continue to receive medication mainly soda tics and doctors said she should die peacefully. Lester and Joyce Cruzan were at their daughters Side when Jasper county probate judge Charles teels ruling was announced Friday. They had fought since 1987 to have the tube removed their daughter suffered severe brain damage when her car overturned on Jan. It 1983. Doctors have said her condition is  agrees on 3 goals during Rome meeting Rome up1 a the 12-nation european Community launched two landmark constitutional conventions saturday with goals of a common currency Art dec defense role and a a single voice in foreign policy. Besides cementing closer european ties the dec leaders addressed a wide Range of International issues in the summits final communique. / they lifted a 4-year-old ban on new investments in South Africa to Reward the a a significant reforms made by president . De Klerk but kept intact other sanctions including an arms ban and a prohibition on imports of South african steel and Gold coins pending further Steps to dismantle apartheid they restated their demand that Iraq fully withdraw from Kuwait. From Page 1 a was spending the w weekend at Camp David met said iraqis formal announcement saturday cancelling Azizo strip to Washington proved Baghdad is  about the proposed talks. / meanwhile the last group of former . Hostages evacuated from Iraq and Kuwait returned to american soil Friday. A a a a a a a / v thirty eight . Citizens and 10 canadians received a heroes Welcome on their arrival at Andrews fab md., near Washington aboard a flight from Frankfurt Germany. Among the last plan Load of evacuees were the . Ambassador to Kuwait Nathaniel Howell and several other diplomats who kept the . Embassy in Kuwait City open for four months in Defiance of iraqi orders to close it. A. V a Baker was on hand to Greet the former hostages. Baker described Saddam As an International outlaw and a a vicious and capricious dictator a. Further dampening the Outlook for a peaceful Resolution to the crisis Cia chief William Webster said . Intelligence experts have concluded Saddam will not withdraw his troops from Kuwait until convinced he a is in peril of imminent military  in an interview published saturday in the Washington Post Webster said Saddam is expected to try to stretch out the crisis and will continue to believe he can prevail a until the first Shell is lobbed Over him a in Turkey on Friday soviet foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze said no guarantees could be Given to Iraq that it would remain territorially intact when the Gulf crisis ended. A Shevardnadze who was speaking at a news conference after talks with turkish leaders said iraqis territorial integrity could have been guaranteed if it had pulled its troops out of Kuwait peacefully but a now there is no such thing As a  Turkey has expressed fears that i rage soil Rich territories in the Northern provinces of Mosul and Kirkuk could fall into rebel iraqi kurdish hands if the Baghdad government suffered a military defeat and collapsed As a result of the Gulf crisis. Navy ordered to justify or kill a-12 attack plane Washington a defense Secretary Dick Cheney has ordered the Navy to justify the a-12 attack plane m three weeks or else kill it because of intolerable problems the Pentagon announced Friday night. A if we cannot spend the taxpayers Money wisely we will not spend it a Cheney said in a directive to Navy Secretary Lawrence Garrett. The Secretary gave the Navy until Jan. 4 to justify the plane the announcement said a special team would meet with the contractors general dynamics corp. And Mcdonnell Douglas corp., both based in St Louis to review the situation. A the a 12 program is in serious trouble. The apparent schedule slippage Cost growth and management de Fici Encis in this program Are intolerable a Cheney said. The a-12 was supposed to replace the elderly a-6 As the Navy a primary All weather Carrier borne attack plane starting in 1995. The plane was to use radar cad ing stealth techniques and carry the nickname Avenger. The Navy had planned the Purchase of 620 planes for an estimated $52 billion and deployment starting in 1995. A a a. A. But a $4.7 billion development program supposed to deliver six prototypes is $1 billion Over budget and 18 months behind schedule. Garrett recently ordered the Admiral heading the program to retire and reassigned two other officers because the three failed to pass news of problems up the Chain of command. The Navy has begun a criminal investigation of excessive payments to the contractors. Also John a. Betti the Pentagon Stop procurement officer said wednesday he would resign As underscore tary of defense for acquisitions at the end of the year to avoid the bite of new ethics Laws that take effect Jan. 1. Officials said he had planned to leave anyway but the timing of his announcement was influenced by news of the a-12�?Ts problems. The departments inspector general said Betti had failed to report conclusions of his own staff that the a-12 was in trouble but had relied on assurances from the contractors and the Navy that development would be completed under budget. The contractors she said controlled the work of the governments inspectors Garrett refused to Block the promotion to rear Admiral of one of the officers capt. Lawrence s. Elberfeld. Cheney was particularly upset at being sandbagged by bad news with the a-12 because he had reassured con Gross in april that the plane was doing Well five weeks. Before news of the Cost overruns Ana delays became known. At the time Cheney announced a reduction in planned purchases from More than 800 to 620,. Few details of the a-12, or what has gone wrong with it have been released but stealth technology is new and known to be difficult. An official sketch of the a-12 shows a flying Wing design like the new air Force b-2 bomber another stealth plane that Cost far More to develop than expected. Congress has committed funds to Only 15 b-2s, and some estimates have reached $800 million a copy. Cheney a statement said that no matter what happens to the a-12, a we will continue to need to develop a Basic strike air plane for our aircraft Carrier Force. The a-6, our current Carrier strike plane is aging and we must move ahead with an alternative that incorporates the technological advances necessary to maintain . Naval air superiority.�?�. A prominent congressional critic of the a-12, rep. John Conyersd-mich., chairman of the House govern mint operations committee said Friday night that he welcomed Cheney a decision. But the a-12 is a Only the tip of the iceberg of the Pentagon a procurement problems Conyers said Chris Schildz a spokesman for general dynamics said when asked for comment a your representatives will be available to meet with government officials  Jim Reed a spokesman for Mcdonnell Douglas said the company was a hopeful that the current difficulties can be resolved quickly to everyone a satisfaction. We feel that the a-12 program is very important for the defense of our country As Well As to Mcdonnell Doug  a from Page 1 Odomd and visit troops in the Field. They also will visit Egypt and Israel sen Bob Graham d-fla., accused Saddam of stalling for time by demanding that a proposed meeting Between the iraqi Leader and Secretary of state James Baker be held on Jan 12, three Days before a . Resolution would allow the use of Force to make Iraq withdraw its troops from Kuwait. A my sense is that the prospects of War Are greater than they were two weeks ago in Large part because of the Way. Hussein is using the meeting As a form of manipulation rather than serious discussion a Graham said,. V a = the Senate majority Leader sen. George Mitchell a Maine was asked by reporters whether he would support a congressional Resolution to use Force if the president requested it a a a Mitchell said it was premature to speculate on an Issue that had not been raised he noted that the most recent additional troop deployments did not mean that a decision to go to War had been made already. A i take that to mean that the president is attempting to prevent War by the threat of War a Mitchell said. In their meetings with troops the senators said they found the deployed military personnel Well trained motivated intelligent and eager for a rotation policy. But Mitchell added that he found a no belly Ching despite rough living conditions and separation from loved ones. A they Are dedicated professional men and women who Are prepared to serve their country and Are serving their country at this time a Mitchell said. Some military members told the group that the Quality of life at operation desert shield had improved substantially since the deployments Early stages. Others in the delegation were sen. Richard Bryan a Nev. Sen. Herbert Kohl a wis. Seri. Charles Robb a a. And sen. Paul Simon dial. A Lynda Payl son Mitchell by Janet Hoy Ells Tierney Washington Bureau Washington a Gen. Michael j. Dugan the recently fired air Force chief of staff will receive full retirement benefits due a four Star general Dugan who was honoured at a retirement ceremony thursday at Bolling fab in Washington was fired sept. 17 for discussing possible War plans against Iraq. He will officially retire Jan. 1. Military officials angered some lawmakers by seeking to extend Dugan on Active duty until Jan 1, when pay raises of about 25 percent will tale effect for senior officers. In Dugans Case his annual retirement pay will Rise from about $59,000 to More than $75,000. Federal Law allows for a 90-Day Grace period when three Star and four Star officers Are relieved of duty As Dugan was. If the Senate does not approve their retirements at those ranks by the end or that period the officers must retire with the two Star rank the air Force wanted to extend Dugan s 90-Day Grace period because it would have ended dec. 17, two weeks before the new pay raises take effect. Officials said Dugans retirement ceremony was held Early because of the upcoming holidays he will remain on leave until his official retirement Date. Dugan was fired As air Force chief of staff following published reports in which he said the joint chiefs of staff had concluded that a massive bombing Campaign against Baghdad and iraqi president Saddam Hussein was the Only effective option to dislodge iraqi forces from Kuwait