European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 23, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 2 a the stars and stripes saturday february 23, 1991war in the Gulf h at a glance a palestinian girl holds a toy gun during an anti american protest Friday in Amman  time for prayer the saudis Reserve precision for what they consider most important a religion. Islam dictates what foods they eat How they Wear their clothes and the precise words they must use when referring to god. A Page 4bleak Harvest Outlook the War has denied Iraq the manpower fuel and transport needed to Harvest what had promised to be a bumper Spring crop. A Page Slegal Protection for troops the Senate has passed legislation protecting members of the National guard and other armed forces Reserve units serving in the Gulf from a Host of Legal problems. A Page 7preparing for the worst casualty the word nobody wants to hear. A pages 14-15easing the pain How the military takes care of its grieving families. A Page 16index Abby Landers 19 action line 16 comics. 19-20 -21 commentary. A a a a a a a a a 13 crossword. I 19 letters. 12 Money matters a a a a a a ill 17 sports. .22 -28 to listings. 22 weather. 11 to our readers stars and stripes bookstores will be closed monday for inventory. The stars and stripes newspaper can be purchased at vending machines Burger bars and other newspaper outlets in your  mail service improving officials Tell Senate panel. By Janet ii Owells Tierney Washington Bureau  sluggish or nonexistent mail delivery to units in the mid. Die East should be a problem of the past military postal officials say. A we Are confident that we Are Over the Hump and we re solving this problem a Robert Moore the Pentagon a transportation policy director told the House subcommittee in postal operations and services and the subcommittee on postal personnel and modernization. Despite the optimism military officials Are still working out some bugs. A email delivery from the  letter is postmarked in the . To the service Niem Berin the theater is now averaging 14 to 24 Days and unfortunately longer in some areas a said Diane k. Morales assistant Secretary of defense for Logis a tics. A a a a a a a your goal for mail delivery to the serv in member is nine to 13 Days which allows for reaching Mobile units a House members began the four hour hearing wednesday by relating a horror stories about mail delays reported by constituents serving in the persian Gulf and by their families. A yesterday i received a letter from Petty officer David Suiter who is stationed on the Midway in the persian Gulf a said rep. Frank Mccloskey a in chairman of the subcommittee. Mccloskey said suiters letter was postmarked Jan. 14 and took More than five weeks to be delivered to his office. The Petty officer wrote to Mccloskey about a 52-Day delay in getting an account statement from his Bank and a five week wait for a letter from his Fiancee. Another letter told the congressman of pallets of  in warehouses and overflowing into open outside areas. During the hearing military officials cited transportation problems for the delays including a Lack of roads in Many areas and few trained people in the initial stages of the deployment. About 1,300 trained mail workers from two Active duty postal units and 11 Reserve postal units Are now in saudi Arabia Morales said. The military is processing about 300,000 pounds of mail each Day at three Sites one in Dhahran Riyadh and King Khalid military City. About 44 percent of the army Apo mail goes through the mail processing Center in King Khalid military City in Northern saudi Arabia she said. The King Khalid Center was struggling under a backlog of 600,000 pieces of Miil at one time Morales said but that situation has improved. Now the Center processes less than half of that daily and has no backlog she added. Saudi Arabia s suicide Road taking a toll in human lives by the stars and stripes Northern saudi Arabia a suicide Road May be the Lifeblood of the . Military Supply line but its taking a toll in human lives and Hunan decency. One Soldier was killed and another was injured wednesday when their truck rolled Over after swerving to avoid oncoming traffic on the notorious North South Supply Road. It was the 34th american traffic fatality since operation desert shield began in Early August and the Isth since the War began Jan. 17, military officials said Friday. The identity of the dead Soldier was not released pending notification of relatives. Not All of the deaths have occurred on suicide Road but. The route has become infamous. Civilian Drivers Are a constant Hazard because of their habit of passing in the face of oncoming traffic a habit observers said is being adopted by military Drivers As Well. Oncoming Drivers Are routinely forced off the Road and onto the hard packed desert or soft Sand. This form of a a chickens has left the Roadside litter amp a with wrecked vehicles. However suicide Road has taken on an even More sinister reputation with the recent report of . Service members looting an overturned military vehicle while its occupants Lay injured in the Sand. A a a a i can to for the life of me figure out Why a person would act that Way a said army  sgt. Joe Ray who described a personal encounter with looters. A a there a a callousness Here and i just can to understand where it came  the sergeant said he could not determine the ranks of the gis or see their patches to determine their unit. A spokesman for the Central come in Riyadh said the report is being investigated. Ray who is assigned to the 13th evac nation Hospital said he was driving suicide Road about two weeks ago when suddenly his Lane was filled by an  Tanker truck. He swerved safely into the desert he said but the humvee Driver behind him was not so fortunate. The vehicle hit a Concrete drainage ditch and overturned. Ray said he was the Only person to offer help. The passenger a Soldier had been thrown through the Windshield while the Driver was trapped in the vehicle he said. He said he wrapped Foer in a sleeping bag and went to attend the Driver who was More seriously injured. At that moment he said a bus drove up and several gis got out. Instead of offering help Ray said the americans began scrounging things off the humvee. One lifted the injured Drivers legs to steal a Carton of cigarettes while another tried to take the sleeping bag he said. _ a i done to think they realized she was in it a Ray said. A when she said something a she was conscious the whole time a they Piast looked at  Ray said the men let go of the sleeping bag Only after be a locked and loaded his m j6 and threatened them. They ran to their bus and left he said. Finally Ray said an air Force humvee stopped and the Driver radioed for an ambulance. The tyo injured soldiers were taken to a nearby Field Hospital. They survived the injuries Ray said. Ray said he would never forget the actions of the americans a basically they have no Honor a he said. A a they be been raise with no  this report was compiled by George Manes Middle East Bureau from information filed by Pentagon Media Pool reporters Arab link ruled out in pipe Lirie blast by j. King Cruger Mediterranean Bureau Spanish authorities have ruled out Arab involvement in thursdays bombing of a critical fuel Quot pipeline and have blamed the attack on a Small Spanish terrorist group. The Ino mile Long pipeline carries fuel across Spain for both civilian and military users including Torrejon a outside Madrid. The explosion occurred before Dawn thursday near a Railroad siding in the town of Leolea seven Miles North of Cordoba. The bombing did not cause extensive damage to the pipeline and service was restored by 7 . Thursday said Clara Aceves a spokeswoman for Campsa the Spanish operators of the pipeline. A because of the Type of bomb used in the attack police ruled out involvement by Arab terrorists or by. Eta the Basque separatist group a Aceves said Friday in a Telephone interview. Instead officials believe the bombing was carried out by cira1 of an anti Laveist terrorist group that has taken credit for the blast. The explosive used thursday was Gama-2, a plastic explosive used in the mining Industry and regularly employed by Spanish groups in terrorist bombings Aceves said. S a Cir Apo is the Spanish abbreviation Tor the. Oct. I anti fascist resistance group. It first Surl Aeed when it took credit Tor the slayings of tour policemen in the Spanish capital of Madrid pm oct. 1, 1975. Most members of the group Are believed to have been arrested tried and convicted Over the years. The group has no stated aim other than a the overt hot fascist governments of the world a cording to previous press reports.,. Thursday s blast had no effect on t Rejonis fuel supplies said air Force a Jamie Scearse a spokeswoman for 1 air i orce Headquarters at Torrejon. Both Torrejon and Zaragoza a northeastern Spain have storage Cap ties in excess of-7 million Gallons of fuel Scearse said. Zaragoza a sup comes from the port of Tarragona on Mediterranean. The pipeline was built by the uni states in the late 1950s. It runs for naval station Rota on the Atlantic Moron a outside Seville. From the it goes to Madrid and Torrejon be ending at Zaragoza. It carries Grasoli diesel fuel and kerosene