European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 18, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 b the stars and stripes / a a i monday March 18, 1991 / in s Hamilton Bermuda apr president Bush turned a cold shoulder sunday to a Promise by Saddam Hussein for democratic reforms in War devastated Iraq. A v a. A not interested a Bush said with a shrug when reporters asked if head read Saddam a television address in which the iraqi Leader promised multiparty Damoc racy for the first time in his 12-year Rule. Previous promises by Saddam to open up his government have gone unfulfilled Bush was flying to Sumter s.c., later sunday for his first ceremony to Welcome Home troops returning after the persian Gulf War it was the presidents last Stop before returning to Washington at the end of a five Day journey of postwar diplomacy. Bush squeezed in 18 holes of Golf a his second round in three Days a before leaving Bermuda where he met saturday with British prime minister John major. He also conferred with Bermuda prime minister John Swan. The presidents diplomatic journey began wednesday with talks in Ottawa with Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney. He saw French president Francois Mitterrand on the Caribbean Island of Martinique on thursday and then flew to Bermuda to see major. A the talks were intended to help shape new proposals for reconciling Long standing differences Between Israel and its Arab neighbors. At a Windup news conference saturday Bush said a single approach had not emerged for the Middle East problem. Throughout his trip Bush heaped criticism on Saddam in bribery sea Rida i Jerusalem a the chief arms buyer of the israeli air Force was convicted sunday of amassing about $10 million in bribes and kickbacks on purchases of . Equipment. Brig. Gen. Rami Dotan confessed to the charges and agreed to return the Money As part of a plea bargain Israel radio said. The prosecution recommended a 13-year prison term and Dotan a dismissal from the air Force. The military court did not immediately say whether it accepted the plea bargain which was Given in testimony behind closed doors. The court is  ignore the Deal in passing sentence. Dotan a 22-year military Veteran is one of the highest ranking israeli officers to be convicted of financial corruption. Brig Gen. Amnon Strashnov the chief military prosecutor has implicated eight other air Force officers a with ranks up to lieutenant colonel a in the scandal. He has accused them of hiding incriminating documents and giving false testimony to i Vestiga a . V v the United states is israelis chief financial Backer providing $1.8 billion a year in military Aid and $1.2 billion for civilian use. General electric one of the . Companies that Dotan did business with has announced its own internal investigation into the  from Page 1liam its decided not to hold a referendum. The others Are the Baltic republics of Lithuania Latvia and Estonia plus the caucasus republics of Georgia and Armenia. A Quot v a a / a r a smiling Gorbachev declared himself confident of Victory As he voted near his Home in Southwest Moscow. Quot. A. A. A a a. Quot a a he said the Issue was larger than his political future. A it is the Fate of the people of hundreds of Peoples of  a great state and if you will the fat Elf civilization a the soviet Leader said his wife. Raisa stood at his Side. V quota polls were open from 7 . To 10 . Preliminary results were not expected to be available before monday. A a a a a. A by midday on sunday turnout ranged from a Low of is percent in Leningrad to a High of 80 percent in Kazakhstan according to an a Check of several regions of the country. The referendum a expected to Lead to approval of a new Union treaty that would Delegate More Power to the republics a asks a do you consider it necessary to preserve the Union of soviet socialist republics As a renewed federation of. Equal Sovereign republics in which human rights and freedoms of any nationality will be fully guaranteed a All 15 republics have declared some form of sovereignty. In alternative referendums in the three Baltic republics voters overwhelmingly approved outright Independence. Gorbachev on sunday repeated his warning that if the referendum fails and the Union Breaks up a civil War could  a Gorbachev a chief political rival the russian federation president Boris Yeltsin called the referendum question ambiguous and accused the Kremlin of trying to scare people into approving it. Poll officials apparently worried about a Low turnout Pul out More than the usual bait they offer voters. Scarce Beer and cigarettes went on Sale inside a polling station in Kiev the ukrainian capital. Moscow officials offered chocolate and oranges and hired an orchestra. To play. A. A a a a a a a voting irregularities were reported in several re Gions. A. Russian voters were asked if they wanted to create the Post of popularly elected president. The Job would be tailor made for Yeltsin who is called the president although he is formally the chairman of the republics parliament. . Meets with iraqi officers denies request to move planes a t i t a to 13 a \1 to i i a a a in a f a i Ltd Aart a. To it m Vai to i him n n t Prtrt rtt ii r n to Ltd a1 Dhahran saudi Arabia apr in a second round of cease fire talks Allied commanders met with iraqi military leaders sunday and told them they cannot move their warplanes inside Iraq for any reason a top u a official said. The Central come said a delegation headed by Marine maj. Gen. Robert b. Johnston the chief of staff met with 10 iraqi military officers in .-occupied Saf wan in Southern Iraq. The meeting was held to hear Why the iraqis want to Fly some of their aircraft . Officials said. The command said it would consider the request and respond appropriately. Its communique on the. Meeting sunday gave no details of what took place. Earlier sunday in Washington Secretary of state James a. Baker Iii said the us. Government had refused iraqis request to move the warplanes he said the denial came in the past 24 hours but would not say How it was communicated. A a that a something that was agreed to at the very time operations were suspended a Baker said on a go so this week with David  Baker who just returned from a tour of the Middle East acknowledged that the prohibition had a a collateral effects of hindering Baghdad from fighting rebel insurgencies inside Iraq that began As the War ended. But he insisted the move was not intended to help topple Saddam Hussein a government. Kurdish rebel Leader Jalal Talaban has claimed that iraqi government troops were using helicopters and warplanes to drop napalm and incendiary bombs saturday on the Northern cities of Karan Nzeer and Sha Shamal. Saddam is battling twin rebellions by ethnic kurd in Northern Iraq and shiite muslims in the South. Thousands of people have been reported killed. Meanwhile the Secretary of the army Michael . Stone said american forces will remain in the persian Gulf beyond the july 4 Date set by president Bush As a a special Day of Celebration for our returning  Stone said that new units Are coming from the United states to replace those troops who have completed their tour of duty including reservists who must be rotated by Law. A a / a / a a. A a that would be a great Date if we could hit it on july 4,�?� Stone said. A i done to think we re going to have everybody Home by  but he cautioned reporters not to conclude that he was forecasting a continuing presence of american ground forces. A a that a a political matter that a being negotiated a he said. A that is an option that could be  Stone said it had not been decided How Many . Troops would  another development sunday 500 iraqi prisoners of War were returned to their country through a Remote saudi arabian Border outpost bringing to about 1,900 the number repatriated since hostilities  from Page 1 \ earliest. Such a delay would allow the air Force to pay for the move using fiscal 1992 funds Lyons said. A we do not want to extend one person beyond their Normal tour completion dates a he said. A we Are doing everything  to get it Over to Capitol Hill and  a. A a if extensions Are necessary the replacements for airmen leaving overseas assignments would not arrive until october. It. Gen. Thomas Hickey the air forces personnel chief said the budget shortfalls have been caused by expenses that were unforeseen when the service Drew up its fiscal 1991 budget in the summer of 1989. A basically two issues were at work a he said. A one was that there was an acceleration of some personnel draw Downs both overseas and in the United states a Over the past year the air Force has reduced the number of Active duty members by about 20,000, the most of any military service according to figures released by the Pentagon. Another Factor was the air forces response to increased terrorism in the Philippines. Service leaders shortened the Normal tour length for air Force person Nel in that country which led to a higher number of reassignment moves than had been expected. Hickey said the increased number of reassignments to and from the Philippines Cost $40 million. Last summer a similar shortage of funds caused the air Force to extend Many overseas Tours. Jet from Page 1 general Ross said adding a lie did no to know there was a questions and took off to Zaragoza leaving the 39 behind. Ross said saturday that he was unable to say if the group members managed to find a flight Back to the United states. He also said he did not know whether there might have been another aircraft presumably a Small executive style plane available for the general a flight to Zaragoza. �?o1 can see where some Guy trying to get Back Home might be upset a said Ross but he added that Landers appeared to have done nothing improper. A every thing we can see was legitimate and in the Best inter ests of All concerned a he said. Ross said that Landers had permission to take his wife with him on the tour and that the general had been checking facilities designed to help get military personnel and supplies out of the persian Gulf Ross said Landers has been deeply involved in moving supplies to the Gulf and was not out to cause any problems for desert storm personnel. A frankly he did no to know who was in the backs of the plane Ross said. The desert express plane flies cargo to the Gulf. Because it returns without cargo it carries military personnel Back who Fly on a space available basis. Military officials said that had the service members been flying under orders the plane could not have been taken by the general