File: 082696_d50028_109.txt
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deployment with her unit to the Persian Gulf. (Washington Post, January 10, p. A24.)

The Defense Department says that six Iraqi helicopters did not defect to Saudi Arabia as had been
reported earlier in the week. Neither the U.S. nor the Saudis have any Iraqi helicopters in their custody.
(Washington Times, January 10, p. 11.)

January 10
Thursday--- Somber Congress opens historic debate over whether to authorize President Bush to use
military force to drive Iraq out of Kuwait, or to insist that he wait longer for economic sanctions to
work. (Washington Post, January 11, p. Al.)

Arab diplomats at the United Nations say that they have been told that Saddam Hussein plans an
initiative soon after the January 15 U.N. deadline for giving up Kuwait that will express his support 1in
principle" for pulling out of Kuwait and simultaneously call for an international conference to address
Palestinian grievances against Israel. (New York Times, January 11, p. Al.)

Secretary of State Baker meets with Saudi King Fahd in Riyadh to discuss timing of attack on Iraqi
forces in Kuwait if Iraq does not withdraw from Kuwait by January 15. (New York Times, January 11,
p. AlO.)

The Pentagon is rushing the E-8 Joint STARS aircraft to the Persian Gulf well before its due date
despite Air Force concerns that the sophisticated aircraft is not combat ready. The E-8 is a
developmental radar spy plane that peers over 100 miles inside enemy territory to spot armored weapons
and instantly relay the information to field commanders. (Washington Times, January 11, p. 1.)

An eight `ship amphibious battle group including 10,000 Marines enters the Persian Gulf and will be
joined in a few days by the aircraft carrier USS MIDWAY and its battle group as American forces
intensify their presence in the Persian Gulf. (Los Angeles Times, January 11, p. 6.)

CIA Director Webster writes a letter to Representative Aspin (D-Wisconsin), Chairman of the House
Armed Services Committee, saying that sanctions alone will take at least a year to force Iraq to leave
Kuwait. (Washington Post, January 11, p. A26.)

An ABC Newsfwashington Post poll shows that nearly nine out of ten Americans feel that war with
Iraq is inevitable and that nearly eight out of ten think Congress should endorse the U.N. resolution that
implicitly authorizes the use of force to drive Iraq from Kuwait. (Washington Post, January II, p. A 1.)

An Army Reservist who has recently declared in a letter to her base commander that she is an open
lesbian wishes to deploy with her medical unit to the Persian Gulf. Specialist Donna Jackson is thereby
mounting a challenge to the military's ban on gay and lesbian personnel in the mobilization of U.S.
troops to the Persian Gulf. (New York Times, January 11, p. A14.)

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