Show Salt Lake City Utah— Saturday Morning February 18 1989 Vol 237 No 127 Soviet Seeks Bush's Help In Peace Bid mm massive Plan Is Larger Than Any Contra Effort Husli-Hus- h Can Superpowers End Afghan Bloodshed? By John-Tho- r Dahlburg Associated Press Writer MOSCOW — President Mikhail Gorbachev has appealed personally to President Bush to help bring peace to Afghanistan now that the Ked Army has withdrawn a top Kremlin diplomat said Friday Both the diplomat and a Soviet general acknowledged at a news conference that the Soviets are worried about continued bloodshed in Afghanistan but rejected parallels between their pullout and the 1973 withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam "The Americans simply fled and abandoned everything when they left Vietnam" said Gen Valentin Varen-niko- v deputy defense minister and chief of Soviet ground forces "We did not abandon anything We were not in a rush" Alexander Bessmertnykh Soviet first deputy foreign minister said an "individual message" from Gorbachev to Bush seeks US backing for Kremlin suggestions on how to achieve a political settlement in Afghanistan including a halt in arms supplies to the US backed insurgents and the establishment of a broader-base- d government "We are proposing that we assist in a cease-fire- " said Bessmertnykh referring to the joint superpower action sought by Gorbachev "We consider that the United States and the Soviet Union can always play a positive role" g In what appeared to be a Kremlin effort to prevent the violent overthrow of the government of President Najibullah the Soviets also sent messages to France Britain West Germany and Italy asking them to give humanitarian and economic assistance to Afghanistan Bessmertnykh said Messages also were sent to China Iran and Pakistan which have given weapons and other support to the wide-rangin- w guerrillas Western diplomats and the msur-Se- e A--2 Column 3 4K' f W Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON — Oliver North's delayed criminal trial will begin Tuesday the judge ordered Friday and he gave North permission to use classified materials to try to prove he was acting under a Reagan's orders in some of his dealings The ruling by US District Judge Gerhard Gesell will allow government prosecutors to make a general "admission" to the jury to the effect that the United States made deals with other countries to help the Contras at a time when direct American aid was banned by Congress North's lawyers will be allowed to present their own evidence and witnesses to add details North's lawyers had objected to an earlier version of the prosecutor's "admission" saving that it would not allow them to try to show that Reagan participated "personally and directly" in offering inducements to the other countries They also want to offer evidence then-Preside- Iran-Contr- Nic-aragu- Chuckle Today's Do you remember when mother's meals used to be carefully thought Out instead of carefully thawed out? Inside The Tribune Tribune Telephone Numbers on A-- 3 Asimov Quiz Business Classified Comics Crossword E-- 5 7 E-- 7 Editorials Entertainment A-- 8 9 Foreign A-5- 6 Intermountain Legislature A-- 5 A-- 4 Lifestyle Local National 3 A-- 2 Obituaries E-- 6 Public Forum Religion A-- 9 D-- 7 Sports Star Gazer 6 B-l- Television Washington l E-- 4 A-2- 3 Today's Forecast Salt Lake City and vicinity — High cloudiness with rain showers Highs 40s Lows 30s Detail- - B-- 4 V S4 taw I i ft f Robert Oakley right US envoy to Paki- stan awards winner in polo-lik- e Afghan i US-traine- Press La sor photo national sport during event near Afghan border Game celebrated Soviet pullout d doctors and Afghan 13 —Associated teachers as well as supplies of food pack mules trucks and school books "We're trying to develop Afghan-base- d institutions" Oakley said of the program which he added has also provided Afghans with "excess'' Department of Defense materials Legislature Clears Olympic Financing By Mike Gorrell Tribune Staff Writer Legislative support for a Winter Olympics bid and a larger Utah Jazz arena was secured Friday when the Utah Senate ap proved financing schemes vital to the sports ven- tures The House-generate- d Winter Olympics legisla- tion sailed through the upper chamber under the steward- ship of Senate President Arnold He said Christensen legis- - Judge Will Let North Use Secret Data Trial Starts Tuesday By Harry F Rosenthal ' " si By John Schidlovsky Baltimore Sun Writer PESHAWAR Pakistan — In one aid operof the largest cross-bordations in history the United States has been quietly channeling $240 million of development assistance into Afghanistan American officials disclosed Friday The largely unpublicized program begun four years ago has supplemented hundreds of millions of dollars worth of American arms supplies to Afghan resistance groups who have been fighting Soviet and Afghan army troops Robert Oakley the American ambassador to Pakistan said the program has sent into Afghanistan they say indicates that Reagan and other officials had established a policy of secrecy about the arrangement Most of the 12 criminal charges against North a former National Security Council aide involve hiding from Congress and the attorney general what the administration was doing to help the Contras Lawyers for the government refused to embrace defense contentions about possible concealment Gesell said prompting him to order that North may present evidence if it exists "to establish that any member of the National Security Council the national security adviser or the or then-vicpresident" ordered North to cover up the arrangements North's lawyers have said they need to use secret documents to prove their case something they would not have been allowed to do under earlier versions of the '''admission" Under his rulings Gesell said "the defendant will not stand in a his rights to a worse position and fair trial have not been prejudiced" The trial start was set for 9:30 am Tuesday in the capital's federal courthouse on the same floor where most of the Watergate trials were held in the 1970s Clearing away objections remaining before the start of trial Gesell said in another written order that he agreement accepts the reached Wednesday by independent counsel Lawrence Walsh who is prosecuting the case and Attorney General Dick Thornburgh Gesell rejected North's contention that that deal is unfair Thornburgh and Walsh agreed that the independent counsel would notify the Justice Department anytime North tried to introduce a piece of evidence in nine broad categories of classified material Such notification could lead to affidavits being filed by the attorney general in effect blocking disclosure of the material and perhaps leading to one or more charges being dropped Gesell has said he doesn't want a "cuckoo clock trial" repeatedly interrupted with government objections over national security Prosecutor John Keker and chief defense lawyer Brendan Sullivan will deliver their opening statements Tuesday after the jury is sworn There had been six alternates but one Tanya Mitchell was excused Friday after she told the judge her had lobbied her about North pro and con then-preside- lative acceptance of the financing package would show the US Olympic Committee that Salt Lake City was "willing and able to host" the 1998 Games which would provide the state with invaluable "national and worldwide exposure "I feel it's time we stand up and be proud of the capacity we have" Sen Christensen said "There's no doubt we have the greatest snow on Earth" Although some dissent was expressed the Senate voted 23-- 4 for a resolution (House Concurrent Resolution 13) supporting ongoing efforts to attract the Olympics and requiring g statewide election for a this fall to gauge public support for the bid House Bill 374 which establishes a Winter Games it non-prof- Authority to oversee the bid process and creates the funding mechanism was approved by a 23-- Senate vote Both measures received unanimous House approval Wednesday and now go to Gov Norm Bangerter for his signature Equally feeble opposition was registered against House Bill 390 which would facilitate Utah Jazz plans to build a new 18500-sea- t arena in downtown Salt Lake City The bill endorsed in a 68-- 3 House vote Wednesday was approved by the Senate 23-- 4 and sent to the governor Technically HB390 enables the Salt Lake City Redevelopment AgenLake cy to participate in a city-Sa5 lt partnership County-state-Jaz- z to build the new arena whose specific location has not been determined The RDA would issue $20 million in bonds to buy the land build parking facilities and install infrastructure It would lease the land for a nominal fee to Jazz Owner Larry Miller who will pay $45 million to build the arena The city and county would accept the loss of property tax revenue from the arena land which will become because of RDA ownership The state would contribute $500000 annually to prevent depletion of the uniform school fund The governmental entities expect their contributions to be offset by the extra tax revenue generated by the e new facility and other structures A-Column 5 ex-Se- 4 2 Even Experts Fail to Grasp Tax Reforms FA x frit s f d&pji W"-5A- i r ytr)l 3 V'j53Tgi Bv Jim Luther AP Tax Writer WASHINGTON — If you're still confused about the new federal tax law you're in good company Fifty professionals who advertise themselves as experts calculated a mythical family's taxes and came up with 50 different answers Even worse according to a survey by Money magazine the experts' figure for the family's tax bill varied from $12539 to $35813 The correct answer according to the accountant who devised the test was $7xr1m frP!?OT $23393 "The abundance of mistakes our test turned up suggests that pros are nowhere near as knowledgeable about the tax law as they are supposed to be" Money writes in its March issue "After all we were sampling highly regarded preparers who willingly accepted our challenge to calculate the model return" The experts actually did worse than in a similar Money test a year ago when taxpayers were facing effects of the landmark 1986 tax law for the first time In last year's survey the professionals also came up with 50 different answers but the gap between the highest and lowest was about 50 percent this year the highest was almost 300 percent of the lowest " I was completely surprised by the results" said Wesley R Fitzpatrick of the Portland Ore office of Grant Thornton accountants who made up this year's test law was "When the new you could understand the confusion but now it's hard to explain all the mistakes about fundamental rules" Fitzpatrick said The hypothetical family's tax re turn was tackled by 30 independent certified public accountants 12 representatives of franchise outlets three CPAs from national accounting companes and five enrolled agents who are tested and licensed by the Internal Revenue Service Their fees range from $325 to $2500 According to Money the only preparers who made no major goofs were five independent CPAs one enrolled agent four franchised preparers and Fitzpatrick who devised the test For the test Fitzpatrick conjured up a family whose tax problems are unlikely to be faced by most taxpayers However Money said the experts made mistakes on basic tax provisions that could affect taxpayers at almost any income lev el For example the family's son $600 mowjpg lawn but 16 of the professionals failed to note that he would have to file a A-Column 4 e role-sharin- g such as vehicles and uniforms Meanwhile Afghanistan President Najibullah said Friday in Kabul that the people of Afghanistan need sympathy and economic aid not guns and appealed to the United States to stop arming Moslem guerrillas He declared himself "completely ready" to return vast stores of sophisticated weapons left behind by departing Soviet troops if the civil war ends President Bush said Thursday the United States would continue supplying weapons to the guerrillas because the Soviets still were arming Afghan government forces For several years American officials have been reluctant to talk about Washington's extensive "humanitarian aid" program inside Afghanistan Friday's briefing was the first complete look officials have provided of it Observers in this border town said that they believe US officials decided to make the program public to help blunt criticism from Afghan government officials about continued US arms aid to the rebels Earlier this week Bush said the United States will continue to arm the Afghan Mujahedeen despite the final withdrawal of Soviet troops Wednesday Asked about the sources of funds for the program American officials said all of the money had been allocated by Congress for special assistance programs for Afghanistan "There's not a dime of covert money in this" said Henry B Gushing of the US Agency for International Development who has helped run the program Gushing said that the humanitarian aid to the Afghan rebels is the largest such project in recent US experience larger than the aid given to the Contras of Nicaragua and the resistance movement in Cambodia Cushing said it was inevitable that See A-- Column 1 V'' - —UPl Reuer Photo "Hang Salman Rushdie" chant 1000 Moslems protesting in Dhaka i Bangla- - desh Demonstrators also turned out in hordes throughout Iran and Pakistan Apology May Save Author Says Iranian Envoy Questions Ayatollah's Deadly Cry By Robert Barr Associated Press Writer Iran's president said Friday that Salman Rushdie author of "The Satanic Verses" might save his life with an apology An Iranian envoy said Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's call for the writer's death was "purely a religious statement" "This wretched man Rushdie has no choice but to die because he has confronted a billion Moslems and the imam Khomeini" Iranian president Ali Khamenei said at prayers in Tehran "Of course he may repent and say 'I made a blunder' and apologize to Moslems and the imam Then it is possible that the people may pardon him" Khamenei said Akhoond Zadeh Basti Iran's charge d'affaires in London said: "If the purely religious-base- d opinion of a religious head is going to be interpreted politically it is very unfortunate "We think we have to make a line between the religious beliefs of the people and their political activities" Basti remarked in an interview with British Broadcast- - ing Corp television Khomeini Iran's spiritual leader said Tuesday that Rushdie's novel slanders Islam and ordered Moslems to track down and kill the author an Indian-borBritish citizen Some diplomats in the Middle East have speculated that the Rushdie issue was promoted by factions in Iran opposed to recent moves by more pragmatic figures to improve relations with the West Reports on official Tehran Radio suggested an attempt to set apart the furor over Rushdie from Iran's recently improved relations with Britain n The radio quoted Nicholas Browne Britain's charge d'affaires in Tehran as tellinif Javad Larijani Iran's deputy f&reign minister for European and American affairs that the British government had no role in writing publishing or distributing the book "The British government has complete respect for all the religions of the world and Moslems and has no intention of supporting an insult to Islam" Tehran Radio quoted him as saying Outcry over Khomeini's statement continued Friday as the governments of West Germany and Spain condemned the Iranian and Italy's Foreign campaign Ministry said the death threats had aroused concern and worry Publishers in France West Germany Greece and Turkey however said they decided not to publish the book and the Greek publishers said they would postpone its release out of fear for their lives Others in Finland Norway and Italy were unswpyed Six people were killed this week demonstration in an in Islamabad At a demonstration in the northern Indian city of where oe person was killed in a similar protest this week 75 people were injured Friday in a clash between police and protesters officials said Basti said in an interview with Britain's Channel Four Independent Television News: "I said to the Foreign Office See A-- Column I return-preparatio- anti-Rushd- Sri-nag- three-memb- anti-Rushd- PMi-np- fj 2 re-Se- e 2 s i n |