Gunfire
By •G.G. LABELLE
Associated Press Writer
BEIRUT, Lebanon The giant
guns of the battleship New Jersey
pounded the rebel-held hills beyohd
Beirut yesterday, in a thundering
all -day barrage that brought the
United States in firmly on the
go'vernment's side in Lebanon's civil
war.
On Beirut's southern edge, .
meanwhile, 1,400 U.S. Marines
waited for orders sending them back
to their ships offshore, under
Presideni Reagan's announcement
Tuesday that the Marines would be
withdrawn from their perilous
position in the coming weeks.
The small British contingent in the
multinational Beirut peacekeeping
force did pull out yesterday, and
Italy ordered a gradual withdrawal
of its troops.
Lebanon's U.S.-backed Christian
president, Amin Gemayel, appeared
to be in an ever more precarious
spot. His army's 6th Brigade
declared it was defecting to the side
of the rebels in west Beirut Shiite
Moslem and Druse militiamen who
have Syrian support.
Gemayel, whose prime minister
and Cabinet resigned over the
weekend, met for a second day with
special U.S. Mideast envoy Donald
.Rumsfeld in a search for solutions to
the crisis. . -
The New Jersey opened up with its
16-inch guns the biggest afloat
at'l:2s p.m. after artillery shells
began raining down on Christian
Mediterranean
••••••. s\••' s Sea ••
, • • :•;;:.
•",•••••
• .3_ t- et.
French Troops
To Stay On Base,
Patrols Cancelled
•.\
• \
,
West Beirut
• ‘..•••:::
• • : N• \
U.S.Marines
"` ,N To Be Moved
To Ships Off
Beirut
,•
Merhbers of the multinational force in Lebanon are each considering or
taking steps to reduce their involvement in the divided country. This map
explains the positions of the U.S. Marines and British, Italian and French
troops yesterday.
Total loss:
By NAN CRYSTAL ARENS
Collegian Staff Writer
Although technology exists that could
salvage the ill-fated Westar VI satellite, it has
been declared a total loss by its owners
because of the cost involved in a rescue, a
spokesman for the Johnson Space Center said
yesterday.
Terry White said the Westar malfunctioned
after deployment from the space shuttle last
week, causing it to to placed in a useless orbit.
"If we had gone equipped to (retrieve the
satellite) pre-flight and if we had enough fuel
to get up to where we could get a hold of it, it
would be possible," White said. "But the
customer would have to pay for it and it would
be expensive."
Several problems exist with such a proposed
salvage attempt, White said. First, it would
require a large amount of fuel to propel the
shuttle into an orbit high enough to intercept
the satellite.
The satellite is now in an eliptical orbit
ranging from 150 to 600 nautical miles. The
shuttle is in a circular orbit at 150 nautical
miles, White said.
He said the shuttle would have to boost itself
into a higher orbit and descend to rendezvous
with the satellite. This would require more
maneuvering fuel than the shuttle is carrying.
The second problem is what to do with the
satellite when it is found.
White said a technique similar to the one
that will be used on the April 4 mission of the
shuttle, which will locate, retrieve and repair
the
daily
rocks Beirut as
east Beirut and near the U.S.
ambassador's residence and
Gemayel's presidential palace in
suburban Yarze, said Marine Maj
Dennis Brooks, a U.S, military
spokesman.
Beirut radio reports said the
artillery fire was coming from
Druse leftist gun crews in central
mountain areas occupied by the
Syrian army.
The New Jersey "is firing as
directed by the president's
statement of last night," Brooks
said.
Reagan said in his policy
statement Tuesday that the U.S.
Navy would provide "naval gunfire
and air support against any unit
firing into greater Beirut'from parts
of Lebanon controlled by Syria."
Until now, U.S. gunships and
warplanes had generally hit only
rebel units suspected of firing on the
Marines at Beirut airport.
The east Beirut bombardment
killed two people and wounded 60,
the right-wing Christian "Voice of
Lebanon" radio said.
The official Syrian news age*
said dozens of Lebanese, including
women and children, were killed by
U.S. Navy's "barbaiic
bombardment."
In Washington, the Pentagon said
the New Jersey, joined in the
barrage by the U.S. destroyer
Caron's five-inch guns, struck 15
military targets with more than 350
shells, the heaviest U.S . .
bombardment since American ships
went into action off Lebanon last
tabl —"1"1
East Be
.
Italian
Strong
Be Ref
-wpm
British Troops
Withdrawn
To Ships Ott
Lebanon
Beirut
International
Airport
Recovery cost of Westar satell
another satellite, could be used but the Westar
might still be rotating too fast.
During deployment, the Westar was
rotating at 55 rpm which is too fast for shuttle
astronauts to attach the necessary grappeling
knob, White said.
The Solar Maximum Mission (SMM)
satellite, however, is rotating at one degree
per second which is slow enough for
astronauts to work with, White said.
"One degree per second is just not very
fast," White added.
During the SMM rendezvous, the shuttle will
intercept the satellite and an astronaut
propelled by one of the newly tested jet
powered backpacks will go out to the satellite,
match its rotation by using the thrusters in the
pack and attach a door-knob shaped
grappeling hook.
The shuttle arm will then be used to capture
the satellite and bring it to a specially
designed cradle in the shuttle bay for
servicing, White said.
Astronauts in a separate space walk will
then replace the malfunctioning "black box"
which contains some of the satellite's
AP laserphoto
`The practicality and expense of going out and capturing the
satellite make it out of the question. You're talking about a lot
of money and it really wouldn't be worth it:
—Terry White, spokesman for the Johnson Space Center
()Ile • ian
year. The Christian radio claimed 30
Druse batteries were knocked out.
An unnamed Syrian military
spokesman was quoted as saying the
naval shelling represented an
"escalation of the acts of
premeditated aggression against the
Lebanese people."
The Druse radio station said the
Lebanese army also shelled the
Druse village of Shweifat, southeast
of Beirut airport, killing 25 people.
Late last night, the reverberating
blasts from the New Jersey still
shook this battered city. From the
shoreline, flames could be seen
flaring hundreds of feet from the gun
barrels as they fired the half-ton
shells into the distant hills. The
shelling of east Beirut also continued
into the night.
Unidentified warplanes roared
over Beirut in rainy night weather,
and the Druse radio said they also
flew over the Druse hill area, but it
did not report any air strikes.
Reagan's withdrawal
announcement Tuesday came after
weeks of mounting pressure in
Congress for removal of the Marines
from their exposed position at Beirut
airport.
Under the Reagan plan, 500
Marines are to return to their ships
over the next month, and the others
will be pulled out in phases. Marine
spokesman Brooks said orders with
a withdrawal timetable had not
arrived. But the young Marines dug
in at the airport were clearly
excited.
"We heard last night. We drank
our two beers for the day and had
sweet dreams about going home,"
said Lance Cpl. Nick Motta of
Orlando, Fla.
The Marine commander, Brig.
Gen. James Joy, said 250 Marine
support personnel already had been
moved aboard ship, but this was a
temporary move taken Tuesday
because-the situation in vvest Beirut
seemed "rather unsettled."
The Marine Corps announced in
Washington that a Marine major,
Alfred L. Butler, 33, of Cocoa, Fla.,
was found fatally shot in the chest
yesterday in his quarters at the
Beirut airport. The circumstances of
his death were under investigation,
the Washington statement said.
On. the seafront boulevard in front
of U.S. Embassy offices yesterday,
helicopters evacuated about 50
civilians working here under U.S.
government contracts, bringing to
almost 100 the number of embassy
employees, dependents and others
evacuated to the offshore flotilla,
and on to Cyprus, in two days'.
The 115-man British contingent
pulled out of its base east of the
airport yesterday and was airlifted
by helicopter to a Royal Navy ship
offshore. Later yesterday, the
Italian government said it was
ordering a "gradual withdrawal" of
its 1,400-man peacekeeping force
here. France, the fourth nation in
the peacekeeping force, said it had
no immediate withdrawal plans.
troops prepare to leave
The American battleship New Jersey fires its 16. inch guns at antigovernment forces entrenched in the Syrian.held
mountains east of Beirut. The barrage came on the heels of Reagan's announcement that American warships would
retaliate immediately If Lebanese rebels fire upon Beirut.
Withdrawal of
could help Reagan .
By TERENCE HUNT
Associated Press Writer
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. President Reagan's
order to move American Marines in Beirut to the safety
of ships offshore was a dream come true for political
strategists plotting his re-election campaign even
though it escalated the. U.S. military role in Lebanon.
At, the same time, however, suggestions were raised
that the president had reneged on his word not "to cut
and run" from Lebanon. And, Democrats stepped up
their attack on Reagan for keeping the troops there as
long as he did.
Former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, in an
interview on NBC's "Today" show, said he would have
been very reluctant to pull the Marines out and added,
"I think that the consequenceg of something that is
perceived to be an American withdrawal under pres
sure in the face of the opposite statements that have
been made (by Reagan) for weeks is likely to be quite
serious throughout the Middle East and maybe other
parts of the world."
Sen. Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz., said, "I'd rather lose
a little face than lose a half-million men."
In any event, Reagan's decision seems sure to help
him politically.
As Election Day approaches, Americans watching
television will not see scenes of Marines hunkering
down in bunkers,-or stretchers carrying wounded and
dead servicemen from bombed-out shelters.
Instead, the picture will be one of American war
planes streaking over Beirut and warships offshore
pounding Syrian-backed artillery positions.
At Reagan's campaign headquarters in Washington,
experiments and part of the attitude control,
White said.
The logistical problems associated with the
Westar VI make this technique of capture
impractical, White said.
"The practicality and expense of going out
and• capturing the satellite make it out of the
question," he added. "You're talking about a
lot of money and it really wouldn't be worth
it."
The Westar VI and another Satellite
launched by the Indonesian government were
designed to orbit the earth in a geocentric
orbit, White said. The geocentric orbit is a
circular orbit 22,300 nautical miles above the
equator.
At this altitude, the velocity of the satellite
equals the rotational velocity of the earth,
White said.
"(The satellite) appears, to hover over one
place on the earth," he added.
In this type of orbit, communication signals
can be relayed from the satellite to stationary
ground antennas, White said.
"Arthur Clarke was the conceptional
inventor of the geocentric orbit back in the
1950'5" White said. "He came up with the idea
news analysis
ite would be astronomical
even before he wrote '2001: (A Space
Odyssey).' "
White said the new rocket backpack,
designed to provide individual mobility for
astronauts free of a tether, will have a variety
of uses when space construction becomes a
reality.
"You've seen hardhats working on steel
beams on a construction site, well, we will
have space hardhats," White said. "To get
around, you need a Buck Rogers type
backpack."
The packs could be used during the
construction of the space station proposed by
President Reagan during his State of the
Union address this year, White added.
The new innovations in U.S. space
technology have caused uncertainty among
space specialists in the Soviet Union, the
United States' chief competitor in space,
Vernon Aspaturian, Evan Pugh professor of
political science, said yesterday.
"Their whole approach is characterized by
a great deal of anxiety," Aspaturian said.
"They believe it is all a backdoor to the
militarization of space."
The view that the United States is moving
toward the milit s arization of space has only
been compounded by Reagan's call for killer
satellites, a space station and a particle beam
weapon, he added.
Aspaturian said he did not believe the Soviet
Union was necessarily "behind" the United
States in space technology.
"They are following a different track than
we are," he said.
Thursday, Feb. 9, 1984
Vol. 84, No. 118 18 pages University Park, Pa. 16802
Published by students of The Pennsylvania State University
©1984 Collegian Inc.
Marines
U.S.
. . or not
the president's advisers had hoped for just such a
decision.
Jim Lake, a spokesman for the Reagan-Bush cam
paign committee, said that from a political standpoint
"we'd always rather see American servicemen not at
risk, not being shot at anywhere in the world. That's a
plus "
Asked whether there was a negative side to the
president% decision, he replied, "I don't think so, no."
In political terms, the Marines' presence in Beirut
has been a big liability for the president. During
Reagan's administration, 264 American servicemen
were killed in Lebanon, and public opinion surveys
showed that a majority of Ainericans favor the Ma
rines' withdrawal.
Democrats have been attacking Reagan over Leb
anon for months, and Democratic presidential candi
dates have been demanding the Marines' withdrawal.
In recent days, the administration has been on the
defensive as House Democrats pushed forward with a
non-binding resolution calling for a prompt and orderly
pullout of the Marines.
"Looking at the Lebanon issue strictly through the
prism of politics, we would feel somewhat relieved if
the Marines were not there," Richard Wirthlin, the
president's campaign pollster, said in a recent inter
view.
Wirthlin said at the time that a troop withdrawal
would not have an immediate political impact, but
added: "I think longer term it would because Lebanon
has been the focus for a very difficult issue that this
president faces in foreign affairs."
Although the president's decision should take the
heat off the Lebanon issue, there could be a new debate
over who "lost' Lebanon, if it comes to that.
In his order Tuesday, Reagan instructed that the
Marines be moved gradually to ships offshore, begin
ning with the relocation of about 500 troops within a
month.
. . .
__________,.________
_--_=_.- =7.." . r - . -
...,_-_-_- y T .s.yy 7 .-7..5.: Y ... -.-:-
. . . .
inside
• Tenants of the former Laurel
Glen apartments now Heri
tage Oaks and Pennwood North
will soon receive payment on
security deposits lost when the
complex.went bankrupt in 1980.
Page 3
• The College of Engineering
recently allocated funds to the
industrial engineering depart
ment for the renovation and
enhancement of equipment in
its robotics laboratory Page 8
• The women's basketball
team crushed the University of
Pittsburgh last night, 93.56.
index
Classifieds
Comics/crossword
Opinions
Sports
State/nation/world.
weather
Partly to mostly sunny and mild
er today with a high of 35. Partly
cloudy and not as cold tonight
with a low of 25. Increasing
cloudiness and mild tomorrow
with a high near 40.
by Glenn Rolph
Page 9