Arizona Daily Star from Tucson, Arizona • Page 11

Tucson, Wednesday, July 20, 1988 Jr Arizona Bailn Slur Section A Page Eleven WORLD 3 A i Navy fliers return to home base, thank Vietnamese for rescue 1 j. Ys jy I'd yV I.E. By Cecile Sorra The Associated Press SUBIC BAY NAVAL BASE, Philippines Three U.S. Navy fliers rescued by a Vietnamese ship after ditching their plane in the South China Sea returned to their home base yesterday and thanked the Vietnamese for saving them. 30 people, including Rear Adm.

Theodore Lewin, greeted the three when they arrived on a flight from Ho Chi Minn City, formerly Saigon. "We'd like to thank the Vietnamese navy for pulling us out of the sea and the Vietnamese government for their courtesy and hospitality," said the pilot of the downed plane, Lt. Richard K. Maurer, 30, of Harvey's Lake, Pa. "They treated us very well.

They were very concerned for our safety It's good to be back," said Maurer, who was flying with Lt. j.g. Elizabeth A. Stein-necker of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Petty Officer 1st Class Michael A. Neel, 34, of Albuquerque when their plane went down July 12.

feel fabulous," Steinnecker said after embracing her husband, Lt. Christopher Steinnecker. "Thank you all for not giving up hope." Steinnecker, 29, who is pregnant, co-piloted the CT-39E twin-engine jet that crash-landed in the South China Sea hear the Spratly islands. Earlier yesterday, the three flew from Vietnam to Bangkok aboard a transport plane sent by the U.S. Embassy in Thailand.

U.S. Ambassador William A. Brown greeted them in Bangkok with a bag of MacDonald's hamburgers. U.S. officials said the three were flying from Singapore back to Subic Bay Naval Base, 50 miles northwest of Manila, when their equipment failed and they could not make a scheduled refueling stop in Malaysia.

With only a little fuel left, they attempted a "controlled landing" in the sea, but the plane, which was intact, sank immediately, officials said. A Vietnamese navy vessel rescued the Americans shortly afterward, and they were brought to mainland Vietnam. Vietnam maintains military forces on some of the Spratly islands, which are also claimed by China, Taiwan, Malaysia and the Philippines. On previous occasions, Vietnam's communist authorities have confined for months in difficult conditions Americans and other foreigners caught in its territorial waters. Large fines were demanded for their release.

The United States does not have diplomatic relations with Vietnam, and observers said the speed with which this incident was resolved reflected recently improved bilateral relations. In the past week, Vietnam made one of its largest returns of remains of Americans missing in the Vietnam War and agreed in principle to resettlement in the United States of people it had detained in "re-education" camps. 0 Britons celebrate 1588 defeat of Spanish Armada By Graham Heathcote The Associated Press LONDON "It's time to bury the hatchet," said the man who organized bonfires across England to copy the warning of the armada given 400 years ago, and Spain's ambassador drove to Cornwall to light the first one last night. The Spanish Armada's 125 ships carried 19,000 soldiers, 8,000 sailors, 2,000 galley slaves and 180 monks and friars, sent by Philip II, the Roman Catholic king of Spain, to overthrow England's Protestant Queen Elizabeth I. Legend has it that Elizabeth's favorite captain, Sir Francis Drake, was involved in a lawn-bowling game in Plymouth as the great fleet approached and was so unflustered that he insisted on finishing it before -going to his ship.

Anglo-Spanish relations seemed to be standing up well under the anniversary hoopla. Some fireworks bought for the celebrations were made in Spain. "Understanding, friendship" Bruno Peek, a special events orga- nizer who arranged for the 461 fires, spent three years making sure they would be as close as possible to the-sites on which the 1588 beacons were set ablaze. Ambassador Jose de la Bellacasa drove to Cornwall to light the first fire on the Kynance headland near Lizard, a village at the southwest tip of the county where local people say the armada was sighted on July 19, 1588. The chain of beacons extended to the Scottish border, 430 miles away.

"Two old countries like ours have to build, on our history, better understanding and friendship in the future," the ambassador told The As-. sociated Press. Processions, pageants and street, dancing were to accompany blazing line of fires. Thousands; donned Elizabethan dress and took up pikes and swords, having re- hearsed for weeks. Queen to visit The Associated Press Lt.

Elizabeth Steinnecker, in Bangkok, gets set to return Hijack suspect won't answer bomb questions, denounces U.S. statement. I see that I am being treated as a criminal and not as political Hamadi said, breaking off the sentence as the judge formally closed the session. Hamadi, speaking in an agitated voice, then said he would refuse to give any more testimony. Earlier yesterday, lawyer Rainer Hamm said TWA pilot John L.

Testrake, chief flight attendant Uli Derickson and flight engineer Benjamin Zimmermann had joined in the prosecution. None of the three was present yesterday. The procedure is common practice in West German criminal trials. Those permitted to intervene in the case are allowed to ask questions during the trial and raise objections, much the same as prosecutors. The procedure also gives them the right to appeal if they are unsatisfied with the verdict.

Derickson is credited with preventing any more passengers from being killed by talking to the hijackers and diverting their attention. Hamm is representing 11 Americans, including Stethem's parents and former hostages, who have joined in the prosecution. said, speaking in Arabic through an interpreter. "I condemn the link brought in this court of these explosives with France." Under questioning, he refused to say if he knew whether the explosives he was carrying were to be used in terrorist attacks. Then Hamadi began to give a rambling condemnation of the United States and Israel, mentioning what he called the "interference of the United States for many years," and citing Hiroshima and Vietnam.

At that point, Mueckenberger interrupted Hamadi, saying, "The court is not the place to hear world history." Hamadi's defense lawyers objected and the judge allowed Hamadi to continue. Reading loudly from a written statement, Hamadi went on to call the United States Israel's greatest ally, "whose military and political support for Israel is growing." He said Israel "killed tens of thousands of my Lebanese countrymen and destroyed hundreds of homes." After Hamadi began to criticize the United States for shooting down an Iran Air Airbus earlier this month, the judge again interrupted, saying he wanted to adjourn the trial. "I see that it is forbidden for me to read my By Nesha Starcevic The Associated Press FRANKFURT, West Germany A Lebanese man on trial in the 1985 hijacking of a TWA jetliner refused to say yesterday if bombs seized during his arrest were for terrorist attacks and instead denounced the United States and Israel. Mohammed Ali Hamadi's rambling denunciation was interrupted by Chief Judge Heiner Muie'ckenberger, who adjourned the session. Hafriadi, in a loud, agitated voice, said he would no longer take part in his trial.

The hijackers seized the plane in June 1985, held 39 Americans captive in Beirut for 17 days and killed U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem. Scheduled to testify today is Hamadi's older brother, Abbas, who was convicted of kidnapping two West Germans in Lebanon. Abbas Hamadi was arrested Jan. 26, 1987, at Frankfurt Airport after returning to West Germany following the kidnappings of West Germans Rudolf Cordes and Alfred Schmidt.

Schmidt was freed in September, but Cordes remains a hostage. As the trial entered its third week, court officials questioned Hamadi about a telephone Reading loudly from a written statement, Hamadi went on to call the United States Israel's greatest ally, "whose military and political support for Israel is growing." notebook found on him when he was arrested also at Frankfurt Airport on Jan. 13, 1987. The officials said one of the names in the notebook sounded similar to one of the other three alleged hijackers. Mueckenberger indicated without elaboration that some of the names may have a connection to bombs or bombings in France.

The court also heard testimony from two customs officials and three police experts, who described the explosives found in Hamadi's baggage when he was arrested in a random check. As the day's session neared its scheduled end, Hamadi asked that he be allowed to read a statement that he said would explain his motives for smuggling explosives into West Germany. "It was an evil deed and I condemn it," he Queen Elizabeth II is to visit Plymouth tomorrow to join armada fes" tivities in the city from which Drake' sailed into action. Everyone seemed to be in on the fun even the post office, which issued 40 million stamps depicting galleons and cannon smoke. Ortega extends truce, calls on Contras to reopen talks has been socialism in Nicaragua since 1979." In June, Ortega announced economic measures that removed wage and price controls and moved away from Marxist policies toward capitalism.

He said at the time that the economy was "a free market in a revolutionary state oriented toward socialism." With that comment, the president appeared to be appealing to hardliners within the Sandinista National Liberation Front who saw the measures as the latest in a trend away from Marxism. In Marxist theory, socialism is a stage between capitalism and communism. The Sandinistas and the rebels, known as Contras, signed a ceasefire agreement March 23 after three days of talks. A series of high-level meetings failed to advance the pact. Talks broke off June 9 with no others scheduled.

JUIGALPA, Nicaragua (AP) President Daniel Ortega extended a unilateral truce with the rebels yesterday. The move came after the leftist government cracked down on the political opposition and expelled the U.S. ambassador. In a speech marking the ninth anniversary of Sandinista government, Ortega called on the rebels to reopen stalled peace talks and urged the United States to renew bilateral talks, last held in 1984, to normalize relations. i The truce with the U.S.-backed rebels, which was scheduled to expire at the end of this month, was extended until Aug.

30, Ortega told 10,000 people at a rally in this cattle region 85 miles southeast of Managua. Ortega also made what was believed to be the clearest statement by any Sandinista leader that the government is Marxist. "There were expectations on this July 19 that we were going to declare ourselves socialists," the president said. "They haven't understood yet that we are socialists and there Honduran leftists claim attack that injured six U.S. soldiers FECLIOUND I HIGH CHAIR 1-STEP CAR SEAT Pr'Wpanei ih fll 17ft II Deepspillwell tray surrounds One-step quick-release wal 1 1 jjTj yWi ijZlM SMILAC QUART 2 SlPfl (PSS'" CONCENTRATE 1 LJ1 OW lYLENOLUU SIM.LAC POWDER, jTT" SSr JIMILV ENFAMIL O10 hll i quarts LLJ r- ENFAMIL -VW CONCENTRATE fa McNeil WITH IRON I K.nterGsr QOQ 11 QQ YLENOl'tABS ORQ KJ ENFAMIL POWDER, CORNER XUil IllvU GRAPE-FLAVORED, CUSHIONS fcMO-PK.

BATH CENTER I 30-CT tionary presence here, there will never be peace," the guerrilla group's communique said. "Said peace will not be achieved while the puppet army defends the rich exploiters of our people." Col. Lazaro Avila Soleno, commander of the Honduran army's 105th infantry brigade in San Pedro Sula, said yesterday that officials had no leads in the case. But newspapers reported yesterday that the secret police had arrested six people in the case. Military intelligence sources said FBI agents were in San Pedro Sula to work on the case.

The Cinchonero guerrillas emerged in 1979 as the first armed group of the Honduran Communist Party, which has operated underground since it was founded in 1950. Lempira was a Mayan Indian chief who fought Spanish conquerors. Authorities blame the group for more than 1 0 terrorist attacks againt U.S. companies in Honduras, the hijackings of three commercial airliners between 1979 and 1983, and the kidnappings of businessmen. TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) A leftist guerrilla group claimed responsibility yesterday for an attack that hurt six U.S.

soldiers. Jn a communique distributed to local newspapers, the Cinchonero People's Liberation Movement said the "Lempira Command" attacked the soldiers in "memory of the first Honduran war chief who led an armed resistance against foreign invaders." Tthe six soldiers were in good condition yesterday at Palmerola Air Base, headquarters for U.S. operations, U.S. Embassy spokesman Charles Barclay said. were among a group of nine soldiers who were leaving a discotheque in San Pedro Sula, 125 miles northwest of Tegucigalpa, in a rented van Sunday when assailants hurled a grenade and opened fire on them from another vehicle.

One of the six injured was treated and released Sunday. The other five were hositalized. As long as there is a Yankee military and Nicaraguan counterrevolu There's a "ear you! NORTH TUCSON 4525 N. Oracle Road (Across from Tucson Mall) MONDAY SATURDAY 9:30 AM 9:30 PM SUNDAY 11:00 AM 6:00 PM CHARGE IT! VISA MASTERCARD AMERICAN EXPRESS DISCOVER Yours in Visual arts bv i Robert S. Cauthom gfr Arizona Bailri Star.