University of Tampa - Moroccan Yearbook (Tampa, FL)

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President Reagan visited Bit- burg Cemetery in West Germany amid cries of protest from Ameri- can Jews and veterans. The cem- etery holds the gravesites of 47 Nazi SS officers. Reagan saw it as a gesture of reconciliation to the United States’ German allies; others felt it was a flower day for murderers. Iran launched a long-awaited major offensive against Iraq, throwing as much as a fifth of its army across the marshes dividing the two countries. But Iraq struck back hard, killing more than 15,000 Iranians and setting off a wave of mourning in Teheran. Washington called for a peaceful settlement, to no avail. A killer earthquake destroyed downtown Mexico City, the death count mounting into the thou- sands. Mexican officials reported that property damage was astro- nomical, the Earthquake was the most devastating ever to strike North America, and with foreign debts of nearly $100 billion, Mexi- co will find it difficult to rebuild. French 'Underwatergate’ Was Absurd In a private session with journalists, French President Francois Mitterand described it as “criminal and absurd ... and stupid.” Indeed, whoever blew up and sank the Rainbow' Warrior, flagship of the Greenpeace environmental organization, in New Zealand’s Auckland harbor, did not do France or its President any favor. As the major French papers zeroed in on the culpability of the government in the mysterious act of sabotage, the President could no longer remain aloof from what was rapidly becoming one of France’s worst political crises in the four years since the socialist party swept to power. Members of an aroused conservative opposition quickly dubbed the affair “Underwatergate.” They accused Mit- terand either of conducting a deceitful cover-up or of ignorance of his own government’s secret-service operations. With crucial legislative elections only six months away, the President could not afford to see his moral authority jeopar- dized in the eyes of an electorate already largely disenchanted with Socialist lead- ership. As Mitterand attempted to defuse the Greenpeace scandal, his Defense Minister Charles Hernu resigned, a tacit admission of French wrong-doing in the affair. The reason for the sinking still remains unclear, but it is suspected that some French government officials wanted to kill key Greenpeace leaders who were supposed to be meeting on the boat. Ironically, the only person who died in the incident was as American photo-journalist. Mexico City digs out Convicted spy Arthur Walker was sentenced to three life terms plus forty years in prison for helping his brother run a Soviet espionage ring. No one could be sorrier for what I’ve done. I have dishonored myself and devastated my family,” said Walker, a retired Navy lieutenant commander from Virginia Beach. Walker, convicted August 9, 1985, confessed he slipped confidential military documents to his brother, con- victed spymaster John Walker, a former Norfolk private detective and retired Navy chief warrant officer. The leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union met in Geneva Switzer- land in late November, 1985 to produce a joint communique summarizing points of agreement. King Hussein of Jordan proposed direct peace negotiations between Egypt, Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinians. The talks would be organized under the aus- pices of an international Middle East peace conference, which would include other Arab states, the Palestine Liberation Orga- nization and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. Hussein, calling recent Middle East vio- lence a setback for the PLO, told PLO chairman Yasser Arafat that the peace process was in danger unless we “put our act together.” FEATURES 21

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WORLD NEWS Flight Fright The Rev. Jerry Falwell continued to make friends at home and abroad with a visit to South Africa. He endorsed the segregationist government for “promoting reform” and promised to mount a campaign among his Moral Majority to “urge millions of Christians to purchase Krugerrands. He also proclaimed Bishop Desmond Tutu a “phony” for claiming to speak for the Black South African people. Thank you, Jerry, for those announcements. We needed an objective opinion. President Reagan got a big rah-rah when he ordered U.S. Navy fighter planes to intercept the Egyptian airliner carrying four Palestinians responsible for the seajacking of the Italian liner Achille Lauro. The plane was forced to land in Sicily, and the Palestinian terrorists were taken into custody. To some it was a hollow gesture; to others, it signalled the end of American tolerance of terrorism. Crashes of British, American, Indi- an, Iberian, and Japanese airliners high- lighted the worst year in aviation history. The year saw 15 air accidents worldwide and a death toll estimated at more than 1500, surpassing the previous record of 1255 deaths, set in 1974. There are a variety of reasons for these air disasters, and no pattern has emerged that suggests any linkage be- tween the accidents. Three of the worst crashes involved Boeing aircraft, but they apparently failed for different reasons — uncontained engine failure, the cracking of a rear pressure bulkhead, and the possible detonation of a bomb. The bleak performance of the air- lines has ruffled the feathers of even the most intrepid flyers, and is now raising serious questions about flight over- crowding and inattention to safety that could give airlines a bumpy ride in the years ahead. The Achille Lauro returns home. A test nuclear reactor using a new type of fuel began production in southern India. It does not require enriched uranium, a product not manu- factured in India. This type of fast-breeder reactor produces, as a by-product, high-grade plutonium, for use in nuclear weapons. Apartheid Government Uses Overkil Mikhail Gorbachev proved to be a politician instead of a red-nosed, octogenerian talking head like several of his predecessors. In a style similar to his Western buddy Ronald Reagan, Gorbachev rapidly con- solidated his power by stacking the Politburo leadership with his loyalists. Spreading like a brush fire out of control, the antiapartheid violence that has racked South Africa for years exploded to proportions beyond comprehension. Areas of the country that had previ- ously been untouched experienced their first outbreaks of violence. Police were constantly called on to smash the efforts of forces that oppose the nation’s apart- heid form of government. During 1985, over 650 were killed in the violence, most of them by police gunfire in black townships where a state of emergency had been declared. As the situation in South Africa steadily grew more dangerous, and inevita- bly began to damage the country’s econo- my, the government of state, president P. W. Botha seemed embarked on a course of heavy-handedness and overkill. A seni Washington official remarked that t! Botha government has demonstrated pronounced tendency to “shoot itself the foot.” The government has reacted to ev the mildest incidences of unrest by calli out legions of police. After responding the world-wide condemnation of aparthc by hinting that genuine reform was on t way, South Africa abruptly reversed its by reaffirming the present system. An example of the government’s c tremes in dealing with unrest is the way handled school boycotts. At times, hu dreds of black children, many of them or six or seven years old, were arrested a: held for days away from their parents. 20 FEATURES

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NATIONAL NEWS Thomas Jefferson call- ed the lottery “a wonder- ful thing: it lays taxation only on the willing.” As people lined up across New York to buy chances on a $41 million lottery prize, the largest jackpot in North American histo- ry, new concerns were raised that the games prey on the poor. “Sure, I’m poor,” said one man, “but I figure one day they’ll make a mistake and I’ll win.” Challenger, January 28, 1986 The Space Shuttle Challenger ex- ploded into a fireball over the Atlantic Ocean during its ascent into space on Tuesday, January 28, 1986. All seven people aboard, including teacher Christa McAuliffe, were killed instantly. It was the worst accident in the history of space exploration and the first fatal accident in 56 American manned space flights. McAuliffe, 37, was a high school social studies teacher from Concord, New Hampshire. She was the first private citizen to fly on the space shuttle. McAuliffe’s husband Steven, their two children—Scott, 9 and Caroline, 6— as well as her parents witnessed the horrifying explosion from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral where thousands of people had gathered to watch the start of what was to have been a showcase mission. The painstaking search for the remains of Challenger continued for weeks after the fiery incident occurred. Unfortunately, the debris that was col- lected yielded few clues about what occurred. NASA officials speculated that the explosion was caused by a leak in the right solid rocket booster of the shuttle. Shuttle Explodes New and Improved? The message came from Atlanta and was applauded across the nation. The Coca-Cola Company was reinstating the original flavor of their soft drink in the face of overwhelming consumer protest. On April 23, 1985, Coca-Cola an- nounced it would be changing the formu- la of Coke to “something even better.” Better turned out to be sweeter, and more suited to direct competition with Pepsi-Cola, the number two cola in the country. During the weeks that new Coke was the flagship product of the company, the national headquarters received an aver- age of 1500 complaints daily. Appar- ently, they had over estimated just how many marketing ploys people would put up with. After Coke Classic (as it was now called) was back on the shelf, rumors of conspiracy spread quickly. Had Coke launched their new product with plans to pull it when consumer outrage peak- ed? A Coca-Cola executive addressed the question: “Some people think we made a marketing error. Others think we planned the whole thing. The truth is, we’re not that dumb, and we’re not that smart.” 22 FEATURES