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SEARLE STOCK QUERY HELD 'SMOKESCREEN'

Date: 29 February 1984

By Raymond Bonner

Raymond Bonner

An Arizona scientist who traded in stock of G. D. Searle & Company because he knew that the company's artificial sweetener would be the subject of a negative report on the ''CBS Evening News'' says the widening attention focused on his transactions is a ''smokescreen'' to divert attention from the merits of the debate about the safety of the sweetener. The debate is particularly acute in Arizona: The state is scheduled to decide tomorrow whether to ban the Searle sweetener in soft drinks. ''The timing is classic,'' said the scientist, Woodrow Monte, who is director of the food-science and nutrition laboratory at Arizona State University in Tempe. An outspoken critic of aspartame, the generic name for the sweetener, Mr. Monte is among those who argue that aspartame breaks down into potentially toxic methyl alcohol. Mr. Monte was the scientific adviser to a group that has sought a ban on the use of Nutrasweet, Searle's trade name for the sweetener, in soft drinks.

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TV PROJECTION OF IOWA VOTE ASSAILED

Date: 28 February 1984

By David Burnham

David Burnham

The three major television networks came under bipartisan criticism today for their projection of the outcome of the Democratic caucus in Iowa before most of the voters in the state had cast their ballots. The criticism of the networks was voiced by the chairmen of the Democratic and Republican National Committees, the president of the League of Women Voters, the chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party and both Democratic and Republican Congressmen at a hearing of the Telecommunications Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Spokesman for ABC, CBS and NBC defended their performances in Iowa as responsible and in the public interest. ''We submit that our election reporting does serve very important values,'' said Ralph E. Goldberg, vice president and assistant to the president of CBS News. ''I think we cannot fail to recognize the intense public interest which exists in the outcome of elections, and our society has long placed a high value on accurate and timely news reporting.''

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NO BETTER WAY?

Date: 28 February 1984

By Tom Wicker

Tom Wicker

As the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary of 1984 pass mercifully into history, they've raised again the serious question whether there's no better way than this to pick a Presidential nominee - possibly the next President of a great nation. Academics, politicians and journalists have been asking that question since 1972 (the first election year to combine lots of primaries and lots of television) and 1976 (when Federal campaign subsidies added lots of candidates). But the scramble among Democrats for the dubious privilege of running against Ronald Reagan seems the worst yet. Does anyone pretend that Walter Mondale's victory in the Iowa caucuses - such as they were, with only 15 percent of the state's Democrats bothering to vote - actually meant that he had either the best Presidential qualifications among the eight contenders or the support of a majority of Democrats across the country?

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MONDALE LEAD OVER NEAREST RIVAL IN POLL SETS NONINCUMBENT RECORD

Date: 28 February 1984

By Hedrick Smith

Hedrick Smith

With Senator John Glenn continuing to fade and no new challenger emerging strongly, Walter F. Mondale now holds the most commanding lead ever recorded this early in a Presidential nomination campaign by a nonincumbent, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll. The nationwide poll, begun immediately after Mr. Mondale's victory in the Iowa caucuses last Monday, shows the former Vice President as the choice of 57 percent of respondents who said they were likely to vote in a Democratic primary or caucus. Far back, the Rev. Jesse Jackson was preferred by 8 percent. Mr. Glenn, Senator from Ohio, and Senator Gary Hart of Colorado each drew 7 percent and former Senator George McGovern of South Dakota had 6 percent. Three other candidates trailed badly in the survey, conducted by telephone Feb. 21 to 25. The findings were made known on the eve of the nation's first primary election today in New Hampshire in which all eight of the Democratic candidates are competing. (Page A20.)

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4 SENATORS DENY ARMY BUILT ILLEGALLY IN HONDURAS

Date: 28 February 1984

By Martin Tolchin

Martin Tolchin

Four Republican Senators returned today from a weekend tour of Honduras and disputed charges that the Reagan Administration had built semipermanent military installations there without Congressional approval. The Senators said they found no evidence of unauthorized military construction intended to outlive recently concluded United States exercises in Honduras. Their finding was contrary to charges made by Senator Jim Sasser, Democrat of Tennessee, and a draft report prepared by the General Accounting Office.

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U.S. SAID TO REJECT LEBANON REQUEST FOR FIRE SUPPORT

Date: 29 February 1984

By Bernard Gwertzman, Special To the New York Times

Bernard Gwertzman

The Reagan Administration has turned down an appeal from President Amin Gemayel of Lebanon for increased use of American naval and air power in direct support of his Government, Administration officials and Lebanese sources said today. They said Wadi Haddad, Mr. Gemayel's national security adviser, met in Washington late last week with White House, State Department and Defense Department officials. He sought an American commitment to come to the aid of the Lebanese Government in case of a major military push by Syrians or Syrian-backed Lebanese across existing military lines near Beirut. Because of the lack of success by Mr. Haddad in his talks here, Mr. Gemayel is resigned to working out a political formula with the Syrians, State Department officials said.

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Kissinger's Views 'Harmful,' Bonn Says

Date: 28 February 1984

Reuters

Proposals by former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger for a radical overhaul of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are ''more harmful than useful to the alliance,'' Alois Mertes of the West German Foreign Minstry said today. Mr. Mertes was commenting in a radio interview on an article by Mr. Kissinger in the current issue of Time magazine that calls for a partial withdrawal of G.I.'s from Western Europe if the Europeans do not take more responsibility for their own defense.

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What to Do After Lebanon: Nothing

Date: 29 February 1984

As The Economist warns with cousinly affection, how Americans now think about the Middle East may be more important than anything they recently tried to do there. The British journal begs us not to confuse a punch on the nose with the end of the world - and to distinguish clearly between failing in Beirut and an unfailing commitment to truly vital interests like Israel and oil. Why do Americans need such obvious advice? Because the Reagan Administration, after trying to do good in Lebanon in the worst possible way, is now properly abandoning that mission in an equally clumsy manner. With his jingo friends shouting ''disaster,'' the President cannot bring himself to confess failure or to call a retreat by its proper, dignified name. Yet neither can he find much support from those on the other side, whom he called cowards for urging just such a retreat.

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MEXICO DENOUNCES A U.S. GENERAL WHO CALLED IT A SECURITY PROBLEM

Date: 28 February 1984

By Richard J. Meislin

Richard Meislin

Mexican officials denounced as silly and dangerous today an American general's remark that Mexico could be ''the No. 1 security problem'' for the United States. The general, Paul F. Gorman, chief of the United States Southern Command, also said that Mexico had ''the most corrupt Government and society in Central America.'' General Gorman, who has his headquarters in Panama, made the remarks last Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee. The State Department later said that he had expressed ''personal views.

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OUR RISKY BASES IN HONDURAS

Date: 29 February 1984

By Jim Sasser

Jim Sasser

Despite the claims of four Republican Senators just back from Honduras that United States bases there are only temporary, the evidence clearly suggests that the bases are permanent - and a danger to our foreign policy interests. The delegation left for Honduras the day it was disclosed that United States military commanders planned to conduct exercises there each year for the foreseeable future - perhaps for 20 years. But the Senators, on returning, dutifully reported that the network of airfields and other military facilities we constructed are temporary and will not be usable in a short time. They cited deteriorating barracks as one key piece of evidence; they didn't say that the barracks were built in the middle of a swamp. The Senators ignored findings of the General Accounting Office (the independent investigative arm of Congress), which told them, before they left, that the United States was ''engaged in a continuing, if not permanent, military presence in Honduras.'' The Senators' contention that the facilities are ''temporary'' contradicts the public statements of Gen. Adolfo Alvarez Martinez, the Honduran armed forces' chief. He has stated that the airfields will be maintained for the foreseeable future, and has even discussed contracting with the United States to provide that maintenance. The trip by Senators friendly to the Administration will not change the facts about our involvement in Honduras. The bases were built in the past year virtually without public notice and debate. Much of this construction, with its grave implications for future military commitments, has taken place without specific Congressional approval.

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