8/9/2019 Abortion Rights Marchers p1 Abortion

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C_A_1_A1_LA_1_04-26-04_mo_2_CMYK2004:04:25:21:28:31

By Richard B. Schmitt

and Faye FioreTimes Staff Writers

WASHINGTON — Hundredsof thousands of abortion rights

supporters rallied Sunday on theNational Mall, railing against what they described as a dozen years of government backsliding on the issue of reproductive free-dom for women in the UnitedStates and around the world.

The huge throng, many cladin hot pink or purple and yellow

T-shirts, marched along thecity’s broad avenues, passing itshistoric monuments, beforecramming the Mall for a four-hour rally that featured politi-

cians, Hollywood celebrities,leaders of the sponsoring organi-zations and icons of the feministmovement.

The rally, called the March forWomen’s Lives, was to serve asan election-year challenge to thepolicies of the Bush administra-tion. But it also had another aim— to reset the debate aboutabortion rights and health issuesfor women after a decade in which abortion foes have gained

steady momentum in Washing-

ton and in legislatures aroundthe country.“Know your power and use

it,” House Minority LeaderNancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco)encouraged the crowd. “It is yourchoice, not the politicians’.”

The demonstrators — fromacross the United States and 57countries — crossed lines of age,race, gender, religion and sexualorientation. The concerns they  voiced extended beyond the is-sue of abortion to healthcare ac-cess, AIDS prevention, birth

control and civil rights.“It’s unbelievable we even

have to come here and do this,”said Gabrielle Davis, 42, a lawprofessor at the University of To-ledo, who drove all day Saturdayfrom Ohio with five other women, encountering cars full of people heading to the same des-

tination. “I felt like the goal wasaccomplished, like the civilrights movement. But it wasn’t.”

The turnout was among thelargest seen in a city with a fa-

bled history for such gatherings.  Authorities no longer offer offi-cial crowd estimates, but variouspolice sources informally esti-mated the throng at 500,000 to800,000 in the mile-long stretchof green space between the Capi-tol and the Washington Monu-ment.

The last time marchers ral-lied for a similar cause, in 1992,police officials put the crowd size

 Associated Press

SEA OF SUPPORT: A crowd estimated at 500,000 to 800,000 fills the National Mall in Washington for an abortion rights rally. The demonstrators came from across the United States and 57 countries.

Abortion RightsMarchers DecryGlobal SetbacksProtesters hold one of 

the biggest rallies seen in

Washington as they seek

to renew a movement hit

by years of reversals in

the U.S. and abroad.

[See Rally, Page A8]

By Richard C. PaddockTimes Staff Writer

  ANGKOR, Cambodia — Atthe magical temple of Ta Prohm,200-year-old trees grow from theruins, their roots embracing the

ancient stone walls like giantsnakes. Archeologists from India are trying to preserve the trees —and the temple’s romantic spirit— for as long as possible.

Down the road, at the mag-nificent, sprawling temple of   Angkor Wat, a Japanese-ledcrew grafts newly quarried sand-

stone onto broken 12th centuryblocks in a state-of-the-art effortto save the building known asthe northern library.

Nearby, 300,000 stone blocks

of the dismantled Bapuon tem-ple are spread across 25 acres of grassy fields. The building plans  were destroyed by war, but a French-led archeological team isreconstructing the ancient pyra-mid, stone by stone.

 As the horrors of Cambodia’s“killing fields” fade into history, a renaissance is taking place in an-cient Angkor. Led by the UnitedNations, an international coali-tion of preservationists is work-ing to restore and protect one of 

the great cities of the past.“This is a model of coopera-

tion — more than 10 countriesand international organizations

coming together in a spirit of solidarity for the work of pre-serving cultural heritage,” Cam-bodian Senior Minister Sok Ansaid.

The restoration of Angkorserves as a powerful symbol of unity in a country still struggling to come to terms with the KhmerRouge genocide that killed morethan 1 million people and the

decades of civil war that fol-lowed.

 Angkor Wat, the world’s larg-est religious monument and  Angkor’s best-known temple,appears on the Cambodian flag,the national currency and bot-tles of the country’s top-selling   Angkor beer. When a PhnomPenh newspaper falsely reportedlast year that a popular Thai ac-

C O L U M N O N E

SpiritResetin Stone 8 Experts from around

the world are restoringCambodia’s ancient city

of Angkor. But a surge

in population puts the

area’s temples at risk.

[See Angkor, Page A4]

By Noam N. LeveyTimes Staff Writer

Traveling to South Los An-geles to talk about schools theother day, Mayor James K. Hahn was in no mood to discuss his re-election.

“I have no comment aboutanyone running for office orthinking about running for of-fice,” the Los Angeles mayorsnapped at a television reporter who asked about one of his chal-lengers. “I’m doing my job.”

The outburst made the after-

noon news and set off a round of snickering among local politicoson the lookout for signs that themayor was breaking under thepressure of criminal investiga-tions and a growing field plotting for his job.

But that one slip was all theHahn-watchers would get.

Despite months of headlineslinking his administration to al-legations of corruption, themayor who built a reputation forintegrity in a quarter century of 

public life has given barely a hintthat he is troubled.

Hahn’s response has baffledsome allies, who have urged himto fight back more forcefully.  And it has fed detractors, whohave called Hahn’s passivity a lack of leadership.

But those who know Hahn  well say his stoicism reflects a man who is surprisingly secure inhimself — and whose decades in

L.A. Mayor

Unbowed

as Political

Storms Brew

[See Hahn, Page A10]

Laker Win TightensNBA Playoff RaceL.A. beats Houston 92-88 inovertime to take the lead in theWestern Conference series,three games to one. B6

Perks of the PartyGiveaways are a crowd-pleaserat Fiesta Broadway, celebrating the Cinco de Mayo holiday. B5

L.A. WeatherSunny after morning fog. L.A.Downtown: 87/58.A2

California News .......................B1

 Astrology.......D8 Obituaries...A11Health............D9 Crossword ....D8

INSIDE

Gina Ferazzi  Los Angeles Times

 Rocket Cuttino Mobley, right, fouls Karl Malone, whose 30 points in Houston help put the Lakers one win away from taking the series.

By Bettijane Levine

Times Staff Writer

Estee Lauder, founder of the internationalbeauty empire that bears her name and queenof America’s prestige cosmetics industry whopioneered the now ubiquitous “gift with pur-chase,” has died. Her family said she was 97.

The doyenne of makeup died Saturday ather home on the Upper East Side of Manhattanof cardiopulmonary arrest, said her son, Leon-

ard A. Lauder. A self-propelled dynamo, Lauder raised cos-

metics merchandising to an art form throughincessant work, a passion for quality and crea-tive sales techniques. From the start of her ca-reer, as a teenager in the 1920s, she ignoredconventional wisdom and forged new paths,unabashedly marketing cosmetics as “jars of hope.” By 1998, she was the only woman listedamong Time magazine’s 20 most influential

geniuses of business of the 20th century.Lauder, who was very protective of her birth

date and other personal information, began lifeas Josephine Esther Mentzer — one of six chil-dren of Jewish immigrants from Hungary wholived above the family’s hardware store in the

O B I T U A R Y | E S T E E L A U D E R  

 Associated Press

E S T E E L A U D E R

She began her company in the kitchen.

Cosmetics QueenPut New Face onBeauty Industry

[See Lauder, Page A9]

By Edmund SandersTimes Staff Writer

NAJAF, Iraq — As U.S.troops await orders to enter thisIslamic holy city, militant Shiitecleric Muqtada Sadr and his mi-litia are strengthening their con-trol here, stockpiling weapons,

seizing key religious sites and ar-resting or detaining those whochallenge him.

In the last two weeks, Sadr’sfollowers — many rushing herefrom Baghdad, Fallouja andother areas of Iraq — have forti-fied their positions in the cityand the neighboring town of Ku-fa, including at Najaf’s gold-domed shrine of Imam Ali, one of the most revered mosques in the world.

Sadr’s forces have evicted

more than 100 rival Shiite clericsand shrine employees, replacing them with their own armed mili-

tiamen, who roam the rooftopsand courtyards of the shrine with rifles and rocket-propelled-grenade launchers hung over

their shoulders.The cleric’s followers also

  were stockpiling weapons inmosques, schools, graveyardsand private houses around thecity, according to U.S. intelli-gence reports and local resi-dents.

The open challenge to theU.S.-led administration in a cityseen as sacred to Shiite Muslims, who make up 60% of Iraq’s popu-lation, has put coalition author-ities in a quandary. Two weeksago, U.S. military officials

amassed 2,500 troops on the out-skirts of Najaf and declared theirintention to restore order to thecity and kill or capture Sadr.Last week, they softened theirstance, saying they wanted to al-low more time to reach a peace-ful settlement in Najaf.

But on Sunday, L. Paul Brem-er III, the civil administrator of Iraq, called Sadr’s growing   weapons cache “an explosivesituation.” Brig. Gen. Mark Her-tling, deputy commander of the

U.S. Army’s 1st Armored Divi-sion, said soldiers probably

Troops, TensionSurround Najaf Americans await orders

to enter the heart of an

Iraqi insurgency led by a

militant cleric. In the

holy city, his militia

tightens its grip.

[See Najaf, Page A5]

By Janet HookTimes Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — For Rep.Steven C. LaTourette, the con-flict in Iraq hit close to home theday four American contract  workers were killed, mutilatedand dragged through the streetsof Fallouja. One of the four wasfrom LaTourette’s district in theCleveland suburbs, so it fell tothe Republican congressman to

call and comfort the victim’s par-ents.

For Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the home-state price of  war became clear when her officegot a call from the weeping wifeof a reservist whose deploymentin Iraq had repeatedly been ex-

tended.Indeed, for all the politicians

 who have been stalwart support-ers of President Bush’s Iraq pol-icy, the conflict is no longer justan abstraction — their constitu-ents increasingly bear the bur-den of personal sacrifice for themission.

Casualties are mounting,sending more loved ones homeincoffins. Tours of duty have been

prolonged, keeping thousands of troops away from their familieslonger than expected. And theprice tag is growing rapidly, forc-ing Congress to consider addi-tional war funding at a time  when popular domestic pro-grams are being squeezed.

The personal and financialcosts are likely to mount throughthe summer months, during therun-up to the Nov. 2 presidentialand congressional elections, be-cause the administration is un-der pressure to increase its in-  vestment in Iraq. Members of both parties are calling for moretroops, more money, more vigi-lance.

Iraq’s Political Price MountsAs lawmakers comfort

families and bury

constituents, they report

growing voter unease.

[See Constituents, Page A6]

By Sebastian RotellaTimes Staff Writer

MADRID — Despite round-the-clock teamwork by Euro-pean anti-terrorism agencies inthe wake of last month’s trainbombings here, persistent barri-ers to cooperation and coordina-tion make Europe vulnerable to

attack, senior European andU.S. police officials, prosecutorsand other experts say.

Justice systems clash, polic-ing styles diverge, and open bor-ders allow terrorists far moremobility than their pursuers. For years, the Al Qaeda terrorist net- work has taken full advantage of these factors — and Europe’sdemocratic, tolerant environ-ment — using the continent as a base for recruitment, logistics

and plotting attacks elsewhere.The Madrid attacks, which

killed 191 people, showed how Al

Qaeda used that infrastructureto carry out its first successfulstrike in a Western Europe that was caught off guard, investiga-tors say.

“There’s a lack of trust among security services and among countries,” said Baltasar Gar-zon, Spain’s best-known anti-terrorism magistrate. “There’s a 

lack of solidarity. Self-interestdominates. What we need is a 

Fragmented Europe Invites Terrorists

[See Terrorism, Page A6]

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