VOL. CLXIX... No. 58,455 © 2019 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2019
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Secretary of State Mike Pom-
peo accused Iran on Wednesday
of carrying out an “act of war”
with aerial strikes on oil facilities
in Saudi Arabia last weekend, as
he met with Saudi leaders to dis-
cuss building a coalition to deter
further attacks.
Mr. Pompeo’s condemnation
was the strongest yet from any
American official about the attack
on Saturday in Saudi Arabia,
which cut oil production, left two
of the kingdom’s most vital facili-
ties smoldering and exposed fail-
ures by the Saudis and their
American allies in detecting an in-
coming aerial assault.
The attack also raised fears that
tensions between the United
States and Iran, which have been
rising since President Trump
abandoned the Iranian nuclear
agreement last year, could esca-
late into a new war.
Despite Mr. Pompeo’s state-
ment, President Trump pushed
back against another American
military entanglement in the Mid-
dle East, speaking only of unspeci-
fied new sanctions on Iran.
Asked about a possible retalia-
tory American attack on Iran, Mr.
Trump told reporters in Los Ange-
les: “There are many options.
There’s the ultimate option and
there are options a lot less than
that.”
In Saudi Arabia, military offi-
cials displayed parts of destroyed
drones and cruise missiles that
they said pointed to Iranian com-
plicity. But they did not specify
who exactly had carried out the
attack, from where or what action
they wanted the United States to
take.
The attack shocked Saudi lead-
ers and Trump administration of-
ficials, who have spent years cast-
ing Iran as the prime trouble-
maker in the Middle East and
vowing to confront it forcefully.
But as the days have passed since
the strike, it has become clear that
other factors are restraining them
from putting bellicose rhetoric
into action.
Mr. Trump, who ran on pledges
to end America’s wars abroad, has
indicated he would like another
option short of dragging the
United States into a military con-
flict over an attack that killed no
Americans.
And as much as Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman, SaudiPompeo Calls Saudi Strike
An ‘Act of War’ by Tehran
Rising Worries That
Tensions May Boil
Into Full Conflict
This article is by Ben Hubbard,
David D. Kirkpatrick, Edward
Wongand Richard Pérez-Peña.Continued on Page ALOS ANGELES — In the space
of seven minutes on an airport tar-
mac on Wednesday, President
Trump captured the thorny deci-
sion he faces as he once again
straddles the edge of war and
peace.
One moment, he threatened to
order “the ultimate option” of a
strike on Iran in retaliation for at-
tacks on oil facilities in Saudi Ara-
bia. The next he ruminated about
what a mistake it had been for the
United States to get entangled in
Middle East wars and welcomed
Iran’s president to visit.
To help sort through the alter-
natives, Mr. Trump on Wednesday
named a hawkish new national se-
curity adviser, Robert C. O’Brien,
the State Department’s chief
hostage negotiator. But as Mr.
Trump spoke with reporters,
shouting to be heard over the roar
of Air Force One engines, he
sounded like a commander in
chief searching for a way to be
tough without pulling the trigger.
“It’s very easy to attack, but if
you ask Lindsey, ask him how did
going into the Middle East, how
did that work out? And how didgoing into Iraq work out?” Mr.
Trump told reporters, referring to
Senator Lindsey Graham of South
Carolina, a Republican ally who
warned against showing “weak-
ness” toward Iran. “So we have a
disagreement on that. And you
know, there’s plenty of time to do
some dastardly things. It’s very
easy to start.”
Mr. Trump’s team has devel-
oped a range of alternatives short
of a retaliatory strike with bombs
or missiles, including a new round
of sanctions to further strangle
Iran’s economy, the deployment of
more American forces to the re-
gion as a deterrent against futurePresident Seeking to
Sound Tough but
Not Pull Trigger
By PETER BAKER
and ERIC SCHMITTRemains of the missiles that the Saudis say were used to attack an oil facility were displayed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday.
HAMAD I MOHAMMED/REUTERSERIN SCHAFF/THE NEW YORK TIMESContinued on Page ABOLTON’S SUCCESSORRobert C.
O’Brien has little experience in
national security. Page A14.Late Edition
WASHINGTON — The Federal
Reserve lowered interest rates by
a quarter of a percentage point on
Wednesday, its second cut since
late July, and suggested it was
prepared to move aggressively if
the United States economy
showed additional signs of weak-
ening.
For now, a growing number of
Fed officials expect one more cut
this year, based on economic pro-
jections released after the Fed’s
two-day meeting. But a murky
economic outlook and a division
within the Fed’s policy-setting
committee prevented a clear mes-
sage about what comes next.
Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair,
said at a news conference after the
meeting that the United States
economy remained strong and un-
employment low, but that “there
are risks to this positive outlook.”
If the economy weakens, he said, a
“more extensive sequence” of rate
cuts could be appropriate.
“Our eyes are open, we’re
watching the situation,” Mr. Pow-
ell said, explaining that the Fed
would stop cutting rates to sustain
the expansion only “when we
think we’ve done enough.”
“There may come a time when
the economy weakens and we
would then have to cut more ag-
gressively,” he continued. “We
don’t know. We’re going to be
watching things carefully, the in-
coming data and the evolving situ-
ation.”
The Fed’s announcement on
Wednesday did little to appease
President Trump, who has been
pushing the central bank to cut in-
terest rates to zero — or even into
negative territory. The Fed’s pol-
icy interest rate is now set in a
range of 1.75 to 2 percent, and not a
single official sees it falling lower
than 1.5 to 1.75 percent through the
end of 2022.
Fed Announces
A 2nd Rate Cut
As Risks Grow
By JEANNA SMIALEKContinued on Page AWEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. —
When the lifeless body of a 26-
year-old man was found two years
ago in the apartment of Ed Buck, a
small-time Democratic donor and
political activist, the authorities
described it as an accidental over-
dose. Then, in January, a 55-year-
old fashion consultant died in Mr.
Buck’s home in exactly the same
way. Once again, he faced no
charges.
On Tuesday, after a third man
survived a methamphetamine
overdose in the apartment, Mr.
Buck was finally arrested and
hauled away in the back of a police
car.The sordid facts — and Mr.
Buck’s seeming double life — are
the stuff of crime novels. The West
Hollywood apartment building
where Mr. Buck lived, with its sim-
ple white facade, dirty with stains
dripping from air-conditioners,
would be easy to miss on another
day, the kind of spot that the nov-
elist Raymond Chandler once de-
scribed as a good place to havebad habits.
Prosecutors have charged Mr.
Buck with operating a drug house,
administering methamphet-
amines and battery and accused
him of being a “violent, dangerous
sexual predator” who targeted
vulnerable men. “Buck is clearly a
predator with no regard for hu-
man life,” the court documentsA Drug Lair, a Trail of Grief and a Political Activist Under Arrest
By JOSE A. DEL REAL
and LAURA M. HOLSONContinued on Page AWINNIE AU FOR THE NEW YORK TIMESA dazzling new Queens library finally beat the city’s broken bureaucracy, our critic writes. Page C1.Miracle on the East River
Hordes of spotted lanternflies are flap-
ping through Pennsylvania, threatening
agriculture. PAGE A
NATIONAL A9-
‘They’re Big. They’re Scary.’
Central Park’s north end, a vital but
timeworn oasis for nearby residents, will
get a $110 million makeover. PAGE ANEW YORK A21-Fixing Manhattan’s Backyard
At London Fashion Week, designers are
keeping calm and layering on amid all
the political turmoil. Above, some looks
from Richard Quinn. PAGE DTHURSDAY STYLES D1-Brexit-Busting Fashion
An American filmmaker set out to
understand the Japanese right’s views
on the enslavement of “comfort wom-
en.” Now he’s being sued. PAGE AINTERNATIONAL A4-Suit Over World War II Film
A student said he killed a well-liked
teacher for insulting Islam, sending a
chill through the campus. PAGE AProfessor Is Killed in Pakistan
The country’s growing energy domi-
nance has created tens of thousands of
jobs in the Southwest. PAGE BBUSINESS B1-Boom Times in the Permian
At a DealBook/DC Policy Forum, Times
journalists led business and civic lead-
ers in a search for solutions to issues
challenging the nation.SPECIAL SECTION: DEALBOOKBusiness Takes On Policy
Nicholas Kristof PAGE A
EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-JERUSALEM — The near-
final results of Israel’s intensely
fought election gave rise on
Wednesday to a seemingly con-
tradictory conclusion: While the
country remains
deeply divided, the
forces of unity have
gained an edge.
Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, who
sought to drive wedges through
the electorate along religious,
ethnic and ideological lines,
appeared to have come in a close
second to the centrist former
army chief Benny Gantz.
Mr. Gantz and another party
leader, Mr. Netanyahu’s former
deputy, Avigdor Liberman, who
won a kingmaker’s role, have
advocated a broad coalition that
would govern from the center
and sideline the more extremeelements of Israeli politics.
That would mean that after a
Netanyahu government behold-
en to the hard right and the
ultra-Orthodox, a less polarizing
administration could take shape
that heeds the desires and inter-
ests of a broad majority of Is-
raelis, many of them more secu-
lar in outlook.
For Mr. Netanyahu, his future
is uncertain: With a likely indict-
ment on corruption charges
looming in a matter of weeks, he
will now face far greater diffi-
culty in seeking immunity from
prosecution under a Parliament
that he may no longer lead.The previous election, in April,
ended with remarkably similar
results. Then, Mr. Netanyahu
came away with an advantage
but failed to assemble a majority
coalition with his right-wing,
ultra-Orthodox allies, prompting
Tuesday’s redo election.
This time, Mr. Gantz appears
to have the upper hand, and
while the makeup of the next
government remains far from
certain, it is already clear that he
would take a different approach,
calling for unity and consensus.
It also seems clear that whatever
the government, Arab citizens
will enjoy greater representation,
and perhaps even speak with a
louder voice if an Arab lawmaker
becomes opposition leader for
the first time.
Neither Mr. Netanyahu nor Mr.
Gantz won enough votes to claim
an outright majority in the Israeli
Parliament. As of WednesdayAfter a Divisive Israeli Election, Calls for Unity
By DAVID M. HALBFINGER
and ISABEL KERSHNERJerusalem Faces Period
of Brinkmanship and
Compromise
NEWS
ANALYSISContinued on Page AThe anonymous woman offered a
graphic account of abuse at the hands
of Jeffrey Epstein. PAGE A‘Victim-1’ Sues Epstein Estate
OTTAWA — The re-election
campaign of Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau of Canada was
thrown into turmoil on Wednes-
day when a photograph surfaced
of him wearing brownface make-
up at a 2001 private school party.
The photograph had been taken
when Mr. Trudeau, then a 29-year-
old teacher, attended an “Arabian
Nights” themed costume gala at
the West Point Grey Academy in
Vancouver, British Columbia, ac-
cording to Time magazine, which
published the image.
Speaking with reporters aboard
his campaign plane, Mr. Trudeau,
who has long championed the
rights of racial minorities in Cana-
da, confirmed that he was in the
photo and that he was dressed as a
character from “Aladdin.”
“This is something I shouldn’t
have done many years ago,” Mr.
Trudeau said. “It was somethingthat I didn’t think was racist at the
time, but now I recognize it was
something racist to do, and I am
deeply sorry.”
He added: “I’m going to be ask-
ing Canadians to forgive me.”
The photograph appeared in
the school’s 2000-01 yearbook,
Time said, adding that it had ob-
tained a copy of the yearbook, The
View, from a Vancouver business-
man who first saw the image in
July and felt that it should be
made public.
Mr. Trudeau, the Liberal Party
leader, began his re-election cam-
paign just one week ago. Andrew
Scheer, the Conservative leader
and Mr. Trudeau’s main chal-
lenger in the Oct. 21 vote, said the
photograph reflected “someone
with a complete lack of judgment
and integrity, and someone who is
not fit to govern this country.”
Continued on Page APhoto of Trudeau in Brownface
Disrupts the Canadian Election
By IAN AUSTEN and DAN BILEFSKYJoseph R. Biden Jr. trumpets his ability
to work with Republicans, but some
Democrats say he’s naïve. PAGE A
Peacemaker, or Pollyanna?
Why is Carl Yastrzemski beaming when
his fans aren’t? His grandson went to
Fenway Park — with the Giants — and
hit a home run. On Baseball. PAGE BSPORTSTHURSDAY B8-Right Family, Wrong Team
Today,sunshine along with patchy
clouds, cool, high 70. Tonight,clear,
cool, low 56. Tomorrow,plenty of
sunshine, a warmer afternoon, high- Weather map is on Page A16.
$3.