'rL.- RA:-L.:--- n_:I-. ^^^A -r AMERICA IN CRISIS Tne Micigan Daily -weanesday, September 19,;2001- Taliban calls on Muslims to wage holy war 7 KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) The hard-line Taliban said God would protect it if the world tried to "set fire" to Afghanistan for sheltering terrorist suspect Osama bin Laden and in com- ments broadcast yesterday also called on all Muslims to wage holy war on America if it attacks. Hundreds of Islamic clerics were gathering in the Afghan capital to discuss conditions for extraditing bin Laden to a country other than the United States, a Pakistan government offi- cial said. The clerics are expected to meet today, said Hamdullah Nomani, the mayor of Kabul and host of the gathering. The conditions, including international recognition of the Taliban government and the lifting of U.N. sanctions, were discussed Mon- day in Kandahar, headquarters of the Islamic militia that rules most of Afghanistan, the Pak- istani official said on condition of anonymity. It seemed unlikely the United States would agree to have bin Laden extradited to another country. A delegation sent by Pakistan to try to convince the Taliban to hand over bin Laden went home yesterday without reaching an agreement, and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf scheduled a televised address to his people on today evening. Before leaving Kabul, the Pakistani delega- tion met with eight detained aid workers being tried on charges of illegally preaching Chris- tianity, the official said. Pakistan asked the Tal- iban to release the aid workers-two Ameri- cans, four Germans and two Australians-and the rulers promised to consider the request, he said. The Taliban, who say bin Laden was wrongly implicated in the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the. United States, urged the people of Afghanistan to prepare for a jihad, or holy war, against America, the official Bakhtar News Agency reported yesterday. "If America attacks our homes, it is neces- sary for all Muslims, especially for Afghans, to wage a holy war," Mullah Mohammed Hasan Akhund, the deputy Taliban leader, said Mon- day, according to state-run Radio Shariat. "God is on our side, and if the world's people try to set fire to Afghanistan, God will protect us and help us." Since taking control of most of Afghanistan in °1996, the Taliban have declared holy wars against the northern-based anti-Taliban alliance, Russia and Iran, but never the United States. The Taliban government is only officially recognized by three countries: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The Taliban's foreign minister, Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, condemned the violence within hours of the attacks in New York and Washing- ton but said it would have been impossible for bin Laden to carry out the assaults. Bin Laden lacks the facilities for such an elaborate opera- tion, he said. Since then, the Taliban's leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, who has declared himself head of all Muslims, has defended bin Laden and accused the United States of pointing the finger in his direction because its investigators have been unable to come up with a real sus- pect. Many Pakistanis living along the 1,500-mile border with Afghanistan promised to join the jihad against America, and possibly their own government, if there are retaliatory strikes. "America is putting a gun on Pakistan's shoulder to fire at Afghanistan. The Pakistani people cannot accept this," said Haji Abdul Razzaq, a mechanic in the western city of Peshawar, near the Afghan border. Stocks gain stbty but 1 ound The Washington Post NEW YORK - The wobbly U.S. stock market regained some stability yesterday following its steep selloff Monday, as escalating words of war and the growing prospect of recession buffeted investors in the aftermath of attacks on the World Trade Center and th "Let's face it, we're all jittery " - Ed Yardeni f last week's terrorist he Pentagon. After an early surge, the Dow Jones industrials average of 30 blue- chip stocks dropped to end the day just Investment strategist 17.30 points lower at 8,903.40. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 24.47 to 1555.08. The broad S&P 500 index declined 6.03 to 1032.74. Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Chicago Board Options Exchange said it is investigating trading before the attack but declined to elaborate about what stocks or traders are being probed. In the days before the Sept. 11 attacks, unusually high num- bers of "put options" - essentially, bets that a stock will drop were purchased for shares of AMR Corp. and UAL Corp., the parent companies of American Airlines and United Air- lines, which each had two planes hijacked, the Associated Press reported yesterday, citing a check of option trading records. A put option is a contract that gives a holder the right to sell an asset at a specified price before a certain date. There was no similar pattern with other carriers, AP said. The shares of both companies plunged after the hijackings. On Monday, Germany's stock market regulator said it was looking into claims of suspicious stock trading there just before the attacks. The markets activity unfolded against a backdrop of diplo- matic sparring with U.S. officials continuing to warn of a sus- tained military campaign and defiant leaders in Afghanistan, Where the No. l suspect in the terrorist attacks is believed to be vowing a holy war. "Let's face it, we're all jittery, said Ed Yardeni, chief invest- *nent strategist at investment bank Deutsche Banc Alex Brown. Central banks worldwide have been working to calm finan- cial markets. A day after the Federal Reserve cut its target for overnight interest rates by half a percentage point - its eighth reduction this year - the Bank of Japan yesterday cut its dis- count rate to 0.10 percent from 0.25 percent, and the Bank of England cut its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 4.75 percent. Analysts expect the Fed to lower its target further in coming weeks, a decision made easier by the Labor Department report yesterday showing consumer inflation well contained. Some market watchers said the terrorists might not deserve ,11 the blame for Monday's drop, when the Dow and Nasdaq oth lost about 7 percent of their value. Before the attacks, U.S. retail sales were declining, unemployment was rising, consumer spending was fading and stock prices were sliding amid a global economic slowdown. AP PHOTO President Bush (right) greets French President Jacques Chirac Inthe Oval Office of the White House yesterday. Bush is reaching out to world leaders to build a global coalition "to fight terrorism on all fronts." Bush begins campaign to rally world leaders against errorists The Washington Post WASHINGTON -- Pausing to mark the terrorist attacks of a week before with a moment of silence, President Bush yesterday engaged in an intensive round of diplomacy designed "to rally the world" for the war he has promised against those responsible for the attacks. At a meeting with French President Jacques Chirac, Bush said he is determined to build an international coalition for the long and difficult war against terrorism and said this is a moment for other nations to stand and be counted. "If you love freedom, you must join with us," Bush said. Chirac stopped short of calling the cam- paign against terrorism a "war," as Bush and many U.S. officials have described it, but he said France stands "in total solidarity" with the United States and added that he was pre- PROBE Continued from Page 1 to include aircraft and runways," the affidavit said. Court records said the FBI seized documents suggesting the men worked in food preparation for airlines at Detroit Metropolitan Airport and col- lected information about an American military base in Turkey, a U.S. foreign minister, an airport in Jordan and dia- grams of aircraft location and runways. The affidavit did not explain the refer- ence to "U.S. foreign minister." Federal documents identified the men as Karim Koubriti, 23; Ahmed Hannan, 33; and Farouk Ali-Haimoud, 21. Among the four material witnesses under arrest was Albader Alhazmi, 34, a Saudi national and Saudi-trained doctor doing a medical residency in radiology at University of Texas Health Science Center, a law enforcement official said. He was being held in New York. Alhazmi did not show up for his radi- ologist job on Sept. 11. He had been working at a military hospital located on Lackland Air Force Base in San Anto- nio during the week before the attacks, said an official at the medical center. Meanwhile, evidence emerged yester- day that the FBI had tracked the activi- ties of one Arab man who was seeking jetliner training from Minnesota to Oklahoma in the weeks before Tues- day's attacks. The FBI came by the Airman Flight School in Norman, Oka., about two weeks before the terrorist attacks, inquiring about Zacarias Moussaoi, who is now in custody in New York in the investigation. An unconfirmed link to Iraq emerged yesterday in the intelligence community. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States has received information from a foreign intelligence service that Mohamed Atta, a hijacker aboard one of the planes that slammed into the World Trade Center, met earlier this year in Europe with an Iraqi intelligence agent. The raw intelligence came in since the attacks last Tuesday and has not yet been corroborated by U.S. authorities, the official said. Authorities also detained a man in San Diego, Calif., who was linked through financial transactions to two of the 19 hijackers, officials said. SEARCH Continued from Page 1 ing foreign nationals. A U.N. spokesman said Annan was told yester- day by Secretary of State Colin Powell that 62 nations had reported citizens missing. Among the hundreds of tenants in the twin towers were banks, trade offices and government offices of many coun- tries - particularly from Asia. They included an office of the government of Thailand, the Bank of Taiwan, the Nishi- Nippon Bank, Fuji Bank, the China Chamber of Commerce, the Zim-Ameri- can Israeli Shipping Co., and the Banco Latino Americano de Exportaciones. "We are astonished by the evil in our midst, stunned at the scale of the tragedy, dazed by the disregard for human life, overwhelmed by the wound that has been inflicted - on this city, on this country, on us all," Annan said at a synagogue in Manhattan before touring the disaster area. At the ruins, Annan said news pho- tographs and television images had not prepared him for "the magnitude and the horror" of the attack. He thanked rescue workers, telling them, "All the (U.N.) ambassadors and staff are rooting for you." Accompanying Annan were Giuliani, New York Gov. George Pataki, and a delegation of U.S. senators considering more emergency financial assistance for the city. pared to discuss with Bush "all means to fight and eradicate this evil." Bush's meeting with Chirac last night was the first of a series of face-to-face meetings with world leaders this week that includes a dinner tomorrow with British Prime Minis- ter Tony Blair and sessions today with Presi- dent Megawati Sukarnoputri of Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation, and with the foreign ministers of Russia and Ger- many. The diplomatic effort also includes reach- ing out to such nations as Cuba and the Sudan, two nations with which the U.S. has had an adversarial relationship. Secretary of State Colin Powell also will meet with a parade of top officials from other countries as the administration contin- ues its private preparations for a response to last week's attacks, using what administra- tion officials called a "carrot-and-stick" approach to encourage support from other nations. U.S. efforts to assemble an international coalition for a campaign against Osama bin Laden and other terrorists received a boost yesterday when Palestinians and Israelis announced steps to enforce a cease-fire after a year of escalating violence and bloodshed. The ongoing conflict in the Middle East had threatened to undermine U.S. efforts to build momentum for its anti-terrorism campaign with many Arab and Muslim countries. The developments came after Powell, in what officials described as a long and tough conversation Monday night, implored Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon not to squander an opportunity to renew cooperation with the Palestinians and warned that Israel would be ceding the moral high ground to the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat if they refused. MSA to start distributing white annband hn support ofims MSA Continued from Page 1. Despite last week's terrorist attacks and heightened call for aid in the areas affected by them, Stewart said the resolution to boycott the University's support of the United Way should not be put off. "It's something we need to consider now while it's in front of us because fundraising is already in full force," Stewart said. "Finding an alternative to the United Way should definitely be emphasized," said Engineering Rep. Eric Roeder. In response to the resolution's passing, Stewart will draft a letter to the Board of Regents requesting a search for an alternate charity organ; ation. The Ann Arbor City Council recently passed a reso- lution ending the city's support of United Way for the same reason. Also. at last night's meeting, MSA representatives and constituents expressed concern about showing sup- port toward and discouraging discrimination against Arab-Americans, Muslims, and South Asian members of the University community due to recent acts of racial hatred directed towards them. This week MSA will begin distributing white arm- bands as a symbol of remembrance and support for victims of terrorist attacks and to encourage unity. MSA also passed resolutions to support student mobilization in Cincinnati to coincide with the 6th Cir- cuit Court of Appeals' hearing of the University's affirmative action lawsuit. In addition to supporting student attendance at the hearing, MSA agreed to sup- port National Take Back Affirmative Action Day on campus next month. In addition, MSA President Matt Nolan said he has spoken with University President Lee Bollinger about the possibility of a fall break. "Bollinger is not opposed to a change in the academ- ic calendar," Nolan said. YENA RYU/Daily During last night's MSA meeting, representatives and constituents discuss a campaign against acts of racial hatred directed toward Arabs and Muslims. PANEL Continued from Page 1 Security Council, addressed security issues and offered insight into the terrorists' strategic goals. "The terrorists had two strategic objectives in mind beyond killing Americans," he said. "One was to make the American people and govern- ment feel insecure and demoralized. The other was to bring us out of the Middle East." ate emotion in so many Americans. "Reactions so far have been emotional. That is natural, but now to fight evil we need the council of reason," said panelist Ashtush Varshney, a political science professor and fac- ulty member at the Center for South Asian Studies. "The blame of the attacks cannot be laid on the door of Arab Americans," Varshney said. "We run the risk of embittering a minority that will create divisions in the United States at a FLYING Continued from Page 1 communications studies Prof. Mike Traugott, a polling expert. Traugott said he expects travelers to begin canceling or delaying vacation plans in light of the plane hijackings. He believes a majority of respondents said their feelings were unaffected by Tuesday's events because they yearn for a return to normal. rnmi. ,- ---t f of .ht available. Carry-on luggage will also be espe- cially scrutinized. In addition, armed U.S. mar- shals will assist security personnel at terminal entrances and enforce security on many flights. "Airports are much safer today. (But) the price you're paying is very long lines," said Wayne County Executive Ed McNamara, who oversees Detroit Metro. McNamara said there are discussions about moving security gates from terminal entrances to outside departure gates but that such a plan S n eifficult- want to see their grandson and are faced with a 1,500-mile drive, they will fly,"he said. First-year Business graduate student Eric Schroeder said he will avoid flying only if alter- nate transportation is feasible. -171 probably continue flying," Schroeder said. "Maybe, for example if I was going to Chicago, that's when I'd take the train or get a ride as opposed to flying." Charlie Corbin, manager of the STA Travel branch in the Michigan Union, said he has not noticed a decline in flight reservations but that