The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, October 17, 2001 - 7
Some hijackers may not
have khown they'd die
ALBRIGHT
Continued from Page 1
"From a foreign policy perspective, this might be one of
the most fluid and dynamic occurrences since the Cold
War's end," she said, alluding to the new alliances that have
formed as other issues are put aside.
She called on all nations to work together toward ending
the use of Afghanistan as a safe haven and training ground
for terrorists. In the future, she said, nations should be
willing to work with the United Nations and leadrs of
ethnic communities to develop a peaceful process for self-
determination in Afghanistan so the people can live free
from strife.
Albright also discussed the Middle East, where she said
Israelis and Palestinians are living in fear -- Israelis fearing
that every backpack they see could contain a bomb and
Palestinians fearing they're doomed to be without a home-
land.
Although the scope and drama of the recent confrontation
have led many people to conclude that everything has
changed, Albright said she's not sure they've really trans-
formed the situation.
"They haven't really created a new framework for look-
ing at the world," she said, recalling the past conflict
between the United States and the Soviets, with democracy
on one side and communism on the other.
But she warned against the danger of giving the terrorists
the idea that they are on one extreme of a bipolar world.
"We kept score on the map of the world and we judged
other nations mostly on where they stood in that fight. And
it's tempting now to think we've returned to such a world
with the terrorists taking the place of the communists," she
said.
The Washington Post
Shortly after hijacked jetliners crashed into the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon, U.S. officials quickly con-
cluded that the terrorists involved were, to a man, murder-
ous zealots bent on suicide.
But nearly five weeks later, FBI investigators and their
European counterparts are considering another scenario:
that many of the hijackers did not know they were going to
die..
Some evidence, combined with knowledge of how
Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network has operated
in the past, has led some investigators to suggest that as
many as 13 members of the four terrorist teams may have
believed they were part of a traditional hijacking operation
aimed at landing somewhere and issuing demands.
"The reality is that we may never know for sure, but we
are viewing that as a real possibility at this point," said one
U.S. government official. "It could explain many things.
Getting six or seven people who want to kill themselves is a
lot easier than 19."
Officials stress that they have reached no conclusions.
And many terrorism experts unconnected with the investi-
gation still believe it is likely that all the hijackers had
agreed to die.
But emerging clues have led some investigators to believe
that it is just as likely that many did not willingly roar into
the twin towers or the Pentagon. The scenario provides an
alternate view of a terrorist plot that was so chilling, in part,
because of what appeared to be the unwavering dedication
of its cotspirators.
Unlike the leaders of the plot - the pilots of the four
hijacked aircraft and at least two others - the remaining
hijackers arrived in the United States later and served primari-
ly, in the words of one top U.S. official, as "the muscle."
None of these men, most from middle-class backgrounds
in Saudi Arabia, appears to have left his family with a cryp-
tic farewell, as some of the lead hijackers did, officials said.
One source said that unidentified items found among the
possessions of some hijackers suggest preparation for jail
rather than death. Several of the footsoldiers seemed jovial
within days of the hijackings, witnesses have said, partying
and shopping for adult videos.
Investigators also have been puzzled to find only three
full or partial copies of a set of final instructions apparently
penned by Mohamed Atta, who is believed to be the ring-
leader. of the plot, urging hijackers to crave death and bring
along their wills. If all 19 had copies, sources said, authori-
ties would expect to find more remnants. Investigators also
have found no wills other than the one drafted by Atta and
left in his luggage, which was found at Boston's Logan
International Airport.
"It's all soft evidence," one U.S. official said. "But there
are too many inconsistencies to ignore."
Yet many experts on al-Qaida said it is wishful thinking
to believe that bin Laden's network, which may have
trained hundreds or even thousands of would-be terrorists
at its camps in Afghanistan, would have trouble finding
less than two dozen men willing to kill themselves for
their cause. Hamas and other groups participating in ter-
rorist attacks in Israel, they noted, have had little problem
over the years finding young, dispossessed men willing to
die for what is perceived as martyrdom in some parts of
the Middle East.
"I think they took great pains to select these guys and
indoctrinate them for a long period of time," said Robert
Blitzer, a former FBI counterterrorism official. "I'm sure
they all knew they were going to die. They were all con-
vinced they were going to nirvana."
Indeed, investigators themselves say there are strong
arguments to be made in favor of the idea that all 19 hijack-
ers were on a suicide quest. One example is the various
accounts of cell phone calls Sept. 11 between passengers on
the hijacked flights and family and friends on the ground.
Many of these accounts indicate that three or more ter-
rorists on each plane participated in stabbings, which
might not be the case in a conventional hijacking where
passengers are viewed as valuable to securing demands.
Eric Davis, a terrorism expert at Rutgers University, said
that uninformed hijackers might mutiny once they discov-
ered that they were on a suicidal mission, possibly imperil-
ing the entire operation.
"I think they all knew from the get-go," Davis said.
"Some of them might have thought they were going to the
Middle East. That's certainly possible. But I personally find
that hard to believe."
ECSTASY
Continued from Page 1
Ann Arbor Police Department Sgt.
Michael Logghe said several officers
were present as reinforcements but
the operation was carried out by the
DEA.
University alum Stephanie Ballan-
tyne said she watched as the officers
trekked in and out of the apartment.
"They had a male student in custody
and they had him by the arms and kept
leading him around from the truck and
back to the apartment door," she said.
"The student seemed to be talking to a
someone inside the apartment."
Ballantyne said DEA officers were
still unloading what looked like card-
board moving boxes from the apart-
ment complex when she passed by the
scene at 12:30 p.m.
ATTACKS
Continued from Page 1
injuring one security guard and setting
two of the seven buildings on fire.
Afghan staffers ran through thick
smoke and flames to try to salvage
blankets, tents and plastic tarps meant
to help Afghans through the winter.
The other warehouse, which was also
damaged by fire, contained wheat, Red
Cross workers said.
"There are huge needs for the civil-
ian population, and definitely it will
hamper our operations," Robert
Monin, head of the International Red
Cross' Afghanistan delegation, said in
Islamabad, Pakistan.
The Pentagon acknowledged that
U.S. bombs accidentally hit warehous-
es in Kabul used by the International
Committee of the Red Cross. A Navy
F/A-18 Hornet dropped 1,000-pound
bombs on the warehouses, the state-
ment said.
A Pentagon statement released last
night said the Red Cross buildings
were among a series of warehouses
targeted because U.S. forces believed
the Taliban was using them to store
equipment and military vehicles had
been seen nearby. "U.S. forces did
not know that ICRC was using one
or more of the warehouses," the
statement said.
Red Cross officials have protested
the bombing and said that the ware-
houses, holding wheat, blankets and
shelter materials, had the organiza-
tion's symbol painted on their roofs.
The Pentagon statement said the U.S.
military regrets any innocent casual-
ties and tries hard to strike only mili-
tary targets.
ENROLLMENT
Continued from Page 1
higher education admissions was acceptable, Lehman said.
Lawsuits challenging the interpretation of the Bakke deci-
sion in Texas and Washington resulted in split decisions at
the appeals court level.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Univer-
sity of Washington's interpretation of Bakke, but a voter
initiative blocked the use of race as a factor in admis-
sions. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case.
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the Hop-
wood case in 1997 that the use of race as a factor in
admissions is unconstitutional, and the University of
Texas system was required to alter its admissions poli-
cies. The decision stood after the U.S. Supreme Court
declined to hear the case.
The effect of the Hopwood ruling varied across Uni-
versity of Texas undergraduate and professional schools.
Minority enrollment throughout the system plummeted
after the Hopwood ruling.
Texas' Law School enrolled four black, students into a
first-year class of hundreds the year after the Hopwood case
was decided. Enrollment for Hispanic students also dropped
drastically that year.
Laycock said the overwhelmingly white classrooms
may have made it difficult for minority students to
express themselves in class, especially in regard to any
racial issues, because "they appear to be speaking for an
entire race."
Laycock said the university is recovering "by virtue of
intense recruiting efforts": individual phone calls, alumni
efforts, private scholarships and bringing students to the
campus.
Undergraduate minority enrollment is comparable to
pre-Hopwood levels, Laycock said. The University of
Texas system employs a "top 10 percent" plan, which
makes the highest 10 percent of every graduating class
in the state eligible to enroll if they also fulfill other
guidelines.
"The top 10 percent plan by itself didn't do much. It had
to be backed up by recruiting," Laycock said.
But the professional schools in the University of Texas
cleaning and c
HOUSING About 20 women
Continued from Page 1 House, including
campus, other houses, including those Irby.
in the Inter-Cooperative Council, "Like most co
blend living and learning into one set- own meals, clea
ting. each resident has
Telluride House and the all-female chores each wee
co-op Henderson House ask students bathrooms or cor
to meet a special set of requirements to said.
live there. "Henderson Ho
"The main mission here is cen- able as well, as i
te-re around community service and ment that in my
system are not able to use a similar system. "It works
because high schools continue to be so segregated," Lay-
cock said.
The University of Washington has also turned to a
process that emphasizes recruitment.
"We have a direct charge from our board of regents to
increase applications from underrepresented minority
groups by 5 percent this year," said Leo Pangelinan, Wash-
ington's coordinator for student outreach ambassadors and
community relations.
Pangelinan and others were hired by the university to
head efforts to increase diversity.
One recruitment effort that Pangelinan oversees is a
group of 16 students who work part time to visit under-
represented minority middle- and high-school students
in the state to encourage them to apply.to the university.
"I think it really got the students active in wanting to
make a change," Pangelinan said. "It was a time of
activism."
The University of California system's board of regents
symbolically rescinded a 1995 ban on affirmative
action. Race still cannot be used as a factor in admis-
sions in California because of Proposition 209, a voter
initiative similar to the one that banned affirmative
action in Washington.
The effect of California's ban on affirmative action has
differed from Texas and Washington but has not been disas-
trous, Trow said.
"Since the end of racial preferences, the numbers of
minority students in the University of California has risen,
though the proportions have somewhat declined in a couple
of the campuses, notably Berkeley," Trow said. "We are a
system of nine campuses, and what happened was that most
of the minority students who could not be admitted to
Berkeley with the ending of preference were enrolled in
other UC campuses which were not up against their enroll-
ment caps."
UC's law and medical schools experienced marked
declines, but other graduate schools were not as affect-
ed, Trow said.
"On balance, the ending of preferences in the UC has
been an enormous success, though you might not know this
from the press." he added.
king activities, meals and services for Jewish stu-
ive at Henderson dents that would like to have these
LSA junior Rana experiences, but if someone is not
Jewish and would like those experi-
ops we cook our ences, they're welcome too," said
the house, and Chabad House Director Aharon
do five hours of Goldstein.
like cleaning the Amenities at Chabad House "range
mons area," Irby from classes on Judaism, Hebrew and
Jewish philosophy, with staff, a library,
se is very afford- a lounge and counseling services"
offers an environ- Goldstein added.
inion makes that The Greek system, although not
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