9 2A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, March 3, 2003 NATION WORLD Turkey refuses positioning of U.S. bases WASHINGTON (AP) - Without Turkish bases to open a northern front against Iraq, the U.S. military still could take Baghdad, but with more difficulty and risk, officials and analysts said yesterday. The U.S. war plan calls for attacks on Iraq from two directions, Kuwait in the south and Turkey in the north. That approach would complicate Iraq's defense plan- ning and ease U.S. logistical problems. In a weekend move that surprised U.S. officials, the Turkish Parliament rejected a motion that would have granted a U.S. request to position tens of thou- sands of ground forces for the assault into northern Iraq and to station about 200 additional strike aircraft at two other bases. Defense officials, speaking yesterday on condition of anonymity, said Gen. Tommy Franks, who would command a U.S. war in Iraq, had not yet decided to give up on Turkey. Franks said in an Associated Press interview last week that his war plans are flexible and take into account such problems. If Turkish bases were not available to U.S. ground forces, Franks could opt to airlift a force into northern Iraq from Kuwait or elsewhere in the Persian Gulf. Instead of having the Army's 4th Infantry Division - a heavily-armored force - roll into northern Iraq from Turkey, Franks might choose to use the 101st Airborne Division, a lighter, air mobile force. It was not clear whether that was Turkey's last word on the matter. Reconsideration could come as early as tomorrow, but the head of Turkey's ruling party said yesterday there are no plans in the "foreseeable future" to seek another parliamentary vote. Still, a senior U.S. official said the administration was evaluating the situation but did not regard the vote as necessarily final. Several senators were less sanguine on the yesterday television talk shows. "It's a huge setback for our purposes. It stunned me," Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WVa.) ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said on CNN's "Late Edi- tion." "We spent the last 50 years defending them in NATO. And along comes this opportunity, and by three votes they decline the opportunity to allow us to come in through the north." Securing the peace once President Saddam Hus- sein's government had fallen also would be more prob- lematic without Turkey, depending on the extent of the Turkish military's move into Kurdish areas of northern Iraq, said analyst Anthony Cordesman at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. And after the fight- ing, Cordesman said, "We can work around it, but it does increase risk" before, during and after the fight- ing, Cordesman said. Likewise, the Kuwait option for northern Iraq is not without risks. NEWS IN BRIEF..:J DUBAI, United Arab Emirates UAE calls for Saddams resignation The United Arab Emirates won support yesterday from several Persian Gulf nations in its call for Saddam Hussein to quit power to avert a war, while Iraq poured scorn on the Emirates, calling it a tool of Israel. The king of Bahrain said he backs the call for Saddam to go, according to the Emirates state news agency. Kuwait's Cabinet also backed the measure, the offi- cial Kuwaiti news agency said. Kuwait has allowed tens of thousands of U.S. troops to deploy in its territory ahead of a possible invasion of neighboring Iraq. The tiny Gulf island of Bahrain also is a key U.S. ally, hosting the base of the American 5th Fleet. The Emirates' proposal - first made Saturday at an Arab summit - further highlighted the deep divisions in the Arab world over how to deal with the Iraq crisis and U.S. threats of war. Arab leaders Saturday refused to discuss the proposal, which was the first open call by an Arab nation for Saddam to go into exile. The Emirates yesterday sought backing among its fellow Gulf nations, the most receptive audience in the Arab world for the Iraqi leader's removal. Other Arab nations, however, have rejected the idea of pressuring Saddam to quit, saying they cannot interfere in Iraq's domestic affairs. PROVIDENCE, R.I Nightclub fire death toll reaches 98 Church bells throughout Rhode Island and Massachusetts pealed 98 times yes- terday, once for each person killed in one of the country's worst nightclub fires. The remembrance came as the death toll from the Feb. 20 inferno at The Station nightclub in West Warwick rose by one. Kelly Viera, who had been hospitalized with burns suffered in the blaze, died Saturday at Shriners Hospital, hospital officials said. Viera's age and hometown were not immediately released. In Providence, Viera's uncle, William Kelly, drove to Grace Church, where he and Viera worshipped. "I keep asking the Lord, 'why?"' said Kelly, 57, a retired truck driver from Warwick. "She was such a sweetheart." Viera was among several hundred people who had packed into The Station to hear the heavy metal band Great White. Fire investigators suspect sparks from a pyrotechnic display used by the band ignited the nightclub's soundproofing material. That triggered a fire that swept through the one-story wooden building in minutes as panicked concertgoers tried to flee. " Turkish and U.S. soldiers stand guard yesterday as a convoy waits to leave the harbor of Iskenderun, Turkey. "Our line of advance becomes more pre- dictable" if the main ground assault is from Kuwait rather than being split between Kuwait and Turkey, Cordesman.said. 0 Israeli tanks enter Gaza, 7 killed in attack GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Israeli tanks moved into central Gaza early today, witnesses said, killing seven people and destroying two houses. Troops also arrested two members of the Islamic Hamas militant group. The incursion into the Nus- seirat and Bureij refugee camps followed pledges by Israeli officials to crack down on militants from the violent Hamas group. The Israeli military would say only that an operation was in progress. Israeli troops backed by tanks and attack helicop- ters raided a Gaza Strip town early yesterday, killing one Palestinian militant in fierce fighting and demol- ishing abandoned buildings and the exterior wall of a hospital, Palestinian officials and the army said. Entering the town of Khan Younis in southern Gaza before dawn, Israeli forces met fierce resist- ance. Firefights erupted with gunmen who used a school, a hospital and a mosque as cover when firing on troops, the army said. Gunamn Mahmoud Abed Hadi, 27, was killed in the fighting, hospital official officials said. At least 35 Palestinians and two soldiers were wounded. The latest military operation came hours after Palestinian officials agreed to convene the Palestin- ian Legislative Council next week and begin the process of appointing a prime minister, one of the reforms Israel and the United States demand as a precursor to the renewal of peace talks. The army has increased its operations in the Gaza Strip since Feb. 15 when the Palestinian Islamic group Hamas claimed responsibility for planting a bomb on the path of an Israeli tank, which killed all four soldiers inside. It has also been operating in Khan Younis recently after a Palestinian gunman killed an Israeli soldier on Feb. 23. "During tonight's aggression the occupation army didn't show any respect to our medical teams.' - Haidar Kidera Director, Nasser Hospital Col. Pinchas Zoaretz, the commander of the opera- tion, said the raid was to retaliate for the killing of the soldier and to demolish buildings and structures militants use to fire mortar bombs and Qassam mis- siles at Israeli towns and settlements. "We also want to continue putting pressure on the terrorist organizations...to create a situation in which we are on the offensive and they are on the defen- sive," Zoaretz said. Troops demolished an eight-story building that gunmen had hidden in 14 times in the past four months while firing on soldiers and several other abandoned structures also used for cover by mili- tants, the army said. Palestinians planted bombs and fired anti-tank mis- siles at the troops overnight, area residents said. The operation has left 85 people homeless, officials said, adding that at least five Palestinians have been arrested so far. Soldiers demolished the outer wall of Mubarak Hospital and raided Nasser Hospital, officials said. "During tonight's aggression the occupation army didn't show any respect to our medical teams and they fired on ambulances and attacked the hospital too," Dr. Haidar Kidera, the director of Nasser Hospital said. Zoaretz denied his troops entered hospital grounds, saying soldiers were forced to enter the courtyard of a school - which is not far from one of the hospitals - after militants detonated a bomb at an armored vehicle, sending it flying into school grounds. Troops entered the schoolyard to rescue the vehicle, he said. "They are trying to create spin in the media that we attacked a hospital but this never happened," he said. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Legislative Council is scheduled to meet between March 8 and 12 to amend Palestinian Authority law to create the position of prime minister. It is also expected to determine the responsibilities of the role. "President Arafat has accepted the idea of nomi- nating a prime minister," said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, an adviser to the Palestinian leader. Israel and the Palestinians are arranging safe passage for the members who due to travel restrictions have not met face-to-face as a council in more than a year. Some members have had to meet via teleconference. Israel has said it will allow the meeting but will prohibit members suspected in attacks against Israelis from attending. Even if the meeting occurs, deliberations are expect- ed to take some time. Arafat- who is under increasing international pressure to name a prime minister - may also postpone the appointment, said a Palestinian Authority official, who asked not to be identified. Salam Fayad, the Palestinian's top finance leader, released on Friday a lengthy report on Palestinian finances and detailed $600 million in liquid assets ii 79 ventures. WASHINGTON NASA accident board questions top officials NASA's administrator rejected a formal request by the accident board looking into the Columbia disaster to reassign top agency offi- cials from participating in the inves- tigation, the first serious dispute over the integrity of the probe since the space shuttle's breakup killed, seven astronauts. Administrator Sean O'Keefe, prom- ised instead that over the next several days NASA will make changes so that professionals outside shuttle manage- ment lead cooperative efforts with the investigating board. O'Keefe said reassigning managers would be eviewed as prejudging whether they were culpable in Colum-, bia's loss, and he wrote, "I will not' submit anyone to this treatment." The investigating board, led by retired Adm. Harold Gehman, dis- closed the correspondence on its website Saturday. ARLINGTON, Va. Families of Gulf War veterans back action Mothers and fathers, brothers and sis- ters paid tribute yesterday to loved ones killed in the first Persian Gulf War and said they supported President Bush's efforts to again send Americans against Saddam Hussein. "I'm behind our president 100 per- cent," said Sally Minich of Hawthorn, Pa., at a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery remembering the more than 400 men and women who died in the Gulf War. Her 20-year-old son, Frank Walls, died in an Iraqi Scud missile attack. Joyce Wilbourn of Huntsville, Ala., said armed service families generally are more supportive of a war in Iraq. She lost her son, Marine Capt. James "Trey" Wilbourn III, in February 1991. "My son told me in a letter in 1991 ... 'Mom, we either do it now or we do it later.' So 12 years later we're doing it,"'Wilbourn said. RIO DE .JANEIRO, Brazil Carnival parade met with high security Army tanks, 3,900 troops and 35,900 police officers patrolled Rio's streets yesterday for the start of the city's glit- tering Carnival parades. Security was tight after four people were killed and dozens of cars 'and buses torched last week in violence blamed on drug gangs. But there have been few reports of violence involving the revelers themselves. One exception was an American tourist shot in the leg yesterday in a traffic dispute. He was not killed. Brazilians were making last touches on their sumptuous floats and sewing the last sequins onto skimpy bikinis as the first seven of 14 top samba "schools" prepared to parade down the famous Sam- badrome stadium last night. - Compiled from Daily wire reports, > vit Plc T1the"K th PutzIeer Aeiii ±onferice, fre and Open to h u611 Sunday, March , 2003 Michigan Leagtue x/ Featuring; x Key te SpeakerAAVrah 14, Speer df.'t d 15th"Ke " M~d y e" dotePa nel: 910 p f Zion!i s Al. & Palestinian Nationalism A " On rthur Hertzberg, NYL F ~authorof The Zionist Idea 7A y h "~ Dr, Muhammad MusJig, Long isand~ b ,5 5 University, author of theJ Or gn Palestinian Nationalisml e/ H'I t ; asa rigeto Peace, lsr 'r u;ral othe Implicatio nsofthe2003 1sraelt Elections, Intro to the Arab-Israeli Conflict{ / AC U.S.plans for possible Iraqi oil well fires ELK CITY, Okla. (AP) - Ronnie Roles fought oil fires in Kuwait know- ing unexploded cluster bombs lay hid- den in the desert sand. The smoke was so thick, noon turned to night. The fire burned so hot, an ordinary hard hat would have melted. But for all the danger in Kuwait's burning oil fields 12 years ago, Roles fears the fires could be bigger, more numerous and far more risky if a cor- nered and desperate Saddam Hussein turns the torch on Iraq's oil fields, as his retreating troops did in Kuwait, to disrupt the world's oil markets. "We expect him to cause considerable more damage;" said Roles, president of operations for Cudd Pressure Control, an Oklahoma company preparing for war from an office on the American prairie. The Department of Defense has already asked the company for a plan detailing the number of men and equipment it could send to fight fires in Iraq, Roles said. Iraqis damaged or set fire to 788 oil wells in Kuwait - nearly all of them - in the closing days of the 1991 Gulf War. Iraq is believed to have almost twice that number, about 1,500, and some esti- mates run as high as 2,500, Roles said. The firefighters doubt all the wells would be burned, but the fires could be bigger in Iraq because there is more oil to feed the flames: Kuwait's wells pumped an average 20,000 to 40,000 barrels per day; some Iraqi wells are capable of producing 60,000 to 80,000 barrels, said Bill Mahler, marketing manager at Wild Well. Control. Iraq's mountainous terrain and wet- lands could make the oil far more diffi- cult to control than the sand berms used in Kuwait's desert, as well. Even if the wells aren't set on fire, gushing oil could threaten water supplies. "After seeing the first mess they made, there's no doubt in my mind they've got the ability to make a big or hiaar mec inthei nwnhae ,,rd 0 The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily's office for $2. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $105. Winter term (January through April) is $110, yearlong (September through April) is $190. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fail term are $35. Subscrip- tions must be prepaid. The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Press and The Associated Collegiate Press. ADDRESS: The Michigan Daily, 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1327. PHONE NUMBERS (All area code 734): News/Sports/Opinion 76-DAILY; Arts 763-0379; Circulation 764- 0558; Classified advertising 764-0557; Display advertising 764-0554; Billing 764-0550. E-mail letters to the editor to letters@michigandaily.com. World Wide Web: www.michigandaly.com. I iii:: 1,1sJVSIK~II FT i mrn m:I! :: rm L cvI I vnlf%16 %V IMUF Lvuic inaMnaIy cwwI 111 %P111C1 u NEWS Shabina S. Khatri, Managing Editor EDITORS: C. Price Jones, Kylene Klang, Jennifer Misthal, Jordan Schrader STAFF: Elizabeth Anderson, Jeremy Berkowitz, Kyle Brouwer, Soung Chang, Kara DeBoer, Atdir Dutf, Victoria Edwards, Margaret Engoren, Rahwa GhebreAb, Michael Gurovitsch, Lauren Hodge, Lisa Hoffman, Carmen Johnson, Christopher Johnson, Andrew Kaplan, Emily Kraack, Elizabeth Kassab, Lisa Koivu, Tomislav Ladika, Lydia K. Leung, Andrew McCormack, Whitney Meredith, Layla J. Merritt, Jacquelyn Nixon, Shannon Pettyplece, Mona Rafeeq, Erin Saylor, Karen Schwartz, Maria Sprow, Dan Trudeau, Samantha Wol, Allison Yang, Min Kyung Yoion EDITORIAL Aubrey Henretty, Zec Peskowitz, Editors ASSOCIATE EDITORS: John Honkala, Jess Piskor STAFF: Dan Adams, Sravya Chirumamilla, Howard Chung; John Honkala, Aymar Jean, Bonnie Kellman, Garrett Lee, Joey Litman, Christopher Miller, An Paul, Jason Pesick, Laura Platt, Ben Royal. 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