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Tuesday
September 9,2003
@2003 The Michigan Daily
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Vol. CXIVI, No. 6
One-hundred-twelve years ofeditoralfreedom
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Legislators
tackle Iraq
war costs,
policies
WASHINGTON (AP) - Republi-
cans an4 Democrats predicted yes-
terday that Congress will approve
the $87 billion President Bush
wants for Iraq and Afghanistan, but
many said they would demand more
details on administration policy in
both countries.
With relentless American casual-
ties, a paucity of allied support and
a realization that the administration
underestimated the operation's price
tag, lawmakers seemi emboldened to
play a stronger role in shaping the
measure than they did when they
quickly approved an initial $79 bil-
lion package in April.
Democrats juxtaposed the propos-
al with Bush's opposition to added
funds for American schools and
other domestic programs. They also
voiced doubt that even $87 billion
- nearly triple the Homeland Secu-
rity Department's total budget -
would be enough.
"Already facing a nearly half-tril-
lion-dollar deficit, American tax-
payers deserve to know how this
spending will affect our ability to
address the unmet needs in our own
country," said House Minority
Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif).
"This may not be Vietnam, but
boy it sure smells like it," Sen. Tom
Harkin (D-Iowa) said on the Senate
floor. "And every time I see these
bills coming down for the money,
it's costing like Vietnam, too."
Other Democrats, such as Sen.
Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts,
were preparing to demand that as a
condition for the money, Bush
would have to tell Congress his
assessment of the size the U.S. mili-
tary commitment to Iraq and sched-
ules for removing American forces.
An amendment seeking such con-
ditions seemed unlikely to pass the
Senate. But a debate over it could
give Democrats an opportunity to
spend timecriticizing Bush's Iraq
policy a year before the presidential
election.
Democrats were not alone in
seeking answers.
Republican Rep. Zach Wamp of
Tennessee said, "It's a huge number,
and Congress needs to step up to its
constitutional responsibility to vet
the request and put as many ques-
tions to the president as we can."
Wamp said he wanted ways to
measure progress in rebuilding Iraq
and would push for U.S. investment
there to be partly repaid by revenue
raised by Iraq's oil industry.
The entire proposal would be paid
for out of federal deficits already
expected to shatter previous
records. In a briefing for reporters,
senior administration officials said
they expected $50 billion to $60
billion of their plan to be spent next
year - which would bring the pro-
jected 2004 deficit to $525 billion
to $535 billion.
In that same briefing, one official
acknowledged that "the level of
decay and underinvestment in the
Iraqi infrastructure was worse than
... almost anyone on the outside
anticipated" earlier this year.
Republican leaders, hoping to lay
See IRAQ, Page 3
DPS Safety Tips
Look assertive, be aware of
your surroundings.
Avoid secluded, dark or isolated
areas. Walk with a friend or co-
worker whenever possible, and
especially at night.
Have your keys in your hand
before you reach your residence or
vehicle.
Look for an emergency blue
phone to call DPS if you feel
threatened on campus.
Call the DPS Confidential Tip
Line if you have information about
a crime: 1-800-863-1355.
Two suspects sought:
By Maria Sprow
Daily Staff Reporter
The Department of Public Safety is currently
searching for two people suspected of a recent
unarmed robbery in the Church Street parking struc-
ture.
According to DPS reports, the robbery occurred
Saturday at approximately 2:30 a.m. A victim using
the carport was approached by two men who then
verbally demanded that the victim "give (them) what
you got," reports state.
The victim complied and was not injured. The sus-
pects escaped the scene on foot.
DPS Lt. Jesse Lewit could not say how much was
stolen in the incident. He also could not comment on
the victim's gender or whether he or she is a student
at the University.
No weapon was used or seen during the incident,
which is currently under investigation.
Saturday's incident marks the first DPS-issued
crime alert of the academic year. Traditionally, crime
alerts are used to notify the public when a detailed
description of the perpetrators has been compiled in
the hopes that anyone witnessing part of the crime
will notify the department. They are not issued when
the suspect has been arrested or when the suspect's
description would not aid in his or her capture.
The alert describes the first of the two suspects as
being a 22- or 23-year-old black male with braids
in robbery
standing 5-feet-11 to six feet. At the time of the inci-
dent, he was wearing a baseball hat with a skullcap
underneath, a multi-colored cotton jacket, blue jeans
and Timberland boots. The second suspect was
described as a black male standing 5-feet-8 to 5-feet-
9 with a bald head, large eyes and facial hair on his
chin. He was wearing black baggy jeans.
In addition to Saturday's incident, the carport was
the location of two armed robberies in July 2002 and
one attempted robbery last September. And during
one weekend last February, six cars were vandalized,
including four with punctured tires and one with two
broken windows.
Lewit acknowledged that the parking structure suf-
See ROBBERY, Page 3
Fun and games
Students:
Academic
visa reforms
necessary
By Carmen Johnson
Daily Staff Reporter
In a few days LSA sophomore
Taaha Haq will wake up early and
head to Detroit to get his mug shot
taken - again.
Part of Haq's academic visa
requirement is to regularly register
and be photographed at the Bureau
of Citizenship and Immigrant Ser-
vices, previously called Immigra-
tion and Nationalization Service.
But at least Haq, a Pakistan
native, is able to study at the Uni-
versity.
While many prospective students
from other countries face difficul-
ties and inconveniences when
acquiring and maintaining visas,
other students are flatly denied
entry into the country.
Now a national petition originat-
ing at Yale University is calling on
the federal government to reform
academic visa programs to make
them less stringent.
Organizers are also pushing uni-
versities nationwide to publicly
advocate the need for academic visa
reforms.
Petition organizer and Yale Uni-
versity graduate student Qin Qin
said international students are vic-
tims of the efforts to tighten home-
land security after the Sept. 11
attacks.
"Especially at a large institution
like the University of Michigan,
there are so many international stu-
dents so the universities need to be
supportive of all their students and
ask the federal government to make
reforms," Qin said.
Haq faces special registration
every time he leaves or enters the
country - a new requirement since
Sept. 11.
"A lot of students I know from
Pakistan decided to study in Canada
or Great Britain because getting
visas isn't as stressful in those
countries," he added.
With more than 4,000 interna-
tional undergraduate and graduate
See VISAS, Page 3
BRENDAN O'DONNELL/Daily
Kindergarten students (left to right) Max Kupperman, Jack Kelly and Yong-Ho Cho take a break
from soccer practice last night In Burns Park. Their team is composed of players from Angell and
Burns Park elementary schools. With school just starting and fall only a couple weeks away, the
team is trying to get in a few more games and scrimmages before the weather cools down.
Senator works to prevent
dumping of foreign waste
3
2.5
2
By Sara Eber
Daily Staff Reporter
To prevent the nearly 180 truckloads of Canadian
waste from entering Michigan each day, Sen. Debbie
Stabenow (D-Lansing) has issued a web-based petition
drive protesting the trash's importation.
"People were letting me know that they are concerned
about losing landfill capacity and about the negative
impact of these shipments on the environment and our
state's recycling effort" Stabenow said in a written state-
ment yesterday. "They are also concerned about traffic
hazards and noise, and about the potential threat to
homeland security posed by 180 huge difficult-to-inspect
truckloads of trash coming across the border each day."
Michigan is the third largest trash importer in the
nation, ranking behind Virginia and Pennsylvania. While
the majority of imported trash comes from Canada,
Michigan also receives waste from all neighboring states
and as far as New York.
Michigan has become "the dumping ground of the
Midwest," according to Mike Garfield, director of the
Ecology Center, a grassroots environmental organization
serving southeast Michigan. He said Michigan earned
this title in response to its landfill surplus and inexpen-
sive dumping charges - Michigan charges $10 per ton
of trash, whereas states like New York charge as much as
$40.
Garfield said the landfills pose an inherent environ-
mental threat, adding that the state's greatest challenge is
reducing the number of landfills in Michigan.
"The core issue is landfill space and finding alterna-
tive (waste management) methods," he said. "This is not
a U.S. versus Canada issue."
National Resource and Environment senior Kelly
See TRASH, Page 3
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L.A. Times correspondent: U.S.
must be 'tolerant' of Iraq future
By Tomislav Ladika
Daily Staff Reporter
Iran may be best known in the United'
States as one of the countries President
Bush included in his "Axis of Evil." But
Los Angeles Times Global Affairs Corre-
spondent Robin Wright said the seeds of
democratic revolution in the Islamic world
might start from Iranians, who are unhap-
py with their government's authoritarian
rule.
"Some of the most energetic and
dynamic ideas are coming from thinkers
in Iran, who hate the ruling regime,"
"Creating a democracy (in
Iraq is a decades-long
process, and the United
States is not going to be
able to create a full
democracy in one year.
- Robin Wright
Global affairs correspondent
The Los Angeles Times
optimism that the people of Islamic
nations can lead their own democratic rev-
olutions is based on progressive Islamic
philosophers' ideas, a large number of dis-
content youth and the spread of diverse
ideas due to globalization.
But democracy's success in spreading
through the Islamic world also depends on
the United States refraining from impos-
ing its ideas on Islamic nations such as
Iraq, she said. The Arab world will watch
Iraq's process of drafting a constitution
and only grant it legitimacy if it believes
the ideas drafted were important to the
Iraqis, she said.
"flretine a de~moracv (in Iraqis a~
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extremists are n lthe fringeoi f a far