I
2A -The Michigan Daily - Monday, November 24, 2003
NATION/WORLD
Three U.S. soldiers killed in Mosul NEWS IN BRIEF
I
J'
' ,
177r, A TNT 7 wTIrc, Tl" !rf I A T nr TwT rti -1- -- - v
MOSUL, Iraq (AP) - Iraqi teenagers
dragged two bloodied American soldiers
from a wrecked vehicle, pummeled
them with concrete blocks and slit their
throats yesterday, witnesses said,
describing a burst of savagery in a city
once safe for Americans.
Another soldier was killed by a
bomb and a U.S.-allied police chief
was assassinated.
The U.S.-led coalition also said it
grounded commercial flights after the
military confirmed that a missile struck
a DHL cargo plane that landed Saturday
at Baghdad International Airport with its
wing aflame.
Nevertheless, American officers
insisted they were making progress in
bringing stability to Iraq, and the U.S.-
appointed Governing Council named an
ambassador to Washington - an Iraqi-
American woman who spent the past
decade lobbying U.S. lawmakers to pro-
mote democracy in her homeland.
Witnesses to the Mosul attack said
gunmen shot two soldiers driving
through the city center, sending their
vehicle crashing into a wall. The 101st
Airborne Division said the soldiers were
driving to another garrison.
About a dozen swarming teenagers
dragged the soldiers out of the wreckage
and beat them with concrete blocks, the
witnesses said.
"They lifted a block and hit them
with it on the face," said Younis
Mahmoud, 19.
The bodies were seen with their
throats cut. It was unknown whether the
soldiers were alive or dead when pulled
from the wreckage.
Another teenager, Bahaa Jassim, said
some looted the vehicle of weapons,
CDs and a backpack.
"They remained there for over an
hour without the Americans knowing
anything about it," he said. "I ... went
and told other troops."
Television video showed the soldiers'
bodies splayed on the ground as U.S.
troops secured the area. One victim's
foot appeared to have been severed.
The frenzy recalled the October 1993
scene in Somalia, when locals dragged
the bodies of Marines killed in fighting
with warlords through the streets.
In Baqouba, just north of Baghdad,
insurgents detonated a roadside bomb as
a 4th Infantry Division convoy passed,
killing one soldier and wounding two
others, the military said.
In Baghdad, Brig. Gen. Mark Kim-
mitt confirmed the Mosul deaths but
refused to provide details.
"We're not going to get ghoulish
about it," he said.
The savagery of the attack was
unusual for Mosul, once touted as a
success story in sharp contrast to
the anti-American violence seen in
Sunni Muslim areas north and west
of Baghdad.
In recent weeks, however, attacks
against U.S. troops have increased in
Mosul, raising concerns the insurgency
is spreading.
JERUSALEM
Sharon hints at concessions, critics skeptical
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, whose popularity has slipped over his fail-
ure to end the conflict with the Palestinians, floated the idea of unilateral
steps yesterday, with officials telling Israeli media this may include draw-
ing a border and removing some settlements.
In the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday, Sharon said he remains committed to
the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, which envisions a negotiated deal, with a
Palestinian state as a centerpiece, by 2005. But Sharon added that he does not
rule out unilateral steps, presumably if efforts to revive the road map fail.
The prime minister did not elaborate, and the comments seemed largely aimed
at proving to an increasingly restless Israeli public that he has a plan for ending
three years of bloodshed. Sharon's critics include four former security chiefs who 4
recently accused him of stalling to avoid concessions and warned Israel is headed
for disaster without a quick solution to the conflict with the Palestinians.
In another development, Israel expelled three Palestinians from the West Bank to
Gaza late yesterday. In all, six of 18 on a list drawn up by the military have been
expelled. Israel says the expulsions are meant to stop the Palestinians from carrying
out terror attacks. Palestinians and human rights groups have denounced the practice.
Trying to soften his hardline image, Sharon told Yediot Ahronot daily he would
present his new plan soon.
WASHINGTON
Medicare reforms spark debate in Senate I
Kabul crash kills
five U.S. soldiers
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Five
U.S. soldiers were killed and seven
injured when their helicopter crashed
yesterday near the American military
headquarters north of the Afghan capi-
tal, U.S. Central Command said.
The soldiers were involved in an
ongoing U.S. military operation,
dubbed Mountain Resolve, taking
place in the east of the country, the
military said.
"A U.S. military helicopter crashed
today near Bagram, Afghanistan," said
a statement sent by e-mail from Cen-
tral Command, in Tampa, Fla. "Early
reports indicate seven service members
were injured and at least five service
members were killed."
It was not clear what caused the
crash, and the military said it was
investigating.
Bagram Air
Base, just north of
the capital, is home The soldier
to most of thei. o.i
11,600 coalition involve in
forces in U.S. nilitar
Afghanistan. An
additional 5,000 dubbed Me
international Reserve ta
peacekeepers
patrol Kabul. in the east
Mountain
Resolve has been COuntry, th
going on since said.
Nov. 7 in eastern
Nuristan and
Kunar provinces, but so far no major
skirmishes with suspected Taliban and
al-Qaida holdouts have taken place.
Also yesterday, a coalition vehicle
struck a land mine while patrolling an
area of Afghanistan near the Pakistani
border, seriously wounding two Ameri-
can soldiers, including one who lost
one of his legs.
Several reporters were traveling with
the 10th Mountain Division forces in
eastern Afghanistan, but none was seri-
ously hurt, the U.S. military said in a
statement issued at Bagram air base. It
gave no further information about the
journalists.
The explosion occurred at about
1 p.m. in Shkin, Paktika province,
about 135 miles south of Kabul, the
Afghan capital. A coalition base
also is located there.
The wounded soldiers received initial
y
k
.e
medical treatment at the scene, then
were evacuated by air to a medical facil-
ity at nearby Salerno base in the city of
Khost, the statement said. The men were
Staff Sgt. Roy Mitchell, of Batesville,
Ind., and Sgt. 1st Class Michael Eichner,
of Stoington, Penn., officials at Fort
Drum in New York state said.
Mitchell, 32, suffered burns to his
face, neck and back, and had his left
leg amputated. Eichner, 31, was
wounded by shrapnel in his back and
had a broken hand, the officials said.
The soldiers were assigned to the 1st
Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment.
Eastern and southern Afghanistan
have become a hotbed of attacks by
pro-Taliban and pro-al-Qaida militants
targeting coalition forces, U.N. workers
and relief agencies.
On Friday, the violence hit Kabul
when a rocket
landed 30 yards
were from the Intercon-
o tinental Hotel,
X1n { 'on o g shattering glass but
operation causing no injuries.
The hotel, a
tain favorite among for-
ing place eign visitors, is
also near the site of
f the an upcoming loya
.'j jirga, or grand
council, set to rati-
fy a new constitu-
tion in December.
A week ago, a
French woman who worked with the
U.N. High Commissioner of Refugees
organization, Bettina Goislard, 29, was
gunned down by suspected Taliban
militants in the southern city of
Ghazni. She became the first interna-
tional aid worker to be killed in
Afghanistan since the fall of the Tal-
iban regime two years ago.
Some 35 Americans have died from
hostile fire in Afghanistan since the
October 2001 start of the Afghan war,
according to the U.S. military.
An American soldier taking part in
the Mountain Resolve operation was
killed Nov. 14 when his vehicle struck
a land mine near Asadabad, the capital
of Kunar province.
Last month, two CIA agents were
killed in an ambush near another U.S.
base in the eastern Afghan border town
of Shkin.
The Republican-controlled Senate pointed toward a showdown yesterday on a
sweeping Medicare prescription drug bill that sparked a last stand by outnumbered
critics and beckoned Democratic presidential hopefuls to the Capitol to join the fight.
Even so, the roster of declared Democratic supporters for the bill grew to nine,
when Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California and Ron Wyden of Oregon announced
their intentions to vote for it. In less-than-glowing assessments, both ascribed a series
of benefits and shortcomings to the bill, and Wyden said his decision was "a very,
very tough call."
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) led a filibuster against the legislation, arguing it
would lead toward privatization of Medicare and warning that if they were successful,
Republicans would soon be back for more. "Social Security is next. Medicare is
now" he said.
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) quickly disputed that, adding that opponents were
playing politics and would regret it. He accused Democrats of blocking a prescription
drug bill two years ago, saying they had "wanted an issue" to take into the 2002 elec-
tion. "They got a defeat at the polls" instead, he said.
. " PHOT
Opposition supporters rally in front of the Georgian Parliament in
Tbilisi yesterday.
Geor0an resident
reo,,signs as protesters
tne
theaten hs resenge
DALLAS
40th anniversary of
JFK death marked
Thousands of mourners, conspira-
cy theorists and the just plain curi-
ous gathered Saturday along the
downtown street where President
John F. Kennedy was assassinated
40 years earlier, with many of them
recalling where they had been at the
very moment they heard the news.
Some looked up to the sixth floor
of the former Texas School Book
Depository, the building from which
officials say Lee Harvey Oswald
fired the deadly shots at 12:30 p.m.
on Nov. 22, 1963. Others gravitated
toward an "X" painted on the pave-
ment to mark the spot where
Kennedy's convertible was passing
when he was hit.
A makeshift memorial with
dozens of bouquets, signs and flags
of the U.S. and other countries was
assembled nearby - one of several
memorials around the country for
the fallen president.
BLACK EARTH, Wis.
Thousands kick off'
deer hunting season
Hunters by the thousands took to the
woods and fields Saturday for the start of
the nine-day gun deer season, giving the
A
heads of their kills to state workers'for
testing of chronic wasting disease.
The Department of Natural Resources
sold 644,818 licenses for this season,;4.2
percent more than in 2002 when the fatal
brain disease was detected in the state's
deer herd. The increase is still 6.4 percent
less than two years ago.
Chuck DuCharme of Black Earth did-
n't hunt last year because he thought he
didn't have enough information about
chronic wasting disease. This year,
though, he thought he was better educat-
ed and picked up a license.
MONACA, Pa.
Hepatitis outbreak
may come to end
State and federal health officials
said Saturday that Pennsylvania's
hepatitis A outbreak is winding
down, even as the number of those
infected climbed over 600. The
investigation shifted to how green
onions linked to the outbreak I
became contaminated.
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) met
Saturday with Julie Gerberding,
director of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, and state
health officials at a community col-
lege near the Beaver County Chi-
Chi's restaurant where the outbreak
was first confirmed Nov. 3.
- Compiled from Daily wire reports.
TBILISI, Georgia (AP) - Georgian
President Eduard Shevardnadze
resigned yesterday as the opposition
threatened to storm his residence. His
fall sparked fireworks and dancing
among tens of thousands of protesters,
and ended a political crisis astonishing
for its speed and lack of violence in a
blood-washed region.
Shevardnadze's resignation caps a
political career during which he won
admiration in the West by helping
guide the Cold War to an end as Sovi-
et foreign minister under Mikhail
Gorbachev. But during 10 years as
president of Georgia, he became
despised for rampant corruption.
Residents of Tbilisi poured into
streets and partied late into the night
after the resignation was announced,
honking car horns and waving flags on
the capital's main Rustaveli Avenue.
Champagne corks flew, and revelers
placed flowers into the machine gun bar-
rels of two armored personnel carriers
blocking a street.
Georgia lies at a crossroads important
to both the United States and Russia, on
the planned path of an oil pipeline
between the landlocked Caspian Sea and
the ports of the Black Sea. The Cauca-
sus nation has seen two bloody sepa-
ratist movements under Shevardnadze's
rule since 1992.
Throughout nearly three weeks of
protests - since parliament elec-
tions that the opposition said were
rigged - both sides, mindful of
Georgia's history of fatal political
conflicts, had pledged to avoid
provocations. Shevardnadze said
maintaining peace was paramount in
his decision to resign.
"I realized that what is happening
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Senator Dang Quang Minh,
member of the National
Liberation Front's Politburo and
its ambassador to the Soviet
Union, described his feelings
about the American protestors
he worked with: "When a person
is not good for his own country,
he is useless for the universe" A
Thousand Tears Falling, written
by his daughter, Yung Krall.
U of M is home to both the
anti-sweatshop movement &
the naked mile
When you have to wear clothes...
may end with spilled blood if I use my
rights" to use force against the protest-
ers, he said on national television.
"The president has accomplished a
courageous act," said opposition leader
Mikhail Saakashvili, head of the Nation-
al Movement. "History will judge him
kindly."
But by then, it was unclear if police
and soldiers would have obeyed an order
to use force. Some soldiers joined a
crowd of-50,000 opposition protesters
who massed in front of parliament yes-
terday morning as Shevardnadze still
clung to power.
The defense minister said the military
wouldn't intervene on the president's
behalf after opposition supporters on
Saturday stormed parliament and
declared an interim government, forcing
Shevardnadze to flee the building in a
nationally televised scene.
Abroad, Shevardnadze found few
allies. He has long courted the United
States, but Washington condemned the
Nov. 2 elections as fraudulent. After the
parliament takeover, the United States
only called on both sides to avoid vio-
lence. Russia sent its foreign minister to
mediate a way out.
Yesterday, Saakashvili visited She-
vardnadze in his residence outside Tbil-
isi and told him that if he did not resign,
opposition protesters would seize the
building. Russian Foreign Minister Igor
Ivanov joined them at the meeting. She-
vardnadze then signed his resignation.
New parliament elections are planned
within 45 days. Until then, an interim
government headed by opposition figure
Nino Burdzhanadze will run the ex-
Soviet republic.
Despite the wide satisfaction over
Shevardnadze's ouster, the opposition
may have difficulty maintaining unity in
a country where political fault lines fol-
low personality and loyalty rather than
ideological conviction. Saakashvili and
Burdzhanadze worked closely during
the weeks of protests in what appeared
to be a marriage of convenience.
Further complicating Georgia's poli-
tics is the Revival party, which was often
at odds with Shevardnadze but even
more vehemently opposed to
Saakashvili, alleging that he is a fascist.
But for the moment, Shevardnadze's
fall meant only one thing to celebrating
Georgians. "Freedom," said Irma Mer-
abishvili, a 34-year-old teacher handing
out flowers in the street alongside her.
"There was no blood, no killing,
everything was peaceful," said Nona
Ushuilidze, a 60-year-old university
to-anhar w.trnalf the+, nnfrtn
WWW.MICHIGANDAILY.COM
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 fall 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. E-mail letters to the
editor to letters~'michie'andailv.c am.
4
wear your conscience-
www.justiceclothing. com
Gary Lillie & Assoc., Realtors
www.garylillie.com
U of M alumni selling a wide-variety
of union made and sweatshop free
clothing and apparel.
NEWS Shabina S. Khatri, Managing Editor
763.2459, newstmlchlgandallycen
EDITORS: C. Price Jones, Kylene Klang, Jennifer Misthal, Jordan Schrader
STAFF: Farayha Arrine, Jeremy Berkowitz, David Branson, Ashley Dinges, Adhiraj Dutt, Sara Eber, Victoria Edwards, Margaret Engoren. Cianna
Freeman, Alison Go, Michael Gurovitsch, Aymar Jean, Carmen Johnson, Michael Ken, Andrew Kaplan, Emily Kraack, Tomisav Ladika, Even McGarvey,
Nila Moreira, Jameel Naqvi, Kristin Ostby, Mona Rafeeq, Adam Rosen, Karen Schwartz. Maria Sprow, Dan Trudeau, Trista Vn Tine, Ryan Vlcko
OPINION Aubrey Henretty, Zac Peskowltz, Editors
763.0379, opiniontmichigandally com
ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Daniel Adams, Sravya Chirumamila, Jason Pesick, Jess Piskor
STAFF: Nicole Avenia, Benjamin Bass, David Betts, Darryl Boyd, Aryeh Friedman, Emily Hanan, Christine Heath, Bonnie Kellman, Sowmya
Krishnamurthy, Andy Kula, Suhael Momin, Laura Platt, Ben Royal, Courtney Taymour
CARTOONISTS: Sam Butler, Colin Daly
COLUMNISTS: Steve Cotner, Johanna Hanink, Joel Hoard, Ari Paul, Hussain Rahim, Lauren Strayer
SPORTS J. Brady McCollough, Managing Editor
764.8585, sportsamichIgandalycom
SENIOR EDITORS: Chris Burke, Courtney Lewis, Kyle O'Neill, Naweed Sikora
NIGHT EDITORS: Daniel Bremmer, Gennaro Filice, Bob Hunt, Dan Rosen, Brian Schick, Jim Weber
STAFF: Jeremy Antar, Eric Ambinder, Kyle Carpenter, Waldemar Centeno, Ian Herbert, Josh Holman, Brad Johnson, Jamie
Josephson, Melanie Kebler, Megan Kolodgy, Phil Kofahl, Matt Kramer, Julie Master, Sharad Mattu, Ellen McGarrity, Michael
Nisson, Jake Rosenwasser, Steven Shears, Matt Singer, Ryan Sosin, Anne Uible
ARTS Todd Weiser, Managing Editor
763.0379, artspag@michigandally.com
EDITORS: Jason Roberts, Scott Serilla
WEEKEND MAGAZINE EDITORS: Charles Paradis, Rebecca Ramsey
SUB-EDITORS: Katie Marie Gates, Johanna Hanink, Joel Hoard, Ryan Lewis, Sarah Peterson
STAFF: Jennie Adler, Marie Bernard, Aliya Chowdhri, Sean Dailey, Laurence Freedman, Andrew M. Gaerig, Brandon Hang, Lynn Hasselbarth, Mary
Hiliemeier, Andrew Horowitz, Alexandra Jones, Erin Kaplan, Michelle Kijek, Zach Mabee, Vanessa Miller, Jared Newman, Neal Pais, James Pfent,
Christopher Pitoun, Adam Rottenberg, Melissa Runstrom, Julie Sills, Niamh Slevin, Jaya Soni, Justin Weiner, Douglas Wernert, Alex Wolsky
4
I
r
ri
4
PHOTO Tony Ding, Brett Mountain, Managing Editors
764.0563, phototmichigandally.com
ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Elise Bergman, Seth Lower
NIGHT EDITORS: Jason Cooper, Ryan Weiner
STAFF: Trevor Campbell, Forest Casey, Joel Friedman, Ashley Harper, Curtis Hiller, Jeff Lehnert, Kelly Lin, Danny Moloshok, Brendan
O'Donnell, Shubra Ohri, Laura Shlecter, Jonathon Triest, David Tuman
ONLINE
763.2459, onlino@michlgandally.com
EDITOR: Ashley Jardn a
STAFF: John Becic, Kate Green, Janna Hutz, Mira Levitan
Geoffrey Fink, Managing EdItor
a
DISPLAY SALES Leah Trzclnsld, Manager
Ad