2 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, March 31, 2004 NATION/WORLD I Bush allows Rice to testify on 9-11 NEWs IN BRIEF, HEADLINES FROM AROU WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush agreed yesterday to do what he had insisted for weeks he would not: allow National Security Adviser Con- doleezza Rice to testify publicly and under oath before an independent panel investigating the Sept. 11 terror- ist attacks. The White House also agreed that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney would answer questions - together, in private - before the entire commission. The turnabout reflected administra- tion concern that the president's strongest point with voters - his lead- ership in the war on terror - could be eroded if the high-publicity dispute over Rice's testimony lingered. "I've ordered this level of coopera- tion because I consider it necessary to gaining a complete picture of the months and years that preceded the murder of our fellow citizens on Sept. 11, 2001," Bush said. "Our nation must never forget the loss or the lessons of September the 11th, and we must never assume that the danger has passed," he said in short remarks in the White House briefing room. He took no questions. The commission's Republican chair- man, former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, welcomed the decision and said the White House shouldn't be con- cerned that the testimony would vio- late the principles of executive privilege or separation of powers. "We recognize the fact that this is an extraordinary event," Kean said. "This does not set a precedent." He said there was still no time set - either for Rice's public testimony or for Bush and Cheney's private appearance. Administration officials said her appearance probably would come at the end of next week. Bush is staking much of his re-elec- tion bid on his performance as presi- dent after the 2001 attacks. But former Bush counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke - in a best- selling book and testimony before the Sept. 11 commission last week - con- tended the president had been slow to act against al-Qaida before the attacks and compromised the anti-terror battle afterward by going to war in Iraq. Opinion polls suggest support for Bush's handling of the war on terror has declined. Two surveys out this week show the president's approval rat- ings on that issue are now in the high 50 percent range after being in the mid-60s for months. Although the erosion has not hurt Bush in one-on-one polling against Democratic rival John Kerry, the White House saw a brewing problem. It waged a vigorous counterattack on Clarke's credibility. But the many hours Rice spent rebutting Clarke in the news media only raised anew the criticism of the White House refusal to let her testify publicly. . MADRID, Spain Spain names group responsible for attack The Spanish government named a Moroccan extremist group linked to al-Qaida as the main focus of the Madrid bombing probe and said yesterday that investigators were making swift progress. The Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, forerunner of a group blamed for last year's suicide bombings in Casablanca, is now the "priority" Interior Minister Angel Acebes said - a reversal of the government's initial statements that the prime sus- pects were Basque separatists. "Other options are not being ruled out, but primarily the investigation is going to go in this direction," Acebes told reporters. The group had surfaced in Spanish news reports, but this was the first time a Spanish government official publicly identified it as the focus of investigation into the March 11 commuter train bombings. Acebes said witness testimony and the discovery of a rural house where the attackers were believed to have assembled the backpack bombs used in the attacks have led investigators closer to unraveling the plot behind the bombings, which killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800. TASHKENT, Uzbekistan Police battle militants in Uzbekistan's capital Gunfire and explosions resounded in the capital yesterday as Uzbek forces bat- tled for hours with suspected Islamic militants after two more suicide attacks. Officials claimed 20 terrorists and three police died in the fighting. The bloodshed brought the death toll to 42 after three days of violence, the gov- ernment said - the most serious unrest in the country since Uzbekistan let hun- dreds of U.S. troops use a base near the Afghan border after the Sept. 11 attacks. All of this week's attacks appeared to target Uzbek authorities. The clashes yesterday were centered in the Yalangach neighborhood, just outside the city limits off the road heading to the official home of President Islam Karimov. An Associated Press reporter saw four separate sites of fighting in the district: remnants from two suicide bombings on roads, a burned-out building pockmarked with bullet holes and the bodies of at least five suspects splayed out in front of an apartment house. The Interior Ministry said in an statement read on state-run tele- vision that 20 terrorists and three police were killed in the confrontations that began about 7:20 a.m., while five other police were wounded. APPHOiO National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice listens as President Bush speaks to reporters at the end of a Cabinet meeting at the White House. Even Republicans began saying the administration's argument on separa- tion of powers should be tossed aside. Commissioner Slade Gorton, a for- mer Republican senator from Wash- ington state, said he was delighted at Bush's change of heart, but he added: "I think the White House would have been better off if it had made the agreements sooner." Bush has reversed himself in the face of political realities on several previous occasions, especially on the subject of the Sept. 11 commission. Most recently, the administration, which had wanted to restrict any access to the president by the panel to just one hour, relaxed that limit. MCRI Continued from Page Court. But, in an effort to stop the case from reaching the appeals court, Washington will file a motion to dismiss the trial because the attor- ney general has not formally con- sulted with his clients, the board members, on his decision to appeal. Opponents say Cox's based his decision on his desire to act on his own beliefs. Cox is against racial preferences. "Cox is acting on his personal, political agenda," BAMN national organizer Luke Massie said. Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan presents Color-Blind Affirmative Action Dr. Glenn Loury University Professor Professor of Economics Boston University Dr. Loury is the author of The Anatomy of Racial Inequality, (Harvard University Press, 2002). March 31, 2004 4:00 p.m. Michigan Union, Kuenzel Room 530 S. State Street Ann Arbor Michigan Research paper available at http://www.fordschooL.umich.edu/academics/lectures.htm But Matt Davis, spokesman for the attorney general, said Cox did not decide to appeal because of MCRI's proposal to end racial pref- erences. Since Thursday's ruling invalidated the petition form based on a formatting issue and not on principle, Cox is defending the board on technical grounds, Davis said. Members of the board also sup- ported Cox's decision to appeal, even though they were not formally approached. "The appeal flows naturally from our underlying decision," Republi- can canvasser Eric Pelton said. To let a circuit court decision stand, he said, would be unprecedented. Republican canvasser Kathy DeGrow said she had no opinion on the decision to appeal but stands by her vote to approve the MCRI peti- tion, as does Pelton. The board is a four person, bipar- tisan body that approves the format of petitions based on Michigan law. Three of the board members approved the MCRI petition in December, while one abstained. As it stands, Manderfield's ruling could hamper MCRI's campaign. If the appeal fails, the ruling would SPECIALIZING IN FILLET MIGNONS, HAWAIIAN CHICKEN, AND PRIME RIBS HAPPY HOUR: M-F (4-7) GREAT DRINK SPECIALS! Plymouth Rd. across from the watertower (2000 Commonwealth Blvd.) (734) 761-5858 1 require MCRI to redo its petition form and start its campaign over, losing two months of petitioning. For the initiative to reach the ballot, MCRI would have to again seek the board's approval. MCRI campaign manager Tim O'Brien said before the campaign began, MCRI lawyers anticipated such efforts to hamper the initiative. But because MCRI claims the amendment does not alter the con- stitution, it intentionally omitted the existing article from its form. O'Brien said the initiative volun- tarily sought the board's approval and noted that it was not required. Manderfield's decision, he said, amounts to little more than a public relations disaster for MCRI. "It really had no legal impact on us," O'Brien said. "We didn't need their permission." MCRI has no plans to change the form of its petition, O'Brien said, and it urges all petitioners to continue collect- ing signatures. The group will submit its signatures in "full confidence" that they will pass legal muster. But the group's opponents dis- agree. "It is obvious that it's an attempt to deceive the public," Washington said. Manderfield also wrote that the current petition leaves the public ill-informed. MCRI campaign faces a number of other challenges in its drive to elimi- nate race-conscious policies. The group seeks 400,000 to 425,000 sig- natures by June 15 - mainly to ensure that most signatures are valid. MCRI is also trying to raise $4 mil- lion for the campaign. Campaign officials said they are unaware of the number of signa- tures collected. It is also unknown how much money the group has raised. LONDON British police capture eight in terrorist hunt Police arrested eight men and seized half a ton .of ammonium nitrate, a fertil- izer compound used in the Oklahoma City bombing, in raids by hundreds of officers - one of the biggest anti-ter- rorism operations in Britain since the Sept. 11 attacks. Home Secretary David Blunkett, who has warned for months that Lon- don is a prime terrorist target, said the arrests yesterday were a "timely reminder" of the threat from al-Qaida. But a Muslim leader warned that the headline-grabbing dawn raids risked demonizing the whole community. Press Association, the British news agency, said all eight were of Pakistani descent, but police would not comment. Eight suspects were picked up in Lon- don and towns to the south and west on suspicion of involvement in the "com- mission, preparation or instigation" of acts of terrorism, London's Metropolitan Police said. LA PAZ, Bolivia Man detonates bomb in Bolivian congress An angry miner with dynamite strapped to his chest blew himself up inside Bolivia's congress yesterday, also killing two police officers, author- ities said. La Paz Police Chief Guido Arandia said the man - whose demand for early retirement benefits underscored the grievances of many low-paid miners in Bolivia - stormed into congress around midday and went to a part of the building away from the congressional chambers. The miner detonated his vest laced with at least five sticks of dynamite as congressional security police tried to negotiate, killing himself and fatal- ly wounding two of the police, Aran- dia said. GAZA CITY, Gaza Stiip Israel to dismantle several settlements The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades warned an American delegation yesterday not to visit the Palestinian territories, accusing the United States of bias in favor of Israel. Hours later, some group members backed down from the veiled threats. Israel prepared to take down an unau- thorized outpost in the West Bank. Israeli security sources saidHazon David is one of several such outposts to be dismantled ahead of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's trip to the United States next month. The move appeared to be aimed at building U.S. support for Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and small parts of the West Bank. Sharon plans to visit President Bush on April 14. - Complied from Daily wire reports 4 The M1chlihan DaJI1NI SSIFIED CRUIT lap 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 Ietters@michigandaily.com. 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