2 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, October 13, 2004 NATION/WORLD Court to hear command ents case NEWS IN BRIEF At issue: Can Ten Commandments can be displayed on Gov't nronert- 1 - - -- 1 1~ ; WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court said yesterday it will con- sider whether the Ten Commandments may be displayed on government proper- ty, ending a 25-year silence on a church- ebrated the news. "The Lord answers prayers," said former Judge-Executive Jimmie Greene of McCreary CountyKy., which was ordered to remove a display in the hallway of the county courthouse. state issue that has prompted bitter legal fights around the country. Ten Command- ments displays are common in town squares and courthouses and on other govern- ment-owned land, including the Supreme Court. A wall carving of Moses holding the tablets is in "Could you think of a better reason to go to jail than standing up in defense of the Ten Commandments?" -Jimmie Greene Former Judge-Executive of McCreary County, Ky. Greene refused to do the task him- self. "I am a law- abiding citizen, but there is a high- er power," Greene said. "I just could not remove that sacred document. Could you think of a better rea- son to go to jail than standing up in defense of the Ten Command- the courtroom where justices will hear arguments in the case. Courts around the country have splin- tered over whether the exhibits violate the constitutional principle of separa- tion of church and state. The disputes have led to emotional battles, such as one in Alabama by Chief Justice Roy Moore, who lost his job after defying a federal order to remove a 5,300-pound monument from the state courthouse. The Supreme Court refused last week to help him get his job back. But the justices agreed to address the constitutionality of displays in Ken- tucky and Texas. The case probably will be argued in February with a decision before July. Supporters of the monuments cel- ments?" The Rev. Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State said the court should block all government displays of religious docu- ments. "It's clear that the Ten Commandments is a religious document. Its display is appropriate in houses of worship but not at the seat of government," Lynn said. The court last dealt with the issue in 1980, when justices banned post- ing the Ten Commandments in public schools. That case also was from Ken- tucky. Mathew Staver of the conservative law group Liberty Counsel, attorney for Kentucky counties in the current case, said the Supreme Court has expected for AP PuHT Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott speaks near a granite slab bearing the Ten Commandments on the Capitol grounds yesterday in Austin, Texas. a long time that a blockbuster religious liberty case would come along. "It's finally here," Staver said. Officials in two Kentucky counties - McCreary and Pulaski - hung framed copies of the Ten Command- ments in their courthouses and added other documents, such as the Magna Carta and the Declaration of Indepen- dence, after the American Civil Liber- ties Union challenged the display. The ACLU won and county officials are appealing the decision. David Friedman, general counsel for the Kentucky ACLU, said people of dif- ferent faiths follow different versions of the document. "Especially in a courthouse, people should not be made to feel like outsiders in their own community because they may not share the prevailing religious view," he said. U.S. troops pound Sunni insurgents BAGHDAD, Iraq U.S. considers softer position on Iran VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Reconsidering its hard line on Iran, the United States is weighing the idea of rewarding the Islamic republic if it gives up tech- nology that can be used for nuclear arms, diplomats and U.S. officials said yes- terday. The diplomats, who spoke to The Associated Press from Vienna and another European capital, said senior European negotiators directly answerable to their foreign ministers planned to go to Washington this week for discussions with top U.S. State Department officials on a common Iran strategy. "Discussions are ongoing between the Americans and the Europeans on how to address the nuclear question in Iran," a diplomat said. Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi offered European governments assurances yesterday in Tehran that his country would never produce nuclear bombs if Tehran's right to enrich uranium was recognized. "The time has come for Europe to take a step forward and suggest that our legitimate right for complete use of nuclear energy is recognized (in return for) assurances that our program will not be diverted toward weapons," Kharrazi said. POIANA BRASOV, Romania NATO planning to speed up mobiization Struggling to muster more troops for Afghanistan and take on an expanded training mission in Iraq, NATO defense ministers will aim this week to advance reforms that would let the alliance mobilize faster for far-flung operations. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is expected to take a lead in urging more speed, particularly to get extra European troops into Afghanistan. He will huddle today and tomorrow with the other ministers for NATO's first meeting in one of the seven eastern European nations that joined the alliance in April. "NATO, in our view needs to move faster, with a greater degree of commit- ment and political will to help the Afghan government," Nicholas Burns, the U.S. ambassador to NATO said ahead of the meeting at alliance headquarters in Brus- sels, Belgium. Before flying by helicopter to the NATO meeting site, Rumsfeld met with Roma- nian government leaders in Bucharest. At a news conference there, he deflected a reporter's question on whether NATO would get military trainers to Iraq in time to make a difference in providing security for the elections. WASHINGTON Flu shots delivered straight to nursing homes The government moved yesterday to direct scarce remaining flu shots straight to pediatricians, nursing homes and other places that care for the patients who need them most. But only a fraction of the 22.4 million doses that maker Aventis Pasteur has yet to ship can be diverted to areas with the biggest shortages. And officials acknowl- edged yesterday that even if planned rationing goes well, there will be high-risk patients who struggle to get shots but can't find them. "We're sorry for the people who need flu vaccine and may not be able to get it this year," said Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "But we will take every step that we can take to get an equitable distri- bution of vaccine as quickly as we can." WASHINGTON Homeland security dept favors new cyber chief Reversing its decision under pressure from lawmakers and the technol- ogy industry, the Department of Homeland Security said yesterday it supports appointing a new senior cybersecurity chief higher in its organization with broader authority and more control over spending. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said he supports the new position dur- ing a meeting with the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, private experts from the banking, transportation, energy and manufacturing industries. Ridge told advisers he intends to elevate the cybersecurity job to that of a new assistant secretary two steps below him in the chain of command, said Paul Kurtz, a former White House cybersecurity adviser who attended the meeting. - Compiled from Daily wire reports M ARKE T UPDATE TUE. CLOSE CHANGE Dow JONEs 10,077.18 - 4.79 NASDAQ 1,925.17 - 3.59 S&P 500 1,121.84 - 2.55 www. michigandaily.con The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Mondays during the spring and summer terms by students at the University of Michigan. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $110. Winter term (January through April) is $115, yearlong (September through April) is $195. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. Yearlong on-campus subscriptions are $40. Subscriptions 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 tothedaily@michigandaly.com. A BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S. troops went on the offensive from the gates of Baghdad to the Syrian border yesterday, pounding Sunni insurgent positions from the air and supporting Iraqi soldiers in raids on mosques suspected of harboring extremists. American and Iraqi forces launched the opera- tions ahead of Ramadan, which will start at week's end, in an apparent attempt at preventing a repeat of the insurgent violence that took place at the start of last year's Muslim holy month. Clashes broke out in a string of militant strong- holds from Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, northward along the Euphrates Valley to the Syrian border town of Qaim - all major conflict areas. Some of the sharpest exchanges took place in Hit, 90 miles northwest of Baghdad, where residents and hospital officials said U.S. aircraft attacked two sites, killing two people and wounding five. The U.S. command had no comment. U.S. helicopters fired on a mosque in Hit on Mon- day and set it ablaze after the military said insurgents opened fire on Marines from the sanctuary. Scattered clashes were reported overnight, killing at least two Iraqis and wounding 15, hospital official said. Insurgents attacked an Iraqi National Guard outpost east of Qaim yesterday, the U.S. military said. The local hospital reported 15 to 20 people were killed. Seventy miles west of Baghdad, Iraqi troops backed by U.S. soldiers and Marines raided seven mosques in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, arresting a locally prominent member of a clerical association and three other people. They also seized bomb-mak- ing materials and "insurgent propaganda" in the mosques, U.S. officials said. In Baghdad, the Association of Muslim Scholars, a Sunni clerical group suspected of links to the insur- gency, condemned the mosque raids as an example of alleged American hostility toward Islam. "I think there is a religious ideology that drives the American troops," said the association's official spokesman, Mohammed Bashar al-Faydhi. "Presi- dent Bush has said at the beginning of the war that this is a 'crusade,' " he said, referring to the Chris- tian attacks on Muslims in the Middle Ages. Angry Ramadi residents accused the Americans of breaking down doors and violating the sanctity of mosques. "This cowboy behavior cannot be accepted," said cleric Abdullah Abu Omar. "The Americans seem to have lost their senses and have gone out of control." However, the raids followed a surge in insurgent attacks in Ramadi, and the U.S. command accused the Clashes broke out in a string of militant strongholds from Fallujah to the Syrian border town of Qaim. militants of violating the sanctity of the mosques by using them for military purposes. Marine spokesman Maj. Francis Piccoli said U.S. troops provided backup for the Iraqi soldiers but did not enter the mosques. In Fallujah, the focal point for Sunni resistance, residents reported explosions and clashes on the east- ern edge of the city yesterday afternoon. At least five people were killed and four wounded in the blasts, according to Fallujah General Hospital. The victims were reportedly traveling in a truck and two cars on a highway outside the city when they came under fire. The U.S. command issued no statement. The renewed activity around Fallujah followed a pair of pre-dawn airstrikes, which the U.S. com- mand said targeted hideouts and meeting places of the feared Tawhid and Jihad, the terrorist group responsible for numerous kidnappings and behead- ings of foreign hostages. I I I Go here 'I, 40aw www.fordveh icescom/collegerad HeesL----to get there Here's the deal: e one price, no haggling. This "student discount" offers substantial savings on new Ford Motor Company...... ...........-.'.. vehicles based on set prices established by Ford's Employee Purchase Plan. 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