2A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, February 14, 2005 NATION/WORLD Mlilitants agree to de facto truce NEWS IN BRIEF aw U i~ i I Imm yl ~um awa I5 iiIill \N1 1I INIWEG1 tWIM \ lelNl ONim iIMViTtilCt NRLM. I * Hamas, Islamic Jihad stop short of agreeing to official cease-fire GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - The Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad said Saturday they were adhering to a de facto truce with Israel, but stopped short of committing to the official cease-fire that Palestin- ian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon agreed on at their summit. Israel agreed to repatriate about 55 Palestinians it deported to the Gaza Strip and Europe on terror accusations. The majority were exiled after a month- long siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in 2002. In fast-paced moves to cement the truce, Israel said it will transfer control of the West Bank town of Jericho to Palestinians this coming week. As part of the cease-fire, Israel has pledged to return five West Bank towns - the oth- ers are Tulkarem, Qalqiliya, Bethlehem and Ramallah - to Palestinian control within three weeks. Leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad met Saturday with Abbas, who is trying to keep the fragile cease-fire intact and end more than four years of fighting. The two groups had already agreed to halt attacks before the cease-fire agree- ment at Tuesday's summit in Egypt. A Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zahar, told The Associated Press the group will wait to see whether Israel stops its military activities and targeted kill- ings of Palestinian militants before deciding whether to sign on to the official cease-fire. Zahar, after meeting Abbas, said Hamas was "committed to what is called 'quietness' " until it determines whether Israel meets its truce obliga- tions, including disclosing the criteria for releasing Palestinian prisoners. "Up to this moment, we are commit- ted to the previous agreement with Mr. Abbas, and we are going to see how the Israelis" act, Zahar told the AP. Hamas was behind dozens of suicide bombings and attacks that killed hun- dreds of Israelis. On Thursday, it upset the Sharon-Abbas truce by training doz- ens of rockets and mortars on Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip. Though Israel gave no timetable for the return of the deported Palestin- ians, one of the exiles, Ghanem Swei- lem, told reporters in Gaza City on Saturday that they expect to go home within a week or two. "Today, we received good news that an agreement was reached with the Israeli side to allow us to return to our cities ... each to his home, each to his city, within a short period of time," said Sweilem, who was exiled from his home in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus more than two years ago. The repatriation of the deportees is part of a larger dispute over the release of Palestinian prisoners. Israel has agreed to free 900 of the estimated 8,000 Pal- estinian prisoners, but the Palestinians want a broader release. Five hundred of the 900 prisoners are expected to be released soon. A minis- terial committee on prisoner releases is to meet Sunday, Israel Radio said. Israel has also agreed to lift travel restrictions in parts of the West Bank and abandon several major checkpoints as part of the handover. That would be a major dividend from the cease-fire for ordinary Palestinians, because the restrictions have caused them severe economic hardship. The cease-fire has coincided with renewed U.S. attempts to get an internationally backed Mideast peace plan known as the "road map" back on track. The new U.S. security coordinator for the Middle East, Army Lt. Gen. Wil- liam E. Ward, is to make his first trip to the region later this month. In Munich, Germany, NATO's top diplomat said Saturday the alliance should be ready to play a major role in supporting the peace efforts if asked. Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Schef- fer said he planned to go to Israel next week, the first such visit by a NATO secretary-general. - - ' -~ . .~ - U ~w~n~. - wU i*~waU 2 y n, y4:iY NEW YORK Norfti Korea: No more six-party talks North Korea's deputy U.N. ambassador said there would be "no more" six-nation talks on the country's nuclear program and maintained the real issue is whether the United States intends to attack the reclusive communist nation. Han Song Ryol made clear his country's announcement Thursday that it is a nuclear power and that it would indefinitely suspend its participation in six-party negotiations was the result of Pyongyang's belief that the United States is bent on invading North Korea to topple Kim Jong II's authoritarian regime. Han went further in an interview Friday with Associated Press Television News when asked what it would take to get North Korea to come back to the talks. "Six- party talks is old story. No more," the North Korean envoy replied in English. The United States, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia have struggled to arrange a fourth round of talks aimed at persuading Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons programs. The last round was held in June. North Korea's claim that it has nuclear weapons could not be indepen- dently verified. e Americans leave no paper trail in Iraq Destroyed Iraqi infrastructure led Americans to use piles of cash to pay reconstruction contractors WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. officials in postwar Iraq paid a contractor by stuffing $2 million worth of crisp bills into his gunnysack and routinely made cash payments around Baghdad from a pickup truck, a for- mer official with the U.S. occupation government says. Because the country lacked a functioning banking system, contractors and Iraqi ministry officials were paid with bills taken from a basement vault in one of Saddam Hussein's palaces that served as headquarters for the Coalition Provisional Authority, former CPA official Frank Willis said. Officials from the CPA, which ruled Iraq from June 2003 to June 2004, would count the money when it left the vault, but nobody kept track of the cash after that, Willis said. "In sum: inexperienced officials, fear of decision- making, lack of communications, minimal security, no banks, and lots of money to spread around. This chaos I have referred to as a 'Wild West,"' Willis said in testimony he prepared to give today before a panel of Democratic senators who want to spotlight the waste of U.S. funds in Iraq. A senior official in the 1980s at the State and Transportation departments under then-President Ronald Reagan, Willis provided The Associated Press with a copy of his testimony and answered questions in an interview. NEW YORK Head of oil-for-food program blocked audit The U.N. oil-for-food program chief under scrutiny for alleged corruption and mismanagement blocked a proposed audit of his office around the same time he is accused of soliciting lucrative oil deals from Iraq, according to investigators. A U.N. auditing team, which was severely understaffed, said running the $64 billion oil-for-food program was "a high risk activity" and a priority for review. But Benon Sevan denied the internal auditors' request to hire a consultant to examine his office in May 2001 - an act top investigators of the program are now calling into question. "I think the auditors thought they were steered away from some areas," Paul Volcker, who's leading the independent probe, told The Associated Press. "Our judgment is that the main office should have been audited. And that leaves the inference that perhaps the auditors were not encouraged to do the work. I think we draw the inference that it was at least suspicious." BAGHDAD, Iraq U.S. soldier killed fighting in Iraq A U.S. soldier was killed in fighting north of Baghdad and gunmen assassi- nated an Iraqi general and two companions in a Shiite neighborhood of the capital Sunday. Election officials said a Shiite alliance won the most votes in the Jan. 30 elections but will have to form a coalition government. Three other U.S. soldiers were killed when their vehicle rolled into a canal Sunday, the military said. The men from Task Force Danger were on a combat patrol near the town of Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad, the U.S. command said in a statement. A fourth Task Force Danger soldier was killed and one was wounded in fighting near Samarra, a flashpoint of the insurgency 60 miles north of Baghdad, the military said. In the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah, an Iraqi translator for Italian troops and his son were shot to death Sunday, a spokesman for Italy's military said. DRESDEN, Germany German far-right protests Dresden anniversary Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder yesterday warned Germans against for- getting history, as far-right supporters rallied in Dresden to protest a dev- astating Allied bombing in World War II that killed an estimated 35,000 residents 60 years ago. The rally - and fears of street clashes - cast a shadow over a day of remem- brance and reflection on the U.S.-British air raids, which set off firestorms and destroyed the centuries-old city center. Schroeder vowed to fight attempts by neo-Nazis to blur the historical context of the Feb. 13-14, 1945, attack - part of a war started by Nazi Germany during which Adolf Hitler's regime killed 6 million European Jews in the Holocaust. "Today we grieve for the victims of war and the Nazi reign of terror in Dres- den, in Germany and in Europe," he said in a statement issued in Berlin. - Compiled from Daily wire reports AP PHOTO Former Coalition Provisional Authority advisers Frank Willis, left, and Darrell Trent stand in front of a pile of money at an undisclosed location in Baghdad in this 2003 photograph provided by Willis. James Mitchell, spokesman for the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, told the AP that cash payments in Iraq were a problem when the occupation authority ran the country and they continue during the massive U.S.-funded reconstruction. "There are no capabilities to electronically transfer funds," Mitchell said. "This complicates the financial management of reconstruction projects and complicates our ability to follow the money." The Pentagon, which had oversight of the CPA, did not immediately comment in response to requests Fri- day and over the weekend. aL) L a) -r INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS AUSTRALIA Sydney CHINA Beijing ENGLAND London FRANCE Grenoble Paris IRELAND Dublin CI E- thLs year we're tryin' somnethiLng different. We're not printing the salary supplement in all of its 70 pages of newsprint glory. we've decided to save some paper. the 2005 salary 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 $110. Winter term (January through April) is $115, yearlong (September through April) is $195. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. 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@michigandaily.com. -J.~C - - *- 1.NU'4- - - -n . n-f 6 NEWS Farayha Arrine, Managing Editor 763-2459, news@michigandally.com EDITORS: Melissa Benton, Donn M. Fresard, Michael Kan, Jameel Naqvi STAFF: Omayah Atassi, Liz Belts, Adrian Chen, Amber Colvin, Jon Cohen, Jeremy Davidson. Adhiraj Dutt. Victoria Edwards, Chloe Foster, Magaly Grimaldo, Julia Heming, Tina Hildreth, Jacqueline Howard, Alexa Jenner, Anne Joiing, Carmen Johnson, Genevieve Lampinen, Andrew Kaplan, Emily Kraack, Rachel Kruer, Tomislav Ladika, Kingson Man, Kelly McDermott, Carissa Miller, Justin Miller, Naila Moreira, Mark Osmond, Kristin Ostby, Koustubh Patwardhan, Leslie Rott, Ekjyot Saini, Talia Selitsky, Sarah Sprague. Karl Stampfl, Abby Stassen, Phil Svabik, Karen Tee, Kim Tomlin, Laura Van Hyfte OPINION Suhael Momin, Sam Singer, Editors 763-0379, opinion@mchigandaIly.com ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Matt Rose, Christopher Zbrozek STAFF: Emily Beam, Katherine Cantor. Whitney Dibo, Daniel Faichney, Jesse Forester, Mara Gay, Jared Goldberg, Theresa Kennelly, Andy Kula, Rajiv Prabhakar. Saamir Rahman, David Russell. Dan Skowronski, Brian Slade CARTOONISTS: Sam Butler, Colin Daly, Alexander Honkala COLUMNISTS: Daniel Adams, Jasmine Clair, Jeff Cravens, Joel Hoard. Sowmya Krishnamurthy, Elliott Mallen, Zac Peskowitz, Jordan Schrader, Dan Shuster SPORTS Ian Herbert, Managing Editor 764-8585, sports@michiganda,y.com SENIOR EDITORS: Eric Ambinder, Josh Holman, Megan Kolodgy, Sharad Mattu, Stephanie Wright NIGHT EDITORS: James V. Dowd, Jack Herman, Katie Niemeyer, Jake Rosenwasser, Matt Singer, Matt Venegoni STAFF: Scott Bell. H. Jose Bosch, Daniel Bremmer, Daniel Bromwich, Chris Burke, Gabe Edelson, Gennaro Filice, Seth Gordon, Tyler Hagle, Bob Hunt, Jamie Josephson, Max Kardon, Dan Ketchel, Dan Levy, Sara Livingston, Ellen McGarrity, Chastity Rolling, Brian Schick, Pete Sneider, Ryan Sosin, Anne Uible, Ben Voss, Kevin Wright r) 11 supplemuent is flow Q :va....~ r This is B.U. This could be you. STUDY ABROAD SUMMER 2005 in easy use POt C!) format. to ITALY Padova PERU Ayacucho & Lima u*O) purchase your 2005 salary supplement at The MLchigan Daily-Located in the student PubLLcatLons ouLLding at 420 Maynard. (next to the student Activities ouiLding) the 2005 ARTS Adam Rottenberg, Managing Editor 763-0379, artspage@michigandally.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Alexandra M. Jones, Melissa Runstrom WEEKEND MAGAZINE EDITORS: Ashley Dinges, Doug Wernert SUBEDITORS: Victoria Edwards, Marshall W. Lee, Punit Mattoo, Evan McGarvey, Bernie Nguyen STAFF: Amanda Andrade, Rachel Berry, Lindsey Bieber, Jeffrey Bloomer, Zach Borden, Lloyd Cargo, Forest Casey. Cyril Cordor, Ian Dickinson, Will Dunlap, Andrew M. Gaerig, Chris Gaerig, Leah Hangarter, Brandon Harig, Lynn Hasselbarth, Joel Hoard, Kevin Hollifield, Andrew Horowitz, Megan Jacobs, Michelle Kijek, Matt Kivel, Garrick Kobylarz, Emily Liu, Jacob Nathan, Jared Newman, Sarah Peterson, Jason Roberts, Ruby Robinson, Niamh Slevin, Abby Stotz PHOTO Ryan Weiner, Managing Editor 764-2459, photo@michigandally.com ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Forest Casey, Jason Cooper ASSISTANT EDITORS: Trevor Campbell, Ali Olsen, David Tuman STAFF: Tony Ding, Amy Drumm, Alexander Dziadosz, Cristina Fotieo, Joel Friedman, Glenn Getty, Tommaso Gomez, Ashley Harper, Mike Hulsebus, Jeff Lenert, Shubra Ohri, Eugene Robertson, Peter Schottenfels, Julia Tapper GRAPHIC DESIGN STAFF: Patricia Chang, Matthew DanielsAshley Dinges, Megan Greydanus. Ashleigh Henton, Lindsey Ungar ONLINE 763-2459, online@mlchigandally.com EDITOR: Angela Cesere STAFF: Bethany Dykstra, Mira Levitan Eston Bond, Managing Editor INTERNSHIPS LANGUAGE DISPLAY SALES Christine Hua, Manager 764-0554, display@michigandaily.com ASSOCIATE SALES MANAGER: Courtney Dwyer SPECIAL SECTIONS MANAGER: Lindsay Pudavick STAFF: Kat Abke, Robert Chin, Esther Cho, Emily Cipriano, Michael Cooper, David Dai, Daniel DiCamillo, Courtney Dwyer, Shannon Fink, Alexis Floyd, Ina Gjecr, Adam Gross, Mark Hynes, Betsy Kuller. Nicole Kulwicki, Katie Merten, Donny Perach, James Richardson, Jessica Sachs, Natalie I 6 U