2 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, February 23, 2005 NATION/WORLD I Bush denies plans to attack Iran NEWS 1N BRIEF 4 BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Presi- dent Bush said yesterday that it is "sim- ply ridiculous" to assume that the United States has plans to attack Iran over its alleged nuclear weapons program. "This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. Having said that, all options are on the table," Bush said after dis- cussing the issue with European allies. Bush used his bluntest language yet to give assurance to Iran's leaders. Last week, in a series of pre-trip interviews with European journalists, he also tried to dispel talk of a military attack, an issue that has been raised repeatedly since the United States went to war with Iraq primarily over its alleged weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons have been found in Iraq. On Iran, Bush has walked a careful line in expressing support for a Euro- pean-led approach offering Iran techno- logical, financial and political support in return for scrapping its uranium enrich- ment program. "It's in our interests for them not to have a nuclear weapon," Bush said in a news conference with European Union leaders. The United States has refused to get involved in the bargaining with Teh- ran or to make commitments about incentives, insisting that Tehran aban- don its program. Also yesterday, Bush hailed NATO's modest pledge to help train security forces in Iraq, saying "every contribu- tion helps." "The NATO training mission is an important mission, because after all, the success of Iraq depends upon the capac- ity and the willingness of the Iraqis to defend their own selves against terror- ists," he said during an earlier news con- ference at NATO headquarters. Bush also made clear his intention to challenge Russian President Vladi- mir Putin on recent actions, including restrictions on the press and Moscow's treatment of neighboring Baltic coun- tries, that U.S. officials view as harm- ful to democracy there. The two leaders meet Thursday in Slovakia. "A constructive relationship allows me to remind him that I believe Russia is a European country and European coun- tries embrace those very same values that America embraces," Bush said. "I'm con- fident that can be done in a cordial way." Putin defended his approach. "Russia chose democracy 14 years ago not to please anyone, but for its own sake, for the sake of the nation and its citizens," Putin said. "Naturally, basic principles and institutions of democracy must be adapted to today's realities of Russian life, to our traditions and history." Bush also reiterated U.S. opposition to Europe's plans to lift its 15-year arms embargo against China. "There is deep concern in our coun- try that a transfer of weapons will be a transfer of technology, that it will change the balance of relations between China and Taiwan," Bush said. He said he understands that the Euro- peans are working on a Way to address U.S. worries about allowing China to modernize its military with arms and communications, intelligence and sur- veillance equipment that would give Beijing anedge over Taiwan. "They know the Congress is con- cerned," Bush said. "And so they'll try to develop a plan that will ease concerns. Now, whether they can or not, we'll see." French President Jacques Chirac, while stressing that security guaran- tees could be worked out, indicated that Europe remains steadfast in its desire to end the ban. "We intend to lift the last obstacles in our relations (with China), and this within a spirit of responsibil- ity," he said. In Beijing yesterday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said that abolishing the "erroneous and out- dated measure" would help move for- ward China-EU relations. As Bush shuttled in between NATO headquarters and meeting with Euro- pean Union leaders, opposition to the U.S. president was evident in the streets of Brussels as protest- ers lobbed a fire bomb at riot police. Police responded with water cannons to disperse the crowd that they esti- mated was 1,000 strong. Police said they did not know if anyone was injured. Associated Press Television News reporters saw several people arrested. On Iraq, Luxembourg Prime Minis- ter Jean-Claude Juncker, whose coun- try holds the rotating European Union presidency, said the United States and the EU will host a conference to rally international support for Iraq if the new government there requests it. NATO succeeded after struggling for months to get a commitment from all allies to join the mission in Iraq, includ- ing those that vigorously opposed the U.S.-led war there. Earthquake kills 420 people in fran BAGHDAD, Iraq A1-Jaafari may become prime minister Interim Vice President Ibrahim al-Jaafari was chosen as his Shiite ticket's can- didate for prime minister yesterday after Ahmad Chalabi dropped his bid, senior alliance officials said. Al-Jaafari's selection means he likely will lead Iraq's first democratically elected government in 50 years. But first he has to be approved by a coalition that likely will include the Kurds, and then he must be approved by a majority of the newly elected National Assembly. Pressure from within the ranks of the United Iraqi Alliance, which won Iraq's landmark Jan. 30 election, forced the withdrawal of Chalabi, a one-time Pentagon favorite, said Hussein al-Moussawi from the Shiite Political Council, an umbrella group for 38 Shiite parties. Two explosions echoed through Baghdad at midday. A plume of black smoke rose from the Green Zone, where Iraqi government offices and the U.S. Embassy are located. Police Capt. Muthanna Hassan said one of the blasts was a car bomb that explod- ed as an Iraqi special forces convoy passed by, killing two soldiers and wounding 20 others. It was not clear what caused the other blast. SEOUL, South Korea North Korea sets conditions for nuclear talks China urged the United States and North Korea yesterday to be more flexible in trying to resolve their nuclear standoff after communist leader Kim Jong II said his government would return to six-party disarmament talks if Washington shows sincerity and meets his conditions. Kim said in a rare comment on the nuclear dispute that his government remained committed to a peaceful solution. "We will go to the negotiating table anytime if there are mature conditions for the six-party talks thanks to the concerted efforts of the parties concerned in the future," the reclusive leader told a visiting Chinese envoy, according to Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency. He expressed the hope that the United States would show "trustworthy sincerity," it said. KCNA did not elaborate on what conditions Kim cited to the envoy from China, his impoverished country's only remaining major ally. RAMALLAH, West Bank Qureia promises to reform Palestinian cabinet Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia yesterday promised a drastic overhaul of his Cabinet, signaling the start of long-sought reform, after his original lineup of political old-timers prompted an angry outcry and threats of a no-confidence vote. Qureia told parliament he would largely appoint experts, rather than politicians, to the Cabinet, which will be presented to parliament for approval Wednesday. Sweeping change in the Cabinet would mark a first for the Palestinian Authority. Until now, the ministers were largely chosen from a small circle of cronies of the late Yasser Arafat, often regardless of expertise. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas appeared to be largely untouched by the political turmoil. Abbas could simply appoint a new prime minister if Qureia fails to win approval for his Cabinet. KABUL, Afghanistan U.S. considers permanent bases in Afghanistan The United States needs permanent military bases in Afghanistan to protect its "vital national security interests" in the region, Arizona Sen. John McCain said yesterday after talks with the Afghan president. McCain's remarks were the latest indication of American and British aspirations to cement their influence in this former al-Qaida stronghold on the doorstep of Iran, China and nuclear-armed rivals Pakistan and India. McCain, part of a five-member Senate delegation that met President Hamid Karzai at his palace in the Afghan capital, said he was committed to a "strategic partnership that we believe must endure foriny, inany years." - Compiled from Daily wire reports SARBAGH, Iran (AP) - A powerful earthquake flattened villages and col- lapsed mud-brick homes in the moun- tains of central Iran yesterday, killing at least 420 people and injuring hundreds. In-a cold rain, survivors dug franti- cally through slabs of concrete and piles of dirt, searching for loved ones buried under the rubble of destroyed homes. Iranian television showed sur- vivors slapping their faces in grief as they sat beside dead relatives wrapped in blankets. "Where have you gone? I had a lot of plans for you," Hossein Golestani sang softly to his lifeless 7-year-old daughter, who he held in his arms. His 8-year-old daughter lay dead beside him. Mohammad Javad Fadaei, deputy provincial governor of Kerman, told The Associated Press that 420 people were killed and about 900 injured. The magnitude-6.4 quake was cen- tered on the outskirts of Zarand, a town of about 15,000 people in Ker- man province 600 miles southeast of AP PHOTO People search for victims of the earthquake in Dahoueieh, Iran, on the out- skirts of Zarand, 35 miles northwest of the Kerman province yesterday. Tehran, according to the seismologi- cal unit of Tehran University's Geo- physics Institute. It struck the mountainous region at 5:55 a.m., damaging at least 40 villages with a total population of about 30,000 people, officials said. Residents of Khanook village car- ried bodies to the morgue for washing before burial. Others crowded around lists of the dead posted on the morgue's wall, breaking into cries if they found a relative's name. "I lost everything! All my life is gone!" sobbed Asghar Owldi, 60, his face bandaged. His wife and two chil- dren were killed. A heavy rain hampered rescue efforts, and temperatures dropped after sun- down and snow began falling in some villages. Survivors huddled around fires to keep warm, covering themselves with blankets and sipping soup. Emergency officials tried to evacu- ate survivors to nearby towns and cities and some 1,500 workers from the Ira- nian Red Crescent with sniffer dogs and mountain rescue teams fanned out with tents and tarps to the affected villages. Officials said yesterday's quake was not a replay of the devastating Bam earthquake in December 2003 because the epicenter was near lightly populated, remote villages. Yesterday's quake was also much deeper - 25 miles under- ground. The 6.6-magnitude quake that flattened Bam and killed 26,000 people was six miles underground. While homes made of mud col- lapsed, cement buildings did not appear heavily damaged. The tiny villages that dot the moun- tain ranges were hit hard. Kerman's governor, Mohammad Ali Karimi, said several villages were destroyed. In the village of Sarbagh, near Zarand, nearly 80 percent of the buildings were destroyed. Iranian television reported that all hospitals in Zarand were filled to capac- ity with the injured, showing elderly women and men lying on beds and vic- tims wrapped in bloody bandages or with broken bones. The governor of Zarand told state- run television that power in the region has been disrupted, and sup- plies were needed. The Iranian Red Crescent told inter- national relief officials it did not need outside aid, said Roy Probert, a spokes- man for the Geneva-based International Federation of Red Cross and Red Cres- cent Societies. "They seem to have the situation well in hand," Probert told The Asso- ciated Press. Relief officials said they learned many lessons from the Bam quake. "The earthquake in 2003 gave us a very good experience of how to deal with such a natural disaster. Despite the rain, relief operations are going smoothly. Relief teams have reached the villages and are helping the survi- vors," Soltani said. 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. 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