2 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 21, 2005 NATION/WORLD Bush worries about Rita NEW ORLEANS (AP) - President Bush kept a worried watch yesterday on "what we pray is not a devastating storm" - Hurricane Rita - as he flew over miles of flattened homes and mud-caked neigh- borhoods hit by Hurricane Katrina. Bush received a briefing about Rita aboard the USS Iwo Jima, which is docked near downtown New Orleans, as the hurricane lashed the Florida Keys and caused new anxiety among Katrina victims in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama. In a ship mess hall, the president held a videoconference with three fed- eral officials: Homeland Security Sec- retary Michael Chertoff, the National Hurricane Center's deputy director, Ed Rappaport, and a Federal Emergency Management Agency official. The officials said Rita was projected to strengthen to a Category 3 hurricane that would hit the upper to middle part of the Texas coast by the weekend and could cre- ate tropical storm conditions - or, much less likely, hurricane-force winds - in southeastern Louisiana. "We're watching very closely, of course, its track," Bush said later at a Folg- ers coffee plant in Louisiana that recently restarted operations. "All up and down the coastline people are now preparing for what is anticipated to be yet another sig- nificant storm." Eager to show hands-on leadership after being criticized for a slow response to Katrina, Bush signed an emergency declaration for Florida, spoke with Texas Gov. Rick Perry about planning for the storm's landfall, and said military outfits are being removed from New Orleans to be out of Rita's path and ready to help with recovery. The White House said Bush had named Frances Fragos Townsend, his in- house homeland security adviser, to lead an administration investigation of "what went wrong and what went right" in the sluggish federal response to Katrina. The appointment of Townsend, a former federal prosecutor with a repu- tation as a tough adversary, is unlikely to satisfy Democrats on Capitol Hill who are demanding a fully indepen- dent investigation. Bush said he was pleased that New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin suspended his plan to allow as many as a third of the city's residents to return. He said positive steps are being taken. AP PHOiT Noel and Bettina Marcelli walk through the strong hurricane winds toward the ocean yesterday as Hurricane Rita brushes past Key West, Fla. Hurrcn Rita intensifies asit appro ac hes Key West NE WS IN BRIEFf RAFAH, Gaza Strip Troops leave West Bank settlements Israel pulled the last of its troops out of two isolated West Bank settlements Tues- day, completing the final phase of the withdrawal it began in Gaza last month. As Israeli soldiers left the empty settlements of Ganim and Kadim, next to the West Bank town of Jenin, thousands of Palestinians streamed in, setting fires as gunmen fired in the air - reprising the scenes in Gaza after last week's pullout. Earlier, Israeli forces left two other evacuated West Bank settlements. Unlike Gaza, however, Israeli forces will continue to patrol the area, the military said, as it has not turned over control of the northern West Bank to the Palestinians. In Gaza, meanwhile, workers put the finishing touches on a border crossing between Rafah and Egypt yesterday as a top Palestinian security official announced the border would be opened over the weekend to allow some Palestinians to cross. Israel shut the Rafah crossing before it withdrew from Gaza, saying that people and cargo traveling over the border would be temporarily routed through Israeli-controlled crossings, so it could ensure no weapons or mili- tants entered Gaza. After the Israeli pullout, the border exploded in chaos, with thousands of Pales- tinians and Egyptians clamoring over the wall to visit the other side. VIENNA Inspector calls for Iran nuclear talks The chief U.N. atomic inspector on Monday called for talks to replace inter- national confrontation over Iran's nuclear activities, while the United States and European Union pressed efforts to haul Tehran before the U.N. Security Council. A resolution drafted by U.S. and European diplomats asks International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohamed ElBaradei to report to the Security Council "Iran's many failures and breaches of its obligations to comply" with the Nuclear Nonpro- liferation Treaty. The confidential document, shared in part late Monday with The Associated Press, is meant for the IAEA's 35 board-member nations to vote on this week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she expected the council to take up the matter. "I'm quite certain that at some point in time Iran is going to be referred to the Security Council, particularly if Iran continues to demonstrate that it is not pre- pared to give the international community assurances that it is not going to try to build a nuclear weapons program under cover of civil nuclear power," Rice told reporters Monday at the United Nations. KABUL, Afghanistan Karzai: Air strikes ineffective against terrorists President Hamid Karzai yesterday challenged the need for major foreign military operations in Afghanistan, saying air strikes are no longer effective and that U.S.-led coalition forces should focus on rooting out terror bases and support networks. His call for a new approach to tackling militants came despite the fiercest fight- ing in Afghanistan since U.S.-led forces invaded in late 2001, with more than 1,200 people killed in the six months leading up to Sunday's historic legislative elections. Karzai demanded an immediate end to foreign troops searching people's homes without his government's authorization. He also said foreign governments should "concentrate on where terrorists are trained, on their bases, on the supply to them, on the money coming to them" - a veiled reference to support that militants allegedly get from neighboring Pakistan. KABUL, Afghanistan Al-Qaida leader blasts Afghanistan election Afghanistan yesterday began counting votes cast in its historic parlia- mentary elections, and al-Qaida's No. 2 leader criticized the election in a tape aired on Arabic television. Several of the country's 34 counting centers began tallying ballots as others waited for votes to be delivered, said a spokesman for the Afghan- U.N. election board, Aleem Siddique. Helicopters and even donkeys were being used to transport ballots in hard-to-reach areas of the country. Siddique said the counting centers expected to receive all the estimated 6 million ballots by Thursday. Some 7,000 people have been enlisted to count the votes, a process expected to take weeks. CORRECTIONS Please report any error in the Daily to corrections@michigandaily.com. ixbe AhirbtuEa&lg 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327 www.michigandaily.com Storm beccomes a Category 2 as tourists flee from region KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) - Rita strengthened rapidly yesterday to a Category 2 hurricane as it lashed the Florida Keys with flooding rain and strong wind and sparked fears the storm could eventually bring new misery to the Gulf Coast. Rita went from a tropical storm with top sustained wind of 70 mph early yesterday to a hurricane with 100 mph wind by early afternoon as it passed just south of the Keys, the National Hurricane Center said. Thousands of residents and tour- ists had fled the low-lying island chain, where forecasters said Rita could dump up to 8 inches of rain, down from earlier forecasts of up to 15 inches. Rita threatened to continue gain- ing strength as it left Florida and crossed the warm Gulf of Mexico for a weekend landfall, most like- ly in Texas although Louisiana or northern Mexico. "Farther out, we do anticipate fur- ther strengthening up to Category 3, or major hurricane status," Chris Sisko, a meteorologist at the hurri- cane center, said before Rita rose to Category 2. Category 3 storms have maximum sustained wind of 130 mph; Katrina was a Category 4 hur- ricane when it the Gulf Coast with 145 mph sustained wind. Data from a hurricane chase plane confirmed the increase to 100 mph wind, the hurricane center said. Officials of Galveston, Texas were already calling for a voluntary evacu- ation. Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco urged everyone in the southwest part of the state to prepare to evacuate. Residents and visitors had been ordered to clear out of the Keys, and voluntary evacuation orders were posted for some 134,000 Miami- Dade residents of coastal areas such as Miami Beach. Some 58,000 people were evacuated in Cuba, on the south- ern side of the Florida Straits. At least one segment of the Keys highway, U.S. 1, was barricaded because of water and debris, the Florida Highway Patrol said. Wind- driven water was flowing across other sections of the highway. Scattered power outages were reported. Key West Mayor Jimmy Weekley said the islands might be spared the full fury of the storm, with Rita's eye remaining at sea just to the south. "I think we did, so far, dodge a bullet," Weekley said. "We still have some time to go." About 1,300 people were being housed in shelters in Miami-Dade and Broward counties and all three Keys hospitals had been evacuated, Gov. Jeb Bush said yesterday. After the sluggish government response to Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf Coast, the gover- nor said more than 2,000 Florida National Guard troops and dozens of law enforcement officers were ready to deal with the storm's after- math. More than 200 truckloads of ice and water were prepared for delivery to the Keys if needed and helicopters are in place for search and rescue, he said. At 11 a.m. EDT, Rita was centered about 75 miles southeast of Key West. It was moving west at 15 mph, accord- ing to the hurricane center. Roads were nearly deserted in Mara- thon, about 45 miles northeast of Key West, and virtually all businesses were closed, except for the Stuffed Pig diner, where workers promised to keep serv- ing food regardless of the weather. "We've stayed open lots of times with no powers.We've got a gas stove so it gets awful hot in here but we can still serve up food," said Julie Gervasio, who has worked at the restaurant for five years. WANT TO WRITE. WHY NOT F ua s "Don't let your HAIR get ahead of _y DASCOLA BARBERS ESTABLI HEP 9 39 304 1/2 STATE ST 2ND FLOOR ANN ARBOR, MI 48104 668 9329 WWW. DASCOLABARBERS.COM BY APPOINTMENT St ofthe C 0 M M U N I T Y W A L K S American Foundalion for Suicide Prevention This fall, thousands will walk for suicide prevention. BE ONE OF THEM! Lansieg, MlI- Saturday, Sept. *t Lansing livet Trail Amn Arbor. M- Saturday Supt.4. at Pionip r p ier School 'Dtrrt, M S1 Ury, OCt. 1.... at Stocey Creek Metro Park. 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