10A - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 7, 2005 Talabani says Saddam confessed to 'killings NEWS BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraq's president said yes- terday that Saddam Hussein had confessed to killings and other "crimes" committed during his regime, including the massacre of thousands of Kurds in the late 1980s. President Jalal Talabani told Iraqi television that he had been informed by an investigating judge that "he was able to extract confessions from Saddam's mouth" about crimes "such as executions" that the ousted leader had person- ally ordered. Asked about specific examples, Talabani, a Kurd, replied "Anfal," the codename for the 1987-88 campaign which his Patriotic Union of Kurdistan maintains led to the deaths of about 182,000 Kurds and the destruction of "dozens of Kurdish villages." Those villages included Halabja, where thou- sands of Kurdish villagers were gassed in 1988. However, Abdel Haq Alani, a legal consultant to Saddam's family said Saddam did not men- tion any confession when he met Monday with his Iraqi lawyer. "Is this the fabrication of TalAbani or what? Let's not have a trial on TV. Let the court of law, not the media, make its ruling on this," Alani said. Saddam faces his first trial Oct. 19 for his alleged role in another atrocity - the 1982 mas- sacre of Shiites in Dujail, a town north of Bagh- dad, following an assassination attempt there against him. The Iraqi Special Tribunal has decided to con- duct trials on separate alleged offenses rather than lump them all together in a single proceeding. Saddam could face the death penalty if con- victed in the Dujail case, the only one referred to trial so far. Iraqi television aired the interview so late that it was impossible to reach Saddam's law- yer, Khalil al-Dulaimi, or officials of the special tribunal. Alani, however, condemned Talabani's remarks and said the alleged confession "comes to me as a surprise, a big surprise." "I have heard nothing whatsoever about this alleged media speculation," Alani told The Associated Press in Amman, Jordan. "This is a matter for the judiciary to decide on, not for politicians and Jalal should know better than that. Why should he make a statement on the accused to the public? The court, the judge need to decide on this." Saddam's former chief lawyer, Ziad Kha- sawneh of Jordan, said the Iraqi president could still face the death penalty if he confessed, but a full trial would not be necessary if he admitted to the charge. However, details of the purported confessions were unclear. It was uncertain, for example, whether Saddam believed he was admitting to a crime or simply acknowledging having issued orders which he believed were legal - some- thing only a trial could determine. Operation Anfal took place during Iraq's war with Iran, which the Iraqi government believed maintained ties to the Iraqi Kurds. The 1991 suppression of Iraqi Shiites, another atrocity for which Saddam may face charges, occurred after the majority rose up after U.S.-led forces drove the Iraqi army from Kuwait. Shiite leaders had hoped - wrongly - that the Ameri- cans would intervene on their behalf. Saddam's lawyers could argue that Talabani's comments were prejudicial, which might not sway an Iraqi court but would have resonance abroad and within the country's already disaf- fected Sunni Arab minority, of which the former president is a member. GOP. calls for flemale, justice WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush said the list of possibilities for his second U.S. Supreme Court nomina- tion was "wide open" yesterday as Sen- ate Republicans urged him to consider a woman and Democrats pressed him to consult with them before making his next pick. The president said the Senate should concentrate on confirming U.S. Appeals Judge John Roberts to replace the late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist before worrying about any other choices. "I want the Senate to focus not on who the next nominee is going to be, but the nominee I got up there now," Bush said. Roberts's confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee will begin next Monday, one week after Bush named him to replace the justice he worked for as a Supreme Court law clerk. Roberts'was originally slated to be Sandra Day O'Connor's replacement, but Bush formally withdrew that nomination yes- terday and made the 50-year-old judge the chief justice nominee. O'Connor has agreed to stay on until her successor is in place, Bush noted, ensuring there will be a nine-member court if Roberts is confirmed before the new term begins on Oct. 3. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R- Tenn.) and Judiciary chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said they expected to be finished with Roberts before then. Specter and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas - who will be the Senate's No. 3 Republican next year - said Bush should choose a woman since O'Connor's retire- ment would leave only one woman on the court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. "Two women, I think, are a minimum," Specteresaid. Several senators suggested the president should wait before making any new selection public, given that the Senate is working on relief for the hurricane-stricken Gulf Coast as well as Roberts's nomination. "We've got more than a full plate right now," said John Cornyn (R-Texas). "I think you should do one nomination at a time, even though it would be nice to know who the president is thinking of," added Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY.). Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is seen as he is questioned by Chief Investigative Judge Raid Juhi, not seen, at an unknown location. Iraqi authorities have set Oct. 19 as the date for the start of the trial of Hussein, an official said last week. Investigators seek clues to Indonesian plane crash MEDAN, Indonesia (AP) - A 5- year-old boy given up for dead in a plane crash in Indonesia that killed 148 people has been found in a hospital and reunited with his parents. Investigators sifted yesterday through the charred wreckage of the Mandala Airlines' Boeing 737-200, try- ing to determine why it slammed onto a crowded street in Indonesia's third- largest city, creating a path of destruc- tion as it plowed into houses, cars and pedestrians. The dead in Monday's crash included 101 passengers and crew and 47 people on the ground. Sixteen people aboard the flight survived, including 5-year-old Pento Panjaitan, who had been travel- ing to Jakarta with his father. Both were injured and taken to dif- ferent hospitals, said Rini, a nurse at the Santa Elizabeth Hospital. His iden- tity - and the fact that he had been on the plane - did not become clear until late Monday, when the boy "started crying and looking for his dad," the nurse said. Others were not so lucky. Hundreds of weeping family members gathered yesterday at the Adam Malik Hospital morgue, looking for loved ones among a long row of charred bodies. Some women collapsed as they lifted the plas- tic yellow sheets in search of clues - a piece of clothing, jewelry, a familiar pair of shoes. Remains not identified by this morn- ing will be buried in a mass grave next to another for victims of a Garuda Indo- nesia plane crash that killed more than 200 in 1997, said Dr. Suprato, the assis- tant director of the Adam Malik Hos- pital in Medan, who was helping with recovery efforts. By late yesterday, 40 corpses - most burned beyond recognition - had yet to be claimed. Togi Simaranta, 35, didn't know what his cousin was wearing, but after more than 24 hours of searching still was not ready to give up. "My cousin came to Medan with his wife for a holiday, and they were head- ing home," Simaranta said, appearing weak and drained. "I don't even know what clothes they had on. But I want to keep looking, I have to, until tomor- row's deadline." Transport Minister Hatta Raja- sa said it would be several weeks before the cause of the crash was known, but investigators were look- ing at what happened during take- off. Both flight data recorders have been found, officials said, and will be sent abroad for analysis. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board sent a three-member team to assist in the investigation, U.S. offi- cials said. Survivors said the plane shook vio- lently after lifting off the runway and veered left before crashing to the ground. Some described a loud bang while the aircraft was still in flight, but officials were quick to rule out terrorism - an ever present fear in the world's most populous Muslim nation and home to the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah militant group. Soon after dawn yesterday, investi- gators arrived at the massive crash site yards from the runway. The area was taped off, but police were unable to keep people from the scene. Hundreds milled about, cover- ing their noses with handkerchiefs as they pointed at the plane's tail, a piece of the wing and twisted knots of black- ened metal. Setio Raharjo, head of the National Transportation Safety Board and the lead investigator, said the curious onlookers could be hampering efforts to get to the bottom of the crash. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoy- ono toured the crash site on Sumatra island after attending the funeral of the north Sumatra governor, one of the victims. 01 New semester., New Look for this label. 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