2 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, November 8, 2005 NATION/WORLD Supreme Court sets up spring NSEWESl LIN BR'* inU1* I~ib E F 1lU- *I showdown over military trials PANAMA CITY, Panama Bush calls treatment of terrorists lawful EJustices will decide if Bush overstepped authority with plans for Bin Laden's driver WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court agreed yesterday to review a constitutional challenge to the Bush administration's military trials for foreign terror suspects, stepping into a high-stakes test of the president's war- time powers. The court's intervention is troubling news for the White House, which has been battered by criticism of its treat- ment of detainees and was rebuked by the high court last year for holding enemy combatants in legal limbo. The justices will decide if President Bush overstepped his authority with plans for a military trial for Osama bin Laden's former driver, who is being held at the U.S. military prison at Guantana- mo Bay, Cuba. It would be the first such trial since World War II. New Chief Justice John Roberts took himself out of the case because as an appeals court judge he backed the gov- ernment in the same appeal. If Bush nominee Samuel Alito is confirmed, he could be a pivotal figure when the case is argued next spring. Announcement of the court's move came shortly after Bush, asked about reports of secret U.S. prisons in Eastern Europe for terrorism suspects, declared anew that his administration does not torture anyone. "There's an enemy that lurks and plots and plans and wants to hurt Amer- ica again," Bush said during a news con- ference in Panama City with President Martin Torrijos. "So you bet we will aggressively pursue them but we will do so under the law." "Anything we do to that end in this effort, any activity we conduct, is within the law. We do not torture," he said. Bin Laden's former driver, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, has been in U.S. cus- tody for four years. He and three other terror suspects are' to be tried before military officers. Hamdan, who was captured in Afghanistan in November 2001, denies conspiring to engage in acts of terror- ism and denies he was a member of al-Qaida. He has been charged with conspiracy to commit war crimes, mur- der and terrorism. The Bush administration had urged the high court to stay on the sidelines until after the trials, arguing that national security was at stake. "The military proceedings involve enforce- ment of the laws of war against an enemy force targeting civilians for mass death," Solicitor General Paul Clement wrote in a filing. Scott Silliman, a Duke University law professor, said the court in taking the case seemed to be making a state- ment that it would "define the perim- eters of this war and what tools the president has available to him in this unique environment." In 2004 the justices took up the first round of cases stemming from the war on terrorism. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who is retiring, wrote in one case that "a state of war is not a blank check for the president when it comes to the rights of the nation's citizens." Arguments in the Hamdan case will be scheduled in time for O'Connor's succes- sor to take part. Senate confirmation hear- ings are planned for January for Alito, who often has been deferential to govern- ment in his appeals court rulings. Hamdan is among about 500 for- eigners who were designated "enemy combatants" and imprisoned at the U.S. military prison in Cuba. Guantanamo Bay has become a flash point for criticism of America overseas and at home. Initially, the Bush administration refused to let the men see attorneys or chal- lenge their imprisonment in courts. The Supreme Court in 2004 said U.S. courts were open to filings from the men, although justices may be called on to clarify the legal rights of the detainees in a separate appeal. "Guantanamo, in the eyes of the rest of the world, is a blot on American jus- tice. Around the world, this will be as important if not more so than it is in the United States," said Stephen Saltzburg, a law professor at George Washington University who filed a brief urging the court to take Hamdan's case. Australia arrests 16 terror suspects SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Police in Australia arrested 16 terror suspects in a string of raids early today and said they had foiled a major terror attack. New South Wales Police Commissioner Ken Moron- ey said 400 officers were involved in raids in Sydney that captured six men, while nine more suspects were picked up in the southern city of Melbourne. "I'm satisfied that we have disrupted what I would regard as the final stages of a large scale terrorist attack ... here in Australia," Moroney told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. Police declined to give details of the likely target of the attack, but Victoria state police chief Christine Nixon said that next year's Commonwealth Games, to be staged in Melbourne, were not a target. "It's the largest operation of counterterrorism that's ever been conducted in this country and it's taken us a long period of time," Nixon told the ABC. Moroney said chemicals which apparently could have been used to make bombs were found during the raids, which followed a 16-month investigation. Rob Stary, a Melbourne lawyer who said he repre- sented eight people arrested in the city, said most of his clients were charged with being members of a banned organization. The suspects were expected to appear in courts in Sydney and Melbourne later today. Stary said one of those arrested in Melbourne was the outspoken radical Muslim cleric Abu Bakr, an Algerian-Australian who in the past has called Osama bin Laden a "great man." Australia has never been hit by a major terror attack, but its citizens have repeatedly been targeted overseas, particularly in neighboring Indonesia. Last year, the country's embassy in Jakarta was badly damaged by a suicide bomber, and dozens of Australians were killed in bombings in 2002 and last month on the Indonesian resort island of Bali. Prime Minister John Howard's opponents say his President Bush defended U.S. interrogation practices yesterday and called the treatment of terrorism suspects lawful. "We do not torture," Bush declared in response to reports of secret CIA prisons overseas. Bush supported an effort spearheaded by Vice President Dick Cheney to block or modify a proposed Senate-passed ban on torture. "We're working with Congress to make sure that as we go forward, we make it possible, more possible, to do our job," Bush said. "There's an enemy that lurks and plots and plans and wants to hurt America again. And so, you bet we will aggressively pursue them. But we will do so under the law." Cheney is seeking to persuade Congress to exempt the Central Intel- ligence Agency from the proposed torture ban if one is passed by both chambers. PARIS Police reservists to quell unrest in France France will impose curfews under a state-of-emergency law and call up police reservists to stop rioting that has spread out of Paris's suburbs and into nearly 300 cities and towns across the country, the prime minister said yesterday, calling a return to order "our No. 1 responsibility." The tough new measures came as France's worst civil unrest in decades entered a 12th night, with rioters in the southern city of Toulouse setting fire to a bus after sundown and pelting police with gasoline bombs and rocks. Outside the capital in Sevran, a junior high school was set ablaze, while in another Paris suburb, Vitry-sur-Seine, youths threw gasoline bombs at a hospital, police said. No one was injured. Earlier, a 61-year-old retired auto worker died of wounds from an attack last week, the first death in the violence. Asked on TF1 television whether the army should be brought in, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said, "We are not at that point." BAGHDAD Suicide bomber kills U.S. soldiers at checkpoint A suicide bomber blew up his vehicle at a checkpoint south of Baghdad and killed four American soldiers yesterday, the military said. The U.S. command also announced five soldiers from an elite unit were charged with kicking and punching Iraqi detainees. The suicide attack came as U.S. and Iraqi troops battled al-Qaida-led militants for a third day in Husaybah, a town on the Syrian border that the military describes as a major entry point for foreign fighters. One Marine has died there, the U.S. command said yesterday. TAMPA, Florida Prof called 'crime boss' for Islamic Jihad A fired college professor acted as a "crime boss" for Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a murderous gang that operated like the Mafia, a federal prosecutor told a jury yesterday. Although Sami Al-Arian and three co-defendants are not charged with killing anyone, they conspired to bring about attacks and are just as guilty under the law as the suicide bombers who carried them out, prosecutor Cherie Krigsman said in closing arguments. - Compiled from Daily wire reports CORRECTIONS A photo caption in the Nov. 1 edition of the Daily incorrectly reported that the Dow Chemical Company was involved in the Bhopal disaster of 1984. The caption should have said that Union Carbide was the company that accidentally released methyl isocyanate into the air. Union Carbide later sold its Indian plants to Dow Chemical, and Dow has repeatedly said that the former owner of the plant took care of any financial obligations from the accident. A story in the Nov. 2 edition of the Daily (Bzrsley robbery adds to string of dorm thefts) incorrectly stated that the robbery in Bursley took place at 2:30 a.m. It took place at 3:15 p.m. Please report any error in the Daily to corrections@michigandaily.com. 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327 www. michigandaily.com " 0 01 AP iPHOT Police stand outside a western Sydney apartment block that was raided by police early this morn- ing. Police in Australia arrested 16 terror suspects in a string of raids early today. strong support for the U.S.-led strikes on Iraq and decision to send troops there and to Afghanistan have made it inevitable Australia will be attacked. Just last week, Howard warned that Australian authorities had received specific intelligence about an attack on the country. Also last week, the Australian Parliament approved an amendment to the country's existing anti-terrorism laws that allows police to arrest people involved in the early stages of planning an unspecified terror attack. Nixon said some of the arrests today were made pos- sible by the new legislation. 01 Are You in Debt?£ We can e $1.00 BEFORE 6:00PM - $1.50 AFTER 6:00PM TUESDAY 50( ALL SHOWS ALL DAY 40 YEAR-OLD VIRGIN 12:00 2:25 4:50 7:20 9:40 R MARCH OF THE PENGUINS 12:30 3:00 7:15 G MUST LOVE DOGS 5:05 9:15 PG13 THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE 12:15 2:45 1:00 PG13 RED EYE 5:15 9:30 PG13 CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY 12:00 2:307:30 PG MR. & MRS. SMITH 5:00 9:45 PG13 J'Kin America's #1 Student Tour Operator CANCUN ACAPULCO JAMAICA FLORIDA Sell Trips, Earn Cash & Travel Free j TRMAg 1-M0-648-4949 /wwssrvlcm JASON Z. PESICK Editor in Chief pesick@michigandaily.com 647-3336 Sun.-Thurs. 5 p.m. - 2 a.m. JONATHAN DOBBERSTEIN Business Manager business@michigandaily.com 764-0558 Mon-Fri. 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. AN OPEN LETTER TO THE UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY November 2005 CONTACT INFORMATION News Tips Corrections Letters to the Editor Photography Department Arts Section Editorial Page Sports Section Display Sales Classified Sales Online Sales Finance Newsroom: 763-2459 Office hours: Sun.-Thurs. 11 a.m. - 2 a.m. news@michigandaily.com corrections@michigandaily.com tothedaily@michigandaily.com photo@michigandaily.com 764-0563 artspage@michigandaily.com 763-0379 opinion@michigandaily.com 763-0379 sports@michigandaily.com 764-8585 display@michigandaily.com 764-0554 classified@michigandaily.com 764-0557 onlineads@michigandaily.com 615-0135 finance@michigandaiy.com 763-3246 Friends, We are looking forward to a "REBOUND" year, and we need you!! As we begin another basketball season, I want to take this opportunity to THANK YOU for all of your past support and to ask that you once again this year make CRISLER ARENA A MAJOR HOME COURT ADVANTAGE FOR OUR TEAM. We are very proud that each year the Maize Rage and our basketball fans have helped to make Crisler a loud, intimidating place for opponents to play-and more importantly, a place where our players feed off the tremendous support and energy from our fans. We especially appreciate your loyalty during a very trying season last year. Now, we are excited and energized for a new season. Our players have been working hard, and we are very EXCITED, ENTHUSIASTIC and HOPEFUL for a terrific season-and we need you on our team. We open with a home game against Central Michigan at Crisier Arena on FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18TH at 7:00p.m., and we hope to see you there. T acr tnii pynntime tn oarnw the enthuiasm. enerav and assion for Michigan Basketball in the EDITORIAL STAFF Alison Go Managing Editor go@michigandaily.com Farayha Arrine Managing News Editor arrine@michigandaily.com NEWS EDITORS: Donn M. Fresard, Anne Joling, Michael Kan, Jameel Naqvi Suhael Momin Editorial Page Editor momin@michigandaily.com Sam Singer Editorial Page Editor singer@michigandaily.com ASSOCIATE EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS: Emily Beam, Christopher Zbrozek Ian Herbert Managing Sports Editor herbert@michigandaily.com SENIOR SPORTS EDITORS: Megan Kolodgy, Sharad Mattu, Matt Singer, Matt Venegoni, Stephanie Wright SPORTS NIGHT EDITORS: Scott Bell, H. Jose Bosch, Gabe Edelson, Jack Herman, Katie Niemeyer, Kevin Wright Adam Rottenberg Managing Arts Editor rottenberg@michigandaily.com ASSOCIATE ARTS EDITORS: Alexandra M. 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