2A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, December 5, 2005 NATION/WORLD 9/11 Commission: U.S. at risk NEWS IN BRIEF Members say Bush and Congress have failed to enact strong security measures in response to Sept. 11 WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. is, at great risk for more terrorist attacks because Congress and the White House have failed to enact several strong secu- rity measures, members of the former Sept. 11 com- mission said yesterday. "It's not a priority for the government right now," said the former chairman, Thomas Kean, ahead of the group's release of a report today assessing how well its recommendations have been followed. "More than four years after 9/11 ... people are not pay- ing attention," the former Republican governor of New Jersey said. "God help us if we have another attack." Added Lee Hamilton, the former Democratic vice chairman of the commission: "We believe that another attack will occur. It's not a question of if. We are not as well-prepared as we should be." The five Republicans and five Democrats on the commission, whose recommendations are now pro- moted through a privately funded group known as the 9/11 Public Discourse Project, conclude that the gov- ernment deserves "more Fs than As" in responding to their 41 suggested changes. Since the commission's final report in July 2004, the government has enacted the centerpiece proposal to create a national intelligence director. But the gov- ernment has stalled on other ideas, including improv- ing communication among emergency responders and shifting federal terrorism-fighting money so it goes to states based on risk level. "There is a lack of a sense of urgency," Hamilton said. "There are so many competing priorities. We've got three wars going on: one in Afghanistan, one in Iraq and the war against terror. And it's awfully hard to keep people focused on something like this." National security adviser Stephen Hadley said Sun- day that President Bush is committed to putting in place most of the commission's recommendations. "Obviously, as we've said all along, we are safer, but not yet safe. There is more to do," Hadley said on "Fox News Sunday." Ex-commissioners contended the government has been remiss by failing to act more quickly. Kean said the Transportation Security Administra- tion was wrong to announce changes last week that will allow airline passengers to carry small scissors and some sharp tools. He also said the agency, by now, should have consolidated databases of passen- ger information into a single "terror watch list" to aid screening. "I don't think we have to go backward here," said Kean, who appeared with Hamilton on NBC's "Meet the Press." "They're talking about using more money for ran- dom checks. Terrorists coming through the airport may still not be spotted," Kean said. Kean and Hamilton urged Congress to pass spending bills that would allow police and fire to communicate across radio spectrums and to real- locate money so that Washington and New York, which have more people and symbolic landmarks, could receive more for terrorism defense. Both bills have stalled in Congress, in part over the level of spending and turf fights over which states should get the most dollars. "This is a no-brainer," said Hamilton, a former Indiana congressman. "From the standpoint of responding to a disaster, the key responders must be able to talk with one another. They could not do it on 9/11, and as a result of that, lives were lost. They could not do it at (Hurricane) Katrina. They still cannot do it." As for the dollar dispute, Hamilton said, "We know what terrorists want to do: they want to kill as many Americans as possible. That means you protect the Washington monument and United States Capitol, and not other places." High Court takes reriigdebate Case to decide whether colleges must accomadate military recruiters if they accept gov't money WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. Supreme Court confronts a gay rights issue this week, in a case that asks whether law schools can bar military recruiters because of the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Each fall, recruiters of all types jam law schools seeking top students in job fairs, receptions and interview sessions. Justices will decide whether univer- sities that accept government money must accommodate the military even if the schools forbid the participation of recruiters from public agencies and private companies that have discrimina- tory policies. Law schools say they would wel- come military recruiters if the Pentagon dropped its policy against openly gay personnel. Gay men and women may serve only if they keep their sexual ori- entation to themselves. It is the first time that the court has dealt with a gay-rights related case since a contentious 2003 ruling that struck down laws criminalizing gay sex. In 2000, the court ruled that the Boy Scouts have the right to ban leaders who are openly gay. The latest appeal pits the Pentagon against a group of law schools and pro- fessors. The justices hear arguments tomorrow. The government contends if it provides financial support to a col- lege - with grants for research, for example - then in exchange it should be able to recruit "the very students whose education it has sup- ported." In this case, that means hav- ing the ability to recruit students, a tool made more essential since the Sept. 11 attacks. Federal financial support of colleges MIRAN SHAH, Pakistan Missile, al-QaWd death may be linked Shrapnel that appeared to be from an American-made missile was found yes- terday at the house where Pakistan said a top al-Qaida operative was killed in an explosion, although President Bush's national security adviser declined to confirm the death. U.S. and Pakistani officials declined to confirm an NBC report, citing anony- mous officials, that the attack on the house where Hamza Rabia reportedly died was launched by a U.S. drone. But local residents found at least two pieces of shrapnel at the blast scene inscribed with the designation of the Hellfire missile, which is carried by the U.S. Air Force's unmanned, remote-controlled Predator aircraft. The metal pieces bore the designator "AGM-114," the words "guided missile" and the initials "US." John Pike, director of the defense website GlobalSecurity.org, said the Hellfire is used almost exclusively by the U.S. military. Al-Qaida operatives would be unlike- ly to have Hellfire missiles, Pike said, although he said the possibility could not be completely discounted. CONCORD, New Hampshire Family of N.H. children will visit Ohio The mother of two children who were shot to death and buried by their father 2 1/2 years ago plans to visit the shallow Ohio grave where their bodies were finally found last week. The remains of Sarah Gehring, 14, and her brother Philip, 11, were identified Saturday by the medical examiner's office in Summit County, Ohio. The discovery of their wrapped bodies, each marked with a duct-tape cross as their father had said, ended Teri Knight's long search but renewed her mourning. Her new husband, Jim Knight, said yesterday that the couple would decide in the next few days when to leave for Ohio, probably to have the children's bodies cremated there and then return home to New Hampshire with their ashes. "At some point, we will have a funeral," he said. "These last items, it's just a series of things we need to do for ourselves." The children were last seen arguing with their father, Manuel Gehring, at a July Fourth fireworks show in Concord. After Gehring was arrested days later in Cali- fornia, he told authorities he had pulled off a highway the night of the fireworks show and shot both children, then drove for hours with their bodies in his van before burying them somewhere off Interstate 80. BAGHDAD Allawi claims assassination attempt against life An angry crowd confronted Iraq's former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi at a Shi- ite shrine south of Baghdad yesterday, forcing him to flee in a hail of stones and shoes. Allawi called the attack an assassination attempt. In Baghdad, one of the five judges in the trial of Saddam Hussein stepped down because one of the co-defendants may have been involved in the execution of his broth- er, a court official said yesterday. Another official said police had uncovered a plot to fire rockets at the courtroom when the trial convenes today for a third session. The confrontation in Najaf began when about a dozen men, some armed with clubs, tried to block Allawi from entering the Imam Ali mosque, one of the holiest Shiite shrines in Iraq. Allawi's bodyguards fired shots in the air to disperse the crowd. - Compiled from Daily wire reports CORRECTIONS An editorial in the Nov. 28 edition of the Daily (Trickery at City Hall) should not have stated that Councilman Leigh Greden (D-Ward 3) proposed a ban on placing couches on porches in the summer of 2004. Greden sup- ported the proposed couch ban ordinance, but did not propose it or intro- duce the ordinance to City Council. A story in the Nov. 2 edition of the Daily (Ecology center pressures Dow) incorrectly quoted Environmental Health Sciences Prof David Garabrant incor- rectly as saying "The study's goal is to discover the best possible method to clean up the chemicals." The article should have quoted Garabrant as saying "Our study goal is to find out whether dioxins in the soils get into people's bodies and, if so, the pathways by which this happens." Please report any error in the Daily to corrections@michigandaily.com. Ebe 3iduen DuiI 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327 www.michigandaily.com 0 * Wisconsin Army National Guard recruiter Sgt. 1st Class Erik Hoffman talks with Hannelore Davis at his recruiting stand in the cafeteria at Blackhawk Technical College in Janesville, Wisc. tops $35 billion (euro30 billion) a year. "Part of the cultural meaning of the case is bound up in questions about gay rights," said Cornell Law School Prof. Trevor Morrison, a former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. "Indirectly, it's about the 'don't ask, don't tell policy."' -w ---BM JASON Z. 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