The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
Ford poised for
biggest loss in
corporate history
Ford Motor Co. could post the
worst annual loss in its storied 103-
year history when the automaker
releases its 2006 earnings today.
The old record net loss was $7.39
billion in 1992, but through three
quarters of this year, Ford already
had lost $7 billion.
Burnham Securities analyst
David Healy said in a note to inves-
tors that Ford has yet to recover
from its finances being wrecked by
collapsing sales of its F-series pick-
up trucks and truck-based sport
utility vehicles.
The company has mortgaged its
assets to borrow up to $23.4 bil-
lion to fund a massive restructur-
ing plan and cover billions in losses
expected until 2009. It expects to
burn up $17 billion in cash during
the next two years before returning
to profitability.
About 38,000 hourly workers
have signed up for buyout or early
retirement offers from the compa-
ny, and Ford plans to cut its white-
collar work force by 14,000 with
buyouts and early retirements.
MEXICO CITY
Disastrous bus
plunge kills 29
A bus plunged into a ravine in
the remote mountains of southern
Mexicoyesterday, killing at least29
people, officials said.
The spokesman for the state
attorney general's office in Oaxaca,
Jesus Perez, told The Associated
Press by phone that the bus went
off the road shortly after leaving
Huautla, 600 kilometers (375 miles)
southeast of Mexico City. It was
headed to the capital.
More than two dozen survivors
were injured, Perez said.
BAGHDAD
Four contractors
executed after
helicopter crash
Four of the five Americans killed
when a U.S. security company's
helicopter crashed in a danger-
ous Sunni neighborhood in central
Baghdad were shot execution style
in the back the head, Iraqi and U.S.
officials said yesterday.
A senior Iraqi military official
said a machine gunner downed
the helicopter, but a U.S. military
official in Washington said there
were no indications that the air-
craft, owned by Blackwater USA,
had been shot out of the sky. Two
Sunni insurgent groups, separate-
ly, claimed responsibility for the
crash.
The helicopter was shot down
after responding to assist a U.S.
Embassy ground convoy that came
under fire in a Sunni neighborhood
in central Baghdad, said a U.S. dip-
lomatic official in Washington.
A second helicopter also was
struck, but there were no casualties
among its crew, said the diplomatic
official, who spoke anonymously
because he was not authorized to
make statements.
JERUSALEM
Israeli PM calls for
president to resign
amid rape charges
Israeli President Moshe Katsav
rebuffed growing calls for his res-
ignation yesterday.
Katsav asked parliament to tem-
porarily suspend him from office
while he fought to clear his name.
But momentum was building for
lawmakers to open unprecedented
impeachment proceedings against
the president, and top officials,
including Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert, urged Katsav to stop cling-
ing to office and allow the nation to
heal.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
20,000
The number of Canadian citi-
zens who may have lost their citi-
zenship due to celebrating their
24th birthday outside Canada and
failing to turn in the appropriate
form the next day. The Citizenship
and Immigration Minister is work-
ing to establish a fast-track way for
those residents to become citizens
again, the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation reported.
RUSH HOUR
RECRUITS
From page 1A
Stephen Taylor graduated from
high school in 2004.
"I've wanted to be in the mili-
tary my whole life," said the ROTC
cadet, whose parents are retired
Air Force veterans. Taylor said his
family's military history can be
traced as far back as the American
Revolution.
"I was proud that my grandpar-
ents and relatives all fought, and I
wanted to be a part of that," Taylor
said.
His 19-year-old brother Michael
enlisted right out of high school
and hopes to become an Army
Ranger.
But it was originally Stephen
who was going to enlist after high
school and his younger brother
who planned to become an officer.
Taylor said their roles reversed
during his senior year of high
school, when his wrestling coach
encouraged him to try the ROTC.
He said he was "lucky" to be
admitted to the University so late
in the admissions cycle.
Taylor said becoming an officer
while experiencing life at the Uni-
versity is one of the best decisions
he's ever made, especially after
watching his brother go through
boot camp. He said watching the
experiences of enlistees like his
brother have furthered Taylor's
passion for the Army.
"After 9/11, Ihad arealreason(to
join)," he said. "If I go over there,
the chances of me protecting my
friends and family is increased."
ROTC cadet Patrick Doyle, an
LSA junior, is waiting for his 25-
year-old stepbrother, an enlisted
soldier, to return this week from a
10-month mission in Afghanistan.
While he hasn't been able to
communicate with him during his
tour, Doyle said he's looking for-
ward to learning how to be a better
officer based on his stepbrother's
experiences as a private.
"When he gets back, I really
want to talk to him about his
lieutenant, what he did right and
wrong," Doyle said.
APPREHENSION AND
ANTICIPATION
"I used to be a lot more politi-
cal than I am (now)," Young said
of how his ROTC experience has
changed his personal opinions.
"As an officer, or as any soldier,
you're not supposed to question
the political aims."
Many of his comrades were
quick to agree. Tisdall distin-
guished a soldier's actions from
his personal feelings.
"We're going to do our job that
our commanders tell us to do,
regardless of our opinions," he
said.
For Tisdall, the physical and
mental challenges posed by the
Army were what initially attracted
him to it.
"If you can make it through that
- 22-years-old, 40 guys, bullets
flying - if you can make it through
that, that's the ultimate test," he
said.
Doyle said a similar sense of
duty motivated him to join ROTC.
"Somebody has to do it," he
said. "I'm a person that mentally
and physically can do it, so for me,
I'm not the kind of person who's
going to let someone else bear my
burden."
Thursday, January 25, 2007 - 3A
LSA sophomore David Millikan
said he's most apprehensive of the
unknown.
"I'm worried about getting hurt
- everybody is," he said. "But on
another level, I'm worried about
what I need to do and doing it cor-
rectly."
Millikan said he also worries
for his family.
"I know my mom's not too excit-
ed about it," he said.
Many of the cadets are excited
that the ongoing war means they
may soon have the opportunity
to put their skills and training to
use.
"We're both excited, but not to
kill people," Tisdall said of him-
self and Taylor. "It's not bloodlust
excitement. It's an excitement to
go over there and do your duty."
Young was preparing to gradu-
ate from high school when the
United States first invaded Iraq in
the spring of 2003.
Four years later, as he prepares
for another graduation, he finds
himself longing to extend his
career at the University to study
and have fun without worrying
about the war.
"Now that it is imminent, I kind
of want to still be a college student
and keep doing what I'm doing,"
he said.
Young said he's also impressed
with the amount of respect that
he sees cadets receiving from the
campus community, even though
they're still in training.
"There's no bullets around
here," he said. "There's no explo-
sions. We don't have to go to sleep
in a hole in the ground. Can you
imagine bombs going off where
you live, 24 hours a day?"
ROBMIGRIN/Daily
Acrowd of studentsfills the lobbyoftAngellHall yesterday afternoon shortly after
classes let out at 4 p.m.
Kerry rules out
0
se ondrun in'0
Former nominee
struggled to secure
support in a crowded
primary field
WASHINGTON (AP) - Demo-
cratic Sen. John Kerry, who fell
118,601 Ohio votes short of the
White House in 2004, said yester-
day he will not run for president in
2008.
"We came close.., certainly close
enough to be tempted to try again,"
the Massachusetts senator said,
recalling his defeat.
"There are powerful reasons to
want to continue that fight now.
But I have concluded this isn't the
time for me to mount a presidential
campaign."
His decision leaves a field of
nine Democrats running or signal-
ing their intention to do so, includ-
ing Sens. Hillary Rodhamn Clinton
of New York and Barack Obama of
Illinois, and John Edwards, Ker-
ry's 2004 vice presidential run-
ning mate.
The Republican field is similarly
crowded, with Bush constitution-
ally barred from seeking a third
term in office.
Officials said Kerry would seek a
new six-year term in the Senate in
2008. The fourth-term lawmaker
and decorated Vietnam War veteran
said he would devote his time and
energy to endingthe conflict in Iraq.
He said he wanted President
Bush's successor to enter office
with the United States having "a
reasonable prospect of success" in
Iraq.
"I don't want the next president
U.S. attacks
targetc~s in
Somalia
Air strikes target
suspected terrorists in
war-torn nation
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
United States launched an airstrike
in Somalia against suspected ter-
rorist targets - the second such
attack this month, defense officials
said yesterday.
The officials, who spoke on condi-
tion of anonymity because the action
was carried out in secret, provided
few details about the strike by an Air
Force AC-130 gunship earlier this
week and were uncertain whether
the intended target was killed.
One official suggested that early
indications showed that no high-
value target was killed or captured.
At the Defense Department,
spokesman Bryan Whitman
declined to confirm any new strike.
but said in general that the United
States is "going to go after al-Qaida
in the global war on terrorism wher-
ever it takes us."
He said the nature of some mili-
tary operations, especially those by
special operations commando forc-
es, requires that they be kept secret
in order to preserve an advantage in
future missions.
A variety of U.S. special opera-
tions have operated in the Horn
of Africa from a base in Djibouti, a
small country sandwiched between
Somalia and Ethiopia.
The U.S. Navy also has had forces
in waters off the Somali coast, where
they have monitored maritime traf-
fic, boarded suspicious ships and
interrogated crews in an attempt to
catch anyone escaping the Somalia
militar operations.
to find that they have inherited a
nation still divided and a policy
destined to end as Vietnam did -
in a bitter and sad legacy," he said.
Kerry, 64, made the announce-
muent on the Senate floor at the end
of a lengthy speech on Iraq. He
briefly choked up.
Edwards said he knew the
decision was a difficult one for
Kerry "because we know his first
instinct is always to respond to
any call to serve his country." In
a statement, he added that Kerry
will work to find the appropriate
exit from the Iraq war and said,
"In Vietnam, in public office and
in private life, John Kerry has
always fought the good fight for
the right cause."
Obama said that from Vietnam
to the 2004 campaign, "John Kerry
has fought for his country and his
ideals... and will continue to serve
his country with honor and distinc-
tion in the years to come."
Kerry's 2004 campaign drew
widespread criticism from fel-
low Democrats after his defeat.
His critics said he had failed to
make a forceful enough response
to Republican criticism as well as
charges by conservative groups
that he did not deserve the medals
he won for combat in the Vietnam
War.
The senator stirred unhappy
memories for Democrats last
fall, when he botched a joke and
led Republicans to accuse him of
attacking U.S. troops in Iraq.
He apologized, then hast-
ily scrapped several days of cam-
paigning for fellow Democrats as
party leaders urged him to avoid
becoming an unwanted issue in a
campaign they were on the way to
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