K The Michigan Daily - michigandail NEWS BRIEFS BAGHDAD Official: Saddam Hussein's former deputy hanged The former deputy in Saddam Hussein's government was hanged before dawn today for the killings of 148 Shiites, an official with the prime minister's office said. Taha Yassin Ramadan, who was Saddam's vice president when the regime was ousted four years ago, was the fourth man to be executed in the killings of 148 Shiites follow- ing a 1982 assassination attempt against the former leader in the city of Dujail. The official, who witnessed the hanging but spoke on condition of anonymity because an official announcement had not been made, said precautions had been taken to prevent a repeat of what happened to Saddam's half brother Barzan Ibrahim, who was decapitated on the gallows. WASHINGTON Pentagon says planner of bombings confesses A Yemeni portrayed as an al- Qaida operative and a member of a terrorist family confessed to plot- ting the bombings of the USS Cole and two U.S. embassies in Africa, killing hundreds, according to a Pentagon transcript of a Guanta- namo Bay hearing. The transcript released yes- terday was the fourth from the hearings the military is holding in private for 14 "high-value" terror suspects who were kept in secret CIA prisons before they were sent to the U.S. facility in Cuba last fall. Last week, Waleed bin Attash said he helped plan the 1998 embas- sybombings in Kenya and Tanzania that killed more than 200, accord- ing to the transcript. He also said he helped organize the 2000 attack on the USS Cole in which suicide bombers steered an explosives- laden boat into the guided-missile destroyer, killing 17 sailors. WASHINGTON In address, Bush stands by 'surge' With Democrats pushing for an 4 end to the Iraq war now entering its fifth year, President Bush pleaded for more patience yesterday, saying success is possible but "will take months, not days or weeks." The war has stretched longer, with higher costs, than the White House ever predicted. On the fourth anniversary of the day Bush directed the invasion to begin, the president made a televised state- ment from the White House Roos- evelt Room to defend continued U.S. involvement. He said his plan to send 21,500 additional U.S. troops to secure Baghdad and Iraq's troubled Anbar Province "will need more time to take effect," especially since fewer than half of the troop rein- forcements have yet arrived in the capital. Bush added: "There will be good days and bad days ahead as the security plan unfolds." WASHINGTON Gonzales' hold on job tenuous Attorney General Alberto Gon- zales' hold on his job grew more uncertain yesterday as the Senate debated removing his authority to unilaterally name U.S. attorneys and the White House said it merely hoped he would survive the tumult. Asked if Gonzales had contained the political damage from the firing of eight federal prosecutors, White House spokesman Tony Snow said, "I don't know." - Compiled from Daily wire reports y.com Tuesday, March 20, 2007 - 3 CALIFORNIA FLY-IN' 0 High court hears ' Bongs 4Jesus' case An Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger jet, passes the old controltower, now the administration building, at Los Angeles International Airport as it prepares to touch down on its inaugural visit to Los Angeles yesterday. CHARLEY'S From page 1 Good Time Charley's will have some changes, including less space, fresh paint and new ceiling tiles. Lowenstein pointed out the sharp contrast between a few newer ceil- ing tiles scattered among those stained by years of cigarette smoke. The bar's furniture, though, will stay. "I like the old feel of it," Lowen- stein said. The entrance to Good Time Charley's will no longer be the familiar double doors that led up a ramp. Instead, the bar's main door will be closer to the corner of South University Avenue and Church Street, near the entrance to the for- mer Charley's Upstairs night club. The area immediately to the right of the old entrance, where the pool tables were located, will not be a part of the revamped Charley's. "By cutting it down, we make it a lot more manageable and intimate," Lowenstein said. Lowenstein also said he will be making significant changes to the bar's patio, which he said was one of the biggest selling points of the entire establishment. "If your customers aren't having a good time, they're not going to come back," Lowenstein said. "Especially at a place called 'Good Time Charley's,' "said Low- enstein's roommate, who was help- ing Lowenstein clean at the bar yesterday afternoon. Lowenstein said three or four people may be rehired, but the for- mer doormen and security person- nel won't be brought back on. Both Lowenstein and Chaconas said the bar's floor-to-ceiling win- dows on its upper level overlook one of the best locations near campus. Lowenstein said BTB Cantina will be a complete departure from the night club that used to occupy the space. He said BTB Cantina will be open17 hours a day, seven days a week and will be a place where students can come between classes to grab a bite to eat and even get some work done. He hopes to open the cantina in August in time for the new school year. He said he's planning to reopen Good Time Charley's dur- ing the first week of April. Lowenstein said . there has recently been an increase in compe- tition among burrito joints on and around campus, citing the recent opening of Chipotle on Washtenaw Avenue as an example. "Once we have the liquor license aspect, that's a huge advantage thatno one else has, and that'll keep us a step ahead of the competition," he said. Some students, though, think the entry of BTB Cantina into the cam- pus burrito market could spell the end of competition. "They're gonna destroy Panche- ro's," said LSA freshman Alex Riley upon hearing the news of the new location while eating at BTB Burrito on State Street with Engineering freshman Michael Taylor last night. Both are native Ann Arborites, and they said have been frequent- ing BTB Burrito since they were in high school. "It's closer to Central Campus," said LSA freshman Daniel Urcuyo- Llanes said. "The big pain is walk- ing down here." Student free-speech rights at stake in case argued by Clinton prosecutor By LINDA GREENHOUSE The New York Times WASHINGTON - Kenneth W. Starr had a strategy for convincing the Supreme Court that an Alaska high school principal and school board did not violate a student's free-speech rights by punishing him for displayingthe words "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" on a 14-foot-longban- ner across the street from school as the 2002 Olympic torch parade went by. "Illegal drugs and the glorifica- tion of the drug culture are pro- foundly serious problems for our nation," Starr, a former solicitor general, told the justices in a sol- emn tone in the opening moments of his argument on yesterday. In other words, his approach was to present the free-speech case as a drug case and argue that whatever rights students may have under the First Amendment to express them- selves, speaking in oblique or even in arguably humorous dissent from a school's official anti-drug mes- sage is not one of them. That was Starr's story, and he stuck with it, through a series of hypothetical questions from the jus- tices and on into a one-minute rebut- tal at the end of the lively hour. While Starr may not prevail on the full breadth of his argument, his strategy appeared on the verge of succeeding well enough to shield his clients, the, Juneau School Board and Deborah Morse, the high school principal, from having to pay damages to the student, Joseph Frederick. A majority of the court seemed willing to create what would amount to a drug exception to stu- dents' First Amendment rights, much as the court has in recent years permitted widespread drug testing of students, even those not personally suspected of using drugs, under a relaxed view of the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches. Starr's biggest ally on the court was the man who once worked as his deputy in the solicitor general's office, Chief Justice John G. Rob- erts Jr. The chief justice intervened frequently throughout both sides of the argument, making clear his view that schools need not toler- ate student expression that under- mines what they define as their educational mission. "Why is it that the classroom ought to be a forum for political debate simply because the students want to put that on their agenda?" Roberts asked Starr. The question was particularly interesting because Starr had just sought to reassure the court that his argument was not limitless. The court's leading precedent on student speech, a1969 decisioncalled Tinker v. Des Moines School District, "artic- ulates a baseline of political speech" that students have a presumptive right to engage in, Starr said. That was too far to the middle for the chief justice. "Presum- ably, the teacher's agenda is a little bit different and includes things like teaching Shakespeare or the Pythagorean theorem," he said, adding that "just because political speech is on the student's agenda, I'm not sure that it makes sense to read Tinker so broadly as to include protection of that speech." And later, Roberts took issue with a suggestion by the student's lawyer, Douglas K. Mertz, that schools that seek to inculcate an anti-drug message must permit students, outside the formal class- room setting, to offer competing views. "Content neutrality is criti- cal here," Mertz said. "Where does that notion that our schools have tobe content neutral" come from, the chief justice want- ed to know. He added, "I thought we wanted our schools to teach something, including something besides just basic elements, includ- ing character formation and not to use drugs." Mertz clarified his point. "There is no requirement of equal time or that it be neutral," he said. The school should be able to express a viewpoint, he continued, but "in the lunchroom,outsideinrecess, across the street, that is a quintessentially open forum where it would not be proper, I think, to tell students you may not mention this subject, you may not take this position." One issue in this case, Morse v. Frederick, was the nature of the event at which the student unfurled his provocative banner. Edwin S. Kneedler, a deputy solicitor general who shared Starr's argument time and presented the Bush admin- istration's position in support of the school, said the Olympic torch eventwas the equivalent ofaschool assembly, with students attend- ing under the supervision of their teachers and under the jurisdiction of the school. Mertz said it was basically a pub- lic event in a public place. In that context, he argued, the signwas not disruptive. The distinction matters, because under the Tinker precedent, stu- dent speech can lose its protected status if it is unduly disruptive. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy took issue with Mertz's character- ization of the display as not being disruptive. "It was completely disruptive of the message, of the theme that the school wanted to promote," Ken- nedy said, adding: "Completely dis- ruptive of the reason for letting the students out to begin with. Com- pletely disruptive of the school's image that they wanted to portray in sponsoring the Olympics." As in many other cases, Kenne- dy's vote may prove crucial to the outcome. This case presents a par- ticular challenge for him. While he is perhaps the most speech-protec- tive of the justices, he is also highly pro-government on issues involv- ing illegal drugs. 3,203 Number of American service members who have died in the War in Iraq, according to the Depart- ment of Defense. The following were identified yesterday: Army Sgt. James Arnold, 31, of Phoenix Army Sgt. Benjamin L. Sebban, 29, of Chattanooga, Tenn. Army Pfc. Anthony A. Kaiser, 27, of Narrowsburg, N.Y. Marine Lance Cpl. Harry H. Timberman, 20, of Minong, Wis.