The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Monday, September 10, 2007 - 3A

NEWS BRIEFS
BAGHDAD
Iraqi government
defends security
efforts
The Iraqi government
defended its efforts to stabilize
the country on the eve of a key
U.S. progress report but said
yesterday it needs more help
and was not ready for a timeta-
ble on the withdrawal of Ameri-
can forces.
Iraq also issued a new appeal
to neighboring countries to step
up assistance at a conferenee
that drew delegates from across
the Middle East and represen-
tatives of the U.S., the U.N. and
the Group of Eight industrial-
ized nations.
Foreign Minister Hoshyar
Zebari said bordering countries
had been slow to fulfill prom-
ises to stem the flow of fighters
and weapons into Iraq.
"There is movement but it has
not reached the level we want or
hope," he said.
WASHINGTON
Bush's homeland
security adviser
taunts bin Laden
Seemingly taunting Osama
bin Laden, President Bush's
homeland security adviser said
yesterday the fugitive al-Qaida
leader is "virtually impotent"
beyond his ability to hide away
and spread anti-American pro-
paganda.
The provocative character-
ization came just days after bin
Laden attracted international
attention with the release of
a video in which he ridicules
President Bush about the Iraq
war and reminds the world that
he not been captured.
WASHINGTON
After TB case,
gaps in travel
security cited
A congressional investigation
into officials' inability to stop a
tuberculosis patient from leav-
ing the country found signifi-
cant security gaps, heightening
concern about vulnerability to
potential cases of pandemic flu
or smallpox.
A report on the May incident
involving aAtlanta lawyer
who caused an international
health scare found that the Cen-
ters for Disease Control lacks a
sound way to prevent someone
infected with a biological agent
from entering or leaving the
United States.
RENO, Nev.
False leads stump
crews searching
for Fossett
Rescue crews searching for
famed millionaire adventurer
Steve Fossett stumbled upon
more false leads yesterday when
they discovered more plane
wreckage - but didn't find the
missing aviator or his plane.
"Once again, you had your
hopes raised and dashed, just

as we have," Nevada Civil Air
Patrol Maj. Cynthia Ryan told
reporters during a news confer-
ence.
Rescue crews spotted two
old wrecks, one of them from
a U.S. Navy plane, southeast of
the private ranch where Fossett
was staying 80 miles southeast
of Reno when lie took off Mon-
day for what was supposed to be
a three-hour flight.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports

State still in
tax deadlock

Tax fight leaves
Lansing crunched as
budget deficit looms
LANSING (AP) - Countdown
to chaos?
It's a campaign slogan of groups
that fear no tax increase or bal-
ancedbudget will be in place when
state government's new fiscal year
starts in three weeks.
But when talks broke down last
week in the Capitol and the dead-
line passed for putting a money-
raising plan before Michigan
voters in November, Republicans
and Democrats also relied on rhet-
oric, blaming each other for the
months-long stalemate over a tax
increase.
Tempers and frustrations clear-
ly are boiling over with time run-
ning out and doubt about whether
a deal is any closer than seven
months ago. Discussions may be
getting worse, in fact, with legis-
lative leaders now talking about
crafting their own plans this
week.
If no agreement is struck by
Sept. 30, some government servic-
es theoretically could shut down
Oct. 1.
"The House has forced us into
a position of not getting anything
done and perhaps moving us closer
to a government shutdown, which
we cannot afford to do," said
Republican Senate Majority Lead-
er Mike Bishop of Rochester.
After a potential deal unraveled
late last week, Democratic House
Speaker Andy Dillon of Redford
said: "Today (Bishop) walked away
from a great opportunity for a
bipartisan outcome. It's a tragedy.
So the shutdown will be on Mike
Bishop's hands, not mine."
Gov. Jennifer Granholm, whose
plan for a new2-percent tax on ser-
vices was rejected earlier this year,
walked the House floor Thursday
urging members to act on a tax
increase. In a rare step, senators
also left their chamber and con-
verged on the House, though the
move may have just angered rep-
resentatives more than prompting
progress.
Michigan Public Radio record-
ed Granholm telling a Republican
representative: "I'm Monty Hall
over here. What do you need?"

referring to the host of the long-
running game show "Let's Make
a Deal."
The deal remains elusive. In
recent months, the Democratic
governor has expected the House
to take a vote on a tax increase a
number of times, including last
Thursday.
But Democrats who control that
chamber 58-52 don't trust Senate
Republicans who want the House
to initiate a tax plan. It likely
would increase the state income
tax, tax some services or both. Dil-
lon is insisting on 10 GOP votes in
his chamber to signify a bipartisan
deal.
Bishop and Republicans who
control the Senate 21-17 argue that
House Democrats are "paralyzed
by fear" and don't want to make
tough votes.
But Dillon accuses Bishop of
walking away from a bipartisan
deal back in May that included
higher taxes. House Republicans
say Democrats reneged on an
agreement Thursday night to raise
taxes.
Despite the bickering, higher
taxes appear inevitable. State gov-
ernment, which funds everything
from prisons to public universi-
ties, is facing a $L75 billion deficit
if Granholm's proposed budget
is enacted. Spending reductions
could lower the shortfall, but it
appears at least $1 billion in extra
revenue is needed.
"I do believe that everyone in
the state of Michigan realizes that
we're going to raise taxes, one or
two ways ... an income tax or some
tax on services," Dillon said.
While Senate Republicans are
pressing for cuts and long-term
government savings, they're also
privately signaling support for a
tax increase. Yet it's difficult find-
ing trust, votes and consensus over
how to raise taxes.
Senate Republicans pushed for
giving voters the option of rais-
ing the sales tax from 6 percent
to 7 percent. If approved, it would
have replaced any temporary tax
increase approved by legislators
and the governor.
But the 60-day deadline came
and went Thursday for getting the
option on the Nov. 6 ballot, partly
because it's harder to muster the
required two-thirds vote in both
legislative chambers for proposed
constitutional amendments.

ALLISON GHAMAN/Daily
Members of a local Afro-Brazilian Capoeria Angola dance troupe perform a traditional dance-fight yesterday at State Street and
North University Avenue. The dance originated from slaves practicing combat in defiance of their masters.
New statistics cloud Iraq debate

Iraq commander,
U.S. ambassador to
Baghdad to testify
before Congress
WASHINGTON (AP) - In verti-
cal bars of blue, green,"gray and red,
a briefing chart prepared by the
Defense Intelligence Agency says
what Gen. David Petraeus won't.
Insurgent attacks against Iraqi
civilians, their security forces and
U.S. troops remain high, according
to the document obtained by The
Associated Press. It is a conclusion
that the well-regarded Army offi-
cer who is the top U.S. commander
in Iraq is expected to try to coun-
ter when he and Ryan Crocker, the
U.S. ambassador in Baghdad, tes-
tify before Congress on today and
tomorrow.
More than four years into a con-
flict initially thought to be a cake-
walk, the war has become a battle
of statistics, graphs and conflicting
assessments of progress in a coun-
try of more than 27 million people.
The defense intelligence chart

makes the point, with figures from
Petraeus' command in Baghdad, the
Multinational Force-Iraq. Congres-
sional auditors used the same num-
bers to conclude that Iraqis are as
unsafe now as they were six months
ago; the Bush administration and
military officials also using those
figures say that finding is flawed.
With so much depending on
how the statistics are collected and
interpreted, policymakers in Wash-
ington are confused.
Rep. Ike Skelton, chairman of the
House Armed Services Committee,
summed up the situation during a
hearing last week on the report by
congressional auditors at the Gov-
ernment Accountability Office.
"What is really going on? What
standards should we look at? Where
do we go from here?" asked Skelton
(D-Mo.).
For every positive step, a nega-
tive one follows.
Progress by the Iraqi army is
offset by the failures of the nation-
al police, which an independent
assessment rates as "operationally
ineffective."
Nearly 77 percent of Iraqis want
the militias in Iraq to be dissolved,

accordingto the GAO, yet their gov-
ernment has not written legislation
to do so.
While the rights of Iraq's minor-
ity political parties are protected in
the legislature, the GAO said vio-
lence against minority religious and
ethnic groups continues "unabated"
in most areas of Iraq.
The report used the defense
intelligence's countrywide figures
to conclude that the average num-
ber of daily attacks against civil-
ians has remained "about the same"
during the past six months.
The auditors could not determine
if sectarian violence had declined
since the start of the president's
troop increase.
The agency's findings are con-
tentious because the Bush adminis-
tration and military officials in Iraq
have said security has improved
over the same period due to the
additional 30,000 U.S. troops in
Baghdad and other trouble spots.
In July, the White House, citing
"trends data" from Petraeus' com-
mand, said sectarian violence, par-
ticularly in Baghdad, had declined
since the troop increase began in
February.

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3,762
Number of American service
members who have died in the
War in Iraq, according to The
Associated Press. The following
were identified by the Depart-
ment of Defense over the week-
end:
Sgt. 1st Class David A. Coo-
per Jr., 36, of State College,
Penn.,
Spc. Keith A. Nurnberg, 26,
of McHenry, Ill.,
Sgt. Joel L. Murray, 26, of
Kansas City,
Spc. David J. Lane, 20, of
Emporia, Kan.,
Pvt. Randol S. Shelton, 22,
of Schiller, Park, Ill.,
Sgt. Lee C. Wilson, 30, of
Chapel Hill, N.C.,
V Spc. Jason J. Hernandez,
21, of Streetsboro, Ohio,
Spc. Thomas L. Hilbert, 20,
of Venus, Texas.

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Saturday, October 20, 2007
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Sunday, December 2nd, 2007
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