The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Monday, January 14, 2008 - 3A NEWS BRIEFS GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba U.S. military chief favors closing of Guantanamo Bay The chief of the U.S. military said yesterday he favors closing the prison here as soon as possible because he believes negative pub- licity worldwide about treatment of terrorist suspects has been "pretty damaging" to the image of the Unit- ed States. "I'd like to see it shut down," Adm. Mike Mullen said in an inter- view with three reporters who toured the detention center with him on his first visit since becom- ing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff last October. His visit came two days after the sixth anniversary of the pris- on's opening in January 2002. He stressed that a closure decision was not his to make and that he under- stands there are numerous complex legal questions the administration believes would have to be settled first, such as where to move prison- ers. JACKSONVILLE, NC. Marine suspected of murder headed south, witnesses say The nationwide manhunt for a Marine wanted in the brutal slay- ing of a 20-year-old pregnant col- league who had accused him of rape focused yesterday on Louisiana and Texas, after he was apparently seen at s bus station. Witnesses said they saw Marine Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean was seen at a Shreveport, La., station Saturday night, Onslow County '~ Sheriff Ed Brown said. The bus Laurean was riding was headed to Texas, but police don't know if he continued on that route, he said. Brown cautioned late Sunday that his detectives were still work- ing to confirm the sightings, back- ing away from earlier assurances that the witness accounts were genuine. ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates Bush asks allies to confront Iran before 'it is too late' President Bush gently nudged authoritarian Arab allies yesterday to satisfy frustrated desires for de- mocracy in the Mideast and saved his harshest criticism for Iran, branding it "the world's leading state-sponsor of terror." Speaking in this Persian Gulf country, about 150 miles from the shores of Iran, Bush said Tehran threatens nations everywhere and that the United States was "rallying friends around the world to confront this danger before it is too late." The warning about Iran was much tougher than Bush's admoni- tion about spreading democracy in the Middle East, which had been billed as the central theme of his speech. NEW YORK. Clinton questions Obama's reasoning for King comments Democrat Hillary Rodham Clin- ton suggested yesterday that Barack Obama's campaign had injected racial tension into the presidential contest, saying he had distorted for politi- cal gain her comments about Martin Luther King's role in the civil rights movement. "This is an unfortunate story line the Obama campaign has pushed very successfully," the former first lady said in a spirited appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press." "I don't think this campaign is about gender, and I sure hope it's not about race." Clinton taped the show before appearances in South Carolina, whose Jan. 26 primary will be the first to include a significant representation of black voters. Blacks were 50 percent of primary voters in the state in 2004 and the number is expected to swell this time. - Compiled from Daily wire reports 3923 Number of American service mem- bers who have died in the war in Iraq, according to The Associated Press. There were no dead service members identified yesterday. McCain says he'll boost ailing auto industry At town hall meeting, Ariz. senator tells MSU crowd 'we are succeeding in Iraq' By ANDY KROLL Daily StaffReporter EAST LANSING - At a town hall meet- ing yesterday on the Michigan State Univer- sity campus here, John McCain delivered his trademark three-point stump speech, which outlines his plans to revive Michigan's sput- tering economy, eliminate dependence on foreign oil and win the war in Iraq. Although McCain's strategy to save the state's economy has garnered the most atten- tion leading up to tomorrow's primary, the Arizona senator took additional time here to lay out his goal of reducing dependence on foreign oil and reducing climate change through the use of environmentally-friendly and American-made technologies. "There's gonna be hybrid cars, there's gonna be hydrogen, there's gonna be etha- nol, there's gonna be batteries," McCain said. "And we're gonna address this issue of cli- mate change, we're gonna reduce our depen-_ dence on foreign oil and it's gonna begin in Michigan." Additionally, McCain said he would agree to sign a global climate change treaty - but only if China and India signed on as well - and would advocate for a return to the use of nuclear power in the United States if elected president. If Americans embrace nuclear power and also the new wave of "green" technologies, he said, it will also help to lessen the impact of climate change in the United States. "I believe that climate change is real," said he favored McCain more than the other Republican candidates in the field because of the senator's positions on reducing climate change. "I was very happy to hear what he had to say about it," Anderson said. "And unlike some people with an agenda who unfairly portray the issue in the press, I think he was absolutely right and made perfect sense." Despite describing himself as "a global warming critic," Michigan State freshman Tim Henkel said he admired McCain for embracing technologies that lessen human impact on the environment, which he said makes sense regardless of whether or not someone is a global warming activist. "They're all good technologies," Henkel said. "Plus, they'll help bring our state a bit of money too." As snow began to fall outside, East Lansing resident Scott Hughes continued to protest McCain's speech outside of Michigan State's Kellogg Center, carrying a sign that read "McCain: When in doubt, send troops." Hughes, who wasn't allowed in the Kel- logg Center by campus police, said he thinks Americans have grown weary of the war in Iraq and don't want the sustained presence in Iraq that McCain has advocated for. "I think that after five or six years of the Iraq war, the people are going to want to move in a different direction and try to come up with other solutions that don't involve sending in troops every time," Hughes said. Althoughmany McCain supporters believe their candidate's plan for winning the war are genuine, Hughes said he views McCain's positions as the same old war-pandering. "How many times have we heard that before from cheerleaders of war that things are going to turn around, that things are going to get better?" Hughes said. "I guess I'll believe it when I see it." Republican presidential canddate John McCain speaks at an event Saturday slaps he's making in Michigan in the nun-ap tlathe slates primary tamorrow. McCain said. "And what I want is to hand you a planet that is safe, that we have abso- lute requirements in order to protect our environment and make a better planet rather than the one we're facing now." Another key talking point for McCain, and one for which he has received the most criticism, is his plan to remain in Iraq until it is clear that the U.S. has achieved victory there. And unlike the other candidates on both sides of the aisle, McCain remains optimistic about the future of American armed forces in the fractured Middle Eastern country. "My friends, we are succeeding in Iraq," McCain said. "This strategy (the mid-sum- mer troop "surge") is succeeding." He added, "We will never surrender (in Iraq) when I'm the President of the United States." For McCain, tied into the concept of vic- tory in Iraq is also victory over what he described as "the threat of radical Islamic extremism." McCain said he believes the face of this "radical Islamic extremism" in the 21st cen- tury is terrorist Osama bin Laden and the global terrorist network al-Qaeda. Amidst thundering applause and chants of "The Mac is back," McCain told audience members that finding bin Laden would be of the utmost importance to him as president. "If I have to followhimto the gates of hell," McCain said, "I will get Osama bin Laden to justice." Steve Anderson, a Grand Rapids resident, For Afghan grooms, tying GM exec: Subprime knot is an expensive affair mess won't hurt us or ma we( KAI aftern' this fa empty green brow f Hec anxiet indepe sometl as wel In expect weddit expen pre-we the bri ce a struggling dowry. Hamid, a midlevel bureau- crat inthe Afghan governmentwho rket, the Afghan supports his six-member family on a salary of $7,200 per year, said his riding industry is bill was going to top $12,000. And by Afghan standards, that would be alive and well considered normal, or even a bar- gain. By KIRK SEMPLE "Sometimes it's difficult to think The New York Times about it," said Hamid, 30, who requested that his full name not BUL, Afghanistan - On the be revealed because his employer oon before his wedding day forbids him to speak to the news ll, Hamid was sitting in an media. "It's a lot of responsibility." teahouse worrying a glass of Extravagant weddings, a main- tea between his fingers, his stay of modern Afghan life and an urrowed in concern. important measure of social status, confessed to feeling a certain were banned by the Taliban, which y at seeing his bachelor's outlawed the instrumental music rndence slipping away. But that is traditional at wedding par- hing else was troubling him, ties and closed the ostentatious I: the cost of his wedding. wedding halls. Afghanistan, grooms are But since the Taliban were :ed to pay not only for their ousted in 2001, the Afghan wed- ngs, but also all the related ding industry has rebounded and is ses, including several huge now bigger than ever. The growth edding parties and money for is reflectec in the proliferation de's family, a kind of reverse of wedding halls. This freedom has been a mixed blessing. While grooms and their families are free to have the huge weddings that tra- dition demands, they are once again left with bills that plunge them into crushing debt. Moderate guest lists can top 600 people; the biggest exceed 2,000. The groom is also responsible for jewelry, flowers, two gowns for the bride, two suits for himself, a visit to the beauty salon for the bride and her closest female rela- tives, as well as a sound system for the wedding, a photographer and a videography team with a pair of cameramen. All that, plus the dowry, known as the bride-price, can run a mid- dle-class Afghan man on average $20,000, dozens of Afghans said in interviews. Even the poor do not scrimp. A laborer, for instance, making about the average per capita income of $350 per year, may well spend more than $2,000 for his wedding, Afghans say. HE subp DETR Corp.'s t he doesr gage me at the co GMAC f Chief Henders althougi quencies third qu same tir are now real est with les GMA rose froi quarter the sam son said "Yes nuerson says viewed in any sortofhistorical way, they were still at quite acceptable rime mortgages levels," Henderson said in an inter- won't affect view at the North American Inter- national Auto Show in Detroit. auto loans "I think it's more sort of normal credit behavior over the course of a ZOIT (AP) -General Motors cycle than what we've seen in hous- top finance executive says ing, for example," Henderson said. n't see the subprime mort- "But we'll all have to stay tuned." ss spreading into auto loans GMAC formerly was controlled mpany's former credit arm, by GM. Cerberus Capital Manage- inancial services. ment LP and other private-equity Financial Officer Fritz firms bought a 51 percent stake in on said Sunday that GMAC in November 2006, before h GMAC auto loan delin- weakness in the mortgage industry were up slightly in the became widely known. sarter compared with the GMAC in November posted a me in 2006, the problems $1.6 billion loss for the third quar- 'here near troubles due to ter. It included a $2.3 billion loss at ate loans made to people ResCap, its mortgage arm, which s-than-stellar credit. offset profits elsewhere. C's auto loan delinquencies GMAC has more than $100 bil- m 2.4 percent in the third lion in its auto loan portfolio world- of 2006 to 2.6 percent in wide, so the loans "are something e period of 2007, Hender- we need to watch, but not at all like what we've seen in mortgages," they've ticked up, but Henderson said. adv ertisnat goal? for a career t towardsbou ot 'your ob at parties? oWould yolk otakeoaustep o y no d ou want to I 's staff as an Account Executive nTalhesns umror FallWinter terms ®in The Mich g( I te Sspri s The Michigan.Daily Business Department is a student-run group that sells all the ads in T ake your first Step towards the the Daily. We are looking for dedicated and motivated people to continue the legacy that career you've always dreamed of has been going on for over 117years. Simply send your resume to dailydisplay@gmail.com or call (734) 764-0554 for more information! "t:t:. t} -x £ t '^ Application deadline: January 31St DON'T MISS OUT ON TRADITION!