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8A - Thursday, September 17, 2009
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Obama won't
make 'quick'
decision on
Afghanistan
WALKING ON WIRE
On Tuesday, Adm.
Mullen said a troop
increase was needed
WASHINGTON (AP) - Presi-
dent Barack Obama said yesterday
there will be no quick decision on
whether to send more U.S. troops
into the widening war in Afghani-
stan, saying "my determination is
to get this right."
The president's comments
came one day after Adm. Mike
Mullen, his top military adviser
as chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, endorsed an increase in
U.S. forces as likely necessary to
battle a deepening insurgency.
The U.S. and NATO commander
in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley
McChrystal, also has delivered a
grim assessment of the war and is
expected to follow up soon with
a request for thousands of addi-
tional troops.
"I'm going to take a very delib-
erate process in making those
decisions," said Obama, taking
questions from reporters as he sat
in the Oval Office with visiting
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen
Harper. "And so I just want to be
absolutely clear, because there's
been a lot of discussion in the press
about this: There is no immediate
decision pending on resources."
Even as Obama spoke about a
methodical war review, admin-
istration officials were briefing
key lawmakers on McChrystal's
review and on White House pro-
posals for 46 benchmarks to gauge
progress in the stalemated Afghan
war and the hunt for al-Qaida in
neighboring Pakistan.
The Obama administration's
road map to winning the war in
Afghanistan relies heavily on
clearing terrorists from Pakistan,
according to the list of bench-
marks provided to lawmakers.
Stabilizing Pakistan always has
been a key part of the administra-
tion's strategy for South Asia. But
its prominence in the long-await-
ed benchmarks for the Afghan
war signals a longer regional view
than just gauging whether the
conflict is being won.
"It's going to be much broader
than justcombattroops," Sen. Carl
Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the
Senate Armed Services Commit-
tee, said after beingbriefed by top
Obama administration officials
yesterday about an on-the-ground
assessment of the situation in
Afghanistan. "Everybody ought to
realize that this is a much broader
issue than that."
His Republican counterpart on
the committee, Sen. John McCain,
R-Ariz., emerged from the brief-
ing calling the proposed Obama
benchmarks "a start," but not spe-
cific enough.
The president has already
ordered 21,000 more troops to
Afghanistan, increasing the U.S.
commitment there to 68,000 by
year's end.Yetviolence inAfghan-
istan has soared to record levels.
More U.S. troops - 51 - died in
Afghanistan in August than in
any other month since the U.S.-led
invasion in October 2001.
Slack-lining students use a nylon webbing secured to two trees using carabineers in the Diag yesterday afternoon.
Slain Yale student was suffocated,
medical examiner reports to police
Police: Raymond
Clark III 'person of
interest' in killing
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - A
Yale graduate student found stuffed
in the wall of a research center had
been suffocated, the medical exam-
iner reported yesterday as police
awaited DNA tests on evidence
taken from a lab technician who
worked in the building.
Police call Raymond Clark III a
"person of interest" in the slaying
of Annie Le. Authorities hoped to
compare DNA taken from Clark's
hair, fingernails and saliva with
more than 250 pieces of evidence
collected at the crime scene on
the Ivy League campus and from
Clark's Middletown, Conn., apart-
ment.
"It's all up to the lab now," Police
Chief James Lewis said at a news
conference. "The basis of the inves-
tigation now is really on the physi-
cal evidence."
Police served two search war-
rants - for DNA from Clark and for
items in his apartment - late Tues-
day. They served two more yester-
day morning, for more items from
the apartment and for Clark's Ford
Mustang, Lewis said.
Investigators said they expect
to determine within days whether
Clark should be charged in the kill-
ing. He was escorted in handcuffs
from his apartment and released
early Wednesday into the custody
of his attorney, police said.
Lewis said Clark and several
other people are under constant
police surveillance. He said police
expect to seek an arrest warrant for
anyone whose DNA matches evi-
dence at the crime scene.
Clark is not talking to police,
Lewis said.
"Atsome pointhe maybe willingto
answer questions, but at this pointhe
has invoked his rights," Lewis said.
"He has an attorney. We couldn't
question him if we wanted to."
Clark's attorney, David Dwor-
ski, said his client is "committed to
proceeding appropriately with the
authorities." He would not elaborate.
A police lab is expediting tests on
Clark's DNA. University of Connect-
icut genetics professor Linda Straus
Baugh says testing can be done in
days ifa case gets top priority.
Clark's job as an animal-services
technician at Yale put him in con-
tact with Le, who worked for a Yale
laboratory that conducted experi-
ments on mice. She was part of a
research team headed by her faculty
adviser, Anton Bennett, that focused
on enzyme research that could have
implications in cancer, diabetes and
muscular dystrophy. Members of
the team have declined to comment
on the case or their work.
Clark, his fiancee, his sister and
his brother-in-law all work for Yale
as animal lab technicians.
Le's body was found Sunday
stuffed behind the wall of the base-
ment where lab animals are kept.
The Connecticut state medical
examiner said Wednesday that Le
died of "traumatic asphyxiation."
Authorities released no details
on how she died, but traumatic
asphyxiation could be consistent
with a choke hold or some other
form of pressure-induced asphyxi-
ation caused by a hand or an object,
such as a pipe.
Clark and Le were both 24
years old, but Clark has a muscular
build that contrasts sharply to Le's
4-foot-11, 90-pound frame. Clark
also reportedly had a troubling
brush with the law in high school
after being accused of harassing a
girlfriend.
Until recently, Clark's family
lived in nearby Branford, a small
middle-class suburb of New Haven.
In September 2003, when he was
a senior at Branford High School,
Clark reportedly upset a girlfriend
so much that police warned him to
stay away from her.
The New Haven Independent
reported that when the girl tried to
break up with Clark, he attempted to
confront her and wrote on her locker.
The girlfriend and her mother
told a detective that she had been
in a sexual relationship with Clark
and that he once forced her to have
sex. The relationship continued
after that incident, according to the
Independent, a news Web site.
The youngwoman did not pursue
the case, and no charges were filed.
TheIndependentreportedthatClark
waswarnedin2003thatpolicecould
pursue criminal charges against him
if he contacted the girl.
Branford Police Lt. Geoffrey
Morgan told The Associated Press
on Wednesday that his department
would not release the unsubstanti-
ated 2003 report. Morgan would
neither confirm nor deny the news
report, citing cooperation with
police investigating the killing.
Clark played baseball at Bran-
ford High School, where longtime
athletic director Artie Roy remem-
bered him as a quiet student who
threw a mean knuckleball.
"He was a seriously good pitch-
er and a good infielder," Roy said.
"He wasn't a typical off-the-wall
knucklehead kind of kid who
bounced all over the place," he
said. Clark also participated in
clubs that raised money for chari-
ty and the Asian Awareness group,
according to the school's 2004
yearbook, the Milestone.
On her MySpace page, Clark's
fiancee, Jennifer Hromadka, calls
Clark was a "wonderful boyfriend."
She added that she'snot perfect, but
cautioned people not to judge her.
"Who are you to judge the life I
live? I know I'm not perfect and I
don't live to be, but before you start
pointing fingers make sure your
hands are clean!!" the 23-year-old
wrote.
CARLOS OROSIO/AP
CIA Director Leon Panetta addresses the media in Dearborn yesterday.
Panetta requests
U. S.Muslims help
in a
in at- tro ih
In Dearborn, CIA
chief said al-Qaida
remains a threat
DEARBORN, Mich. - The
director of the CIA beseeched
Arab-American and Muslim lead-
ers yesterday to join efforts to
reduce the threat of terrorism in
the U.S.
Speaking in the heart of Michi-
gan's large Middle Eastern Com-
munity, Leon Panetta said the
country is safer than it was when
it was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001,
though al-Qaida still remains a
threat.
"I need you. The nation needs
you," Panetta said during a
25-minute speech to about 150
people at an iftar, the evening
meal that breaks the fast during
the Islamic holy month of Rama-
dan.
The address represented one of
the Central Intelligence Agency's
highest-profile recruiting efforts
aimed at Arab-Americans and
Muslims. Panetta said it was his
first speech at a Ramadan break-
fast dinner.
Theagencythisyearannounced
a five-year plan to boost fluency in
Arabic and other languages the
CIA deems critical to its work.
Panetta aims to raise foreign lan-
guage proficiency inside the CIA
from less than a third to at least
half of all analysts and intelli-
gence operatives.
He told the gatheringhe hopes
to increase the share of the
agency's work force that has for-
eign language skills. The agency
seeks highly skilled workers in
90 different areas, including
analysts, engineers and doctors,
he said.
"We have to reflect the face of
this nation, and we have to reflect
the face of the world," said Panet-
ta, drawing applause from the
gathering.
Earlier, he told reporters
he never considered resigning
from the job he took in Febru-
ary, despite a battle with Attor-
ney General Eric Holder over
Holder's his decision to investi-
gate some agency officials in past
interrogations of terrorism case
detainees.
"My concern is ... that we don't
get trapped by the past. My feel-
ing is ultimately, we're going to
be able to move on," Panetta said.
"I think the reason I felt the way
I did is because I don't believe
there's a basis there for any kind
of additional action."
He also sought to allay concerns
of many in the Arab and Muslim
communities who say they have
felt the sting of suspicion and dis-
crimination since Sept. 11. About
300,000 people with roots in the
Arab world live in the Detroit
area.
BIG HOUSE BEATS
From Page 1A
music that we listen to down there,"
he said. "There's this one song called
'Stanky Leg' Yeah, I know. And that
gets me into my groove."
As for the canned music's rela-
tionship with the band, Riordan
said the Athletic Department is not
"trying to take away anything from
the Michigan Marching Band.'
However, a marchingband mem-
ber who didn't feel authorized to
speak on the subject and requested
anonymity, told the Daily that the
band resents the pumped-in music.
"I appreciate where the players
are coming from in that it can help
motivate them," the band member
said, "but when you have one of the
best marching bands sitting there
waiting to play, at times it's some-
what disappointing to hea rmusic
coming over the loudspeakers."
Riordan said the band shouldn't
feel edged out, since the canned
music is only played in short clips.
How much canned music is
played and when it's played de-
pends upon each individual game.
"Ideally we want to play right be-
fore the team comes out of the tun-
nel, when the band is not playing,"
Riordan said. "We don't have any
set spots, we are really just trying to
go with the flow and feel what the
crowd is like at the time and play
what's appropriate."
"It's nicely intermixed with
cheering," said LSA senior Natalie
Wengroff.
LSA senior Adam Lynn specu-
lated the change could work in the
Wolverines' favor on the field when
they need it most.
"It's a home field advantage to get
the crowd rallied up like that," he
said. "I think it will be the deciding
factor for us against Ohio State."
- Daily Sports Editor Ruth
Lincoln and Daily News Editor Matt
Aaronson contributed to this report.
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President of the AFL-CIO Richard Trumka addresses the AFL-CIO convention in Pittsburgh Tuesday.
Former coal miner leads AFL-CIO
Richard Trumka is
first new AFL-CIO
president in 14 years
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Richard
Trumka, who rose from the coal
mines of Pennsylvania to the top
ranks of the nation's labor move-
ment, took the helm of the AFL-
CIO yesterday, ushering in a more
aggressive style of leadership and
vowing to revive unions' sagging
membership rolls.
The first new AFL-CIO presi-
dent in 14 years, Trumka pledged
to make the labor movement
appeal to a new generation of
workers who perceive unions as
"only a grainy, faded picture from
another time."
"We need a unionism that
makes sense to the next genera-
tion - young women and men who
either don't have the money to go
to college or are almost penniless
by the time they come out," Trum-
ka told hundreds of cheering del-
egates in a speech at their annual
convention.
Trumka, 60, a charismatic,
former head of the United Mine
Workers, embraced the challenge
of rebuilding union ranks that
have fallen from a high of 35 per-
cent in the 1950s to just 12.4 per-
cent today.
It's a feat his predecessor, John
Sweeney, failed to accomplish as
the U.S. continued to lose mil-
lions of manufacturing jobs and
employers grew more resistant to
union organizers.
Trumka insisted that unions
remain the best way to lift work-
ers into the middle class during a
time of economic turmoil. He said
the growing number of Americans
working as temps, contractors
and telecommuters are "walking
a tightrope without a net" as they
work for low wages, no health care
and little job security.
"Even though it wasn't the labor
movement that got us into this
mess, we are the people who are
going to lead America out of it," he
declared.
Trumka plans to be a more
vocal and visible spokesman for
labor's cause than Sweeney was.
That includes more events, more
public speaking and more TV and
radio appearances.
"Richie is probably more force-
ful than John," said Gerald McEn-
tee, president of the American
Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees. "John had
the workers' interest in his heart,
but Richie has them in his heart
and his gut."
With a union-friendly Demo-
crat in the White House and
Democrats in control of Congress,
unions have their best chance in
decades of getting their top pri-
ority: overhauling labor laws to
make it easier for workers to form
unions. If that happens, labor lead-
ers predict a renaissance in orga-
nized labor, with millions of new
workers signing up.
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