*I 2 - Wednesday, November 25, 2009 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com MONDAY: TUESDAY: WEN In Other Ivory Towers Off the Beaten Path Food, banter and shvitzing THURSDAY: FRIDAY: Before You Were Here Photos of the Week 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327 www.michigandaily.com GARY GRACA DANNEWMAN Editor in Chief easiness Manager 734-647-3336 734-764-0558 graca@michigandaily.com tmdbusiness@gmai1.com CONTACT INFORMATION Newsroom office hours: Sun.-Thurs. 11a.. - 2 a.. News Tips newso@michigandaily.com Corrections corrections@michigandaily.com Letterstothe Editor tothedaily@michigandaily.com 01 Know what a Shmoo- zalufuguse is? Have you ever shmoozed?Ifnot, you must not know about Shmooze. Shmooze is a Jewish stu- dent organization founded in 2004 with a primary purpose of, quite simply, shmoozing. Students gather once a month to share food and conversation at a member's home. While the informal meetings generally begin with obscure icebreak- ers, they quickly turn into impassioned discussions about Jewish culture, past and future club events and, perhaps most importantly, food. Food is a central part ofboth shmoozing and the Jewish cul- ture, and most of Shmooze's events focus on cooking.Kugel, a Jewish dish similar to cas- serole, is the subject of the organization's premier annual event-- the Kugel Cook-off The club's leader, head Shmoozalufuguse Avery Rob- inson - a Shmoozalufuguse is any member of the club's lead- ership board - explained that the cook-off allows members to "expand what can be kugel," or even show off their grand- mother's kugel recipes. . The club hosts another annual cook-off that focuses on a different food each fall. Apples starred this semester, yielding creations like apple challah and apple-butternut squash soup, while past years have seen a variety of desserts that experimented within the cooking limitations of Pass- over. Shmooze, which receives most of its funding through Hillel, also organizes events such as the upcoming Ashke- nazi food symposium, an event which highlights the evolution of Jewish food. An expert on Jewish food from Zingerman's Delicatessen, Zack Berg, will be the keynote speaker at the event. While food is indeed impor- 0 tant, conversation is the other important aspect of the group. Robinson, an LSA junior, believes that shmoozing is an important skill to have, both in professional and social situ- ations. The meetings allow members to become more com- fortable speaking and interact- ing with others. The living room often leads to the CCRB's locker room sau- nas, as members sit together and talk. Robinson said this form of socializing, known as shvitzing, is a fantastic way to form friendships in a relaxing atmosphere. JEREMY CHO/Daily Members of the Shmooze Club play guitar at a backyard campfire on Elm -PETERNOORANI Street in 2007. Photography Department Arts Section Editorial Page Sports Section Display Sales Classified Sales Online Sales Finance photo@michigandaily.com artspage@michigandaity.com opinion@michigandaily.com sports@michigandaily.com display@michigandaily.com classiyed@michigandaily.com onlineads@michigandaily.com finance@michigandaily.com 01 CRIME NOTES Accidental purse Tire slashed CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES Hillel ice Bowling club hockey game meeting thief WHERE: University Hospital WHEN: Yesterday at 11:45 a.m. WHAT: A patient mistakenly took the wrong purse while under the influence of medica- tion, University Police reported. She then returned the purse. WHERE: Cardiovascular Cen- ter Parking Lot WHEN:Yesterday at about 12:50 p.m. - WHAT: A man reported that his vehicle's tire was slashed while parked in the lot, Univer- sity Police reported. There are no suspects. Railing broken Another railing WHERE: School of Information WHEN: Yesterday at about 4 p.m. WHAT: An officer founda handicap railing broken from the building after a caller reported skateboarders in the area, University Police reported. The damage was valued at $100. broken WHERE: Mosher-Jordan Hall WHEN: Yesterday at about 4:15 p.m. WHAT: A handrail was report- ed broken, University Police reported. It was split down in half and broken from its base. There are no suspects. WHAT: The Hillel Ice Hockey Team will play a game at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube. WHO: Hillel WHEN: Tonight from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. WHERE: Ann Arbor Ice Cube Printmaking exhibit WHAT: A printmaking exhibit of Takeshi Takaha- ra's work called "The Four Corners." WHO: Residential College WHEN: Today from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. WHERE: East Quadrangle, Resiidential College Art Gallery WHAT: The bowling club welcomes members and nonmembers of all skill lev- els to attend their practice sessions. WHO: Michigan Union Bil- liards WHEN: Tonight from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. WHERE: Colonial Lanes CORRECTIONS * A campus event in Mon- day's edition of the Daily, 'Open gender discussion,' incorrectly stated that the group is for individuals questioning their sexual- ity. It is to discuss gender identity. 0 Please report any error in the Daily to correc- tions@michigandaily. com. Two prisoners crawled through a window and under a fence to escape from a Tennessee prison, KTVU.com reported. Once free, the men stole cigarettes from a convenience store and then re-entered the prison through the same window they used to escape. Two gay rights bills are going through the leg- islature, one of which could overturn the 2004 amendment to Michigan's constitution that prevents homosexual couples from having spousal benefits. >FOR MORE, SEE OPINION, PAGE 4A The German newspaper Die Tageszeitung revealed a plastic sculpture depict- ing the editor-in-chief of its rival right-wing paper Bild naked, The Local reported. He is depicted with sensationalist headlines surrounding him. 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One copy is avalable free of charge to all readers. Subsciptionsforfaiem,startinginseptemaviUs.maiare$1o.Winterim(anuaryethrough Aprilsslt1syeaiong(septemberthroughAprili)is195.Universityaffiiatesaresubjecitoareduced subcriioate.n-mpsboiptiionsforiatea" S bscon"mberaiq.The MichiganDailyisamemberofTheAssociatedPressandTheAssociatedCollegiatePress. MORE ONLINE Love Crime Notes? Getlmore online at michigandaily.com/blogs/the wire British panel begins inquiry on Iraq war Inquiry called the most comprehensive of the conflict LONDON (AP) - An inquiry into Britain's role in the Iraq war kicked off yesterday with top government advisers testifying that some Bush administration officials were calling for Saddam Hussein's ouster as early as 2001 - long before sanctions were exhausted and two years before the U.S.-led invasion. Critics hope the hearings, which willcallex-Prime Minister Tony Blair and are billed as the most sweeping inquiry into the conflict, will expose alleged deception in the buildup to fighting. However, they won't estab- lish criminal or civil liability. As the inquiry began, a small group of anti-war protesters gathered near Parliament. Three wore face masks of George Bush, Blair and Prime Minis- ter Gordon Brown - their hands and faces covered in fake blood. "Five years we've waited for this, and finally we're getting somewhere," said Pauline Graham, 70, who trav- eled from the Scottish city of Glasgow to see the hearings. Her grandson Gordon Gentle, 19, was killed in the southern Iraqi city of Basra in 2004. Sir Peter Ricketts, who was chairman of Britain's Joint Intelli- gence Committee in 2001, said Brit- ain had hoped for a strengthened policy of containment - reducing the threat posed by Iraq through sanctions, weapons inspections and security measures. The strat- egy had been in place since the 1991 Gulf War when Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait. But Ricketts said some in the Bush administration had a different vision. "We were conscious that there were other voices in Washington, some of whom were talking about regime change," Ricketts said, citing an article written by National Secu- rity Adviser Condoleezza Rice warn- ing that nothing would change inIraq until Saddam was gone. The panel will question dozens of officials over the next year - includ- ing military officials and spy agency chiefs. It will also seek evidence but not testimony from ex-White House staff. Bereaved families and activists have long called for an inquiry into the U.S.-led war that left 179 British soldiers dead and triggered massive public protests. The Labour-led gov- ernment lost a significant share of parliamentary seats because of the war. But with no lawyers on the panel, few believe the inquiry will answer one of the most basic questions - whether the war was legal. Blair will be questioned on wheth- er he secretly backed U.S. President George W. Bush plan's for invasion a year before Parliament authorized military involvement in 2003. "There were no weapons of mass destruction and we know that, so what are we going to get out of this?" asked Mabel Saili, a 49-year-old office administrator. "It's too little too late.' Led by a panel appointed by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the inquiry can only offer reprimand and recommendations in hope mistakes won't be repeated in the future. In the United States, the 9/11 Com- missionexaminedsome issues around prewar intelligence, and a Senate select committee identified failures in intelligence gathering in a July 2004 report on prewar intelligence assess- ments. But the Iraq inquiry is envisioned to be a comprehensive look at the war. Brown set up the inquiry to address public criticism of three key aspects of the conflict: the case made for war; the planning for the invasion; and the failure to prepare for reconstruction. Any significant findings could pose embarrassing questions for the gov- ernment ahead of a general election next year. Both the Labour Party and the opposition Conservatives voted for the invasion. Leaked military documents pub- lished Sunday disclosed that senior British military officers claim war plans were in place months before the March 2003 invasion, but were so INTERESTED IN THE FIELD OF GRAPHIC DESIGN? badly drafted they left troops poorly equipped and ill-prepared. The panel said yesterday it would first try to establish Britain's view of i Iraq before 2003. Ricketts, who is now the Perma- nent Secretary at the Foreign Office, said elements of a containment strat- egy - sanctions, an incentive to lift sanctions if Saddam allowed weapons inspectors to return and no fly zones were already starting to show signs of failure in 2001. The deterioration was linked to the rise of smuggling, Saddam's growing standing in the Arab world and the increasing unpopularity of the mea- sures in Iraq. Witnesses also said Saddam was feeling no pressure from the interna- tional community -the United States and Britain viewed Iraq as a consider- able threat but astumbling block had been Russia, which was against strict sanctionslargelybecauseofcommer- cial interests. "In February 2001, we were aware of these drum beats from Washington and internally we dis- cussed it (ousting Saddam)," said Sir William Patey, head of the Mid- dle East department at the Foreign Office in 2001 and now Britain's Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. "Our policy was to stay away from that. We didn't think Saddam was a good thing, and it would be great if he went, but we didn't have an explicit policy for trying to get rid of him." Simon Webb, who in 2001 was policy director of the Ministry of Defense, said despite mounting skepticism over the containment strategy, there were no military plans in 2001 for regime change. "The question of regime over- throw was, I recall, mentioned but it was quite clear that there was no proposition being put in our direc- tion on that" The turning point for the U.S. administration was Sept. 11 terror attacks, according to the three wit- nesses who said they believed the UN Security Council would have agreed to revised sanctions on Iraq if it weren'tforthe attacks. "In 2001, we were seeing an acceleration of work on missile programs, we saw increased Iraq efforts to secure material for the nuclear program and we saw con- tinuing interest in CW (chemical weapons) research and develop- ment," Ricketts aid. Design Ads for Tie Daily. A