The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, February 2, 2011 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
MORENCI, Mich.
Kidnapping case
to be investigated
as homicide
The disappearance of three
young Michigan brothers has
turned into a homicide investiga-
tion, a police chief said yesterday,
dashing hopes that the boys who
were last seen with their father
at Thanksgiving are safe some-
where.
Morenci Chief Larry Weeks
is now asking people in the area,
along the Michigan-Ohio border,
to be on the lookout for bodies. He
said investigators have followed
up on 900 tips but they have not
* been fruitful.
"We've seen false hope contin-
ue to grow," he told reporters.
Weeks said the boys' father,
John Skelton, is the primary focus
of the investigation, although no
new charges have been filed. Skel-
ton already has been charged with
parental kidnapping and is being
held on a $30 million bond.
NEW YORK
Bush daughter OK
with gay marriage
Former President George W.
Bush's daughter Barbara has
announced her support for gay
marriage, breaking with her father
on a key social issue but joining
her mother and other prominent
Republicans who back same-sex
unions.
The Human Rights Campaign,
a national gay rights organization,
released a video yesterday featur-
ing the 29-year old Bush, a New
York resident who runs Global
Health Corps, a nonprofit public
health organization.
"I'm a New Yorker for marriage
equality," Bush says in the video.
"New York is about fairness and
equality and everyone should have
the right to marry the person that
they love."
OSWIECIM, Poland
Muslim leaders
visit Auschwitz
In a bid to fight anti-Semitism
and bridge cultural rifts, a large
delegation of Muslim dignitaries
visited Auschwitz yesterday to
pay tribute to the millions of Jews
and others who were systemati-
cally killed in the Holocaust.
The group of some 150 people
included representatives from
Morocco, Jordan, Turkey and
Iraq, as well as rabbis, Holocaust
survivors and Christian repre-
sentatives. Several European
dignitaries also were part of the
group, including the former Ger-
man Chancellor Gerhard Schro-
eder.
"Muslims have to stand up
with Jewish friends because in
Europe, anti-Semitism is rising -
and where there is anti-Semitism,
Islamophobia is not far away,"
said British Mufti Abduljalil
Sajid.
Sajid said he knew of the Holo-
caust from books and movies but
that it was his first visit to Aus-
chwitz. "I wanted to see it with
my own eyes - and teach others
about the evil of hate," he said.
"This should never happen again,
to anybody."
BEIRUT
Syrians organize
protest on Twitter
Syrians are organizing cam-
paigns on Facebook and Twit-
ter that call for a "day of rage" in
Damascus this week, taking inspi-
ration from Egypt and Tunisia in
using social networking sites to
rally their followers for sweeping
political reforms.
Like Egypt and Tunisia, Syria
suffers from corruption, poverty
and unemployment. All three
nations have seen subsidy cuts on
staples like bread and oil. Syria's
authoritarian president has resist-
ed calls for political freedoms and
jailed critics of his regime.
The main Syrian protest page
on Facebook is urging people to
protest in Damascus on Feb. 4 and
5 for "a day of rage." It says the goal
is to "end the state of emergency in
Syria and end corruption."
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
Mub arak promises not to seek re-elec tion
Over 250 thousand
protesters demand
Egyptian President's
resignation
CAIRO (AP) - President Hosni
Mubarak defied a quarter-million
protesters demanding he step
down immediately, announcing
yesterday he would serve out the
last months of his term and "die
on Egyptian soil." He promised
not to seek re-election, but that
did not calm public fury as clash-
es erupted between his opponents
and supporters.
The protesters, whose num-
bers multiplied more than tenfold
in a single day yesterday for their
biggest rally yet, have insisted
they will not end their unprec-
edented week-old wave of unrest
until their ruler for nearly three
decades goes.
Mubarak's halfway concession
- an end to his rule seven months
down the road - threatened to
inflame frustration and anger
among protesters, who have been
peaceful in recent days.
In the Mediterranean city
of Alexandria, clashes erupted
between several hundred pro-
testers and government support-
ers soon afterward, according to
footage by Al-Jazeera television.
The protesters threw stones at
their rivals, who wielded knives
and sticks, until soldiers fired in
the air and stepped in between
them, said a local journalist, Hos-
sam el-Wakil.
The speech was immediately
derided by protesters in Cairo's
Tahrir Square. Watching on a
giant TV, protesters booed and
waved their shoes over their
heads at his image in a sign of
contempt. "Go, go, go! We are
not leaving until he leaves," they
chanted. One man screamed, "He
doesn't want to say it, he doesn't
want to say it."
In the 10-minute address, the
82-year-old Mubarak appeared
somber but spoke firmly and
without an air of defeat. He insist-
ed that even if the protests had
never happened, he would not
have sought a sixth term in Sep-
tember.
He said he would serve out
the rest of his term working
"to accomplish the necessary
steps for the peaceful transfer of
power." He said he will carry out
amendments to rules on presiden-
tial elections.
Mubarak, a former air force
commander, vowed not to flee the
country. "This is my dear home-
land ... I have lived in it, I fought
for it and defended its soil, sov-
ereignty and interests. On its soil
I will die. History will judge me
and all of us."
The step came after heavy pres-
sure from his top ally, the United
States. Soon after Mubarak's
address, President Barack Obama
said at the White House that he
had spoken with Mubarak and
"he recognizes that the status quo
is not sustainable and a change
must take place." Obama said
he told Mubarak that an orderly
transition must be meaningful
and peaceful, must begin now and
must include opposition parties.
Earlier, a visiting Obama envoy
- former ambassador to Egypt
Frank Wisner, who is a friend of
the Egyptian president - met
with Mubarak and made clear to
him that it is the U.S. "view that
his tenure as president is coming
to a close," according to an admin-
istration official, who spoke on
condition of anonymity because
of the delicacy of the ongoing
diplomacy.
The United States has been
struggling to find a way to ease
Mubarak out of office while
maintaining stability in Egypt, a
key ally in the Mideast that has
a 30-year-old peace treaty with
Israel and has been a bulwark
against Islamic militancy.
Mubarak would be the second
Arab leader pushed from office
by a popular uprising in the his-
tory of the modern Middle East,
followingthe ouster last month of
the president of Tunisia - anoth-
LEFTERISPITARAKIS/AP
Effigies of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak hang as protesters gather in Cairo's Tahrir Square early this morning.
er North African nation.
The U.S. ambassador in Cairo,
Margaret Scobey, spoke by tele-
phone yesterday with Nobel
Peace laureate Mohamed EBara-
dei;the embassy said. ElBaradei, a
pro-democracy advocate and one
of the opposition's most promi-
nent leaders, has taken a key role
in formulating the movement's
demands. He is also a member of
a new committee formed by vari-
ous factions to conduct any future
negotiations on the protesters'
behalf once Mubarak steps down.
There was no immediate word
on what he and Scobey discussed.
Only a month ago, reform
activists would have greeted
Mubarak's announcement with
joy - many Egyptians believed
Mubarak was going to run again
despite healthissues. But afterthe
past week of upheaval, Mubarak's
address struck many of his oppo-
nents as inadequate.
"The people have spoken. They
said no to Mubarak, and they will
not go back on their words," said
Saad el-Katatni, a leading mem-
ber of the fundamentalist Muslim
Brotherhood. "Enough suffering.
Let him go, and leave the Egyp-
tians to sort themselves out."
Ayman Nour, a former presi-
dential candidate who is a mem-
ber of the negotiating committee,
said Mubarak clearly didn't get
the message.
"This is a unique case of stub-
bornness that will end in a disas-
ter," he said. "It is only expected
that he wasn't going to run
because of his age.... He offered
nothing new."
Yesterday's protest marked a
dramatic escalation that organiz-
ers said aims to drive Mubarak
out by Friday, with more than
250,000 people flooding into
Tahrir, or Liberation, Square.
Protesters jammed in shoulder
to shoulder: farmers and unem-
ployed university graduates,
women in conservative heads-
carves and women in high heels,
men in suits and working-class
men in scuffed shoes. Many in
the crowd traveled from rural
provinces, defying a government
transportation shutdown and
roadblocks on intercity highways.
They sang nationalist songs,
danced, beat drums and chanted
the anti-Mubarak slogan "Leave!
Leave! Leave!" as military heli-
copters buzzed overhead. Similar
demonstrations erupted in at least
five other cities around Egypt.
Solldiers at checkpoints set up
at the entrances of the square did
nothing to stop the crowds from
entering. The military promised
on state TV Monday night that
it would not fire on protesters
answering a call for a million to
demonstrate, a sign that army
support for Mubarak may be
unraveling.
The movement to drive
Mubarak out has been built on
the work of online activists and
fueled by deep frustration with
an autocratic regime blamed for
ignoringthe needs of the poorand
allowing corruption and official
abuse to run rampant. After years
of tight state control, protest-
ers emboldened by the Tunisia
unrest took to the streets on Jan.
25 and mounted a once-unimagi-
nable series of protests across this
nation of 80 million.
Lawmakers: US-Canadian
border needs to be secured
Report: Terrorists
could enter U.S.
from Canada
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - Less
than 1 percent of the 4,000-mile
.U.S.-Canada border is considered
under the operational control of
U.S. border officials, according
to a report released yesterday by
the Government Accountability
Office.
"To me this report is absolute-
ly alarming," said U.S. Sen. Joe
Lieberman, I-Conn., chairman
of the Senate Homeland Security
and Government Affairs Com-
mittee, noting that there is more
known terrorist activity in Can-
ada than Mexico. "GAO makes
clear defense of our northern bor-
der is weak."
Crossers include people seek-
ing to immigrate illegally, crimi-
nals trafficking humans and
smuggling drugs, and, potential-
ly, terrorists, said U.S. Sen. Susan
Collins, R-Maine, who released
the report with Lieberman.
The GAO report says Customs
and Border Protection believes it
can detectillegal entries, respond
and deal with them on only about
32 miles of the northern border. It
says the Border Patrol was aware
of all illegal border crossings on
only 25 percent of the border, or
1,007 out of 4,000 miles.
Most areas of the northern
border are remote and inaccessi-
ble by traditional patrol methods,
the report said.
"Few northern border miles
had reached an acceptable level
of security as of fiscal year end
2010," said the report, citing Bor-
der Patrol security assessments.
It also found that illegal crossings
by terrorists are more likely along
the northernborder thantheyare
across the southernborder.
Collins said the Department
of Homeland Security allocates
increasing amounts of money to
the southern border "to the detri-
ment of the northernborder." The
money helps coordinate the fed-
eral government's border secu-
rity efforts with state, local and
tribal law enforcement agencies.
"Itisveryclearfromthisreport
that the United States remains
very vulnerable," said Collins,
who called the report shocking.
FILE/AP
Roger Stockham, was arrested outside the the Islamic Center of America mosque in Dearborn, Mich., shown here.
Man who tried to blow up
mosque has criminal past
Suspect tried to
detonate Dearborn
mosque last week
DETROIT (AP) - A Califor-
nia man accused of threatening
to blow up a popular Detroit-
area mosque has had several
violent, unpredictable run-ins
with the law dating back to the
1970s, including one in which he
kidnapped his son from a foster
home and crashed a plane while
tryingto get away.
Roger Stockham, 63, has twice
been committed for psychiatric
treatment by the courts, and his
attorney, Mark Haidar, told The
Associated Press yesterday that
after meeting with Stockham
earlier in the day, he came away
worried about his client's mental
state.
"He indicated he never meant
to hurt anyone at any time and
had no intention of blowing up
any mosque at any time," Haidar
said of Stockham, who has been
living in Imperial Beach, Calif.
Stockham was arrested dur-
ing a Jan. 24 traffic stop near
the Islamic Center of America
in Dearborn, which is one of the
nation's largest mosques and
serves the area's huge Arab com-
munity. Police kept quiet about
Stockham's arrest for a week
after consulting with Islamic
leaders who were worried about
possible copycat attempts.
Hours before his arrest, wit-
nesses say Stockham sipped
Scotch at a nearby sports bar and
bragged about how he was going
to cause a big explosion. Police
say when the pulled him over,
he was wearing a ski mask and
had more than two dozen Class-
C fireworks in his car, including
M-80s, which are illegal in the
state.
Haidar said he hasn't
reviewed the evidence, buttbased
on Stockham's history of mental
illness he will request a compe-
tency evaluation for him during
Friday's scheduled preliminary
examination in Dearborn's dis-
trict court.
Police have not discussed why
they believe Stockham may have
targeted the Dearborn mosque.
Joe Nahhas, a manager at the
Detroit bar Stockham alleg-
edly visited before his arrest,
said Stockham claimed to have
become a Muslim after returning
from the Vietnam War, and said
he recognized that Stockham
could speak at least some Arabic.
He also said Stockham claimed to
be part of a group of Indonesian
mujahedeen, or holy warriors.
The fireworks, as described by
police, could not have destroyed
a building, but they could have
been used to wound or kill peo-
ple, said John V. Goodpaster, an
explosives expert and assistant
professor at Indiana University-
Purdue University Indianapolis.
Federal authorities said that
was not the case in June 1985,
when they said Stockham planted
a bomb in a Reno, Nev., airport
garbage can, then called the Reno
Gazette-Journal and the FBI to
tell them about it. The airport
was evacuated and the device was
disarmed, but bomb experts said
that it could have killed anyone in
the vicinity had it exploded.
Stockham was convicted of
one count each of attempting
to damage a building used in
interstate commerce and pos-
sessing an unregistered firearm,
and was sentenced to 10 years in
prison for each count, with the
counts to run concurrently. It
was not immediately clear when
and under what terms Stockham
was released.
Michigan College Advising Corps
is now hiring UM Grads for full-time,
paid service positions as
college advisers
Apply Now!
The Michigan College Advising Corps seeks new
graduates to serve as college advisers in underserved
high schools across Michigan
Application deadline: February 21, 2011
For more information and an application packet visit
www.ceo.umich.edu/mcac
COLLEGE ADVISING CORPS