I'hursday, Ocio
University policiesoii
;ct,” said Corps Command
/elsh, a senior finance m
However, John said thai
like one big fraternity.lib
lilitary and hence the &
ik, don’t tell” policy is ii
nlike the armed forces
he Corps Standard does noli
aces cadets cannot be in
>r example, he said militan
I cannot be at an abortiot
liform, but that does notap;
John said, regardless, Ii
r a degree from A&M will
> perseverance.
“1 know that there is a
lent here,” he said. "Gn
mi A&M means a lotto
Being open in what tie
loset Station” and gettii
Corps shot down all off
r plans and ultimately chai
John had served fount.
; duty in the military andn.
\&M on contract to conn
ree before returning.
‘I basically gave it all up
/as too difficult for met
’ he said.
But being at A&M hashai
[ of its own.
It opened a lot of thingstl.
i repressed for four years
tary,” he said. “If theyartl
1 am a disgrace or e
it. then they are saying
is bad.” •
ohn said gay cadets cam
iselves to arms because tk'
tin underground, but he be!
if all gay cadets were to
once their sexual orientatio
is would be more acce|
am not on a personal cni
said. “But if I can helpjir
>n understand what it’s lib
/e done something for tlx
mt of someone.”
FRIDAY
October 13, 2000
Volume 107 ~ Issue 36
10 pages
Ii Vim t :*.-*:* * I llh'l M I
The drawing board
Aggies!
)RGAME?
I be serving the^Na^
n Saturday 14.
MNIa building fort
n.
i://bgs.tamu.edu>|
PROJECT
to help?
Bomb blasts hole in
U.S. warship, killing six
KEVIN BURNS/Tm Battalion
Tiffany McCauley, a sophomore environmental design major, works on a construction
diagram for ENDS 115. The class focuses on basic drawing techniques for architecture.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a sinis
ter slip through Navy security, suicide
bombers in a small boat tore a gaping
hole in a U.S. warship Thursday at a re
fueling stop in a Yemeni harbor on the
Arabian Peninsula, U.S. officials say.
The blast killed six members of the
crew, injured 35 and left 11 missing.
The crippled ship was tilting slightly
in the harbor at Aden, Yemen, but the
Navy said it was not in danger of sinking.
No one has claimed responsibility,
Defense Secretary William Cohen told a
Pentagon news conference.
President Clinton said the attack on
the USS Cole, one of the world’s most
advanced warships, appeared to be an
act of terrorism, the worst against the
U.S. military since the bombing of an
Air Force barracks in Saudi Arabia in
1996 that killed 19 troops.
“We will find out who was respon
sible and hold them accountable,”
Clinton pledged.
He dispatched to Yemen investigative
teams from the FBI, the State Department
and the Pentagon. Clinton also ordered a
heightened state of alert for all U.S. mil
itary installations around the world.
After the attack, ambulances rushed
to the port, and Americans working with
Yemeni authorities cordoned off the
area. The ship was listing but still afloat.
Yemeni police sources said without
elaboration that a number of people had
been detained for questioning; it was not
clear whether any were suspects.
The State Department issued a world
wide alert, saying it was extremely con
cerned about the possibility of violence
against U.S. citizens and interests.
Americans were urged to maintain “a
high level of vigilance.”
In a parallel travel warning, Ameri
cans were advised to defer all travel to
Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, and
those already there were told to stay at
home or get to a safe location. Ameri
cans were warned not to go to Yemen.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah
Saleh talked with Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright, pledged
his cooperation in the investigation
and visited some of the injured
who were hospitalized locally. He
insisted in a CNN interview that his
country did not harbor “terrorist el
ements" and said, “1 don’t think
it’s a terrorist attack.”
The Cole is a $1 billion guided
missile destroyer home-ported at
Norfolk, Va. If had sailed through
the Red Sea and was en route to
the Persian Gulf where it was to
perform maritime intercept oper
ations in support of the U.N. em
bargo against Iraq. The ship has a
crew of about 350 people.
Navy medical teams were en
route to the scene Thursday to
treat those injured in the 5:15 a.m.
EDT explosion, Pentagon offi
cials said. U.S. aircraft capable of
evacuating the injured were also
scheduled to By to Aden.
The incident was all the more stun
ning given that U.S. forces in the Mid
dle East have been on a heightened state
of alert in recent days and security plans
for a port visit like the Cole's are drawn
up in advance.
The Cole had just arrived in the har
bor and was scheduled to leave in about
four hours, officials said, suggesting the
attackers may have known the ship’s
schedule and the procedures for a refu
eling stop.
Adm. Vern Clark, the chief of naval
operations, said he could not fault the
Cole’s crew for not preventing the mid
day attack that apparently was carried
out by two men in a small harbor craft
that was helping tie up the ship’s moor
ing lines at a fueling facility in the mid
dle of the Aden harbor.
As a participant in normal harbor op
erations, the small boat’s presence did
not raise suspicions, Clark said.
ETHIOPI
U.S. Navy
ship
attacked
SOMALIA
Z
Indian
Ocean
AP
“I have no reason to think this was
anything but a senseless act of terror
ism,” Clark said.
After helping the Cole moor, the small
boat came alongside the warship and ap
parently detonated a high-explosive bomb,
killing the men on board in the process.
Some reports said the two men in the boat
stood at attention as the bomb exploded,
although Clark said he could not verify
such details based on early information.
The explosion ripped a hole 20 feet
high and 40 feet wide in the midsection
of the ship, flooding the main engine
compartment. Clark said the flooding
was brought under control and the ship
was not in danger of sinking.
Clark displayed a Navy photograph
of the damaged ship. The jagged edges
of the hole in the hull protruded in
ward, suggesting the explosive force
came from outside the ship at roughly
the water level.
)6«8886(TUT0R)
Three Israelis killed,
Arafat’s house bombed
Israelis retaliate after lynching of soldiers
Israeli helicopters attacked Palestinian targets Thursday in retaliation for the killings of two Israeli soldiers by
a Palestinian mob. Among the targets hit were Yasser Arafat’s residential compound, police stations and
broadcasting centers.
^ Targets hit by Israeli missiles
Part m
l uc Oct 17
5pm-7pm
’art Ill
id Oct 18
>m-9pni
art III
dOcf 18
m-12am
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — In a day
of incendiary violence that, left Mideast
peacemaking in ashes, Israeli helicopters
rocketed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s
compound Thursday in retaliation for the
mutilation of three Israeli soldiers by a mob
of enraged Palestinians.
Late Thursday, Arafat spoke in a confer
ence call with President Clinton and Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak, Arafat’s office said.
The day began with U.N. Secretary-Gen
eral Kofi Annan and CIA chief George Tenet
trying to broker a truce to end two weeks of
daily fighting. But it degenerated swiftly, with
both sides unleashing pent-up rage.
The Palestinians inflicted the worst losses
yet on Israeli troops, .while Israel’s combat he
licopters staged unprecedented attacks on
high-profile Palestinian targets and tanks rum
bled to the outskirts of Palestinian cities.
One Israeli rocket struck 150 feet from
Arafat’s seaside residential headquarters,
with the Palestinian leader inside at the time,
his aides said.
. “This is a declaration of war a crazy
war,” said Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian
official.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said
Arafat “does not appear to be a partner for
peace at this time.”
Barak said he held Arafat indirectly re
sponsible for the killing of the soldiers, and
said Israel would hunt down those involved.
He demanded that the United States publicly
affix blame to Arafat for the collapse of the
peace talks and the escalation of violence.
Barak also renewed calls to the hawkish
opposition party Likud to join an emergency
coalition. Likud has rebuffed Barak in the
past, saying it would join only if he aban-
WEST f
BANK FI ;•
Ramallah
Gaza V
City O
4, Jerusalem
EGYPT JORDAN
Beit EJ
(industrial
Communications tower zona)
Plnkhas Rd.
Ramallah
l
Source: Compiled from AP wire reports
met with Barak
doned the peace talks.
However, opposition
leader Ariel Sharon
— whose visit to a
contested Jerusalem
shrine two weeks ago
triggered the violence
Thursday.
Thursday’s turmoil appeared to extinguish
hopes that Israel and the Palestinians could
soon negotiate a truce and bring an end to 15
days of bloodshed that have left at least 95
people dead, the vast majority Palestinians.
The attack on Arafat’s compound and oth
er key Palestinian targets was the first major
Israeli assault on important Palestinian sites
since Arafat returned to the region in 1994 and
the two sides launched negotiations aimed at
a comprehensive settlement.
A smiling, defiant Arafat was cheered by
Palestinian police
headquarters
Palestinian police
station where soldiers
were killed
\\ f/
57
Wm. J. castello/AP
hundreds of Palestinians as he toured the
Gaza sites hit by rockets, including a power
station, a government building and a police
station.
“Our people don’t care and don’t hesitate
to continue their march to Jerusalem, their
capital of the independent Palestinian state,”
he said.
Arafat was also shown on television visit
ing wounded in hospitals.
While Israelis and Palestinians traded
sharp words, Annan made a seemingly futile
plea for calm.
See Mideast on Page 2.
Investigators react
to ship bombing,
Dowdropsby300
available the rest of th*
'day after 5pm.
Mil.
>ehind KFC next to Uc* 1 *
IGo.com
NEW YORK (AP) —
The Dow Jones industrial
average plunged more than
300 points during early
trading Thursday as skittish
investors reacted to an earn
ings warning from Home
Depot and an apparent ter
rorist attack on a U.S. mili
tary ship in Yemen.
In the first hour of trad
ing, the'Dow Jones industri
al average was down 236.29
to 10,178.50 after falling
more than 310 points at one
point.
Broader markets fell as
well. The Standard & Poor’s
500 index was off 18.40 to
1,346.19. After opening up
75 points, the Nasdaq com
posite was down 12.52 to
3,155.97. That was below its
low close for the year of
3,164.55, set on May 23.
In the Middle East, a U.S.
Navy ship in port in Yemen
was struck in an apparent ter
rorist act. At least four Amer
icans were killed. And Israeli
combat helicopters rocketed
Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat’s residential com
pound in the Gaza Strip as
well as a West Bank town in
retaliation for the brutal
killing of two Israeli soldiers
by a Palestinian mob.
Meetings with railroad
authorities focus on safety
By Marium Mohiuddin
The Battalion
A near accident on the West Campus railroad tracks
Wednesday may have accelerated the local track relocation
debate decision.
On Wednesday morning, a landscape maintenance repair
worker witnessed a male Texas A&M student crawl be
tween train cars stopped on the West Campus railroad tracks.
When he got to the other side safely, he began to pull his
bike through. However, the train lurched forward and began
to move, and the bike’s front tire was snapped off, said Uni
versity Police Department officials.
“This is definitive proof that something could happen,” said
Bob Wiatt, director of UPD. “Can you imagine if that was flesh,
blood and bones instead of just metal? 1 am begging students to
use common sense and not to do dangerous, fool-hardy things.”
In an effort to prevent students from climbing over and
under stopped trains, the vice president of administration’s
office met with Union Pacific and the Federal Railroad Au
thority in September to discuss the possibility of converting
the stretch of railrqad through A&M into a no-stop zone,
said Mary Miller, associate vice president of administration.
“We have not received an answer from [Union Pacific]
COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY POLICE DEPARTMENT
A student lost his bicycle when a stopped train began top
move while he was walking in between two train cars.
yet, and we are not sure when the next meeting will be,”
Miller said. “But the events that happened yesterday have
See Railroad on Page 3.
Students ask
Bowen, VPs
questions on
TV forum
Off-campus bonfire
among many topics
By Courtney Stelzel
The Battalion
Minority enrollment, Corps mem
bership and student support of an off-
campus bonfire were concerns of the
students, faculty and alumni who
called Texas A&M President Dr. Ray
M. Bowen and other administrators
during a televised question-and-answer
session Thursday night.
Bowen was accompanied by Vice
President for Student Affairs Dr. J.
Malon Southerland, Vice President for
Finance Dr. Bill Krumm, Vice Presi
dent and Provost Dr. Ronald Douglas
and Vice President for Research Dr.
Richard Ewing.
Callers had the opportunity to call in
and ask questions of the administrators.
Bowen said that the number of His-
. panic students enrolled this year has
increased, but there is still a lot of
work to be done.
“Our campus needs to better reflect
the population of the state,” he said. He
assured the viewers that a dedicated
staff was working on attaining this goal.
Bowen said that, over the next few
weeks, a study concerning minority
students who chose not to go to A&M
will be released.
“We are interested to see why some
students who were accepted for the
1999-2000 school year at Texas A&M
chose not to come here. We have al
ready learned so much from their an
swers. It will only help to better our
university,” he said.
Southerland commented on the
Corps enrollment when asked if it had
decreased, increased or stayed steady.
“I believe the number of enrolled
cadets is around 2,000, but we hope to
increase this number to 2,600, the max
imum number of housing available to the
Corps in that area,” he said. Southerland
See Bowen on Page 3.