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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 10, 2002)
m E BATTALlfi Sports: Aggies fall to 'Horns in close match • Page 1 B Opinion: A safer campus • Page 5B THE BATTALION r a landscape adeii ttad production ofi c Media. :o be bin Laikt head of Eetpn rr«T TT 1 1 tit, Volume 109 • Issue 30 • 14 pages www.thebatt.com Thursday, October 10, 2002 Corps members charged in hazing incident By C.E. Walters THE BATTALION Twenty students from the Corps of Cadets A-Battery involved in a hazing incident earlier this year were harged and held accountable for iheir actions this fall following a University Police Department (UPD) investigation, officials said. Photos found in June on the com puter server of Texas A&M’s year book, the Aggieland, depicted a man being stripped of his clothes, blind folded and bound at the wrists, ankles and knees with duct tape. UPD Director Bob Wiatt later confirmed that the nien involved in the incident were members of A-Battery, part of the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band. Wiatt said this summer the photos appeared to be hazing, but did not constitute criminal hazing, in which a person is forced to participate or is otherwise injured in the activities. Officials would not say what form the cadets’ punishment took, nor iden tify the students who received it, say ing the information is protected under the Family Education Rights and Principals Act, which keeps certain student information confidential. Though the photos were found in June, it is still not clear when the incident took place. Collins said the cadets, compris ing most of the unit, were charged with conduct unbecoming a cadet. While no criminal charges were pur sued by the Brazos County District Attorney’s Office, the University brought the cadets before joint Department of Student Life and Corps hearings. After a series of one-on-one hear ings, 20 cadets were issued University sanctions, which can range from expulsion to differed suspension to a warning, said Assistant Director of Student Life Mike Collins. Collins said Corps disciplinary cases are investigated by both the Corps and the University. Hearing officers examined the UPD’s reports to determine if there was a violation and then issued charge letters, Collins said. Hearings were held between the student, an official from Student Life, a Corps represen tative and an optional adviser of the student’s choice. Corps representatives were present at every hearing, said Richard Mallahan, Corps assistant commandant. Bush gains more support for Iraq war WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush gained important new Democratic support for his warresolution Wednesday, bolstering his expected margin of victory in Congress for broad authority louse force against Iraq. But the administration was having less success on the international front. A 25-minute phone call between Bush and French President Jacques Chirac failed to produce a breakthrough over wording of a new U.N. Security Council resolution to disarm Saddam Hussein. “This is intricate diplomacy and we are continuing our consultations,” said White House spokesman Sean McCormack. He cited a “mutual desire" to find common ground. Both the Republican-led House and the Democratic-ruled Senate forged ahead with iding the ideote debate on a resolution giving Bush authority to ist wanted lisi card of up to his capture.L ia in 1999 for Egyptian o kill officials ; United States ibings of the I fled person al-Zawahri, i “the deputies im world, spec J.S.-led camps /ed its goi ave been a dTalibanj Sheik Osama! . They are Dave Stanfield Karla Stewart Marci Street Shannon Stn® Beth Sutherland Kim Svatek Amelia Talley Carl Thorpe Jennifer Topor Jennifer Trantharn Katie Treadwell Carol Treece Amy Trevino Kimberly Tryce Annee Tucker Sean Varney Stephanie Village 1115 Marc Wade Ashley Wagnon Jessica Walcik Katie Wall Rorey Walsh Claudia Wayland Mary Weeks Tethanv Whetstone Ryan White Darrell Wiggins. \ nee la Wilb ers Sencvieve Wilco* vlarcus Wilkerso Daryl Williams oseph William' /eronica Willia® 5 Disa Wilson datalie Wilson ennifer Woodson /lelinda Wu •mily Yendell :erri Yu LY, traini n S ay, 13-Oc 1 and Sun<W ise comply es.tamu.ed 11 Iraq with or without use U.S. force against alliance w U.N.participation. 77te White House cited a new CIA assessment suggesting Saddam might launch terrorist Macks if he concluded a U.S. Hack was inevitable — as further justification for strength- Emte ^ P res ‘d ent,s hand. Opponents used the same document to argue against a U.S. first strike. But more Democrats closed ranks with the president and leaders of both parties were predict- mgpassage by wide margins by week’s end. Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, announced he would vote with the President, while cautioning Bush to use the power *ith discretion. “As president of the United Nates, you are the leader of the free world, not its Nler,” Reid said. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., a decorated Vietnam w ar veteran who had been in the go-slow camp, Whe too would support the resolution “because believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass fraction in (Saddam's) hands is a real and grave threat to our security and that of our allies in e Persian Gulf region.” See Resolution on page 2A Dog days Mascot Corporal Jordan Caddick, a sopho more general studies major, puts a birthday hat on Reveille to celebrate her second birth- JP BEATO III • THE BATTALION day. Reveille was treated with presents, treats and a cake and was sung to by the Singing Cadets. Potential clues emerge in hunt for sniper BALTIMORE (AP) —- A tarot card with the taunting words “Dear policeman, I am God” and a shell casing emerged Wednesday as potential clues in the hunt for the sniper terrorizing Washington’s suburbs. The card and casing were found near a middle school in Bowie, where a 13-year-old boy was critically wounded by the gunman Monday, a source familiar with the investigation said on con dition of anonymity. Authorities said the shell was .223-caliber, the same kind of bullet used to kill six people and wound another in Washington and its Maryland and Virginia suburbs in the last week. The casing is believed to be the first one recovered since the slayings began. Michael Bouchard, an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Lirearms, would not say whether authorities had linked the casing to the attacks. Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose also wouldn't comment when asked about the tarot card, and angrily suggested unapproved information had been leaked. “I need to make sure I don’t do anything to hin der our ability to bring this person or these people into custody,” Moose said. The message left on the tarot card called the Death card was first reported by WUSA-TV and then by The Washington Post. Police sources told the newspaper the items were found 150 yards from the school in a wooded area on matted grass, suggesting the gunman had lain in wait. Tarot cards, used mainly for fortunetelling, are believed to have been introduced into western Europe by Gypsies in the 15th century. Many tarot enthusiasts say the Death card usually does not connote physical death, but instead portrays a symbolic change or transformation. , Crime experts, while noting that the link between the card and the sniper remained unconfinned. See Sniper on page 2A U.N. officials outline specifics of weapons inspections in Iraq UNITED NATIONS (AP) — ^ ln g to ensure Iraq’s cooperation, Iran' Wea P° ns inspectors have sent the T government a letter outlining yj ements reached this month in lions' 13 ° n t ^ le resum P t i° n of inspec- Coim' 6 '! * etter ’ circulated to Security Iraaf 0 ' rnemEers on Wednesday, asks 4° confirm its acceptance of agree- , on a host of issues including that lairhed" during the Vienna talks' spectors “will be granted imme- ’ Uncon ditional and unrestricted access to sites, including what was termed ‘sensitive sites’ in the past. Those sites include the Ministry of Defense and facilities of Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guards, which were previously off-limits to surprise inspections. The letter noted that a 1998 agree ment between Iraq and the United Nations requires advance notice to inspect eight presidential sites, but raised the possibility that this might change. “Should these sites be subject, as all other sites, to immediate, unconditional and unrestricted access,” it said, inspections would be conducted there “with the same professionalism.” The United States is demanding that the 1998 exemption be lifted and that all presidential sites — encompassing 12 square miles — also be subject to surprise inspections. Iraq says it has nothing to hide at the sites, but consid ers them a symbol of their sovereignty and wants the agreement, which was endorsed by the Security Council, to remain in effect. The letter was signed by chief weapons inspector Hans Blix, who is in charge of dismantling any chemical and biological weapons and long-range missiles that Iraq possesses, and Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, responsible for dismantling any Iraqi nuclear weapons. It was sent to Gen. Amir Al-Saadi, an adviser to President Saddam Hussein who headed the Iraqi delegation at the Vienna talks. In the letter, dated Tuesday, Blix and ElBaradei said they were putting the agreements in writing and asking for confirmation at the request of Security Council members. The letter also asks Iraq to confirm that no relevant material will be destroyed except in the presence of inspectors, that inspectors can inter view any Iraqi they believe “may have information relevant to their mandate” wherever they want, and that inspectors can use helicopters “without limitation in all parts of Iraq and without any area See Weapons on page 2A Lecture series focuses on Iraqi threat By Melissa Sullivan THE BATTALION ‘""e^.s vhd 8 00 tlirect threat to the United States at this Ri Ce r^ 1 . Richard Stoll, a political science professor at Desprt ( ? 1Vers *ty, in a Wiley Lecture Series, “Operation “Id Wednes day night, on an ° , e ' eve S a ddam Hussein’s government is working 'WedT* 8 Wea P ons °f mass destruction, and if he is he fo re ° he will eventually (be a threat), but for V,’'? eable ^ utur e the threat is not against the United B c e s ’ Stoll said. ifOse a<!p 8e ^ Usse in’s past behavior he does, however, OnS n0US tbreat to his neighbors, Stoll said, todr aw e U t- President Bush addressed the United Nations andth e a,tent ' on to the threat Iraq poses to the United States tiotnren ° r . Bush said that even if the United Nations was Michael d° act ’ tEe United States was. ^ et hodkt l f ovence 5 a history professor from Southern stretched , U u 1Versit y’ said Hussein’s credibility is y his attempts to accumulate weapons of mass destruction, his willingness to give those weapons to enemies of the United States and his history of threatening Iraq’s neighbors. Provence said that Hussein and Osama bin Laden are two extreme examples of secular national dictatorship. Stoll said that it is a mistake to link bin Laden and Hussein together. “There is a case to be made that Iraq certainly is a threat,” he said. “But there is no linkage to Osama bin Laden because we would have been told.” Provence said is it possible that al-Qaida networks are operating in northern Iraq because the area and its no-fly zone is similar to Afghanistan’s. “The Iraqi government has no jurisdiction and no power there,” he said. “So it is like Afghanistan, a lawless region.” Sept. 1 1 hasn’t changed the United States’ attempts to subdue Hussein, Stoll said. “I don’t think they are using 9-11 as an excuse to get at Iraq, but I think that it’s something that (the government) has been thinking about for a long time,” Stoll said. Recognizing the consensus among world leaders See Iraq on page 2A Michael Provence (right), an assistant professor in the history department at Southern Methodist University, gives his opening remarks as Finnic Cole (middle), assistant professor of English JP BEATO III • THE BATTALION and director of the honors program at A&M and Richard Cole (left), political science professor and associate dean of social sciences at Rice University, look on.
