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THE BATTALION
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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
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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.
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Sencvieve Wilco*
vlarcus Wilkerso
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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.