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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 7, 2003)
Sports: Antoine has Ags on the Wright track • Page 3 Opinion: Misplaced aggression • Page 7 TUln RATTAT TflNT 1 nil Di\ 1 1/vLilv/li Volume 109 • Issue 111 *8 pages Texas A&M University www.thebatt.com Friday, March 7, 2003 Police stress student safety for spring break By Hedish Connor THE BATTALION Before students leave their homes and apart ments for spring break, police said they need to remember that safety is a priority and take the necessary precautions. Senior officer Rhonda Seaton of the College Station Police Department said one of the simplest things a student can do is make his apartment or house look as if someone is staying there. “Keep shades and blinds in a normal position and use a timer on lights or a radio,” she said. Students who live in houses or duplexes should leave a car behind or have a friend park in the driveway because an empty driveway is a sign of an empty home, she said. Extra locks should be put on windows, and all doors should be com pletely secure, she said. Sgt. Allan Barone of the University Police Department said empty apartments are attractive to would-be burglars, and suggests students have a housesitter or close friend periodically check on the apartment. Students going home for the break should bring valuables such as computers and laptops with them, he said. Valuables that are left behind should be secured as well as possible and out of view. Seaton said CSPD does not increase patrol dur ing spring break, but there are more opportunities for extra patrolling because the department is not as busy while students are away. Barone said there have been severe cases in the past when a student’s apartment has been com pletely cleared out, including all appliances and furniture. He urged students to obtain renters’ See Break on page 2 Keep shades or blinds in normal positions Use timed lights Park a car in an empty driveway Lock all windows and doors Take valuables home or keep them in a secure place Ruben DeLuna 'THE BATTALION SOURCE: COLLEGE STATION POLICE DEPARTMENT Fire in the hole JOSHUA HOBSON • THE BATTALION Under the direction of Army Master Sergeant Jack grenade with a live fuse in a Grenade Assault course Iglesias (left), sophomore political science major during his military science class Thursday morning at and Squad 2 cadet, A/lark Antal (right), hurls a Duncan Field. Bush: U.S. not looking for world’s permission By Ron Fournier THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — Edging toward war. President Bush called on skeptical allies Thursday night to stand ready to use force against Iraq but said the United States was prepared to act on its own. “We really don’t need anybody’s per mission,” Bush said. In a prime-time news conference, he said a critical U.N. Security Council vote on a resolution authorizing war was just “days away” and said he would push for a vote on the measure even if it appeared destined to fail. “It’s time for people to show their cards and let people know where they stand,” the president said. In measured tones, Bush answered questions for about 30 minutes after a 10-minute opening statement that called Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s claims of disarmament a “willful charade.” He said Saddam has ordered production of illicit missjles even as he destroys others, accused Iraqi officials of shuttling biological and chemical agents between secret locations and said Iraqi scientists are required to wear concealed recording devices while being interviewed by U.N. inspectors. He pointedly challenged France, Germany and other skep tical allies to stand with him. “If the world fails to confront the threat posed by the Iraqi regime, refusing to use force even as a last resort, free bush nations would assume immense and unaccept able risks,” he said. The news conference was part of an intensifying campaign to prepare Americans for the possibility of a war that could be just days away. Military leaders say U.S. forces are now ready to strike Iraq. Bush shrugged off the protests of mil lions worldwide and chided critics who want to give for U.N. weapons inspectors See Bush on page 8 Britain offers U.N. compromise By Edith Lederer THE ASSOCIATED PRESS UNITED NATIONS — As opposition hardened against a war with Iraq, Britain offered Thursday to compromise on a U.S.-backed resolution by giv ing Saddam Hussein a short deadline to prove he has elimi nated all banned weapons or face an attack. With some 300,000 U.S. troops massing for battle, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw made clear that any com promise must still include an authorization for military action. But Straw’s demand, made a day before a crucial Security Council meeting, was unlikely to be acceptable to key council powers that favor more weapons inspections to disarm Iraq peacefully. President Bush, in a rare prime-time news conference Thursday, said the United States will call for a Security Council vote even if it appears certain that the resolution will be defeated but he added that he isn’t afraid to go to war if the council rejects the resolution. “We’re days away from resolving this issue in the Security Council,” Bush said. “No matter what the whip count is, we’re calling for a vote. ... It’s time for people to show their cards and let people know where they stand in rela tion to Saddam.” “As far as ultimatums, we’ll wait and see,” Bush also said. The resolution, co-sponsored by the United States, Britain and Spain, says Iraq missed its “final opportunity” to disarm peaceful ly and paves the way for war. The United States faces an uphill struggle to get nine “yes” votes and avoid a veto by one of the permanent members opposed to war soon. On Thursday, China threw its support behind France, Germany and Russia, which have vowed to prevent the resolution's passage. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed to council members to discuss the crisis calmly, noting there were sever al proposals on the table. “The positions are very hard now,” he said. “I am encourag ing people to strive for a com promise to seek common ground,” adding, “to make con cessions, you get concessions.” Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in New York on Thursday to try to win support for the resolution from undecid ed council members. He said the threat posed by Saddam must be dealt with now, not after thousands of people die when his “horrible weapons” of mass destruction are used. Powell and other foreign ministers will attend a Security Council meeting on Friday. KRT CAMPUS A large potrait of Saddam Hussein looms over a Baghdad, Iraq, street on Wednesday as police train for a possible U.S. attack. Local clinic offers HIV testing with rapid results OraQuick Rapid HIV-1 Antibody Test Cost: $25 Can give results in 20 minutes Performed on a fingerstick sample of blood, which is then mixed with developing solution 99.9-100% accurate in some cases travis swenson • THE BATTALION Source: BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION COMMUNITY HEALTH CLINIC By Allyson Bandy THE BATTALION The Bryan-College Station Community Health Clinic introduced a newly approved, rapid HIV test in January that costs $25 and can give results in as little as 20 minutes. The OraQuick Rapid HIV-1 Antibody test, manufactured in Pennsylvania, can detect antibod ies that are fighting Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1, the HIV virus that causes infection. Marla McClure, director of AIDS Services of Brazos Valley, said the OraQuick test is “99.9 per cent accurate.” “This test is just as accurate as a pregnancy test,” said Julie Charanza, HIV prevention case manager at the AIDS Services of Brazos Valley. The new test is performed on a fingerstick sam ple of blood and can be stored at room temperature. Unlike older versions of HIV tests, patients no longer have to wait two weeks or longer to get their results and are able to obtain the prop er treatment earlier in the course of their infec tion to slow the progression of the disease, Charanza said. HIV will not show up on the test if the patient has been exposed to the virus in the past 90 days. If exposure may have taken place more recent ly, a person should take the regular HIV test, Charanza said. According to the official government Web site for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration approved OraQuick in November “for use in laboratories that per form moderate complexity testing.” More than 100,000 laboratories across the United States are available for testing under a Clinical Laboratory Improvements Amendments waiver, according to www.hhs.gov. The Community Health Clinic received the CLIA waiver in late January or early February, McClure said. The state of Texas pays for the funding of OraQuick and, last month, began sending the kits to more laboratories, including the Community Health Clinic, Charanza said. Cameron Roerig, a sophomore environmental See HIV on page 2 N. Korea actions could heighten nuclear tensions By Christopher Torchia THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s increasingly bold military maneuvers in recent weeks have heightened fears of an armed clash amid tension over its suspected efforts to develop nuclear weapons. U.S. and South Korean authorities also worry that North Korea is preparing to take the most serious step yet in its efforts to push Washington into dialogue: reactivation of a nuclear reprocess ing facility that could enable the production of bombs within months. A North Korean decision to restart the plant that extracts weapons-grade plutonium from spent fuel rods would fit a pattern of Pyongyang’s rais ing tension in an attempt to win concessions from its No. 1 enemy. To counter North Korea, Washington ordered heavy bombers to Guam in what it called a defensive measure. “There is a kind of tit-for-tat pattern that’s get ting nasty here, but is still somewhat restrained,” said Leon Sigal, a security analyst at the Social Science Research Council in New York City. Many analysts believe North Korea is speeding up its so-called brinkmanship strategy because of,. U.S. plans for war against Iraq, possibly this month. According to this theory, the North Koreans believe Washington is more likely to compromise now to avoid a second crisis in Northeast Asia, but would be tougher on North Korea if it conducts a successful campaign against Saddam Hussein. “They’re doing everything they possibly can to get the attention of the U.S. military,” said Patrick Garrett, an analyst at GlobalSecurity.org, an Alexandria, Va.-based research center. “This is part of the larger effort to ratchet this crisis up to the point where the U.S. will decide to sit down and have a discussion with them,” he said. President Bush’s administration has chosen not to negotiate with North Korea, saying it will not be bullied into giving the communist country what it wants: a nonaggression treaty and economic aid. The strategy has been criticized by leading U.S. Democrats who say direct talks offer the only chance of defusing the nuclear crisis. See Korea on page 8