Sports: Antoine has Ags on the Wright track • Page 3 Opinion: Misplaced aggression • Page 7
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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