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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 26, 2003)
THE lear out of the region tighter, Aisa Bouyabes sai and other ca n douse ilfJ Iraq’s Rumeila iouttioii damaged well heads at sai ' K11 w ait’s border with ta], telltale pair of blac iach one. same wires that were mu wells — the same met, before. I inspected them! after the liberation,” Bwa >m northern Kuwait, s troops sabotaged motel ■wait’s oil fields as they tel® in the closing days of the U Sports: Ag swimmer overcomes with faith • Page 7 Opinion: Blame the parents • Page 11 THF RATTAT TO Ill Lj xJiY JL 1. _rvi_,l\J IVolume 109 • Issue 119 • 12 pages Texas A&M University www.thebatt.com Wednesday, March 26, 2003 andstorms slow U.S. advance on Baghdad By David Espo THE ASSOCIATED PRESS I American infantry troops fought iff a desert attack by Iraqis on ijliesday, inflicting heavy casualties i a clash less than 100 miles from aghdad. British forces battled for control of Basra, a city of 1.3 million sliding toward chaos. Defense officials said between 150 and 500 Iraqis were killed in the battle near An Najaf, adding there were no immediate reports of American casualties. Iraqis launched their attack on a day of howling sandstorms — tar. ■ m the KRT CAMPUS i. Marine Sgt. Louis DeMarco fuels a tank in preparation for an advance to north of Iraq on Tuesday as a dust storm rages. weather bad enough to slow the U.S.-led drive toward the Iraqi capi tal. After the sandstorm lifted in Baghdad, pre-dawn explosions struck the city. Warplanes bombed targets in the northern part of the country and briefly knocked government televi sion off the air in the capital. And U.S. troops in control of a vast Iraqi air base sealed 36 bunkers, designat ed as possible hiding places for weapons of mass destruction. American officials also issued fresh cautions about the possible use of chemical weapons by Iraqi troops, although none has yet been used in the 6-day-old war — or even found by the invading troops. As the pace of combat quick ened, American and British offi cials sought to prepare the public for something less than a quick campaign, and predicted difficult days to come. Still, President Bush forecast vic tory. The Iraqi regime will be ended ....and our world will be more secure and peaceful,” he said after receiving a war update at the Pentagon. Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein saw it differently. State television carried what it described as a mes sage from him to tribal and clan leaders, saying, ‘‘Consider this to be the command of faith and jihad and fight them.” If confirmed, the initial reports of fighting near An Najaf would make it the biggest ground clash of the war, as well as the first encounter between advancing American infantry and the Iraqi units guarding the approach to Saddam’s seat of power. A senior military official said the U.S. troops had hunkered down against a sandstorm when Iraqis — either Republican Guard or para military Iraqi troops traveling on foot — opened fire with rocket-pro pelled grenades. Some of the 7th Cavalry’s equip ment was damaged in the attack, the official said. The unit is part of the Army force driving on Baghdad. Some elements of the force are farther north, near Karbala, with only the Medina armored division of the Republican Guard between them and Baghdad. Muslim clerics in Iran warned See Baghdad on page 2 Winds top 50 mph y sand clogs weapons Tiny grains of sand in the Middle East can produce trouble for both man and machine in the area: sandstorms. The swirling winds that often rake the area can produce some of the most severe sandstorms on Earth, storms that are fairly easy to predict but ones that can bring any kind of activity to an immediate halt, says Texas’ chief weatherman. “This time of year can be a rough time in Iraq because the winds tend to pick up and when they do, the result is a sandstorm that can make condi tions unbearable and stop almost any kind of movement,” said John Nielsen-Gammon, profes sor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M and Texas State Climatologist. Sandstonns are caused by strong winds that occur in desert or semi-arid regions, and they carry thick clouds of dust and sand, often reducing visi bility to near zero. Winds ranging from 20 to 50 mph are not uncommon in the region, and the resulting sand storms can last from several hours to a full day, Nielsen-Gammon said. “Most of the time, sandstorms affect only the See Sandstorms on page 2 ay tolerance brings controversy to faculty r decided ?m with a imet will en he is Soloists. By Rolando Garcia THE BATTALION A bitter controversy that erupted last month in the College of Education regarding a proposed tol- rance statement for homosexuals as prompted faculty members to ccuse each other of bigotry, and ome to question whether Dean Jane bnoley is imposing her political iews on the college. The college’s faculty advisory ommittee will meet today to vote on a final draft of a diver sity statement it first troposed Feb. 4. light professors, ncluding Stephen -rouse, associate dean of the college, conoley signed a letter object ing to the statement, which says fac- alty must “celebrate and promote all forms of human diversity” and lists sexual orientation as a protect ed status, along with race, gender and other categories. The letter sug gests the committee adopt a general [non-discrimination statement simi lar to that of the University, and said Christian faculty should not have to “celebrate and promote” a lifestyle they believe is immoral. At least one faculty member accused the signatories of the letter of bigotry and urged Conoley to fire Crouse from his administrative posi tion. Conoley refused to fire Crouse, and in a Feb. 26 memo sent to the college’s faculty and staff, rebuked the arguments Crouse and others set forth in their letter. “I generally consider distinctions that call us to love the sinner while hating the sin to be empty, rhetorical gestures at best and covers for perse cution at worst,” Conoley stated in the memo, adding that those who signed the letter objecting to the tol erance statement were acting upon a mistranslation of a Biblical verse. Conoley also instituted a new pol icy that states the college “celebrates and cherishes GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered) people.” The statement, which is enforced as the college’s policy and is separate from the faculty committee’s state ment, grants homosexuals on the fac ulty “special access to protection and support” and states that any decision See Tolerance on page 2 Fire at Doux Chene Members of the College Station Fire Department check the Doux Chene Apartments for isolated fires after containing a bigger blaze there late Tuesday. Bart Humphreys, public infor mation officer for the CSFD, said lighting may have started the . John C. Livas • THE BATTALION fire at approximately 10:05 p.m. At least two apartments were damaged and no one was home or injured when the blaze started, Humphreys said. As many as eight apartments were evacuated due to minor damage and smoke. Gates reports funding progress Mystery illness spreads By Lecia Baker THE BATTALION b Prague, c history rmafice i» ^YC all. The One Spirit, One Vision [fundraising campaign will formally [kick off Friday with University President Robert M. Gates reporting that the campiagn has raised $490 mil lion of its goal of a $1 billion. Gates will speak at a public hearing sponsored by the Texas A&M Board of Regents, and will discuss the cam paign’s progress and goals. “One Spirit One Vision is Texas A&M’s multi-year fundraising cam paign aimed at helping A&M reach its Vision 2020 goals,” said Rose Ann McFadden, director of public relations for the Texas A&M Foundation. The campaign includes all private gifts donated to A&M by individuals, foundations and corporations through Texas A&M Foundation, The Association of Former Students and 12th Man Foundation, McFadden said. “All of the campaign planning done up to this date has been for a bil lion dollars,” said James Palincsar, senior vice president for development for the Texas A&M Foundation. One Spirit One Vision is a seven year campaign, scheduled to end Dec. 31, 2006, Palincsar said. The first phase of the campaign, known as the One Spirit, One Vision campaign |Goal: $1 Billion Start date: Jan. 1,2002 End date: Dec. 31, 2006 Money used to help reach University's Vision 2020 goal - Amount raised: $<490 million SOURCE: TEXAS A&M FOUNDATION leadership phase, began Jan. 1, 2002. “Any gifts made from that date for ward count toward the campaign goal,” McFadden said. In the leadership phase of the cam paign, A&M recruited volunteer leaders and sought large gifts from prominent donors, she said. Friday marks the beginning of the second phase, the public phase of the campaign. During this phase, the University will publicize One Spirit One Vision to the entire state of Texas, select cities across the United States, and to all former students, Palincsar said. “The greatest quantity of gifts and pledges will come from the Aggie Network, the tens of thousands of for mer students who give through the Association of Former Students’ Century Club,” McFadden said. TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION Even with the economic recession and the war, the One Spirit One Vision campaign has so far been deemed suc- ccessful, McFadden said. Increased giving during the next 20 years is vital in A&M’s pursuit of its Vision 2020 goals, McFadden said. “Texas A&M receives just one- third of its total budget from state gen eral revenues, and research shows that the best universities nationally receive twice as much state funding at Texas A&M,” McFadden said. This is the reasoning for the ambi tious goals of raising state and private support of the University, she said. A campaign celebration is planned for Friday evening at Reed Arena, where donors from the first phase of the campaign will gather to celebrate its success, Palincsar said. By Dirk Beveridge THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HONG KONG — Adding to fears that a deadly flu-like illness is being spread by air travelers, Hong Kong officials said Tuesday nine tourists apparently came down with the deadly disease after anoth er passenger infected them on a flight to Beijing. The World Health Organization insisted air travel is safe but said its sci entists are investigating each case to make sure the disease is not spread through ventilation. In recent weeks severe acute respira tory syndrome, or SARS, has spread beyond hospitals, where dozens of health care workers became infected, into at least one workplace, to air travel ers and some schools have been closed as a precaution. Hong Kong officials said the nine tourists became sick after a mainland Chinese man with SARS infected them on a March 15 Air China flight to Beijing. If SARS can be more easily spread through the air — rather than by close contact with infected people who cough or sneeze — it could force travel and other restrictions to contain the disease. “We would want to be sure that it was people sitting next to that person and not the ventilation system in the airplane which was spreading the disease,” said Dr. David Heymann, head of communica ble diseases at WHO. “We have no evi dence of the latter right now.” For one thing, he said, health investi gators have followed thousands of pas sengers who flew with SARS-infected travelers and did not become sick. However, he said that if they find there are cases that did not involve close con tact with someone sick or at high risk, “we will then be very concerned that this might have become airborne.” The airplane cases seem similar to how the disease got its start here — from one hotel guest who spread it to six stranger staying on the same floor. One expert theorized it might have spread through the air-conditioning system. From the Hong Kong hotel, the exposed tourists took the disease to Singapore, Vietnam and Canada. The disease has spread most rapidly through Asian hospitals, some of which lacked the surgical masks and goggles needed to prevent catching the disease from patients. WHO has been distributing such equipment. The U.S. State Department has warned citizens not to travel to Vietnam because it lacks medical facilities to deal with the disease.