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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 14, 2003)
Monday, July 14, 2003 THE Full Muote by R.BeLuna Johnson Gil H/)RRy IT'S You CoAll AJfc To /me CotL E6£ Tor\oRRo»~> f Bor Are You Sore. (T's Cool. UiTH YouR RoOAl- AlflTE To HAVE YooR /Mo/MST £R tJELL. HE'S K aJOUJAJ I'A1 /l U£I?EU>olF Fof? CovPLE UJEEkS r th(ajk He's Be Did Vou 3ost T/4ST E G°ot> CHEESE rvr S/IT ' UMTH I'O Continued from page 1 f\>r Voo(Tn To sleep, isgEZ^, #24 .w /*// t'srji? WMJA ft/M’S TMOt/G# r/ff sew/rfis tv/T/r ctteer^M y SPUD. PfS M/SS/OP. ro sux xw pfsrpor xetv/ue w/. rpx/ppp ro ft //tr/pxrp AP/TH/t/G /A/ A/AS PATAA, APATAAOtAT AAfSAPATAOAf OX XfAAOXSf, AAf tfArry POX pas pxsr xfAor ro srxAAce. “Wrath of the Ninja” BrLFiom into journalism,” Gates said. “How they brought that about is up to (the deans) in terms of organization.” Johnson said journalism facul ty and faculty from other depart ments will form a five- to seven- person committee to determine the impact of closing the depart- ment.other departments will form a five- to seven-person commit tee to determine the impact of closing the department. Journalism faculty members will elect three members from within the department Monday, Johnson said, and he will appoint a faculty member to chair the committee. Dr. Julia Kirk Blackwelder, associate dean in the College of Liberal Arts, will assume the title of acting journalism add depart ment head. Dr. Leroy Dorsey, associate professor of communi cation, has acted as interim department head since 2001. Elizabeth Knapp, a junior journalism major, said A&M must retain its journalism depart ment to compete with other Texas universities. “Why go to A&M and take journalism classes when you can go to another university and get a journalism degree?” she said. Knapp said journalism is a major part of people’s lives, and journalists are supposed to be well-rounded. “Journalism is all about put ting the pieces together,” Knapp said. Johnson said the recommen dation to close the department is the culmination of a 2001 exter nal review of the department and recent budget cuts. The review recommended the journalism department needed to hire more faculty, merge with another department or, as a last resort, be closed. “To pay competitive salaries. the kind of faculty you wi attract is expensive,” Jol said. “Now we will focus onto) we can best serve the interest d incoming students wantra learn journalism.” Johnson said the review ommended hiring at full-time faculty, a departs head and additional lecturers. Dr. Barbara Gastel, associi professor of journalism, said b ing the journalism degree isi! major problem, that she w«| like to see the program resit, tured for interested students. “1 hope journalism co will become open to studei other majors,” she said. “1 able to write in a journalistic*! is an asset.” The dean’s office sent Thursday to all journalism sti- dents containing the specificsd Johnson’s recommendation,T> information is available on s college’s Web site http://clla.tamu.edu. ’St Claudette Reaction New Iraq intellegence questioned Continued from page 1 Continued from pagel By Dafna Linzer THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Most of what Washington and London knew about Saddam Hussein’s suspected mass weapons programs before the war was based on old intelli gence. The few new details, which garnered the most attention, are now under serious scrutiny and in question. Some information about Iraq’s purported chemical, biological and nuclear weapons program has already been dismissed by U.N. inspectors or international experts. Other intelligence has turned out to be uncorroborated or has not been agreed upon by government BUSH officials inside the CIA, the State Department and in Britain. With no weapons of mass destruction found three-and-a-half months since President George W. Bush launched the war against Iraq, intelli- ^igepce agencies on both sides of the Atlantic are now scrambling to explain not only why their information failed to lead U.S. troops to the goods — but exactly how they came by the knowledge in the first place. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld acknowledged last week that no “dramatic new evidence” was discovered showing Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. “We acted because we saw the existing evidence in a new light through the prism of our experience on Sept. 11,” Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services Committee. According to a British House of Commons report released in London this week, the picture Blair’s government painted in 2002 “is little dif ferent from that set out in a much shorter docu ment released by the government in 1998,” ahead of four days of airstrikes launched that year against Iraq. Since Bush came to the United Nations on Sept. 12, 2002, the two English-speaking allies chose to highlight some of the long unanswered questions identified by U.N. inspectors as they campaigned for world support for war against Saddam. After eight years in the field, inspectors said in 1999 that they were still missing information from the Iraqis on the production of the nerve agent VX, evidence that 550 mustard-gas filled artillery shells were destroyed, and an accounting of ingre dients for the production of anthrax and botulinum toxin. Those items were highlighted in a State Department fact sheet distributed Dec. 19 togeth er with several pieces of newer intelligence, such as a charge that Iraq was trying to purchase urani um from Niger. It also included a mention of mobile laboratories for a biological weapons pro gram and an allegation that Iraq was involved in a secret missile program. U.N. nuclear inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which tried unsuccessful ly to get evidence to support the uranium claim when the British alluded to it in September, now asked Washington to share what it knew on Niger. Six weeks later, supporting documents were handed over to the U.N. inspection office in New York and within weeks, the IAEA was able to determine that the documents were forged. U.N. officials say they repeatedly asked Washington and London to provide any further evidence to support the charge. “It was not provided to us,” IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said. Both the Bush administration and the govern ment of Tony Blair said Sunday that the presi dent’s statement in the State of the Union address about Iraq seeking uranium was accurate and is supported by other British and U.S. information. “The British stand by their statement,” National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said on “Fox News Sunday.” “They have told us that despite the fact that we had apparently some con cerns about that report, that they had other sources, and that they stand by the statement.” Nevertheless, Rice said the statement should not have been in the Jan. 20 speech in which Bush laid out reasons for military action against Iraq. “We have a higher standard for presidential speeches” than raw intelligence, she said. Rice said Britain was unable to share more infonnation it has with Washington because of sensitivities surrounding the source. But Britain, like all U.N. members, is resolution-bound to share any intelligence on Iraq’s weapons programs with U.N. inspectors. Robin Cook, who resigned from Blair’s Cabinet to protest the war, told the House of Commons committee that information sharing between Washington and London was so intense that it was often difficult “to spot which raw data was originally gathered in the United Kingdom and which was originally gathered by the United States.” Other new intelligence presented by the United States and Britain before the war included a charge that Iraq was hiding scud missiles. So far no scuds have been found, U.S. weapons hunters told The Associated Press. The United States claimed there were signs of suspicious activity at a number of sites previously used in Iraq’s former weapons program. U.N. inspectors checked those sites and found no such activity. American weapons experts have not found anything either. U.S. claims that Iraq was trying to buy alu minum tubes for a renewed nuclear program were dismissed by the International Atomic Energy Agency and by an outside panel made up of two American nuclear physicists, two British experts and a German expert. The United States however insists the tubes were for a nuclear program. Two mobile labs found in Iraq — which the Bush administration believes were designed to be used in a biological weapons program — were reviewed by three different groups of experts who couldn’t agree on the trailers’ use. Some State Department analysts have questioned the CIA con- clusion the two truck trailers were mobile weapons labs. recreational vehicles parked for the summer on South Padre Island were warned that wind of more than 25 mph would mean they would not be allowed to drive their rigs across the sole bridge to the mainland. By Sunday, most of the campers had packed up voluntar ily and left. Workers on South Padre, along the coast a few miles from Brownsville, piled sand into berms at beach accesses, and Mayor Bob Pinkerton said the resort community was bracing for high water. However, Pinkerton said there were no plans yet to evacuate. On the mainland in the Brownsville area, Cameron County offi cials advised residents of low-lying areas to leave, and employed jail inmates to stack sandbags and clear out drainage ditches. The tropical storm swept over Mexico’s resort city of Cancun early Friday, battering high-rise hotels with high wind, flooding several streets and closing the international airport for several hours. Claudette is the third tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane sea son. It developed Tuesday in the Caribbean, brushing Jamaica’s southern coast with heavy rain and rough surf, battering the Cayman Islands with waves and above-normal tides and scattering rain over parts of Cuba before reaching Mexico. Experts have predicted a busy Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1 and ends Nov. 30. Shuttles Continued from page 1 and other prizes sponsored by Post Oak Mall,” she said. “In addi tion to the ‘Get to the Grid’ express shuttles, the new pedestrian passageway will be opened prior to the first game and fans will be welcomed by music and entertainment near the passageway prior to each game.” Additional parking will be available for home football games when the West Campus Parking Garage opens along with the pedestrian passageway. Maps showing the express shuttle route can be downloaded at the Transportation Services’ Web site: http://transport.tamu.edu. from the quality of education Potter said she is glad cunt; students will not be kickedM but said there may be nora to reamain in the department “They said you could sta) it, but I think there’s going to limited faculty, limitedcte she said. “The faculty said tkj will stay to teach, but I woui want to teach something department that doesn’t effl anymore.” Woller said she is ups because the journalism prop trains students well for a cats in journalism. “It is a great program andl professors are top-notch andp above and beyond to help® dents,” she said. Potter said she is u® whether she will stay in the pi gram. “I don’t know what Is going to do now,” she said "ft one hand I could stay in joint ism because that’s what Iral) want to do, but I don’ that is the most wise decision could make.” Roh Munson and Shipp contributed to this slot] Legislators Continued from pagel NEWS IN BRIEF Poll suggests public uneasy with new FCC media rules said they think news organiza tions are often influenced by powerful people and organiza tions. WASHINGTON (AP) - The more Americans learn about fed eral changes that lift restrictions on companies owning different media outlets in the same city, the less they like it, a new poll suggests. Half in the poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press said they think allowing companies to own more broad cast and newspaper operations in the same city will have a neg ative effect. Only 10 percent said that would have a positive effect. About a third said in February that the concentrated ownership of media outlets in a city would have a negative effect. But few people at that time had been paying much attention to ongo ing efforts to change the media ownership rules. Seven in 10 in the new poll 2002 safest year for major airlines WASHINGTON (AP) - Last year was the safest ever for the nation's major airlines, with no deaths and only nine serious injuries due to accidents on U.S. commercial flights. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, there were 34 commercial airline accidents in 2002, but most were considered minor. The only accident designated "major" was the July 26 crash of a Federal Express Corp. cargo plane at Tallahassee, Fla. The plane was destroyed, but the crew survived. The NTSB classified one 2002 passenger aircraft accident as "serious." That occurred Aug. 28. Sen. Robert Duncan According to a statementfe Shapiro’s office, the current Is* in action before SB 1652 alio** retirees eligible for retirei under the Teachers Retirei System or Optional Retirei Program to maintain or enro UT and A&M group retiree ir ance benefits after three years it service. “What SB 1652 does is anitf the insurance code to require years of service,” Shapiro “This measure will result in acfft savings because the UT and A&M will not be required pay for the cost of lifetime pret um sharing group insurance pi' ticipation for those hired Sept. 1, 2003, who have worbi less than 10 years.” The office of Hum! Resources at A&M sent a to all employees in Juneinfortf ing them that they may ’ retire before Aug. 3, the the fiscal year, if they meet the new requirements f! eligibility for retirement fits but do meet the ments. Many employees awaiting Abbott’s before they make their own «SATURN of Bryan/College Station 197 North Earl Rudder Freeway ‘A Difftrent Kind Of Car Company” “A Different Kind Of Service Dept* • Free Cookies • Free Coffee • Free Internet Access • Free Study Tables • Shuttle Service • Free CarWash BRIARCREST Service Hours: Mon-Fri 7:30am - 6:00pm, Sat 8:00am - 12:00pm Oil and Filter Change $ 2I.95 with this ad □ UNIVERSITY Call 846-8444 for appointment THF RATTAT TON A XIJu XJxil A A /tJL/A V-/JL1 True Brown, Editor in Chief Dallas Shipp, Managing/Sports Editor Elizabeth Webb, Copy/Design Director Melissa Sullivan, News Editor Ruben DeLuna, Graphics Editor Emily Hendrickson, Aggielife Editor Joshua Hobson, Photo Editor George Deutsch, Opinion Editor Brandie Liffick, Radio Producer Jason Ritterbusch, Webmaster THE BATTALION (ISSN #1055-4726) is published daily, Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and Monday through Thursday during the summer session (except University holidays and exam periods) at Texas A&M University. Periodicals Postage Paid at College Station, TX 77840. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battalion, Texas A&M University, 1111TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-1111. News: The Battalion news department is managed by students at Texas A&M University in the Division of Student Media, a unit of the Department of Journalism. News offices are in 014 Reed McDonald Building. Newsroom phone: 845-3313; Fax: 845-2647; E-mail: news@thebatt.com; Web site: http://www.thebatt.com Advertising: Publication of advertising does not imply sponsorship or endorsement by The Battalion. For campus, local, and national display advertising, call 845-2696. For classi fied advertising, call 845-0569. Advertising offices are in 015 Reed McDonald, and office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Fax: 845-2678. Subscriptions: A part of the Student Services Fee entitles each Texas A&M student to pick up a single copy of The Battalion. First copy free, additional copies 254. Mail subscriptions are $60 per school year, $30 for the fall or spring semester, $17.50 forthe summer or $10 a month. To charge by Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express, call 845-2611. WISE MO/E THE BATTALION Classifieds To placeanadpJv one HOUS r Redding \ third innin toughest j; beat the Pi Reddin into the se Berkman Houston > 5-2 Sunda; The Pir the third f< pair of hits “My he, was takin Redding s myself dov “(Catchy out and as and I said, hit a wall enough to and I was together af Redding in winning following streak. He walked one the NL Ce the All-Stai “I didn’i NATION; CENT Houston St. Louis Chicago Cincinnat Pittsburgl Milwauke RUBEl Kem even By Arn THE ASS( MILWAL Perry isn’t al hottest streak “I don , know why a of a sudde I’m winnin golf tourm ments,” Pen said after h victor Sunday at th Create Milwauke Open, hi third win in just my time my heart I’m Perry sank putt for a one Steve Allan ai the GMO. He won Memorial tot ished third ; before taking leading up to Deer Park, w under-par 66 under 268 tot; Brett Qui fourth, two sti Allan, Sloe were vying f Tour victory. “I had no those guys ai their first,” s; time winner