Wednesday, July 30, 2003
THE BATTALION
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www.rdeluna.com
#34
In Memory of Jeffrey Russell Stovall
March, 24 1982 - July 27, 2003
HOWY, AGS. SEWER PRINCESS
HERE. WELL, I'VE GOT SOME BAV
NEWS. REA'S* COINS ON HIATUS
UNTIL NE)CT WEEK.
OUR CREATOR'S BEST
f FRIENP FROM BACK HOME WA
.IN A TERRIBLE CAR ACCIDENT
AND IT SADDENS ME
TO SAY THAT HE DIDN'T
MAKE IT. HE WAS ONL/
21 YEARS OLD... HE
JEEZ, WHY'D YOU HAVE TO
GO AND LEAVE SO SOON? YOU
DIDN'T EVEN SET A CHANCE TO
SEE ME AND REVEILLE AND ALL
OUR BIZZARE ADVNETURES.
•R0A * REVEILLE'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE -- COME ON GUYS, USE YOUR HEADS ,-P
Journalism
Continued from page 1
“Naturally, I was really upset when 1 heard
about the closure because I was wondering if I
should change schools or not,” she said. “I’d
almost rather have support from another school
than stay in the journalism department at A&M. I
feel like I won’t have guidance.”
Walraven said students who are worried they
will not receive proper support should know that
the journalism department will continue to aid
students.
“One thing we are trying to work out is how
students will be advised,” he said. “There will be
a number of places they will be able to go, possi
bly more than there are now.”
Current advisers in the department will stay
the same, Walraven said.
Moghe said she hopes to be respected by oth
ers when she starts school in the fall. She said
she’s afraid no one is taking the closing of the
journalism department seriously.
Walraven said he believes The Battalion will
become more important to students who are try
ing to get experience in journalism. However,
with time, he said, it has the potential to
weaken.
“Someone needs to be grounded in journal
ism to show the others,” he said.
He said he is concerned that inexperienced
writers in journalism may not know how to
emphasize the importance balance, fairness and
accuracy.
Walraven said incoming freshmen should
speak with someone in the advising office if
they have questions.
Warning
Continued from page 1
as possible targets.
“No equipment or opera
tives are known to have been
deployed to conduct the oper
ations,” the warning says.
The warning waSfbased 04
't information -gltianed worh
i» interviews of at least one jil-
Qaida prisoner as well as
intercepted communications,
said one intelligence official,
speaking on condition of
anonymity. The information
I was developed in the last sev-
i eral weeks.
“Cognizant of changes in
aviation security measures
since Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida
is looking for new ways to cir
cumvent enhancements in avi
ation security screening and
tightening immigration
requirements,” the warning
says.
Homeland Security offi
cials initially provided the
warning only to the aviation
industry and law enforcement
agencies but acknowledged its
existence in response to press
queries.
The agency placed a state
ment on its Web site saying
the advisory was transmitted
after U.S. intelligence-gather
ers “received information that
al-Qaida continues to be inter
ested in using the commercial
aviation system in the United
States and abroad to further
their cause.”
In response to the advisory,
the State Department on
Tuesday revised an existing
caution for American travelers
to reflect the perceived hijack
ing threat.
“Terrorist actions may
include, but are not limited to,
suicide operations, hijackings,
bombings or kidnappings.
These may also involve com-
inei'GiaTi Aircraft,” the revised
statement said.
a
Terrorist actions
may include, but are
not limited to,
suicide operations,
hijackings,
bombings or
kidnappings.
—- Federal warning
Homeland Security
The national terrorist threat
level remains at yellow, signi
fying an elevated risk of
attacks. The five-level, color-
coded system was last raised
to orange, or high risk, for 11
days in May. Officials said
they do not plan to raise it to
reflect the possibility of sui
cide hijackings.
Some complained the gov
ernment still is doing too little
to alert the public and key
industries to terror threats.
“Our concern is that there
will be bulletins put out that
will not be made available to
us,” said Capt. Jon Safley,
president of the Coalition of
Airline Pilots Association, a
pilots union. Safley, who
doesn’t fly, said he hasn’t
been getting warnings and
isn't sure all pilots know
when advisories pertaining to
air travel are issued.
Jim Schwartz, director of
emergency management for
Arlington County, Va., which
includes both Reagan
Washington National Airport
and the Pentagon, said his
agency had received no warn
ing from Homeland Security.
He said he would need more
specifics before increasing
security based on published
reports.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks,
Congress has taken a number
of actions to limit the possi
bility of suicide hijackings,
including arming commercial
pilots, boosting the number of
air marshals and hiring an all-
federal work force to screen
airline passengers.
Last week. House and
Senate negotiators agreed to
arm cargo pilots as part of a
Federal Aviation
Administration funding bill.
The bill also would require
that commercial airlines teach
flight crews how to deal with
terrorists, including self-
defense, and Homeland
Security and the FAA would
have to review security at
facilities that repair and main
tain aircraft outside the
United States.
Lawmakers are expected to
pass the bill in September.
Continued from page 1
BriFiam
House adopted in the first spe
cial session over Democrats’
objections.
Republicans want to gain a
majority of the seats in the 32-
member Texas congressional del
egation. Democrats now hold a
17-15 edge and want to keep
existing districts.
Democrats blocked a Senate
vote on redistricting in the first
special session because of a rule
requiring two-thirds of the 31-
member chamber to agree to
bring a bill up for debate. Eleven
Democrats and one Republican
opposed consideration, thwarting
the measure.
In the new special session,
Republican Lt. Gov. David
Dewhurst is arranging the order
of bills so that the two-thirds rule
is not needed to bring up redis
tricting. That move, Democrats
said, breaks Senate tradition and
led to their walkout.
Van de Putte said the
Democrats would return if Perry
ends the second special session or
Dewhurst reinstates the two-
thirds rule.
“When either of these two
requests are granted, we will be
on the first flight home,” Van de
Putte said.
Dewhurst and Republican sen
ators said no two-thirds rule has
been used in the three other leg
islative sessions on redistricting
that have occurred in the past 32
years.
Sen. Steve Odgen, R-Bryan,
also said Democrats should return
to address other important issues
before the Legislature, notably a
transportation bill that could pro
vide for the appropriation of $231
million.
“Nobody in this state that I
know of campaigned on the
proposition that if you elect me I
won’t show up,” Ogden said.
Dewhurst himself didn’t speak
publicly about the Democrats on
Tuesday.
His spokesman,
Beckwith, said the
governor has been in contact witti
two of the absent Democrats. H;
declined to identify themorelab'
orate on the conversations.
“He’s always willing to enlei-
tain compromise,” Beckwith said
“They could come back nowaad
have meaningful input.”
On Monday, Dewhurst said lie
may consider hiring off-duty
police officers to assist in return
ing the senators to the Capitol.
Beckwith said Tuesday he did
n’t know anything about “bounty
hunters” that some Democrats
said they heard might be
them. Beckwith wouldn’t specify
what actions the lieutenant gover
nor is taking with regard to off-
duty police officers or others to
force the senators back to Austin,
“We’re being deliberately
vague about that at this point,"
Beckwith said, “because we art
not going to telegraph what »e
are going to do in advance."
Death
Continued from page 1
of Arkansas System. Prior to that, he held a fac
ulty position in range science at Texas A&M,
where he was the first Thomas O’Conner
Professor of Range Science.
Scifres received Bachelor of Science and
master’s degrees in agronomy from Oklahoma
State University and a Ph.D. in agronomy from
the University of Nebraska. He was the recipient
of several awards including Faculty
Distinguished Achievement Award for Researd
Distinguished Performance Award in Team
Research, the Outstanding Achievement Awaid
from the Society of Range Management and was
also a Fellow of the Weed Science Society of
America.
He is survived by his wife Julia son, Dirk and
daughter-in-law Vickie Scifres of College
Station, daughter Holly and son-in-law Thomas
Wooton of Belgium and four grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m.
Thursday at Hillier Funeral Home in Bryan.
Iraq
Continued from page 1
the enemy,” the voice said.
“The aggression armies sur
rounding them with all kinds of
weapons and ground troops
were not able to conquer them
until they used their warplanes
on the house that they were in,”
the speaker said.
The speaker said the record
ing was made in July 2003, but
the exact date was not clear. Al-
Arabiya said it received the tape
Tuesday. The widely-watched
satellite station, which broad
casts across the Middle East,
including in Iraq, aired the tape
at least twice more after the ini
tial play.
The CIA was reviewing the
new message to determine if it
was authentic, a U.S. intelligence
official said. The speaker sound
ed like the voice in other record
ings attributed to Saddam, with
the same vocabulary and tone.
The last audio recording
attributed to Saddam was broad
cast by Al-Arabiya on July 23
and claimed to have been
recorded July 20. U.S. intelli
gence officials said it was prob
ably authentic.
The other recording said
Saddam was speaking on July
14 and referred to the new
Governing Council of Iraq.
U.S. intelligence officials said
that recording also was proba
bly authentic and was further
evidence that Saddam survived
the war.
U.S. commanders, mean
while, said the documents seized
in Tikrit gave clues to Saddam’s
flight from American forces, who
have reported at least two near-
misses in the past week.
“Each time we do something,
we get information, even if we
don’t get the people,” said Lt.
Col. Steve Russell, who led the
raids in Tikrit. “It slowly leads
to pieces of the puzzle, and it
keeps filling in.”
In Washington, U.S. officials
expressed confidence that
Saddam would be tracked down,
saying that in the end, he will be
the one to decide whether he’s
taken dead or alive.
“The decisions made by the
individual being pursued will
prevail in most cases if he does
n’t wish to be taken alive,”
Pentagon spokesman Lawrence
Di Rita said. “In many cases it’s
difficult to take them alive.”
Each time we do
something we get
information. It
slowly leads to pieces
of the puzzle.
jj
Lt. Col. Steve Russell
leader of Tikrit raids
Russell, commander of the
22nd Infantry Regiment’s 1st
Battalion, led simultaneous pre
dawn raids on several homes in
the heart of Saddam’s home
town, 120 miles north of
Baghdad. Soldiers blasted open
doors with shotguns, leading
away dazed occupants in blind
folds and throwing photographs
and documents into the street.
Similar raids have occurred
daily across Iraq. A coalition
military official said American
forces conducted 58 raids
between Monday afternoon and
Tuesday afternoon, detaining
176 people. The official, who
spoke on condition of anonymi
ty, gave no other details.
Among those captured was
Adnan Abdullah Abid al-
Musslit, a stocky man com
manders said was one of
Saddam’s most trusted body
guards. Al-Musslit, who is
Saddam’s cousin, was believed
to have detailed knowledge of
Saddam’s hiding spots.
Al-Musslit had retired from
his job, but Saddam called him
back into service before the war
started, Russell said, citing
intelligence gathered fromTikni
residents.
“If everything else had failed
and we just got that one guy, we
would be happy,” Russell said.
The soldiers had to overpow
er al-Musslit, who several sol
diers said was quite drunk
wrestling him to the ground and
dragging him down the stairs.
Al-Musslit tried to make it out
of his bedroom to grab a subma
chine gun, but the soldiers were
too quick, said Lt. Chris Morris,
a sniper on the raid.
Outside, soldiers tied a tan
cloth over al-Musslit’s eyes and
stripped him to his underwear,
searching for weapons. Blood
seeped through the blindfold-
Morris said, from a broken nose
suffered in the scuffle—anian
Army medic examined him.
Russell said the resistance
was to be expected.
“Were we surprised? He’s a
bodyguard,” Russell said,
“That’s why we went in with our
steely knives and oily guns.”
Eleven other suspects were
taken away from the Tikrit raids,
including Daher Ziana, respon
sible for security at
Tikrit palaces, and Rafa
Ibrahim al-Hassan,
Saddam cousin and
who led the Saddam Fedayeen
militia in Tikrit.
Outside Ziana’s yard, six
women wailed as soldiers tossed
photographs and documents into
the driveway. A large portrait of
Saddam lay alongside a picture
of Ziana in uniform. One album
featured a photograph of women
posing with Kalashnikov rifles,
Among the documents was
something called a “
Privilege Card,” Russell
Soldiers took the men to an
Army detention facility inTikril
for interrogation.
Although President Bush
declared major combat over
nearly three months ago, the
chairman of the U.S. Joint
Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard B.
Myers, said Tuesday the area
from Baghdad to Tikrit was
“still a war zone.”
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