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Aggielife: More than just child's play • Page 3A
Opinion: Meet the Batt • Page 5B
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olume 110 • Issue 4 • 14 pages
ates establishes review of communications
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By Lauren Smith & C.E. Walters
THE BATTALION
Texas A&M President Robert M. Gates estab
lished three task forces on Tuesday, overseen by a
Iteering committee, to review, evaluate and help
Address problems with the University’s communi-
lations systems.
Gates said (laws within A&M communications
|tem from a lack of central organization within the
Jniversity.
“Contrary to what most people might believe,
Communication is decentralized at A&M,” said
Cynthia Lawson, director of University Relations.
The most centralized aspect of communication is
nedia relations, but some colleges send out their
[>wn press releases.”
Gates said the goal of the task forces and the
peering committee is to help unify the
Jniversity’s communication to more effectively
A Texas A&M University Tradition Since 1893
www.thebattaIion.net
Wednesday, September 3, '
connect with those unfamiliar with A&M or the
Bryan-College Station area. Problems with the
University’s communication range from variable
Web site designs to information
packets missing the A&M logo.
“Right now we speak with
many voices,” Gates said.
Lawson said each college and
department designs its own Web site
and brochure.
Gates said streamlining commu
nications also has the potential to
save the University money. Multiple
printing and copying facilities on
campus could be merged or out
sourced, he said.
Gates said he was wasn’t sure if any jobs would
be lost in the ensuing shuffles, but that is some
thing the committee will look into.
“1 think it’s premature to say that (any jobs may
be lost),” he said.
Lawson said the task forces and committees
must also address how the University markets
itself. Brochures lack identification,
present conflicting messages and
have little consistency from one
department to another.
“In short, everybody won’t be
doing their own thing anymore,”
she said.
Lawson said colleges must target
Robert M. Cates dif J eren ' audiences ' ^ challenge
will come from sending a united
message while, at the same time,
allowing each college to have its
own identity.
Right now we
speak with many
voices.
University president
Gates said communication must be improved
to accurately portray the University.
“We’ve got a world class university that’s half
women, and most of the rest of the United States
thinks we’ve got 5,000 students and they’re all
men and they’re all in the Corps (of Cadets),”
Gates said.
Marty Loudder, a steering committee member
and Faculty Senate speaker, said when visiting
professors do workshops at A&M, that they refer
to A&M as a “well-kept secret.”
“Outside of Texas, A&M is not known for hav
ing great students and faculty,” Loudder said.
“(A&M) is thought of as a cow college. We are out
to find out — is that really true?”
The three task forces will focus on marketing,
web management and organizing for effective
communication and marketing. The steering com
mittee is co-chaired by Benton Cocanougher,
interim chancellor, and R.C. Slocum, special
assistant to the president.
Gates said Cocanougher and Slocum
See Communications on page 2A
vorkou Democrat
eturns
o Texas
By April Castro
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — As one of Texas’
boycotting Democratic senators was
■etuming home Tuesday night, col
eagues remaining in New Mexico
rappled with their next step in the
egislative standoff over congres-
members r
but he often
;xt?" to make
tew the steps. At
ensed some st
w what came not
lathily said he'd
next step and
"Ehhhhh," he si
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response,
then demon
ed the foi
step and
ed everyone
pav attention. > . . ,. . . .
"I M liken h'onal redesmcting .
, . ., Sen. John Whitmire s return to
f I . j the state could give Republicans
nr * r,? *Tihe quorum they need to consider
jthe issue if another special session
s called.
Whitmire, the dean of the Texas
ielegation, had spent the Labor Day
eekend at home in Houston and
eturned to Albuquerque, N.M.,
riefly on Tuesday to meet with oth-
rs among the 11 Texas Democrats
ho had boycotted the second .spe
nd session.
“After being in my district for
|live days, I have concluded my con-
tituents are opposed to redistrict-
ng, but they also believe the fight
hould be on the Senate floor,”
hitmire had said earlier in the day.
The 11 boycotting senators
tymied redistricting during the
nost recent special session by stay
ing in New Mexico and preventing a
[quorum on the Senate floor until the
Send of the 30-day session.
Sen. Judith Zaffirini said
[Democrats in Albuquerque believed
jfWhitmire spent the weekend in
■Louisiana and learned of his return
Cunningham, 37.
of St. Louis. Tit
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thought 1 o
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See Democrat on page 2A
First Yell
|P BEATO III • THE BATTALION
Junior Yell Leader Ryan Bishop sorts through T-shirts at
the entrance of the Memorial Student Center Tuesday
afternoon. Bishop and the rest of the Yell Leaders will be
in the MSC from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. selling T-shirts to pro
mote First Yell, which wi II be held at 8 p.m. Friday at Reed
Arena followed by Midnight Yell Practice at Kyle Field.
Taliban teams
with al-Qaida
By Kathy Gannon
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The Taliban are no
longer on the run and have teamed up with al-Qaida
once again, according to officials and former Taliban
who say the religious militia has reorganized and
strengthened since their defeat at the hands of the
U.S.-led coalition nearly two years ago.
The militia, which ruled Afghanistan espousing a
strict brand of Islam, are now getting help from
some Pakistani authorities as well as a disgruntled
Afghan population fed up with lawlessness under
the U.S.-backed interim administration, according
to a former Taliban corps commander.
“Now the situation is very good for us. It is
improving every day. We can move everywhere,” said
Gul Rahman Faruqi, a corps commander of the
Gardez No. 3 garrison during The Taliban’s rule.
“Now if the Taliban go to any village, people give
them shelter and food. Now the people are tired of the
looters and killers,” Faruqi told The Associated Press,
referring to regional warlords aligned with Afghan
President Hamid Karzai’s government.
In most parts of Afghanistan regional powers oper
ate with relative impunity, terrorizing residents,
extorting money, dealing in drugs and running lucra
tive smuggling routes.
“Before people didn’t believe the Taliban were
around. They thought we were finished so they were
afraid. But now they see that we are active and they
see there is no other alternative to the looters and
killers,” said Faruqi, who was interviewed Monday in
neighboring Pakistan.
“We know they don’t like the Taliban, but they
hate the looters and killers even more.”
In the Afghan capital, a Western diplomat, speak
ing on condition of anonymity, said the religious mili
tia, working with al-Qaida, has regrouped, changed
tactics and now operates in Afghanistan and in
Pakistan.
Faruqi scoffed at suggestions that coalition forces
have them on the run.
“We have new bases all over Afghanistan. We
See Taliban on page 2A
Iraqis mourn slain Shiite cleric
Dy the generosity c ;
ear I ask, and v#
learts and wallets.’
By Tarek Al-Issawi
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
i i p it in | Jfl NAJAF, Iraq — About 400,000 mourners
1 received throuat t ook t0 the streets Tuesda y’ flailin g ,lleir backs
®Tand pounding their chests in anguish at the
[funeral of a leading Shiite cleric assassinated in
[a car bomb attack. In Baghdad, another car bomb
Dcord of $58.3 mi'
Carol Sowell saic
d the largest singlf
g the telethon.
me and wounding 13.
In an angry funeral oration, the cleric’s broth-
r blamed the U.S. occupation forces for the lax
security that led to the attack at Iraq’s most
[sacred Shiite mosque. He raged against the
merican troops and demanded they leave Iraq.
Men clad in white robes and dark uniforms
randishing Kalashnikov rifles stood guard
along the roof of the gold-domed Imam Ali
osque, where Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-
akim was killed Friday in the bloodiest attack
since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Accounts of
the death toll ranged from more than 80 to more
than 120.
“The occupation force is primarily responsible
for the pure blood that was spilled in holy Najaf,
the blood of al-Hakim and the faithful group that
was present near the mosque,” said Abdel-Aziz al-
Hakim, the ayatollah’s brother and a member of
the U.S.-picked Governing Council.
L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. civilian administra
tor for Iraq, told a Baghdad news conference that
U.S. occupation authorities will push the new
Iraqi Cabinet to assume governing duties and
want to quickly train Iraqis to take over security.
He insisted there was no rift between the
coalition and the Governing Council.
“I completely agree with the argument that
we should find ways quickly to give Iraq and
Iraqis more responsibility for security,” he said.
“They (the Governing Council) have encour
aged us to do what we were already doing, which
is putting Iraqis ... in Iraqi security.”
Bremer, a former diplomat and counterterror
ism expert, said there were already as many as
60,000 Iraqis involved in security or undergoing
training.
“What we need at this point is better intelli
gence to find out where the terrorists are who are
killing Iraqis,” he said.
Al-Hakim has said he would not resign from
the Governing Council but spoke with great
anger about the American military’s inability to
pacify the country.
“This force is primarily responsible for all
this blood and the blood that is shed all over Iraq
every day,” he said, voicing the frustrations of
Iraqis throughout the country. The criticism
could signal an open fissure in the historically
cooperative relationship between the Shiites and
the U.S.-led civilian and military occupation.
“Iraq must not remain occupied and the occu
pation must leave so that we can build Iraq as
God wants us to do,” he said.
Earlier, the slain ayatollah’s son warned that
the country had entered a dangerous new era.
“Our injured Iraq is facing great and danger-
U.S. and Iraqis work to control violence
U.S. authorities will push the new Iraqi Cabinet to assume governing
duties as soon as possible and wants to quickly train Iraqis to take
over security, L. Paul Bremer, the top U.S. civilian official in Iraq
said. Recent attacks in Iraq have intensified including Tuesday's
attack on Baghdad's police headquarters.
Aug. 7
A car bomb outside
Jordanian Embassy in
Baghdad kills 19
Aug. 19
A truck bomb
outside U.N.
Headquarters in Baghdad
kills 23
Aug. 29
vV A car
bomb at Imam Ali
mosque in Najaf-'.-
kills more than 120
Mck
i* > *ifbl|
Kirkuk
I R AQ
• 0
IRAN
6 ^...4 Baghdad
6u
Najaf 1
SAUDI ARABIA
Aug. 30 Sept. 1
An explo- ” Two U.S.
sion and fire ; soldiers are killed
shuts down a in a roadside bomb
pipeline near attack in southern
Kirkuk Baghdad. ; V> A car bomb near
► Iraqi police : ► The Iraqi police headquarters in
say 19 suspects : Governing Council i Baghdad kills one,
in the mosque names 25-member wounds 13.
bombing are Cabinet ► A U.S. soldier is killed and
mainly ► An audiotape is another hurt in a helicopter
foreigners with aired purportedly of crash south of Baghdad
admitted links to Saddam denying ► Polish military delays its
al-Qaeda involvement in the takeover from U.S. Marines
mosque bombing in Najaf until Sept. 21
Nasiriyah
Umm Qasr •
KUWAIT^
Sept. 2
SOURCES: Associated Press; Digital Globe AP
ous challenges in which one requires strength,”
Mohammed Hussein Mohammed Saeed al-
Hakim said at one stop in the funeral march —
the third day of a procession that began in
Baghdad and pushed south to Najaf.
During the procession, crowds surrounded
the coffin and many mourners beat their chests in
a ritual show of mourning for Shiites.
See Mourning on page 2A
Perry faces possible
GOP opponents in c 06
By Kelley Shannon
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN —Amid speculation that two fellow
Republican office holders might decide to run
against him, Gov. Rick Perry brushed aside ques
tions Tuesday about whether he’s bracing for a
GOP challenge in 2006.
The two other Republicans who have been men
tioned as possible Perry opponents are U.S. Sen.
Kay Bailey Hutchison and Comptroller Carole
Keeton Strayhorn.
Perry, after casting his early ballot in the
upcoming constitutional amendments election,
spoke with news reporters and said he’s only focus
ing on his current job, not a Republican primary
nearly three years away.
“There is so much work to be done, and those
that would like to distract from that and talk about
primaries, that’s their business,” Perry said.
The weekly newspaper Park Cities People in
Dallas last week published an editorial stating that
if Perry decides to call another special session on
congressional redistricting that Texas should elect
another governor next time. The editorial said
Hutchison has served the state with “honor and
distinction” and said some Republicans view her as
See Perry on page 2A