The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 03, 2003, Page 3, Image 3
Turkish bases would
ease a U.S. assault on
Baghdad, analysts say
BY ROBERT BURNS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - Without
1 Turkish bases to open a northern
front against Iraq, the U.S. mili
tary still could take Baghdad, but
with more difficulty and risk, of
ficials and analysts said Sunday.
The U.S. war plan calls for at
tacks on Iraq from two direc
tions, Kuwait in the south and
Turkey in the north. That ap
proach would complicate Iraq’s
defense planning and ease U.S.
logistical problems.
In a weekend move that sur
prised U.S. officials, the Turkish
Parliament rejected a motion
that would have granted a U.S.
request to,position tens of thou
sands of ground forces for the as
sault into northern Iraq and to
station about 200 additional
strike aircraft at two other
bases.
Defense officials, speaking
Sunday on condition of anonymi
ty, said Gen. Tommy Franks,
who would command a U.S. war
in Iraq, had not yet decided to
give up on Turkey. Franks said
in an Associated Press interview
last week that his war plans are
flexible and take into account
such problems.
If Turkish bases were not
available to U.S. ground forces,
Franks could opt to airlift a force
into northern Iraq from Kuwait
or elsewhere in the Persian Gulf.
Instead of having the Army’s 4th
Infantry Division — a heavily ar
mored force — roll into northern
Iraq from Turkey, Franks might
choose to use the 101st Airborne
Division, a lighter, air-mobile
force.
It was not clear whether that
was Turkey’s last word on the
matter. Reconsideration could
come as early as Tuesday, but
the head of Turkey’s ruling par
ty said Sunday there are no
plans in the “foreseeable future”
to seek another parliamentary
vote.
Still, a senior U.S. official said
the administration was evaluat
ing the situation but did not re
gard the vote as necessarily fi
nal.
Several senators were less san
“Our line of advance becomes
more predictable” if the main
ground assault is from Kuwait
rather than being split between
Kuwait and Turkey, Cordesman
said.
It also concentrates the bulk of
U.S. ground forces in a relative
ly small area — northern Kuwait
— and gives Saddam added in
centive to attempt a pre-emptive
guine on tne
Sunday tele
vision talk
shows.
“It’s a
huge set
back for our
purposes. It
stunned
me,” Sen.
Jay
Rockefeller,
D-W.Va.,
ranking
Democrat
“We spent the last 50
years defending them in
NATO. And along comes
this opportunity, and by
three votes they decline
the opportunity to allow
us to come in through
the north.”
JAY ROCKEFELLER
MEMBER OF THE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE
strike with cnem
ical or biological
weapons,
Cordesman said.
The United
States has at
tempted in re
cent days to
guard against
such a strike by
bombing Iraqi
surface-to-sur
face missiles,
multiple-launch
rocket systems
on the Intelligence Committee,
said on CNN’s “Late Edition.”
“We spent the last 50 years
defending them in NATO. And
along comes this opportunity,
and by three votes they decline
the opportunity to allow us to
come in through the north.”
Securing the peace once
President Saddam Hussein’s gov
ernment had fallen also would be
more problematic without
Turkey, depending on the extent
of the Turkish military’s move
into Kurdish areas of northern
Iraq, said analyst Anthony
Cordesman at the Center for
Strategic and International
Studies.
“We can work around it, but it
does increase risk” before, dur
ing and after the fighting,
Cordesman said.
Likewise, the Kuwait option
for northern Iraq is not without
risks.
and artillery within range of
Kuwait.
Another complication, if ad
ditional Turkish air bases are
not available, is finding suit
able basing for the 200 or more
U.S. warplanes that Franks
wanted at the Diyarbakir and
Batman bases in southeastern
Turkey.
Cordesman said bases in the
Gulf already are saturated with
hundreds of American and al
lied fighters, bombers and sup
port aircraft.
U.S. and British planes al
ready fly patrols over northern
Iraq from Incirlik Air Base in
Turkey.
That presumably would re
main available even if no other
air or army bases are opened to
U.S.forces.
STATE
Historians discuss
civil rights in S.C.
CHARLESTON — More than 70
historians from across the coun
try and from England and Japan
will gather at The Citadel this
week to discuss new research
about South Carolina’s civil
rights era, from 1895 to 1970.
“No state has such an inter
esting cast of characters in civil
rights as South Carolina,” said
Vernon Burton, a South Carolina
raised historian and civil-rights
expert who teaches Southern his
tory at the University of Illinois.
The topics are relevant today.
Many current issues from af
firmative action to Confederate
flag disputes to the Martin
Luther King Jr! holiday to fail
ing black schools in rural South
Carolina can’t be fully under
stood without a knowledge of seg
regation and the civil-rights era.
“It’s important for the state to
come to grips with its history,
learn from it, and move on,” he
said.
Three-day summit
will address litter
COLUMBIA — South Carolina
advocacy groups, law enforce
ment officers and judges will
gather for the first Litter
Summit this week to find ways
to clean up the state.
PalmettoPride, the
Governor’s Council on
Beautification and Litter, is co
ordinating the three-day event
that kicks off today.
“We want to be known as the
‘zero tolerance for litter’ state,”
said Rebecca Barnes, campaign
coordinator for PalmettoPride.
State efforts to control litter
got new energy about four years
ago, when USC football coach
Lou Holtz encouraged state lead
ers to take on the state’s trash
laden highways.
There are indications that
South Carolina’s litter problem
is getting better.
Twenty-four percent less litter
was picked up on the state’s in
terstate highways in 2002 than in
2001, according to Palmetto Pride.
NATION
v
Customs steps up
radiation screening
WASHINGTON - Federal in
spectors are checking all travel
ers arriying in the United States
for radiation as part of an ex
panded effort to screen for ter
rorist activity, a Customs offi
cial said Saturday.
Dean Boyd, a spokesman for
the new Bureau of Customs and
Border Protection, said inspec
tors began using small, j)ager
like detectors Saturday at U.S.
ports of entry to check passen
gers for radiation. He said the
inspectors, who ask incoming
travelers for their passports, car
ry the detectors on their belts.
“If a source of radiation passes
close by or within a certain dis
tance, the pager will begin beep
ing or alerting, and you can look
down at the pager and see the
amount (of radiation) that the
pager is picking up,” Boyd said.
The goal is to screen all the
more than 500,000 people enter
ing the United States every day.
Inspectors who check passports
at the arrival gates will carry
them.
Teens on trial might
not grasp situation
WASHINGTON - Every state
allows children under 16 to be
tried as adults, but new re
search indicates many cannot
understand their situations
well enough to aid their de
fense.
The private MacArthur
Foundation study released today
said many children under 16 had
as much difficulty grasping the
complex legal proceedings as
adults who had been ruled in
competent to go to court.
The new study, by the John
D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation Research Network
on Adolescent Development and
Juvenile Justice, looked at more
than 1,400 people between the
ages of 11 and 24 in Philadelphia,
Los Angeles, northern and east
ern Virginia, and northern
Florida.
- WORLD
Thousands march
against Iraq war
KARACHI, PAKISTAN -
Women in horse-drawn car
riages and flag-waving backers
of Pakistan’s religious coalition
joined tens of thousands of oth
ers in a march through the
streets of the southern city of
Karachi to protest a possible
U.S.-led war against Iraq.
Police estimated that at least
100,000 people, some chanting
“America is the terrorist,” joined
the march in what authorities
said was the largest demonstra
tion against the war in a country.
that has been an important ally
in the U.S. war against terrorism.
Organizers, who claimed 3
million people took part in the
demonstration, said it was the
first of two planned “Million
Man Marches” in Pakistan
against the war.
Qazi Hussain Ahmed, leader
of the MMA in Pakistan’s
National Assembly, told demon
strators that “any attack on Iraq
would be considered an attack
on the Muslim world.”
The Pakistan march was one
of a several of anti-war events
around the world Sundav.
UAE rallies support
against Saddam
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB
EMIRATES — The United Arab
Emirates won support Sunday
from several Persian Gulf na
tions in its call for Saddam
Hussein to quit power to avert a
war, \yhile Iraq poured scorn on
the Emirates, calling it a tool of
Israel.
The king of Bahrain said he
backs the call for Saddam to go,
according to the Emirates state
news agency. Kuwait’s Cabinet
also backed the measure, the of
ficial Kuwaiti news agency said.
Kuwait has allowed tens of
thousands of U.S. troops to de
ploy in its territory ahead of a
possible invasion of neighbor
ing Iraq. The tiny Gulf island of
Bahrain also is a key U.S. ally,
playing host to the base of the
American 5th Fleet.
,
The Amazing Race
CANDIDATES INFORMATION MEETING
The journey begins
Monday March 3, 2003 at 5:30 pm
Russell House RM 203
For more information: www.sg.sc.edu/emfo.htm
or contact us ot 777-J65A
11 The Amazing Race!
I Student Body Elections
Filing for Candidacy j
March 4th & 5th
at the Office of Student Government
from 9:00am to 4:00pm
H Offices Available: I
Student Body President, Student Body Vice President, Student
Body Treasurer, and All Senate Seats