Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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University of South Carolina MHMnAV M ARP 1-1 0/1 0000 Vol.96,No.71 www.dailygamecock.com 1VIVJINUr\l, IVIrMAV^n ZH-, ZVJVJO Since 1908 The Rev. Al Sharpton ^ speaks to students and Columbia residents Friday at the USC Law Center. The USC Law School Democrats organized the event. PHOTO BY JOHN RABON/THE GAMECOCK Al Sharpton comes to (JSC BY MICHAEL LAFORGIA THE IIAMECOCK Civil-rights activist and presi dential hopeful the Rev. A1 Sharpton spoke at the USC Law Center Friday in an event orga nized by the USC Law School Democrats. Sharpton used the opportunity to outline his platform and answer questions from the near-capacity crowd. Sharpton first addressed the war in Iraq. He said he is thankful to to the American service men. “I support the troops and I cer tainly hope and pray the troops will come home safely,” Sharpton said. Sharpton criticized Bush’s de cisions, however, and said he doubted that Saddam has weapons of mass destruction. Sharpton said today’s demo cratic leadership has given “tacit permission” for the United States to engage in “flawed foreign poli cy,” and called the war a “glaring” example of the Bush administra tion’s misplaced priorities. Sharpton questioned Bush’s motives in attacking Iraq. “We cannot have an inconsis tent policy based on whatever per sonal motives a person may have.” In addition, Sharpton called re cent anti-terrorism legislation “un-American” and said he thinks the government is slowly “rolling back” civil liberties. Sharpton said he thought the current Democrats’ response to the war is inadequate. “There has not been enough of an outcry from the leadership of the Democratic Party about this war,” Sharpton said. “We have ♦ SHARPTON, SEE PAGE 2 - * --— American prisoners forced onto Iraqi TV Video footage showed frightened US. soldiers, at least four bodies kghtened or stoical, t of an Iraqi TV mi iy. The footage also missing after Iraqi ndAnNasiriyah, a hwest of Basra, r men and a woman n Al-Jazeera with n. Each was inter i did not know pre would not identify t Blix, Texas, said s^—r - . base. . --—-—-—---— Several families of the soldiers had gathered at the base Sunday evening, she said. “The mood, of course, is very tragic.” The 507th Maintenance, part of the 111th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, is stationed at Fort Bliss, and at least two of the inter viewed prisoners said they were with the 507th. Al-Jazeera quoted unidentified Iraqi officials as saying the Iraqis are using a defensive tactic of falling back, allowing their en emy to overextend itself and become vulnerable to attack behind the lines. President Bush, returning to the White House from Camp David, said he did not have all the details of what he called a po tential capture but added: “We expect them to'be treated hu manely, just like we’ll treat any prisoners of theirs that we capture humanely. If not, the people who mistreat the prisoners will be treated as war criminals.” Speaking on CBS, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld charged that if those seen on television were indeed coalition sol NERS, SEE PAGE 4 T&k Key Developments in Iraq Crisis [ nv the associate)) m:ss ♦ The U.S. Centra) Command said Marines defeated Iraqi fg forces near An Nasiriyah in the sharpest engagement of tire war . so far. It said up to nine Marines ■ were killed in the battle. J - ♦ U.S. troops found a H suspected chemical factory near the city of Najaf, about B 85 miles south of Baghdad, and were trying to determine M whether it was involved m making chemical weapons, U.S, officials said. ♦ Explosions shook Baghdad early Monday as the Iraqi capital came under another heavy air attack. ♦ A U.S. Patriot missile battery mistakenly shot down a British Royal Air Force fighter aircraft near the Iraqi border with Kuwait, killing both fliers on board. ♦ Ati.$. soldier was detained on suspicion of throwing grenades into three tents at a 101st Aiibome command center in Kuwait, killing one fellow serviceman and wounding 15. ♦ A British television news reporter who disappeared in southern Iraq was believed dead, ♦The U.S, military’s northern front against Iraq appears to be building., with American planes landing in the Kurdish north 2003 PRESIDENTIAL PROFILES .Brian Murphy BY WENDY JEFFCOAT THE (IAMECOCK By running a “campaign of doom,” Brian Murphy hopes to get students to pay attention to Student Government. “A campaign of doom will make people stop, they’ll look, they’ll point, they’ll stare, and it’ll get their attention,” the sec ond-year Honors College student said. “And when people are paying attention to Student Government, they’ll realize, ‘hey, this is here to serve me,’ and they’re going to start demanding things from •Student Government,” he said, “and then things will start getting done.” Murphy, who is studying computer science, said he is not a “government insider” and that the extent of his political expe rience was serving in Maxcy Hall’s government his freshman year. “I’m not a politician,” he said. “I don’t pretend to be.” Murphy said he is not going to try to reform Student Government. He said he could find only about three resolutions passed last year that dealt with the stu dent population; the rest, he said, dealt with internal Student Government matters. Murphy thinks Student Government is capable of serving the USC community as it is and does not need to constantly try to reform itself. He also said he doesn’t want V; Student Government “disap- I pearing just right after the elec- 9 tion and popping up again a few § ♦ MURPHY, SEE PAGE 4 | President Personals Age: 20 Hometown: Aiken, S.C. Hobbies: acting, karate and fencing Favorite restaurant: Wendy’s Favorite thing about USC: “It’s definitely the campus and the surrounding area. I like this environment. It’s big, so there're things to do, but it’s small enough that you can walk down the street and say, ‘Hey, I Know that guy.’ There’s actually a sense of community, which I think is real important." Why did you choose to come to USC?: “I needed a university that has a lot of options. Like most people, I had no idea what I was going to do with the rest of my life. And USC has a lot of the things that I had on my list of what 1 wanted to do. So it was my natural choice." Tyler Odom - BY ADAM BEAM THE GAMECOCK When formulating his plan for winning the Student Government presidential elec tion, Tyler Odom didn’t borrow from the ideas of tested political philosophers, but from the voice of the Gamecocks. Taking Charlie McAlexander’s touchdown catch phrase to an other level, Odom modeled his plan around six issues he felt im portant to the student body, and he dubbed them the Garnet Six. “Carolina athletics has al ways been something that I can get excited about,” Odom said. “I guess that kind of goes back to the fact that I’ve been coming to football games since I was about 8.” Leading the list of Odom’s ideas is painting spurs from Greene Street all the way down Assembly Street to Williams-Brice Stadium, as if “Cocky were walking down the street,” he said. Student orga nizations could sponsor a spur and have their organization’s name written under it. Odom borrowed President Personals Age: 20 Hometown: Anderson, SC Hobbies: USC athletics involvement, staying involved on campus, hanging out with friends and reading occasionally Favorite Restaurant Cracker Barrel Favorite thing about USC: "The chance to get involved in many aspects of the university and to ♦ ODOM, SEE PAGE 4 make a difference in some way.” Why did you choose to come to USC?: “I've come to Carolina athletics games since I was about eight. Living in Anderson, which is 30 minutes from Clemson, made me have stronger loyalties to USC. Being involved in the university has made my loyalties grow even more so that I’d like to serve students in any way possible." Index Comics and Crossword8 Classifieds_11 Horoscopes _8 ^ Letters to the Editor 5 Online Poll__ 5 Police Report 3 Weather TODAY , TOMORROW High 75 High 81 Low 48 ' Low 51 A A Inside This Issue ♦ NEWS With rallies and protests, a divided America speaks out on the war. Page 4 ♦ VIEWPOINTS Ben Edwards points out what’s wrong with the state’s executive branch. Page 5 ♦ THE MIX Missed the results? Hate to spoil it, but “Chicago” won a lot. Find out about the Academy Awards. Page 6 ♦ SPORTS The women's basketball team advances in the NCAA Tournament. Page 9 Student leaders form political party BY ROB SEAL THE (iAMECOCK The first political party in USC | history has been formed by a 1 group of student organization K leaders and Student Government IB officials. The Palmetto Party is g endorsing candidates for several ii SG positions. ™ Leigh Anne Cubbage, Palmetto ^ Party chairwoman and former ^ president of USC’s chapter of ♦ PALMETTO, SEE PAGE 2 J I The Palmetto Party meets on Russell House third floor Sunday night. PHOTO BY TRISHA SHA DWELL/ THE GAMECOCK