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North Korea opens nuclear plant to delegation BY JAE-SUK YOO THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - North Korea said Saturday that it showed its “nuclear deterrent" to an unofficial U.S. delegation that visited the disputed Yongbyon nu clear complex, which had been closed to outsiders since the North expelled U.N. inspectors more than a year ago. A member of the delegation, which included experts and for mer government officials, said the five Americans were allowed to see everything they requested, but it was not clear if the “nuclear de terrent” was 3 bomb. Delegates said they could give no further de tails until they reported to Washington. The visit came amid efforts to arrange a new round of six-nation talks on ending the standoff over the North’s suspected nuclear weapohs program, which Pyongyang says is necessary to de fend the country against a possi ble U.S. invasion. A first round of talks in August ended without much progress. “As everybody knows, the United States compelled the DPRK to build a nuclear deterrent,” North Korea’s official KCNA news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying. “We showed this to Lewis and his party this time,” the spokesman said, referring to one of the delegates, John W. Lewis, a Stanford University professor emeritus of international relations. The delegates, who returned Saturday to Beijing, would not say how much time they spent at Yongbyon. Lewis said they met North Korean military, foreign af fairs, scientific and economic offi cials but would not identify them or say what they discussed. “We are a private delegation,” Lewis said. “We were not there to negotiate. We were not there to be inspectors.” U.S. officials believe the North already has one or two nuclear bombs and could make several more within months. North Korea has never confirmed or denied having atomic weapons. The delegation was the first group from outside the reclusive communist country to visit the Yongbyon facility since the ex pulsion of U.N. inspectors at the end of 2002. “The delegation’s visit to the fa cility was not an inspection but a visit at the invitation” of North Korea, the spokesman said. The visit was to “ensure trans parency as speculative reports and ambiguous information about the DPRK’s nuclear activities are throwing hurdles in the way of set tling the pending nuclear issue,” he said, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “Transparency serves as a ba sis of realistic thinking and, at the same time, a basis for solving the issue,” he said. Besides Lewis, the delegation included Sig Hecker, a former di rector of Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico; Jack Pritchard, a former staff member of the U.S. National Security Council and a former State Department official; and two staff members of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The start of the visit Tuesday coincided with the North’s an nouncement that it would not test or produce nuclear weapons and even stop operating its nuclear power industry, in exchange for concessions from Washington. Secretary of State Colin Powell called the offer positive. But on Friday, Pyongyang sug gested that such negotiations might be tough, warning against expecting the North to follow “some Middle East countries” — an apparent reference to Libya’s decision to renounce weapons of mass destruction. Libya an nounced such a decision last month after talks with the United States and Britain. Washington said it hoped oth er countries would do the same. “To expect any ‘change’ from the DPRK stand is as foolish as ex pecting a shower from clear sky,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. “It is the historic^ truth that peace is won and defended only with strength.” Meanwhile, Japai’s Asahi newspaper said Satirday that China had offered its Noth Korean ally $50 million in aid V take part in a new round of six-prty talks. China’s No. 2 leder, Wu Bangguo, presented fee offer to North Korean leader Km Jong II during a visit to th capital, Pyongyang, in Octoberthe news paper said, citing unlentified sources. It said North Kcea would get the money only aftr the con clusion of the talks. The nuclear standol flared in October 2002, when UJ officials said North Korea admifed to run ning a secret nuclear wepons pro gram in violation of irernation al agreements. Families of Guantanamo Bay prisoners look for answers BY STEVENSON JACOBS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS’ GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, CUBA — Two years after the first prisoners began arriving at Guantanamo Bay following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, families of detainees are asking how much longer they must wait for their loved ones to be tried or released. As the prison camp marks its second year anniversary Sunday, the United States also faced criti cism from foreign governments and human rights groups, ques tioning why hundreds of terror suspects have been held for so long without charges or legal repre sentation. “It is time to get our children back or for them to be tried in an impartial court,” said Khalid al Odah, a Kuwaiti whose 26-year-old son Fawzi was one of the first to arrive at the bleak outpost. “But nobody is listening. That is the problem.” Al-Odah is hanging his hopes on his son’s release or trial on the U.S. Supreme Court, which is to hear the first appeal early this year on whether the prisoners , should have access to American courts, something opposed by President Bush. Over the past two years, U.S. of ficials have released 88 people held at the detention camp in eastern Cuba — but new ones have regu larly been brought iri, bringing the current number of detainees to around 660. While Washington has promised tribunals, it also con tinues to expand the prison. Eventually it will have 1,100 cells, raising further questions of what the future holds for the mission. Some U.S. lawmakers also have raised concerns about prolonged delays in the detainees’ cases. “You have people sitting there for two years with rights under international law being utterly ignored by administration.” JAMIE FELLNER U.S. DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH Others say holding tribunals out side the jurisdiction of U.S. courts would make trials unfair. Many critics say the United States has abandoned its judicial principles in its zeal to prevent an other terrorist attack on its soil. “You have people sitting there for two years with rights under in ternational law being utterly ig nored by the administration,” said Jamie Fellner, U.S. director of Human Rights Watch. Since the first prisoners arrived on Jan. 11,2002, the U.S. govern ment has classified the men as “en emy combatants” and not prison ers of war, which would afford them more legal protection. They have been held without charge and interrogated repeat edly. Only last month were mili tary defense lawyers assigned — and only to two prisoners. “We want to do it quickly, but we want to do it right,” said Air Force Maj. John Smith, a lawyer in the office of military commis sions at the Pentagon. He said the procedures now need only “tweaks and minor additions.” A retired U.S. Army general has been appointed to oversee the tribunals, which apply the death penalty. A four-member review panel has been chosen. The desks, name plates, closed-circuit televi sion and government seals are al ready in place at a building in Guantanamo. Yet no order has been given for trials to start. The first tribunals could begin within 30 days of receiving an or der, said Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, commander of the deten tion operation. The detainees from 44 countries are being held on suspicion of links to Afghanistan’s ousted Taliban regime or al-Qaida terror network, including three boys ages 13 to 15. The indefinite detention has drawn concern from several U.S. allies including Britain, which has nine citizens at the base. Johan Steyn, one of a panel of judges who sit in Britain’s House of Lords, recently said holding the tribunals in Cuba would be a “monstrous failure of justice.” Twenty-one prisoners have at tempted suicide, some multiple times and most by trying to hang themselves, officials say. The U.S. government has de nied mistreatment, noting de tainees can exchange censored let ters with family, are wi fed and receive quality medicalare. Officials began rewtding de tainees last year for god behav ior — and for providingnforma tion about terror cells. Mler says the amount of useful inilligence information has incresed, al though he has refuseeto talk about how the informtion has helped the waron terror Inside a medium-secuity area, detainees deemed coo^rative play soccer andtalk withother de tainees. But one priviege thatias been eliminated is contact vith the camp’s Muslimspirituaadviser. Authorities supended be meet ings last year fter the irrest of Muslim chaplau Capt. Janes Yee on accusationsof mislandling classified information. He was one o*four arested by investigators taking int< alleged security breaches at the base. -4*-i_li CASH FOR YOUR NOTES Visit LeConte 117 for more info, or call 777-6142 Office of Student Disability Services - a university sponsored service ■ COMMITTED TO STRENGTHENING THE FINANCIAL FUTURE OF OUR STUDENTS 1 Carolina Collegiate Federal Credit Union 710 Pulaski Street • Columbia, South Carolina 29201 Palestinian leaders reaffirm right to declare sovereign state BY RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI THE ASSOCIATED PRESS JERUSALEM — Palestinian lead ers on Saturday reasserted the right to unilaterally declare an in dependent state in the absence of a peace deal with Israel, responding to Israel’s own threats of one-sided action. The go-it-alone declarations re flect both sides’ frustrations with more than three years of fighting and stalled peace talks. The PLO Executive Committee, one of the Palestinians’ key lead ership bodies, met Friday night to discuss the ongoing conflict with Israel and reiterated the right to declare a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Arab parts of Jerusalem — lands that Israel took control of in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians’ path to state hood has come under question amid warnings by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that he could give up on peace talks and draw a boundary that would leave the Palestinians with much less land than they seek. Sharon recently outlined a plan under which he would withdraw forces from parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, dismantle some Jewish settlements along the way and draw his own boundary be tween Israel and the Palestinians if peace talks remain stopped. On Saturday, Saleh Rafat, a member of the PLO committee, said Israel’s actions will not pre vent the Palestinians from declaring "an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 border.” But there are no imme diate plans to declare a state, Rafat said. Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat also emphasized that a "two-state solution is the option of the Palestinian leadl'ship.” From exile n Tunis, the Palestinian Natinal Council de clared an indepeflent state in the West Bank and aza in 1988 — a move that was qver recognized internationally. In 1999, Yasse Arafat threat ened to declare atate again, but backed down afsr then-Israeli Prime Ministr Benjamin Netanyahu said g would annex parts of the West Enk in response. Now, the Palstinians face threats from Isfiel that they could be left wither less territo ry than they’ve sught for a fu ture state. Some Israeli bicials believe the Palestinians;>ossibly even Arafat, are seekir a new strate gy: waiting for daographics to resolve the conflic Experts have predicted the Paistinians will outnumber Jewsn the coming decades. About 3.5 millia Palestinians live in the West Bak and Gaza, in addition to 1.2 milon Arab citi zens of Israel. Ab-it 5.5 million Jews live in Israel In an interviw with The Associated Presan Thursday, Palestinian Priie Minister Ahmed Qureia sai if peace talks fail and Sharon flows through with his "disengtement” plan, the Palestinians wuld push for a single binationaltate of Arabs and Jews. Such a scenaricrould spell dis aster for Israel’s Swish charac ter, because thePalestinians’ higher birthrate ould soon put Arabs in the majdty. Israel would thh face a choice between giving Flestinians the right to vote or looming a mi nority-ruled *untry like apartheid South /rica. A decade of p^e talks in the 1990s always ailed for a two state solution, nd the latest peace plan — tf U.S.-backed "road map” - calls for a Palestinian staB in the West Bank and Gaza b 2005. Eliminating tb two-state solu tion from dialog^ could lead to greater Mideast jditical turmoil. Palestinian potkal analyst Ali Jerbawi said Qu#ia’s remarks on a binational stab *d fresh state ments on the urikteral declara tion of a separjte independent country reflectgr'wing frustra tions over staJedsteps toward statehood, f