The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 28, 2005, Page 4, Image 4
At Easter Sunday service, Bush prays for soldiers' well-being
ByNEDRAPICKLER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
FORT HOOD, Texas —
President Bush attended an Easter
service Sunday at Fort Flood where
he offered prayers for peace and
the well-being of American soldiers
and their families.
For a third straight year, the
president made the 50-mile
helicopter flight from his ranch in
Crawford to mark Christianity’s
highest holiday at the largest
active-duty armored post in the
military and one that has
contributed thousands of troops to
U.S. forces in Iraq.
“I want to wish all the fellow
citizens and their families a happy
Easter,” Bush told reporters after
the service. “We prayed for peace,
we prayed for our soldiers and their
families. It’s an honor to be here at
Fort Hood to celebrate Easter with
those who .wear the nation’s
uniform.”
Bush and his family worshipped
at the 4th Infantry Division
Memorial Chapel along with
several hundred other worshippers,
some of whom wore Army fatigues
and other uniforms. The first
family occupied the entire right
front pew. Joining them were
Bush’s parents, his wife and his
twin daughters.
There was no fanfare for the first
family during the service, other
than a brief recognition at the
beginning. One of the pastors
thanked the president’s mother for
getting him out of bed early for
Easter service and said it was a
good habit. “He may go
somewhere one of these days,” the
pastor said to laughter from the
congregation.
The president and his family
then returned to the ranch for the
day. Their Easter dinner menu
included Texas grapefruit;
homemade mozzarella salad;
glazed ham; green chili cheese grits
souffl; roasted asparagus with
lemon dressing; chive biscuits;
fresh fruit; coconut cake; and
blueberry pie.
Bush was returning to
Washington on Monday, but did
not plan to be back at the White
House in time for Monday’s
traditional Easter egg roll on the
South Lawn. His plans for the
week include a speech on freedom
and democracy Tuesday in the
Rose Garden and a trip to Iowa
Wednesday to promote personal
accounts for Social Security.
Earlier Sunday, the top U.S.
military officer in the Mideast
spoke of hopeful developments in
Iraq and their effect on the number
of U.S. troops in the country.
“I think that we’ve gone from a
primarily military environment, to
a primarily political one. And
that’s a very encouraging sign,”
said Army Gen. John Abizaid, the
commander of U.S. Central
Command.
“Obviously, the longer we have
a delay in the formation of the
Iraqi government, the more
uncertainty there will be. The
more uncertainty, the greater
chance for escalated violence,” he
told CNN’s “Late Edition.”
“American forces provide the
shield by which the political
process can take place. And
American forces also have got to
develop the Iraqi security forces.
When politics move forward and
Iraqi security forces move forward,
you will start to see not only a big
change in the prospects for peace
and prosperity in the region, but
an opportunity for a pretty
substantial drawdown of our own
forces,” Abizaid said.
Military leaders have said that
the extra 15,000 or so U.S. troops
added during the run-up to Iraq’s
elections in January would be gone
by the end of March. That would
leave the U.S. force at about
138,000 troops.
■ MIDDLE EAST
Continued from page 1
population centers, it is unrealistic
to expect that the outcome of final
status negotiations will be a full
and complete return” of the West
Bank, Bush wrote in a letter.
Kurtzer and Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice repeated the
Bush formula, but U.S. officials
also criticized the Maaleh
Adumim expansion plan, which
would fill the last vacant patch
around Jerusalem, cutting off the
Arab section from the West Bank
with Jewish neighborhoods.
Palestinians want east Jerusalem as
the capital of their independent
state.
At a Cabinet meeting Sunday,
Sharon admitted that the Bush
administration still opposes
expanding settlements.
“The , ,United States
differentiates between keeping
settlement blocs and continuing
building in the settlements at this
time,” Sharon said, according to
participants. “They have been
opposed to this since 1968.”
Sharon’s comments came on the
eve of a parliamentary vote on
calling a referendum over his plans
to pull out of Gaza and part of the
West Bank. The vote Monday
could be close, with parties
maneuvering for position until the
last minute, but it appeared that
Sharon had a majority against
holding the referendum, which he
calls a delaying tactic that would
delay or scuttle the withdrawal plan.
The settlement issue has been a
major sticking point in attempts to
implement the U.S.-backed “road
map” peace plan, which never got
off the ground after Bush
introduced it in 2003. But with a
six-week truce holding for the
most part, hopes have been raised
that peacemaking can resume,
based on the plan.
The initial stage requires Israel
to halt all settlement construction
and remove dozens of
unauthorized outposts from the
West Bank, while the Palestinians
dismande violent groups. Neither
side has carried out those steps.
Instead of peace moves, the
truce itself is teetering, with
charges by Israeli Defense Minister
Shaul Mofaz that Palestinians
succeeded in smuggling Strela
anti-aircraft missiles into Gaza
through tunnels under the
Egyptian border.
If true, the missiles could
change the strategic picture,
threatening Israeli military
helicopters flying over Gaza.
According to participants in the
Cabinet meeting, Mofaz said,
“Last week several Strelas were
smuggled in by Palestinian
military intelligence. If the
Palestinians (police) don’t get hold
of the Strelas, we will.”
Israel has refrained from raids
into Gaza since Sharon and Abbas
declared a truce on Feb. 8. Before
that, Israeli forces went into Gaza
several times a week, looking for
militants and destroying tunnels.
Rejecting Mofaz’s warnings,
Palestinian Information Minister
Nabil Shaath charged that Israel
was trying to sabotage the truce.
“I hope this is not an indication
of future Israeli acts of aggression
against us,” he said.
Mofaz also told the Cabinet
that he postponed handing over
Qalqiliya, the third of five
Palestinian towns due to be
transferred to Palestinian security.
He charged that the Palestinians
are not carrying out their security
pledges in the first two, Jericho
and Tulkarem.
■ I
^—<■ -^ -mm—.. .- M_I
J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
President Bush talks to reporters following Easter worship services at Ft. Hood, Texas, about 50 miles
from their ranch in Crawford. Bush said, ""We prayed for peace, we prayed for our soldiers and their
families. It’s an honor to be here at Fort Hood to celebrate Easter with those who wear the nation’s
uniform."
USC student robbed at Eckerd
By TAYLOR SMITH
STAFF WRITER
A USC student endangered her
life for eyeliner Wednesday after a
man robbed her of $7 and ran out
of a Columbia Eckerd shouting
the catchphrase of a ‘90s
television show.
At 9:30 p.m. at the Eckerd on
Harden Street, Kathryn
McCullough, a second-year
English student was perusing
through cosmetics when a man
walked up behind her and
instructed her to quietly produce
her wallet because he had a gun.
After McCullough took out her
wallet, the man extracted $7 and
ran out of the store yelling, “She’s
on ‘Candid Camera.’”
“It was really really bizarre. He
stole $7, ran out of the store and
yelled it,” McCullough said. “I
was scared the entire time, but I
am laughing about it now.”
Stunned, McCullough walked
to the counter with her
roommate, second-year retail
student Ashley Hotham, and told
the cashier and manager what
happened. After hearing what
happened from McCullough,
Hotham said she thought the
manager would call the police,
but they never did.
“The manager came up and
was surprised it happened, but
didn’t offer anything,” Hotham
said. “He just said he was sorry
and walked away.”
The roommates left the store,
but upon calling her father (an
attorney in Chariotte),
McCullough realized they probably
should have called the police. She
said her father was upset and
decided to write several letters to
the Eckerd the next day when
McCullough pressed charges.
“He’s not suing. He was just
really mad,” McCullough said.
“They should have called the
police, and I would have insisted
but I was out of it and just
wanted to leave.”
McCullough said she talked to
an investigator and gave him a
description of the suspect but was
unsure as to how well she saw
him. She said she probably would
to be able to recognize the man
she now laughs at when asked if
she could recognize him in a
lineup.
“I figured he was either crazy
or just trying to confuse everyone,
McCullough said. “I mean, I
didn’t look around for a candid
camera.”
The City of Columbia denies
the state capital is any more
dangerous than other city’s of
similar size, but Hotham
disagrees. She said she prefers her
home city of Charlotte, N.C., to
the Five Points area where she
lives.
“I am a resident and student
here, but this doesn’t need to
happen,” Hotham said. “Parents
are entrusting the city with our
safety and then this happens.”
Typically, McCullough said
she goes to the Eckerd on
Rosewood Avenue. She even said
she can notice a difference in
police presence between USC and
the city.
“I don’t ever see an officer
down (in Five Points),”
McCullough said, “I see officers
on campus, but I live down there
and I don’t see many.”
Hotham said it is a little
amusing that something like this
happened to the “cautious”
McCullough. She said she isn’t
surprised it happened to her.
“She gets herself in situations
like this, and I can look back and
laugh,” Hotham said of the lost
$7. “For this to happen is a little
amusing because people always
think I am the reckless one.’’
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu
www. dailygamecock. com
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