6A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WORLD
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2005
HURRICANE WILMA
Tourists, residents evacuate
Guests walk through a pile of sandbags at a hotel at Playa del Carmen in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, Wednesday. Hurricane Wilma, one of the most intense storm the Americas have ever seen, blasted Caribbean coastlines on Wednesday and threatened to slam into Cancun and southern Florida.
SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras — The fringes of Hurricane Wilma — which rapidly strengthened to one of the Americas' most intense storms ever — lashed Caribbean coastlines Wednesday, forcing tourists to flee and thousands to evacuate as it threatened to slam into Cancun and southern Florida.
BY FREDDY CUEVAS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
At least 13 deaths have been blamed on the storm this week, including a man who drowned Wednesday while trying to cross a river that overflowed its banks in southern Haiti.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami warned that Wilma — packing 160 mph winds Wednesday afternoon.
The White House, stung by criticism that it had not responded quickly enough to Katrina, promised to stay on top of the situation.
down from 175 mph earlier in the day — would be a "significant threat" to Florida by the weekend in a season that already has seen devastation from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Visitors were ordered out of the Florida Keys as schools closed and thousands of people were evacuated from low-lying areas in a 600-mile swath covering Cuba, Belize, Honduras, Jamaica, Haiti and the Cayman Islands.
"We are closely monitoring what is an extremely dangerous storm," said White House spokesman Scott McCllenan. "People should take this hurri-
be very scary. Floridians braced for the storm by boarding up windows and stocking up on supplies, although forecasters at the hurricane center said the forward motion of the storm appeared to be slowing, which could cause it to eventually weaken.
Tourists packed Cancun's airport even though skies were still partly sunny, looking for flights home or to other resorts. MTV postponed its Video Music Awards Latin America ceremony, originally scheduled for today at a seaside park south of the resort town.
Mark Carara cut his family's vacation short by two days and tried to get on a standby flight home to Colorado Springs, Colo. "You hear it was the biggest storm on record, and yeah, that was the clincher right there," he said. "It was time for us to go."
John Hyndman, a 59-year-old electrician from Ottawa, said his hotel had asked guests to leave. "I think people are more panicked just about what a hur-
Predictions differed on the hurricane's path and how strong it would be when it reached U.S. shores. Though some weakening was expected by today, the "potential for large loss of life is with us," said Max Mayfield, director of the U.S. Hurricane Center.
cane very seriously."
ricane can do." he said. "It can be very scary."
"This is one of those cases where we have a tremendous amount of uncertainty," said Mayfield.
WAR IN IRAQ
Former Iraqi dictator acts with defiance
Saddam Hussein appears in court
BY HAMZA HENDAWI THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq — A defiant Saddam Hussein quarreled with judges and scuffed with guards at the opening of his long-awaited trial Wednesday, rejecting the tribunal's right to judge him and insisting he is still the president of Iraq
He wore a suit with a white shirt and no tie.
The trial was broadcast on satellite stations with a 20-minute delay. But technical quality was poor, with the sound cutting out frequently and the picture going blank several times.
Iraqis and much of the Arab world watched glitchy television coverage of the proceedings intently.
If convicted, the 68-year-old Saddam and seven of his regime's henchmen who appeared with him in the hearing could face the death penalty for their role in the 1982 killing of nearly 150 people from the mainly Shiite town of Dujail north of Baghdad after a failed attempt on Saddam's life.
Sitting inside a white pen with metal bars, Saddam appeared gaunt and frail and his salt-and-pepper beard was unkempt as he pleaded innocent to charges of murder, torture, forced expulsions and illegal detentions.
The Iraqi government did not explain the 20-minute delay, but one effect could have been to cut out scenes such as the scuffle, which did not appear on tape.
Reporters at the courtroom struggled to follow the proceedings from behind a bulletproof glass partition.
"Since the fall of the regime, we have been waiting for this trial," said Aqel al-Ubaidi, a resident of Dujail. "The trial won't
bring back those who died, but at least it will help out the fire and anger inside us."
Wednesday's session, held under tight security, was testy from the start, when the judge asked Saddam to take the stand first.
As the courtroom fell silent, Saddam got up from his chair and took the podium, holding a copy of the Quran. He refused to state his name for the record and turned the question back on the presiding judge, Rizgar Mohammed Amin, a Kurd whose identity was revealed to the public only on the day of the trial.
"Who are you? I want to know who you are," Saddam demanded.
"I do not respond to this so-called court, with all due respect to its people, and I retain my constitutional right as the president of Iraq," he said, brushing off Amin's attempts to interrupt him. "Neither do I recognize the body that has designated and authorized you, nor the aggression because all that has been built on false basis is false."
After repeatedly refusing to give his name, Saddam finally sat.
Amin read his name for him, calling him the "former president of Iraq."
dent of Iraq.
"I said I'm the president of Iraq," Saddam snapped back. "I did not say deposed."
Later, Saddam stood, smiling, and exchanged greetings with other defendants during a break in the proceedings. He then asked to step out of the room, but when two guards tried to grab his arms to escort him out, he angrily shook them off.
The guards, wearing blue bulletproof vests, tried to grab him again, and Saddam struggled to free himself. Saddam and the guards shoved each other and yelled for about a minute. In the end, he was allowed to walk independently out of the room, with the two guards behind him.
The three-hour session ended with Amin announcing an adjournment until Nov. 28.
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