WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2002
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN - 7A
War continues, U.S. closing in
The Associated Press
GARDEZ, Afghanistan — Hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaida fighters were killed in fierce fighting yesterday as U.S.-led coalition forces pressed their offensive in the rugged mountains of eastern Afghanistan, the American commander said.
"We caught several hundred of them with RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) and mortars heading toward the fight. We body slammed them today and killed hundreds of those guys," said Maj. Gen. Frank L. Hagenbeck, the commander of the operation near Gardez, 75 miles south of Kabul, the capital.
U. S. forces in the region said as many as 800 opposition fighters had been seen moving toward the battle since the American-led operation was launched on Saturday.
U. S.-led forces continued inching up the snow-covered mountains, meanwhile, trying to reach hideouts still believed to contain hundreds more al-Qaida and Taliban fighters. Some forces entered at least one cave complex, uncovering weapons caches.
Allied jets flew high over Pakia province, dropping bombs as well as decoy flares to ward off heat-seeking missiles — defensive measures after two U.S. helicopters were hit Monday in incidents that left seven U.S. soldiers dead.
Front-line commander Abdul Matin Hasankhiel said hundreds of Afghan and coalition forces have ringed the mountain range and trapped the al-Qaida and Taliban fighters higher up.
"They can't escape. They're surrounded. Slowly, slowly we are pushing in," he said.
Hundreds of al-Qaida and Taliban fighters are believed to be holed up in the area, Brig. Gen. John Rosa told reporters at the Pentagon. Bombers and tactical aircraft have dropped more than 450 bombs on the area since the assault began Friday night, he said.
"We've been able to get into at least one of the cave complexes thus far and we've discovered mortars, rocket-propelled grenade rounds, small arms. And in a different location we found more weapons and ammunition, as well as foreign driver's licenses and foreign passports," he said. He did not say whether there was resistance entering the cave complex.
One fighter, Nawab, who returned from a front-line position yesterday, said about 50 U.S. special Forces were fighting alongside Afghan soldiers at his position about 21/2 miles from Shah-e-Kot, the village that is the focus of the largest U.S.-led coalition air and ground operation in Afghanistan to date.
Mine sweepers were leading the way, clearing the paths along the snowy mountains. Attack jets circled overhead and pounded al-Qaida positions while Chinook helicopters ferried in supplies. A powerful fleet of aircraft
— including A-10s, F-15s, B-1s,
B-52s, AC-130 gunships, and
French Mirage 2000 and Super-
Etendard aircraft — was participating
in the assault.
NEWS
The blitz was concentrating on a 60-square-mile area south of the provincial capital. Gardez.
Nawab said fighting was less intense than in previous days. The militants were equipped with heavy artillery, anti-aircraft weapons, mortars, cannons and machine guns.
U. S. officials said yesterday the United States had observed al-Qaida forces reoccupying several former training camps in the region that were bombed earlier in the war.
"Inshallah (God willing) in three or four days they will be finished." he said.
"We don't know how long it's going to take, but we'll be there until the al-Qaida and Taliban forces are totally uprooted," said Gunnery Sgt. Charles Portman, a spokesman at the U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla.
The eight American servicemen killed in Afghanistan were honored in Germany before their flag-draped caskets were flown back to the United States. A C-17 transport jet brought the men's remains to Ramstein Air Base and was met on the tarmac by a U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force honor guard for the somber ceremony under cloudy skies in the wooded hills of western Germany.
"We should make sure these very brave people who lost their lives did not do so in vain," British Prime Minister Tony Blair said yesterday, calling for the world to redouble its efforts to stamp out terrorism.
Neither the former Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammed Omar nor al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden was believed to be in the Shah-e-Kot area, but Afghans say hundreds of their supporters and their families are there.
Governor vetoes criticizes Senate redistricting bill
The Associated Press
TOPEKA—Gov. Bill Graves singled out proposed changes in Johnson and Shawnee counties for criticism yesterday in vetoing a bill redrawing the 40 districts of the state Senate.
In his veto message to legislators, Graves said the proposed lines for Johnson County ignored "communities of interest" there. The bill added a seventh Senate district to the county to account for its population growth over the past decade.
The bill would have split the 11th District, represented by Sen. John Vratil, R-Leawood, along Kansas 50, creating a new district to the south.
Graves said the plan separated Vratil from too many of his constituents "for no apparent reason."
Other critics have suggested the new boundaries were drawn so that a conservative Republican would win the new Johnson County seat.
But Sen. Kay O'Connor, R-Olathe, who drew the lines, said
the bill gave rural southern Johnson County residents a chance to elect a senator.
A rival plan would have created the new district out of the western half of Vratil's existing district, extending both from suburban areas south into rural areas.
In Shawnee County, Graves' chief concern was an affluent central Topeka neighborhood, Westboro.
The vetoeed bill would have moved Westboro out of the southwest Shawnee County district it shares with other affluent areas into a district with rural Shawnee and Wabaunsee counties and poorer neighborhoods in north Topeka.
Graves said putting such diverse areas in the same district would "alienate citizens" from traditional communities of interest.
Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, replied: "The second map that we want to pass will take care of that quite easily."
Church settlement reaches $30 million
The Associated Press
The settlement was expected to be completed yesterday, the newspaper said, citing unidentified sources.
Mitchell Garabedian, the plaintiffs' attorney, said Monday, "No documents have been signed. We don't even have a final draft."
The Globe said the tentative agreement was reached Monday, after 11 months of negotiations. It will still need the signatures of all 86 plaintiffs and the 17 defendants, including Cardinal Bernard F. Law.
A call to archdiocese spokeswoman Donna Morrissey was not immediately returned. She told the Globe that the church
wants a "fair and equitable agreement as soon as possible. And we want to do what's right for the victims."
The 86 plaintiffs would get an average of $232,000 to $348,000 each, with an arbitrator deciding the amount in each case. The church has already paid an estimated $15 million to 100 alleged Geoghan victims since the mid-1990s.
Geoghan was sentenced to nine to 10 years in prison last month for groping a 10-year-old boy in a swimming pool, and faces two more criminal trials. He has been accused of molesting more than 130 children in six parishes over 30 years.
Besides the pending lawsuits against Geoghan, 48 claims are pending against other priests in the Archdiocese of Boston, which has come under fierce criticism for moving Geoghan from parish to parish after learning of the allegations against him.
Bush places heavy tariffs on steel imports
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Bush slapped hefty tariffs of up to 30 percent on a range of steel imports yesterday, suggesting it would help ailing U.S. steelmakers get back on their feet. The action could raise prices on products including cars and appliances and drew sharp criticism from U.S. trading partners.
Bush stopped short of giving the industry the 40 percent across-the-board tariffs it sought and declined to support an industry-proposed $10 billion bailout of pension and health care benefits for retired steelworkers whose companies have gone bankrupt.
Still, his three-year package was generally applauded by both the steel industry and its workers.
"It's some light at the end of a very dark tunnel," said Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers of America.
Acting on long-running complaints from domestic steel producers and steelworkers' unions, Bush imposed a three-year plan of tariffs of 8 percent to 30 percent on imported steel, depending upon the type.
He said his decision would "help give America's steel industry and its workers the chance to adapt to the large influx of foreign steel."
"The U.S. decision to go down the route of protectionism is a major setback for the world trading system," European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said.
Asked about the prospects of trade wars over his actions, Bush told reporters that international trade rules permitted such temporary tariffs to protect battered
Foreign steel exporters immediately protested.
He told reporters the EU would challenge the decision before the World Trade Organization.
industries.
"We're a free trading nation, and in order to remain a free trading nation we must enforce law. That's exactly what I did," he said. Bush said steel imports "were severely affecting our industry, an important industry."
The plan exempts four countries with whom the United States has free-trade agreements — Canada, Mexico, Israel and Jordan — and many impoverished nations. Nations hit hardest by the tariffs include China, Japan, South Korea, Ukraine and Russia.
Steel prices are at a 20-year low and more than 30 U.S. steel mills have filed for bankruptcy protection in the past four years.
Bush and running mate Dick Cheney courted steel workers in the 2000 election, saying they would not forget about them—and implying that President Clinton had.
Steel-producing states like West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania are also important in next fall's congressional elections and in the 2004 presidential contest.
Bush urged U.S. steel companies to take advantage of the "temporary safeguards" and restructure their industry. The tariffs take effect March 20.
House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., accused the president of not going far enough to help the industry and steelworker unions. "The situation remains dire," he said. But Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., called it a good move that balances the concerns of competing interests. The plan imposes a 30 percent tariff on slab steel, the country's biggest import, but only after the first 5.4 million tons are imported.
The decision could devastate the Port of New Orleans, which depends upon steel for about 45 percent of its annual import business, said Gary LaGrange, the port's director.
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