THE UNIVERSITY DARY KANSAN
THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 2008
NEWS
9A
It's all Greek to me
People wave Greek flags during a rally against a compromise on a dispute with Macedonia, in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki on Wednesday. The two Balkan countries are engaged in UN-mediated talks over Macedonia's name. Greece argues that its northern neighbor's use of the name Macedonia could imply territorial claims on the Greek province of Macedonia. The leader of a nationalist party and the city's Orthodox bishop will address the rallies.
Iraqi government negotiates executions
U. S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, left, Barham Salih, Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq, and commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq, Maj. Gen. Mark P. Hertling, right, take part in a conference to strengthen the relationship between the leadership in the northern provinces and the government of Iraq in Tikrit, Iraq, Wednesday.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government is refusing to execute the Saddam Hussein henchman and cousin known as "Chemical Ali" unless the death sentences of two other Saddam-era officials also are approved.
The dispute pits the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki against the three-member presidential council, which moved last week to block the two other executions in what was seen as a possible attempt to appease minority Sunni Arabs.
The standoff underscores the often unclear lines of authority in Iraq and is another blow to Iraq's beleaguered judicial system.
In the case of the executions, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a telephone interview that al-Maliki's administration would not take custody of al-Majid alone and that it wanted all three men.
Already on Wednesday, two former Health Ministry officials were released after being cleared on charges that they helped Shite death squads operate by giving them access to hospitals and ambulances. There are widespread allegations of witness intimidation in those proceedings.
The U.S. has custody of al-Majid as well as the two others, Hussein Rashid Mohammed, the former deputy director of operations for the Iraqi armed forces, and former defense minister Sultan Hashim al-Taie. U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner said Wednesday that no request had yet been made to turn al-Majid over to Iraqi authorities.
Last Friday, Iraq's three-member presidential council — Presidentjalal Talabani, a Kurd, along with the Sunni and Shiite vice presidents — endorsed the death sentence of al-Majid, who earned the grim nickname "Chemical Ali" for gassingKurd civilians during a brutal crackdown on their region in the 1980s.
The endorsement was thought to be the last step before carrying out al-Majid's sentence — death by hanging — within a month.
He and the two other Saddam deputies were condemned in June after being convicted of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for their part in the Kurdish campaign, known as Operation Anfal.
Al-Majid won little sympathy when his sentence was handed down, but al-Taie and Mohammed were seen by some as career soldiers who were just following orders.
Many Sunni Arabs thought al-Taie's sentence was evidence that Shiite and Kurdish officials were persecuting the nation's once-dominant minority. Saddam and many of his closest advisers were Sunnis.
Sunni leaders, including Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, launched a campaign to spare al-Taie, and the presidential council last week agreed not to execute either him or Mohammed.
Al-Maliki, a Shiite, finds that
unacceptable.
"The prime minister refuses to split the death sentences issued by the Iraqi High Tribunal," al-Dabbagh said.
"He wants them to be carried out together. He believes that the death sentences issued by the High Tribunal are irreversible and unchangeable and the (tribunal's) do not need the approval of the presidency council, which has no right to change the sentences."
It was not immediately clear what will happen if al-Majid is not executed within the month his sentence is supposed to be carried out, or if the presidential council will revisit the two other cases.
Al-Majid would be the fifth former regime official hanged for alleged atrocities during Saddam's nearly three-decade rule.
But the bloodshed has been greatly reduced since early last year, and more attention is shifting to rebuilding and reconciliation — even in northern Iraq provinces where al-Qaida in Iraq retains its strongest presence.
Nearly five years after Saddam was toppled in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, sectarian and insurgent violence persists.
On Wednesday, local governors from Iraq's seven northern provinces aired out their complaints to
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Cabinet ministers in a rare meeting, held at a U.S. military base outside of Saddam's hometown of Tikrit.
Maj. Gen. Mark P. Hertling, the top U.S. commander in northern Iraq, said the timing of the effort is key: To sustain the security gains in Iraq, jobs must be created.
Strained connections between Iraq's national government and provinces have long kept the two at odds. Local authorities often gripe that Baghdad's bureaucracy and political procrastination have stalled economic growth.
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"I think we have six months to make a difference. This today is the starting point," Hertling said.
He gave a grim prediction it progress is not made. "I'm going to see more soldiers hurt and killed, and we're not going to be able to reduce
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During the meeting, Raad Rashid al-Tamimi, the governor of Diyala province listed his concerns;finishing a fuel distribution plant in Baqouba, increasing electricity capacity and digging irrigation canals.
"We want to use the land but it's destroyed," al-Tamimi said of his fertile but sectarian and tribal violence-stricken province. "We want Diyala to return to being the country's basket."
Other governors complained that security issues still made it difficult for their banks to get cash from the central banks, food ration cards are not delivered on time and corruption at all levels keeps tankers from delivering fuel.
>> GLOBAL WARMING
Report predicts irreversible damage
ASSOCIATED PRESS
OSLO, Norway — The world must deal with climate change now — or pay a much higher price later, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Wednesday.
In two decades, unchecked environmental damage could leave half the world's population without adequate drinking water, the OECD's secretary general, Angel Gurria, said Wednesday.
"Climate change is mankind's most important challenge. We know the enemy: It is named carbon," he said.
"Climate change is mankind's most important challenge. We know the enemy: It is named carbon."
ANGEL GURRIA OECD's secretary general
consumption in those countries could be 72 percent by 2030, compared to 29 percent for all 30 of the OECD's European nations.
That would lead to a 38 percent increase in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. However, if Brazil, Russia, China and India take the same step in 2020, and are followed by the rest of the world in 2030, emissions could be held at 2000 levels, it said.
report on the environmental outlook to 2030, part of a series of reports compiled every five years concentrates on climate change, water shortages, energy needs biodiversity loss, transportation agriculture and fisheries.
The report also stressed the need for a global response. Gurria urged the United States and developing countries with booming economies such as China and India to accept a binding international commitment to reduce global-warming gases.
"Without more ambitious policies, increasing pressures on the environment could cause irreversible damage within the next few decades," the report said. "The cost of inaction is high, while ambitious actions to protect the environment are affordable and can go hand in hand with economic growth."
"It involves that everyone participates. This is very important. We can't have anybody do a 'free ride,'" he said.
By 2030, the world's population — currently about 6.5 billion people — is expected to hit 8.2 billion, and the global economy could double in size, largely due to growth in countries such as Brazil, Russia, China and India, the report said.
Unchecked, growth in energy
If no steps are taken, world gross domestic product will grow 99 percent between 2005 and 2030 with severe environmental consequences, the report said.
With measures, growth would be nearly the same, 97 percent, but with a much healthier environment.
The report said governments must create such policies as "green taxes" to encourage sound technologies and practices, and that the rich world must help poor countries develop without spewing pollution by providing technology and expertise.
It also said ecological advances bring multiple benefits. For example, cutting motor vehicles' greenhouse gas emissions would improve air quality in cities or better insulated homes that cut power bills for consumers while reducing power plant emissions.
"OECD's report identifies critical environmental issues facing our country and countries around the world." Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), chairman of the House of Representatives' science and technology committee, said in a statement from Washington. "The OECD report provides a good roadmap for evaluating environmental challenges and the economic impacts we face if no action is taken."
The OECD, made up of 30 European nations, focuses on economic and social policies.
HEADER
Clinton suggests sharing presidency with Obama
WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton is hinting at the possibility of sharing the Democratic presidential ticket with Barack Obama, but says voters still have to decide the party nominee.
Clinton says; "That may be where this is headed,but of course we have to decide who is on the top of ticket. I think the people of Ohio very clearly said that it should be me."
Obama is playing down his losses Tuesday in three out of four primaries, including the battlegrounds of Texas and Ohio. He stresses that he is still ahead of Clinton in the delegate count.
In appearances on the morning talk shows, both Democrats say they have the credentials to go head to head with Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain.
Associated Press
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