WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 2006
NEWS
PROFILE
Rundle proud to be first gay mayor
BY RACHEL SEYMOUR
editor@kansan.com
KANSAN CORRESPONDENT
When Mike Rundle announced he was gay during his State of the City Address on April 12, one year ago, he had yet to tell everyone in his immediate family about his sexual orientation, including his father and two of his seven siblings.
"It is with dignity and pride that I acknowledge that I have been Lawrence's mayor and, in all likelihood, Lawrence's first gay mayor," Rundle said in his address.
tundle
Rundle has been involved in Lawrence politics as a city commissioner since 1987. He had wanted to serve as an openly gay mayor, but planned to come out to his family first, he said.
After his announcement on April 12, Rundle wrote his father
a letter and e-mailed his last two siblings to tell them he was gay, something all of Lawrence already knew. One of Rundle's main concerns was his brother and sister-in-law's reaction.
"We have one sibling who is really conservative religiously," said Kate Van Zandt, one of Rundle's sisters.
To Rundle's relief, his brother and sister-in-law's reaction was positive. In fact, his brother's nephew had come out months before.
"He said he wanted to give me an early Christmas present. 'Actually, I want to give myself an early present,' she recalled her brother saying. "He wanted to be who he was and not hide anything."
But, she said, not one of her family members would stop loving another because he or she was gay. Van Zand was one of the first of the siblings Rundle told he was gay. It was not long before Christmas.
After his announcement, media outlets from in and out of
state wanted a word with Rundle. Radio stations from Kansas to California called to talk to him. He walked in gay pride parades in Wichita and Lawrence and even gave speeches on his personal story.
"I became a focal point for a lot of people who were interested in equal rights," he said.
At one point though, some people thought Rundle's sexual orientation could be used against him. Rumors were whispered in Lawrence about Rundle being gay as he ran for city commissioner in 2003. These "whisper campaigns," as Rundle called them, had little effect on the election results. Rundle was reelected as a city commissioner with the highest number of votes of the six candidates running for positions on the city commission. Rundle was later appointed vice mayor in 2003, and then mayor in April 2004.
"People look at how you run the city," he said. "That's more important than your private life."
Even if Rundle had served
openly as Lawrence's first gay mayor, he said it wouldn't have made a difference on how he chose to use his time as mayor. He said this was mainly because so much came up at the city commission.
If Rundle had to decide now whether he wanted to run for reelection in 2007,he said his answer was yes.Scheduling in personal time weighs on him, though. Rundle has personal goals for himself outside the city commission including spending more time with his father, who is more than 80 years old.
City commissioners could easily work about 40 hours per week on city issues, something Rundle said he sometimes had to do along with his other job as a head cashier at The Community Mercantile. As a cashier, he works about 40 hours per week. Between the two jobs and Rundle's personal life, he often feels pressed for time, he said.
"I don't have forever to spend with him." Rundle said.
— Edited by Lindsey St. Clair
NATION
D.C. notes intelligence failures
BY ROBERT BURNS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld gestures during a news conference at the Pentagon on Tuesday.
Razak N. Ghannam/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday that in light of prewar intelligence failures in Iraq, U.S. officials must be extra careful in evaluating intelligence about Iran's nuclear program.
At a Pentagon news conference, Rumsfeld was asked how confident the American people should be in the reliability of the intelligence that is being produced on Iran and its nuclear intentions, given what happened with Iraq.
He responded by noting the failure on Iraq, whose alleged weapons of mass destruction were the chief public justification given by President Bush for invading in March 2003 to overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein.
"It turns out it was wrong, that intelligence. Fair enough," he said. "It's a tough business. It's a difficult thing to be right all the time. And the information was not correct. Does that give one pause? You bet."
When publicly discussing the reliability of U.S. foreign intelligence, Rumsfeld often notes the risk of mistakes and gaps, particularly regarding information on countries like Iran and North Korea that the Bush administration considers rogue nations. But he had not previously indicated that the Iraq failures give him pause on Iran.
"You bet. And you're dealing with a closed society there, so clearly one has to be very careful." he said.
Iran says its nuclear program
is meant exclusively for generating electricity, but the United States and some other Western countries believe it is a cover for developing nuclear weapons.
During a public appearance in Florida on Tuesday, President Bush said the United States was in the early stage of diplomacy to solve the Iran nuclear issue.
"And we will continue to work through diplomatic channels to make it clear that
Congress to pass an emergency spending measure that contains about $65 billion for Pentagon war costs in Iraq and Afghanistan. He referred specifically to the House having cut about $760 million that the Pentagon says it needs for training Iraqi and Afghan security forces. Asked when the Pentagon would begin a substantial withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, Rumsfeld said it was too early to say.
we mean what we say. And, obviously, part of making the diplomacy work is what will be the consequences if the Iranians decide maybe not to listen to the rational demands of the world." Bush said. He did not say what the consequences might be, but Bush has said many times that he could not rule out the use of military force against Iran.
At his Pentagon news conference, Runsfield also pressed
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 7A
▼ WORLD
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
U. S. attorney Sabin Willett, second right, and five Uighurs, Chinese Muslims, released from the Guantanamo Bay detention center have lunch at a restaurant in Tirana Monday. China on Tuesday demanded the return of five Chinese Muslims released from the Guantanamo Bay detention center, blasting a U.S. decision to allow them to seek asylum in Albania.
U.S. releases Chinese Muslims to Albania
BY ALEXA OLESEN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIJING — China on Tuesday blasted a U.S. decision to release five Chinese Muslims from the Guantanamo Bay detention center to seek asylum in Albania, describing them as suspected terrorists and demanding their return.
A European-based Uighur Muslim activist said the men would face the death penalty or torture if sent back to China.
The five Chinese were held in Guantanamo for several years after being picked up during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The United States said last week it was letting them go to Albania after concluding they posed no terrorist threat to the U.S. but might face persecution if returned to China.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said Tuesday that the men are suspected of being members of a group accused of waging a violent separatist campaign in China's northwestern Muslim region of Xinjiang.
"The five people accepted by the Albanian side are by no means refugees but terrorist suspects," Liu said at a news briefing. "We think they should be repatriated to China."
"Accepting the Guantanamo suspects as refugees violates the U.N. Charter and international law." Liu said, adding Beijing was urging U.S. and Albanian authorities "to send them back as soon as possible."
Beijing says the group — the Xinjiang-based East Turkestan Islamic Movement — has links to al-Qaida and has received arms and training from the terror network. But the government hasn't released evidence to support its claims.
"if they are sent to China they almost certainly, almost 100 percent, face a death
sentence," said Dilxat Raxit, a Uighur Muslim activist in Stockholm, Sweden. "And if they don't get a death sentence they are very likely to face torture in prison."
Manfred Nowak, a U.N. torture investigator, visited Xinjiang last year and said Uighur detainees were among those most likely to be mistreated by Chinese authorities.
Liu did not respond directly when asked what charges the suspects would face if returned to China.
Beijing blames Uighur separatists for sporadic bombings and other violence in the massive desert region in China's far northwest. But diplomats and foreign experts are skeptical and say most violence stems from personal disputes.
Xinjiang — which abuts several Central Asian nations — is home to about 8 million Uighurs, who are ethnically Turkic, not Han Chinese, and have their own distinct culture and language.
The Washington-based Uyghur American Association last week identified the men as Abu Bakker Qassim, Adel Abdu Alkakim, Ahtar Qassim, Ayup Haji Ahmet and Ahmet, without giving a last name for the fifth man.
In announcing their release last week, the Defense Department gave scant information about the former detainees. Its statement did not say explicitly why they were not returned to China.
"Our key objective has been to resettle the Uighurs in an environment that will permit them to rebuild their lives," the statement said. "Albania will provide this opportunity."
The attorney for the five criticized the choice of Albania as a destination, saying it will be virtually impossible for them to assimilate. He said they were being sheltered at a National Center for Refugees in the suburbs of Tirana.