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Show 2 Friday, April 7,2006 797-1769 statesman@cc.usu.edu Today's Issue Dedications" Today is Friday, April 7, 2006. Today's issue of The Utah Statesman is published especially for Jon Gilmore, a sophomore majoring in creative writing from Centerville, Utah. Clarifications This long overdue correction is to inform readers that the article "Diamond in the rough," which ran March 31, was incorrect when it stated Jared Diamond's lecture was based on his book "Guns, Germs and Steel." The lecture was actually based on his more recent book, "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed." National Briefs A Quick LopR~ ''[ " \ AP Photo/David Furst, Pool "^} Fire killsfiveincluding three small children HONESDALE, Pa. (AP) - A fire on Thursday in a house with inoperative smoke alarms killedfivepeople, including three young children, in this quaint village in the Pocono Mountains. Fire officials were called to the home shortly after 6 a.m. and quickly put out the blaze. But when they entered the house, the victims were already dead. "They found one, then another one and then another one until they had a total offive,"Fire Chief Stanton Pratt said. Officials said the batteries in the homes smoke alarms were dead. A state police fire marshal was investigating the cause of the blaze. The victims were two women and the three children, two boys and a girl, officials said. A neighbor said the children ranged in age from 2 to 4. Authorities said the victims likely died of smoke inhalation. No names were released. Floyd Rake said his 22-year-old daughter, Heather, was among those who died. She had been staying with the other woman and the children, he said, but had planned to move in with her fiance this weekend. "She was a very nice kid. She'd do anything for anybody," he said. "I just hope she didn't suffer too bad." Ag Secretary: livestock tracking by year 2009 WASHINGTON (AP) - Authorities trying to limit disease outbreaks will be able to trace livestock movements from birth to slaughter by 2009, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said Thursday. The goal is to pinpoint a single animal's movements among the nations 9 billion cows, pigs and chickens within 48 hours after a disease is discovered. Many livestock producers have been wary of a tracking system, which the government promised to create after the nation's first case of mad cow disease two years ago in Washington state. Johanns pointed out that Australia has gained an edge in Japan and other countries by marketing its livestock tracking system to sell beef. "Traceability is being used as a marketing tool by several countries," Johanns said. Japan banned American beef after the first case of mad cow and blocked shipments again in January when inspectors found prohibited cuts of veal. Japan was a $1.4 billion market for U.S. beef in 2003. For nearly a year, 2009 has been Johanns' goal, but he made it official Thursday. The department has shifted gears on other parts of the animal identification system. Johanns said last May it would be government-run. Now, Johanns is letting industry groups create their own tracking systems, so long as state and federal authorities are able to tap into the systems when needed. The goal is for all ranches, feed lots, sale barns, packing plants and other facilities to be registered, and all recently born animals assigned numbers by 2009, said the department's chief veterinarian, John Clifford. Clifford said about 10 percent of the nation's 2 million premises have registered so far. AWAD AL-BANDAR testifies during his trial held in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, Thursday April 6. Awad al-Bandar, one of Saddam's seven co-defendants who testified last month, was cross-examined for a second time over the 1984 trial of the Shiites before his Revolutionary Court. The former judge who sentenced 148 Shiites to death in the 1980s insisted the suspects confessed and received a fair trial as prosecutors called him back for questioning Thursday over a crucial point in the trial of Saddam Hussein. Hussein-era judge defends '80s Shiite death sentences BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A room. On Wednesday, the former former judge who sentenced 148 president was cross-examined by Shiites to death under Saddam prosecutors for six hours for the Husseins rule in the 1980s told first time in the six-month trial. prosecutors in Saddams trial Prosecutors are seekThursday that the suspects had ing to show that al-Bandar s confessed and received a fair trial Revolutionary Court gave the 148 that lasted 16 days. Shiites only a cursory trial on But Awad al-Bandar acknowl- charges they tried to assassinate Saddam in the town of Dujail edged the defendants had only in 1982 — and that Saddam one defense lawyer, appointed by approved their death sentences his Revolutionary Court. ' even though many had nothing His testimony came as prosto do with the attack. ecutors moved toward wrapping "• "It was a legal and a just up their case against Saddam and seven former members of his court," al-Bandar insisted, saying the defendants had confessed to regime, including al-Bandar. carrying out the assassination A U.S. official close to the court said the judges could deliv- plot "with instructions from the government of Iran to overthrow er a verdict and sentence in June or July. The official spoke to jour- the regime in Iraq." nalists on condition of anonymity He said his court carried out a because he is not authorized to 16-day trial, working from 9 a.m. speak for the Iraqi court. to midnight. Wearing a red checkered tra"I was keen to carry out justice ditional headdress, al-Bandar and I hoped that the defendants stood alone in the defendants' would be found not guilty.... May pen, often appearing nervous God be my witness, it made us and agitated as chief judge Raouf happy whenever a defendant was Abdel-Rahman and prosecutors released." questioned him. Al-Bandar was He acknowledged that none one of seven co-defendants in the of the defendants in the case was case who were cross-examined found innocent. He also said the last month, but he was called 148 suspects had only one courtback for both the defense and assigned lawyer among them. prosecution to present new docu"We appointed a lawyer ments. because no lawyer was hired," Saddam was not in the courthe said. Asked how many law- yers, he said the courts policy was to appoint one lawyer per case regardless of the number of defendants. "All the defendants were present in the court.... They confessed before me and the ruling was issued," al-Bandar said. "If I, as a judge, issue a sentence in accordance with the law, should I be punished?" Saddam and the seven former members of his regime face possible execution by hanging if convicted over the crackdown launched against residents of Dujail after Saddam's motorcade was shot at as it passed through the Shiite town in 1982. Hundreds — including women and children — were imprisoned, some of them saying they were tortured, and 148 Shiites were killed. The defendants have insisted their actions were a legal response to the assassination attempt. But prosecutors have sought to show the sweep went far beyond the actual attackers, including children as young as 11 years old who were killed. Defense lawyers on Thursday presented a series of handwritten documents from 1984 they said were confessions by some of the Shiites, telling their interrogators they plotted to kill Saddam. Court papers indicate Bush and Cheney directed Scooter Libby's leak campaign APPboto/L Scott Applewhite I. LEWIS "SCOOTER" LlBBY, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, walks to the U.S. District Court in Washington, in this Nov. 16,2005 file photo, accompanied by his attorney Theodore V. Wells Jr., at rear. Libby told prosecutors President Bush authorized the leak of sensitive intelligence information to a reporter, according to a new court filing in the CIA leak case. WASHINGTON (AP) —President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney authorized Cheney's top aide to launch a counterattack of leaks against administration critics on Iraq by feeding intelligence information to reporters, according to court papers citing the aides testimony in the CIA leak case. In a court filing, Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald stopped short of accusing Cheney of authorizing his chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, to leak the CIA identity of Valerie Plame. But the prosecutor, detailing the evidence he has gathered, raised the possibility that the vice president was trying to use Plame's CIA employment to discredit her husband, administration critic Joseph Wilson. Cheney, according to an indictment against Libby, knew that Wilsons wife worked at the CIA as early as June 12, 2003, more than a month before that fact turned up in a column by Robert Novak. Fitzgerald quoted Libby as saying he was authorized to tell New York Times reporter Judith Miller that Iraq was "vigorously trying to procure" uranium. Fitzgerald said Libby told him it "was the only time he recalled in his government experience when he disclosed a document to a reporter that was effectively declassified by virtue of the president's authorization that it be disclosed." The process was so secretive that other Cabinet-level officials did not know about it, according to the court papers, which point to Bush and Cheney as setting in motion a leak campaign to the press that ended in Plame's blown cover. In 2003, when the public furor >LEAK See page 12 • LAS VEGAS (AP) - For air travelers flying over southern Nevada this week, the view offers more than miles of dusty desert. A giant, bikiniclad Hollywood star perched on the desert sands isn't a mirage, but a recreation of a Maxim magazine cover. LONGORIA The cover is made of a vinyl-mesh screen and reads, "THE ONLY MAGAZINE BIG ENOUGH TO BE SEEN FROM SPACE - AND ONLY IN VEGAS!" A barely dressed Eva Longoria, star of ABC's "Desperate Housewives," graces the 75-by-110foot display just outside Primm, near the California state line. The cover is part of several days of events celebrating the magazine's 100-issue milestone, including poker and golf tournaments at the Wynn Las Vegas hotel-casino, a Maxim public relations representative said this week. Erika Yowell, a spokeswoman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, told the Las Vegas Sun that her agency is involved with the promotion because the magazine's readers are a good target audience for the city. Maxim is one of the new "lad's magazines" that feature scantily clad, but not nude, young female celebrities. MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) — Alicia Keys has visited a pediatric HIV clinic that she has been supporting through the charitable organization Keep a Child Alive. The 25-year-old singer was also expected to unveil a commemorative plaque, plant a tree and address the local community at the Bomu Medical Clinic on Thursday. Dr. Anderson Kahindi, head of the clinic, said about 400 children are benefiting from the program, which provides free anti-retroviral drugs. He said Keys has been involved since 2004. The clinic is at the Coast Provincial Hospital in Mombasa, about 275 miles southeast of Nairobi. "She learnt about the plight of children from a medical doctor who used to work at the hospital and is now studying in the U.S.," Kahindi said. "After the tour of the hospital she will also visit selected homes of the children who are undergoing treatment to find out how they are responding," he said. Keys didn't speak to journalists. News of her visit spread quickly, and fans struggled to get a glimpse of the singer. LOS ANGELES (AP) - I t was a dream come true for a fan of Motley Crue. For one night, he filled in for injured drummer Tommy Lee. The lucky guy, Harvey Warren, performed with the rock band Wednesday at the Enmax Center in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, Motley Crue's publicist, Dvora Vener Englefield, said in a statement. "After playing multiple shows wearing a brace and taking antiinflammatory injections, Tommy Lee's doctor instructed him to give his injured right-hand wrist a break after his tendinitis made it difficult for him to perform," Englefield said. Late Night MMitlMIlaMments: David Letterman, March 14, 2006 Top Ten Signs The Government Is Running Out Of Money 10. State dinners are at IHOP. 9- Country renamed United States ofDitech.com. 8. Had to fire Lauras sexy Dominican gardner. 7. Witness protection program now issues informants a fake mustache. 6. For ten bucks you can punch Rumsfeld in the stomach. 5. Bush's awkward call to Mrs. Milosevich asking if he's in Slobodans will. 4. The original Constitution is on eBay. 3. N.S.A. can only afford to tap phones during off-peak hours. 2. Price of a stamp is now two grand. 1. Cheney was spotted strolling into a bank carrying his 12-gauge. 4 |