Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / Sept. 30, 2004, edition 1 / Page 12
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Bush and Kerry gain last-minute votes continued from page 1 ing ballot in Oregon, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Florida. Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb spent most of this week on campaign in Wisconsin. Cobb said that he did not blame Green party vot ers for voting for Kerry, but that a vote for independent candidate Ralph Nader was a wasted vote, according to the Associated Press. “If,some people who believe in what I stand for say they are so fearful of four more years of George W. Bush that they have to vote for John Kerry, I’m okay with that,” said Cobb. “Ralph (Nader)’s not building a movement, and he’s not building a party.” Cobb’s vice-presidential candidate, Pat laMarche, is currently campaign ing from homeless shelters in her “Ixft-Out Tour.” LaMarche said that her efforts were aimed at expanding the number of Green Party voters rather than winning the presidency, ac cording to the AP. “Certainly my situation is one where 1 cannot win the election,” said LaMarche. “Getting votes is nowhere near as important as growing the Green Party.” Getting more votes from young people could be more difFicult than LaMarche’s goal. A Harvard Univer sity poll found that 19 percent of vot ers between 18 and 24 years of age changed their minds over a five-month period about their voting preferences. This voting block traditionally does not turn out in great numbers to vote. Out of the 48 million possible voters in 2000, only 18 million turned out to vote, according to the AP. This makes young voters an important vari able in the coming November election. UNCA students had their own opin ions on the effectiveness of appealing to young voters to turn out. “I think that the candidates could increase young voter turnout by talk ing about college tuition, or about dif ferent ways to get people to go to col lege, maybe more scholarships,” said Mary Catharine Mills, undeclared freshman. “I think (‘Rock the Vote’) is a gteat idea for us to see what Demo crats think, and what Republicans think. It should be very interesting.” Other students speculated on why turnout might be low for young vot- “I think (young voters) hear Bush’s message since it is simplistic and repeti tive, but they can’t trust it, so it doesn’t matter,” said Jenna Walley, junior po litical science major. “If you read a lot, you know where Kerry stands on most issues, but he’s had a hard time simpli fying his platform for less interested votets.” Professors also joined the debate on why campaigns in this election are try ing to encourage young constituents to come out and vote. “One thing is very clear about this election. The president is very much a polarizing figure,” said Dr. William Sabo, political science professor. “What that tends to do is evoke a deeper re sponse in the parties, and what that does is bring people marginally inter ested in politics to take the next step, which is action. What the status is on this campus is sort of hard to tell.” BILL SABO POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR MARY CATHARINE MILLS UNDECLARED FRESHMAN Americans charged with prisoner abuse by Rheannon Yokeley Stajf Reporter Afghan judge Abdul Bakhtyati sentenced three Americans to serve jail time for the abuse and totture of Afghani citizens eatlier this year, according to the Associated Press. Officials caught Ameticans Jonathan “Jack” Idema, Brent Bennett and Ed ward Carabello inside a rented house in Kabul, Afghanistan July 5, according to the AP. Government officials raided the hotise to find a private prison holding eight prisoners. The raid occurred af ter several reports of missing people led police to the house. Idema and Bennett are both ex-servicemen for the United States, according to Reuters. Idema served as a Green Beret in the U.S. military. Both Idema and Bennett are from Fayetteville, N.C. The thitd man, Edward Carabello, is a documen tary film-maker from New York. Fie reportedly filmed the abuse to use in a futute documentary on counterterroism. After their In the court room, several pris oners accused the men of burning them with scalding water, depriv ing them of food and sleep and beating them regularly, according to the AP. “The news of another military prison abuse scandal is a terrible blow to Ametica and our efforts in the Middle East,” said Stephen Chalfa, Asheville resident. “In the war against terror, our enemy’s only weapon is the “The news of another military prison abuse scandal is a terrible blow to America and our efforts in the Middle East. In the war against terror, our enemy’s only weapon is the propaganda they use to incite the radical individuals to commit terrorist acts.” Stephen Chalfa Asheville resident capture, Idema claimed to have a special passport issued by an unnamed U.S. agency and a vi.sa for Afghanistan resem bling those given to Special Forces officers, according to the AP. Throughout the trial, Idema claimed to be operating under Af ghan and U.S. approval. U.S. and Afghan governments deny any knowledge of the prison. propaganda they use to incite the radical individu als to commit terrorist acts. By abusing their prisoners of war, we give them a reason to justify their horrible ac tions. “I don’t know whether Idema and his crew were operating under Pentagon support. Having lived at Fort Bragg and know ing that soldiers practically live in fear of their com manding officers, I highly doubt that Idema and the others were some rouge, un supervised group. Even if they were acting without supervision, I still blame the Penta gon for not ful filling its obliga tions in leader ship and over- sight.” During the trial proceedings, Idema refused to swear on the Quran, even though he is a non- Muslim, according to the AP. Idema requested a former prisoner in the courtroom to proclaim him as a Muslim convert. The three men claimed to be operating the private prison as a way to play a part in the war on terror, according to the AP. Detain ees in the prison were mainly long- bearded men whom they suspected to be involved with the al Qaeda terrorist network. Idema and his _______ colleagues did not admit to any tor ture of the prison ers. Instead, they claimed to use in terrogation tech niques to fotce the men to admit himself at the trial, according to the AP. After over seven hours in ses sion, the thtee-judge Afghni panel convicted Jonathan Idema and Brent Bennett of entering Afghani stan illegally, making illegal arrests, establishing a private jail and tor turing the prisoners, according to Reuters. Idema and Bennet each received a 10-year jail sentence. Carabello’s to association with al Qaeda, ac cording to Reuters. The U.S. mili tary stationed in Afghanistan ad mitted taking one prisoner from the private prison and keeping him “I feel that we would all like to agree that our world is governed by a system that recognizes some basic rights for all humans. Illegal detention and torture are contrary to these ideas.” sentence is eight years in jail and Jennifer Attaway senior political science major four Afghani ac complices re ceived a sentence to terms of one to five years each, according to the AP. “I feel that we would all like to agree that our world is gov erned by a sys tem that recog nizes some basic “I highly doubt that Idema and the others were some rouge, unsu pervised group. Even if they were acting without supervision,! still blame die Pentagon for not fulfilling its obligations in leadership....” Stephen Chalfa Asheville resident in custody for two months after the three men turned him over, according to the AP During the trial, there were many instances of poor transla tion and frequent outbursts from Idema, according to Reuters. Proof of evidence pre sented by the three men con sisted mostly of Bible and requested to swear on the videotape recorded by Carabello. Lawyer John Tiffany repre sented Idema and Carabello in the case. Bennett chose to reptesent rights for all humans. Illegal deten tion and torture are contrary to these ideas. If this is what truly hap pened in Kabul, then the guilty men should be held accountable for their actions,” said Jennifer Attaway, senior political science major. Idema and Carabello plan to ap peal the court’s decision, according to the AP. Bennett has not said whether or not he will appeal the decision. “I think the people of our coun try who have done such terrible things to Afghanis should be pun ished to the fullest extent of the law,” said Jennifer Pace, UNCA graduate. “Their actions are mor ally and ethically wrong no matter what the circumstances.” The three men were sent to an Afghani prison to begin their sen tence. Weekly Forecast: Sept. 30 - Oct. 6 Today: partly cloudy, high 75, low 54. ■A Friday: partly cloudy, high 76, low 58, evening rain showers A Monday: clear, high 70 Saturday: daytime rain showers, high 77, low 54 Tuesday: partly cloudy, high 68, low 48 Sunday: Mostly Cloudy, high 70, low 47 Z Wednesday: clear, high 68 COURTESY OF JEFF COX. SENIOR ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE MAJOR ILLUSTRATIONS BY SEAN ROBINSON Russia continued from page j I Even students who consider themselves aware of current events say that this event took a backseat to coverage of the presidential elec- tion campaign that has been dominating the media. “I feel pretty well-informed most of the time, but I hadn’t heard of this,” said Will iam Byers, unde clared freshman. Chechen rebels, possibly aided by al Qaeda in their quest for freedom from Russian rule, mur dered over 200 people, including dozens of children. The Chechen rebels, who took close to 1,500 people hostage within the walls of the school, be gan shooting hostages after an ex plosion inside the school set off a panic of gunfire from the armed civilians gathered outside the school, according to Ruslan Aushev in the Novaya Gazeta. Aushev, a former president of the neighboring Russian region of Ingushetia, said he previously helped secure the release of 26 hos tages the day before and called the civilian gunmen an “idiotic third force.” Aushev told the BBC he believes many of those civilians, who inte grated themselves with the Russian military officials, were fathers of some of the hostages inside the school. One terrorist accidentally trig gered a blast inside the school that caused civilian gunmen to open fire, according to the surviving hostages, and the Russian government in no way authorized the response by the armed gunmen. In actuality, the government planned no raid for that day. When the shooting began, offi cials on the scene tried frantically to convince the hostage takers that the security forces attempting to continue negotiations were not the ones firing on the school. The pleas were to no avail. “The official (security) forces were not shooting, the captors were not shooting and we were yelliu,| at each other, ‘Who’s doing the shooting?”’ said Aushev. “Then those in the “I think it’s a shame that our freedom of speech is so easily presumed... it’s not so much that you don’t have the right to say something, hut it’s more like when you do say something, no one’s going to listen.” in school said, ‘Right, that’s it’ it’s time to let oil the bombs.’The; thought theyf were beingl stormed! It wasl Cyrus Atkins undeclared junior r only then the ot' der to stotm the building wjs| given.” Survivor of the turmoil Alli| Gadieyeva, 24 described the scene within the school as hellish, telling of the ut ter contempt of the terrorists to ward the hostages, the breathtaking fear of those in captivity and the horrid conditions under whicl these hostages were detained. ^ “We were in complete fear,” said Gadieyeva. “People were praying al eis; the time and those that didn’t kno men man 51s; gdid lOUj isic id ayce se a i In I kil ,“"|ik. I how to pray we taught them.” On the first day of the conflia, attackers gave no food to the hos- tages, but they allotted a bit of wa ter to the prisoners, according to Gadieyeva. The second day, no food or wa ter was given to the hostages, and when she asked her captors to givt her mother some water, the terror ists laughed. “My mother was terrified, and! thought she was having a heart at tack. When I saw my mother go unconscious, so tired, so thirsty, I wanted it all to come to an end,’ said Gadieyeva. Under such harsh conditions the| children inside, already racked witki fear, began to faint from sleep, food, and water deprivation, according to Gadieyeva. That’s when she says adults in the, school urged the children to urinate in order for them to have somethingl to drink. “They’re not human beings, Gadieyeva said of the Chechen ter rorists. “What they did to us, I can! understand.” In all, casualties of the incursion totaled over 200 people, while the attacked injured 700 or so others, some very seriously nr tei ire t( C The of :ift Qiba Bets continued from pagt\ he growth of Cuba,” said Oscar Sanchez, junior psychology major. “If you are able to hold someone back from economic growth, they will be submissive and in a bad situ ation. How can a country full of people who are highly educated and highly functional be so poor? Part of it is because of the embargo that does not allow Cubans to make business or afford investors to come to Cuba. It has so much to offer to the world: tourism, exportation and importation, and, yet, they are not able to do it.” Cuban Americans find it diffi cult to visit family or even send items through the mail to Cuba. The tightening of the embargo cut them off from a lot of the contact they once possessed. My perspective, as a teacher and as someone with close friends and colleagues in Cuba and from Cuba, is one of pretty high frustration,” said Trautmann. “The whole thing is pretty sickening. A good friend of mine from Cuba who lives here worked to send money to his fam ily but he can’t even send it from Asheville. He has to drive to Char lotte or Spartanburg to find a bank that will send it. I, personally, am not affected by the embargo except in political and emotional ways.” Throughout history communist leaders became dictators after re ceiving power. Castro continued this trend, but it is hard for some to see him as completely bad or good. ure or rebel, he created this thing,’ said Sanchez. “He started the tevo- lution with the hope of a bettet fc ture for the Cuban citizens. But jusi like it’s happened in communisij history, he did not demonstrate his| own values. I am not against Fidell Castro, but, at the same time, I question his methods. I don’t see him as the devil portrayed in the propaganda of the West, but hes not a savior or angel either.” Despite how many decades ago the embargo began, Castro contin ues to hold his power. Not all ptol>' lems in Cuba are due to the em bargo, but he blames it all on the U.S. “I think that the embargo does provide Fidel Castro with mote op portunity for his stability tathei than his instability,” said Trautmann. “I also think he is tte- mendously astute. He turns it to his favor. Any tightening of the em bargo offers Castro the opportunity to point the finger at the big en emy and say every single social, eco nomic and political problem 1® Cuba is because of this U.S. em bargo, and that’s not true either. Sanchez believes that it is roon the embargo than Castro that holth back Cuba’s advancement. He fed* that, without the embargo, Cuba can grow with all the other coun tries, even with Castro’s ruling- “They always blame Castro if the oppression, but I believe n® more of the economic blockage that has stopped Cuba from growing" said Sanchez. )t t: IS, re ef )ic vei It. er, 'eri de na est i$5 let
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