Remodeling of
Williams Hall
page 4
Music & Play
Reviews
page 5
CIAA
Updates
page 6
J
The Goodie
Bag
%
page 7
Vol. 68, No. 2
Circulation 2,200
Elizabeth City, NC
April 7, 2003
%
THE COMPASS
‘ECizaSetfi City State ‘University’s award-iiHnning student nezi^spaper
J
BEING IN THE MIDST OF WAR
ECSU STUDENTS CALLED FOR DEPLOYMENT
Susan Correll-Hankinson
Three Elizabeth City State Uni
versity students have been called to
active duty and others have been
activated or notified of the possibility
of deployment because of the im
pending war with Iraq.
Vivian Key, the university regis
trar, identified two students as Debra
Vines and Steven Wilson.
“Debra Vines was sent to Vir
ginia for basic training after 2 weeks
into this semester. Steven Wilson left
ECSU at the end of the fall semester,
said Ms. Key.
She did not know Wilson was
stationed.
A student who knows Debra
Vines said that Vines was serving in
Turkey, but due to recent develop
ments, has been reassigned.
Cadet Dionne Blakley, a member
of the Elizabeth City State University
Reserve Officer Training Corp has
been identified by Major Yancy D.
Edmonds, Recruiting Officer for the
ROTC unit on campus, as another
student called into active duty.
“Several students have received
notice of activation,” said Major
Edmonds. This means that they are
put on alert and can be called into
active duty at any time.
Pernell Bartlett, administrative
assistant in the Language, Literature
and Communications has 24 years of
military experience. Bartlett served as
a Master Sergeant in the Air Force.
“The students called into active
duty are the privileged few because
they get the opportunity to study
democracy and defend it,” said Mr.
Bartlett.
Deborah Branch, Director of the
Counseling and Testing Center, was
concerned about the possible with
drawal of students from the university
because of the impending war.
“I contacted the ROTC office and
the registrar early in the year about
possible withdrawals and was told
there were only a few students that
had been called,” she said.
Branch stressed the importance
of the student’s need to officially
withdraw from classes. “Otherwise
they will go on record as failing their
classes,” she said.
According to an informal survey
of 100 ECSU students, approximately
90 percent showed little interest in
the war.
“They won’t until they hear the
word ‘draft.’ Then the enrollment in
the program will increase consider
ably,” Major Edmonds said.
U.S. officials estimated that
230,000 American soldiers were now
committed to the Persian Gulf region.
With more troops deployed the week
of March 3, numbers are rapidly
approaching 300,000.
Since late August, half of the 70
ships based in Norfolk, VA, the
world’s largest navy base, have been
deployed, carrying 27,000 sailors and
I
Pictures compiled by Golar Newby from Jassim Mohammed, Simon Walker, Thorne Anderson
12,000 marines. These numbers
come close to equaling the total
population of Pasquotank County.
The Associated Press reported
that three amphibious ships left
Norfolk on March 4, carrying 2,000
sailors and then headed to Morehead
City, N.C. to pick up 2,200 Marines
based at Camp Lejuene. Navy Offi
cials declined to say where the ships
were headed. Capt. John W.
Snedeker, Jr., commander of the
amphibious assault ship USS Iwo
Jima, told his crew to be prepared to
be gone for a long time, indicating
they were headed to the Middle East.
With 2,078 registered students at
ECSU the student body could, refer
ring to numbers only, man one of
these amphibious ships.
The United States has five air
craft carriers positioned in the Gulf
region, two within striking distance of
Iraq. A sixth carrier, the USS Nimitz,
was deployed Monday from San
Diego, CA and is on its way to the
Arabian Sea. Typically each carrier is
surrounded by a battle group consist
ing of at least two carriers, a de
stroyer and a submarine. These
battle groups can have crews of up to
8,000.
It is not certain if the latest de
ployment will be sent to Turkey or
Kuwait. This is because of the recent
decision by Turkey’s Parliament not
to allow American troops to use
Turkey as a base for its northern
invasion of Iraq.
The invasion of Iraq is on hold
for now, but Secretary of State Colin
Powell said again that Saddam
Hussein “must be disarmed...and he
Continued on page 2
PREPARED FOR THE IRAQI BATTLE
Susan Correll-Hankinson
The White House on March 25
revealed its expectations about the
scale and length of the war Iraq when
President Bush formally sent Con
gress a package requesting $74.7
billion to pay for the war and other
counter-terrorism activities.
The $62.6 billion for the defense
department covers anticipated ex
penses for the next six months of
America’s involvement in Iraq. This
includes “a conflict, a period of stabi
lization in Iraq and the phased with
drawal of a large number of American
forces,” said the official.
Democrats on the House Appro
priations Committee anticipate that
the final cost of the war could be
twice the amount mentioned on
March 25. Pentagon officials did not
deny that there would be more re
quests made for resources to fund
this war.
The spending request is ex
pected to move through Congress
easily.
“We need to make certain that
our men and women in uniform have
the resources necessary to get the
job done in Iraq,” said House
Speaker J. Dennis Hastert.
President Bush also has made
efforts today to quell the American
public’s anticipation of an early,
relatively easy victory over Iraqi
resistance.
“It is evident that it’s going to
take a while to achieve our objec
tive,” the President said. “I can as
sure the American people we’re
making progress and I can also
assure them that this is just the
beginning of a tough fight.”
A March New York Times/CBS
News poll reported that 63 percent of
Americans interviewed last week said
that they thought the war would end
quickly. This is a result of America’s
rising expectations as they watch,
read and listen to accounts of coali
tion bombs and missiles striking their
targets and as journalists accompa
nying American tanks as they race
across the Iraqi desert.
At a news conference for the first
time Gen. Tommy Franks, Com
mander of Central Command located
in Doha, Qatar, offered a different
view of how long the war might be.
“There will be tough days
ahead,” he said.
Defense Secretary Donald H.
Rumsfeld, acknowledging that the
fighting would intensify, said that the
United States could be engaged in a
difficult form of urban warfare.
“The one thing I’d say is that
there have to be tough days ahead.
Wars are unpredictable. There are
still a large number of the difficulties
and things that can go wrong that are
still ahead of us. The young men and
women that are out there are doing a
superb job,” he said.
On March 23, American forces
began battling for the “Red Zone,” a
one hundred mile area surrounding
Baghdad that is defended by the Iraqi
Continued on page 2