VOLUME 111, ISSUE 21
U.S. SLOWS PUSH TO BAGHDAD
RECENT WAR
DEVELOPMENTS
U.S. PLANES BOMB
BAGHDAD TARGETS
BAGHDAD, Iraq —U.S.
warplanes, including a mas
sive armada of long-range
bombers, pounded leader
ship positions in Baghdad,
and missiles ignited a fire
that raged before dawn
Monday at the Iraqi
Information Ministry.
The blaze, yards away
from a shopping mall named
for Saddam Hussein's birth
day, was put out after about
30 minutes.
The attacks targeted
leadership and command
and control centers in
Baghdad and were carried
out simultaneously by multi
ple B-1.8-2 and B-52
bombers, the U.S. Central
Command said. The com
mand said it was the first
time in history that the long
range strike aircraft targeted
the same geographical area
- at the same time.
TROOPS MIGHT FIGHT
IN SHIITE HOLY CITY
NEAR NAJAF, Iraq —The
101 st Airborne Division encir
cled the Shiite holy city of
Najaf on Sunday, preparing
for a possible door-to-door
battle to root out Saddam
Hussein's fighters, but leery
of damaging some of the
faith's most sacred shrines.
To the north, Army
brigades crept closer to
Baghdad, advancing 10
miles with little resistance,
though battles with the
Republican Guard loomed.
To the south, Marines
launched "search-and
destroy" missions to clear
the road to Baghdad of Iraqi
attackers.
But it was at Najaf a city
of 300,000,100 miles south
of Baghdad, that U.S. mili
tary leaders were faced with
a difficult decision.
It was unclear whether
the U.S. strategy is to take
Najaf or simply to cordon off
the city. There are too many
Iraqi fighters to bypass them
or leave them unattended;
they're a danger to supply
lines on the way to Baghdad.
3 N.C.-BASED MARINES
CONFIRMED DEAD
RALEIGH Three North
Carolina-based Marines
missing in Iraq were con
firmed dead, family mem
bers and the Defense
Department said Sunday.
The U.S. military said it
had changed the status of
Lance Cpl. Thomas A. Blair of
Wagoner, Okla., and Lance
Cpl. Michael J. Williams, of
Yuma, Ariz., to killed in
action.
They were two of eight
Marines missing since a
March 23 battle near the
southern Iraqi city of
Nasiriyah.
A third Marine, Lance
Cpl. Patrick Nixon of St.
Louis, Mo., also was killed,
his father said.
FRANKS: MORE TROOPS
WERE NOT REQUESTED
CAMP AS SAYLIYAH,
Qatar —The commander of
the U.S. war in Iraq denied
Sunday that he had asked the
Pentagon for more troops
before launching the invasion
but sidestepped a question
about whether the war might
last into the summer.
Gen. Tommy Franks,
speaking at a daily briefing
of the U.S. Central Command
in Qatar, was responding to
published reports that the
requests of U.S. generals for
more ground troops were
repeatedly denied by
Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld. Reports also quot
ed U.S. military officials as
saying the lack of troops and
weapons meant the war
might last into the summer.
-Compiledfrom The
Associated Press
COALITION AIRSTRIKES INCREASE AS GROUND
FORCES ENCIRCLE HUSSEIN’S STRONGHOLD
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Allied soldiers inched toward Baghdad on Sunday
and pressed their campaign against southern defens
es of Saddam Hussein loyalists, trying at every turn
to gain trust from Iraqi citizens and stay safe from
those who may be combatants in disguise.
The military campaign has increasingly become a
confidence-building one, too, and not only in Iraq.
INSIDE
U.S. forces to
use airstrikes
before starting
ground invasion
PAGE 7
said Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff.
U.S. and British allies reported increased contacts
with ordinary Iraqis on many fronts Sunday, a devel
opment measured like the march toward Baghdad
in wary steps. The reason for the caution was clear:
persistent danger from plainclothes killers and warn
ings from Iraqi officials that there will be more sui
cide attacks like the one that took the lives of four
S||
DTH FILE PHOTO/BRIAN CASSELLA
UNC basketball coach Matt Doherty still is being evaluated by the Department of Athletics and University officials.
TEAM AWAITS ANSWERS
TO DOHERTY QUESTION
BY AARON Fin
SPORTS EDITOR
As speculation mounts about the
future of North Carolina men’s bas
ketball coach Matt Doherty, players
and University officials are hoping
for a quick resolution but seem
resigned to play the waiting game.
Almost as soon as UNC’s season
ended Wednesday with an NIT loss
to Georgetown, the rumor mill start
ed churning furiously, and the
Department of Athletics began the
process of determining whether
Oil plays limited role in conflict
BY GILLIAN BOLSOVER
STAFF WRITER
The topic of oil has permeat
ed recent discussion of the U.S.-
led attack on Iraq, but experts
say oil only plays a limited role
in the conflict.
The Iraqi government con
trols the second-largest volume
of oil reserves in the world.
Before the war, the United
States was the largest importer
INSIDE
AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE
Rock band R.E.M. announces tour
stop in Smith Center. PAGE 4
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
(Tar Mnl
U.S. war leaders, deployed on the
Sunday airwaves, defended their
strategy as a sound one and cast
the painstaking pace of recent
days as a virtue.
“We have the power to be
patient in this, and we’re not going
to do anything before we’re ready,”
of Iraqi oil.
“(Oil) is important, especial
ly for the United States,
because they like to have access
to oil reserves,” said Abbas
Alnasrawi, professor of eco
nomics at the University of
Vermont and author of several
books on Arabian oil.
But Alnasrawi downplayed
the role of oil in the U.S. deci
sion to attack Iraq.
E,\ !
www.dailytarheel.com
Americans in Najaf. Iraqis said some 4,000 Arabs
have come to Iraq to help attack the invaders.
The Army’s 101st Airborne Division surrounded
Najaf on Sunday and was in position to begin rooting
out the paramilitary forces inside the city, said
Command Sgt. Maj. Marvin Hill.
In An Nasiriyah, where fighting has been fierce for
a week, Marines secured buildings held by an Iraqi
infantry division that contained large caches of
weapons and chemical decontamination equipment.
A Marine UH-1 Huey helicopter crashed Sunday
night at a forward supply and refueling point in
southern Iraq, said spokesman Ist Lt. John Niemann
in Kuwait. Three people aboard were killed and one
was injured in the crash that occurred while the hel
icopter was taking off.
Questions about the war’s pace grew in Washington,
D.C. Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia
said that the U.S.-led invasion is clearly facing more
Iraqi resistance than anticipated and that the war plan
will probably have to be adjusted to deal with that.
“I consider them not to be trivial setbacks,” he said
on CNN’s “Late Edition,” but rather “in the category of
SEE WAR, PAGE 4
Doherty will be retained next season.
The two issues at hand: his coaching
ability and his relationship with play
ers.
Chancellor James Moeser report
edly entrusted the decision to Director
of Athletics Dick Baddour, w'ho has
yet to reach a verdict.
Baddour met with all the players
Thursday. Freshman Sean May said
the players discussed their summer
plans with Baddour, and others con
firmed the meetings low-key tone.
“We just discussed the season,”
“Oil is extremely important,
but I would not say it is the only
reason,” he said.
Jerry Taylor, director of nat
ural resources at the Cato
Institute, a nonprofit public
policy research foundation,
said it was Iraq’s use of oil rev
enues not oil fields that
prompted Bush to attack Iraq.
SEE OIL, PAGE 4
INSIDE
BACK TO SCHOOL
Area residents participate in UNC's
Great Decisions lecture. PAGE 3
said forward Jawad Williams.
Then, on Thursday and Friday,
players met with Baddour individu
ally, some meetings lasting more
than an hour, according to a
(Raleigh) News & Observer report.
Most of the players have support
ed Doherty publicly, although some
have been less vocal in their support
than others.
“It’s no big deal,” Williams said
Sunday of the meetings with Baddour.
SEE DOHERTY, PAGE 4
v||
SOURCE: HTTP://WWW OTT.DOE.GOV
1
SPORTS
HEARTBREAK
Tar Heels fall in overtime to No. 1 -
ranked Johns Hopkins. PAGE 12
S War in Numbers
>tal U.S. deaths: 37
aasa I
lion forces continued to
sir presence in northern
sh forces have engaged
nishes with Iraqi forces.
ou nines ui oagnoao w. w Basra , Coaiition k^es
but have largely stopped % i av ® re P orte 4 that
their advance while air strikes i they have taken
soften up the Iraq military forces 1 c ° m P' ete cor ®oj of
around the capital. Minor battles . n T*
havecontinued between U.S.forces - 9 i' ng ha i contmued ,
and small groups of Iraqi soldiers. K UWAITV ne .? r ** S0U j ?? ° f
Basara, and U.S. forces
have captured several high-ranking Iraqi
military officers in the city.
■lran Arm U Sites of Reported path
Iraq Army bombings of coalition forces
SOURCE: DTH RESEARCH Or battles thIJS far ' DTH/STAFF
Tepper selects
officers for his
administration
BY CAROLINE KORNEGAY
STAFF WRITER
Student Body President-elect
Matt Tepper made his final deci
sions for his officers late
Saturday.
Junior Rebekah Burford was
chosen as student body vice
president, junior Frances Ferris
was selected for student body
secretary, sophomore Alexa
Kleysteuber will serve as student
body treasurer, and junior Alexi
Nunn was chosen for the senior
adviser position.
Junior Ben Adams, who also
served as Tepper’s campaign
manager, was selected as chief of
stafflast week.
“I feel very qualified for the
position and very confident it
University senior
charged with rape
BY MEGAN DAVIS
STAFF WRITER
. University police arrested sen
ior Robert Allen Harris, 22, early
Friday morning and charged
him with
felonies and
misde
meanors
including sec
ond-degree
rape, first
degree bur
glary and
assault on a
female,
according to
police reports.
Robert Allen
Harris
The acts allegedly were com
mitted against a female UNC
student who is an acquaintance
of Harris, reports state.
Police responded at 4:10 a.m.
to a 911 call after someone
entered the victims unlocked
Top 10 Sources of Imported U.S.
Oil*
1. Canada (21.33%) 6. Iraq (5.91 %)
Saudi Arabia (16.94%) 7. United Kingdom (5.19%)
1 3. Mexico (16.89%) 8. Norway (4.58%)
4. Venezuela (15.59%) 9, Angola (3.66%)
15. Nigeria (6.75%) HlO. Algeria (3.17%)
*The top 10 sources represent 79% of the oil imported to the U.S.
Figures represent 2002 data.
DTH/JOSHUA STALFORD
WEATHER sr.
TODAY Mostly Sunny, High 53, Low 32
TUESDAY Partly Cloudy, High 66, Low 46
WEDNESDAT Sunny, High 75, Low 47
MONDAY, MARCH 81, 2003
will be valued,” Burford said.
This year, Burford served as
Student Body President Jen
Daum’s chief of staff.
Some of Burford s first prior
ities as vice president will be to
fill all external appointments,
start the application process for
her Cabinet positions and build
her relationship with Student
Congress.
Ferris said she is looking for
ward to the team effort of all the
new appointees. “I’m pretty
excited,” she said.
Adams said he is excited to
start working on Tepper’s plat
form ideas.
“I'd like to especially get start-
SEE OFFICERS. PAGE 4
South Campus residence hall
room and assaulted her, reports
state. Upon arrival, police noted
that the victim had visible
injuries consisting of bruises and
scratches, and she was trans
ported to UNC Hospitals, said
University police Maj. Jeff
McCracken.
A warrant was issued against
Harris, and he was arrested and
detained at Orange County' Jail
under a SIO,OOO secured bond
shortly after.
Harris could not be reached
for comment Sunday.
Harris, who lives in
Morrison South Residence
Hall, made his first pretrial
court appearance Friday in
Orange County District Court
in Hillsborough. His bond was
modified by the judge after a
SEE ARREST. PAGE 4