fr The Behrend Be aeon \ February 7,2003 81 q 14 Pages Vo' L *'.4 '/Vnh Sf.fr-.- ■■ : "" No. 11 Powell unveils eviden Drawing on a high-tech collection of spy satellite imagery and intercepted conversations, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell charged Wednesday that Saddam Hussein has devised elaborate schemes to conceal weapons of mass destruction and warned that the time for international action to disarm Iraq is drawing closer. “Clearly, Saddam will stop at nothing until something stops him,” Powell said. The Secretary of State’s methodical and measured presentation nudges the 12-year saga of disarming Iraq closer to a denouement, with new urgency attached to the weekend visit to Baghdad of the top two weapons inspectors and their next report to the Security Council on Feb. 14. Powell’s presentation included purported evidence showing that Iraq still has active programs in all four categories of proscribed weapons of mass destruction: nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and long-range ballistic missiles. Most of the case is based on intelligence garnered shortly before or since the return of weapons inspectors Nov. 27, with other PHOTO BY ERIN McCARTY / BEHREND BEACON Students watch a memorial slide show in Bruno’s Tuesday featuring photographs from the Challenger and Co lumbia missions and music from the film ‘Titanic.” by Erin McCarty news editor On Jan. 28, 1986, millions watched in horror as the Challenger went up in smoke just minutes after launch, killing its seven occupants. On Saturday, shock and sadness swept the world once more as the Columbia exploded just minutes from landing, again with seven astronauts aboard, including one from Israel and one from India. As the public recovers from this tragedy, NASA must try to find out what went wrong on the shuttle, an investigation that is likely to last more than a year. Although initial speculation has pointed to damaged tiles on the outside of the Columbia, many possibilities exist. ‘There are a lot of things that could have happened,” said Gary Walker, computer science lecturer at Behrend and former supervisor and manager CEO and Dean candidates BEACON CEO candidate Dr. Allan Hoffman speaks at an open forum Monday. NEWS 1-3 HUMOR 6 NATL CAMPUS NEWS 4 FEATURES 7 EDITORIAL 5 CALENDAR 8 by Robin Wright Los Angeles Times aster may lead to changes in ogra Behrend ofessors The search for a new CEO and Dean is nearing its conclusion. Two of the three final candidates visited Behrend this week, speaking with administrators, faculty, staff, and students. Both addressed the general Behrend community during open forums on Monday and Thursday. Dr. Allan Michael Hoffman, the first candidate, currently serves as Dean of the College of Health Sciences at Des Moines University. His background is predominantly in the area of health care, and he has worked in this field as an material from the late 19905, when the previous U.N. teams were forced to leave Baghdad. The accumulated effect, Powell said, provides strong proof that Saddam is engaged in an “active and systematic” scheme to prevent U.N. teams from finding key material and specialists in direct violation of Resolution 1441, which calls false statements, omissions and failure to cooperate with inspectors a material breach. By this standard, he said, Iraq is now undeniably in further material breach, a possible trigger for military action. “Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction; he’s determined to make more,” Powell told the Security Council. “Indeed, by its failure to seize on its one last opportunity to come clean and disarm, Iraq has put itself in deeper material breach and closer to the day when it will face serious consequences for its continued defiance of the council.” During the presentation, Iraq’s U.N. ambassador, Mohammed Douri, smiled as he listened to one of the at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “The sensors probably picked up on a problem one to two minutes before the breakup. That’s valuable data.” “The detective work is probably proceeding a little faster than in 1986,” said Dr. Darren Williams, assistant professor of astronomy and physics at Behrend. “The risks were similar. The only way to make it safer is to abandon the shuttle fleet and develop new shuttles.” This is an option many people hope NASA will consider as it contemplates what might have gone wrong. “This will force people to re evaluate how we transport people and supplies,” said Dr. Roger Knacke, astronomy and physics professor and director of Behrend’s School of Science. “These are old aircraft now. Is everything being done to fix them?” When Williams prepared the slide show of photographs from the shuttle missions that was presented in Bruno’s by Erin McCarty news editor POWELI Secretary of State Colin Powell makes the case for war against Iraq during a U.N. meet continued on page 3 ing Wednesday. on Tuesday, he found the soundtrack of “Titanic” especially fitting to accompany it, “If you compare the Titanic to the Columbia, we haven’t learned a whole lot,” Williams said. “The Titanic was a disaster because there weren’t enough lifeboats. We launch a shuttle with enormous risk with no ‘lifeboats.’ Having escape pods, like what you see on ‘Star Wars,’ is expensive, but it is not impossible.” “I would hope they would say we need to redesign the shuttles with new equipment,” said Walker. He recalled going in a shuttle simulator once and being “amazed at how Spartan the inside was,” with very little room to move around. He said that the inside of a car seemed safer. In addition to causing a change in the shuttles used for manned flight, this disaster may also change the way some COLUMBIA visit Behrend administrator and educator at several different institutions, including California State University, University ofLa Verne, and State University of New York at Buffalo. Hoffman conducted his forum primarily as a dialogue with a brief introduction and conclusion. During the question and answer portion of the forum, he discussed his views on topics ranging from curriculum internationalization and college child care to the balances between preservation and growth and between CEO inued on page 3 A&E 9-10 HEALTHY LIVING 11 SPORTS 12-14 continued on page 3 NEWSROOM: 898-6488 FAX: 898-6019 Former Beaconian in Afghanistan ponders uture by Rebecca Weindorf managing editor Although developing tensions between the United States and Iraq have spurred the military to call up several Behrend students to military duty, one student already has been overseas - and might be asked to stay. Last semester the Beacon ran a story about Jeffrey Miller, a Behrend student and former managing editor of the Beacon, who has been completing military duty overseas at the Bagram camp in Afghanistan for nearly six months. In light of the new developments in both Iraq and North Korea, the Beacon had a chance to catch up with Miller via email correspondence. Before the New Year, Miller’s time on the Internet was limited at the Bagram camp. A couple changes enabled the Beacon to conduct an interview with Miller himself. “We got the Internet on our work computers so we don’t have a time limit on those,” Miller said in an email dated January 29. “...Just our company [shares the computers], which is about 50 people.” Call it luck or call it destiny, Miller’s platoon (the first of three within his company) still has a chance of coming back to the States on March l. “I’m looking forward to coming home," Miller said. “[Our] platoon is here in Bagram, another is in Uzbekistan, Behrend student Jeff Miller has been stationed in Afghanistan for the past six months. E-MAIL: behrcolls@aol.com inst Hussei and the third is still at Fort Lewis, Washington. They have just been told that they are going to Kuwait or somewhere in the Middle East...[but] we started packing up our stuff and our plane is scheduled to leave March I.” Miller was careful to point out that these “planned” events are never set in stone. “All things change,” Miller said. "I have my doubts about coming home. [Our platoon) might be stuck at Fort Lewis for a year or go to Kuwait after three months. Nothing is for sure yet but I hope I’ll be back in Erie by May.” Miller did admit there’s a chance of being sent to Kuwait or elsewhere in the Middle East. “We do talk about Iraq a lot since most of us haven’t seen home in six months and we worry about being sent somewhere else,” he said in a Jan. 30 email. Since last semester, Miller had to find a way to enjoy the holidays away from family and friends in the States. “Our holidays were kind of sad and lonely,” he said. “We had no friends or family, just each other. We had the day off from work and just sat in our tents on our cots and opened the presents that were sent to us. Myself and a few of my buddies played Uno and joked around with each other [and] made the best of our time.” MILLER continued on page 2 Offices are located downstairs in the Reed Union Building
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