Taliban may poison food and
blame it on U.S., officials
say
By Jonathan S. Landay and Barry
Shlachter
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON (KRT)
Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia
might be preparing to poison hu
manitarian food supplies and blame
the United States, the Pentagon said
Wednesday.
"We are going to make sure that this
is as widely known as fast and as far as
we can," said Rear Adm. John D.
Stufflebeem, the deputy director of op
erations on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He
indicated that U.S. aircraft may drop
leaflets and broadcast radio messages
warning Afghan civilians against ac
cepting food from the Taliban.
Stufflebeem’s allegations repre
sented an unusual disclosure of top
secret intelligence and underscored
the Pentagon's sensitivity to what it
says are efforts by the Taliban to use
deception to weaken global support
for the U.S. bombing campaign.
There was no way to confirm his al
legations independently.
"The United States has obtained
information that the Taliban might
intend to poison humanitarian food
stuffs," he said at a news conference,
giving no details. "There are reports
that the Taliban might poison the
food and try to blame the United
States."
There is "no truth that we would
poison" the food, Stufflebeem said.
The United States is the largest
provider of humanitarian assistance
to the estimated 6 million people be
lieved to be facing starvation and ex
posure in Afghanistan this winter.
The United States has been pursu
ing a major information warfare op
eration as part of its offensive against
the Taliban and Osama bin Laden.
The U.S. government accuses bin
Laden of engineering the Sept. 11 ter
rorist attacks.
Gen. Tommy Franks, the com
mander in chief of Central Com
mand, also accused the Taliban of ex
aggerating civilian casualties and
hampering American efforts to pro
vide aid in Afghanistan.
As commander of the Tampa, Fla.
based Central Command, Franks
holds the same position as Gen. Nor
Redistricting
continued from pagel
munity, it’s different.”
The three redistricting plans
have been color coded as '‘Indigo,”
“Violet'- and “Green.” and they
would impact all eight of the cur
rent wards.
Westmoreland residents, who are
a part of Ward 1 under existing
boundaries, would switch to Ward
3 under the “Green” scenario. This
option would move Ward 3 to the
east, with Chambers Street as its
eastern boundary.
Councilors kept the “Green” sce
nario at the end of their Wednesday
work session after Councilor Gary
Rayor, who was originally opposed
to keeping the plan, changed his
vote.
Councilors Nancy Nathanson
and Gary Pape supported the
“Green” option because they
wished to keep the Bethel commu
nity together.
“I don’t think Bethel should be
divided into 3 (wards),” said Pape.
Each of the redistricting plans is
designed to have equal populations
within a range of 5 percent, at an
average of 17,237 people per ward.
The U.S. Census lists the popula
tion for Eugene in 2000 at 137,893.
The “Violet” scenario moves
Wards 1 and 2 to the north. The “In
digo" scenario follows neighbor
hood association boundaries,
which some residents spoke in fa
vor of at a Monday night public
hearing.
“Laurel Hill fits in much better
with the University area.” said
Tom Slocum, who was in favor of
“Indigo.”
While the “Indigo” scenario in
corporates current neighborhood
associations, it does not address
the fact that two associations in
West Eugene are combining into
one.
“Jefferson and Westside are unit
ing, and all of these (plans) divide
that,” said Scott Meisner, the coun
cilor for Ward 7.
The Eugene City Council will
review the three scenarios on Nov.
14 and plans to decide on the final
option Nov. 26. New ward bound
aries have to be in place by the
end of December as required by
federal law.
Sue Ryan is a community reporter for the
Oregon Daily Emerald. She can be reached at
sueryan@dailyemerald.com.
Mascot
continued from page 1
Puddles, a live white duck, ap
peared at sporting events, former
Athletic Director Leo Harris made
an agreement with Walt Disney to
have Donald Duck be the Univer
sity’s official mascot, Richard
said.
After Disney’s death, the Disney
Corporation demanded to see the
contract between Harris and Dis
ney in order to continue letting the
University' use the Donald Duck
image, Richard said. As the Uni
versity archivist at the time,
Richard was put in charge of find
ing the contract. He was not able to
come up with a written agreement,
but instead found a photograph of
Disney, wearing a University let
terman jacket, and Harris shaking
hands.
“The only proof of the contract
was that photo,” Richard said.
The photo was enough, and to
this day the University is the only
organization of any kind to use
Disney artwork without a fee, ac
cording to The Register-Guard’s
1978 article.
The only other obstacle to Don
ald Duck’s reign as mascot oc
curred in 1978. Steve Sandstrom,
an Oregon Daily Emerald staff
member, created Mallard Drake
hoping Mallard would become
the new mascot. According to an
issue of the Emerald published at
the time of the elections, Sand
strom and the student group
“Committee to Appoint Mallard
Drake as University Duck” be
lieved Donald Duck was too well
associated with Disney and want
ed something more specific to the
University. However, efforts from
an opposing student group, the
“Retain Class in Your Bird Com
mittee,” ensured that students
voted to keep the Disney charac
ter as the mascot.
Students today continue to sup
port the duck.
“How many universities can say
that their mascot can be found nat
urally on their campus?” sopho
more theater arts major Martha
Mosqueda said.
Helen Schumacher is a freelance reporter for
the Oregon Daily Emerald.
man Schwartzkopf did during the
Persian Gulf War. Central Command
has authority over U.S. forces from
Pakistan, across the Middle East to
North Africa.
U.S. officials are concerned that
the alleged Taliban disinformation
could undermine support for the
U.S. anti-terrorism drive from Arab
and other Muslim countries where
bin Laden enjoys considerable pop
ular support.
In an effort to counter Taliban
claims, the Pentagon has owned up
to a number of incidents in which it
says U.S. weapons mistakenly hit
civilian areas.
Franks, midway through a Persian
Gulf tour to reaffirm regional sup
port, said at a stop in Muharraq,
Bahrain, on Wednesday that the U.S.
military has been "absolutely open
and absolutely honest about the ca
sualties that we have caused and we
will continue to do that."
(Knight Ridder Newspapers correspondents
Tom Infield and Andrew Maykuth contributed
to this report.) (c) 2001, Knight
Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
keep in touch
www.dailyemerald.com
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