Today Wednesday Thursday
High: 56 High: 54 High: 56
Low: 40 Low: 37 Low: 36
Precip: 90% Precip: 10% Precip: 20%
IN BRIEF
Suicide bomber kills
three in Tel Aviv
TEL AVIV, Israel — A 16-year-old
Palestinian laden with explosives
blew himself up Monday in a
crowded outdoor market in Tel Aviv,
killing three Israelis, wounding 32
and scattering body parts and
blood-spattered vegetables on the
ground. The bomber’s mother said
the militants who dispatched him
were “immoral.” The attack tested
Israel’s promise to show restraint
during the absence of the ailing
Yasser Arafat. Palestinian leaders —
including Arafat — immediately
condemned the attack, the first
since a Sept. 22 bombing in
Jerusalem.
Gunmen kidnap six
in Baghdad
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Gunmen
stormed the compound of a Saudi
company in a fashionable Baghdad
neighborhood Monday, seizing an
American, a Nepalese and four
Iraqis after a gunbattle in which a
guard and one of the assailants
were killed, police said. The Ameri
can, who was not identified, was
the 12th U.S. citizen reported kid
napped or missing in Iraq. He was
grabbed about 500 yards from the
house where two Americans and a
Briton were kidnapped, and later
beheaded, last month.
I I
Rehnquist undergoing
radiation and chemo
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Chief
Justice William H. Rehnquist re
vealed Monday that he is under
going chemotherapy and radia
tion treatment for thyroid cancer,
signs he has a grave form of the
disease and probably will not re
turn to the bench soon. The elec
tion eve disclosure by the 80
year-old justice underscores the
near certainty that the next presi
dent will make at least one ap
pointment to the Supreme Court
and probably more.
US tightens overseas
embassy security
RIGA, Latvia — Security was
tighter around the U.S. em
bassies in Finland and Latvia on
Monday amid a U.S. warning
that Americans living and travel
ing in the Nordic and Baltic na
tions should be on guard against
a possible terrorist strike.
Many governments in the re
gion said there was no specific
evidence of a planned attack, but
Norway closed its embassy in
Riga, the Latvian capital, and
port officials in Tallinn, Estonia,
said they had begun checking
passengers and baggage at termL
nals for Baltic Sea ferries. Latvia
had more undercover police out
on the streets of Riga.
The U.S. State Department
“urges all U.S. citizens in the
Nordic and Baltic countries to be
vigilant as to their surroundings,
especially in centers of ground
based mass transit, and to report
any unusual or suspicious per
sons, incidents or circumstances
to the nearest police authorities,”
the Web site of the U.S. Embassy
in Finland said.
—The Associated Press
Osama Bin Laden threatens
to 'bleed America bankrupt'
The al-Qaida leader appeared in a Monday
broadcast, allegedly to affect the presidential election
BY DONNA BRYSON
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAIRO, Egypt — Osama bin Laden
vowed to bleed America to bankrupt
cy, according to a full transcript of un
aired portions of a videotape released
Monday by an Arab television station.
The al-Qaida leader’s remarks ap
peared targeted to the final days of the
U.S. presidential campaign in which
the struggling economy is a major is
sue.
Bin Laden boasted in his first ap
pearance in more than a year that for
every $1 al-Qaida has spent on terror
ist strikes, it has cost the United States
$1 million in economic fallout and mil
itary spending, including emergency
funding for Iraq and Afghanistan.
“As for the size of the economic
deficit, it has reached record astro
nomical numbers," bin Laden said, es
timating the deficit at more than
$1 trillion.
In reality, spending in the war
against terror and other factors have
resulted in an expected $377 billion
shortfall for 2003 — the highest deficit
since World War II accounting for in
flation. The total U.S. national debt is
near the $7.4 trillion statutory limit.
Bin Laden dwelled on al-Qaida’s
economic strategy against the United
States, according to the complete tran
script of the 18-minute video that aired
on Al-Jazeera and was obtained by
U.S. intelligence. Al-Jazeera broadcast
about 14 minutes of the video Friday
and put the full English language tran
script on its Web site on Monday.
The terror mastermind whose al
Qaida network carried out the Sept. 11,
2001 attacks credited the religiously in
spired Arab volunteers that he fought
with against the Soviets in
Afghanistan with having “bled Russia
for 10 years, until it went bankrupt and
was forced to withdraw in defeat.” He
suggested the same strategy would
work against the United States.
“So we are continuing this policy in
bleeding America to the point of bank
ruptcy,” a calm and forceful bin Laden
said in the tape that appeared near the
end of a U.S. campaign that has fo
cused on the war on terror as well as
the foundering U.S. economy.
Bin Laden, in rhetoric that seemed
to echo critical campaign headlines in
the United States, accused President
Bush of going to war in oil-rich Iraq
simply to create business for military
contractors linked to his administra
tion.
In his message aimed at American
listeners, bin Laden claimed al-Qaida
was winning its war with the United
States, and that contractors “like Hal
liburton and its kind” were also bene
fiting, while the losers were “the
American people and their economy. ”
Bin Laden noted reports that al-Qai
da spent $500,000 “on the event” —
referring to Sept. 11 attacks — while
the United States has lost more than
$500 billion “in the incident and its af
termath,” he added, citing an estimate
by a British think tank.
Evan F. Kohlmann, a U.S.-based
counterterrorism researcher, said it
was as if bin Laden were following the
news from the United States, perhaps
on satellite TV, and drawing shrewd
assumptions about what concerns
Americans.
“He is trying to create doubts in
America’s mind that this war is worth
the cost,” Kohlmann said.
Al-Qaida has long made a point of
hitting economic targets. The World
Tfade Center was likely targeted in the
Sept. 11 attacks both because attack
ing it would kill thousands and be
cause the twin towers were symbols of
America’s economic power. In a video
that surfaced in December 2001, bin
Laden said the Sept. 11 attackers
struck the American economy “in the
heart.”
Bin Laden’s top deputy, Ayman al
Zawahri, comes from an Egyptian mil
itant group that attacked tourism and
other economic targets in hopes of
bringing down Egypt’s government. In
an audiotape that surfaced in October
2002, al-Zawahri threatened new at
tacks on the U.S. economy.
At about the same time, a small
boat crashed into a French oil tanker
off the coast of Yemen and exploded.
That attack was seen as a strike at in
ternational oil shipping. Saudi mili
tants linked to al-Qaida have attacked
foreigners working in that kingdom’s
oil industry.
In August, U.S. officials said they
had uncovered indications al-Qaida
was targeting financial sites, including
the New York Stock Exchange and
World Bank buildings.
1 I
Freshmen - Sophomores - Juniors - Seniors
Marine
Corps
Officer
Training
To qualify for Marine Corps
Officer programs, students
must be U.S. citizens, enrolled
in a university, and be willing
to accept physical and mental
challenges. Officer Candidate
School is a ten-week session
in Quantico, Virginia. Students
are paid about $3,000 during
training.
Marines
The Few. The Proud.
MARINE OFFICER
www.marineofficer.com
UP TO $8,000 IN FINANCIAL AID
AVAILABLE PER YEAR.
Here are some details about Becoming an Officer:
GUARANTEED
AVIATION
The Marine Corps has its own aviation
branch, which flies some of the most
sophisticated and technologically
advanced aircraft in the world. If you
qualify, you'll be guaranteed aviation
training and, once commissioned,
attend Flight School in Pensacola,
Florida.
CAREER FIELDS
The Marine Corps offers 18 career
fields in which you can become a
leader. Some of them are Communi
cations, Logistics, Intelligence, Public
Affairs, Military Police, Finance, and
Computer Science. The Marine Corps
is an organization that builds leaders.
In each of these fields you'll be
given the authority and responsibility
that most college graduates seek,
but seldom achieve.
GUARANTEED LAW
The Marine Corps has a dedicated
group of attorneys who are also Marine
Officers. This field is open to students
who are seniors in college or currently
enrolled in law school. Marine Corps
Judge Advocates (attorneys) quickly
handle their own cases and have a
great deal of trial time. They are
generously compensated for their
law degree and are paid a salary which
is competitive with that of many
civilian firms.
Marines
HONOR. COURAGE. COMMITMENT.
U.S. Marine Corps office: (541) 758-0835
Officer Selection ffg/ Fax: <541> 758-0837
Officer
ChadJ. Humphrey
Captain
572 N.W. Van Buren
Corvallis, OR 97330
E-Mail: humphreycj@12mcd.usmc.mil