NxA01xxx

By ERIC LICHTBLAUWASHINGTON, June 12 — Fed-

eral authorities said today that theyplanned to use stricter standards foridentifying and locking up terroristsuspects in light of concerns raisedin a recent report that hundreds ofillegal immigrants were mistreatedafter the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Law enforcement officials plan tomake at least 12 structural changesthat were recommended in a reportissued last week by the Justice De-partment inspector general, accord-ing to interviews with officials at theagencies affected by the report. Nineother recommendations are beingactively considered, they said.

The move to embrace the bulk ofthe changes appeared to signal agreater acknowledgment of short-comings in antiterrorism and deten-tion policies than Justice Depart-ment officials had publicly admitted.

The recommendations that law en-forcement officials have signed offon go to the heart of the criticismsleveled by the inspector general, offi-cials said, and could portend signifi-cant changes in how illegal immi-grants suspected of terrorism areinvestigated, arrested and detained.

Inspector General Glenn A. Fine’sreport found that few of the 762 ille-gal immigrants arrested after Sept.11 had clear ties to terrorism, butthat many were held for months inwhat the report characterized asharsh conditions, often without ac-cess to lawyers. Inmates in Brooklynwere subjected to physical and ver-bal abuse, the report found.

Attorney General John Ashcroftand his aides defended the depart-ment’s conduct after the report wasreleased, saying they ‘‘make no apol-ogies’’ for doing everything in theirlegal power to aggressively deteranother attack on American soil.

But officials at the Justice Depart-ment and the Department of Home-land Security, which now handlesimmigration, have been scouring thereport to determine how the prob-lems it spotlighted can best be ad-dressed. About a half-dozen agenciesand offices within the two depart-ments, including the F.B.I., the Bu-reau of Prisons and immigration op-erations, are affected.

Among the 12 recommendationsthat officials said they were ready toadopt are developing clearer criteriafor determining which illegal immi-grants are terrorist suspects, im-

By MICHAEL R. GORDONBAGHDAD, June 12 — American

forces attacked an enemy camp inIraq today, killing scores of fightersin the deadliest operation since Pres-ident Bush declared on May 1 thatthe major fighting was over.

The attack began shortly aftermidnight when American warplanesconducted a surprise bombing raidagainst a site that allied officers saidwas being used to train anti-Ameri-can extremists. American officialssaid the attack took place about 90miles northwest of Baghdad.

After the bombing, Army SpecialOperations forces and troops fromthe 101st Airborne Division moved inon the ground, prompting a firefight.

The American forces suffered onecasualty, a soldier who was woundedin the leg. An Army AH-64 attackhelicopter was shot down during theattack, but the crew was not injured.

American officials said tonightthat the operation was still underway and that details would be madepublic after it was completed.

In contrast to other American mil-itary operations this week just northof Baghdad, where the goal was todetain and interrogate suspectedBaath Party loyalists and other rem-nants of Saddam Hussein’s deposedgovernment, the operation today wasa military attack in which the objec-tive was to pummel the enemy.

American officers said that alliedtroops were facing resistance fromBaath loyalists, former officials ofthe Iraqi intelligence agency, para-military forces and militants fromSyria and other Arab countries whowere crossing into Iraq to join thefight against the Americans.

Lt. Gen. David D. McKiernan, thesenior allied commander, said therewas no indication that resistancethroughout the country was centrallydirected or that Mr. Hussein wasleading it. Rather, he and otherAmerican officials described a situa-tion in which remnants of Mr. Hus-sein’s government and its allies havebeen organizing separate and largelyuncoordinated attacks in differentparts of the country.

‘‘I continue to see a decentralized,more localized command and con-trol,’’ General McKiernan told re-porters today. ‘‘I do not see an Iraqi-wide command and control mecha-nism in place.’’

The top American civilian admin-istrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer III,

By GREG MYREJERUSALEM, June 12 — Israel’s

Army escalated the battle with Ha-mas militants today, blasting a Pal-estinian car with helicopter-firedmissiles in Gaza City and killing sev-en people, including the Hamas lead-er who was the target, his wife andhis 3-year-old daughter.

The attack came as Israelis andPalestinians were still burying theirdead from Wednesday’s carnage. APalestinian suicide bomber struck abus on one of Jerusalem’s main com-mercial arteries, killing 16 civilians.A 17th victim died of wounds today.In Gaza, two Israeli helicopterstrikes directed at Hamas militantskilled 10 Palestinians on Wednesday.

The bloodshed has been some ofthe worst in months and has imper-iled the Middle East peace plan for-mally launched just last week at asummit meeting in Jordan attendedby President Bush.

For a few days, Israeli and Pales-

tinian leaders spoke with hope abouthow to begin carrying out the peaceplan, known as the road map. Today,they were again trading bitter re-criminations, with each attack in-creasing the likelihood that more willfollow.

In a grimly familiar pattern, signsof diplomatic progress have beengreeted almost immediately with asurge in violence throughout the 32months of fighting.

The government-owned Israel Ra-dio said the army had been orderedto ‘‘completely wipe out’’ the Hamasmovement after the bus bombing inJerusalem. The radio report said ev-ery Hamas militant was now consid-ered a target, ‘‘from the lowliest

member to Sheik Ahmed Yassin,’’the group’s founder and spiritualguide.

Israel says it is moving againstHamas because the new Palestinianprime minister, Mahmoud Abbas,has proved unable or unwilling torein in militants since he assumedoffice six weeks ago.

Israel’s prime minister, ArielSharon, said at a cabinet meetingthat Mr. Abbas was ‘‘a chick thathasn’t grown its feathers yet,’’ ac-cording to a cabinet official whobriefed reporters. ‘‘We have to helphim fight terror until his feathersgrow,’’ he was quoted as saying.

But Palestinians said the Israeliactions had badly undercut Mr. Ab-bas and had made it impossible forhim to resume cease-fire talks withPalestinian militants. Mr. Abbas hasso far ruled out using force againstthe militants.

Ziad Abu Amr, the Palestinian

By KURT EICHENWALDA division of one of the country’s

largest makers of medical devicespleaded guilty yesterday to 10 felo-nies, admitting that it lied to thegovernment and hid thousands ofserious health problems, including 12deaths, caused by one of its products.

The sweeping case against the di-vision of the device maker, the Gui-dant Corporation, resulted in $92.4million in criminal and civil penal-ties, the largest ever imposedagainst a maker of medical devicesfor failing to report problems to thegovernment.

The problems with the device,which was used to treat a weakenedblood vessel in the abdomen withoutsurgery, centered on the system usedto insert it. The equipment couldbecome lodged, potentially requiringemergency surgery to remove it. Insome cases, it was broken into piecesbefore being removed — a techniquedevised by sales representatives.Guidant hid results that its productfailed to work properly about one ofevery three times it was used.

As part of the plea, the Guidantdivision, Endovascular Technol-ogies, also agreed to cooperate ininvestigations against executiveswho might have been involved inwrongdoing. As part of that agree-ment, the company waived attorney-client privilege, meaning that state-ments made by any employees tocompany lawyers during the investi-gation will now be available as poten-tial evidence.

But the company’s legal troubles

Gregory Peck, whose chiseled,slightly melancholy good looks,resonant baritone and quietstrength made him an unforgetta-ble presence in films like ‘‘To Killa Mockingbird,’’ ‘‘Gentleman’sAgreement’’ and ‘‘Twelve O’ClockHigh,’’ died early yesterday at hishome in Los Angeles. He was 87.

In a career that spanned half acentury, Mr. Peck often playedmorally anguished heroes who dis-played grace under fire. In hismost memorable role, as AtticusFinch in the 1962 film ‘‘To Kill aMockingbird,’’ he won the Acad-emy Award as best actor for hisperformance as a gentle Southernlawyer who incurs the wrath of hisfellow townsfolk when he defends ablack man accused of raping awhite woman.

In this and other movies his per-sona as the embodiment of Ameri-can decency made him a persua-sive advocate for the liberal candi-

dates and causes he supported.Over the decades Mr. Peck re-

mained a popular movie hero whoskillfully projected courage,wholesomeness and vulnerabilityin a wide range of films. His 46thperformance, in the 1977 film‘‘MacArthur,’’ about Gen. DouglasMacArthur, was praised by Vin-cent Canby of The New YorkTimes, who wrote that Mr. Peck‘‘not only looks and sounds like thegeneral, he also makes the charac-ter disgracefully appealing, evenwhen he is being his most out-rageous.’’

Mr. Peck turned in some of hisfinest performances in the late1940’s. In Alfred Hitchcock’s thrill-er ‘‘Spellbound’’ (1945), he playedan amnesiac with whom his psy-chiatrist (Ingrid Bergman) falls inlove. As the father in ‘‘The Year-ling’’ (1947), Marjorie Kinnan

David Brinkley, the wry report-er and commentator whose NBCbroadcasts with Chet Huntleyfrom 1956 to 1970 helped to defineand popularize television news inAmerica, died on Wednesday nightat his home in Houston. He was 82.

In 1950, when Mr. Brinkley firstwent on the air, major news pro-grams were no longer than 15 min-utes. Later, the early-eveningHuntley-Brinkley report became atelevision staple at a half hour.Some of Mr. Brinkley’s finest mo-ments involved the coverage ofpolitics by ‘‘The Huntley-BrinkleyReport,’’ particularly its live re-porting from the party conven-tions, starting in 1956.

Mr. Brinkley, who spoke inmeasured, sardonic tones, servedas the host for one of the earliesttelevision news magazines, ‘‘Da-vid Brinkley’s Journal,’’ in the ear-ly 1960’s. He was among the last ofa generation of television report-ers who got their basic training atnewspapers and news agencies.

Obituary, Page A30.

By GREG WINTERMillions of college students will

have to shoulder more of the cost oftheir education under federal rulesimposed late last month through abureaucratic adjustment requiringneither Congressional approval norpublic comment of any kind.

The changes, only a slight alter-ation in the formula governing finan-cial aid, are expected to diminish thegovernment’s contribution to highereducation by hundreds of millions ofdollars, starting in the fall of 2004.

But they will also have a rippleeffect across almost every level offinancial aid, shrinking the pool ofstudents who qualify for federalawards, tightening access to billionsof dollars in state and institutionalgrants and, in turn, heightening thereliance on loans to pay for college.

How much more money this mayrequire of students and their parentswill vary widely, changing with ev-ery set of circumstances that makefamilies unique. Some families maybe expected to pay an extra $100 orless each year, while others may owewell over $1,000 more.

‘‘The seemingly insignificant pub-lishing of an obscure table in theFederal Register has serious conse-quences on the individual,’’ said JoePaul Case, dean of financial aid atAmherst College.

While many college administra-

By JENNIFER STEINHAUERand MARJORIE CONNELLY

Dispirited by job losses, tax in-creases and service cuts, New York-ers say they are increasingly pessi-mistic about their city, according tothe latest New York Times poll.

Those negative feelings appear tohave colored New Yorkers’ views ofMayor Michael R. Bloomberg. Only24 percent of those polled said theyapproved of the job he was doing, thelowest approval rating for a mayorsince The Times began taking pollson mayoral performance in 1978. It isa drop of seven percentage pointssince January.

By almost every measure, cityresidents have a gloomy view of theeconomy, the quality of life in thecity and New York’s prospects.Asked to rate the condition of thecity’s economy, 73 percent said itwas bad, and 62 percent said that itscondition had taken a personal toll ontheir lives.

Sixty percent said that theythought life in the city had gottenworse in the last year, comparedwith 43 percent in a January poll.

The findings represent a sharpturnabout over the last two years inhow New Yorkers view their city andtheir own lives within its boundaries.For example, less than a month afterthe World Trade Center attack in2001, 54 percent thought that the citywould be a better place to live in 10 to15 years. A month before the attack,New Yorkers gave the city some of

Tax and Medicare VotesThe House voted to expand a childtax credit, but only as part of alarger tax-cut bill, while a Senatecommittee approved a major over-haul of Medicare. PAGE A28

2 Are Charged in Dorm FireTwo former roommates werecharged in the January 2000 fire thatkilled three students at Seton HallUniversity. PAGE B1

Mets Fire General ManagerFred Wilpon, the Mets’ owner, firedSteve Phillips, the embattled generalmanager of the last-place team.

SPORTSFRIDAY, PAGE D1

News Summary A2

Business Day ........................................ C1-12Editorial, Op-Ed ............................... A32-33Escapes ................................................. F1-14International ........................................ A3-18Metro ..................................................... B1-12National .............................................. A24-30SportsFriday ......................................... D1-7Weekend (2 Parts) .............. E1-30; E31-42World Business .................................... W1-8

Obituaries ....... A30-31 Weather ................ D8Real Estate ........... B9

Classified Ads ....... F12-13 Auto Exchange ........ F11

Updated news: nytimes.comThis Weekend: Page D8

VOL. CLII . . No. 52,513 Copyright © 2003 The New York Times NEW YORK, FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 2003 ONE DOLLAR

Late EditionNew York: Today, cloudy, showers,humid, high 76. Tonight, muggy, show-ers, low 67. Tomorrow, early showerthen drier, high 80. Yesterday, high 80,low 63. Weather map is on Page D8.

Continued on Page B8

NOMINATE A LIBRARIAN FOR THE 2003New York Times Librarian Awards. Visitnytimes-community.com for more information. — ADVT.0 3 5 4 6 1 3 9 2 4 5 0 3

FOR HOME DELIVERY CALL 1-800-NYTIMES

In Poll, PessimismFrom New YorkersRubs Off on Mayor

Maker AdmitsIt Hid ProblemsIn Artery Device

Continued on Page C2

IN MAJOR ASSAULT,U.S. FORCES STRIKEHUSSEIN LOYALISTS

SCORES OF ENEMY KILLED

Air and Ground Attacks on aCamp Allies Say Was Used

for Training Fighters

INSIDE

Left, Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times; Agence France-Presse

THE VICTIMS A cousin of Bat-El Ohana, 21, who died in the Jerusalem bus bombing, held the Israeli flag that had covered her coffin in Kiryat Ata,Israel. In a Gaza City mosque, Palestinians prayed over nine draped bodies of people killed in an Israeli helicopter raid on Wednesday.

Israeli Assault on Hamas Leaves 7 More Dead

Universal Studios/Courtesy of Getty Images

Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch in ‘‘To Kill a Mockingbird’’ (1962).

Gregory Peck Is Dead at 87;Film Roles Had Moral Fiber

By WILLIAM GRIMES

Change inAid RuleMeans Larger BillsForCollegeStudents

U.S. Will TightenRules on Holding

Terror SuspectsMISTREATMENT CONCERNS

Clearer Criteria Are Sought forDetention of Immigrants— Response to Report

Continued on Page A10

Continued on Page A30

ENVOYS SEEK TO BOLSTER PLAN

Secretary of State Colin L. Powelland other envoys were headed forthe Mideast seeking concessions forpeace. Page A10.

Continued on Page A31

Continued on Page A21Continued on Page A22

David Brinkley, 82;Defined TV News

Getty Images

David Brinkley in 1963.

PUB:NYT PUBDATE:2003-06-13 SEC:A PAGE:1 OUTPUT:Fri Jun 13 00:57:59 2003 JOB:741281552 ·NOTES:editorial color was set; do black or do color when ad is ready