Phi.Sigma Iota Initiation

Last month. the Gamma Xi chapter of Phi Sigma Iota at Cabrini College held its annual Initiation. Patrice Miller, graduate of 1998, addressed the gathering in the MansiQnDining Room regarding the Importance of Studying a Foreign Language. The honorees for the evening are students who have achieved at least a 3.00 in their overall stud1esand havetakenat least one 300 level language course, while maintaining a 3.00 in all language study. After acandlelight ceremony initiating the three honor society, awards for excellence in French, Italian and Spanish were distributed to several other students.

"Dozens· of al-Qaeda fighters remain alive within Afghanistan, although the military campaign there has severely disrupted the group," Wolfowitz said.

"The success is only interim success. There is still a great deal of work to be done," Wolfowitz told the conference. "I do fear the country has not absorbed that the conflict is far from over."

Saudi-born fugitive Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network has lost its safe haven in Afghanistan because the U.S. and Afghan military removed its Taliban militia protectors, the unidentified defense.

The official said the al-Qaeda leaders have not gone to lawless Somalia, as once feared. Officials still don't have a fix on bin Laden, the network's fugitive leader, he said.

He said there's evidence the group may begin to function in a decentralized manner, with local "franchises" conducting terror attacks without waiting for direction and funding from Afghanistan.

"If this trend continues, future attacks probably will not be as sophisticated as the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings," the official said. Groups may also have to tum to for money to local sources such as robberies.

The official estimated that at least several hundred al-Qaeda fighters had been killed or captured in Afghanistan, but he emphasized U.S. officials have no clear count.