Free Internet Press Newsletter - Sunday January 21 2007 - (813)

Sunday January 21 2007 edition
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Have Pakistani Intelligence Agencies Been Backing Islamic Insurgency? 2007-01-21 02:41:30 The most explosive question about the Taliban resurgence here along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is this: Have Pakistani intelligence agencies been promoting the Islamic insurgency? The government of Pakistan vehemently rejects the allegation and insists that it is fully committed to help American and NATO forces prevail against the Taliban militants who were driven from power in Afghanistan in 2001. Western diplomats in both countries and Pakistani opposition figures say that Pakistani intelligence agencies - in particular the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence and Military Intelligence - have been supporting a Taliban restoration, motivated not only by Islamic fervor but also by a longstanding view that the jihadist movement allows them to assert greater influence on Pakistan’s vulnerable western flank. Read The Full Story Actor Peter O'Toole, A Cheerful Rebel Up For An Oscar For The 8th Time 2007-01-21 02:40:53 Intellpuke: This is one of the most charming and entertaining interviews I've come across in a long time, so I thought I'd better post it so you can enjoy it, too. It was written by Gaby Wood and posted on The Observer's website Sunday, January 21, 2007. Enjoy: Peter O'Toole emerged during Hollywood's glittering golden age - acting, and partying wildly, alongside legends Richard Burton and Richard Harris. Now, at 74, his performance as a lecherous old actor in "Venus" has placed him among the favorites to win the Oscar he has been denied seven times. Peter O'Toole is feeling rather fragile, he tells me as he hobbles into a smart New York hotel room, unzipping one of several jumpers he is wearing. He is 74, but that's not the problem. No, no, it's just that he went out last night with friends, and they took him to some "wretched place" and made him have red wine. Just like old times, you might think, only most of his drinking pals are dead now - "wretchedly inconsiderate" of them - and ... Suddenly, O'Toole looks up with a comically vacant stare, followed by a broad, cavalier smile. "Am I boring you with all these tales of mortality?" he says. The last of a generation of hell-raising, gut-wrenching Shakespearean actors who made it in the movies, O'Toole has had more comebacks than a phoenix with repetitive strain injury. In the critic David Thomson's expression, death's door is one of his regular residences. More than 30 years ago, O'Toole had so soured his stomach with drink that he very nearly went ungently, yet he's managed to tot up nominations for seven Oscars. Along with his late friend Richard Burton, he holds the record for the most nominations without a win, and when the Academy offered him a Lifetime Achievement Award four years ago, he famously quipped (before accepting it anyway) that he ought to turn it down because he still hoped to "win the lovely bugger outright". Read The Full Story 20 U.S. Service Members Killed In Iraq 2007-01-21 02:40:21 At least 20 American service members were killed in military operations Saturday in the deadliest day for U.S. forces in two years, including 13 who died in a helicopter crash and five slain in an attack by militia fighters in the holy city of Karbala, military officials said. Saturday's toll was the third-highest of any single day since the war began in March 2003, eclipsed only by 37 U.S. deaths on Jan. 26, 2005, and 28 on the third day of the U.S. invasion. U.S. authorities also announced two American combat deaths from Friday. The heavy toll comes at a critical time of rising congressional opposition to President Bush's decision to dispatch 21,500 additional soldiers to the conflict to try to curb sectarian slaughter. Read The Full Story Mother, 4 Children, Seized By Gunman In Indiana 2007-01-21 02:39:15 A gunman shot a man and held his ex-girlfriend and their four young children hostage for about nine hours Saturday before forcing them into a car and fleeing, said Indiana police. Elkhart, Indiana, police issued an Amber Alert and said the children and their 31-year-old mother, Kimberly N. Walker, are in extreme danger. The children range in age from 16 months to 9 years old, said authorities. Police are looking for Jerry D. White, 30, and believed he might be headed to Chicago, Illinois, after the shooting in the northern Indiana city. Detective Sgt. Bill Wargo of the Elkhart Police Department said an arrest warrant with charges of attempted murder and several counts of confinement had been issued for White. Read The Full Story Mexico-Bound Jet Diverted As Pilot Dies 2007-01-21 02:38:29 The pilot of a Continental Airlines flight became ill after takeoff and was later pronounced dead after the plane made an emergency landing Saturday, said a company spokeswoman. The 210 passengers on the flight, which departed from Houston, were never in danger and the co-pilot landed the plane safely, said Continental spokeswoman Macky Osorio. The airline said only that the pilot suffered a "serious medical problem." Continental believes the pilot died of natural causes, said Osorio. The pilot's name was not released. Read The Full Story Former Intelligence Analyst Says U.S. Plans 'Envision Broad War In Iran' 2007-01-20 17:16:24 U.S. contingency planning for military action against Iran's nuclear program goes beyond limited strikes and would effectively unleash a war against the country, a former U.S. intelligence analyst said on Friday. "I've seen some of the planning ... You're not talking about a surgical strike," said Wayne White, who was a top Middle East analyst for the State Department's bureau of intelligence and research until March 2005. "You're talking about a war against Iran" that likely would destabilize the Middle East for years, White told the Middle East Policy Council, a Washington think tank. "We're not talking about just surgical strikes against an array of targets inside Iran. We're talking about clearing a path to the targets" by taking out much of the Iranian Air Force, Kilo submarines, anti-ship missiles that could target commerce or U.S. warships in the Gulf, and maybe even Iran's ballistic missile capability, said White. Read The Full Story Commentary: Gonzales Questions Right To Habeas Corpus 2007-01-20 17:15:51 Intellpuke: The following commentary was written by Robert Parry for the Consortium News and posted at that website on Friday, Jan. 19, 2007. Parry reports and comments on U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' testimony against the right of habeas corpus before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Mr. Parry column follows: In one of the most chilling public statements ever made by a U.S. Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales questioned whether the U.S. Constitution grants habeas corpus rights of a fair trial to every American. Responding to questions from Sen. Arlen Specter at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Jan. 18, Gonzales argued that the Constitution doesn't explicitly bestow habeas corpus rights; it merely says when the so-called Great Writ can be suspended. "There is no expressed grant of habeas in the Constitution; there's a prohibition against taking it away," Gonzales said. Gonzales's remark left Specter, the committee's ranking Republican, stammering. "Wait a minute," Specter interjected. "The Constitution says you can't take it away except in case of rebellion or invasion. Doesn't that mean you have the right of habeas corpus unless there's a rebellion or invasion?" Read The Full Story Cost Of Iraq War Is $8.4 Billlion A Month 2007-01-20 17:14:58 The steadily rising Iraq war price tag will reach about $8.4 billion a month this year, Pentagon spokesmen said on Thursday, as heavy replacement costs for lost, destroyed and aging equipment mount. The Pentagon has been estimating last year's costs for the increasingly unpopular war at about $8 billion a month, having increased from a monthly "burn rate" of around $4.4 billion during the first year of fighting in fiscal 2003. During testimony at a House Budget Committee hearing, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England said that nearly four years into the war, the Pentagon's war costs were rising because it was having to replace big-ticket items such as helicopters, airplanes and armored vehicles that are wearing out or were lost in combat. "We have a backlog and are seeing an increase," England told the panel. Read The Full Story Hillary Clinton Makes Campaign For The White House Official 2007-01-20 17:12:44 Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton launched a trailblazing campaign for the White House on Saturday, a former first lady turned political powerhouse intent on becoming the first female president. “I’m in, and I’m in to win,” she said. In a videotaped message posted on her Web site, Clinton said she was eager to start a dialogue with voters about challenges she hoped to tackle as president - affordable health care, deficit reduction and bringing the “right” end to the Iraq war. “I’m not just starting a campaign, though, I’m beginning a conversation with you, with America,” she said. “Let’s talk. Let’s chat. The conversation in Washington has been just a little one-sided lately, don’t you think?” Clinton’s announcement, while widely anticipated, was nonetheless an historic moment in a fast-developing campaign that has already seen the emergence of a formidable black contender, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, of Illinois. Read The Full Story Commentary: Air Force In Tailspin Over SSgt. Michelle Manhart's Posing For Playboy 2007-01-20 05:24:07 by Intellpuke Recently, a female staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force posed nude for  Playboy magazine. The photos appear in the February issue, which has probably already hit the news stands but, if not, it will certainly be there next week. The Air Force brass predictably went into a frantic tailspin and has relieved SSgt. Michelle Manhart, 30, of her duties pending the outcome of an investigation into the matter. For the record, SSgt. Manhart, is happily married, has two children and is stationed at Lackland Air Base, located near San Antonio, Texas, where she trains new airmen. She joined the Air Force 13 years ago, and spent time serving in Kuwait in 2002, so it seems to me that she has definitely earned her stripes. SSgt. Manhart is very attractive, works out and has a body that would make an F-18 fighter at full throttle stop dead in its tracks. Being attractive, as far as I know, is not against Air Force regulations. Also, as far as I know, there are no regulations prohibiting an attractive airman, female or male, from posing - on their own time - semi-nude or fully nude in a magazine, whether it is Playboy or GQ or Fortune magazine. Read The Full Story Leading U.S. Senator Assails Bush On Iran Stance 2007-01-20 04:09:15 The new chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Friday sharply criticized the Bush administration’s increasingly combative stance toward Iran, saying that White House efforts to portray it as a growing threat are uncomfortably reminiscent of rhetoric about Iraq before the American invasion of 2003. Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, the West Virginia Democrat who took control of the committee this month, said that the administration was building a case against Tehran even as American intelligence agencies still know little about either Iran’s internal dynamics or its intentions in the Middle East. “To be quite honest, I’m a little concerned that it’s Iraq again,” Senator Rockefeller said during an interview in his office. “This whole concept of moving against Iran is bizarre.” Read The Full Story New Lobbying Rules Still Allow Congress Members Many Perks 2007-01-20 04:08:43 On the Monday that was supposed to start the new Congress's first five-day workweek, Minority Leader John A. Boehner helped persuade his Democratic colleagues to give House members the day off. The Ohio Republican had his reasons. He was going to see Ohio State compete in the national championship football game in Arizona. Boehner had tickets for the stadium's nosebleed section. Then, Boehner's office said, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. offered him a bird's-eye seat in one of the company's skyboxes. In the skybox, Boehner mingled with lobbyists for the media giant, whose vast interests in Congress include broadcast-decency legislation and possible restrictions on its hugely popular MySpace Web site. The perk for Boehner and the lobbying access for News Corp. are entirely permissible under the new ethics rules Congress imposed on itself this month - provided Boehner personally reimburses the cost of the skybox ticket, which Boehner's office said he plans to do once the company sends him the bill. The lawmaker can use campaign funds, instead of personal money, to pay his airfare. Read The Full Story Tony Blair Aide Arrested In Honors-For-Money Investigation 2007-01-20 04:08:07 British police on Friday arrested an aide to Prime Minister Tony Blair as part of a continuing criminal investigation into whether his Labor Party traded seats in the House of Lords and other government honors for cash. Ruth Turner, Blair's director of government relations, was arrested at her home in connection with alleged offenses under a 1925 law that prohibits the selling of government honors and titles and "also on suspicion of perverting the course of justice", said a police statement. Turner was interviewed in a London police station and released on bail, said police. "I absolutely refute any allegations of wrongdoing of any nature whatsoever," she said in a statement. Read The Full Story	Experts: Global Warming Will Happen Faster, And Be More Devastating Than Previously Thought 2007-01-21 02:41:12 Global warming is destined to have a far more destructive and earlier impact than previously estimated, the most authoritative report yet produced on climate change will warn next week. A draft copy of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, obtained by The Observer, shows the frequency of devastating storms - like the ones that battered Britain last week - will increase dramatically. Sea levels will rise over the century by around half a meter; snow will disappear from all but the highest mountains; deserts will spread; oceans become acidic, leading to the destruction of coral reefs and atolls; and deadly heatwaves will become more prevalent. The impact will be catastrophic, forcing hundreds of millions of people to flee their devastated homelands, particularly in tropical, low-lying areas, while creating waves of immigrants whose movements will strain the economies of even the most affluent countries. "The really chilling thing about the IPCC report is that it is the work of several thousand climate experts who have widely differing views about how greenhouse gases will have their effect. Some think they will have a major impact, others a lesser role. Each paragraph of this report was therefore argued over and scrutinized intensely. Only points that were considered indisputable survived this process. This is a very conservative document - that's what makes it so scary," said one senior U.K. climate expert. Read The Full Story British Panel Urges Alternatives To Guantanamo 2007-01-21 02:40:32 A panel of British lawmakers urged the government Sunday to work with the United States to develop an alternative to holding terror suspects at Guantanamo - aiming to speed up the closure of the much-criticized U.S. military prison. The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee released a report that also called for an overhaul of the Geneva Conventions and suggesting Prime Minister Tony Blair lead efforts to update the international standards to reflect the challenge of terrorism. "The international community as a whole needs to shoulder its responsibility in finding a longer-term solution" to the indefinite detention of terrorist suspects at Guantanamo. Read The Full Story Blair Administration, Scotland Yard At War Over Arrest In Cash-For-Honors Investigation 2007-01-21 02:39:39 No. 10 Downing street, England's equivalent of the White House, was plunged into a full-scale war with the police Saturday after senior officers hit back at criticism of the way the cash-for-peerages investigation is being handled. They responded after Cabinet Minister Tessa Jowell expressed bewilderment at the manner in which Ruth Turner, Number 10's director of devolvement relations, was arrested at home at dawn - while former Home Secretary David Blunkett accused police of "theatrics". Also Saturday, Scotland Yard made clear its anger at what it sees as undue political pressure. Sir Chris Fox, the former president of the Association of Chief Police Officers who remains close to Scotland Yard, accused political critics of "scheming to discredit a very important inquiry". Chief constables feared a potential threat to police independence, he added. His intervention came as it emerged that rebel Labor members of Parliament are actively discussing raising a delegation of senior backbenchers to go to the Prime Minister and appeal for him to quit early. Read The Full Story 8 Dead As Snow Storm Rolls Across Plains 2007-01-21 02:38:49 A winter storm rolled across the U.S. Plains states Saturday, causing numerous accidents that killed at least eight people in three states. Heavy snow hit western and central Kansas, limiting visibility and creating hazardous driving conditions. A couple and their 20-month-old daughter died when their car drove off U.S. 50 in western Kansas and collided with two others cars, said authorities. The couple's 6-year-old daughter, was critically injured, added the authorities. In Oklahoma, a 5-year-old boy died after being thrown from a sport utility vehicle that rolled over after it left a snow-covered highway. Four people also died in crashes on Nebraska highways. In Kansas, a heavy snow warning was in effect until 6 a.m. Sunday from areas around Wichita westward, said the National Weather Service. Up to 6 inches of snow were forecast for some sections by Sunday, with more to follow. Read The Full Story Kansas Senator Brownback Announces Bid For President 2007-01-21 02:38:06 Declaring himself a proud conservative before a crowd of cheering supporters waving American flags, Senator Sam Brownback, Republican of Kansas, on Saturday announced his candidacy for president. Brownback, an evangelical Protestant turned Roman Catholic and a former Kansas agriculture secretary, said he would focus on reviving faith and families in America; combating abortion, poverty and wasteful government spending; opposing same-sex marriage; and revamping Social Security and the federal tax system. “The last thing we need in America is to take God out of our public lives and institutions,” said Brownback during his speech in Topeka, Kansas. “We need to embrace our nation’s motto, ‘In God we trust,’ and not be ashamed of it. “To walk away from the Almighty is to embrace decline for a nation,” he said. “To embrace him leads to renewal, for individuals and for nations.” Read The Full Story Commentary: Surging And Purging 2007-01-20 17:16:05 Intellpuke: The following commentary was written by Paul Krugman and appeared on the New York Times' website on Friday, January 19, 2007. In his column, Mr. Krugman argues that the Bush Administration is purging independent-minded federal prosecutors out of the Justice Department, to the detriment of American justice and the American people. Mr. Parry's column follows: There's something happening here, and what it is seems completely clear: the Bush administration is trying to protect itself by purging independent-minded prosecutors. Last month, Bud Cummins, the U.S. attorney (federal prosecutor) for the Eastern District of Arkansas, received a call on his cellphone while hiking in the woods with his son. He was informed that he had just been replaced by J. Timothy Griffin, a Republican political operative who has spent the last few years working as an opposition researcher for Karl Rove. Cummins' case isn't unique. Since the middle of last month, the Bush administration has pushed out at least four U.S. attorneys, and possibly as many as seven, without explanation. The list includes Carol Lam, the U.S. attorney for San Diego, who successfully prosecuted Duke Cunningham, a Republican congressman, on major corruption charges. The top F.B.I. official in San Diego told The San Diego Union-Tribune that Lam's dismissal would undermine multiple continuing investigations. Read The Full Story U.S. Helicopter Crash In Iraq Kills All 13 Aboard 2007-01-20 17:15:15 A U.S. helicopter crashed Saturday northeast of Baghdad, killing all 13 people on board, the military said. The military did not give a cause for the crash, saying only that the incident was under investigation, but the brief statement lacked the customary comment that the aircraft was not shot down, indicating it may have come under fire by insurgents. The helicopter was carrying 13 passengers and crew members and all were killed, it said. No further details were released, including the exact location of the crash. The violent Diyala province sits northeast of Baghdad, and U.S. and Iraqi forces have been battling Sunni insurgents and Shiite militia forces around its main city of Baqouba for months. Read The Full Story Stephen Hawking: World On Brink Of Unprecedented Climate Change, 2nd Nuclear Age 2007-01-20 17:14:32 The scientist Stephen Hawking issued a warning this week that the world is on the brink of a second nuclear age and a period of unprecedented climate change. The University of Cambridge mathematician's comments came as the time on the doomsday clock, which counts down to nuclear Armageddon, was moved two minutes closer to midnight, reflecting concerns among scientists over the rise of new nuclear powers. Climate change is also increasing the threat of catastrophic damage to the planet, said academics at the Bulletin Of The Atomic Scientists (BAS) this week. "Since Hiroshima and Nagasaki, no nuclear weapons have been used in war, though the world has come uncomfortably close to disaster on more than one occasion," said Professor Hawking. "But for good luck, we would all be dead. Read The Full Story Supreme Court To Revisit McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Law 2007-01-20 05:24:18 The Supreme Court agreed Friday to revisit the landmark 2002 legislation overhauling the nation's campaign finance laws, moving to settle the role of campaign spending by corporations, unions and special interest groups in time for the 2008 presidential primaries. It would be the first time the court has reviewed the McCain-Feingold law of 2002 since justices ruled 5 to 4 three years ago that the act was constitutional. Since then, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who was in the majority, has been replaced by Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. At issue in the case is the question of whether so-called issue advocacy ads paid for by the general funds of special interest groups and broadcast in the period before a federal election may mention specific candidates. A three-judge panel in Washington last month overturned that prohibition, which is one of the key provisions of the law known formally as the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. "The stakes are enormous," said Michael E. Toner, a Federal Election Commission member who served on President Bush's campaign in 2000. "We're watching this case very closely." Read The Full Story Update: Key Aide To Al-Sadr Arrested In Baghdad 2007-01-20 05:23:50 U.S.-backed Iraqi forces arrested a top aide to anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in eastern Baghdad on Friday, amid growing signs of stepped-up efforts to quell Sadr and his supporters. U.S. military officials said in November that Sadr's Mahdi Army militia represents the greatest threat to Iraq's  security. U.S. and Iraqi forces are preparing a renewed effort to pacify Baghdad, including the deployment of additional U.S. troops. Abdul Hadi al-Daraji, Sadr's media director in Baghdad, was arrested at his house in the neighborhood of Baladiyat, near the Mahdi Army stronghold of Sadr City, shortly after midnight, said Sadr spokesman Abdul Razak al-Nadawi. Read The Full Story U.S. Trade Deficit Defies Dollar's Slide 2007-01-20 04:09:01 Jessica Heyman’s breakfast in Paris last month was nothing out of the ordinary: a modest repast of eggs, coffee and a side salad with her husband, Jonathan Podwil, at the popular Cafe de Flore. But the bill was memorable -  46 euros, or about $60, at the current exchange rate. Five years ago, when the dollar was strong, the same bill would have amounted to $42. The sticker shock provided a powerful incentive to remain frugal the rest of the vacation. “We ate a lot of bread,” said Heyman. Shocking tourists into counting every penny, and getting Americans back home to spend less on costly imports, is part of what a weaker dollar is supposed to do to help pare America’s outsize trade deficit, according to economic textbooks. So far, the dollar’s slide has not helped enough. Although the dollar has lost a lot of ground against many of the world’s major currencies - including the euro, the British pound and the Canadian dollar - the nation’s trade imbalance with the world has continued to rise, reaching $702 billion in the first 11 months of 2006, on track to easily outstrip the $717 billion of 2005 and set another record. Read The Full Story Mexico Extradites Drug Kingpins To U.S. 2007-01-20 04:08:23 Mexico extradited drug kingpins Osiel Cardenas and Hector "El Guero" Palma along with several other major traffickers to the United States on Friday as part of a major crackdown against warring cartels. President Felipe Calderon took office in December and quickly sent troops and elite police units to tackle Mexico's main drug cartels, in an attempt to halt a gruesome surge in violence that claimed more than 2,000 lives last year. A total of fifteen men arrived in the United States aboard flights from Mexico on Friday. Osiel Cardenas is considered the leader, or former leader, of the Gulf Cartel. He was arrested and imprisoned in Mexico in 2003. Hector "El Guero" Palma is a top associate of Mexico's most wanted man Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who heads another powerful cartel. Read The Full Story Denny Doherty, Of The Mamas And Papas Folk-Rock Group, Dies At 66 2007-01-20 04:07:54 Denny Doherty, 66, a member of the popular 1960s folk-rock group the Mamas and the Papas, known for their soaring harmony on such hits as "California Dreamin' " and "Monday, Monday," died Jan. 19 at his home in Mississauga, near Toronto. He had suffered kidney problems after surgery last month and been put on dialysis. The Mamas and the Papas burst onto the national scene in 1966 with the Top 10 smash "California Dreamin'." The group broke ground by having women and men performing together. Besides Mr. Doherty, the other members were John Phillips, the group's chief songwriter; his then-wife, singer Michelle Phillips; and another female vocalist, "Mama" Cass Elliot. "Monday, Monday" hit No. 1 in 1966 and won the band a Grammy for best contemporary group performance. Among the group's other songs were "I Saw Her Again Last Night," "Go Where You Wanna Go," "Dancing Bear," "I Call Your Name" and "Dedicated to the One I Love." In 1998, the Mamas and the Papas were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Read The Full Story
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