Free Internet Press Newsletter - Wednesday February 14 2007 - (813)

Wednesday February 14 2007 edition
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Former Top CIA Official Indicted 2007-02-14 01:57:36 The CIA's former executive director and a defense contractor were indicted Tuesday by a San Diego, California,  grand jury for allegedly corrupting the intelligence agency's contracts, marking one of the first criminal cases to reach into the CIA's clandestine operations in Europe and the Middle East. Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, a longtime logistics officer who was the CIA's top administrator from November 2004 until last May, was accused of using his seniority and influence at a prior CIA job in Europe to steer business deals to his longtime friend Brent R. Wilkes, a California businessman and top Republican fundraiser. The 11-count indictment states that Wilkes subsidized meals and lavish vacations for Foggo and his family in Washington, Hawaii and Scotland and promised to employ Foggo after his retirement from the CIA. It also accuses Foggo - a former ethics official in two divisions at the CIA - of improperly providing classified information to Wilkes about the CIA, his contracting competitors and "other matters". Read The Full Story New Baghdad Crackdown Announced 2007-02-14 01:56:56 The Iraqi government on Tuesday ordered tens of thousands of Baghdad residents to leave homes they are occupying illegally, in a surprising and highly challenging effort to reverse the tide of sectarian cleansing that has left the capital bloodied and Balkanized. In a televised speech, Lt. Gen. Aboud Qanbar, who is leading the new crackdown, also announced the closing of Iraq's borders with Iran and Syria, an extension of the curfew in Baghdad by an hour, and the setup of new checkpoints run by the Defense and Interior Ministries, both of which General Qanbar said he now controlled. He said the government would break into homes and cars it deemed dangerous, open mail and eavesdrop on phone calls. General Qanbar did not mention the role American forces would play in the crackdown, but his remarks were clearly timed to coincide with more aggressive efforts by American troops on the streets of Baghdad. The Americans have been establishing outposts - called joint security stations - to work alongside the Iraqi Army and police to end the sectarian bloodletting. Read The Full Story Britain's Serious Fraud Office To Investigate Drug Firms Accused Of Bribing Saddam 2007-02-14 01:55:42 Britain's Serious Fraud Office has launched an investigation into allegations that a number of major U.K.-based firms paid bribes to Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. The firms being targeted include the drug giants GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly. The international oil traders and U.K. bridge-builders Mabey and Johnson are also to be investigated. They are on a long list of international companies accused in a United Nations report of paying kickbacks under the discredited oil-for-food sanctions regime, which enabled Saddam to illicitly amass an estimated $1.8 billion. Ministers have agreed to fund the investigation with £22 million ($44 million) over three years. The inquiry was ordered last week by the SFO director, Robert Wardle. Tuesday the agency confirmed: "The director of the SFO has opened an investigation centred on alleged breaches of sanctions in respect of the U.N.  oil-for-food program." Under their wide-ranging powers, investigators from the SFO can order companies to disclose documentation and call witnesses for questioning. Ultimately, the SFO could launch criminal prosecutions. Read The Full Story Privacy Questions Raised Over Bill To Require ISPs To Keep Data 2007-02-13 17:10:37 A House Republican is pushing a measure that echoes a long-sought Bush administration goal: to require all Internet service providers to keep records on their subscribers. The measure, introduced by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) last week as part of the larger SAFETY Act, would give the attorney general broad discretion to write the rules on what information companies have to retain and for how long. It is aimed at protecting children from predators, but privacy advocates say its privacy and civil-liberties implications are huge, and industry is concerned about the costs of compliance. News of the measure has spread around the blogosphere, as critics seek to mobilize opposition to the SAFETY Act. The provision would require Internet service companies to provide at a minimum the Internet subscriber's name and address, which can be linked to an Internet protocol address - an identification number associated with a particular computer at a given time. Law enforcement officials would have to obtain a subpoena to have access to the records and could not use the tool to track law-abiding citizens on the Internet, said Smith. Read The Full Story Ex-No. 3 CIA Officer To Be Indicted In Corruption Investigation 2007-02-13 17:10:06 The former third-ranking official at the CIA, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, is expected to be indicted Tuesday in California in an investigation into public corruption and defense contracts, according to two sources familiar with the case. Federal prosecutors in San Diego plan to announce that Foggo will be indicted in connection with an inquiry into the awarding of secret Pentagon contracts, said the sources. Defense contractor Brent Wilkes, who has been a focus of the investigation by the U.S. attorney's office in San Diego, also is expected to be indicted, according to sources who asked not to be identified because of grand jury secrecy rules. A federal grand jury was meeting Tuesday in San Diego to consider indictments, the Associated Press reported. Read The Full Story Neither Cheney Nor Libby Will Testify In Plame Leak Trial 2007-02-13 17:09:04 Neither Vice President Cheney nor I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby will testify in Libby's perjury trial, defense attorneys announced in court Tuesday afternoon. Defense lawyer Theodore V. Wells, Jr., said he recommended to Libby over lunch that he not take the stand to defend himself against charges that he lied to investigators in a CIA leak probe. Wells said the defense will rests its case tomorrow. Presiding U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton asked Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff, if he knew he had a right to testify in his defense and if had declined of his free will. "Yes, sir," Libby said in a barely audible voice. The decision puts added pressure on defense attorneys' closing arguments. The defense presented its witnesses in less than two days, relying on six reporters who said Libby didn't tell them about undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame, and a deputy to Libby who said Libby's job was overwhelming. The defense did little to support its contention in opening statements by Wells that Libby was made a scapegoat by the White House and that other officials sharing information about Plame, such as senior White House adviser Karl Rove, received more protection. Read The Full Story Armed Man Kills 5 At Mall In Utah 2007-02-13 03:12:45 A lone gunman went on a shooting rampage in a Salt Lake City mall Monday night, killing five and wounding numerous others, before he was shot to death by police, said Salt Lake City police. Witnesses told of the sounds of gunfire, screaming, and crying, creating havoc for almost an hour during the busy dinnertime in the Trolley Square mall, after the gunman, who was carrying a rifle, entered and began shooting around 6:45 p.m. As the shots rang out, merchants and customers throughout the mall dove under tables and barricaded themselves in the stores. The police arrived at the mall around 7 p.m., which is located just east of downtown, according to Detective Robin Snyder of the Salt Lake City police. As people streamed out of the store, the police surrounded the gunman, whose identity and motive was still under investigation Monday night. They authorities offered few details about the shootings except to say that the victims were found scattered throughout the two-story mall. Matt Lund, whose wife manages a children’s apparel store called The Secret Garden, said he was barricaded in the store when he heard the police confront the gunman. Lund said he heard a single police officer shout "Police! Drop your weapon!" twice before a barrage of fire rang out. Read The Full Story CNN Denies Nigerian Allegations Of Staging Report 2007-02-13 00:22:32 A Nigerian government spokesman on Monday accused CNN of paying for and staging a report that showed 24 Filipino hostages being held by masked gunmen in the remote mangrove swamps of southern Nigeria. "We have evidence that some of these people were actually paid to put up a show," Nigerian Minister of Information Frank Nweke, Jr., told CNN International about last week's report by Jeff Koinange, CNN's Africa correspondent. "It was a paid job, and that's exactly why we are very upset about it," he said, without offering evidence. "He had actually approached other people before then to do the same thing and his offer was declined. And he shopped around for more people and found those criminals who were willing to play ball with him and they put on the kind of show that they put up and which was shown around the world." CNN and Koinange flatly denied the charge. In a written statement, CNN said it did not pay for any part of the report, nor does the network pay for interviews. Read The Full Story Putin First Russian President To Visit Saudis 2007-02-13 00:21:47 President Vladimir Putin, making the first visit by a Russian leader to Saudi Arabia, met King Abdullah and other senior officials Sunday for talks that touched on regional tensions including Iraq and the Palestinian territories. Putin's visit to this traditional U.S. ally comes as Saudi Arabia is opening up to other countries, particularly in Asia. Russia is the world's second-largest oil exporter behind Saudi Arabia. Moscow represents a potential ally with considerable political clout as a member of both the United Nations Security Council and the so-called Quartet of Middle East peace mediators. The U.S. is the main supplier of weapons to the oil-rich kingdom but relations have been strained since the Sept. 11 attacks and Saudi Arabia may be looking to Russia to diversify its military suppliers. Read The Full Story Erosion, Rising Seas Threaten Wales' Beaches 2007-02-13 00:20:34 Almost three-quarters of some of the most beautiful and precious stretches of the Welsh coast are threatened by erosion and flooding because of rising sea levels, a study from Britain's National Trust claimed Monday. Fabulous beaches, dune systems, iron age forts, lagoons and seaside villages could all vanish within a century. The report, Shifting Shores, says 55 sites owned by the trust, covering more than 100 miles, are in danger because of erosion caused by global warming and climate change. Within those areas, 47 archaeological monuments and historic structures could be affected. Among the sites highlighted as at risk are Rhossili, the world-famous five-mile sweeping bay on the tip of the Gower peninsula in southwest Wales, and Dinas Dinlle iron age hill fort, which is already perched precariously over the sea in northwest Wales. The report also draws attention to the plight of Porthdinllaen, a village on the Llyn peninsula in north Wales. Already the highest tides reach some houses and the trust says that in the short term it will continue to repair damage to the inn and lifeboat station. But in the long term, it adds, "There may be no option but to allow the coastline to evolve naturally." Read The Full Story Police Investigate 26-Year-Old Chinese Billionairess 2007-02-13 00:19:34 Chinese police are investigating the sudden rise to riches of a young Chinese billionairess who leveraged a foot-massage parlor into a multibillion-yuan conglomerate within 10 years. Wu Ying, a 26-year-old said to be worth 3.8 billion yuan (£240 million or $480 million), is being detained on suspicion that she illegally acquired funds for her Bense business empire, China's state media reported Monday. If charged and found guilty she faces up to 10 years in prison. The case comes amid a crackdown on corruption and wild-lending as Beijing tries to cool a red-hot economy, where many cadres, entrepreneurs and military officials rushed to join the money elite. Rags-to-riches-to-jail stories are increasingly common in the domestic media. But even by the standards of the world's fastest-growing major economy, Ms. Wu's rise has been giddy. Read The Full Story	Army Recruits With Criminal Backgrounds Increase 65 Percent 2007-02-14 01:57:17 The number of waivers granted to Army recruits with criminal backgrounds has grown about 65 percent in the last three years, increasing to 8,129 in 2006 from 4,918 in 2003, Department of Defense records show. During that time, the Army has employed a variety of tactics to expand its diminishing pool of recruits. It has offered larger enlistment cash bonuses, allowed more high school dropouts and applicants with low scores on its aptitude test to join, and loosened weight and age restrictions. It has also increased the number of so-called “moral waivers” to recruits with criminal pasts, even as the total number of recruits dropped slightly. The sharpest increase was in waivers for serious misdemeanors, which make up the bulk of all the Army’s moral waivers. These include aggravated assault, burglary, robbery and vehicular homicide. The number of waivers for felony convictions also increased, to 11 percent of the 8,129 moral waivers granted in 2006, from 8 percent. Read The Full Story Cleric Sadr In Iran Ahead Of Planned Crackdown 2007-02-14 01:56:40 The radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is said to have fled Iraq and sought shelter in Iran ahead of a U.S.  crackdown aimed at ending the violence in the country. Sadr and his senior Mahdi army commanders left Baghdad two weeks ago after the prime minister, Nouri al Maliki, said he could not guarantee their safety, a senior Iraqi official said. The cleric is thought to be in Tehran, where he has family. Washington believes the Mahdi army is the biggest threat to Iraq's security and has urged Maliki to disarm it, although Sadr is one of the prime minister's closest political allies. Iraqi authorities announced last night that the country is to close its land borders with Syria and Iran and extend the night-time curfew in Baghdad as part of the much-heralded security plan to stop insurgents in the capital and the volatile Anbar province to the west. Read The Full Story Bus Bombs In Lebanon Kill 3 On Eve Of Political Rally 2007-02-14 01:55:18 Explosions tore through two buses in early morning traffic Tuesday in the Lebanese mountain village of Ain Alaq, north of Beirut, killing at least three people and wounding 21 others. The two bombs, detonated within 10 minutes of each other, occurred on the eve of a pro-government rally planned for Wednesday to mark the assassination two years ago of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. The blast occurred less than a mile from the Christian village of Bikfaya, the hometown of the former president Amin Gemayel, whose son Pierre Gemayel, a one-time cabinet minister, was assassinated by gunmen in November. No individual or group claimed responsibility for the attack Tuesday. Read The Full Story U.S. Trade Deficit For 2006 Hit All-Time Record Of $764 Billion 2007-02-13 17:10:19 The U.S. trade deficit surged to an all-time record of $764 billion in 2006, the Commerce Department said today, as high oil prices increased the nation's import bill and as American consumers continued loading up on products churned out in factories from China to Mexico. The deficit figure, while widely expected, ratcheted up tensions over trade policy in Washington. President Bush has asked Congress to extend his authority to negotiate free-trade deals with other countries. On Capitol Hill, many of the Democrats now in control eye that request suspiciously, and their leadership has vowed to oppose new trade deals unless they include enforceable labor and environmental protections. In a letter sent to President Bush as the deficit figures were released, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California), Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland) and Charles B. Rangel (D-New York), chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, called for "a fundamental shift" in U.S. trade policy. They asked the president to submit within 90 days an action plan to shrink the trade deficit by removing barriers to U.S. exports and eradicate trading practices they regard as unfair. The letter put particular emphasis on pressuring China, the country at the center of American trade tensions, to halt alleged unfair practices such as keeping its currency, the yuan, artificially low. The Commerce Department numbers provided new ammunition in this campaign: The trade deficit in goods with China reached a new record of $233 billion for 2006, the Commerce Department reported, an increase of more than 15 percent over the $202 billion logged in 2005. Read The Full Story 160 Laptop Computers Missing From FBI 2007-02-13 17:09:45 The FBI said that 160 laptop computers were lost or stolen in less than four years, including at least 10 that contained sensitive or classified information - one of which held "personal identifying information on FBI personnel," according to a report released yesterday. The bureau, which has struggled for years to improve its sloppy inventory procedures, also reported the same number of missing weapons - 160 - from February 2002 to September 2005. Those weapons included shotguns and submachine guns, according to the report by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine. In addition to the 10 laptops that were confirmed to contain sensitive information, the FBI could not say whether 51 other computers may also contain secret data, the report said. Six were assigned to the counterintelligence division and a seventh belonged to the counterterrorism division. Both units routinely handle classified information. "Without knowing the content of these lost and stolen laptops, it is impossible for the FBI to determine the extent of the damage these losses might have had on its operations or on national security," the report said. Read The Full Story European Officials Agree To Widen Economic Sanctions Against Iran 2007-02-13 03:12:59 European negotiators, yielding to pressure from the United States, have agreed to widen a ban on financial transactions with Iranand the export of materials and technology that Iran could use to develop nuclear weapons. European officials said a resolution embodying the wider ban was negotiated over the last week and should go far toward satisfying the Bush administration, which has been pressing European governments for firmer action against Iranian individuals and companies as part of a campaign to isolate the Tehran government because of its suspected nuclear arms program. “This is a very positive initiative because it takes the European Union beyond where they were until recently,” said R. Nicholas Burns, the under secretary of state for political affairs. “It’s not everything we would like to see happen. But the trajectory is good and the momentum is good, so we think this is a positive event.” A text of the resolution, released Monday evening by officials of the European Union, calls for steps to carry out a United Nations Security Councilresolution adopted in December. Europeans have been slow to follow through, saying governments do not have the legal tools to act against Iranian companies. Read The Full Story Hamas Government To Soon Step Down 2007-02-13 00:22:53 Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Monday his militant Hamas government will resign in the coming days - a formality that should clear the way for a new coalition with the Fatah movement. Haniyeh acknowledged, however, that last week's power sharing deal between the two sides left key issues unresolved - most notably control over the security forces. Those issues could still cause the deal to unravel, but Haniyeh said in a televised address Monday that both sides were committed to the agreement to bring an end to the bloody infighting that has plagued Gaza in recent months. "All Palestinians have won in this agreement," he said. Read The Full Story Ahmadinejad Puts His Faith In 'Wise People In U.S.' To Avoid Conflict 2007-02-13 00:22:06 Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Monday shrugged off the threat of a U.S. attack and said accusations that Tehran was arming insurgents in Iraq represented an attempt to find a scapegoat for American "defeats and failures". The British government, however, backed Washington's claims of covert Iranian arms supplies to insurgents, including sophisticated armor-piercing roadside bombs. A Downing Street spokesman said Tony Blair had been "at the cutting edge of identifying this problem", first raising the alarm over the alleged influx of Iranian weaponry in October 2005. The row over Iraq has added to growing tension over Iran's nuclear ambitions. A United Nations deadline for Iran to stop uranium enrichment is due to pass next Wednesday, amid simmering speculation that the U.S. is contemplating taking military action against Tehran's nuclear program. Ahmadinejad brushed aside the threat. In an interview with America's ABC News, he said: "Why should we be afraid? First, the possibility is very low, and we think that there are wise people in the U.S. that would stop such illegal actions. But our position is clear - our nation has made it clear that anyone who wants to attack our country will be severely punished." Read The Full Story Commentary: Vladimir Putin - Unilateral Force Has Nothing To Do With Global Democracy 2007-02-13 00:21:22 Intellpuke: The following commentary is an edited extract from a speech delivered on Saturday by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the 43rd Munich conference on security policy and posted on the Guardian Unlimited's website edition for Tuesday, February 13, 2007. In his speech, Mr. Putin says that the U.S. has overstepped its borders in every way, and argues that we must build a new world order with security and prosperity for all. His column follows: The universal, indivisible character of security can be expressed as the basic principle that "security for one is security for all". As Franklin D. Roosevelt said at the onset of the second world war: "When peace has been broken anywhere, the peace of all countries is in danger." These words remain relevant today. Only two decades ago the world was ideologically and economically divided and it was the huge strategic potential of two superpowers that ensured global security. This global standoff pushed the sharpest economic and social problems to the margins of the world's agenda. And, just like any war, the cold war left behind live ammunition, figuratively speaking. It left ideological stereotypes, double standards and other remnants of cold war thinking. What then is a unipolar world? However one might embellish this term, at the end of the day it describes a scenario in which there is one center of authority, one center of force, one center of decision-making. It is a world in which there is one master, one sovereign. And this is pernicious, not only for all those within this system, but also for the sovereign itself because it destroys itself from within. And this, certainly, has nothing in common with democracy. Because democracy is the power of the majority in the light of the interests and opinions of the minority. Read The Full Story Baader-Meinhof Terrorist To Be Freed 2007-02-13 00:20:09 A former leader of the Baader-Meinhof gang that terrorised West Germany in the 1970s and 80s is to be freed from prison after 24 years following a court ruling Monday. Brigitte Mohnhaupt, 57, who is serving five life sentences plus 15 years for her role in the murders of several prominent Germans, including a banker, a prosecutor and an industrialist, will be freed on five years' probation next month. In its ruling, made public on its website, the Stuttgart state court said: "This is not a pardon, rather a decision based on specific legal considerations. The decision ... was reached based on the determination that no security risk exists." The decision was condemned by the families of Mohnhaupt's victims, particularly because she had shown no remorse. Read The Full Story
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