Free Internet Press Newsletter - Thursday May 17 2007 - (813)

Thursday May 17 2007 edition
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NATO Nervous As Russia Accused Of Unleashing Cyber War To Disable Estonia 2007-05-17 02:30:52 A three-week wave of massive cyber-attacks on the small Baltic country of Estonia, the first known incidence of such an assault on a state, is causing alarm across the western alliance, with NATO urgently examining the offensive and its implications. While Russia and Estonia are embroiled in their worst dispute since the collapse of the Soviet Union, a row that erupted at the end of last month over the Estonians' removal of the Bronze Soldier Soviet war memorial in central Tallinn, the country has been subjected to a barrage of cyber warfare, disabling the websites of government ministries, political parties, newspapers, banks, and companies. NATO has dispatched some of its top cyber-terrorism experts to Tallinn to investigate and to help the Estonians beef up their electronic defenses. "This is an operational security issue, something we're taking very seriously," said an official at NATO headquarters in Brussels. "It goes to the heart of the alliance's modus operandi." Read The Full Story Scientists Cast Doubt On John F. Kennedy Bullet Analysis 2007-05-17 02:30:26 In a collision of 21st-century science and decades-old conspiracy theories, a research team that includes a former top FBI scientist is challenging the bullet analysis used by the government to conclude that Lee Harvey Oswald  alone shot the two bullets that struck and killed President John F. Kennedy in 1963. The "evidence used to rule out a second assassin is fundamentally flawed," concludes a new article in the Annals of Applied Statistics written by former FBI lab metallurgist William A. Tobin and Texas A&M University researchers Cliff Spiegelman and William D. James. The researchers' re-analysis involved new statistical calculations and a modern chemical analysis of bullets from the same batch Oswald is purported to have used. They reached no conclusion about whether more than one gunman was involved, but urged that authorities conduct a new and complete forensic re-analysis of the five bullet fragments left from the assassination in Dallas, Texas. "Given the significance and impact of the JFK assassination, it is scientifically desirable for the evidentiary fragments to be re-analyzed," said the researchers. Read The Full Story Wolfowitz Said To Be Pushing For Deal To Quit 2007-05-17 02:29:43 After six weeks of combating efforts to oust him as president of the World Bank, Paul D. Wolfowitz began Wednesday to negotiate the terms under which he would resign, in return for the dropping or softening of the charge that he had engaged in misconduct, said bank officials. Wolfowitz was said to be adamant that he be cleared of wrongdoing before he resigned, according to people familiar with his thinking. The negotiations were still under way on Wednesday evening, and bank officials said they were increasingly hopeful that a solution was in sight, ending what had become a bitter ordeal at the bank, within the Bush administration and at economic ministries around the world. Read The Full Story Prince Harry Will Not Go To Iraq 2007-05-17 02:28:39 After months of speculation and agonizing by military advisers, General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the army, announced Wednesday that Prince Harry will not, after all, join his comrades in southern Iraq. The prince had wanted to go, and the general initially wanted to send him. But, after consulting military commanders on a visit to Basra last week, Gen. Dannatt decided it would be too risky both for Prince Harry and the fellow members of his Household Cavalry squadron, who would also become targets for insurgents. Specific threats to the prince "expose not only him but also those around him to a degree of risk that I now deem unacceptable", said the general. He insisted that though his squadron was willing to share those risks, he was not prepared to "export those risks to the families". Read The Full Story Bush Intervened In Dispute Over Eavesdropping 2007-05-16 01:58:03 President Bush intervened in March 2004 to avert a crisis over the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping program after Attorney General John Ashcroft, Director Robert S. Mueller III, of the F.B.I. and other senior Justice Department aides all threatened to resign, a former deputy attorney general testified Tuesday. Bush quelled the revolt over the program’s legality by allowing it to continue without Justice Department approval, also directing department officials to take the necessary steps to bring it into compliance with the law, according to Congressional testimony by the former deputy attorney general, James B. Comey. Although a conflict over the program had been disclosed in the New York Times, Comey provided a fuller account of the 48-hour drama, including, for the first time, Bush’s role, the threatened resignations and a race as Comey hurried to Ashcroft’s hospital sickbed to intercept White House officials, who were pushing for approval of the N.S.A. program. Read The Full Story Factional Fighting Terrorizes Gaza 2007-05-16 01:57:09 Hamas gunmen riddled a Fatah police jeep with gunfire at close range Tuesday, killing eight policemen in the most ruthless round yet of factional fighting, pushing the Palestinian unity government closer to collapse. Gunmen in black ski masks took up positions in the streets and terrified residents huddled in their homes. Israel,  too, was briefly drawn into the battle. "I don't know when it's going to end and what the future will bring," said Salman Abu Arafeh, 42, a Gaza City interior decorator who was pinned down by gunfire in his apartment for hours, along with his wife and two children. A total of 15 people were killed in Tuesday's fighting. Read The Full Story	Commentary: Rove's Worrisome Witness 2007-05-17 02:30:38 Intellpuke: The following commentary is by op-ed columnist Robert D. Novak and appears in the Washington Post edition for Thursday, May 17, 2007. On the day presidential senior adviser Karl Rove administered a tongue-lashing to a Republican congressman, disturbing news about his former executive assistant was spread on Capitol Hill. GOP House members learned that Susan Ralston is requesting immunity to testify before Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman's investigating committee. She was an assistant to Jack Abramoff, Washington super-lobbyist and Republican fundraiser, in 2001 when he recommended her for the top job with Rove as he entered the White House. As Rove's gatekeeper, Susan Bonzon Ralston became special assistant to the president and the highest-ranking Filipino American in the administration. For Waxman, she is a link between the disgraced, imprisoned Abramoff and Rove, a principal political target of the Democratic-controlled Congress. As chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Waxman is tirelessly making life miserable for a confused administration during George W. Bush's last two years as president. Bringing down Rove ranks high on Grand Inquisitor Waxman's agenda. But Ralston appears to be seeking immunity for self-protection rather than nailing her former boss, and she could be a blank fired by the fierce political marksman from westside Los Angeles. Read The Full Story At Least 26 Prosecutors Were Listed For Firing 2007-05-17 02:30:00 The Justice Department considered dismissing many more U.S. attorneys than officials have previously acknowledged, with at least 26 prosecutors suggested for termination between February 2005 and December 2006, according to sources familiar with documents withheld from the public. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales testified last week that the effort was limited to eight U.S. attorneys fired since last June, and other administration officials have said that only a few others were suggested for removal. In fact, D. Kyle Sampson, then Gonzales' chief of staff, considered more than two dozen U.S. attorneys for termination, according to lists compiled by him and his colleagues, said the sources. Read The Full Story 21 Killed In Gun Battles As Gaza Crisis Worsens 2007-05-17 02:29:08 Intensifying factional fighting brought the Palestinians' two-month-old power-sharing government closer to collapse Wednesday as Israeli military aircraft fired on a Hamas operations camp in the Gaza Strip in an effort to end days of rocket attacks on Israeli targets. Despite calls for a cease-fire, at least 21 Palestinians, all of them apparently belonging to armed groups, died in the worst violence since Hamas and Fatah initially agreed in February to govern together. That arrangement was designed to end factional fighting but was weakened by the resignation this week of the parties' compromise candidate for interior minister. The streets of Gaza remained empty Wednesday except for gunmen from the rival camps, who now appear to be operating with little regard for their respective political leaders. At least 36 Palestinians have died in clashes since Sunday. Read The Full Story Missing, Slain GI's Identified As Search Continues In Iraq 2007-05-16 01:58:25 The Pentagon on Tuesday released the names of seven soldiers from the Army's 10th Mountain Division who were captured or killed by insurgents in a sophisticated weekend ambush south of Baghdad. The three soldiers confirmed dead are Sgt. 1st Class James David Connell Jr., 40, of Lake City, Tennessee, Pfc. Daniel W. Courneya, 19, of Nashville, Michigan, and Pfc. Christopher E. Murphy, 21, of Lynchburg, Virginia. The Pentagon said they died in the village of Al Taqa "of wounds suffered when their patrol was attacked by enemy forces using automatic fire and explosives." Four soldiers were listed as "duty status whereabouts unknown," a term often used before a soldier is formally listed as missing. Of those four, however, one is known to be dead but was badly burned in the ambush that left the soldiers' Humvees ablaze, so the military must conduct forensic tests to determine his identity. The four are Sgt. Anthony J. Schober, 23, of Reno, Nevada,Spec. Alex R. Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Massachusetts, Pfc. Joseph J. Anzack Jr., 20, of Torrance, California, and Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Michigan. All the soldiers were assigned to the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, based at Fort Drum, N.Y. Read The Full Story GAO Report: Dept. Of Homeland Security Breaks Privacy Laws In Data Collection 2007-05-16 01:57:46 The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is breaking privacy laws by failing to tell the public all the ways it uses personal information to target passengers boarding flights entering or leaving the United States, according to a draft government report. The Government Accountability Office (GAO), in a report to be released Wednesday, says DHS's Customs and Border Protection agency has never publicly disclosed all the sources of data such as name, credit card number and travel history that it uses to detect passengers who may pose a security risk. "CBP's current disclosures do not fully inform the public about all of its systems for prescreening aviation passenger information, nor do they explain how CBP combines data in the prescreening process, as required by law," the report says. "As a result, passengers are not assured that their privacy is protected during the international prescreening process." Read The Full Story Sparks Fly At 2nd GOP Debate 2007-05-16 01:56:45 The leading Republican presidential candidates parried accusations from their rivals that they have strayed too far from their party's conservative philosophies on abortion, taxes and immigration in a debate that featured some of the most direct exchanges of the 2008 battle for the GOP nomination. The debate included sharp jabs as the candidates pledged tax cuts and all but one reaffirmed their support for the war in Iraq. The contenders also further exposed their party's divisions over social issues, including abortion and stem cell research, on a day when the Rev. Jerry Falwell's death cast a shadow over the campaign. The entire group appeared more relaxed and at ease than they were in their first meeting in Simi Valley, California,  two weeks ago. And some of the most memorable moments were the lighter ones, as when former Arkansas  governor Mike Huckabee joked that the Congress had "spent money like John Edwards at a beauty shop," an allusion to reports that the Democratic candidate had paid $400 for a haircut. Read The Full Story
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