Thursday, May 17, 2007
Morning Papers - continued ...
Army News
Official: Industrial base presents challenges
By Bryant Jordan
bmjordan@militarytimes.com
Posted : Wednesday May 16, 2007 17:10:30 EDT
The country’s shrinking industrial base and the Pentagon’s specialized demands for parts and technology put U.S. defense needs in a difficult position and must be seriously addressed, a Pentagon official told members of the Commission on the National Guard and Reserve Wednesday.
P. Jackson “Jack” Bell, deputy undersecretary of defense for logistics and materiel readiness, said this is particularly the case when the military requires parts quickly, such as when the Pentagon called for Humvees to be up-armored.
The industrial base, he said, “where it may be adequate sometimes ... doesn’t have either the capacity or the interest to surge the needs requirements that are somewhat short-lived.
“So the challenge is we have to think very carefully and very strategically about how we maintain the industrial base we’re going to need. Right now we’re concerned about the sheer availability [of products]. The bigger question of the economics of competitive sources of materials we need to address strategically.”
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/airforce_industry_guardreserve_070516/
Free videoconference provider may shut down
By Karen Jowers - Staff writerPosted : Wednesday May 16, 2007 21:24:25 EDT
A nonprofit foundation that has been giving about a million minutes of free phone calls a month to troops in Iraq, and hundreds of thousands of minutes of free Internet access, is running out of money and is in danger of shutting down.
“We’re within 30 days of being blacked out. We’re employing every trick in the book to keep going,” said John Harlow, founder and executive director of Freedom Calls Foundation, which has call centers at camps Taji, Fallujah and Victory, and at Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq.
A number of corporations have been long-time donors of equipment to set up call centers, even providing videocams for families back home. Since the foundation starting setting up its locations in Iraq in 2004, over $1 million, mostly in equipment and technology, has been donated.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/military_freephone_internet_070528w/
Gates: Keep Guard under presidential control
By William H. McMichael - Staff writerPosted : Wednesday May 16, 2007 16:31:00 EDT
The president, not state governors, should maintain control of federalized National Guard and reserve forces during emergencies, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has decided, countering the recommendation of an independent commission that is examining ways to reorganize and strengthen the much-used reserve components in the post-Cold War era.
Gates also rejected two other recommendations of the congressionally appointed Commission on the National Guard and Reserves: to make the Guard a joint defense activity rather than a joint bureau of the Army and Air Force, upon which the equipment-starved Guard and Air Guard rely in large part for funding; and to require that the commander or deputy commander of U.S. Northern Command, primarily responsible for homeland defense and civil support, be a reserve component officer.
Related
Memo on implementation of recommendations from the commission
But Gates has suggested alternative approaches that he feels would address the shortcomings, according to a May 10 memo released during a Pentagon news conference today.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/military_reservescontrol_070516w/
Terrorism tip line busy after Fort Dix arrests
By Angela Delli Santi - The Associated PressPosted : Wednesday May 16, 2007 16:18:01 EDT
TRENTON, New Jersey — Calls to New Jersey’s counterterrorism tip line more than doubled in the week after authorities said they stopped a plot to kill soldiers at Fort Dix.
A tip from vigilant store clerks led to the arrests of six men whom authorities said were conspiring to kill military personnel. The FBI said it learned of the young Muslims after workers from a Circuit City store became alarmed at the content of a video one man brought in for duplication in January 2006.
The tip line received 65 calls from May 8-14, the week beginning the day after authorities arrested the men. The line got just 30 calls from May 1-7.
The government says the men, all foreign-born but longtime U.S. residents, had weapons training in the area and were trying to buy arms to carry out the attack.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/ap_fortdix_tipline_070516/
White House opposes 3.5 percent pay raise
By Rick Maze - Staff writerPosted : Wednesday May 16, 2007 17:47:40 EDT
Troops don’t need bigger pay raises, White House budget officials said Wednesday in a statement of administration policy laying out objections to the House version of the 2008 defense authorization bill.
The Bush administration had asked for a 3 percent military raise for Jan. 1, 2008, enough to match last year’s average pay increase in the private sector. The House Armed Services Committee recommends a 3.5 percent pay increase for 2008, and increases in 2009 through 2012 that also are 0.5 percentage point greater than private-sector pay raises.
The slightly bigger military raises are intended to reduce the gap between military and civilian pay that stands at about 3.9 percent today. Under the bill, HR 1585, the pay gap would be reduced to 1.4 percent after the Jan. 1, 2012, pay increase.
Bush budget officials said the administration “strongly opposes” both the 3.5 percent raise for 2008 and the follow-on increases, calling extra pay increases “unnecessary.”
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/military_whitehouse_opposeraise_070516w/
Bill would boost education and loan benefits
By Rick Maze - Staff writerPosted : Wednesday May 16, 2007 16:25:10 EDT
A bill promising better education and home loan benefits for veterans and help for vets starting small businesses was unveiled Wednesday by two lawmakers, backed by advocates for veterans, education and housing.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa., are the chief sponsors of what they are calling the 21st Century Bill of Rights Act of 2007, a name that is similar to previous proposals from Democrats.
The new GI Bill benefits would be available at no cost to active, Guard and reserve members who have deployed overseas in support of a combat operation since Sept. 11, 2001, or who have served a minimum of two cumulative years of active duty since that date.
Their new proposal concentrates on just three issues, and proposes significant changes in each area.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/military_gibill_benefits_070516w/
Army said to be improving mental health care
By COLLEEN SLEVIN - The Associated PressPosted : Thursday May 17, 2007 5:39:13 EDT
DENVER — The Army is making a “dramatic turn” in how it handles soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder, a member of a veterans group investigating mental health care at Fort Carson said Wednesday.
After two days of closed-door meetings with commanders and congressional staffers at the post, Steve Robinson said commanders have agreed to do a better job educating officers about the condition and take steps to amend the records of wrongly diagnosed soldiers.
“I believe the Army has made a dramatic turn. ... I think we’re going to see a cultural sea change, and I think we just have to continue to monitor it to make sure that it happens,” said Robinson, of Veterans for America, in a conference call with reporters.
More medical and case workers will be needed to help the Army treat soldiers, he said, noting the problems at Fort Carson are being seen across the military.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/ap_army_mentalhealth_070517/
June sgt., staff sgt. lists are out
By Jim Tice - Staff writerPosted : Thursday May 17, 2007 9:24:03 EDT
Noncommissioned officer promotions for the active component will top 4,000 in June, nearly 1,000 more than in May. Are you among those being promoted?
Lists
June sgt promotions
June staff sgt promotions
Senior NCO sequence numbers and sergeant and staff sergeant cutoff scores issued by Tuesday Human Resources Command call for 10 advancements to sergeant major, 118 to master sergeant, 686 to sergeant first class, 1,147 to staff sergeant and 2,050 to sergeant.
The total of 4,011 is slightly below average for the year, but well above the 3,300 promotions authorized for June 2006.
Promotions in the senior ranks will reduce the 2006 sergeant major list to just 27 names. A new list will be compiled by a board that convenes June 2 in Indianapolis, and that could be released in late July or early August.
The 2006 master sergeant list will be reduced to 1,524 names, and the 2007 sergeant first class list to 6,101 names.
The 1,147 staff sergeant promotions will go to soldiers on the 16,275-name promotable sergeant list.
The 2,050 promotions to sergeant will go to soldiers in a pool of 15,718 promotable specialists and corporals.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/army_NCO_promotions_070515/
Iraq war critic mourns for son killed in Iraq
By Jay Lindsay - The Associated PressPosted : Wednesday May 16, 2007 20:52:49 EDT
BOSTON — Andrew Bacevich railed repeatedly against the war in Iraq in op-ed columns and interviews, calling it a “catastrophic failure.” But the Boston University professor rarely, if ever, said that his son was serving in the conflict.
Friends say he did so to protect Andy Bacevich Jr. and to avoid any question that he was proud of his son’s service.
Bacevich, himself a veteran of Vietnam and the Gulf wars, learned this week that his 27-year-old son had been killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq.
Bacevich’s critiques of the war have been measured, with the professor emphasizing that the war’s architects are not evil but disastrously mistaken. Now that he has suffered a personal loss, that approach could change, a colleague said.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/ap_bacevich_killed_070516/
Mortars again hammer Green Zone in Baghdad
By Kim Gamel - The Associated PressPosted : Wednesday May 16, 2007 22:21:42 EDT
BAGHDAD — Mortar rounds hammered the U.S.-controlled Green Zone for a second day Wednesday, killing at least two people, wounding about 10 more and raising new fears for the safety of workers at the nerve center of the American mission in Iraq.
About a dozen shells crashed into the 3.5-square-mile area of central Baghdad about 4 p.m., sending terrified pedestrians racing for the safety of concrete bunkers.
Motorists abandoned their cars and sprinted for cover. Sirens wailed and loudspeakers warned people to seek safety.
No American casualties were reported, and the two dead as well as most of the wounded were Iraqis, U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said.
An Iraqi security officer said one of the dead was a driver for the staff of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose office is in the Green Zone. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not supposed to release the information.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/ap_iraqgreenzonefears_070516/
N.M. Guardsmen head to Iraq for a year
The Associated PressPosted : Wednesday May 16, 2007 22:06:33 EDT
RIO RANCHO, N.M. — About 150 members of the New Mexico National Guard left Rio Rancho on Wednesday in the first leg of their deployment to Iraq.
The members of A company, 1st Battalion, 200th Infantry, were headed first for Fort Dix, N.J., for 30 to 45 days of additional training specific for their duty in Iraq. They then will be sent overseas for up to 400 days.
Although the unit is based in Rio Rancho, its members also come from other parts of the state.
Friends and family members gathered at the Rio Grande armory Wednesday morning to wish the troops well.
Bertha Valdez, whose son was among those deployed, had mixed feelings.
“We don’t agreed with it, but he chose to enlist, so we just have to abide by his wishes and be there for him,” she said.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/ap_newmexicoguarddeploys_070516/
Officers sacked over soldiers’ 2006 kidnapping, murders
By Lolita C. Baldor - The Associated PressPosted : Thursday May 17, 2007 9:27:00 EDT
WASHINGTON — Three U.S. soldiers slaughtered in a grisly kidnapping-murder plot south of Baghdad last June were not properly protected during a mission that was not well planned or executed, a military investigation has concluded.
Two military officers have been relieved of their commands as a result of the litany of mistakes, but neither faced criminal charges, a military official familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
A report on the investigation said the platoon leader and company commander — whose names were not released — failed to provide proper supervision to the unit or enforce military standards.
A seven-page summary of the investigation provided to the AP also said it appears insurgents may have rehearsed the attack two days earlier, and that Iraqi security forces near the soldiers’ outpost probably saw and heard the attack and “chose to not become an active participant in the attack on either side.”
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/ap_murderedsoldiers_070517/
Rewards offered for info on missing soldiers
By Kim Gamel - The Associated PressPosted : Wednesday May 16, 2007 16:18:39 EDT
BAGHDAD — The U.S. military has offered rewards of up to $200,000 for information leading to the return of three missing American soldiers, a U.S. general said Wednesday.
Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of U.S. troops south of Baghdad, said the offer was made on 50,000 leaflets distributed in the area where the troops disappeared after a pre-dawn ambush Saturday. Four American troops and an Iraq soldier were killed in the ambush.
Related
Ambush strengthens Fort Drum resolve
Search continues for missing Fort Drum soldiers
Word of the reward was also broadcast over loudspeakers as part of a massive search involving 4,000 U.S. troops and 2,000 Iraqis, Lynch said.
“We distributed 50,000 leaflets, and in the leaflets and over loudspeakers we listed the numbers of our tips lines,” Lynch told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/ap_missingsoldiers_reward_070516/
An eye for excellence
Video by Tech. Sgt. Gary Burdett, 2006 Military Videographer of the Year.
http://www.militarytimes.com/multimedia/video/milvoy2006/
A colonel’s gamble led to Ramadi success
The title should read, “Accommodating Warlords” or "Was it something the USA military finally got right or was it an accident?"
Basically, whomever is more successful in securing ‘the peace’ wins the regional alliance of the authorities. These soldiers were beyond brave, but, they are also operating outside the parameters of an organized military. They are conducting diplomacy in the face of the lack of a central authority that can effectively protect the people of Iraq. The USA presence in Iraq should never be based on 'a chance' a soldier has 'found a way.' Never. That is risking lives in the face of failure of everything else failing. I don't want to hear a single general taking credit for this act of bravery by these men. The generals don't deserve it.
These soldiers were determined to make a difference and disrupt the ‘al Qaeda’ element enough to allow a less violent situation to reign. They were clearly autonomous in their missions in a way that also dictated activity of soldiers in Vietnam.
The Unity Government of Iraq is so ineffective the soldiers find their own safe haven in recruiting loyalty from the locals to stabilize their neighborhoods. What happened here in An Albar is not a success for Bush/Cheney/Gates; it is a ‘Win-Win’ for the troops and the locals. There is nothing wrong with that, except it is high stakes poker. It worked for these troops. This is not a war strategy, this is only finding the authority within the community of An Albar that are simply waiting to secede from Iraq’s central government in Baghdad.
In my opinion, the ease at which this area of An Albar was reclaimed by the shieks demonstrates the lack of a central authority and the disintegration of The Unity Government. There is no corruption among these sheiks so much as determination to form a local authority that ‘can keep the peace.’ There is no unity anywhere in Iraq including among the US military in their strategies to survive. The troops in the field are flying by the seat of their pants. This is a ‘Win-Win’ set of circumstances that actually gave the troops a purpose in their deployment, it is not a successful strategy now applied because of the change of leadership in DC and Baghdad, although it is claimed to be by the USA military in this statement : “…Pentagon officials say the encouraging episode in Ramadi is a poignant reflection of shifting leadership tactics within the U.S. military,…” That is nothing horse hockey and Gates is the hockey puck, because this ‘episode’ was completely outside the authority of the USA military until some success was noted by a change in thinking by the sheiks. It could have easily gone the other way. In all honesty I already knew what had gone right. The provinces were being organized outside the Unity Government and in An Albar they just needed a little help in securing their presence. These folks in An Albar have a lot of help from Saudi Arabia. They border right up to them.
This won't work in Baghdad. It's diversity dictates other outcomes. I believe Baghdad will fall actually and the mortars today only confirm that suspicion.
“We just absorbed IEDs,” Tedesco said, referring to roadside bombs.
MacFarland’s brigade didn’t wait until a neighborhood was entirely secure before launching construction projects, recruiting police and trying to establish a government. Lt. Col. John Tien, commander of 2nd Battalion, 37th Armor, says the brigade was “aggressive” about pushing ahead on projects as soldiers were establishing security.
By the time the unit returned to Germany, the brigade had built 18 combat outposts in and around Ramadi.
The combat outposts helped reduce violence last summer, but the brigade wasn’t close to winning over the population, an essential part of defeating an insurgency.
Anbar province, population 1.2 million, is a vast tract of desert dotted by cities and villages, stretching from outside Baghdad to the Syrian border. It’s a region of very religious Sunnis governed largely by sheiks, imams and tribal law. Ramadi’s population is 300,000.
MacFarland says he soon realized the key was to win over the tribal leaders, or sheiks.
“The prize in the counterinsurgency fight is not terrain,” he says. “It’s the people. When you’ve secured the people, you have won the war. The sheiks lead the people.”
But the sheiks were sitting on the fence. They were not sympathetic to al-Qaida, but they tolerated its members, MacFarland says. Their outlook had been shaped by watching an earlier clash between Iraqi nationalists — primarily former members of Saddam Hussein’s ruling Baath Party — and hard-core al-Qaida operatives who were a mix of foreign fighters and Iraqis. Al-Qaida beat the nationalists. That rattled the sheiks.
“Al-Qaida just mopped up the floor with those guys,” MacFarland says. “We get there in late May and early June 2006, and the tribes are on the sidelines. They’d seen the insurgents take a beating. After watching that, they’re like, ‘Let’s see which way this is going to go.’ “
‘Are you with us?’
MacFarland’s brigade initially struggled to build an Iraqi police force, a critical step in establishing order in the city.
“We said to the sheiks, “What’s it going to take to get you guys off the fence?’” MacFarland says.
The sheiks said their main concern was protecting their own tribes and families….
…A couple of weeks later, one of the brigade’s officers went to visit Sheik Abdul Sattar al-Rishawi, a local tribal leader. The officer was shocked to see a gathering of 20-30 sheiks jammed into al-Rishawi’s home. Al-Rishawi was asked what was going on.
“We are forming an alliance against al-Qaida,” the sheik replied, according to MacFarland. “Are you with us?”…
…Officials at MacFarland’s higher headquarters, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force based near Fallujah, were worried. The U.S. military was supposed to be supporting Iraq’s government. A tribal alliance could pose a threat to Anbar Gov. Maamoun Sami Rashid al-Awani. Al-Awani’s government wasn’t popular and had been thinned by threats and assassinations. Still, U.S. policy was to back Iraqi government institutions.
The tribal leaders didn’t like al-Awani and wanted him replaced. MacFarland said the sheiks agreed to back off their demand that al-Awani step down.
There were other concerns. Al-Rishawi and his colleagues were second-tier sheiks. Most of Anbar’s senior tribal leaders, some of whom amassed considerable wealth in a variety of businesses, had decamped to Jordan because of the growing violence after the U.S.-led invasion…..
…He says the results were immediate when a sheik pledged to support the alliance with the U.S. Army, an agreement some of the sheiks involved would grandly name The Awakening. “Once a tribal leader flips, attacks on American forces in that area stop almost overnight,” MacFarland says.
Marine headquarters officers also raised concerns about the backgrounds of some of the tribal leaders involved in The Awakening. Anbar’s desolate roads and stretches of empty desert have long been home to smugglers. “I’ve read the reports” on al-Rishawi, MacFarland says. “You don’t get to be a sheik by being a nice guy. These guys are ruthless characters. ... That doesn’t mean they can’t be reliable partners.”
More than 200 sheiks in alliance
The Marine headquarters let MacFarland pursue his work with the tribes and ultimately supported it….
More than 200 sheiks are now part of the alliance. Recently, they said they would form a political party.
…From MacFarland’s standpoint, it was less about leadership style and more about necessity.
“Maybe I was a bit of a drowning man in Ramadi,” he says. “I was reaching for anything that would help me float. And that was the tribes.”
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/04/gns_colonel_070430/
There were still casualities of war including those that died, there was still loss of military assets and there are enormously present questions more than ever in the effectiveness of the Iraq Unity Government to govern. The fact the priorities to stand against the Unity Government ‘this time’ served the purpose of the Sheiks doesn’t mean that will last or be the ultimate resolve of an evolving autonomy in An Albar. The people of Iraq want to split that country into three autonomous provinces, this is a very clear indication to their will and determination. It needs to go forward.
Honoring the Fallen
http://www.militarycity.com/valor/honor.html
Torture in the war zone (A poll)
A recent U.S. Central Command study found that 36 percent of soldiers and 39 percent of Marines who recently served in the war zone believe torture should be allowed to gather information about insurgents. Should torture be acceptable when dealing with insurgents in the war zone?
Yes, it should be used to gather vital information 50.66%
Yes, but only if it could save U.S. troops’ lives 19.87%
No, torture is never acceptable 27.59%
Don’t know / No Opinion 1.88%
Haaretz
Gaza man charged for gathering info in plot to assassinate Olmert
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent
A Palestinian man was charged Thursday in Jerusalem District Court with gathering intelligence as part of a plan to assassinate Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.Masseb Bashir, a 25-year-old resident of Dir el-Balah in the Gaza Strip, has a valid entry
permit into Israel due to his work with the organization "Doctors without Borders." The charges against him include contacts with a foreign agent and conspiracy to commit a crime.The planning for the assassination was conducted at the initial level only, and did not become operational.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/860717.html
At least 4 Hamas men dead as IAF strikes across northern Gaza Strip
By Aluf Benn, Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff and Mijal Grinberg, Haaretz Correspondents and Haaretz Service
At least four Hamas militants were killed Thursday in a series of Israel Air Force strikes across the northern Gaza Strip, as Palestinian militants continued their barrage of Qassam rocket fire at the western Negev. Some 16 rockets hit the western Negev on Thursday, one of which slammed into a high school on the outskirts of Sderot, lightly wounding two people.In the first strike Thursday, the IAF hit a Hamas Executive Force compound in Gaza City, killing a Hamas militant and wounding dozens of people.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/860522.html
Three gunmen killed in Gaza despite new Hamas-Fatah truce
By Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents, and News Agencies
Three Palestinian gunmen were killed Thursday in clashes between Hamas and Fatah, despite the latest in a series of cease-fires aimed at halting this week's factional fighting. A Hamas man was killed and two others critically wounded in clashes with the Fatah-linked Preventative Security Force. A short while later, two Fatah members were killed in clashes with Hamas in Rafah.A Hamas member was shot and critically wounded in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Hamas said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/860682.html
U.S. lauds Israeli restraint in face of Qassam rocket attacks
By Shahar Ilan and Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondents and News Agencies
The United States praised Israel on Thursday for showing "great restraint" in the face of new rocket attacks from the Palestinian group Hamas but added that Israel also has a right to defend itself.Israel Air Force strikes on Thursday destroyed a Hamas security headquarters and a car carrying one of the group's top commanders. Israel had threatened a "severe" response to cross-border rocket attacks that have persisted despite a troop and settler pullout from Gaza in 2005.State Department spokesman Sean McCormack urged restraint on all sides but said Israel had the right to respond to rocket attacks from Hamas, which he blamed for the latest upsurge in Palestinian violence.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/860752.html
British gov't contacts jailed Al-Qaida man to help free Johnston
By Associated Press
The British government is in talks with a man once known as Osama bin Laden's spiritual ambassador in Europe, Omar Abu Qatada, in an attempt to secure the release of kidnapped BBC correspondent Alan Johnston, the British Foreign Office said Thursday."We have been in discussion with Abu Qatada via his lawyer with regards to making an appeal for his release," said a Foreign Office spokeswoman speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government policy.Johnston, who turned 45 Thursday, has been held since he was kidnapped March 12 in Gaza City by Palestinian gunmen. His alleged kidnappers have demanded Qatada's release from Longlartin Prison in Britain.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/860788.html
IDF releases Lebanese man one day after he was detained in north
The Israel Defense Forces released a Lebanese man on Thursday who had been detained the previous day near the border, a security source said.The army handed him to United Nations peacekeepers in south Lebanon, who in turn delivered him to the Lebanese authorities, the source said.Witnesses in Lebanon said the man had been detained while picking herbs near the border between Lebanon and the Shebaa Farms. It was not clear whether he had wandered into the Shebaa Farms.
The United Nations says the Shebaa Farms is Syrian territory captured by Israel in the Middle East war of 1967, while Syria and Lebanon say it is Lebanese territory.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/860744.html
Jordan's king: More violence unless progress made in peace process
By The Associated Press
Jordan's King Abdullah II said Thursday he was very concerned by the wave of inter-Palestinian fighting in Gaza and warned that more violence will come unless progress is in the peace process.The monarch spoke at a gathering of Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian peace activists in this southern port as fighting in Gaza between the mainstream Fatah faction and the militant Hamas entered its fifth day."I'm very concerned about the violence in Gaza. It must stop for the sake of the Palestinian people and for the sake of Palestine," Abdullah told the gathering.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/860753.html
From the Jordan Times
Jordan ‘very worried’ about bloodshed
AMMAN — Arab countries voiced deep concern about the factional fighting that raged on in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, fearful that it risks torpedoing any movement in the peace process.
King Abdullah warned that the ferocious exchanges between loyalists of the Fateh faction of President Mahmoud Abbas and the Hamas movement of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh will rebound “on the future of Palestine”.
In an interview published on Wednesday by the local daily Al Arab Al Yawm, the King cautioned both sides that Israel would be the only beneficiary of the fighting that has left almost 40 dead in just four days.
“I am very worried about the internal Palestinian disputes which serve only Israeli interests and I fear that, if the disputes continue, they will have negative repercussions on progress in the negotiations,” King Abdullah said.
http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/news/news2.htm
Obama to Haaretz: More pressure on Iran urgently needed
Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, a leading candidate for the Democratic Presidential ticket, has decided to take a more active role in the fight against the Iranian nuclear program."Iran continues to be a major threat," he told me Wednesday morning, "both the U.S. and to some of our allies." And he calls for an urgent enhancement of "the economic pressure." He calls for it, and he acts on it with the introduction of a new bill: the 'Iran Sanctions Enabling Act.' He is still in favor of talking to the Iranians, no pre-conditions attached, but made some interesting statements clarifying his position in our conversation. I asked whether the U.S. should talk with Tehran even as the centrifuges are still spinning and producing more enriched uranium. Obama's answer is both yes and no: "Its important to have low-level talks" with Iran even without them freezing the enrichment, he said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/rosnerBlog.jhtml?itemNo=860406&contrassID=25&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=1&listSrc=Y&art=1
Tehran: Iranian, American officials to hold talks on Iraqi security
By Reuters
Iranian and U.S. officials will meet in Iraq on May 28 to discuss security in Iraq, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Thursday."Negotiation is limited to Iraq, in Iraq, and will start in the presence of Iraqi officials," Mottaki told a news conference in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
The talks, being held at the request of Iraqi leaders, would be at the level of ambassador, he said.The United States said this week talks would soon be held with Iran on how it could take a "productive role" in Iraq's security.The United States has accused Iran of backing Shi'ite militia in Iraq and seeking an atomic bomb. Iran denies both accusations.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/860725.html
Next three from RIA Novosti
No nuclear discussion in Iran-U.S. talks May 28 - Iranian FM
TEHRAN, May 17 (RIA Novosti) - Tehran will not discuss its nuclear program during talks with U.S. officials in Iraq, scheduled for May 28, the Iranian foreign minister said Thursday.
"Talks between the Iranian and U.S. ambassadors will be held in Iraq May 28 and will address only security in that country," Manouchehr Mottaki told a news conference in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
"We will not hold any discussion on Iran's "nuclear file" during the meeting," the Iranian IRNA news agency quoted Mottaki as saying.
The talks, which come at the request of Iraqi leaders, had initially been scheduled for March of this year but were continuously postponed due to a U.S. propaganda campaign against Iran, in which the White House has accused of providing Shiite militia with weaponry and explosives.
Tehran, in turn, denies the accusations and blames Washington for the bloodshed and violence in Iraq that followed the U.S.-led military campaign in the country.
"The presence of foreign troops in that country [Iraq] creates serious problems for the Iraqi people," Mottaki said, adding that deteriorating security in Iraq was proof that the U.S.'s "erroneous" policy there had failed.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20070517/65641154.html
U.S. Senator Lugar says Russia wants Arctic energy reserves
WASHINGTON, May 16 (RIA Novosti) - U.S. Senator Richard G. Lugar said Russia is aspiring to take control over potential energy reserves in the Arctic Ocean at the expense of U.S. interests.
The senator, known for his anti-Russian statements, urged the U.S. authorities to join the struggle for the polar oil and gas resources by ratifying the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The issue has acquired importance in view of dwindling global energy resources. Experts forecast that oil reserves on land would soon be exhausted and the only available fields will be in Persian Gulf and on deep sea shelves.
Lugar said Russia had claimed the right to develop the reserves, which could become more accessible due to ice melting in climate change. The Russian government is expected to meet this week to discuss hydrocarbon production on the sea.
The U.S. parliamentarian's warnings followed a statement by President George W. Bush Tuesday, which called on the Senate to ratify the convention.
Lugar said the convention had been adopted in Cold War times to protect national interests against the Soviet Union and aggressively developing countries. If ratified, the document will grant Washington control over the vast energy and fish wealth lying 200 miles off the American coast, he said.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20070516/65556146.html
Bush just outsources everything, doesn’t he? I don’t believe he sees the same boundaries that the citizens of the USA see. He sees the unlimitless wealth potentials of the US Treasury while the American people want National Security. Why is it that the two don’t coincide?
Russia prepares to launch four U.S. satellites in May
MOSCOW, May 17 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is continuing preparations to launch four U.S. Globalstar satellites into orbit on board a Soyuz-FG carrier rocket from a space center in Kazakhstan by the end of May, the Russian space agency said Thursday.
Globalstar is a low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite-based telecommunications system founded by U.S.-based Loral Corporation and Qualcomm Inc. It provides high-quality satellite voice and data services across North America and to over 120 countries worldwide.
"Four Globalstar satellites... have been transferred to a final assembly room," the Federal Space Agency said in a statement. "The assembly of a dispenser with a booster has been scheduled for May 18."
The agency earlier said the launch of a Soyuz-FG carrier rocket from the Baikonur space center would be conducted on May 20.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070517/65654103.html
State prepares partial Sderot evacuation
By Aluf Benn, Amos Harel and Mijal Grinberg
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz disagree on whether to evacuate the residents of Sderot in light of the Qassam rocket attacks on the town in recent days. The business tycoon Arcadi Gaydamak has added complexity to the debate by evacuating hundreds of Sderot residents to the Golden Tulip hotel in Be'er Sheva. The possibility of evacuating people from Sderot was raised yesterday by Peretz during a meeting with defense officials called by Olmert to discuss the developments in the Gaza Strip and the constant bombardment of Sderot.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/860491.html
Rabbi warns against going to Temple Mount
Former chief rabbi Avraham Shapira, head of Mercaz Harav yeshiva, said yesterday that Jews are prohibited from going to the Temple Mount. Shapira's statement came after a pamphlet issued by religious-Zionist rabbis calling on people to go to the Temple Mount, and doing so themselves earlier this week in what has been called a historical change in their stand. Shapira (along with Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu) is considered a leading figure in the religious-Zionist movement. He made the statements at the traditional rally in honor of Jerusalem Day at the yeshiva. Rabbi Dov Lior, the head of the West Bank rabbinic committee and the chief rabbi of Kiryat Arba, who was among those who visited the Temple Mount with the group this week, was seated next to him.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/860476.html
From the Jerusalem Post
Support the secularists in Turkey
My visit to Istanbul this week comes in the midst of the greatest challenge to the Turkish secular republic since its creation in 1923. Founded by Mustafa Kemal Atat rk in the wreckage of the Ottoman Empire, the republic came into existence at about the high-water mark of Western confidence, when it appeared that European ways would become the global template. Atat rk imposed a dizzying array of changes, including European laws, the Latin alphabet, the Gregorian calendar, personal last names, hats instead of fezzes, monogamy, Sunday as the day of rest, a ban on dervishes, the legal right to drink alcohol, and Turkish as a liturgical language.
Many reforms took root; going back to the Arabic script or discarding last names is inconceivable. That said, the country has generally reverted to Islamic ways. Increased religious instruction in the schools and more state-funded mosques are complemented by more women taking on head-scarves.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1178708618844&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Ashkenazi backs Stern against hesder rabbis
Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi voiced support on Wednesday for IDF Human Resources Head Maj.-Gen. Elazar Stern's decision to halt recruiting of hesder soldiers to Golani and paratrooper units.
Ashkenazi also extended Stern's term one year till the summer of 2008.
Hesder soldiers combine an abridged military service - 18 months instead of three years - with Torah studies.
The decision to block hesder soldiers from Golani and paratrooper units comes after a clash between Stern and hesder rabbis.
Rabbis refused to acquiesce to Stern's demand that hesder yeshivas supply soldiers for a minimum of three "integrated" Golani and paratrooper platoons.
These platoons would ensure equal numbers of religious and secular soldiers. The rabbis and the hesder soldiers demanded the freedom to keep the platoons segregated and manned solely by hesder soldiers. A platoon consists of about 35 soldiers.
Hesder rabbis and students had hoped that Ashkenazi would support them against Stern.
Rabbi David Stav, spokesman for the hesder yeshivot, said in response that he was concerned that the push to integrate religious soldiers would discourage yeshiva students from serving.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1178708619651&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Palm Beach Post
Fragile balance offshore
By Nicole Janok
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 07, 2007
LAKE WORTH — — About a mile offshore, where the water fades into a deep, misty blue and the sea life blooms into a colorful collection of coral, sits one of South Florida's most pristine reefs.
Blanketed by the area's most diverse fish population, Horseshoe Reef also is home to one of the oldest living creatures: a dome of brain coral that stretches 4 feet in diameter and is more than 200 years old.
For years, the reef east of the Lake Worth Pier has been considered the best diving spot in the area.
But that flourishing, colorful vision could be in danger.
As part of a new reverse osmosis system to purify drinking water, the city has proposed flushing 4 million gallons of treated effluent a day into the ocean through an old, 92-foot-deep outfall pipe that opens on the eastern side of Horseshoe Reef. Once used to dump sewage into the ocean, the 30-inch pipe has lain idle for years.
The reverse osmosis process draws water from the brackish Floridan Aquifer and uses high pressure to push water through a membrane to filter out salts and impurities. Activists, divers and coral reef experts are concerned that the waste from the process will dump a potent mix of ammonia, nitrogen and phosphorus onto the reef.
That will provide nutrients that will nurture a deadly algae bloom, smothering the coral, they contend.
"Algae bloom on coral reefs are a problem all over the world, and they're always associated with some sort of pollution," said Ed Tichenor, director of Palm Beach County Reef Rescue.
Tichenor and his group are leading efforts to protest the city's request to the state Department of Environmental Protection for a permit to use the sewage outfall pipe to dump the effluent.
Tichenor points to research of marine ecologist Brian Lapointe of Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution in Fort Pierce. Lapointe, who specializes in reducing land-based nutrient pollution, said the ammonia levels predicted to be released near the reef are far above what would produce the deadly algae blooms.
"This is definitely one of the biggest problems on our planet," Lapointe said of nutrients that cause algae bloom.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/pbccentral/content/local_news/epaper/2007/05/07/m1a_lwreef_0506_1_1_1.html
Demand rises for reused water
Click-2-Listen
By Hector Florin
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 17, 2007
The downpours that fell over Palm Beach County Wednesday morning meant not only brief relief for browning lawns but also a temporary break in the soaring use of reclaimed water during the drought.
Palm Beach County Water Utilities, which serves the most customers in the county, has experienced a 50 percent increase in the use of treated wastewater during the past two months, since water restrictions were put in place.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/pbcsouth/content/local_news/epaper/2007/05/17/s1b_reclaim_0517.html
Seabird species dying in unusual numbers
By Kelly Wolfe
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 17, 2007
It's not uncommon for snowbirds to make their way home this time of year.
But they usually don't starve to death along the way.
A state veterinarian, a daily beach walker and two local wildlife sanctuaries said they've seen more sick northern gannets this migration season than in prior years. The gannet is a seabird that passes through here twice a year, going to and from Canada.
"We have 10 to 15 every day," said Vered Nograd, the wildlife care manager at Folke Peterson Wildlife Center near Wellington.
Nograd said that's about double or triple the number that usually arrive at the sanctuary this time of year.
"We're busy, busy, busy with gannets," said David Hitzig, Executive Director of the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary in Jupiter. "We've got gannets coming out of our ears. It's about 10 times what we normally have."
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/pbcwest/content/local_news/epaper/2007/05/17/s1b_gannets_0517.html
Beachside residents seek dune protection
By Ana X. Ceron
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 17, 2007
PALM BEACH — Ronnie Brown saw the suited men from her third-floor kitchen window and realized this was her time to get some answers about erosion from the state.
Wednesday was the second day of beach tours for state officials touring Palm Beach County for a closer look at beaches battered by last week's Subtropical Storm Andrea.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/pbcsouth/content/local_news/epaper/2007/05/17/s3b_erosion_0517.html
Lake City Wildfires
http://postpix.palmbeachpost.com/pages/gallery.php?gallery=315388
Tourist swept out to sea off Jupiter Inlet
By Rochelle E.B. Gilken
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
UPDATED: 4:45 p.m. May 16, 2007
JUPITER — A 26-year-old tourist was swept out into rough seas at about 1:15 this morning, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.
The sheriff's office and U.S. Coast Guard will continue looking for the body during daylight hours but no longer consider it a rescue mission.
As of late this afternoon, there were no longer any boats out looking for the swimmer.
The visitor from Mesa, Ariz., was staying at a home in Jupiter when he and a friend walked to the water in the Jupiter inlet.
They got in waist-deep, but the friend said the water was too rough and got out.
The visitor went out a little further and apparently got caught in a rip current, said sheriff's spokeswoman Teri Barbera.
His friend didn't have a cellphone, so he had to run back to the house to call 911.
Responding Jupiter police officers could hear the man screaming for help in the water, but the seas were too turbulent to reach him, Barbera said.
They called out the U.S. Coast Guard immediately, which sent out a helicopter and a cutter.
The sheriff's office joined the search with two boats and a helicopter.
Crist signs mandatory physical education into law
By JENNIFER KAY Associated Press Writer
DAVIE, Fla. — All elementary school students must have at least a half-hour of daily physical education under a bill Florida's health-conscious governor signed Thursday, after tossing a few footballs at the Miami Dolphins training camp.
When school starts in August, a minimum of 2 1/2 hours will be required each week for students between kindergarten and fifth grade. Middle and high schools are encouraged to provide up to 3 3/4 hours of gym class weekly.
Gov. Charlie Crist, who played quarterback on his high school football team, threw three spirals into a practice net on a Dolphins practice field at Nova Southeastern University. He then reminded the Broward County students around him that physical education was part of the school day when he was growing up in St. Petersburg.
"It's very important for you to have the opportunity to have physical education," he told them.
The slim governor, who has also established a state council on physical fitness, had publicly supported the bill sponsored by state Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, during the regular legislative session that concluded May 4.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/gen/ap/FL_Mandatory_Physical_Education.html
Volunteer's effort makes magic moment for kids
By Lady Hereford
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
BOYNTON BEACH — Ten-year-old Berta Lopez-Rodas has a furry new friend to cuddle with at night, a teddy bear she named Ashley.
Berta, who attends South Grade Elementary School in Lake Worth, designed the bear herself during a recent trip to Build-a-Bear Workshop at The Gardens mall.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/bocaraton/content/neighborhood/boynton_beach/epaper/2007/05/16/npb_cpmaya_0516.html
PACE program helps troubled girls catch up
By BILL DIPAOLO
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
WEST PALM BEACH — The hand-made T-shirts tell their story.
"For all the Children who have lost their mom"
"It hurts when a friend is hurting"
"I watched you beat my mom but I still supported her"
The T-shirts are made by the 50 girls who attend PACE, a state-funded, alternative education program for girls between 12 and 18. Some have been sent by judges. Others have asked to enroll. Others, like 15-year-old Makenna Townsend, were convinced by their parents to attend. Their problems range from academics to sexual abuse to violence.
"I didn't want to come here. It was my mom's idea," said Townsend, a North Palm Beach resident who was referred to PACE in February from Palm Beach County Court. "I'm glad I'm here now."
The PACE Center for Girls off Military Trail is one of 19 in Florida for girls between 12 and 18. Students attend weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. There is no charge to parents for the 12-18 month program. The West Palm Beach 501(c)3 program receives about 80 percent of its $1 million annual budget from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. The rest comes from the Palm Beach County School District, United Way and other sources, said Executive Director Angela Clarke.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/npost/content/neighborhood/westpalm/epaper/2007/05/16/npc_cppace_0516.html
Report cites transfers, booster
By Hal Habib, and Andrew Abramson
Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
Thursday, May 17, 2007
A 15-page investigative report by the Florida High School Athletic Association into Jupiter Christian School's athletic program raises "red flags" about booster Joseph L. Raich, alleges that a wrestler filed a "fraudulent" physical examination form and cites irregularities in the transfer of four athletes to the school.
Still to come: a report FHSAA investigator Troy Pumphrey is compiling on whether any Jupiter Christian athletes were given steroids or human growth hormone - the very question that triggered the investigation two months ago.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/highschools/content/sports/epaper/2007/05/17/s1c_JCS_0517.html
Group fights to preserve Old Florida lifestyle
By Angie Francalancia
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
WELLINGTON — The 8-acre rectangle on the east side of State Road 7 is the first domino, as neighbors see it, in a string that leads inevitably to high-density development and traffic cutting through their neighborhood.
They're wary of thousands of square feet in a commercial building and words such as warehouse and big box to describe the project developers propose.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/npost/content/neighborhood/wellington/epaper/2007/05/16/npw_wellannex_0516.html
Ag-Mart faces fine for housing violations
By Christine Stapleton and John Lantigua
Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Ag-Mart, grower of the popular Santa Sweet grape tomato, "intentionally" violated federal laws that guarantee clean, safe and licensed housing for nearly 2,000 of its migrant farm workers at the company's farms in north Florida, a federal judge has ruled.
The long-awaited ruling in the class-action lawsuit accused Ag-Mart of housing workers during the 2001-2002 growing season in three hotels that were not licensed, often crowded and lacked cooking and laundry facilities. Federal and state laws protect migrant farm workers in four areas - wages, pesticides transportation and housing. U.S District Judge Henry Lee Adams Jr. gave attorneys until May 24 to submit written arguments about how much Ag-Mart should pay in damages for the housing violations.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2007/05/17/0517agmart.html
Daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. dies
ATLANTA (AP) -- Yolanda King, the firstborn child of the first family of the civil rights movement, who honored that legacy through acting and advocacy, died late Tuesday. She was 51.
The daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King died in Santa Monica, Calif. Family members did not know the cause of death, but suspect it might have been a heart problem.
"This is just the last thing and the last person that we expected this to happen to," said Issac Newton Farris, the Kings' cousin and CEO of the King Center. "At least with my aunt (Coretta Scott King) we had some warning. Yolanda as far as we knew was healthy and certainly happy."
Former Mayor Andrew Young, a lieutenant of her father's who has remained close to the family, said King was going to her brother Dexter's home when she collapsed in the doorway. Farris said she died near Dexter King but would not elaborate.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OBIT_KING?SITE=FLPAP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-05-16-08-08-24
Hilton's jail term cut to about 23 days (video)
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Paris Hilton will serve about half of her 45-day jail sentence and will be separated from the general inmate population, authorities said Wednesday.
The hotel heiress will spend about 23 days in a "special needs housing unit" at the Century Regional Detention Center in suburban Lynwood, Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.
Her sentence was shortened after jail officials gave her credit for good behavior, Whitmore said. Officials considered several factors in calculating the credit, including that she appeared for her latest court date, he said.
Hilton will stay in a unit that contains 12 two-person cells reserved for police officers, public officials, celebrities and other high-profile inmates, he said.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PEOPLE_PARIS_HILTON?SITE=FLPAP&SECTION=ENTERTAINMENT&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-05-17-07-51-04
Police believe man ran brothel in apartment, left town
By Allyson Bird
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 17, 2007
FORT PIERCE — Police believe a 47-year-old man ran a brothel from a downstairs apartment in a Virginia Avenue complex and possibly smuggled illegal immigrants into the country.
Raul Barbosa left town before they could arrest him, according to a report.
A confidential source told police in April that a business card for massages listed Barbosa's phone number. Barbosa offered the source an hour with a woman in the apartment for $160, according to the report.
The source scheduled an appointment mid-April and went to 2707 Virginia Ave., Apartment 7, wired with a listening device. Barbosa told the source he wanted to run an "upscale brothel" with a "relaxed atmosphere," the report says.
He said he had been prostituting women for 20 years without arrest. Barbosa also told the source he and a woman smuggled immigrants into the country for $6,000 and that he had a cocaine connection in Miami, the report says.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2007/05/17/m3b_fphouse_0517.html?imw=Y
Foreclosures up in Fla., U.S.
By Linda Rawls
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
The number of homeowners falling behind on their mortgages nearly quadrupled in St. Lucie County last month compared with a year ago, but remained nearly unchanged in Palm Beach County, RealtyTrac said Tuesday.
In Martin County, households entering some stage of foreclosure declined by 49 percent year-over-year, while Florida foreclosures surged 71 percent.
Nationwide, U.S. foreclosures dipped below a two-year high set the previous month, but rose 62 percent from April 2006 in the wake of falling home prices and the subprime mortgage mess, analysts said.
"What's going on up and down the coast?" said Gary Woodfield, a litigation partner at Edwards Angell in West Palm Beach. "Everyone is strained by the triple combination of increased interest rates, taxes and insurance. But the Palm Beach County economy is stronger.
"At least for the present, we can handle it."
Florida had the second-highest number of filings in the nation with a total of 14,318 households entering some stage of foreclosure last month, Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac said. California is No. 1 with 30,505 filings.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/business/content/business/epaper/2007/05/16/a1d_foreclosures_0516.html?imw=Y
Dems meet with Bush staff on war measure
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate leaders met with President Bush's chief of staff in the Capitol on Thursday in search of a compromise bill to fund the Iraq war, eager to avoid a second veto showdown.
"We'll work through something we can all live with," the president told reporters at the White House.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that was his goal, adding that Democrats would not give the White House "a blank check." Bush "has to deal with us," he said.
Bush vetoed an earlier measure, objecting to a proposed timetable for a troop withdrawal as well as several billion dollars Democrats inserted for their favored domestic programs.
House Democrats failed to override his veto, then countered with a replacement bill to finance the war in two 60-day installments. Bush vowed to veto that bill, as well.
The Senate sidetracked the House's confrontational approach, passing legislation that merely pledges to provide the troops the resources they need - an action designed to pave the way for Bolten's mid-morning visit to the Capitol for renewed talks with Reid and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
The vote was 94-1.
Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., cast the lone dissenting vote. He favors cutting off money to end the war.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_IRAQ?SITE=FLPAP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Agreement reached on immigration reform
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Key senators and the White House reached agreement Thursday on an immigration overhaul that would grant quick legal status to millions of illegal immigrants already in the U.S. and fortify the border.
The plan would create a temporary worker program to bring new arrivals to the U.S. A separate program would cover agricultural workers. New high-tech enforcement measures also would be instituted to verify that workers are here legally.
The compromise came after weeks of painstaking closed-door negotiations that brought the most liberal Democrats and the most conservative Republicans together with President Bush's Cabinet officers to produce a highly complex measure that carries heavy political consequences.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., said he expects Bush to endorse the agreement.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IMMIGRATION_CONGRESS?SITE=FLPAP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Report says soldiers were not protected
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Three U.S. soldiers slaughtered in a grisly kidnapping-murder plot south of Baghdad last June had been left alone for up to 36 hours in a poorly planned mission, a military investigation concluded. Two officers have been relieved of their commands.
Neither of the officers faced criminal charges as a result of the litany of mistakes that left the soldiers exposed, a military official familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
A report on the investigation said the platoon leader and company commander - whose names were not released - failed to provide proper supervision to the unit or enforce military standards.
A seven-page summary of the investigation provided to the AP also said it appears insurgents may have rehearsed the attack two days earlier, and that Iraqi security forces near the soldiers' outpost probably saw and heard the attack and "chose to not become an active participant in the attack on either side."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MURDERED_SOLDIERS_INVESTIGATION?SITE=FLPAP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Economy may slow this summer, data show
NEW YORK (AP) -- A gauge of future economic activity showed the U.S. economy will slow in coming months, reversing recent gains and suggesting higher gas prices and a sluggish construction industry are beginning to take their toll.
The Conference Board said Thursday its index of leading economic indicators dropped 0.5 percent, higher than the 0.1 decline analysts were expecting. The reading is designed to forecast economic activity over the next three to six months.
The increase almost reversed an amended 0.6 percent climb in March, which analysts say should relieve pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.
"The data may be pointing to slower economic conditions this summer. With the industrial core of the economy already slow, and housing mired in a continued slump, there are some signs that these weaknesses may be beginning to soften both consumer spending and hiring this summer," said Ken Goldstein, labor economist for the Conference Board.
The reading tracks 10 economic indicators. Two of those readings were positive in April: stock prices and real money supply.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/ECONOMY?SITE=FLPAP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
N.Y. attorney general sues Dell
NEW YORK (AP) -- New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday accused Dell Inc. and its financial services affiliate of "bait and switch" advertising and failing to deliver on promised customer service.
Round Rock, Texas-based Dell lured customers with zero percent financing, then switched them to a higher rate without their knowledge at the time of purchase, according to the lawsuit.
Cuomo announced details of a lawsuit filed a day earlier in the New York Supreme Court, claiming that Dell and Dell Financial Services LP engaged in fraud, false advertising and deceptive business practices.
Dell denied those charges in a written statement from spokesman Bob Pearson.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DELL_LAWSUIT?SITE=FLPAP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Not a license to kill
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Florida isn't the Wild West, just yet.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge William Berger on Monday correctly refused to dismiss first-degree murder charges against Norman Borden. Mr. Borden shot and killed Christopher Araujo, 19, and Saul Trejo, 21, in the Westgate neighborhood of suburban West Palm Beach in October.
Mr. Borden had argued that Florida's so-called "Castle Doctrine," as expanded in 2005 by the Legislature, applied in his case and showed he had not committed a crime.
Before the revamped law went into effect, people who felt threatened were obligated to try to retreat from the threat. The new law says people don't have to try to get away from violent situations before defending themselves with deadly force. In effect, it gives people the same self-defense rights in public as they could exercise if threatened in their own homes.
Interpreted improperly, the law could unnecessarily escalate controllable confrontations into violent attacks. Officials' handling of the Borden case sends the message that the law should not be seen as a license to kill. Authorities were right to bring the first-degree murder charges, and Judge Berger was right to rule that the case poses questions that can be answered only by a jury.
The judge's decision emphatically does not mean that Mr. Borden has no defense. One of the men he killed is alleged to have gang connections. Mr. Borden says he fired five shots at them when they drove at him in a Jeep as he was walking his dog at about 3 a.m. Then, after the Jeep came to rest, he fired another nine shots into it. Prosecutors say the second burst of shots went beyond self-defense. Because of Judge Berger's ruling, that's what a jury will decide.
In revising the law, the Legislature was interested primarily in giving the National Rifle Association whatever it wanted. It's good to know that at least some public officials still take the use of deadly force seriously.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2007/05/17/m14a_Castledoc_edit_0517.html
continued …
Official: Industrial base presents challenges
By Bryant Jordan
bmjordan@militarytimes.com
Posted : Wednesday May 16, 2007 17:10:30 EDT
The country’s shrinking industrial base and the Pentagon’s specialized demands for parts and technology put U.S. defense needs in a difficult position and must be seriously addressed, a Pentagon official told members of the Commission on the National Guard and Reserve Wednesday.
P. Jackson “Jack” Bell, deputy undersecretary of defense for logistics and materiel readiness, said this is particularly the case when the military requires parts quickly, such as when the Pentagon called for Humvees to be up-armored.
The industrial base, he said, “where it may be adequate sometimes ... doesn’t have either the capacity or the interest to surge the needs requirements that are somewhat short-lived.
“So the challenge is we have to think very carefully and very strategically about how we maintain the industrial base we’re going to need. Right now we’re concerned about the sheer availability [of products]. The bigger question of the economics of competitive sources of materials we need to address strategically.”
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/airforce_industry_guardreserve_070516/
Free videoconference provider may shut down
By Karen Jowers - Staff writerPosted : Wednesday May 16, 2007 21:24:25 EDT
A nonprofit foundation that has been giving about a million minutes of free phone calls a month to troops in Iraq, and hundreds of thousands of minutes of free Internet access, is running out of money and is in danger of shutting down.
“We’re within 30 days of being blacked out. We’re employing every trick in the book to keep going,” said John Harlow, founder and executive director of Freedom Calls Foundation, which has call centers at camps Taji, Fallujah and Victory, and at Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq.
A number of corporations have been long-time donors of equipment to set up call centers, even providing videocams for families back home. Since the foundation starting setting up its locations in Iraq in 2004, over $1 million, mostly in equipment and technology, has been donated.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/military_freephone_internet_070528w/
Gates: Keep Guard under presidential control
By William H. McMichael - Staff writerPosted : Wednesday May 16, 2007 16:31:00 EDT
The president, not state governors, should maintain control of federalized National Guard and reserve forces during emergencies, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has decided, countering the recommendation of an independent commission that is examining ways to reorganize and strengthen the much-used reserve components in the post-Cold War era.
Gates also rejected two other recommendations of the congressionally appointed Commission on the National Guard and Reserves: to make the Guard a joint defense activity rather than a joint bureau of the Army and Air Force, upon which the equipment-starved Guard and Air Guard rely in large part for funding; and to require that the commander or deputy commander of U.S. Northern Command, primarily responsible for homeland defense and civil support, be a reserve component officer.
Related
Memo on implementation of recommendations from the commission
But Gates has suggested alternative approaches that he feels would address the shortcomings, according to a May 10 memo released during a Pentagon news conference today.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/military_reservescontrol_070516w/
Terrorism tip line busy after Fort Dix arrests
By Angela Delli Santi - The Associated PressPosted : Wednesday May 16, 2007 16:18:01 EDT
TRENTON, New Jersey — Calls to New Jersey’s counterterrorism tip line more than doubled in the week after authorities said they stopped a plot to kill soldiers at Fort Dix.
A tip from vigilant store clerks led to the arrests of six men whom authorities said were conspiring to kill military personnel. The FBI said it learned of the young Muslims after workers from a Circuit City store became alarmed at the content of a video one man brought in for duplication in January 2006.
The tip line received 65 calls from May 8-14, the week beginning the day after authorities arrested the men. The line got just 30 calls from May 1-7.
The government says the men, all foreign-born but longtime U.S. residents, had weapons training in the area and were trying to buy arms to carry out the attack.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/ap_fortdix_tipline_070516/
White House opposes 3.5 percent pay raise
By Rick Maze - Staff writerPosted : Wednesday May 16, 2007 17:47:40 EDT
Troops don’t need bigger pay raises, White House budget officials said Wednesday in a statement of administration policy laying out objections to the House version of the 2008 defense authorization bill.
The Bush administration had asked for a 3 percent military raise for Jan. 1, 2008, enough to match last year’s average pay increase in the private sector. The House Armed Services Committee recommends a 3.5 percent pay increase for 2008, and increases in 2009 through 2012 that also are 0.5 percentage point greater than private-sector pay raises.
The slightly bigger military raises are intended to reduce the gap between military and civilian pay that stands at about 3.9 percent today. Under the bill, HR 1585, the pay gap would be reduced to 1.4 percent after the Jan. 1, 2012, pay increase.
Bush budget officials said the administration “strongly opposes” both the 3.5 percent raise for 2008 and the follow-on increases, calling extra pay increases “unnecessary.”
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/military_whitehouse_opposeraise_070516w/
Bill would boost education and loan benefits
By Rick Maze - Staff writerPosted : Wednesday May 16, 2007 16:25:10 EDT
A bill promising better education and home loan benefits for veterans and help for vets starting small businesses was unveiled Wednesday by two lawmakers, backed by advocates for veterans, education and housing.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa., are the chief sponsors of what they are calling the 21st Century Bill of Rights Act of 2007, a name that is similar to previous proposals from Democrats.
The new GI Bill benefits would be available at no cost to active, Guard and reserve members who have deployed overseas in support of a combat operation since Sept. 11, 2001, or who have served a minimum of two cumulative years of active duty since that date.
Their new proposal concentrates on just three issues, and proposes significant changes in each area.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/military_gibill_benefits_070516w/
Army said to be improving mental health care
By COLLEEN SLEVIN - The Associated PressPosted : Thursday May 17, 2007 5:39:13 EDT
DENVER — The Army is making a “dramatic turn” in how it handles soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder, a member of a veterans group investigating mental health care at Fort Carson said Wednesday.
After two days of closed-door meetings with commanders and congressional staffers at the post, Steve Robinson said commanders have agreed to do a better job educating officers about the condition and take steps to amend the records of wrongly diagnosed soldiers.
“I believe the Army has made a dramatic turn. ... I think we’re going to see a cultural sea change, and I think we just have to continue to monitor it to make sure that it happens,” said Robinson, of Veterans for America, in a conference call with reporters.
More medical and case workers will be needed to help the Army treat soldiers, he said, noting the problems at Fort Carson are being seen across the military.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/ap_army_mentalhealth_070517/
June sgt., staff sgt. lists are out
By Jim Tice - Staff writerPosted : Thursday May 17, 2007 9:24:03 EDT
Noncommissioned officer promotions for the active component will top 4,000 in June, nearly 1,000 more than in May. Are you among those being promoted?
Lists
June sgt promotions
June staff sgt promotions
Senior NCO sequence numbers and sergeant and staff sergeant cutoff scores issued by Tuesday Human Resources Command call for 10 advancements to sergeant major, 118 to master sergeant, 686 to sergeant first class, 1,147 to staff sergeant and 2,050 to sergeant.
The total of 4,011 is slightly below average for the year, but well above the 3,300 promotions authorized for June 2006.
Promotions in the senior ranks will reduce the 2006 sergeant major list to just 27 names. A new list will be compiled by a board that convenes June 2 in Indianapolis, and that could be released in late July or early August.
The 2006 master sergeant list will be reduced to 1,524 names, and the 2007 sergeant first class list to 6,101 names.
The 1,147 staff sergeant promotions will go to soldiers on the 16,275-name promotable sergeant list.
The 2,050 promotions to sergeant will go to soldiers in a pool of 15,718 promotable specialists and corporals.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/army_NCO_promotions_070515/
Iraq war critic mourns for son killed in Iraq
By Jay Lindsay - The Associated PressPosted : Wednesday May 16, 2007 20:52:49 EDT
BOSTON — Andrew Bacevich railed repeatedly against the war in Iraq in op-ed columns and interviews, calling it a “catastrophic failure.” But the Boston University professor rarely, if ever, said that his son was serving in the conflict.
Friends say he did so to protect Andy Bacevich Jr. and to avoid any question that he was proud of his son’s service.
Bacevich, himself a veteran of Vietnam and the Gulf wars, learned this week that his 27-year-old son had been killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq.
Bacevich’s critiques of the war have been measured, with the professor emphasizing that the war’s architects are not evil but disastrously mistaken. Now that he has suffered a personal loss, that approach could change, a colleague said.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/ap_bacevich_killed_070516/
Mortars again hammer Green Zone in Baghdad
By Kim Gamel - The Associated PressPosted : Wednesday May 16, 2007 22:21:42 EDT
BAGHDAD — Mortar rounds hammered the U.S.-controlled Green Zone for a second day Wednesday, killing at least two people, wounding about 10 more and raising new fears for the safety of workers at the nerve center of the American mission in Iraq.
About a dozen shells crashed into the 3.5-square-mile area of central Baghdad about 4 p.m., sending terrified pedestrians racing for the safety of concrete bunkers.
Motorists abandoned their cars and sprinted for cover. Sirens wailed and loudspeakers warned people to seek safety.
No American casualties were reported, and the two dead as well as most of the wounded were Iraqis, U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said.
An Iraqi security officer said one of the dead was a driver for the staff of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose office is in the Green Zone. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not supposed to release the information.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/ap_iraqgreenzonefears_070516/
N.M. Guardsmen head to Iraq for a year
The Associated PressPosted : Wednesday May 16, 2007 22:06:33 EDT
RIO RANCHO, N.M. — About 150 members of the New Mexico National Guard left Rio Rancho on Wednesday in the first leg of their deployment to Iraq.
The members of A company, 1st Battalion, 200th Infantry, were headed first for Fort Dix, N.J., for 30 to 45 days of additional training specific for their duty in Iraq. They then will be sent overseas for up to 400 days.
Although the unit is based in Rio Rancho, its members also come from other parts of the state.
Friends and family members gathered at the Rio Grande armory Wednesday morning to wish the troops well.
Bertha Valdez, whose son was among those deployed, had mixed feelings.
“We don’t agreed with it, but he chose to enlist, so we just have to abide by his wishes and be there for him,” she said.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/ap_newmexicoguarddeploys_070516/
Officers sacked over soldiers’ 2006 kidnapping, murders
By Lolita C. Baldor - The Associated PressPosted : Thursday May 17, 2007 9:27:00 EDT
WASHINGTON — Three U.S. soldiers slaughtered in a grisly kidnapping-murder plot south of Baghdad last June were not properly protected during a mission that was not well planned or executed, a military investigation has concluded.
Two military officers have been relieved of their commands as a result of the litany of mistakes, but neither faced criminal charges, a military official familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
A report on the investigation said the platoon leader and company commander — whose names were not released — failed to provide proper supervision to the unit or enforce military standards.
A seven-page summary of the investigation provided to the AP also said it appears insurgents may have rehearsed the attack two days earlier, and that Iraqi security forces near the soldiers’ outpost probably saw and heard the attack and “chose to not become an active participant in the attack on either side.”
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/ap_murderedsoldiers_070517/
Rewards offered for info on missing soldiers
By Kim Gamel - The Associated PressPosted : Wednesday May 16, 2007 16:18:39 EDT
BAGHDAD — The U.S. military has offered rewards of up to $200,000 for information leading to the return of three missing American soldiers, a U.S. general said Wednesday.
Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of U.S. troops south of Baghdad, said the offer was made on 50,000 leaflets distributed in the area where the troops disappeared after a pre-dawn ambush Saturday. Four American troops and an Iraq soldier were killed in the ambush.
Related
Ambush strengthens Fort Drum resolve
Search continues for missing Fort Drum soldiers
Word of the reward was also broadcast over loudspeakers as part of a massive search involving 4,000 U.S. troops and 2,000 Iraqis, Lynch said.
“We distributed 50,000 leaflets, and in the leaflets and over loudspeakers we listed the numbers of our tips lines,” Lynch told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/ap_missingsoldiers_reward_070516/
An eye for excellence
Video by Tech. Sgt. Gary Burdett, 2006 Military Videographer of the Year.
http://www.militarytimes.com/multimedia/video/milvoy2006/
A colonel’s gamble led to Ramadi success
The title should read, “Accommodating Warlords” or "Was it something the USA military finally got right or was it an accident?"
Basically, whomever is more successful in securing ‘the peace’ wins the regional alliance of the authorities. These soldiers were beyond brave, but, they are also operating outside the parameters of an organized military. They are conducting diplomacy in the face of the lack of a central authority that can effectively protect the people of Iraq. The USA presence in Iraq should never be based on 'a chance' a soldier has 'found a way.' Never. That is risking lives in the face of failure of everything else failing. I don't want to hear a single general taking credit for this act of bravery by these men. The generals don't deserve it.
These soldiers were determined to make a difference and disrupt the ‘al Qaeda’ element enough to allow a less violent situation to reign. They were clearly autonomous in their missions in a way that also dictated activity of soldiers in Vietnam.
The Unity Government of Iraq is so ineffective the soldiers find their own safe haven in recruiting loyalty from the locals to stabilize their neighborhoods. What happened here in An Albar is not a success for Bush/Cheney/Gates; it is a ‘Win-Win’ for the troops and the locals. There is nothing wrong with that, except it is high stakes poker. It worked for these troops. This is not a war strategy, this is only finding the authority within the community of An Albar that are simply waiting to secede from Iraq’s central government in Baghdad.
In my opinion, the ease at which this area of An Albar was reclaimed by the shieks demonstrates the lack of a central authority and the disintegration of The Unity Government. There is no corruption among these sheiks so much as determination to form a local authority that ‘can keep the peace.’ There is no unity anywhere in Iraq including among the US military in their strategies to survive. The troops in the field are flying by the seat of their pants. This is a ‘Win-Win’ set of circumstances that actually gave the troops a purpose in their deployment, it is not a successful strategy now applied because of the change of leadership in DC and Baghdad, although it is claimed to be by the USA military in this statement : “…Pentagon officials say the encouraging episode in Ramadi is a poignant reflection of shifting leadership tactics within the U.S. military,…” That is nothing horse hockey and Gates is the hockey puck, because this ‘episode’ was completely outside the authority of the USA military until some success was noted by a change in thinking by the sheiks. It could have easily gone the other way. In all honesty I already knew what had gone right. The provinces were being organized outside the Unity Government and in An Albar they just needed a little help in securing their presence. These folks in An Albar have a lot of help from Saudi Arabia. They border right up to them.
This won't work in Baghdad. It's diversity dictates other outcomes. I believe Baghdad will fall actually and the mortars today only confirm that suspicion.
“We just absorbed IEDs,” Tedesco said, referring to roadside bombs.
MacFarland’s brigade didn’t wait until a neighborhood was entirely secure before launching construction projects, recruiting police and trying to establish a government. Lt. Col. John Tien, commander of 2nd Battalion, 37th Armor, says the brigade was “aggressive” about pushing ahead on projects as soldiers were establishing security.
By the time the unit returned to Germany, the brigade had built 18 combat outposts in and around Ramadi.
The combat outposts helped reduce violence last summer, but the brigade wasn’t close to winning over the population, an essential part of defeating an insurgency.
Anbar province, population 1.2 million, is a vast tract of desert dotted by cities and villages, stretching from outside Baghdad to the Syrian border. It’s a region of very religious Sunnis governed largely by sheiks, imams and tribal law. Ramadi’s population is 300,000.
MacFarland says he soon realized the key was to win over the tribal leaders, or sheiks.
“The prize in the counterinsurgency fight is not terrain,” he says. “It’s the people. When you’ve secured the people, you have won the war. The sheiks lead the people.”
But the sheiks were sitting on the fence. They were not sympathetic to al-Qaida, but they tolerated its members, MacFarland says. Their outlook had been shaped by watching an earlier clash between Iraqi nationalists — primarily former members of Saddam Hussein’s ruling Baath Party — and hard-core al-Qaida operatives who were a mix of foreign fighters and Iraqis. Al-Qaida beat the nationalists. That rattled the sheiks.
“Al-Qaida just mopped up the floor with those guys,” MacFarland says. “We get there in late May and early June 2006, and the tribes are on the sidelines. They’d seen the insurgents take a beating. After watching that, they’re like, ‘Let’s see which way this is going to go.’ “
‘Are you with us?’
MacFarland’s brigade initially struggled to build an Iraqi police force, a critical step in establishing order in the city.
“We said to the sheiks, “What’s it going to take to get you guys off the fence?’” MacFarland says.
The sheiks said their main concern was protecting their own tribes and families….
…A couple of weeks later, one of the brigade’s officers went to visit Sheik Abdul Sattar al-Rishawi, a local tribal leader. The officer was shocked to see a gathering of 20-30 sheiks jammed into al-Rishawi’s home. Al-Rishawi was asked what was going on.
“We are forming an alliance against al-Qaida,” the sheik replied, according to MacFarland. “Are you with us?”…
…Officials at MacFarland’s higher headquarters, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force based near Fallujah, were worried. The U.S. military was supposed to be supporting Iraq’s government. A tribal alliance could pose a threat to Anbar Gov. Maamoun Sami Rashid al-Awani. Al-Awani’s government wasn’t popular and had been thinned by threats and assassinations. Still, U.S. policy was to back Iraqi government institutions.
The tribal leaders didn’t like al-Awani and wanted him replaced. MacFarland said the sheiks agreed to back off their demand that al-Awani step down.
There were other concerns. Al-Rishawi and his colleagues were second-tier sheiks. Most of Anbar’s senior tribal leaders, some of whom amassed considerable wealth in a variety of businesses, had decamped to Jordan because of the growing violence after the U.S.-led invasion…..
…He says the results were immediate when a sheik pledged to support the alliance with the U.S. Army, an agreement some of the sheiks involved would grandly name The Awakening. “Once a tribal leader flips, attacks on American forces in that area stop almost overnight,” MacFarland says.
Marine headquarters officers also raised concerns about the backgrounds of some of the tribal leaders involved in The Awakening. Anbar’s desolate roads and stretches of empty desert have long been home to smugglers. “I’ve read the reports” on al-Rishawi, MacFarland says. “You don’t get to be a sheik by being a nice guy. These guys are ruthless characters. ... That doesn’t mean they can’t be reliable partners.”
More than 200 sheiks in alliance
The Marine headquarters let MacFarland pursue his work with the tribes and ultimately supported it….
More than 200 sheiks are now part of the alliance. Recently, they said they would form a political party.
…From MacFarland’s standpoint, it was less about leadership style and more about necessity.
“Maybe I was a bit of a drowning man in Ramadi,” he says. “I was reaching for anything that would help me float. And that was the tribes.”
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/04/gns_colonel_070430/
There were still casualities of war including those that died, there was still loss of military assets and there are enormously present questions more than ever in the effectiveness of the Iraq Unity Government to govern. The fact the priorities to stand against the Unity Government ‘this time’ served the purpose of the Sheiks doesn’t mean that will last or be the ultimate resolve of an evolving autonomy in An Albar. The people of Iraq want to split that country into three autonomous provinces, this is a very clear indication to their will and determination. It needs to go forward.
Honoring the Fallen
http://www.militarycity.com/valor/honor.html
Torture in the war zone (A poll)
A recent U.S. Central Command study found that 36 percent of soldiers and 39 percent of Marines who recently served in the war zone believe torture should be allowed to gather information about insurgents. Should torture be acceptable when dealing with insurgents in the war zone?
Yes, it should be used to gather vital information 50.66%
Yes, but only if it could save U.S. troops’ lives 19.87%
No, torture is never acceptable 27.59%
Don’t know / No Opinion 1.88%
Haaretz
Gaza man charged for gathering info in plot to assassinate Olmert
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent
A Palestinian man was charged Thursday in Jerusalem District Court with gathering intelligence as part of a plan to assassinate Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.Masseb Bashir, a 25-year-old resident of Dir el-Balah in the Gaza Strip, has a valid entry
permit into Israel due to his work with the organization "Doctors without Borders." The charges against him include contacts with a foreign agent and conspiracy to commit a crime.The planning for the assassination was conducted at the initial level only, and did not become operational.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/860717.html
At least 4 Hamas men dead as IAF strikes across northern Gaza Strip
By Aluf Benn, Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff and Mijal Grinberg, Haaretz Correspondents and Haaretz Service
At least four Hamas militants were killed Thursday in a series of Israel Air Force strikes across the northern Gaza Strip, as Palestinian militants continued their barrage of Qassam rocket fire at the western Negev. Some 16 rockets hit the western Negev on Thursday, one of which slammed into a high school on the outskirts of Sderot, lightly wounding two people.In the first strike Thursday, the IAF hit a Hamas Executive Force compound in Gaza City, killing a Hamas militant and wounding dozens of people.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/860522.html
Three gunmen killed in Gaza despite new Hamas-Fatah truce
By Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents, and News Agencies
Three Palestinian gunmen were killed Thursday in clashes between Hamas and Fatah, despite the latest in a series of cease-fires aimed at halting this week's factional fighting. A Hamas man was killed and two others critically wounded in clashes with the Fatah-linked Preventative Security Force. A short while later, two Fatah members were killed in clashes with Hamas in Rafah.A Hamas member was shot and critically wounded in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Hamas said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/860682.html
U.S. lauds Israeli restraint in face of Qassam rocket attacks
By Shahar Ilan and Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondents and News Agencies
The United States praised Israel on Thursday for showing "great restraint" in the face of new rocket attacks from the Palestinian group Hamas but added that Israel also has a right to defend itself.Israel Air Force strikes on Thursday destroyed a Hamas security headquarters and a car carrying one of the group's top commanders. Israel had threatened a "severe" response to cross-border rocket attacks that have persisted despite a troop and settler pullout from Gaza in 2005.State Department spokesman Sean McCormack urged restraint on all sides but said Israel had the right to respond to rocket attacks from Hamas, which he blamed for the latest upsurge in Palestinian violence.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/860752.html
British gov't contacts jailed Al-Qaida man to help free Johnston
By Associated Press
The British government is in talks with a man once known as Osama bin Laden's spiritual ambassador in Europe, Omar Abu Qatada, in an attempt to secure the release of kidnapped BBC correspondent Alan Johnston, the British Foreign Office said Thursday."We have been in discussion with Abu Qatada via his lawyer with regards to making an appeal for his release," said a Foreign Office spokeswoman speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government policy.Johnston, who turned 45 Thursday, has been held since he was kidnapped March 12 in Gaza City by Palestinian gunmen. His alleged kidnappers have demanded Qatada's release from Longlartin Prison in Britain.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/860788.html
IDF releases Lebanese man one day after he was detained in north
The Israel Defense Forces released a Lebanese man on Thursday who had been detained the previous day near the border, a security source said.The army handed him to United Nations peacekeepers in south Lebanon, who in turn delivered him to the Lebanese authorities, the source said.Witnesses in Lebanon said the man had been detained while picking herbs near the border between Lebanon and the Shebaa Farms. It was not clear whether he had wandered into the Shebaa Farms.
The United Nations says the Shebaa Farms is Syrian territory captured by Israel in the Middle East war of 1967, while Syria and Lebanon say it is Lebanese territory.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/860744.html
Jordan's king: More violence unless progress made in peace process
By The Associated Press
Jordan's King Abdullah II said Thursday he was very concerned by the wave of inter-Palestinian fighting in Gaza and warned that more violence will come unless progress is in the peace process.The monarch spoke at a gathering of Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian peace activists in this southern port as fighting in Gaza between the mainstream Fatah faction and the militant Hamas entered its fifth day."I'm very concerned about the violence in Gaza. It must stop for the sake of the Palestinian people and for the sake of Palestine," Abdullah told the gathering.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/860753.html
From the Jordan Times
Jordan ‘very worried’ about bloodshed
AMMAN — Arab countries voiced deep concern about the factional fighting that raged on in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, fearful that it risks torpedoing any movement in the peace process.
King Abdullah warned that the ferocious exchanges between loyalists of the Fateh faction of President Mahmoud Abbas and the Hamas movement of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh will rebound “on the future of Palestine”.
In an interview published on Wednesday by the local daily Al Arab Al Yawm, the King cautioned both sides that Israel would be the only beneficiary of the fighting that has left almost 40 dead in just four days.
“I am very worried about the internal Palestinian disputes which serve only Israeli interests and I fear that, if the disputes continue, they will have negative repercussions on progress in the negotiations,” King Abdullah said.
http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/news/news2.htm
Obama to Haaretz: More pressure on Iran urgently needed
Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, a leading candidate for the Democratic Presidential ticket, has decided to take a more active role in the fight against the Iranian nuclear program."Iran continues to be a major threat," he told me Wednesday morning, "both the U.S. and to some of our allies." And he calls for an urgent enhancement of "the economic pressure." He calls for it, and he acts on it with the introduction of a new bill: the 'Iran Sanctions Enabling Act.' He is still in favor of talking to the Iranians, no pre-conditions attached, but made some interesting statements clarifying his position in our conversation. I asked whether the U.S. should talk with Tehran even as the centrifuges are still spinning and producing more enriched uranium. Obama's answer is both yes and no: "Its important to have low-level talks" with Iran even without them freezing the enrichment, he said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/rosnerBlog.jhtml?itemNo=860406&contrassID=25&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=1&listSrc=Y&art=1
Tehran: Iranian, American officials to hold talks on Iraqi security
By Reuters
Iranian and U.S. officials will meet in Iraq on May 28 to discuss security in Iraq, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Thursday."Negotiation is limited to Iraq, in Iraq, and will start in the presence of Iraqi officials," Mottaki told a news conference in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
The talks, being held at the request of Iraqi leaders, would be at the level of ambassador, he said.The United States said this week talks would soon be held with Iran on how it could take a "productive role" in Iraq's security.The United States has accused Iran of backing Shi'ite militia in Iraq and seeking an atomic bomb. Iran denies both accusations.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/860725.html
Next three from RIA Novosti
No nuclear discussion in Iran-U.S. talks May 28 - Iranian FM
TEHRAN, May 17 (RIA Novosti) - Tehran will not discuss its nuclear program during talks with U.S. officials in Iraq, scheduled for May 28, the Iranian foreign minister said Thursday.
"Talks between the Iranian and U.S. ambassadors will be held in Iraq May 28 and will address only security in that country," Manouchehr Mottaki told a news conference in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
"We will not hold any discussion on Iran's "nuclear file" during the meeting," the Iranian IRNA news agency quoted Mottaki as saying.
The talks, which come at the request of Iraqi leaders, had initially been scheduled for March of this year but were continuously postponed due to a U.S. propaganda campaign against Iran, in which the White House has accused of providing Shiite militia with weaponry and explosives.
Tehran, in turn, denies the accusations and blames Washington for the bloodshed and violence in Iraq that followed the U.S.-led military campaign in the country.
"The presence of foreign troops in that country [Iraq] creates serious problems for the Iraqi people," Mottaki said, adding that deteriorating security in Iraq was proof that the U.S.'s "erroneous" policy there had failed.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20070517/65641154.html
U.S. Senator Lugar says Russia wants Arctic energy reserves
WASHINGTON, May 16 (RIA Novosti) - U.S. Senator Richard G. Lugar said Russia is aspiring to take control over potential energy reserves in the Arctic Ocean at the expense of U.S. interests.
The senator, known for his anti-Russian statements, urged the U.S. authorities to join the struggle for the polar oil and gas resources by ratifying the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The issue has acquired importance in view of dwindling global energy resources. Experts forecast that oil reserves on land would soon be exhausted and the only available fields will be in Persian Gulf and on deep sea shelves.
Lugar said Russia had claimed the right to develop the reserves, which could become more accessible due to ice melting in climate change. The Russian government is expected to meet this week to discuss hydrocarbon production on the sea.
The U.S. parliamentarian's warnings followed a statement by President George W. Bush Tuesday, which called on the Senate to ratify the convention.
Lugar said the convention had been adopted in Cold War times to protect national interests against the Soviet Union and aggressively developing countries. If ratified, the document will grant Washington control over the vast energy and fish wealth lying 200 miles off the American coast, he said.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20070516/65556146.html
Bush just outsources everything, doesn’t he? I don’t believe he sees the same boundaries that the citizens of the USA see. He sees the unlimitless wealth potentials of the US Treasury while the American people want National Security. Why is it that the two don’t coincide?
Russia prepares to launch four U.S. satellites in May
MOSCOW, May 17 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is continuing preparations to launch four U.S. Globalstar satellites into orbit on board a Soyuz-FG carrier rocket from a space center in Kazakhstan by the end of May, the Russian space agency said Thursday.
Globalstar is a low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite-based telecommunications system founded by U.S.-based Loral Corporation and Qualcomm Inc. It provides high-quality satellite voice and data services across North America and to over 120 countries worldwide.
"Four Globalstar satellites... have been transferred to a final assembly room," the Federal Space Agency said in a statement. "The assembly of a dispenser with a booster has been scheduled for May 18."
The agency earlier said the launch of a Soyuz-FG carrier rocket from the Baikonur space center would be conducted on May 20.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070517/65654103.html
State prepares partial Sderot evacuation
By Aluf Benn, Amos Harel and Mijal Grinberg
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz disagree on whether to evacuate the residents of Sderot in light of the Qassam rocket attacks on the town in recent days. The business tycoon Arcadi Gaydamak has added complexity to the debate by evacuating hundreds of Sderot residents to the Golden Tulip hotel in Be'er Sheva. The possibility of evacuating people from Sderot was raised yesterday by Peretz during a meeting with defense officials called by Olmert to discuss the developments in the Gaza Strip and the constant bombardment of Sderot.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/860491.html
Rabbi warns against going to Temple Mount
Former chief rabbi Avraham Shapira, head of Mercaz Harav yeshiva, said yesterday that Jews are prohibited from going to the Temple Mount. Shapira's statement came after a pamphlet issued by religious-Zionist rabbis calling on people to go to the Temple Mount, and doing so themselves earlier this week in what has been called a historical change in their stand. Shapira (along with Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu) is considered a leading figure in the religious-Zionist movement. He made the statements at the traditional rally in honor of Jerusalem Day at the yeshiva. Rabbi Dov Lior, the head of the West Bank rabbinic committee and the chief rabbi of Kiryat Arba, who was among those who visited the Temple Mount with the group this week, was seated next to him.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/860476.html
From the Jerusalem Post
Support the secularists in Turkey
My visit to Istanbul this week comes in the midst of the greatest challenge to the Turkish secular republic since its creation in 1923. Founded by Mustafa Kemal Atat rk in the wreckage of the Ottoman Empire, the republic came into existence at about the high-water mark of Western confidence, when it appeared that European ways would become the global template. Atat rk imposed a dizzying array of changes, including European laws, the Latin alphabet, the Gregorian calendar, personal last names, hats instead of fezzes, monogamy, Sunday as the day of rest, a ban on dervishes, the legal right to drink alcohol, and Turkish as a liturgical language.
Many reforms took root; going back to the Arabic script or discarding last names is inconceivable. That said, the country has generally reverted to Islamic ways. Increased religious instruction in the schools and more state-funded mosques are complemented by more women taking on head-scarves.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1178708618844&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Ashkenazi backs Stern against hesder rabbis
Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi voiced support on Wednesday for IDF Human Resources Head Maj.-Gen. Elazar Stern's decision to halt recruiting of hesder soldiers to Golani and paratrooper units.
Ashkenazi also extended Stern's term one year till the summer of 2008.
Hesder soldiers combine an abridged military service - 18 months instead of three years - with Torah studies.
The decision to block hesder soldiers from Golani and paratrooper units comes after a clash between Stern and hesder rabbis.
Rabbis refused to acquiesce to Stern's demand that hesder yeshivas supply soldiers for a minimum of three "integrated" Golani and paratrooper platoons.
These platoons would ensure equal numbers of religious and secular soldiers. The rabbis and the hesder soldiers demanded the freedom to keep the platoons segregated and manned solely by hesder soldiers. A platoon consists of about 35 soldiers.
Hesder rabbis and students had hoped that Ashkenazi would support them against Stern.
Rabbi David Stav, spokesman for the hesder yeshivot, said in response that he was concerned that the push to integrate religious soldiers would discourage yeshiva students from serving.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1178708619651&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Palm Beach Post
Fragile balance offshore
By Nicole Janok
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 07, 2007
LAKE WORTH — — About a mile offshore, where the water fades into a deep, misty blue and the sea life blooms into a colorful collection of coral, sits one of South Florida's most pristine reefs.
Blanketed by the area's most diverse fish population, Horseshoe Reef also is home to one of the oldest living creatures: a dome of brain coral that stretches 4 feet in diameter and is more than 200 years old.
For years, the reef east of the Lake Worth Pier has been considered the best diving spot in the area.
But that flourishing, colorful vision could be in danger.
As part of a new reverse osmosis system to purify drinking water, the city has proposed flushing 4 million gallons of treated effluent a day into the ocean through an old, 92-foot-deep outfall pipe that opens on the eastern side of Horseshoe Reef. Once used to dump sewage into the ocean, the 30-inch pipe has lain idle for years.
The reverse osmosis process draws water from the brackish Floridan Aquifer and uses high pressure to push water through a membrane to filter out salts and impurities. Activists, divers and coral reef experts are concerned that the waste from the process will dump a potent mix of ammonia, nitrogen and phosphorus onto the reef.
That will provide nutrients that will nurture a deadly algae bloom, smothering the coral, they contend.
"Algae bloom on coral reefs are a problem all over the world, and they're always associated with some sort of pollution," said Ed Tichenor, director of Palm Beach County Reef Rescue.
Tichenor and his group are leading efforts to protest the city's request to the state Department of Environmental Protection for a permit to use the sewage outfall pipe to dump the effluent.
Tichenor points to research of marine ecologist Brian Lapointe of Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution in Fort Pierce. Lapointe, who specializes in reducing land-based nutrient pollution, said the ammonia levels predicted to be released near the reef are far above what would produce the deadly algae blooms.
"This is definitely one of the biggest problems on our planet," Lapointe said of nutrients that cause algae bloom.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/pbccentral/content/local_news/epaper/2007/05/07/m1a_lwreef_0506_1_1_1.html
Demand rises for reused water
Click-2-Listen
By Hector Florin
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 17, 2007
The downpours that fell over Palm Beach County Wednesday morning meant not only brief relief for browning lawns but also a temporary break in the soaring use of reclaimed water during the drought.
Palm Beach County Water Utilities, which serves the most customers in the county, has experienced a 50 percent increase in the use of treated wastewater during the past two months, since water restrictions were put in place.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/pbcsouth/content/local_news/epaper/2007/05/17/s1b_reclaim_0517.html
Seabird species dying in unusual numbers
By Kelly Wolfe
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 17, 2007
It's not uncommon for snowbirds to make their way home this time of year.
But they usually don't starve to death along the way.
A state veterinarian, a daily beach walker and two local wildlife sanctuaries said they've seen more sick northern gannets this migration season than in prior years. The gannet is a seabird that passes through here twice a year, going to and from Canada.
"We have 10 to 15 every day," said Vered Nograd, the wildlife care manager at Folke Peterson Wildlife Center near Wellington.
Nograd said that's about double or triple the number that usually arrive at the sanctuary this time of year.
"We're busy, busy, busy with gannets," said David Hitzig, Executive Director of the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary in Jupiter. "We've got gannets coming out of our ears. It's about 10 times what we normally have."
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/pbcwest/content/local_news/epaper/2007/05/17/s1b_gannets_0517.html
Beachside residents seek dune protection
By Ana X. Ceron
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 17, 2007
PALM BEACH — Ronnie Brown saw the suited men from her third-floor kitchen window and realized this was her time to get some answers about erosion from the state.
Wednesday was the second day of beach tours for state officials touring Palm Beach County for a closer look at beaches battered by last week's Subtropical Storm Andrea.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/pbcsouth/content/local_news/epaper/2007/05/17/s3b_erosion_0517.html
Lake City Wildfires
http://postpix.palmbeachpost.com/pages/gallery.php?gallery=315388
Tourist swept out to sea off Jupiter Inlet
By Rochelle E.B. Gilken
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
UPDATED: 4:45 p.m. May 16, 2007
JUPITER — A 26-year-old tourist was swept out into rough seas at about 1:15 this morning, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.
The sheriff's office and U.S. Coast Guard will continue looking for the body during daylight hours but no longer consider it a rescue mission.
As of late this afternoon, there were no longer any boats out looking for the swimmer.
The visitor from Mesa, Ariz., was staying at a home in Jupiter when he and a friend walked to the water in the Jupiter inlet.
They got in waist-deep, but the friend said the water was too rough and got out.
The visitor went out a little further and apparently got caught in a rip current, said sheriff's spokeswoman Teri Barbera.
His friend didn't have a cellphone, so he had to run back to the house to call 911.
Responding Jupiter police officers could hear the man screaming for help in the water, but the seas were too turbulent to reach him, Barbera said.
They called out the U.S. Coast Guard immediately, which sent out a helicopter and a cutter.
The sheriff's office joined the search with two boats and a helicopter.
Crist signs mandatory physical education into law
By JENNIFER KAY Associated Press Writer
DAVIE, Fla. — All elementary school students must have at least a half-hour of daily physical education under a bill Florida's health-conscious governor signed Thursday, after tossing a few footballs at the Miami Dolphins training camp.
When school starts in August, a minimum of 2 1/2 hours will be required each week for students between kindergarten and fifth grade. Middle and high schools are encouraged to provide up to 3 3/4 hours of gym class weekly.
Gov. Charlie Crist, who played quarterback on his high school football team, threw three spirals into a practice net on a Dolphins practice field at Nova Southeastern University. He then reminded the Broward County students around him that physical education was part of the school day when he was growing up in St. Petersburg.
"It's very important for you to have the opportunity to have physical education," he told them.
The slim governor, who has also established a state council on physical fitness, had publicly supported the bill sponsored by state Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, during the regular legislative session that concluded May 4.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/gen/ap/FL_Mandatory_Physical_Education.html
Volunteer's effort makes magic moment for kids
By Lady Hereford
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
BOYNTON BEACH — Ten-year-old Berta Lopez-Rodas has a furry new friend to cuddle with at night, a teddy bear she named Ashley.
Berta, who attends South Grade Elementary School in Lake Worth, designed the bear herself during a recent trip to Build-a-Bear Workshop at The Gardens mall.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/bocaraton/content/neighborhood/boynton_beach/epaper/2007/05/16/npb_cpmaya_0516.html
PACE program helps troubled girls catch up
By BILL DIPAOLO
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
WEST PALM BEACH — The hand-made T-shirts tell their story.
"For all the Children who have lost their mom"
"It hurts when a friend is hurting"
"I watched you beat my mom but I still supported her"
The T-shirts are made by the 50 girls who attend PACE, a state-funded, alternative education program for girls between 12 and 18. Some have been sent by judges. Others have asked to enroll. Others, like 15-year-old Makenna Townsend, were convinced by their parents to attend. Their problems range from academics to sexual abuse to violence.
"I didn't want to come here. It was my mom's idea," said Townsend, a North Palm Beach resident who was referred to PACE in February from Palm Beach County Court. "I'm glad I'm here now."
The PACE Center for Girls off Military Trail is one of 19 in Florida for girls between 12 and 18. Students attend weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. There is no charge to parents for the 12-18 month program. The West Palm Beach 501(c)3 program receives about 80 percent of its $1 million annual budget from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. The rest comes from the Palm Beach County School District, United Way and other sources, said Executive Director Angela Clarke.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/npost/content/neighborhood/westpalm/epaper/2007/05/16/npc_cppace_0516.html
Report cites transfers, booster
By Hal Habib, and Andrew Abramson
Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
Thursday, May 17, 2007
A 15-page investigative report by the Florida High School Athletic Association into Jupiter Christian School's athletic program raises "red flags" about booster Joseph L. Raich, alleges that a wrestler filed a "fraudulent" physical examination form and cites irregularities in the transfer of four athletes to the school.
Still to come: a report FHSAA investigator Troy Pumphrey is compiling on whether any Jupiter Christian athletes were given steroids or human growth hormone - the very question that triggered the investigation two months ago.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/highschools/content/sports/epaper/2007/05/17/s1c_JCS_0517.html
Group fights to preserve Old Florida lifestyle
By Angie Francalancia
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
WELLINGTON — The 8-acre rectangle on the east side of State Road 7 is the first domino, as neighbors see it, in a string that leads inevitably to high-density development and traffic cutting through their neighborhood.
They're wary of thousands of square feet in a commercial building and words such as warehouse and big box to describe the project developers propose.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/npost/content/neighborhood/wellington/epaper/2007/05/16/npw_wellannex_0516.html
Ag-Mart faces fine for housing violations
By Christine Stapleton and John Lantigua
Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Ag-Mart, grower of the popular Santa Sweet grape tomato, "intentionally" violated federal laws that guarantee clean, safe and licensed housing for nearly 2,000 of its migrant farm workers at the company's farms in north Florida, a federal judge has ruled.
The long-awaited ruling in the class-action lawsuit accused Ag-Mart of housing workers during the 2001-2002 growing season in three hotels that were not licensed, often crowded and lacked cooking and laundry facilities. Federal and state laws protect migrant farm workers in four areas - wages, pesticides transportation and housing. U.S District Judge Henry Lee Adams Jr. gave attorneys until May 24 to submit written arguments about how much Ag-Mart should pay in damages for the housing violations.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2007/05/17/0517agmart.html
Daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. dies
ATLANTA (AP) -- Yolanda King, the firstborn child of the first family of the civil rights movement, who honored that legacy through acting and advocacy, died late Tuesday. She was 51.
The daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King died in Santa Monica, Calif. Family members did not know the cause of death, but suspect it might have been a heart problem.
"This is just the last thing and the last person that we expected this to happen to," said Issac Newton Farris, the Kings' cousin and CEO of the King Center. "At least with my aunt (Coretta Scott King) we had some warning. Yolanda as far as we knew was healthy and certainly happy."
Former Mayor Andrew Young, a lieutenant of her father's who has remained close to the family, said King was going to her brother Dexter's home when she collapsed in the doorway. Farris said she died near Dexter King but would not elaborate.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OBIT_KING?SITE=FLPAP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-05-16-08-08-24
Hilton's jail term cut to about 23 days (video)
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Paris Hilton will serve about half of her 45-day jail sentence and will be separated from the general inmate population, authorities said Wednesday.
The hotel heiress will spend about 23 days in a "special needs housing unit" at the Century Regional Detention Center in suburban Lynwood, Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.
Her sentence was shortened after jail officials gave her credit for good behavior, Whitmore said. Officials considered several factors in calculating the credit, including that she appeared for her latest court date, he said.
Hilton will stay in a unit that contains 12 two-person cells reserved for police officers, public officials, celebrities and other high-profile inmates, he said.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PEOPLE_PARIS_HILTON?SITE=FLPAP&SECTION=ENTERTAINMENT&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-05-17-07-51-04
Police believe man ran brothel in apartment, left town
By Allyson Bird
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 17, 2007
FORT PIERCE — Police believe a 47-year-old man ran a brothel from a downstairs apartment in a Virginia Avenue complex and possibly smuggled illegal immigrants into the country.
Raul Barbosa left town before they could arrest him, according to a report.
A confidential source told police in April that a business card for massages listed Barbosa's phone number. Barbosa offered the source an hour with a woman in the apartment for $160, according to the report.
The source scheduled an appointment mid-April and went to 2707 Virginia Ave., Apartment 7, wired with a listening device. Barbosa told the source he wanted to run an "upscale brothel" with a "relaxed atmosphere," the report says.
He said he had been prostituting women for 20 years without arrest. Barbosa also told the source he and a woman smuggled immigrants into the country for $6,000 and that he had a cocaine connection in Miami, the report says.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2007/05/17/m3b_fphouse_0517.html?imw=Y
Foreclosures up in Fla., U.S.
By Linda Rawls
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
The number of homeowners falling behind on their mortgages nearly quadrupled in St. Lucie County last month compared with a year ago, but remained nearly unchanged in Palm Beach County, RealtyTrac said Tuesday.
In Martin County, households entering some stage of foreclosure declined by 49 percent year-over-year, while Florida foreclosures surged 71 percent.
Nationwide, U.S. foreclosures dipped below a two-year high set the previous month, but rose 62 percent from April 2006 in the wake of falling home prices and the subprime mortgage mess, analysts said.
"What's going on up and down the coast?" said Gary Woodfield, a litigation partner at Edwards Angell in West Palm Beach. "Everyone is strained by the triple combination of increased interest rates, taxes and insurance. But the Palm Beach County economy is stronger.
"At least for the present, we can handle it."
Florida had the second-highest number of filings in the nation with a total of 14,318 households entering some stage of foreclosure last month, Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac said. California is No. 1 with 30,505 filings.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/business/content/business/epaper/2007/05/16/a1d_foreclosures_0516.html?imw=Y
Dems meet with Bush staff on war measure
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate leaders met with President Bush's chief of staff in the Capitol on Thursday in search of a compromise bill to fund the Iraq war, eager to avoid a second veto showdown.
"We'll work through something we can all live with," the president told reporters at the White House.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that was his goal, adding that Democrats would not give the White House "a blank check." Bush "has to deal with us," he said.
Bush vetoed an earlier measure, objecting to a proposed timetable for a troop withdrawal as well as several billion dollars Democrats inserted for their favored domestic programs.
House Democrats failed to override his veto, then countered with a replacement bill to finance the war in two 60-day installments. Bush vowed to veto that bill, as well.
The Senate sidetracked the House's confrontational approach, passing legislation that merely pledges to provide the troops the resources they need - an action designed to pave the way for Bolten's mid-morning visit to the Capitol for renewed talks with Reid and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
The vote was 94-1.
Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., cast the lone dissenting vote. He favors cutting off money to end the war.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_IRAQ?SITE=FLPAP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Agreement reached on immigration reform
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Key senators and the White House reached agreement Thursday on an immigration overhaul that would grant quick legal status to millions of illegal immigrants already in the U.S. and fortify the border.
The plan would create a temporary worker program to bring new arrivals to the U.S. A separate program would cover agricultural workers. New high-tech enforcement measures also would be instituted to verify that workers are here legally.
The compromise came after weeks of painstaking closed-door negotiations that brought the most liberal Democrats and the most conservative Republicans together with President Bush's Cabinet officers to produce a highly complex measure that carries heavy political consequences.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., said he expects Bush to endorse the agreement.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IMMIGRATION_CONGRESS?SITE=FLPAP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Report says soldiers were not protected
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Three U.S. soldiers slaughtered in a grisly kidnapping-murder plot south of Baghdad last June had been left alone for up to 36 hours in a poorly planned mission, a military investigation concluded. Two officers have been relieved of their commands.
Neither of the officers faced criminal charges as a result of the litany of mistakes that left the soldiers exposed, a military official familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
A report on the investigation said the platoon leader and company commander - whose names were not released - failed to provide proper supervision to the unit or enforce military standards.
A seven-page summary of the investigation provided to the AP also said it appears insurgents may have rehearsed the attack two days earlier, and that Iraqi security forces near the soldiers' outpost probably saw and heard the attack and "chose to not become an active participant in the attack on either side."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MURDERED_SOLDIERS_INVESTIGATION?SITE=FLPAP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Economy may slow this summer, data show
NEW YORK (AP) -- A gauge of future economic activity showed the U.S. economy will slow in coming months, reversing recent gains and suggesting higher gas prices and a sluggish construction industry are beginning to take their toll.
The Conference Board said Thursday its index of leading economic indicators dropped 0.5 percent, higher than the 0.1 decline analysts were expecting. The reading is designed to forecast economic activity over the next three to six months.
The increase almost reversed an amended 0.6 percent climb in March, which analysts say should relieve pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.
"The data may be pointing to slower economic conditions this summer. With the industrial core of the economy already slow, and housing mired in a continued slump, there are some signs that these weaknesses may be beginning to soften both consumer spending and hiring this summer," said Ken Goldstein, labor economist for the Conference Board.
The reading tracks 10 economic indicators. Two of those readings were positive in April: stock prices and real money supply.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/ECONOMY?SITE=FLPAP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
N.Y. attorney general sues Dell
NEW YORK (AP) -- New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday accused Dell Inc. and its financial services affiliate of "bait and switch" advertising and failing to deliver on promised customer service.
Round Rock, Texas-based Dell lured customers with zero percent financing, then switched them to a higher rate without their knowledge at the time of purchase, according to the lawsuit.
Cuomo announced details of a lawsuit filed a day earlier in the New York Supreme Court, claiming that Dell and Dell Financial Services LP engaged in fraud, false advertising and deceptive business practices.
Dell denied those charges in a written statement from spokesman Bob Pearson.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DELL_LAWSUIT?SITE=FLPAP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Not a license to kill
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Florida isn't the Wild West, just yet.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge William Berger on Monday correctly refused to dismiss first-degree murder charges against Norman Borden. Mr. Borden shot and killed Christopher Araujo, 19, and Saul Trejo, 21, in the Westgate neighborhood of suburban West Palm Beach in October.
Mr. Borden had argued that Florida's so-called "Castle Doctrine," as expanded in 2005 by the Legislature, applied in his case and showed he had not committed a crime.
Before the revamped law went into effect, people who felt threatened were obligated to try to retreat from the threat. The new law says people don't have to try to get away from violent situations before defending themselves with deadly force. In effect, it gives people the same self-defense rights in public as they could exercise if threatened in their own homes.
Interpreted improperly, the law could unnecessarily escalate controllable confrontations into violent attacks. Officials' handling of the Borden case sends the message that the law should not be seen as a license to kill. Authorities were right to bring the first-degree murder charges, and Judge Berger was right to rule that the case poses questions that can be answered only by a jury.
The judge's decision emphatically does not mean that Mr. Borden has no defense. One of the men he killed is alleged to have gang connections. Mr. Borden says he fired five shots at them when they drove at him in a Jeep as he was walking his dog at about 3 a.m. Then, after the Jeep came to rest, he fired another nine shots into it. Prosecutors say the second burst of shots went beyond self-defense. Because of Judge Berger's ruling, that's what a jury will decide.
In revising the law, the Legislature was interested primarily in giving the National Rifle Association whatever it wanted. It's good to know that at least some public officials still take the use of deadly force seriously.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2007/05/17/m14a_Castledoc_edit_0517.html
continued …
This is a town very near Montreal, Quebec. They normally get about 7 (18 cm) inches of rain a month. We are in trouble, people.
May 10, 2007
Lac-Mégantic, Canada
Photographer states :: We've got our first thunderstorm of the year here in Lac-Mégantic and I also took the first shots with my new camera.
This is a heat transfer system from ground level as far as the eye can see.
May 14, 2007
Rochester Hills, Michigan
Photographer states :: Altocumulus Undulatus clouds? at dawn
The water vapor holds the heat in the clouds and moves it from the equator to the Arctic Circle. If this was the Southern Hemisphere it would end unload it's heat over Antarctica. Yep.
May 15, 2007
Norborne, Missouri
Photogarpher states :: The flood water has started its slow draining from the farm fields. All this water must drain through the ditches and creeks back to the Missouri River. It will be a couple more weeks before this land can be cultivated. It's not too late to plant soybeans as long as there is not more heavy rains.
This is a West and North Hemispheric satellite from May 10, 2007 at 0430z. It's water vapor from UNISYS. No loop.
Below is a personal note to myself regarding the manifestation of two vortices at latitude 27 in both the Pacific and the Atlantic. The Pacific vortex is noted nearly in the same location of the one that still persists on May 17, 2007. The Atlantic vortex is more diffuse in this picture because there is more turbulence in the air mass once it passes over the continent, but, the location is approximately 48 degrees LONGITUDE. I am using very crude methods to determine the location of these vortices but I am certian it is in that longitude and latitude although not completely percise but more or less estimated. This phenomena is now seven days out from it's orgins noted above and they are still persisting.
Noted two small vortexes - one in mid atlantic and one pacific northeast of Hawaii. they were noted at the same time and disappeared at the same time. they lasted seven hours after this and then the 'eyes' were overcast and incorporated in larger cloud masses.
12 hour loop. Kindly note the location of the Pacific vortex.
May 7, 2007
1330z
Water Vapor Satellite of the West and North Hemisphere by UNISYS
12 hour loop. The vortex in the Pacific is still there. This is a trend.
May 17, 2007
1330z
Water Vapor GOES West satellite from UNISYS.
I believe this 'new' phenomena is limited to this latitude. I'll show you why in a minute. But this seems to be a sustaining issue and ocean shipping routes that pass under these vortices have to be evaluated for safety in regard to water spouts and whirlpools.
What kind of job have the contractors in Iraq done to reconstruct the country?
This is a graphic of Paid Military Contractors (PMCs) (click here). The reason for these people continually grew because the rebuilding effort never got off the ground. It's time to call it quits, the stories get ridiculous.
There was a recent poll stating a huge majority of Iraqi civilians want the USA out of Iraq. That is completely evident where civilians interface with the Bush Project in Iraq. The Iraqi people reject the rebuilding process.
Ann Garrels (click here) reported from Iraq the rebuilding was only successful when the projects were monitored by the contractors from within the Green Zone and Iraqis actually did the rebuilding. Where there were Americans performing the rebuilding the projects always failed or were targets of retaliation.
Frederick Barton, a post-conflict reconstruction expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says there was never a clear U.S. strategy for reconstructing Iraq. There was very little planning and the country wasn't stabilized before enormous projects got under way. Barton says there were too many agencies involved, instead of a single reconstruction "czar."
Many factories that were rebuilt around Iraq are now shuttered. Deputy Under-Secretary of Defense for Business Transformation Paul Brinkley has spent much of the past year traveling around Iraq, trying to revitalize and spark international investment in those factories.
There is only one reason why the USA is still in Iraq without complete accountability and uncontrolled spending. That reason is a president afraid of 'the truth.' Bush is the 'tail' wagging the Legislature (The Will of the People), the dog ! If there are this many Americans opposing the veto then there are least that many that believe in impeachment.
May 8, 2007 6:38 p.m. EST
Matthew Borghese - AHN Staff Writer
Washington, D.C. (AHN) - A new poll finds Americans disapprove of President George Bush's veto of the supplemental funding bill which would have set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
In an Opinion Research Corp. survey for CNN, 54 percent of Americans say they disapprove of the veto, versus the 44 percent that agreed with the decision.
After repeatedly telling Congress that he would not sign any bill which would set a date for American withdrawal. However, both the House and Senate passed a $124 billion spending bill which mandated American forces return home by April 2008.
As for how to move forward, of those that want Congress to pass a new bill, 57 percent want the timetable to go back to the Oval Office, but when asked separately, 61 percent would also approve of a new bill which does not contain the controversial timetable as well.
Matthew Borghese - AHN Staff Writer
Washington, D.C. (AHN) - A new poll finds Americans disapprove of President George Bush's veto of the supplemental funding bill which would have set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
In an Opinion Research Corp. survey for CNN, 54 percent of Americans say they disapprove of the veto, versus the 44 percent that agreed with the decision.
After repeatedly telling Congress that he would not sign any bill which would set a date for American withdrawal. However, both the House and Senate passed a $124 billion spending bill which mandated American forces return home by April 2008.
As for how to move forward, of those that want Congress to pass a new bill, 57 percent want the timetable to go back to the Oval Office, but when asked separately, 61 percent would also approve of a new bill which does not contain the controversial timetable as well.
The Bush/Cheney administration has stated from the beginnings of their illegal war that the reconstruction of Iraq was paramount to the success of the war effort. They were right. In order for the illegal invasion to be 'appreciated' by the Iraqis they would have to allow the influence of the USA military in their country to stop the violence and allow the rebuilding. The Iraqi people never did. The truth of the failed Bush/Cheney strategy that has ruled that country causing huge civilian deaths was conducted for political capital in the USA. The Iraq War was ALWAYS a failure. Always. There has never been a reconstruction project that mattered to the Iraq people to find appreciation for the efforts of any American contingency, military or not, private or not. The Iraq War is a complete and utter failure and has been for four years now.
The USA Constitution has been abandoned by The Republican Party to allow a political venue of war while providing huge profits for their cronies. The USA Constitution demands impeachment but because there are 'enough' Republicans in both the House and Senate to discount that as a possiblity the American people are losing their children to an illegal war, accumulating huge debts and have to watch the civilians of Iraq 'survive' as refugees, die needlessly and live in impoverished conditions in a war ravaged land. How long are the Iraqis and the people of this nation going to continue to suffer at the hand of the greedy and corrupt? Forever? This can't be tolerated much longer. There has to be a resolve. The Neocon Republicans have the USA and Iraq by the throat to an end which will never resolve. The World Courts need to stop this insanty.
There is no 'war strategy' in Iraq. There never has been. It has been dressed and redressed, but, the issues are constant and so are the deaths and the death rates.
We don't belong in Iraq.
We never did.
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