U.S. Checking al Qaeda Claim of Killing Bhutto

December 27, 2007 11:47 AM

Brian Ross, Richard Esposito & R. Schwartz Report:

While al Qaeda is considered by the U.S. to be a likely suspect in the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Banazir Bhutto, U.S. intelligence officials say they cannot confirm an initial claim of responsibility for the attack, supposedly from an al Qaeda leader in Afghanistan.   

An obscure Italian Web site said Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, al Qaeda's commander in Afghanistan, told its reporter in a phone call, "We terminated the most precious American asset which vowed to defeat [the] mujahedeen."

It said the decision to assassinate Bhutto was made by al Qaeda's No. 2 leader, Ayman al Zawahri in October. Before joining Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, Zawahri was imprisoned in Egypt for his role in the assassination of then-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

Bhutto had been outspoken in her opposition to al Qaeda and had criticized the government of President Pervez Musharraf for failing to take strong action against the Islamic terrorists. 

"She openly threatened al Qaeda, and she had American support," said ABC News consultant Richard Clarke, the former White House counterterrorism adviser. "If al Qaeda could try to kill Musharraf twice, it could easily do this," he said.

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

Al Qaeda had claimed responsibility for the bomb attack Oct. 18 during Bhutto's homecoming rally that killed 140 people but left the former prime minister uninjured.

Senior U.S. officials say it will take several days to sort out who was responsible and that it will be "a test of credibility for the Pakistani government."

U.S. officials monitoring Internet chat rooms known to be used by Islamic militants say several claims of responsibility have been posted, although such postings are notoriously unreliable.

In a statement Thursday night, an FBI spokesman said that there are "no specific threats" against the U.S. in web postings reviewed by the bureau.

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This post has been updated.

December 27, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (393)

Meth Lab Cleanup Rules Written Into Law

December 21, 2007 4:54 PM

Anna Schecter Reports:

The threat of deadly toxic residue from methamphetamine (meth) labs in homes and hotel rooms pushed the president to sign a law today mandating thorough cleanup after they are shut down by authorities.

"These toxic sites need to be cleaned properly to ensure the safety of future residents," said the bill's author, House Committee on Science and Technology Chairman Bart Gordon, D-Tenn. 

The chemicals used in making this the drug are highly toxic and can infuse the walls, carpet and furniture of any house, apartment or hotel room in which the drug was made, according to public health officials.

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

ABC News reported earlier this year that a minor chemical spill in a hotel could be deadly not only for the meth "cook" but also for other guests staying in the hotel.

"Phosphine gas is just one of the many highly toxic gases that can escape during the manufacture of meth. The gases can be deadly," said Dr. Raymond Fowler of the CDC in Dallas. 

The Drug Enforcement Administration reported seizing roughly 7,000 methamphetamine labs last year.

The new bill requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop model, voluntary, health-based clean-up guidelines for use by states and localities with the goal of making sure the sites of former meth labs are safe and livable.

The legislation also authorizes the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to initiate a research program to develop meth detection equipment for field use. Such equipment will help local law enforcement and first-responders detect active meth labs faster and assist in measuring contamination levels. The legislation also requires a study by the National Academy of Sciences on the long-term health impacts on children rescued from meth labs and on first-responders.

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December 21, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (16)

CIA Presses for Leak Probe Into Ex-Official

December 21, 2007 4:42 PM

From The Blotter:

A request from the CIA for a criminal investigation into the ex-spook who recently gave an interview with ABC News to discuss harsh interrogations of terror suspects is "both expected and normal," according to the man's lawyer.

"It is a routine act that the CIA undertakes even when they know no violation has occurred," said attorney Mark Zaid, who represents former CIA official John Kiriakou.

ABC News aired an unprecedented interview with Kiriakou Dec. 10, in which he told correspondent Brian Ross he believed that the CIA used a technique known as "waterboarding," or controlled drowning, to extract information from a controversial al Qaeda captive.

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

The CIA has requested the Justice Department examine whether Kiriakou illegally shared classified information by giving interviews to ABC News and other outlets, the Washington Post reported Friday.

In the interview, Kiriakou gave a carefully-worded defense of the CIA's use of waterboarding, saying that while he believed the treatment was torture and necessary at the time, it is no longer necessary.

Kiriakou's on-the-record comments 11 days ago reportedly outraged CIA officials. Sources told ABC News some called for an investigation at the time, but the effort was squelched by higher-ups.

Kiriakou said he did not witness the waterboarding but was told details by others who were present.

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December 21, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (11)

Evangelist Video Shot at Air Force Academy Exposed

December 21, 2007 2:07 PM

Anna Schecter Reports:

A video made by a Christian ministry group shows Air Force Academy cadets being pressured to become "government paid missionaries when they leave" the academy, according to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), which released the video this week.

MRFF president Mikey Weinstein says the video is unconstitutional and an outrage.

"This is absolutely out of control. You cannot engage the U.S. government to propel your religion," said Weinstein.   

The video features former Academy Campus Crusade for Christ director Scot Blum saying, "They're government paid missionaries when they leave here," referring to graduates of the academy.

"Our purpose for Campus Crusade for Christ at the Air Force Academy is to make Jesus Christ the issue at the Air Force Academy and around the world," said Blum on the video. 

Watch the Campus Crusade for Christ video here.

Weinstein, whose organization has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Defense for violating service members' right to religious freedom, said the video is one item on a "long menu" of unconstitutional evangelism going on in the military.

A spokeswoman for Campus Crusade for Christ said her organization's Military Ministry occasionally comes under attack from various groups which don't agree with her organization's  Christian mission.

"We are careful to comply with all government and Department of Defense policies and regulations which may apply to our ministry with government agencies and employees, and we will review the video in question to ensure continued compliance," the spokeswoman said.

An Air Force Academy spokesman said he has not seen the video, but that the Air Force Academy has pledged to defend religious rights. 

"We've worked actively to remind our people to respect others, and we make sure we offer a wide variety of [religious] services," the spokesman said.

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December 21, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (92)

Run Silent, Run Drugs: The Cocaine Sub Fleet

December 20, 2007 3:57 PM

Brian Ross and Len Tepper Report:

Drug traffickers are using a fleet of as many as 20 mini subs to move huge quantities of cocaine through the Caribbean, federal law enforcement and Coast Guard officials tell ABC News.

The cocaine vessels are often harder to detect than Russian submarines because of the way they skim the surface, officials say.

"The Russian submarine has a certain signal you can listen to underwater," said Coast Guard Adm. Joseph L. Nimmich, director of Joint Interagency Task Force South, based in Key West, Fla.

Photos: Drug Cartels' Secret Weapon

The cocaine vessels give "very little signal," said the admiral, whose officers are testing a captured sub in order to adjust Coast Guard sensors.

In a report to be aired on "World News With Charles Gibson," officials showed off the recently captured vessel, a semi-submersible that carried 9,000 pounds of pure cocaine.

"They started out with four to five tons. The new ones are estimated to carry between 12 to 15 tons of narcotics," Adm. Nimmich said.

The vessels are able to travel up to 2,000 miles and evade U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships patrolling the waters between Colombia and the U.S. and Mexico.

U.S. officials say the cocaine trafficking groups actually assemble the vessels in the jungles of Colombia and then truck them to remote ports to be launched.

The vessels carry a crew of only two or three and often are purposefully sunk if detected by patrol boats, officials say.

The use of the subs comes as U.S. officials say cocaine prices have risen an estimated 45 percent in the last 10 months, a sustained trend that suggests supply is being affected.

"Never happened before in, I think, 30 years of looking at the drug problem in the United States," said White House drug czar John Walters.

"If we reduce the quality and raise the price, this product, like every other product, is susceptible to a declining market," Walters says.

Critics say there have been other "blips" in cocaine prices before and that those have proven to be only temporary.

"The price of cocaine today, even after this blip, is about 40 percent of what it was in the 1980s," said Ethan Nadelmann, the executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, an organization that promotes alternatives to the war on drugs.

"The drug czar is grasping for straws. Cocaine seems to be just as widely available on the streets as it ever was," said Nadelmann.

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December 20, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (66)

Exclusive: 11 Tons of Opium Discovered in Taliban Town

December 20, 2007 3:26 PM

Stephen Grey and Anna Schecter Report:

In some of the strongest evidence to date linking the Taliban with the drug trade, 11 tons of processed opium for heroin production, worth tens of millions of dollars, was discovered by NATO troops when they stormed the Taliban-controlled town of Musa Qala in southern Afghanistan.

Investigative reporter and author Stephen Grey was the only journalist who accompanied the thousands of Afghan, British and American forces as they took the strategic town last week.

Click Here to View Exclusive Footage of the Opium Factory.

Musa Qala was a key stronghold for the Taliban in Afghanistan and has been known to be a major crossroads for the opium trade. 

NATO troops discovered two sites of opium production that were operating with the blessing of the Taliban government. The troops burned the processed opium last week.

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

British troops abandoned Musa Qala in October of 2006 after losing seven lives defending a base in the town from waves of Taliban attacks. The Taliban took it over in February of that year. It became one of the few major places in Afghanistan where the Taliban could operate in the open, trying to set up their own local government and courts.

U.S. commanders openly criticized the British-backed handover of Musa Qala. The recapture of the town heals an open wound that undermined claims by NATO that the Taliban were being defeated militarily.

Stephen Grey is the author of "Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA's Rendition and Torture Program" (St Martin's Press). He is an award-winning investigative reporter who has contributed to the New York Times, BBC, PBS and ABC News among others.

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December 20, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (14)

Sex Bust Nabs State Security Contractor

December 20, 2007 11:30 AM

Justin Rood Reports:

In Pennsylvania, a local prostitution bust has ensnared one of the state's private security contractors and could put his business with the state in jeopardy.

Swatara Township police arrested Russell Wantz, 57, on Dec. 10 for soliciting sex after he allegedly responded to an ad posted by a 21-year-old woman authorities say is a prostitute. The woman placed her ad on the popular community site craigslist.org, according to police.

Wantz owns and operates the Schaad Detective Agency, according to the firm's Web site. The company provides security services to state agencies under four separate contracts, a state spokesman said Thursday. 

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

The company has performed nearly $1 million in security and surveillance services for various state agencies over the last few years, according to documents posted online by the Web site yardbird.com. The site has followed Wantz's story closely.

According to the arrest record, police had taken the alleged prostitute, Payonna Williams, into custody when her cell phone, which had been taken as evidence, began ringing. Officers answered it and found themselves speaking with Wantz, who attempted to arrange a rendezvous with the cell phone's owner, the account said.

Wantz told a policeman posing as Williams' boyfriend that he would pay $125 for "advertised sexual services" with Williams, according to a police affadavit. For that fee, a separate affidavit said, Williams would provide "oral and vaginal sex...for a half hour." Wantz agreed to meet the woman at a local Red Roof Inn. Upon his arrival, police arrested the security executive.

"He is still innocent, until proven guilty," said Ed Myslewicz, spokesman for the Pennsylvania General Services Agency, which handles state contracting. If Wantz is convicted, Myslewicz said, "then the state would need to follow up and review the contracts and see if there was any language on contractor conduct."

According to the documents posted online, Wantz's firm has provided armed and unarmed guards and surveillance services to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, the state's Turnpike Commission and the state's Liquor Control Board.

Wantz's attorney, L.C. Heim, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Schaad Detective Agency declined to comment for this story.

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December 20, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (9)

DOJ Shuns Hearing on Halliburton/KBR Rape Cases

December 19, 2007 2:00 PM

Maddy Sauer Reports:

The Department of Justice refused to send a representative to answer questions from Congress today on the investigations into allegations of rape and sexual assault on female American contractors.

"I'm embarrassed that the Department of Justice can't even come forward," said the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee John Conyers, D-Mich.

Read the Full Story.

December 19, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (11)

Whose Push Poll Is It Anyway? Going Negative on Clinton, Obama; Positive on Edwards

December 19, 2007 12:43 PM

Brian Ross and Avni Patel Report:

Iowa Democrats are being hit with a new round of "opinion poll" calls this week that stress negative qualities of Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama and praise John Edwards as a man who "has spent his life fighting powerful interests."

Click here to hear the call.

The calls come from operators who say they are "out of state" and are conducting an opinion poll for a "research company."

It's what known in politics as a push poll with the ostensible poll taker, in fact, pushing negatives about a particular candidate.

"Our campaign has nothing to do with this," said Marc Kornblau, a spokesman for the Edwards campaign. There was no immediate comment from the Clinton campaign, and the Obama campaign declined to comment on the calls.

Here is the transcript of one call received Tuesday by a Des Moines woman who is a registered Democrat likely to attend the caucus next month. She recorded the call at the request of the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

Question #1: Which Democratic presidential candidate do you think will fight the hardest for working people? Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama or John Edwards?

Question #2: Which of the following do you think will most help someone be a better president?  Being the spouse of the president? Serving as a community organizer? Or working as a trial lawyer who fought many big corporations?

Question #3: I'm going to read the description of some of the candidates and ask if it concerns you.

First, Hillary Clinton changes her position on important issues too often. She has said that she would not eliminate Bush's tax cuts that give special treatment to the rich. Is this very concerning, somewhat, not so concerning or not at all concerning? 

Question #4: Barack Obama has little experience at the federal level where he was a senator. He repeatedly refused to vote against legislation that threatened a woman's right to choose. Instead, he voted present. Is this very concerning, somewhat, not so concerning or not at all concerning? 

Question #5: John Edwards is a liberal trial lawyer who supports mandated universal health care coverage at a time the government is already spending too much money. Is this very concerning, somewhat, not so concerning or not at all concerning? 

Question #6: A recent nationwide polls says that Hillary Clinton may be a weak general election candidate. The polls shows that Clinton is the only Democrat who would lose to all five major Republican candidates in the November election. How concerned are you that if Hillary Clinton is the nominee, the Democrats may lose the presidential campaign?

Question #7: Barack Obama has taken over $12 million from the financial industry and its lobbyists. In the Senate, he was one of the only 15 Democrats who supported the financial industry by allowing predatory lenders to target (unintelligible and the poor by charging unlimited interest on their credit cards and loans.  Is this very concerning, somewhat, not so concerning or not at all concerning? 

Question #8: John Edwards believes that politicians in Washington keep changing the rules so big corporations and the super rich receive special breaks and the rest of us who play fair get stuck with the bills. Edwards has spent his life fighting powerful interests and has never taken a dime from the lobbyists. As president, he will fight to make the system fair.  Is this very concerning, somewhat, not so concerning or not at all concerning? 

Question #9: Barack Obama began his career as an organizer in Chicago and has fought for civil rights issues and for (unintelligible) people. He has served both as a state senator and in the U.S. Senate. Is this very, somewhat, not so or not at all persuasive to you?

When asked who he worked for, the caller said he had no idea who was a Democrat or a Republican. The caller ID of the call showed: 000-000-0000.

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December 19, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (30)

Cunningham Briber Won't Get New Trial

December 18, 2007 10:30 AM

Justin Rood Reports:

A man convicted of bribing former Republican Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham won't get the new trial he requested.

U.S. District Court Judge Larry Alan Burns told the lawyer for former defense contractor Brent Wilkes that the leak of Wilkes' indictment to the media weeks before it was made public did not affect jurors who heard Wilkes' case.

Last month the jury convicted Wilkes on several charges stemming from a bribery scheme in which he showered Cunningham with cash, meals, prostitutes and other gifts. Only four jurors said they had read about the case before hearing it, and none said they were familiar with the accounts which reportedly featured information from the leaked indictment.

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

"You've been bamboozled. I've been bamboozled. Mr. Wilkes has been bamboozled," Wilkes' lawyer, Mark Geragos, reportedly told the judge.

Cunningham pleaded guilty in 2005 and is serving an eight-year, four-month sentence in federal prison. Cases against two other major figures in the scandal are proceeding slowly.

In one, involving former CIA executive director Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, Judge Burns is weighing whether to transfer the trial to Virginia because many of the alleged crimes in the case were believed to have been committed there. Wilkes faces prosecution in that case as well.

And the sentencing of a Greek-born financier who has admitted to laundering bribes from Wilkes intended for Cunningham is on hold while he reportedly recuperates from an operation. Thomas Kontogiannis had heart surgery last month, just weeks after taking a family vacation to Greece without notifying the judge, as he was required to do by the terms of his release on bond.  Prosecutors have requested the judge give Kontogiannis 10 years in prison; his lawyer has called any incarceration for the reportedly ailing 59-year-old "a death sentence."

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December 18, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (6)

Ex-CIA Officer's Account Provokes New Debate

December 18, 2007 10:10 AM

Brian Ross and Richard Esposito Report:

The account by former CIA intelligence officer John Kiriakou, first reported by the Blotter on ABCNews.com, about the use of waterboarding in the interrogation of a captured al Qaeda leader has provked a new round of outcries and debate over the effectiveness of the technique.   

The Washington Post reports this morning that FBI agents involved in the capture and initial interrogation of Abu Zubaydah dispute Kiriakou's account that the suspected terrorist provided useful information only after he was subjected to waterboading, in which a suspect is made to feel he is drowning. 

Read the Original Story: Coming in From the Cold: CIA Spy Calls Waterboarding Necessary But Torture

Kiriakou's appearance has again stirred the animosity between the FBI and the CIA over how to best get information from terror suspects, with the FBi arguing that the CIA's techniques are unnecessary and often lead to false confessions.

By the way, the Washington Post story about Abu Zubaydah is illustrated with a photograph that is not Abu Zubaydah. The photo in the post is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who the CIA says was later captured based on leads from Zubaydah.

December 18, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (14)

Jihadist Web Site Beats the War Drum

December 17, 2007 3:47 PM

Rehab El-Buri Reports:

A jihadist Web site posted a banner Monday announcing a new al Qaeda video calling for battle.

The video is titled "Al Nafeer," an Arabic word referring to the horn that is blown before war.

One terrorism expert said the video will likely contain an address from al Qaeda's leadership.

This new banner comes just a day after jihadist Web sites released an almost two-hour video featuring al Qaeda's No. 2 man, Ayman al Zawahri.

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December 17, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (2)

Zawahri Wants Your Questions Online

December 17, 2007 9:02 AM

Rehab El-Buri Reports:

Expanding its use of the Internet, al Qaeda now is asking that online users submit their questions -- even "hostile" ones -- to its No. 2 man, Ayman al Zawahri.

And like any other blogger, Zawahri says he is prepared to engage. He made the offer on a video posted on a jihadist Web site Sunday touting Britain's withdrawal from Basra as a success for insurgents there.

The almost two-hour long video features Ayman al Zawahri answering questions in front of book-lined shelves from an off-camera interviewer with intermittent video clips. When the interviewer asked which is the most important field al Qaeda fighters are wrestling with, Zawahri answered, "Iraq is the most important of these fields." Zawahri describes the state of resistance fighting in Iraq as "excellent."

At the end of the video, entitled "A Review of Events," a written message invites individuals, organizations and media outlets to submit questions for Zawahri to answer one month from his video's release. The message solicits all questions, "whether they be friendly or hostile."

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

In the video, Zawahri claimed that there is no such thing as al Qaeda in Iraq, but that various jihadi organizations in "Mesopotamia" have banded together to carry out operations against their enemies.

This latest video comes as British forces relinquished power to Iraqi security forces in the southern Iraqi province of Basra. Zawahri said reports from Iraq point to an American failure in trying to take over the country.

Zawahri also touched on a slew of other issues including Libyan fighters joining the ranks of al Qaeda, the mistakes of the Shiites in cooperating with the Americans in Iraq, Arab dictators, the current situations in Palestine, Pakistan, Egypt, Iran and Afghanistan and the media's handling of bin Laden's audio message releases.

At the end of the interview, Zawahri called for his fighters to "be steadfast, beloved ones, for the advance of jihad is on its way."

This post has been updated.

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December 17, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (53)

Abramoff's Heirs Lack His Clout When It Comes to Island Territory

December 14, 2007 2:09 PM

Marcus Baram Reports:

It's not easy to step into Jack Abramoff's tasseled loafers.

Some of Washington's highest-powered lobbyists and publicists obviously don't have the same juice as the jailed superflack when it comes to looking out for the interests of a Pacific island territory notorious for its low wages and sweatshops.

The House passed legislation this past Tuesday that extends immigration law and creates a federally-run guest-worker program in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) despite the best efforts of former White House spokesman Trent Duffy and lobbyists Bill Oldaker and Eric Schwerin.

"Jack Abramoff is in prison, and Tom DeLay has resigned in disgrace," said Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), a longtime proponent of the bill. "When we pass this bill by an overwhelming margin today, it will send a strong statement that the U.S. House is finally rid of the Abramoff/DeLay axis."

The island territory infamously paid Abramoff $6.7 million from 1995 to 2001 to block Congressional efforts to apply the federal minimum wage to workers who toil in the islands' factories and to change immigration law.

As part of his efforts, Abramoff arranged trips to the island for former Majority Leader Tom DeLay, James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) and Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.). And his lobbying team reportedly assisted in the preparation of Rep. Ralph Hall's (R-Texas) speech on the House floor in which the Congressman ripped the credibility of "Katrina," an escaped teenage sex worker on the island. ABC's "20/20" first exposed sweatshop labor conditions on CNMI in a Brian Ross investigation.

Though Abramoff now lives in a federal prison in Cumberland, Md., the island's governor has hired plenty of new lobbyists over the year to represent his interests, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and attracting criticism from the island's own representative to Congress.

The commonwealth's current governor, Benigno Fitial, used to work as an executive at the Tan Holding Company, a Chinese conglomerate that controlled several garment factories on the island. One of the company's executives was reportedly billed by Abramoff over $220,000 for the annual rental of skyboxes at sports stadiums around the Beltway.

Earlier this year, Fitial hired Duffy as a PR consultant to the commonwealth and renewed its $15,000-a-month contract with Oldaker, Biden & Belair lobbying firm.

But they haven't had much success. Despite their efforts and Fitial's campaign contributions to President Bush and the Republican National Committee, earlier this year the president signed legislation to increase the island's minimum wage from $3.05 to $3.55 and to eventually bring it to parity with the national wage.

Duffy was hopeful that the bill would die in the Senate saying that the bill's proponents were "using the ghost of Jack Abramoff to penalize 60,000 American citizens." He argues that the legislation would take away local control of immigration issues, which allowed the island to import workers from Asia for years.

Pedro Tonorio, the island's resident representative to the United States, who said he was elated at the passage of the legislation, decried the hiring of the lobbyists. "I'm perplexed by some of our elected leaders, that they haven't learned from mistakes that were made in the past," he says. "They're spending tens of thousands of dollars a month, money that is needed desperately back home."

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

December 14, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (3)

Al Qaeda Releases New Recording

December 14, 2007 8:32 AM

From The Blotter:

A new al Qaeda communique featuring Al-Qaeda's number-two man was released on the internet Friday morning.

References to last month's peace conference in Annapolis indicate the recording is recent. The message, in Arabic, has not yet been fully translated, but early analysis indicates it contains fulminations about Mideast leaders' positions expressed at the late November event.

Experts have authenticated the tape and confirmed the voice belongs to Zawahiri. It was released by As Sahab, the terror group's propaganda operation.

The recording – audio over a still photomontage showing images of Zawahiri, Bush and Middle Eastern leaders – is 20 minutes, two seconds long.

Al Zawahiri was last featured on an As Sahab release in early November, in an audio statement with an al Qaeda field commander.  In September, al Qaeda released a videotape of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

December 14, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (122)

Exclusive: No Prosecution for State Dept Official Accused of Sexual Assault

December 14, 2007 7:00 AM

Brian Ross, Maddy Sauer & Justin Rood Report:

The Department of Justice declined to prosecute a State Department employee who allegedly sexually assaulted a female Halliburton/KBR worker in Iraq, despite a recommendation from the State Department that he be charged, according to an internal document obtained by ABC News.

Ali Mokhtare, who is still employed by the State Department, was investigated in 2005 after a female Halliburton/KBR employee said he sexually assaulted her at the company-run camp in Basra, Iraq. Mokhtare was a diplomatic official in Basra who first came to Iraq as a Farsi translator interviewing detainees.

Click Here for the Full Story.

December 14, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (2)

Another KBR Rape Claim Brings Scrutiny

December 13, 2007 4:11 PM

Justin Rood Reports:

Congress is asking questions about another ex-employee of government contracting firm KBR who claims she was raped in Iraq.

Letters to the Pentagon and the Justice Department today from Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. underscore congressional concern about a second alleged assault, this time of a woman from Florida who reportedly worked for a KBR subsidiary in Ramadi, Iraq in 2005.

"I am deeply troubled by recent reports that at least two women who worked in Iraq under contractors for the Department of Defense were sexually assaulted by male coworkers," Nelson wrote Defense Secretary Robert Gates Thursday.

In particular, Nelson expressed concern that in the case of Jamie Leigh Jones, the U.S. Army doctor who examined her turned over the rape examination kit, thought to contain useful evidence, to KBR officials. In the letter, Nelson also asked for an investigation to determine how many rape examinations were performed by U.S. military doctors in Iraq, and what was being done to ensure the cases were prosecuted.

In a separate letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Nelson asked why there has been no criminal prosecution in the case of the alleged Florida victim. The woman, reportedly now 41, has alleged she was raped in her living quarters. She has sued KBR and Halliburton in civil court, but the judge ordered the case into private arbitration.

Contacted Thursday, the woman's lawyer said the rules of arbitration prohibit her from discussing the case or making her client available for an interview.

In the woman's complaint, filed earlier this year, she alleges that in December 2005 a drunken KBR co-worker let himself into her living quarters and raped her. The woman worked as a Morale, Welfare and Recreation Coordinator in Ramadi, according to news accounts and Nelson's letter.

In a statement, KBR said it "in no way condones or tolerates any form of sexual harassment." It declined to comment on the Florida case, "as this matter is the subject of ongoing litigation."

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December 13, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (100)

Director of Veterans Charity in Hiding

December 13, 2007 12:18 PM

Matthew Jaffe and Rhonda Schwartz Report:

The director of a national charity for veterans has gone into hiding after defying a congressional subpoena.

Roger Chapin, head of the California-based charity, Help Hospitalized Veterans, refused to appear today before a congressional hearing chaired by Congressman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who is investigating how the charity's money was spent.

Waxman said Chapin had evaded attempts by U.S. marshals to find him for the past week to serve a warrant to compel Chapin to answer questions before Congress about his charity, which raised more than $98 million last year.

"There have been serious allegations against Mr. Chapin, including allegations that he is paying exorbitant salaries to himself and his wife, using donations to pay for questionable expenses, such as new condos, shifting funds among his various groups to skew reporting numbers and concealing millions of dollars in payments to for-profit fundraising corporations," Waxman said.

Help Hospitalized Veterans was one of more than a dozen charities for veterans rated "F" by a leading charity watchdog group, the American Institute of Philanthropy.

At today's hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Waxman criticized these charities for "intolerable fraud" and "a sickening betrayal of our most fundamental values."

"A disturbing number of groups are raising millions of dollars in the name of helping veterans but keeping most of the donations for themselves," said Waxman. "Instead of using the money to provide financial assistance or help veterans obtain care, these groups and the professional fundraisers they employ blatantly line their own pockets. They betray their donors and the troops who desperately need help."

"Right now there's incredible waste out there, and it's being done in the name of our brave veterans," said AIP's Daniel Borochoff. "We owe a lot more to these veterans than too many of these nonprofit groups are providing."

Ed Edmundson, whose son Eric was wounded in Iraq, fought back tears as he described how some charities "use these soldiers as a commodity to raise funds."

"I am concerned [about] the negative effect that the few self-serving nonprofits will have on the ability of the legitimate nonprofits to obtain funding from the general public," Edmundson said, choking back tears. "It would be an unfortunate turn of events if the service they provide is not available."

At one point, Waxman read a letter from former Sen. Bob Dole that called these groups "parasites" and applauded Waxman's committee for "exposing the downright fraud used by some [charities]."

"I cannot imagine anyone, or any group, stooping so low to enrich themselves by exploiting veterans' misery," Dole wrote.

Last month, Chapin walked out of an interview with ABC News' Brian Ross for a report that appeared on "Good Morning America."

Waxman said the committee will hold a second hearing on Jan. 17, 2008 and was issuing a new subpoena for Mr. Chapin today.

Read Waxman's letter detailing Congress' efforts to reach Chapin.

This post has been updated.

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December 13, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (35)

Exclusive: Eyewitness Account of Huge Taliban Defeat

December 13, 2007 10:39 AM

By Stephen Grey

Afghanistan's government flag was raised Wednesday on what had been one of the biggest strongholds of the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan and a leading world center of heroin production.

The town of about 45,000 people was secured at about 9:30 a.m. as Afghan troops, steered by British soldiers and U.S. Green Berets, drove out remnants of the Taliban resistance from Musa Qala in the opium poppy region of northern Helmand.

As the only journalist to join NATO forces entering the town, I found it a ghost town abandoned by both the Taliban and its residents at the end of an eight-day coalition operation. The offensive was one of NATO's biggest in the country since Operation Anaconda in 2002.

Embedded with a team of British troops and a detachment/"A–team" of U.S. special forces, I watched the Taliban being pounded these last few days with overwhelming force -- vapor trails circled in the clear blue sky over the Helmand desert as B1 and B52 bombers backed by A10 tank busters, F16s, Apache helicopters and Specter gunships were used to kill hundreds of Taliban fighters.

The operation was launched last Tuesday with an attack across the Helmand River by British Royal Marine commandos, a thrust from the west by light armor of the U.K. Household Cavalry Regiment; all this, however, was a feint for the main airborne landing from the north of a battalion of soldiers of Task Force Fury from the 82nd Airborne.

Faced with a full brigade of NATO forces, a brigade of Afghan government fighters and the defection of a key Taliban commander, the Taliban chose not to flee at first but to fight a desperate battle.

I joined one feint attack of Afghan soldiers last Friday that came under fierce Taliban fire in a village on the outskirts of Musa Qala -- AK47s and heavy machine gun fire opened up on us as we advanced across open ground. The British and Afghans counterattacked backed by U.S. special forces who opened up with 50-caliber fire and by calling three F16 strikes and a B1 bomber strike.

On Sunday, as the 82nd Airborne advanced to take positions north, east and south of the town,  I watched the sky being lit with large explosions from heavy ordnance dropped from the air to support the U.S. advance.

U.S. forces believe the Taliban were backed by a large strength of foreign fighters, including those linked to al Qaeda. Soldiers who I accompanied found one dead fighter whose notebook revealed he was from Pakistan.

While hundreds of Taliban are believed to have been killed, two British soldiers and one American soldier lost their lives. All the deaths, however, resulted from vehicles striking mines left not, it is believed, by the Taliban but by Soviet forces in the 1980s.

On Monday, after days of fierce fighting -- more ferocious than NATO commanders had expected -- the Taliban called it quits and fled the town. Afghan troops entered the town on Tuesday and completed their occupation on Wednesday after only token further resistance.

NATO forces now hope to launch a program of reconstruction that will persuade the local population to turn their backs on the Taliban.

In a controversial move, Musa Qala had been abandoned the previous year after British troops lost seven lives defending a base in the town from waves of Taliban attacks. Although handed over, in theory, to the elders of the town last October, it was taken over by the Taliban by February and became one of the few major places in Afghanistan where the Taliban could operate in the open, trying to set up their own local government and courts.

Last year's British-backed deal was criticized openly by U.S. commanders and the recapture of the town heals an open wound that undermined claims by NATO that the Taliban were being defeated militarily.

*Stephen Grey is the author of "Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA's Rendition and Torture Program" (St Martin's Press). He is an award-winning investigative reporter who has contributed to the New York Times, BBC, PBS and ABC News among others.

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December 13, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (45)

Congress to Probe Iraq Rape Allegations

December 13, 2007 8:46 AM

Justin Rood Reports:

A House panel is looking into charges of sexual assault made by a former Halliburton/KBR employee in Iraq.

At a hearing next Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee will hear testimony relating to allegations made by Jamie Leigh Jones that in 2005, a group of Halliburton/KBR employees in Baghdad drugged her and gang-raped her less than a week into her time in the country.

Read the Full Story.

December 13, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (9)

Phony Hero Comes Clean

December 12, 2007 6:07 PM

Vic Walter and Krista Kjellman Report:

A New York City man, who was exposed for wearing an impressive array of distinguished service decorations he did not earn, switched his plea to guilty today, one day before his trial was set to begin.

Louis Lowell McGuinn, 68, claimed to be a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army, often appearing at military events sporting such distinguished medals as the Purple Heart, the Silver Star and the Distinguished Service Cross, according to the complaint in his case.

But law enforcement officials say it was just a ruse, according to the complaint, and McGuinn had actually been discharged as a private from the Army in 1968 with none of the decorations he wore.

McGuinn's ploy started to unravel after the executive director of the Soldiers, Sailors, Marines & Airmen Club learned McGuinn could not provide documentation for his honors, and the director subsequently notified authorities in 2006.

McGuinn was later caught on camera at a social event at the Pierre Hotel in Manhattan, wearing several distinguished medals and badges.

FBI agents arrested him last April and charged him with wearing medals without authorization, the charge to which he pleaded guilty.

According to the complaint, McGuinn said he chose to "reinvent" himself after leaving the Army "to provide himself some maturity when applying for employment." In fact, the complaint says McGuinn secured two consecutive six-month contracts as a consultant with "an underwater marine security company that frequently works with government agencies as well as private clients" as a result of his feigned identity.

McGuinn faces a maximum of six months in prison, a fine of $5,000 and a maximum one-year supervised release. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 12, 2008.

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December 12, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (58)

It's a Holly Jolly Holiday for Congressional Parties

December 12, 2007 2:12 PM

Asa Eslocker and Joanna Jennings Report:

With the lighting of the Capitol Hill Christmas tree came the tide of lavish parties thrown by big-time lobbyists for members of Congress.

"The holiday season is just a festival of access to senators and congressmen," Richard Wiles, co-founder of the Environmental Working Group, said of Capitol Hill's party circuit.

Photos: Holly Jolly Congressional Festivities

ABC News found caterers working overtime as once again lobbyists spared no expense to entertain members of Congress and their staffs.

Under new congressional ethics laws, lobbyists can spend all they want on holiday parties as long as everyone is standing up.

"You can no longer eat sitting down," Ellen Miller, co-founder and executive director of the Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to making government more accessible on the Internet, said. "There really has to be finger food. I think you can eat food that's on a toothpick, but if it requires a fork or knife, forget it."

And ABC News found plentiful spreads of catered food and well-stocked bars at elegant locations all over the capital -- the kind of expense only the well-funded can afford.

"There is no way we can compete with that kind of money and that kind of influence-peddling," Wiles said.

As invitations to the holiday festivities specify, the new rules also require the events to be widely attended.

But not so widely that ABC News cameras were welcomed at Union Station where the nuclear power industry was hosting its big bash for congressmen. Nor were they welcomed at another huge fete thrown by a big utility company.

And then there were the parties right on Capitol Hill.

Under House rules, lobbyist groups are not allowed to use congressional rooms for "commercial, profit-making, fundraising, political or lobbying purposes."

The Georgia Electric Membership Corporation, a coalition of electricity companies, was one of many lobbyist organizations who threw a holiday reception in the Rayburn congressional building. Organizer Clay Robbins of Oglethorpe Power Corporation let ABC News into their party but couldn't comment on camera because he said, "I'm on the clock" and had to answer questions about "renewables" to Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga., who was in attendance most of the night.

The National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) was given the cafeteria of the Rayburn Office Building for free, because their party, with 50 different kinds of beer, was supposedly considered an educational event, even though they called it a party.

"They're at a party," said Michael Johnson of the National Beer Wholesalers Association. "That's perfectly ethical and legal."

But it was not something one guest, Republican Congressman Doug Lamborn of Colorado, wanted to talk about.

When asked if it was appropriate for the NBWA to be able to use Capitol Hill as a catering hall, Rep. Lamborn was whisked away, saying, "We'll talk to you later."

And the lobbyists quickly hid the name tags of the other members of Congress who were expected to show up.

The Capitol Hill police were then called in, and ABC News cameras were told to stop rolling and bothering the lobbyists and their congressional guests with questions.

So, as the snow fell outside and the free beer flowed inside, the cozy tradition of a holly, jolly lobbyist Christmas was safe for another year.

Watch the full report tonight on "World News With Charles Gibson" at 6:30 p.m. ET.

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December 12, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (27)

Hillary Clinton Calls for Investigation Into Gang-Rape Allegations

December 12, 2007 1:45 PM

Maddy Sauer Reports:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., is calling for a formal government investigation into allegations that a young female American contractor was gang-raped in Iraq and then held incommunicado in a large shipping container by her American employer, KBR, then a subsidiary of Halliburton.

"These claims must be taken seriously and the U.S. government must act immediately to investigate Ms. Jones' claims," Sen. Clinton wrote in a letter today to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Attorney General Michael Mukasey.

Read the Full Story.

December 12, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (11)

Money Magazine: 'Millionaires-in-Chief'

December 12, 2007 10:57 AM

Avni Patel Reports:

The front-runners in the 2008 presidential race have amassed personal fortunes that put them in the top 10 percent, and in most cases the top half percent, of American households, according to Money Magazine.

The January issue of Money Magazine looks at how the top seven contenders got their money and managed their wealth -- and offers some unsolicited advice. 

Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, heads Money Magazine's list with an estimated net worth of $202 million. Romney earned most of his wealth in the '80s and '90s as a chief executive at Bain and Company, a Boston-based management consultant firm, and its private equity investment spin-off, Bain Capital. 

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Sen. Barack Obama is the "poorest" of the group with a net worth of $1.8 million. Money Magazine credits his millionaire status to the success of his two memoirs, which helped him and his wife earn an income of $1.7 million in 2005 and $991,000 in 2006, according to joint tax returns.

Money Magazine found that all but one of the front-runners earned their fortunes on their own.  Sen. John McCain, who has an estimated net worth of $40.4 million, got most of his money from his heiress wife, Cindy. All of McCain's assets, with the exception of his checking accounts, according to Money Magazine, are in Cindy's or their dependent children's names.

"I'd advise the senator to keep Cindy very happy or have a good prenuptial agreement," one financial advisor tells the magazine.

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December 12, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (5)

CIA Efforts to Prosecute Whistle-Blower Spy Stopped

December 11, 2007 5:56 PM

Brian Ross and Richard Esposito Report:

The former CIA intelligence official who went public on ABC News about the agency's use of waterboarding in interrogations, John Kiriakou, apparently will not be the subject of a Justice Department investigation, even though some CIA officials believe he revealed classified information about the use of waterboarding.

"They were furious at the CIA this morning, but cooler heads have apparently prevailed for the time being," a senior Justice Department official told the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

Gen. Michael Hayden, the CIA director, did sent out a classified memo this morning warning all employees "of the importance of protecting classified information," a CIA spokesperson told ABCNews.com.

Kiriakou was not mentioned by name in the memo, according to the spokesperson, who said he could not make it public because it is classified.

The spokesperson would not comment other than to say that "intelligence officers have a lifelong, moral and legal responsibility to safeguard classified information. This continues even after someone leaves the agency."

In his appearance on ABC News and later with other media outlets, Kiriakou revealed that captured al Qaeda figure Abu Zubaydah had been subjected to waterboarding during his interrogation. It was the first time any current or former CIA employee has revealed the use of the technique in public.

"The CIA has not commented on specific interrogation techniques," its spokesperson said. "Disclosing classified information is a violation of the law."

While the use of waterboarding may be classified, its use by the CIA as an approved interrogation technique has been known publicly for at least two years and has been debated in Congress.

Kiriakou said he did not seek CIA approval to appear on ABC News but said he knew "the rules." 

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December 11, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (39)

Islamic Web Site: Al Qaeda in North Africa Claims Responsibility for Algeria Bombings

December 11, 2007 5:34 PM

Rehab El-Buri Reports:

The group that claimed responsibility for two bombings in Algeria just months ago is now saying it is responsible for Tuesday's massive bombings in Algeria's capital that killed at least 60 people on Tuesday, a jihadist Web site says.

Al Qaeda in North Africa, known as al Qaeda in Bilad al Maghrib al Islami, posted photos on a jihadist Web site of two of its men it says are the suicide bombers responsible for Tuesday's attacks. One of the men is smiling while holding an AK-47 in one hand, and a gun in the other. The other man in the photo stares blankly while holding an AK-47.

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The al Qaeda Web site contains a statement saying it brings "good news" of suicide operations that killed at least 60 and injured scores in "the ranks of the Crusaders and apostates."

Earlier this year, al Qaeda's No. 2 man, Ayman al Zawahri, called for the young men of North Africa to oppose their governments. In September, al Qaeda in North Africa claimed responsibility for two bombings that killed more than 50 people.

One of Tuesday's blasts hit near the Constitutional Court in Algiers. The other bomb went off near the United Nations buildings in the Hydra district of Algiers, killing as many as five U.N. employees, according to the AP.

This post has been updated.

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December 11, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (5)

Report: Govt Info at Your Fingertips? Not Quite

December 11, 2007 1:13 PM

Justin Rood Reports:

Looking for information on grandparents' visitation rights? Wondering how to obtain a farm loan? Want to know more about federal radiation monitoring in New York City?

The U.S. government has the answers to questions like these, and they are mostly online. But you won't find them using Google, Yahoo or other major search engines, according to an Internet-age Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group.

By accident or by design, millions of pages of potentially useful, publicly-funded information are blocked from major search engines, the Center for Democracy and Technology says in a new report.

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

In many cases, government agencies fail to take basic steps to ensure their Web sites can be indexed by search engines, the group found.

"It's really trivial," said CDT spokesman Brock Meeks. The process "takes maybe half an hour," he said. "It's a well-known, commonly-used standard...something you could find in the 'Dummies Book to the Internet.'"

In some cases, government employees have written files to bar Web surfers from finding particular pages on their sites through Google or other search engines. Until recently, the White House made it impossible for U.S. taxpayers and others to find information about Iraq on the whitehouse.gov Web site without searching at the site itself. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence also blocked search engines' access to its public site.

Following reports of the blocks on cNet.com in September, both the White House and ODNI said the blocks were written in error and removed them.

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December 11, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (2)

Coming in From the Cold: CIA Spy Calls Waterboarding Necessary But Torture

December 10, 2007 4:00 PM

Brian Ross and Richard Esposito Report:

A leader of the CIA team that captured the first major al Qaeda figure, Abu Zubaydah, says subjecting him to waterboarding was torture but necessary.

In the first public comment by any CIA officer involved in handling high-value al Qaeda targets, John Kiriakou, now retired, said the technique broke Zubaydah in less than 35 seconds.

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December 10, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (7)

Paper: Pages Had Oral Sex In Front of Colleagues

December 10, 2007 1:27 PM

Justin Rood Reports:

Teenaged congressional pages performed oral sex in front of their colleagues for weeks before they were caught and expelled from the program, according to a new report in Roll Call newspaper.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has pledged to reform the page program, which brings dozens of 15- and 16-year-old students to live and study in Washington, D.C., while working as aides in congressional offices.

"As a mother and a grandmother, nothing is more important to me than the safety and security of our House pages," Pelosi said in a statement. 

The page program has been reportedly reformed at least once already in the past year, after former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., was exposed for sending inappropriate and suggestive e-mails and instant messages to teenaged former pages.

Two Republican lawmakers resigned their seats on the page program's oversight board last week to protest what they said was a failure to inform them of misbehavior in the program which was leading to expulsions.

In addition to the two pages reportedly expelled for their oral sex performances, two other pages were reportedly expelled for shoplifting from stores at Washington, D.C.-area shopping malls. One was reportedly charged with a felony.

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December 10, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (49)

Victim: Gang-Rape Cover-Up by U.S., Halliburton/KBR

December 10, 2007 10:15 AM

Brian Ross, Maddy Sauer & Justin Rood Report:

A Houston, Texas woman says she was gang-raped by Halliburton/KBR coworkers in Baghdad, and the company and the U.S. government are covering up the incident.

Jamie Leigh Jones, now 22, says that after she was raped by multiple men at a KBR camp in the Green Zone, the company put her under guard in a shipping container with a bed and warned her that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, she'd be out of a job.

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December 10, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (6)

Female Suicide Bomber in Iraq Marks A Growing Trend

December 07, 2007 1:55 PM

Anna Schecter Reports:

A female suicide bomber wearing a vest packed with explosives killed 16 people in the town of Muqdadiya, 55 miles northeast of Baghdad on Friday, and experts say the attack marks a growing trend of female suicide bombings in Iraq.

"Women have the tactical advantage of evading arrest, of disguising the bomb," said Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre (JTIC) analyst Will Hartley.

Of the six reported suicide bombings in Iraq where the assailant was specifically cited as being female, five were recorded this year - including two in the town of Muqdadiya, according to JTIC.

Hartley  said there could be many more women attackers because in a large number of cases, the gender of the assailant is either unreported or was not possible to establish at the scene.

Friday's attack was the second by a female suicide bomber in less than two weeks after a similar assault on November 27 targeting a US foot patrol in the Diyala provincial capital of Baquba killed one Iraqi and wounded seven US soldiers.

"As U.S. and coalition forces become aware of the potential threat posed by female suicide bombers, the tactical advantage of using women will diminish," said Hartley.

But, Hartley added, if coalition forces or private contractors start operating in a way that would seem culturally offensive, such as conducting close-body searches on women at check-points, the potential repercussions could be deadly.

"If American soldiers or contractors start searching Iraqi women at checkpoints, this will definitely antagonize locals," Hartley said.

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December 7, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (19)

New Sexual Escapades in Capitol Page Program

December 07, 2007 12:29 PM

Justin Rood Reports:

A year after the Congressional page program was thrown into turmoil by the Mark Foley scandal, sexual escapades and a shoplifting spree by teenage Capitol aides have ignited new controversy.

Click here for Foley's IM Exchange With Underage Page (Reader Discretion Is Strongly Advised)

Two Republican lawmakers have announced they will quit the panel that oversees the page program. The page program brings 15- and 16-year-old students to Washington to study and work as assistants in congressional offices.

Reps. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Fla., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.,  said they were not properly informed about two recent incidents involving the young pages, including ones in which pages allegedly performed oral sex on each other.

The Washington Post reported an incident which took place in a page dormitory room, where some pages watched for adults outside while others were in the room spectating.

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Brown-Waite told the Post that the dorm room incident was "not an isolated" one.  According to Congressional Quarterly, another such incident occurred in a dormitory elevator.

A male and female page were allegedly dismissed from the program as a result of the reported sexual activity.

In a separate incident, two pages were reportedly caught shoplifting from the Pentagon City mall in suburban Virginia. CQ said the same PAGES had been nabbed shoplifting from a store in Washington, D.C.'s Union Station, as well. One of the shoplifters was charged with a felony, Brown-Waite and another source told the Post. Both have been dismissed from the program.

"You have learned nothing from the lessons of the Mark Foley scandal," Brown-Waite scolded House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in a letter announcing her resignation. Pelosi oversees House Clerk Lorraine Miller, who operates the page program.

Both Brown-Waite and Capito say Miller has failed to alert members in a timely fashion to problems in the page program.  A Brown-Waite staffer told the Hill newspaper the lawmaker believed Miller only informed the page board's Democratic chairman, Rep. Dale Kildee, D-MIch., of the pages' misbehavior.

Kildee's office released a statement claiming the problem had been resolved last month. "In our Page Board meeting of November 9, 2007, the Board unanimously agreed that the Clerk. . . should immediately and simultaneously inform all Members in cases where pages were dismissed," he wrote. "Indeed, that was the case in the most recent incident."

In a separate statement released Thursday, House Clerk Miller defended new page policies implemented under Pelosi. "We have adopted a zero-tolerance policy when faced with rules violations or conduct that is ethically or legally suspect," Miller said. A spokesman for Miller declined to elaborate on the number of recent sexual incidents involving pages.

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December 7, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (37)

Guess Who's Not Going to Tonight's CIA Christmas Party

December 06, 2007 6:03 PM

Brian Ross Reports:

The bombshell report by the New York Times' Mark Mazzetti on the CIA's destruction of the tapes showing the interrogations of al Qaeda suspects came just hours before the CIA's annual Christmas party, to which the reporters who cover intelligence issues are invited.

Given the major breaking story, it's not likely Mazzetti will be attending, although the CIA says he was invited. No members of the ABC News Investigative Unit received invitations.

The CIA pre-empted Mazetti's scoop Thursday afternoon by putting out a statement CIA Director Michael Hayden sent to all CIA employees, revealing the tapes had been destroyed and that members of the press were about to report it.

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

"Director Hayden feels strongly that it is important to keep CIA employees fully informed of events and developments that affect them," CIA spokesperson Mark Mansfield said. "The director wanted CIA's employees to know about it before they read it in tomorrow's papers."

According to Mazzetti's story posted on the New York Times Web site, the Times told the CIA on Wednesday evening that it planned to publish the story on Friday morning. When reporters alert government agencies about stories that could affect national security, the general understanding, as we have practiced it, is that the agencies will not give the material to other reporters.

The CIA's Mansfield says that is his understanding too, but that in this case, other reporters became aware of the Times' story and called for reaction. That, said Mansfield, led the CIA to post the director's statement on its Web site and to distribute it to reporters.

For reporters who do attend tonight's taxpayer-funded Christmas party in the CIA's main lobby, there will be plenty of questions to get answered amid a full range of food and beverages.   

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December 6, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (5)

CIA Destroyed Videos of Interrogations

December 06, 2007 5:30 PM

Jonathan Karl and Maddy Sauer Report:

The CIA destroyed videos of suspected terrorists being interrogated using the agency's highly controversial questioning methods, known as "enhanced interrogation methods." The admission has angered human rights groups who have objected to the secretive program for years, which they say uses techniques that amount to torture.

"If these videos were leaked, people would be horrified by them," said Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch, "and they would begin to ask the obvious question -- does this amount to criminal behavior?"

CIA Director Mike Hayden sent a message to CIA employees today saying "the press has learned" that the CIA videotaped interrogations in 2002 and that the tapes were subsequently destroyed in 2005. The decision to destroy the tapes was made by the CIA, but he says the leaders of the congressional intelligence committees knew about the tapes and the decision to destroy them.

Hayden offers an explanation for why the tapes were destroyed -- "no longer of intelligence value and not relevant to any internal, legislative, or judicial inquiries" and offers another defense of the interrogation techniques used by the CIA.

John Sifton, a human rights attorney who is active in cases involving the CIA's secret prison program, said today that the destruction of the tapes is a scandal.

"This is a major piece of the mosaic of evidence, and now it's gone," said Sifton. "They should be ashamed of themselves."

President Bush revealed to the public the existence of the CIA's secret prisons last year, but he would not reveal the details of the agency's interrogation procedures.

But CIA officers have told ABC News they involve six escalating steps, ending in what's known as waterboarding, in which prisoners are made to feel they are drowning. Human rights groups call it torture, but the president has insisted that the United States "does not torture." The CIA has since banned waterboarding.

Human rights advocates say that if the CIA destroyed videos of suspects  being waterboarded, they have destroyed evidence of torture.

"Even some Republican senators believe that waterboarding is a form of torture," said Malinowski. "It is a serious offense to destroy evidence of what may have been a crime scene."

While human rights groups have criticized the secret program, the Bush administration has insisted that the questioning resulted in information that stopped more attacks on U.S. soil.

"This program has been and remains one of the most vital tools in our war against the terrorists," President Bush said last year. 

The president described how the CIA produced a cascading series of arrests. Starting with the first of the captured al Qaeda leaders, Abu Zubaydah. Zubaydah had refused to cooperate until the CIA used what the president called an alternate set of interrogation procedures.

"Zubaydah was questioned using these procedures, and soon he began to provide information on key al Qaeda operatives," the president said.

That led the CIA to one of the plotters of the 9/ll attacks, Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, taken into custody in Pakistan.

He too was subjected to the CIA's procedures and quickly broke.

Giving up the location of his al Qaeda boss, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, known as KSM, the mastermind of the 9/ll attacks. KSM also provided information that helped the US stop another planned attack, Bush said.

Full message from CIA Director Michael Hayden:

Message from the Director:  Taping of Early Detainee Interrogations

The press has learned that back in 2002, during the initial stage of our terrorist detention program, CIA videotaped interrogations, and destroyed the tapes in 2005. I understand that the Agency did so only after it was determined they were no longer of intelligence value and not relevant to any internal, legislative, or judicial inquiries—including the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui. The decision to destroy the tapes was made within CIA itself. The leaders of our oversight committees in Congress were informed of the videos years ago and of the Agency"s intention to dispose of the material.  Our oversight committees also have been told that the videos were, in fact, destroyed.

If past public commentary on the Agency's detention program is any guide, we may see misinterpretations of the facts in the days ahead. With that in mind, I want you to have some background now.

CIA's terrorist detention and interrogation program began after the capture of Abu Zubaydah in March 2002. Zubaydah, who had extensive knowledge of al-Qa'ida personnel and operations, had been seriously wounded in a firefight. When President Bush officially acknowledged in September 2006 the existence of CIA’s counter-terror initiative, he talked about Zubaydah, noting that this terrorist survived solely because of medical treatment arranged by CIA. Under normal questioning, Zubaydah became defiant and evasive. It was clear, in the President's words, that "Zubaydah had more information that could save innocent lives, but he stopped talking."

That made imperative the use of other means to obtain the information -- means that were lawful, safe, and effective. To meet that need, CIA designed specific, appropriate interrogation procedures. Before they were used, they were reviewed and approved by the Department of Justice and by other elem