GOP Lawmaker Presses Rice Over Iraq Rape Case

January 30, 2008 11:49 AM

Justin Rood Reports:

A Republican lawmaker wants Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to answer questions in person about the high-profile rape case of Jamie Leigh Jones, after lower State Department officials failed to provide information that satisfied him.

Declaring that the State Department's previous written responses about Jamie Leigh Jones' allegations of gang-rape and confinement were "unacceptable" and raised "serious concerns," Rep. Ted Poe of Texas wrote the State Department Monday to request a meeting with Rice. A copy of the letter was shared with ABC News.

In interviews and her lawsuit against her former employer Kellogg Brown and Root, Jones has said she was drugged and gang-raped by her co-workers on her third night in Iraq. After reporting the incident to KBR, she has said the company confined her to a modified shipping container.  According to Jones, Rep. Poe played an instrumental role in winning her release by contacting the State Department, which dispatched agents to her location.

Asked if Rice would meet with Poe, State spokeswoman Nicole Thompson said "the secretary's office will respond to the congressman." She declined to comment further.

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January 30, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (19)

Political Fixer Rezko Arrested

January 28, 2008 10:45 AM

From The Blotter:

Illinois political fixer Antoin "Tony" Rezko was arrested by federal agents early this morning outside of his Wilmette home.

"Tony Rezko was arrested without incident at his home in Wilmette," FBI spokesman Tom Simon said. "It was pursuant to a warrant issued following a government motion to revoke his bond."

Rezko was taken into custody for an alleged bond violation, and the Chicago Tribune, who first reported the arrest, cites a source who said investigators had become concerned about "the movement of some of his finances."

Rezko, who is scheduled to go on trial on federal corruption charges next month, has numerous ties to Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama who, as a lawyer, worked on several Rezko real estate deals and later received large campaign contributions from Rezko and his associates.   

In addition, Rezko played a role in Obama's purchase of a new home in 2005, at a time when Rezko was already reported to be under federal investigation. An ABC News analysis last week found Rezko and his associates had donated a little more than $185,000 to the Obama Senate and presidential campaigns. A spokesperson for Obama said $85,000 of that had been given to charity. Over the weekend, Obama said any additional funds found to be linked to Rezko would also be contributed to charity.   

This post has been updated.

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January 28, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (42)

Blackwater Sues Own Lawyers in Death Suit

January 28, 2008 10:17 AM

From The Blotter:

The Legal Times is reporting that Blackwater has filed a $30 million malpractice suit against the law firm of Wiley Rien alleging that the firm made costly errors during the time it represented the security firm in a wrongful death suit that was filed by the family members of four employees who were killed in Fallujah, Iraq.

In one of the most notorious incidents of the war, the bodies of the four men were dragged through the streets of Fallujah and strung up from a bridge.

The lawsuit is ongoing, and Blackwater is now represented by Greenberg Traurig.

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January 28, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (6)

Cocaine-Looking Candy a No-Go for Hershey

January 25, 2008 1:45 PM

From The Blotter:

The Hershey Co. said this week it will no longer make a breath mint that children's advocacy groups and law enforcement say resembles illegal drugs and could be "extremely dangerous" for young people.

In its conference call about the company's fourth-quarter earnings report, Hershey CEO David West said that while consumers were "very satisfied" by "Ice Breakers Pacs," "some community and law enforcement leaders have expressed concern about the shape of the pouch...and the possibility that it could be mistaken for illicit items."

"We are sensitive to these viewpoints," West continued, "and thus have made the decision that we will no longer manufacture Ice Breakers Pacs."

Last month, South Sioux City (Neb.) Police Chief Scott Ford told the Blotter on ABCNews.com that the design for "Ice Breakers PACS" was a "marketing blunder" that could have devastating repercussions and prove to be an "enormous waste of resources" for law enforcement responding to reports of drug use.

And the police chief wasn't alone. Children's advocate groups also told ABC News they were furious about the candy.

"When I saw [the candy], as a parent, as a consumer and as an activist, I was outraged that a major company would do something like this," said Susie Squires, president of Watchful Eye Foundation, a nonprofit organization that works with at-risk youth and gangs.  Squires had launched a petition to boycott all candies manufactured by Hershey's.

West said the breath mint, which is designed to be placed in the mouth and dissolve, was "not in broad distribution" and should sell off the shelves only through the first quarter of 2008.

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January 25, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (29)

Canada Adds -- Then Drops -- U.S. From 'Torture List'

January 21, 2008 12:25 PM

Justin Rood Reports:

The Canadian government has apologized to the United States and Israel just days after news accounts revealed both countries were on a Canadian list of governments which may torture their prisoners.

Canadian Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier apologized to both the United States and Israel for being "wrongly" included on a list of countries where detainees may risk severe treatment widely considered to be torture, according to news accounts.

The United States, which Canada believes was responsible for the torture of one of its citizens after improperly detaining him on terrorism suspicions, said it was "offensive" to be listed alongside countries "like Iran and China."

"Quite frankly, it's absurd," said David Wilkins, the U.S. ambassador to China, according to the BBC.

The Israeli government said it expected to be removed from such a list, the BBC reported.

The list was part of a manual to train Canadian diplomats about how to detect if Canadian citizens held overseas were being mistreated. Canada's Bernier said he had asked for the manual to be rewritten.

According to the BBC, the current manual lists isolation, sleep deprivation and other treatments used by the United States against detainees as forms of torture. The Canadian government accidentally turned over the manual to Amnesty International in a court case, the British news service said.

The inadvertent release of the manual created the second torture-related flap between the United States and Canada in a month. Last December, a Canadian judge blasted U.S. detention policies in a ruling which impacted a U.S.-Canadian refugee agreement.

The judge cited the case of Canadian Maher Arar, whom the United States detained and "renditioned" to Syria, where he was tortured. Canada has said publicly that Arar had no terrorist ties, though to date the U.S. government has not followed suit.

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January 21, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (99)

Talk Radio Aflame Over Perceived Snub of Legendary Host

January 17, 2008 1:38 PM

From The Blotter:

Talk radio is taking a break from its nonstop nattering over the political campaigns to talk about a controversy involving one of its own.

Sean Hannity and others are criticizing a leading radio industry publication's decision to withdraw an award for controversial longtime conservative talk-show host Bob Grant because of apparent concern over what critics call a history of racially insensitive remarks.

According to the media watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, Grant had referred to African-Americans as "savages." The group also objected to how he referred to Haitian refugees as "sub-human infiltrators," and that he once decried the prevalence of minorities in New York City by saying, "To me, that's a bad thing. I'm a white person." Grant also stirred outrage among many for calling then-New York Mayor David Dinkins a "washroom attendant." Dinkins is African-American.

Grant has said his use of the word "savage" had "nothing to do with race," and denied he had made any comment in which he "put down an entire race of people."

Radio and Records (R&R) magazine had planned to bestow the 2008 News/Talk/Sports Lifetime Industry Achievement Award to Grant. In a statement on its Web site Wednesday, Radio and Records wrote that it had made the decision "upon further review and consideration of Bob Grant's complete body of work."

"R&R is sensitive to the diversity of our community and does not want the presentation of an award to Mr. Grant to imply our endorsement of past comments by him that contradict our values and the respect we have for all members of our community," the statement read.

The award was to be given at Radio and Records' annual Talk Radio Seminar, slated to be held this March in Washington, D.C.

Critics of the magazine's decision have zeroed in on what they perceive to be evidence of a double standard: Among other TRS keynoters scheduled to speak is Rev. Al Sharpton, whose career as a public figure is studded with controversial comments about race in America.

On his radio show Wednesday, Hannity criticized the R&R decision, and played several audio clips of Sharpton making remarks that Hannity characterized as divisive and possibly racist. Hannity asked why Sharpton would be featured at the R&R event, given their stated concerns, and suggested that radio personalities were likely to boycott the seminar.

Grant himself appeared on Hannity's show, and accused R&R of practicing a "double standard." Grant blamed a single individual, whom he would not name, who Grant says is out to destroy him. 

Grant has dominated New York radio for decades. He popularized the talk format on WMCA and WABC, before being fired from WABC following a callous remark about the death of former Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, an African-American. In a statement released at the time of his dismissal, Capital Cities/ABC, which owned the station, said Grant "has been terminated by mutual agreement."

He then was hired by WOR where he retired in 2006. On his final WOR show, Grant received congratulatory calls from then-New York Gov. George Pataki, former House Majority Leader Newt Gingrich, former New York Mayor Ed Koch (whom Grant once called "the arrogant emperor"), talk show giant Howard Stern and others.

Late last year, Grant re-appeared on radio as the evening talk host on WABC, now owned by Citadel Broadcasting.   

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January 17, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (28)

What the Candidates Aren't Telling You

January 17, 2008 11:40 AM

From The Blotter:

Despite all the talk of changing Washington, the top contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination appear to be following the time-honored Beltway tradition of keeping their high-dollar fundraising events off the candidates' official schedule and out of the public eye.

Chicago Sun-Times reporter Lynn Sweet writes in her blog that the Sen. Barack Obama campaign has refused to disclose all of its fundraising events on his public schedule. The Obama camp decided to make some of these activities public, if they occur in a "public" place, after Sweet and other reporters started agitating for more disclosure last week.

Obama's rival Sen. Hillary Clinton only announces fundraising events attended by more than 1,000 people and makes those events open to the press, according to a spokesman. 

A spokeswoman for Sen. John Edwards said that with the exception of events aimed at raising low-dollar amounts, their campaign had not made their fundraising events schedule available to the public.   

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January 17, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (20)

Critic of NBC Dateline Wins Top Journalism Award

January 17, 2008 8:30 AM

Julia Mayes and Krista Kjellman Report:

The winners of the 2008 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University awards, which recognize and honor "the best in television and radio journalism," include a Dallas television station's investigation of a Dateline "To Catch a Predator" program in Murphy, Texas, which led to an alleged predator committing suicide when NBC News cameras showed up outside of his home.

NBC News officials, who had strongly criticized the Dallas station's report, were in the audience because Dateline won its own award for another story that did not involve an undercover sting of alleged predators. 

ABC News affiliate, WFAA-TV in Dallas, was honored for "Television Justice," a trio of reports detailing problems in NBC News' collaboration with the Murphy, Texas police department to conduct a sting operation for the "To Catch a Predator" series.

"This is an old-fashioned gum-shoe investigation in the era of Internet sex and reality television, conducted with restraint and methodical reporting," a summary of WFAA's investigation taken from the jurors' comment read on the duPont site.

"The investigation turned up problems of police cooperation with the 'Predator' crew in scouting location of possible Internet sex predators; law enforcement professionals wearing television camera for the 'Predator' crew; and many prosecutions that never resulted in convictions," the site said of reporter Byron Harris' and producer's Mark Smith's reports.

Information from WFAA's series led ABC News' Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross to  begin his own report on the Dateline show which aired on "20/20."

NBC and Perverted Justice have both strongly defended their actions, and a few days after the ABC News broadcast released an extensive statement calling ABC News' investigation "seriously flawed."

But Dateline producers had to swallow their pride during the award ceremony when WFAA was honored. Read how the NBC producers reacted.

NBC News was also selected to receive an award for Dateline's "The Education of Ms. Groves."  The episode profiles a young teacher working in an inner-city middle school through the Teach for America program.

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January 17, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (8)

Beirut Terrorists Flub Attack on U.S. Diplomats

January 15, 2008 2:03 PM

From The Blotter:

The terrorists who targeted a fully armored U.S. embassy vehicle in Beirut today missed their mark if they were aiming to kill a U.S. official.

Only two Lebanese guards, working for the embassy, were in the vehicle, according to U.S. officials briefed on the attack.

The guards had just dropped a U.S. official at the Beirut airport and were returning to the embassy on a heavily-traveled road at the time of the explosion.

A bomb was detonated as the U.S. vehicle passed by. At least three Lebanese civilians were killed, and one of the guards was injured. Also injured, according to officials, was an American bystander, identified by the Associated Press as Minnesota native Mathew Clason, who was at a nearby church when the explosion took place.

"The windows blew in, and I fell down -- I was knocked out. I don't know exactly what happened," Clason, who had been in Lebanon for two weeks, told AP Television News while sitting in the
emergency room corridor of Jeitawi Hospital in Beirut. His head and right leg were bandaged.

The U.S. vehicle was heavily damaged, but the second embassy guard was able to walk away from the attack with only minor injuries.   

The U.S. Embassy immediately canceled a banquet for departing Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman, scheduled for Tuesday evening at Beirut's seaside Phoenicia Hotel.

Before Tuesday's bombing, the last American killed in Lebanon was a missionary gunned down in 2002 at a Christian center where she worked as a nurse. At the time, Bonnie Penner, 31, was the first U.S. citizen killed in the country in more than a decade.

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January 15, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (4)

Justice Silent on KBR Rape, Sex Assault Cases

January 15, 2008 11:20 AM

Justin Rood Reports:

The Justice Department is declining to talk to concerned lawmakers about its handling of rape and sexual assault cases involving American women in Iraq, making several of them unhappy.

Rep. Ted Poe of Texas, a Republican who counts one of the alleged victims as a constituent, has railed against the Justice Department and others for their lack of cooperation.

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January 15, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (4)

Bush in the Lap of Saudi Luxury

January 14, 2008 1:07 PM

From The Blotter:

The minute President George Bush landed in Saudi Arabia he was thrown into the lap of luxury.

Saudi King Abdullah personally greeted the president at the airport, according to ABC News' Ann Compton, who is traveling with the commander in chief.

And tomorrow President Bush will actually spend the night in a palace on the king's royal horse farm.

Not too shabby for the president but what message does it send?

U.S. officials say Saudi Arabia continues to look the other way at wealthy individuals identified as sending millions of dollars to al Qaeda, as the Blotter on ABCNews.com reported this past September.

Not one person identified by the United States and the United Nations as a terror financier has been prosecuted by the Saudis, Stuart Levey, the undersecretary of the Treasury in charge of tracking terror financing, told ABC News in September.

Even Yasin al Qadi, a wealthy businessman named on both the U.S. and U.N. lists of al Qaeda financiers one month after the 9/11 attacks, remains free and a prominent figure in Saudi society. Al Qadi has repeatedly denied the allegations, and his London-based attorney, Guy Martin of Carter-Ruck law firm, said the United States has never produced any evidence in support of the allegations against his client.

And just one month after the September report, the U.S. government added three more Saudi financiers to the tally.

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January 14, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (27)

More Technology = More Dangers for Users, Security Experts Say

January 14, 2008 11:46 AM

Justin Rood Reports:

If you think the real world is getting more dangerous, take a peek into cyberspace -- but keep your guard up.

That's the word from a panel of top experts, who conclude that the increasing complexity of Web sites, mobile phones and other technology have made people's everyday interactions with technology more dangerous than ever.

Malicious code buried in popular, trusted Web sites was the most dangerous cyberthreat of 2008, the group concluded.

Attacks on sophisticated mobile phones also made the list, which was compiled by cybersecurity expert Alan Paller, former U.S. cybersecurity chief Amit Yoran and 10 others.

Also, the popularity of USB flash drives and other low-cost mini storage devices as promotional items have made them enticing delivery mechanisms for hackers, according to the group. Slipping a virus into the code on those devices at the manufacturing stage could infect thousands or millions of users' machines, the panel said.

Flash, QuickTime and other multimedia components are increasingly common on Web sites operated by large corporations and other groups trusted by many Internet users. But those tools are also targeted by hackers, said the experts, who can use them to deploy malicious code on a visitor's computer.

The panel was convened by the Bethesda, Md.-based SANS Institute, a computer security research and training center, where Paller works as research director.

As companies release incrementally more sophisticated Web sites, security flaws can emerge, the panel said. Likewise, Web users upgrading their browsing software and "plug-ins" can inadvertently create holes in their security thanks to oversights by the software's programmers, the group said.

"Many people believe that when they see their operating systems are being patched, things like Flash are being patched also, but they're not," said Paller. "The user needs to check to see if there are patches or updates for that software."

As well, hackers are increasingly penetrating the software used to collect user information on trusted sites, the panel said. A recent attack compromised 70,000 Web sites, Paller told ABC News.

IPhones and other must-have gadget phones are another new target for hackers, the group found.  The increasing sophistication of mobile phone software is increasingly exposing the devices to worms and viruses which can wreak havoc.

To read the full list, click here.

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January 14, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (10)

Inspectors Disclose Security Breach at Nuclear Lab

January 14, 2008 9:34 AM

Marcus Baram Reports:

Federal inspectors have detailed yet another security breach at one of the nation's oldest nuclear weapons plants.

There may have been dozens of security violations involving the use of unauthorized laptop computers being brought into secure areas of the Y-12 plant at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, according to a report released by the Department of Energy's inspector general.

The investigation began after a contractor brought an unclassified laptop with wireless capability into a limited area of the plant in October 2006. The computer was not properly secured, and the user left the area with the computer, which was not retrieved until an hour later.

"Because the laptop could have been tampered with during that time, it could not be collected as best evidence," according to the report.

Although the department requires a written report within 32 hours of a security breach, it took staffers at the plant six days to submit the report.

In addition, inspectors discovered that as many as 37 additional laptops may have been brought into the plant's limited area without following proper security protocols.

Nine of those laptops were later taken out of the country, including two of which were taken to countries on DOE's sensitive countries list.

According to the report, the contractors involved in the incident were immediately removed from the facility and their unclassified e-mail accounts were suspended.

The laboratory has suffered at least two other security breaches in the last year.

In December, ORNL was one of several plants targeted by a coordinated phishing attack which may have exposed the Social Security numbers of all visitors to the lab over a 14-year span. FBI and Department of Homeland Security officials told ABC News at the time that they believe the attacks originated in China with Chinese entities probing U.S. systems.

The attacks were manipulated to look like legitimate e-mails, including one that purportedly advertised a scientific conference.

Last July, janitor Roy Lynn Oakley pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he tried to sell pieces of uranium enrichment equipment to the French Embassy in Washington, D.C., which he had gathered while working at the East Tennessee Technology Park, which is part of the Oak Ridge reservation.

At the time, the facility's office manager said it reviewed its security procedures in light of the breach.

The National Nuclear Safety Administration's spokesman did not return calls for comment.

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January 14, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (14)

Oil Crisis As Barrels Go Missing, According to Audit

January 10, 2008 4:19 PM

Marcus Baram Reports:

How do you not notice when 308,000 barrels of oil go missing?

That's the question government auditors were asking after they looked into the Department of Energy's management of oil received for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a critical program to assure energy stability in the U.S. in case of an oil crisis.

To help add to the reserve, DOE receives a portion of the royalty oil that the Department of the Interior gets in return for allowing petroleum companies to drill on government lands and waters.

The department's Inspector General Gregory H. Friedman and his auditors found that in 28 percent of the oil transfers they examined, the amount received did not match the estimated amount to be shipped by the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service.

"To illustrate our findings regarding discrepancies, during a four-month period in Fiscal Year 2005, two Department contractors reported receiving 308,000 barrels of royalty oil less than the amount that MMS had scheduled for delivery to the market center. Yet, despite this significant shortfall, the Department took no action to resolve the discrepancy and to ensure that it had received all of the oil shipped by MMS," according to the audit.

Eventually, the auditors received documentation from MMS to explain reasons for the discrepancy, including "a decision by MMS to sell royalty oil rather than ship it to the Department," although 32,000 barrels could still not be accounted for in the above example.

Reached for comment, a spokeswoman for the department issued a statement. "We are confident that all royalty oil transferred to DOE was properly delivered to the SPR. However we recognize the need for enhanced controls and as such, we have followed the recommendations of the report and taken steps to strengthen the RIK program by collecting additional supporting documentation for oil receipts and increasing coordination with MMS to facilitate monthly confirmation of the quantity of oil transferred."

Last year, the Interior Department's MMS was investigated by the Government Accountability Office for losing track of billions of dollars in royalties. A GAO report in May 2007 determined that an increase in the royalty rates, which were among "the lowest government takes in the world," could potentially increase revenue by $4.5 billion over 20 years and help ensure "a fair rate of return for the American people from oil production on federally leased lands and waters."

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January 10, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (45)

U.S.: Voices on Recording May Not Have Been From Iranian Speedboats

January 10, 2008 1:50 PM

Martha Raddatz and Jonathan Karl Report:

Just two days after the U.S. Navy released the eerie video of Iranian speedboats swarming around American warships, which featured a chilling threat in English, the Navy is saying that the voice on the tape could have come from the shore or from another ship.

The near-clash occurred over the weekend in the Strait of Hormuz. On the U.S.-released recording, a voice can be heard saying to the Americans, "I am coming to you. You will explode after a few minutes."

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January 10, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (3)

What Did Obama Know? When Did He Know It?

January 10, 2008 1:15 PM

Brian Ross and Rhonda Schwartz Report:

After ABC News cited a December 2006 Washington Post story about Sen. Barack Obama's knowledge of legal problems faced by his friend Antoin "Tony" Rezko, the Obama campaign complained that the Post story mischaracterized what Obama had told the Washington Post reporter.

The Post reported that "Obama said that he was unaware of Rezko's brewing troubles in 2005," at the time Obama called Rezko about a real estate deal. Washington Post assistant managing editor Bill Hamilton told ABC News it stood by its reporter's story.

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January 10, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (6)

The Rezko Connection: Obama's Achilles Heel?

January 10, 2008 9:30 AM

Brian Ross and Rhonda Schwartz Report:

In sharp contrast to his tough talk about ethics reform in government, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., approached a well-known Illinois political fixer under active federal investigation, Antoin "Tony" Rezko, for "advice" as he sought to find a way to buy a house shortly after being elected to the United States Senate.

The parcel included an adjacent lot which Obama told the Chicago Tribune he could not afford because "it was already a stretch to buy the house."

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January 10, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (0)

New Taliban Leader: More Dangerous Than Bin Laden?

January 09, 2008 1:31 PM

Gretchen Peters Reports:

The newly appointed leader of the Taliban in Pakistan is being called more dangerous than Osama bin Laden by analysts there. His movement was created last month when 26 Pakistani militant groups joined forces to fight for an Islamic regime there, tribal sources say.

Baitullah Mehsud, also known as the emir of South Waziristan, is described by Pakistani authorities as a brutal but able leader who commands thousands of followers. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf blames him for the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, as well as a spate of recent attacks here that have left more than 400 dead. NATO authorities in Afghanistan have offered a $50,000 reward for his capture.

"I think he is now a much bigger threat than bin Laden and al Zawahri in this part of the world," said ABC News consultant Rahimullah Yusufzai.

"He seems to have a large reservoir of suicide bombers, and he is a bigger threat in this region, in Pakistan and certain border provinces of Afghanistan than even the al Qaeda leadership," said Yusufzai.

Like Mullah Omar, who leads the Afghan Taliban, Mehsud refuses to be photographed. He lives on the run, according to Pakistani authorities who are tracking him, and never sleeps in the same bed twice. 
"We know he is training suicide bombers. We know he is indoctrinating suicide bombers," Musharraf told foreign journalists last week.

Mehsud was appointed the supreme leader of the newly created Taliban Movement of Pakistan, dedicated to creating an Islamic regime there, according to tribal sources. Delegates from 26 militant groups held a secret meeting last month in the volatile region of South Waziristan where the CIA believes al Qaeda is regrouping. The group's first priority will be to fight the Pakistani Army in the northern Swat Valley and in Waziristan, tribal sources say.

"This group has decided they will collectively respond to any military operation by Pakistani authorities," said Yusufzai. Ultimately, they want to establish an Islamic regime in Pakistan that would emulate the former Taliban government in neighboring Afghanistan.

Western officials in Pakistan are concerned by how sophisticated Pakistan's militants have become in recent months. They have successfully targeted Pakistani army bases, a special forces compound and buses carrying employees of the country's intelligence services. Western diplomats fear that a unified Taliban will present yet another potent threat to the already fragile security situation there.

"It's not just that they are carrying out regular attacks," says a Western official. "It is that they are able to target the Pakistan military so effectively."

Photo courtesy of BBC News.

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January 9, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (41)

Foley Investigators Want Pelosi's Help

January 09, 2008 8:36 AM

Vic Walter and Krista Kjellman Report:

Florida law enforcement officials investigating former Republican Rep. Mark Foley, whose e-mails and instant messages to teenage former congressional pages shocked the country, are hoping Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will grant them access to Foley's House computers.

"We are respectfully requesting access to any and all computer equipment that the U.S. Government possesses that former Representative Foley utilized during his time in office," Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey wrote to the speaker last month.

A spokesman for Pelosi told ABC News her office "is in the process of preparing a response to Commissioner Bailey's request," after receiving the letter only last week due to security precautions taken with her mail. 

Spokesman Brendan Daly also said the office wants to cooperate with Florida investigators and will consult with House lawyers.

But back in August, lawyers for the U.S. House of Representatives, citing constitutional exemptions, denied Florida law enforcement officials access to the former congressman's computers. Investigators believe Foley may have used the machines to send illegal sexually explicit messages to former congressional pages.

"Access to these computers is critical to the Department's ability to move this case forward," Bailey said this week.

Federal officials turned the case over to Florida after concluding that Foley did not engage in any actual sexual contact until the former pages had turned 18, and had therefore not violated federal law. Washington, D.C. law defines the age of consent as 16.

Under Florida law, it is a third-degree felony both to use the Internet "to seduce, solicit, lure or entice" a minor "to commit any illegal act...relating to lewdness and indecent exposure" and to transmit any "information or data that is harmful to minors...via electronic mail," which includes instant messages.

Foley resigned Sept. 29, 2006, hours after ABC News questioned him about sexually explicit messages with former congressional pages, some of whom were under the age of 18 at the time of the exchanges.

Calls to Foley's attorney were not immediately returned.

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January 9, 2008 in Mark Foley Internet Scandal | Permalink | User Comments (13)

AQ Operative Hoping to 'Kill Many' Sentenced

January 08, 2008 12:01 PM

Krista Kjellman Reports:

An al Qaeda-trained terrorist, who admitted to wanting to "kill many" in an overseas operation, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison today.

Sohail Anjum Qureshi, 30, originally of Pakistan, was arrested in October 2006 as he was about to board a plane bound for Islamabad at Heathrow airport.

Police discovered what Qureshi described as "gifts" for the mujahedeen fighters he was to meet in Pakistan at the time of his arrest.

Those "gifts" included "a night-vision optical device, back-packs, police-style ‘ASP’ batons, sleeping bags and camping gear."

Qureshi also had a computer hard drive with several downloaded "combat manuals" on it, 9,000 pounds, or about $16,800 at that time, and his "al wida," or farewell message.

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

"If I am to become a Shaheed (martyr), then cry not and celebrate that day as if you celebrate a happy occasion," he wrote in his eight-page "al wida."

"He wanted to carry out terrorist acts overseas and gathered the equipment to help him do this," Peter Clarke, assistant commissioner of specialist operations of the Metropolitan Police Service, said. "Although we do not know what his exact plans, it is likely that coalition forces, possibly in Afghanistan, were his intended target."

During the investigation, police also discovered Qureshi's extensive use of the Internet to connect with fellow extremists.

Several message logs show his conversations with "a contact," to whom he told he was trained at an al Qaeda training camp in Pakistan in 1996 and served as the leader of another two years later.

He also had conversations with Samina Malik, the so-called "lyrical terrorist," who worked in a Heathrow airport shop and informed Qureshi of airport security measures.

Malik herself was sentenced to nine months in prison last November for possessing articles useful for terrorist purposes.

Qureshi also claimed he was a terrorism financier and fundraiser since "bullets cost money."

"Qureshi is a trained and committed terrorist, who by his own admission had contacts within Al-Qaeda since the mid-1990s," Clarke said. "We should all be thankful that the overwhelming evidence against Qureshi left him little choice other than to admit his guilt."

January 8, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (7)

Pentagon Won't Probe KBR Rape Charges

January 08, 2008 9:00 AM

Justin Rood Reports:

The Defense Department's top watchdog has declined to investigate allegations that an American woman working under an Army contract in Iraq was raped by her co-workers.

The case of former Halliburton/KBR employee Jamie Leigh Jones gained national attention last month. An ABC News investigation revealed how an earlier investigation into Jones' alleged gang-rape in 2005 had not resulted in any prosecution, and that neither Jones nor Democratic and Republican lawmakers have been able to get answers from the Bush administration on the state of her case.

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January 8, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (8)

U.S.: Iranians 'Were a Heartbeat From Being Blown Up'

January 07, 2008 12:57 PM

Jonathan Karl Reports:

The standoff between three U.S. Navy ships and five Iranian speedboats in the Strait of Hormuz Sunday was one step away from turning violent.

"They were a heartbeat from being blown up," a Pentagon official, speaking of the Iranians, told ABC News.

According to the Navy intelligence report on the incident, the Iranians radioed, "I am coming at you. You will blow up in a couple of minutes."

The Navy ships radioed back, presumably transmitting a warning. All three ships also engaged in "evasive action," and according to senior Pentagon officials, the "prepare-to-fire" order had been given and the gun stations manned.

Pentagon officials today expressed surprise the Navy ships allowed at least one of the Iranian speedboats to get so close -- just 200 yards away -- without firing.

They say at least one of those speedboats boasted a machine gun, and all were behaving as if they were packed with explosives.

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A Navy official told ABC News that while there have been similar incidents in the Gulf, Sunday's differed because of the "aggressive actions" taken by the Iranians.

"I've never seen a provocation like this is in international waters," another military official who has served for more than 25 years said.

The White House seconded that notion.

"We urge the Iranians to refrain from such provocative actions that could lead to dangerous incidents in the future," White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto said.

Published reports cite the Iranian Foreign Ministry as confirming the incident but calling it "ordinary."

"Yesterday the Revolutionary Guard demonstrated their capacity to act irresponsibly and, in my estimation, well out of the ordinary norms of what we would expect," Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff said in response to Iran's account of Sunday's incident. "So hopefully, they've learned from this that we're serious."

Defense Secretary Robert Gates agreed, calling the tense standoff "troubling and a matter of real concern." He added, "This is a very volatile area, and the risk of an incident and of an incident escalating is real. I can't imagine what was on their minds."

ABC News' Luis Martinez and Jennifer Duck contributed to this report.

This post has been updated.

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January 7, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (467)

China Ups Web Censorship Pre-Olympic Games

January 07, 2008 9:45 AM

Anna Schecter Reports:

In the lead-up to the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing has increased censorship of the Internet, imposing a new law that bans video and audio postings on the Web by Chinese citizens without a license. Violators face the threat of prison.

Under the new rules, anyone operating a Web site that provides video content or allows users to upload or download videos will have to obtain a license from the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) and must renew the license every three years.

Press freedom advocates are outraged.

"This is an unprecedented act of censorship," said a Reporters Without Borders spokesperson. "Under the pretext of developing China's media industry, the authorities are stepping up their control of online content, especially in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics."

The Chinese government said in a statement issued Thursday that those who provide Internet audio and video services "must serve socialist ideals and the Chinese people."

Last August, a number of Chinese Internet companies, including Yahoo!.cn and MSN.cn, signed a conduct pledge with the Chinese authorities to try to get bloggers to register under their real names, to keep registration details and to delete blog content that was wrong or inappropriate.

In 2007, China blocked access to more than 2,500 Web sites and arrested six bloggers. It continues to be the world's biggest prison for Internet users, with a total of 51 cyberdissidents currently detained.

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January 7, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (12)

Romney-McCain 'Dirty Tricks' Calls Dispute Builds

January 07, 2008 8:53 AM

Justin Rood Reports:

New Hampshire's top prosecutor is pushing to discover the identity of the funder behind alleged "dirty tricks" phone calls that hit Republican voters in the state last November. Meanwhile, campaigns for the two candidates named in the calls blamed the other for the operation.

New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly A. Ayotte made a public plea for information about the matter Thursday, after a polling company allegedly involved in the affair rebuffed a state subpoena for information.

"The voters of New Hampshire deserve to know whether any presidential candidate violated New Hampshire's law," Ayotte said in a statement released to the media.

The 20-minute phone calls reportedly sounded at first like a traditional poll, but led to a series of questions portraying Romney and his Mormon faith in a harsh light. The calls also reportedly portrayed rival GOP presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain, Ariz., in a positive light.

McCain asked Ayotte to investigate the calls last November and called them "disgraceful" and "outrageous." Romney also asked for an investigation into the calls, which have been characterized as "push polls," or quasi-polls designed to "push" a negative portrayal of a candidate, not gather data.

The two campaigns have pointed fingers at each other over the calls. On Thursday, McCain campaign official Chuck Douglas said, "We have long suspected" that Romney had funded the calls "to test the Mormon issue." Romney's camp, which has reportedly blamed McCain's campaign finance reform legislation for making the calls possible, said those comments were "outrageous and irresponsible" and said Douglas should quit McCain's campaign. Douglas later said he was speaking for himself and not the campaign.

Attorney General Ayotte said Thursday the calls were made by a Utah-based Republican telemarketing company, Western Wats, which had been hired by Moore Information, a GOP polling firm in Oregon.

Moore Information, headed by former National Republican Senatorial Committee chief Bob Moore, has refused to comply with a subpoena served in the matter. The subpoena requested documents pertaining to the phone calls.

An Oregon court granted Moore Information a hearing on Jan. 16, delaying the possible release of new information about the calls until after the New Hampshire primary.

A spokeswoman for Moore Information said only Moore was authorized to discuss his firm's clients, and he was unavailable. In a prepared statement, the company said it has never engaged in push polling, and that "confidentiality agreements prohibit comment on specific surveys." An attorney for Moore, Terrence Kay, has reportedly said the poll was not commissioned by a candidate, political party, political action committee or an agent of such a group. Attempts to reach Kay Sunday were unsuccessful.

The calls have been the subject of extensive speculation on blogs and political Web sites.  Several bloggers have noted connections between the Utah calling firm and the Romney campaign, including campaign donations from its employees to Romney.

Jeff Welsh, a senior executive for Western Wats, confirmed his company was involved in the phone calling, but denied the calls were "push polls" and declined to say who paid for the calls.

"I think their information is correct," Welsh said when asked if Attorney General Ayotte was right in naming Western Wats as the originator of the controversial calls.

Welsh said, however, the calls were consistent with a "message testing" or "theme testing" effort, in which a customer pays to learn how certain portrayals play with voters. It was not a "push poll," according to Welsh, who noted most "push-poll" calls last less than five minutes.  He would not provide ABC News with a copy of the calls' script. He said it was "safe to assume" that Attorney General Ayotte's staff had seen a copy.

Welsh said a non-disclosure agreement barred him from naming the customer who paid for the calls. On Sunday, the Romney campaign reiterated it was doing no message testing "of that kind" at the time the calls were made.

Welsh said that the firm was not partisan, although members of his company had given money to Romney's campaign, including Welsh himself.

"I had a neighbor across the street, a sweet lady, knocked on my door. I said, 'I think he's a good guy.' I wrote her a check,” Welsh explained. FEC records show Welsh gave Romney $500 last September.

Welsh purported to be perplexed by the affair. "The whole thing leaves me scratching my head."

This post has been updated.

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January 7, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (15)

American Al Qaeda Leader to Bush: 'We Will Be Waiting for You'

January 06, 2008 9:00 AM

Maddy Sauer Reports:

American Al Qaeda leader Adam Gadahn told his followers to welcome Bush "with bombs and traps" upon his upcoming visit to the Middle East this week.

"The occupied territories are awaiting their first visit by the crusader Bush and the mujahideen are also waiting for him," said Gadahn, a California native and now an Al Qaeda spokesman.

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January 6, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (6)

'War Profiteer' Gets 'Bulletproof' Bail Terms: Released on $400 Million Bond

January 04, 2008 2:57 PM

Richard Esposito Reports:

David Brooks, the founder of a manufacturer of bulletproof vests for U.S. troops in Iraq, has been called a "war profiteer" by critics, was recently charged by the U.S. government with defrauding shareholders and, according to that indictment, allegedly spent $10 million in company funds on his daughter's Bat Mitzvah. And now he has been given the toughest bail terms the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York has issued in recent memory, according to multiple sources.

Brooks, the founder and former CEO of DHB Industries, has secured a $400 million bond with $48 million in assets and agreed to home confinement terms that include paying for an armed security guard to search each visitor who enters or leaves his home and a firm to monitor each telephone call and any use of the Internet.   

The terms agreed to by Brooks and approved by a federal court judge Thursday are stricter than those given to mobsters, including John Gotti Jr., and other celebrity and white-collar defendants, such as Martha Stewart and Dr. Dre.

In large part, the terms, dubbed "bulletproof," by one senior law enforcement official, are so severe because Brooks' wealth and alleged blatant flaunting of the law make him a far larger flight risk than these and many other defendants, two federal officials said.

Other bail terms include:

-An armed escort during a permitted monthly doctor visit.

-The monitoring of all calls, conversations and Internet use (with the exception of when they are governed by attorney-client privilege).

-Agreement that his security guards could use force to restrain him if it appeared he was attempting to violate the terms of his agreement.

"Junior Gotti was running the Gambino crime family, those terms are extensive, to say the least," said security consultant Gerald Kane. The minimum charge per day for quality security would be about $3,500, Kane said, not including the monitoring of Internet usage, which could cost significantly more.

Gotti might have been running a crime family, but he couldn’t afford the security guards and computer monitoring so he was sent back to jail. There is no danger of that for Brooks, whose terms limit the government to restraining less than $190 million in alleged proceeds of the alleged crimes under the terms of the indictment.      

"John Gotti Jr. couldn't afford this kind of security. So I had to turn the contract down, and he wound up going back to jail," said Paddy Barry, president of Alliance Investigative Group.

The $10 million in company funds Brooks allegedly paid for his daughter Liza's bat mitzvah included $2 million so she and her guests could be serenaded by Aerosmith. Other celebs and rock and rap stars, including Fifty Cent, Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks, were also flown in on a company jet. 

Brooks was charged with committing $200 million in fraud in an indictment that includes the allegation that he inflated the profit margins of the Interceptor vest, which is the top selling vest to the United States Marine Corp, according to the Marine Corp Times.   

Authorities allege that the scheme propelled the company's stock from $2 a share in early 2003 to nearly $20 a share in late 2004, according to  the indictment. When Brooks and his codefendant COO Sandra Hatfield sold several million DHB shares at that time, Brooks made more than $185 million and Hatfield more than $5 million, according to the U.S. attorney. Shortly afterward, the value of the stock plunged when reports began to surface that the body armor was defective.

At least 6,000 of his company's vests were recalled by the New York City Police Department as part of an investigation into whether they were defective.

At Brooks' arraignment in October, assistant U.S. attorney John Martin said that in the past year Brooks had purchased a single diamond worth $10 million, unspecified millions in gold and "had surreptitiously moved $22 million to banks in Switzerland and Senegal," according to Newsday.

"David Brooks grew up in Brooklyn, and that means he doesn't run away from a fight," his attorney Paul Schectman responded after the hearing. "It's a lot easier [for the government] to make allegations than to prove them."

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January 4, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (16)

Report Reveals Rampant Smuggling of Radioactive Materials

January 04, 2008 2:31 PM

Clarissa Ward Reports:

In a troubling disclosure, the Russian Federal Customs Service has revealed that authorities thwarted more than 850 attempts to smuggle highly radioactive materials in and out of Russia in 2007. Eighty-five percent of these smuggling attempts were going into the country, and 15 percent were going out.

The figures are likely to fuel fears about how many illegal exports were not detected, and what the potential dangers of such radioactive materials can be. In December last year, police in Slovakia arrested three people, who were attempting to sell 2.2 pounds of uranium for $1 million. Meanwhile, Britain continues to demand the extradition of Russian MP, Andrei Lugovoi, the prime suspect in the poisoning of former KGB officer, Alexander Litvinenko, who was killed with radioactive polonium-210 in London in November 2006.

Radioactive materials are not hard to come by in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). During the Soviet era, more than 15 different agencies had access to radioactive materials, from the Ministry of Geology to Metallurgy. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, there is little knowledge of where all these radioactive materials ended up.

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In addition, following the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in 1986, there is still a large piece of contaminated land which has not been fenced off. Vladimir Chuprov, who heads the energy section of Russian Greenpeace, told ABC News that a significant part of confiscated radioactive materials come from this area.

"Part of what is brought in comes from Chernobyl and the zone around Chernobyl," he said. "If there was no Chernobyl, there would be no problem with radioactive materials."

Pavel Felgenhauer, a Moscow-based military analyst, told ABC News that a blackmarket for radioactive materials does exist in Russia but that it is not very serious and does not pose any great risk.

"What happens quite often is that those involved sell the stuff to each other -- and often to the criminal underworld. This is radioactive material -- not nuclear, not enriched plutonium and nothing to do with nuclear weapons."

Chuprov though cautions against dismissing the danger of these radioactive materials.

"A part of this material is uranium. It is not nuclear, but nevertheless it can be enriched to a nuclear level. Uranium is in demand by terrorist groups," he warned.

According to the Customs Service report, state-of-the-art, Russian monitoring systems have made it possible to detect radiation which is higher than the background level with great precision. The Federal Customs Service plans to equip all customs posts in the Russian Federation with this equipment before 2010.

Malcolm Grimston, an associate fellow on nuclear policy with Chatham House, told ABC News that it is a good sign that Russia is raising the issue and talking publicly about it.

"Russians are very serious about improving the system," he said. "They are to be congratulated for that."
Clarissa Ward is reporting from Moscow.

Alexandra Nadezhdina contributed to this report.

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January 4, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (14)

Anti-Missile Jammers on Commercial Jets

January 04, 2008 11:17 AM

From The Blotter:

The friendly skies are about to become friendlier as tens of thousands of airline passengers will soon board jets outfitted with anti-missile systems, part of a new government security test to hinder terrorists armed with shoulder-to-air missiles, as reported in USA Today.

The $29 million tests by the Department of Homeland Security will equip three American Airlines Boeing 767-200s that fly daily round-trips between New York and California with "anti-missile laser jammers this spring."

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While no passenger jets flying over the U.S. have been taken down by shoulder-to-air missiles, it has been considered a threat, as has been previously reported by the ABC News Investigative Unit last year. In that report, at least 24 civilian aircraft worldwide had been brought down by shoulder-to-air missiles brought on the black market for just a few thousand dollars. More than 500 people had been killed.

In today's article, USA Today puts the price of a shoulder-to-air missile on the black market "for as little as a few hundred dollars."

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January 4, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (13)

Web Site: Video From American al Qaeda Coming Soon

January 03, 2008 5:35 PM

From The Blotter:

A banner advertising a message from American al Qaeda Adam Gadahn appeared today on a jihadist Web site often used by al Qaeda to announce and release it audio and videotapes.

The graphic shows Adam Gadahn and reads in Arabic with English subtitles: "Coming Up Soon, An Tnoitation [sic] to Reflection and Repentance, Adam Yahiye Gadahn (Azzam)." It also shows the familiar logo of As Sahab, al Qaeda's propaganda wing.

Gadahn's last message was released on Aug. 5, 2007. In it, he said al Qaeda will continue to strike against the United States at home and overseas and singled out U.S. embassies as a prime target.

January 3, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (4)

Intel Subcommittee Chair Urged CIA Not to Destroy Tapes, Demands Investigation

January 03, 2008 5:17 PM

Krista Kjellman Reports:

The chairwoman of a House intelligence subcommittee asked the CIA not to destroy the videotape showing an al Qaeda leader's interrogation in a letter written in 2003 and declassified today.

"Even if the videotape does not constitute an official record that must be preserved under the law," Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., then-ranking member of the House Intelligence, wrote of the videotaped interrogation of Osama bin Laden associate Abu Zubaydah, "the videotape would be the best proof that the written record is accurate, if such a record is called into question in the future."

"The fact of destruction would reflect badly on the Agency," Rep. Harman, now the chair of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, added.

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In the agency's response, also declassified today, then-CIA general counsel Scott Muller assured Rep. Harman that "a number of Executive Branch lawyers including lawyers from the Department of Justice" addressed all policy and legal matters relating to the tapes.

Early last month, CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden sent a memo to CIA employees, saying "the press [had] learned" the agency destroyed videos of suspected terrorists being interrogated using the agency’s highly controversial questioning methods, known as "enhanced interrogation methods."

In that memo, Hayden said the tapes -- of interrogations from 2002 and destroyed in 2005 -- were "no longer of intelligence value and not relevant to any internal, legislative, or judicial inquiries." He also defended the agency's interrogation techniques.

Shortly afterward, former CIA agent John Kiriakou, who was a leader of the team that captured Zubaydah, came forward and told ABC News that waterboarding, which was used on Zubaydah who broke in 35 seconds, was torture but necessary shortly after 9/11. Kiriakou himself was not part of the team who waterboarded Zubaydah.

The destroyed tapes are now the focus of an independent Justice Department probe, announced yesterday.

"It is critically important to follow the facts wherever they lead," Rep. Harman said today. "Clearly, White House officials were involved in discussions regarding the disposition of the tapes and Congress needs to know why key Committees may have been misled about their existence and not told they had been destroyed."

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January 3, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (6)

For '08 White House, 'Beltway Bandits' Pick Clinton, Dems

January 03, 2008 3:17 PM

Justin Rood Reports:

For private government contractors, Hillary Clinton leads the pack of White House contenders -- at least, if campaign contributions are any measure.

An analysis by Government Executive magazine showed executives and employees of major government contractors have given nearly $1.2 million to presidential campaigns this cycle. Clinton, with more than $240,000 in donations from that group, is ahead of her competition, the magazine reported.

Barack Obama isn't far behind, however. According to the publication, the Democratic junior Illinois senator received $232,000 from government contractors. In all, the publication found that more than over 60 percent of government contractor donations to 2008 presidential campaigns have gone to Democrats.

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The federal government's use of private companies to do work once handled by public-sector employees has mushroomed under the Bush administration. The proliferation of for-profit companies and consultants providing the executive branch with advice and workers for functions including security, data processing and even sensitive intelligence projects has been decried by reform-minded Democrats like Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif. -- and Clinton herself.

On the campaign trail, Clinton has blasted the trend and has promised to cut the private-sector government workforce by 500,000. Private workers, she said, are "often less accountable and less competent" than public employees.

A contracting industry executive told the magazine he didn't put much emphasis on Clinton's rhetoric.

"I don't focus too much on statements that are said in the heat of a presidential campaign," the magazine quotes Stan Soloway, president of the Professional Services Council, as saying.

The Clinton campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

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January 3, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (13)

2008: 'Dirtiest Presidential Campaign in History'

January 03, 2008 1:30 PM

Brian Ross, Avni Patel & Rhonda Schwartz Report:

Iowa Democrats received a new round of anonymous phone calls this week, under the guise of opinion poll research, slamming former Sen. John Edwards and Sen. Barack Obama, in the latest display of the ugly side of this year's presidential campaign.

Even before the first vote is cast, 2008 is being called "one of the dirtiest campaigns in American history" by a political science professor who is tracking campaign dirty tricks and opposition research attacks on rival candidates.

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January 3, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (1)

2007 in Review: In Iraq, Deaths Rose on All Fronts

January 03, 2008 10:50 AM

Justin Rood Reports:

For nearly all involved, 2007 appeared to be one of the deadliest years yet for the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Soldiers, civilians and even reporters were killed there in record numbers, several recent tallies show.

According to Pentagon statistics, 899 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq in 2007, the highest number since the 2003 invasion.

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Separate tallies by the Iraqi government, the Associated Press and the nonprofit group Iraq Body Count show between 16,000 and 24,000 Iraqi civilians were killed in violence related to the occupation. It was the deadliest year on record for civilians there, according to the Iraqi government and the Associated Press. IBC figures indicated 2006 may have seen more Iraqi civilian deaths.

And a new study released by the French organization Reporters Without Borders says 47 journalists were killed in Iraq last year, the highest it has recorded since the 2003 invasion.  All but one of the reporters killed were Iraqi nationals, the group said, many of whom were "deliberately targeted."

Casualties for both soldiers and civilians reportedly dropped in the later months of 2007, and some observers believe the bloody trend has been reversing itself. The Pentagon reported 21 military deaths in December, the second-lowest monthly total of the occupation. And Iraqi civilian deaths for December were down 75 percent from December 2006, according to the Iraqi government.

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January 3, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (3)

FBI Joins Investigation Into U.S. Diplomat's Murder

January 02, 2008 2:41 PM

Kirit Radia and Jason Ryan Report:

The FBI said today agents are on their way to Sudan's capital to assist the State Department in investigating the death of a USAID worker there.

"The FBI will provide investigative assistance to State Department investigators concerning the murder of USAID employee John Michael Granville in Sudan," FBI spokesman Special Agent Richard Kolko told ABC News.

The State Department investigators will include agents of the department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security.

Granville, along with his Sudanese driver, was shot and killed as he was heading home after midnight on New Year's Day.

According to an internal State Department incident report, the attack happened minutes after Granville dropped off a female colleague at her home around 2:15 a.m. local time.

Granville, who attempted to get out of the car when the shooting began, was shot repeatedly.

The attackers fled once residents came out of their homes, apparently disturbed by the sound of gunfire.

Granville was first taken to a local clinic and then to a Khartoum hospital. Although he was talking while being treated, the staff was unable to get any details out of him before he died, according to the report.   

State spokesman Sean McCormack offered his condolences today, saying the shooting started the year off "on a note of sadness."

He said the department still doesn't know the motive for the shooting or who is responsible.

Granville was a well-respected volunteer in Africa.

In 1997, he became an official volunteer for the Peace Corps and served in the village of Bamendjou in Cameroon, where he was bestowed the honorary title of "Notable" by the village chief upon his departure, according to a U.S. government official.

In Sudan, Granville and his driver were "deeply committed to their work and highly respected by their colleagues in Sudan and throughout our organization," a USAID statement said.

USAID is the leading international donor to Sudan, having contributed more than $2 billion since fiscal year 2004.

Krista Kjellman contributed to this report.

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January 2, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (0)

Bush Admin Slow to Re