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Thread 4. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1084291/posts |
Posted on 02/05/2004 8:31:17 PM PST by Mossad1967
Edited on 02/09/2004 3:20:18 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
Now, that's funny. Although I thought that in order to be a famous suspect, your middle name had to be either Lee or Wayne???
Tue Feb 17,11:41 AM ET By JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - A federal prosecutor in a major terrorism case in Detroit has taken the rare step of suing Attorney General John Ashcroft, alleging the Justice Department interfered with the case, compromised a confidential informant and exaggerated results in the war on terrorism.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino of Detroit accused the Justice Department of "gross mismanagement" of the war on terrorism in a whistleblower lawsuit filed late Friday in federal court in Washington.
Justice officials said Tuesday they had not seen the suit and had no comment.
The suit is the latest twist in the Bush administration's first major post-Sept. 11 terrorism prosecution, which is now in danger of unraveling over allegations of prosecutorial misconduct.
Convertino came under internal investigation last fall after providing information to a Senate committee about his concerns about the war on terror. His testimony came just months after he helped convict some members of an alleged terrorism cell in Detroit.
The government now admits it failed to turn over evidence during the trial that might have assisted the defense, including an allegation from an imprisoned drug gang leader who claimed the government's key witness made up his story.
Convertino is seeking damages under the First Amendment and Privacy Act, alleging he has been subjected to an internal investigation as retaliation for his cooperation with the Senate and that information from the internal probe was wrongly leaked to news media.
The lawsuit states Convertino first complained to his superiors more than a year ago about Justice's interference in the Detroit terrorism trial, saying Washington supervisors "had continuously placed perception over reality to the serious detriment of the war on terror."
The lawsuit includes excerpts of an e-mail from another prosecutor in the case that Convertino says "identified some of the gross mismanagement which was negatively impacting the ability of the United States to obtain convictions in a major terrorist case."
The e-mail from the other prosecutor shows he complained at the time that efforts by Justice's terrorism unit in Washington to "insinuate themselves into this trial are, nothing more than a self-serving effort to justify the existence" of the unit.
"They have rendered no assistance and, are in my judgment, adversely impacting on both trial prep and trial strategy," the e-mail cited in the lawsuit states.
Convertino also accused Justice officials of intentionally divulging the name of one of his confidential terrorism informants (CI) to retaliate against him.
The leak put the informant at grave risk, forced him to flee the United States and "interfered with the ability of the United States to obtain information from the CI about current and future terrorist activities," the suit alleges.
The prosecutor is being represented by the National Whistleblower Center, which has represented FBI agents and other whistleblowers in recent cases involving terrorism. Its chief lawyer successfully helped Linda Tripp win damages under the Privacy Act for the leak of information from her Pentagon personnel file after the Monica Lewinsky affair.
1950's Era Blasting Cap Closes Highway in Wilmington, Delaware
Feb. 17, 2004 — Delaware State Police have closed I-495 Southbound at the the I-95 split and I-95 Southbound, just south of the Pa. State Line to Naamans Road while they investigate a blasting cap from the 1950's found along the roadway. Police also plan to close I-95 Northbound shortly before they detonate the device.
At this point, that should be by 3:00 and will be temporary during the detonation. I-495 Northbound will remain open.
Police say a DELDOT crew working in the area around 11:40 this morning noticed an object with wires protruding from it and called Police. I-495 south was closed at 2:00 this afternoon. The Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team is on the scene.
4 minutes ago - Reuters
By Tabassum Zakaria
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Al Qaeda has deployed operatives to hijack planes and fly them into targets in an echo of the Sept. 11 attacks and is looking at derailing trains possibly carrying hazardous material, according to a top U.S. intelligence official.
Robert Hutchings, chairman of the National Intelligence Council which reports to the CIA (news - web sites) director, did not give details of the plots but provided the most recent public outline from an intelligence official of the al Qaeda threat.
The network, blamed for the Sept 11, 2001, attacks that killed 3,000 people, seeks targets that would strike a blow to the U.S. economy, Hutchings said in a Jan. 14 speech to the International Security Management Association in Arizona, the text of which was posted on Feb. 4 on the NIC's Web site.
"Soft targets, including the U.S. stock market, banks, major companies, and tall buildings are a primary focus of active al Qaeda planning," he said.
Those targets are seen as easier to hit than U.S. government buildings and major infrastructure, which have higher security, Hutchings said.
Al Qaeda has looked at derailing trains, perhaps carrying hazardous materials, to attack U.S. interests, he said.
Nuclear power plants, water treatment facilities, and other public utilities are high on al Qaeda's target list, he said.
The U.S. government is concerned that al Qaeda will try to take its ability to build truck bombs as demonstrated by past attacks in Kenya, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, and marry it with toxic or radioactive material to increase the damage and psychological impact of an attack, Hutchings said.
"My biggest worry, however, is how far al Qaeda might have progressed in being able to deploy a chemical, nuclear, or biological weapon against the United States or its allies," he said.
U.S. authorities have found several examples of al Qaeda adjusting its tactics to circumvent increased airline security, Hutchings said, without providing details.
"Although we have disrupted several airline plots, we have not eliminated the threat to airplanes," he said. "There are still al Qaeda operatives who we believe have been deployed to hijack planes and fly them into key targets."
The United States has beefed up security at airports and on airlines. There were a spate of flight cancellations since late December because of potential threats.
U.S. authorities have succeeded in disrupting the network, Hutchings said. "We have disrupted scores of plots at home and abroad -- plots that were audacious in terms of the numbers of attacks under consideration and their global scope," he said.
I'll report, you decide.
Pakistan Said to Confront Tribal Leaders
By JOHN J. LUMPKIN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The Pakistani military is confronting tribal leaders in the region where Osama bin Laden may be hiding, apparently using the threat of violence and home destruction to force them to supply information on extremists in the area, the top American general in Afghanistan said Tuesday.
Lt. Gen. David Barno expressed hope that recent efforts by the Pakistani military, combined with a change in U.S. counterinsurgency tactics in Afghanistan, would create a "hammer-and-anvil" effect along the mountainous border between the two countries, in which one force would drive the al-Qaida fighters into the other.
In Pakistan, soldiers and government paramilitaries have been meeting with tribal chiefs for at least six weeks and threatening them with "destruction of homes and things of that nature" unless they cooperate, Barno said.
"That they're confronting the tribal elders and they're holding them accountable for activities in their areas of influence is a major step forward," Barno said, briefing reporters at the Pentagon via teleconference from Afghanistan.
Pakistan says it does not want U.S. forces operating inside its borders, and the U.S. government says it won't go in without Pakistani permission. Since 2002, Pakistan's army has staged several operations targeting al-Qaida fugitives. Residents have reported seeing a small number of foreign personnel on such operations, but Pakistan denies it.
Al-Qaida supporters, possibly including bin Laden — the al-Qaida leader — are thought to be in the semiautonomous tribal regions of Pakistan, where many are sympathetic to the Taliban. Previously, the Pakistani military had left the area alone.
The government of Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, has lately been in the hot seat since the acknowledgment that one of its most prominent senior scientists was selling nuclear technology to several other countries. But the Bush administration has also made a point of praising its efforts in the war on terrorism.
On the Afghan side of the border, Barno said U.S. forces are moving away from targeted raids on suspected militants and toward a system of a body of troops having a specific region to patrol and protect.
U.S. military officials have previously said American troops will step up combat operations in Afghanistan with the spring thaw.
Barno said al-Qaida's presence in strongest in the eastern part of the country, while holdouts from Afghanistan's homegrown Taliban movement are strongest around Kandahar in the south.
He said they are no longer massing forces for combat, instead turning to bombings against soldiers, aid workers, and civilians, in part to get publicity.
"They can disrupt some of these very worthy non-governmental programs of aid across the country by doing this," Barno said. "It's classic terrorism. It's murder and mayhem. And it's sowing terror among those that don't have defenses."
Barno also backed off from earlier statements from his command that bin Laden would certainly be caught within the year.
"There are no certainties in the warfighting business out here," he said.
He also said he does not have information that would suggest extremist fighters from Afghanistan and Pakistan are moving in significant numbers to fight the U.S. occupation in Iraq.
"We're continuing to be watchful in terms of any movement of these (people) back and forth," he said. "But I don't think there's strong indicators that I've been able to see in that regard yet."
Some intelligence suggests that anti-American fighters in both countries are sharing information on their tactics, he said.
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