Bush
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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]
SANAA, Yemen, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- A purported statement by al-Qaida in Yemen warned Saturday of a "major strike" soon in the United States.
The statement, distributed by the Yemeni Tagamoo Party for Reforms, said: "A major strike, a big event will take place in America soon," reminiscent of the Sept. 11 attacks.
WAGA (Fox 5 Atlanta) later reported that the missing "fertilizer" was the weed killer RoundUp.
Bush
Kerry
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - Two men found traveling with eight pipe bombs are members of white supremacist groups, a federal investigator said Wednesday.
The bombs were found in a vehicle and trailer it was towing Monday night on Interstate 80 east of Cheyenne. A state trooper had stopped the vehicle for driving erratically.
Gil Salinas, resident agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives office in Wyoming, said authorities have identified the two men despite getting no cooperation from them and finding a number of driver's licenses and credit cards in their vehicle.
He said he could not immediately release their names because it might jeopardize an investigation.
Both men were being held in the county jail. Salinas said federal charges are pending against the two.
Salinas said one of the men is possibly connected to a weapons case being investigated out of the ATF's Salt Lake City office.
Investigators say they don't know where the men were headed in their rented vehicle.
''We want to know why (the bombs) were made and why were they being transported,'' Salinas said.
The FBI, Secret Service and U.S. Attorney's Office are also involved in the investigation, he said.
AP-WS-02-18-04 1704EST
FORT LEWIS, Wash. - A National Guardsman accused of attempting to pass military intelligence to the al-Qaida terrorist network has been formally charged, an Army spokesman said Wednesday.
Spc. Ryan G. Anderson was charged Feb. 12, but the Army did not immediately release that information, Lt. Col. Stephen Barger said. A military defense lawyer has been appointed for Anderson, but Barger refused to identify the lawyer.
Anderson was charged with two counts of attempting to supply intelligence to the enemy, the Army said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, defense officials have said Anderson signed on to extremist Internet chat rooms and tried to get in touch with al-Qaida operatives. It is unclear how the U.S. government got wind of his alleged offer to supply military information to the terrorists. It does not appear he transmitted any information to al-Qaida, authorities said.
Barger said the soldier's alleged attempts to pass information occurred between Jan. 22 and Feb. 11.
Anderson, a Muslim convert, was arrested Feb. 12 and is being held at Fort Lewis.
By SCOTT SONNER, Associated Press Writer
RENO, Nev. - The nation's nuclear waste dump proposed for Nevada is poorly designed and could leak highly radioactive waste, a scientist who recently resigned from a federal panel of experts on Yucca Mountain told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Paul Craig, a physicist and engineering professor at the University of California-Davis, said he quit the panel last month so he could speak more freely about the waste dump's dangers.
Yucca Mountain, about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is planned to begin receiving waste in 2010. Some 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste at commercial and military sites in 39 states would be stored in metal canisters underground in tunnels.
"The science is very clear," Craig told AP in an interview before his first public speech about the Energy Department's design for the canisters.
"If we get high-temperature liquids, the metal would corrode and that would eventually lead to leakage of nuclear waste," Craig said.
"Therefore, it is a bad design. And that is very, very bad news for the Department of Energy because they are committed to that design," he said.
Craig, who was appointed to the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board by President Clinton in 1997, planned to speak Wednesday night at a forum sponsored by the Sierra Club. He said he's convinced the Energy Department will have to postpone the project and change to metal less liable to corrode.
"It would require years of delay and my guess is that is what is going to happen. The bad science is so clear they will be unable to ignore it forever," Craig told the AP.
The 11-member technical review board outlined its concerns about the potential for corrosion in a report to the Energy Department in November about the metal for the canisters, called Alloy-22 — "an upscale version of stainless steal," Craig said.
It was the most important report the board has produced since Congress created the panel in 1987, he said, but largely has been ignored by Congress and the department.
"The report says in ordinary English that under the conditions proposed by the Department of Energy, the canisters will leak," Craig said. "It was signed by every single member of the board so there would be no confusion."
Energy Department spokeswoman Gayle Fisher in Las Vegas said the agency had no immediate comment. In Washington D.C., a spokesman for the industry's Nuclear Energy Institute did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment.
The board's report in November said the government had failed to take into account "deliquescence" — a phenomenon regarding the reaction of salt to moisture — in its plans to operate the dump at temperatures well above boiling water, or about 200 degrees.
At those temperatures, the metal canisters would heat up, causing salts in the surrounding ground to liquefy, thus leading to corrosion, Craig said.
"It turns out the metals which look like they act pretty good at temperature levels below boiling water — those same metals act badly with temperatures that could exist" at Yucca Mountain, he said.
Craig, who also has served as a member of National Academy of Sciences National Research Council Board on Radioactive Waste Management, said he sent his resignation letter to the White House in January before his term was to expire in April so he could shine more light on the government's plans.
"When you serve as a member of one of those boards, you cannot talk about the political consequences of the science or the big picture. You are supposed to stick to the science and you should stick to the science," Craig said.
"You cannot have the kind of conversation we are having now if I was still on the board."
By CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - An internal FBI report kept under wraps for three years details dozens of cases of agents fired for egregious misconduct and crimes, including drug trafficking, attempted murder, theft, misuse of informants and consorting with prostitutes.
The report, released Wednesday by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, found that about one in 1,000 agents was dismissed for serious misconduct or criminal offenses by the FBI during the period examined, from 1986 to 1999. The average was between eight and nine per year.
Although the numbers were small, the FBI's attempts to prevent the report's disclosure from the public and Congress since its completion in June 2000 is raising questions among FBI critics about an attempt to avoid embarrassment.
Grassley, a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a letter Wednesday to FBI Director Robert Mueller that he was concerned about "a lack of response to the findings and recommendations, a general lack of support for the project and even efforts to prevent its completion."
Grassley said the report "almost never saw the light of day." It was only provided to lawmakers in July 2003, months after it was requested, and was accompanied by a Justice Department letter urging that it be kept confidential.
FBI Assistant Director Cassandra Chandler responded Wednesday, "Director Mueller is committed to undertaking the reforms necessary to strengthen the disciplinary process within the FBI and ensure that it is fair, efficient and credible."
The report was prepared by the FBI's Behavioral Sciences and Law Enforcement Ethics unit in an effort to identify trends among agents dismissed for serious offenses and determine if there were warning signs prior to the misconduct that led to their firings.
The report lists the circumstances — minus names, dates and locations — of more than 70 dismissals, including:
_An agent who was abusive to his family and used his FBI weapon to shoot his wife, resulting in attempted murder charges.
_One agent who was calling sex hot lines on FBI phones while on duty.
_Several agents who had improper sexual relationships with confidential informants or prostitutes, sometimes in FBI vehicles. One agent pleaded guilty to manslaughter for the killing of a female informant with whom he had "an inappropriate emotional and sexual relationship."
_Agents who disclosed sensitive or classified material to outsiders, including representatives of foreign governments and criminal enterprises.
_Firings stemming from drug, alcohol or gambling problems. One agent stole more than $400,000 in informant funds to feed his gambling and drinking problems; another used crack cocaine regularly and was arrested for possession of crack pipes.
_An agent who attempted to sell cocaine to someone who turned out to be an undercover FBI agent.
The report concluded that some of these agents were hired even though a background check had revealed negative information about them. Sometimes the check itself was not thorough enough. Before their firings, some agents exhibited "markers" for potential misconduct, such as a history of emotional or psychological problems or evidence of substance abuse.
Release of the report comes amid a separate review of the way the FBI investigates employee wrongdoing and imposes discipline. That review, by former Attorney General Griffin Bell and ex-FBI executive Lee Colwell, has been completed in draft form but is not yet ready for public release, FBI officials said.
Mueller said in announcing that review that he wanted to stop "an erosion of trust" by the public in the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility, which has been accused of having dual disciplinary systems for supervisors and field agents and of minimizing allegations of retaliation against whistleblowers.
___
On the Net:
FBI: http://www.fbi.gov
YAHOO - News - Photos: (REUTERS): "Ryan Anderson walks handcuffed past his rifle after being arrested by a Snohomish County Sheriff in this May 22, 1998 file photo when police responded to a call of a man with a firearm near an elementary school near Everett, Washington. U.S. Army Spc. Ryan Anderson, a recent Muslim convert, was charged on February 12, 2004 with trying to pass military secrets to the Islamic militant group al Qaeda after being caught in a sting operation, military officials said on Thursday. (Michael O'leary/The Everett Herald via Reuters)" (February 13, 2004) (Read More/View Photo...)
SEATTLE TIMES.com: "LOCAL SOLDIER ACCUSED OF TRYING TO GIVE AL-QAIDA INFO" by Mike Carter (ARTICLE SNIPPET: " About two years ago, a young man using the screen name "akagunfighter" joined a local Islamic Internet chat room. His real name was Ryan G. Anderson, and he could hardly have been less welcome. Anderson was arrested yesterday by U.S. Army officials, who say the 26-year-old National Guardsman attempted to communicate and provide intelligence to the al-Qaida terrorism network. Anderson, a member of the 81st Armor Brigade about to be deployed to Iraq, has not been formally charged.") (February 13, 2004) (Read More...)
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