Posted on 04/04/2005 6:09:08 PM PDT by TexKat
A U.S. military medical evacuation helicopter flies over Baghdad, Iraq, near to sunset Monday, April 4, 2005. Earlier Monday, a suicide bomber blew up a tractor in the second attack in three days near the infamous Abu Ghraib prison on the outskirts of Baghdad.(AP Photo / Jim MacMillan)
U.S. President George W. Bush presents the nation's highest award for valor, the Medal of Honor, posthumously to Army Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith, accepted by Smiths 11-year-old son David, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, April 4, 2005. Smith was credited Monday, with protecting the lives of scores of lightly armed American soldiers who were beyond his position in the battle, on April 4, 2003, near the gates of Baghdad International Airport. It is only the third Medal of Honor given for actions since the Vietnam War, and the first from the Iraq war. REUTERS/Larry Downing
By MARIAM FAM
Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Prisoners at Iraq's largest detention facility protested the transfer of several detainees deemed "unruly" by authorities, throwing rocks and setting tents on fire in a disturbance that injured four guards and 12 detainees, the military said Monday.
Friday's protest was the first of at least three violent incidents at Iraqi prisons during the past four days, with the latest occurring Monday at the notorious Abu Ghraib facility. A suicide bomber driving a tractor blew himself up outside the prison, wounding four civilians.
On Saturday, insurgents attacked Abu Ghraib with rocket-propelled grenades and two car bombs, wounding dozens of U.S. service members and prisoners, the U.S. military said.
Friday's protest at Camp Bucca - which holds about 6,000 prisoners, nearly two-thirds of all those in Iraq - caused only minor injuries before being brought under control, authorities said.
Murtadha al-Hajaj, an official at radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's office in the southern city of Umm Qasr, near Camp Bucca, said several al-Sadr supporters were wounded during the confrontation. He said they were protesting a lack of access to medical treatment and claimed U.S. guards opened fire, although he did not know if they wounded prisoners.
U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Guy Rudisill said he did not know if the guards opened fire, but he denied that any detainee was deprived of medical treatment.
Last month, the U.S. military said guards discovered a 600-foot tunnel - dug with makeshift tools - leading out of Camp Bucca. The tunnel reached beyond the compound fence, with an opening hidden beneath a floorboard, but no one had escaped, authorities said.
The other facility targeted by insurgents, Abu Ghraib, was at the center of the prison abuse scandal last year after photographs were publicized showing U.S. soldiers humiliating Iraqi inmates, including having them pile naked in a human pyramid. The United States holds nearly 3,500 prisoners at Abu Ghraib and about 7,000 elsewhere in Iraq.
Rudisill said prison officials heard Monday's explosion, but he said it wasn't close enough to cause any damage to the prison. The blast killed the tractor's driver and injured four Iraqis, police 1st Lt. Akram al-Zubaeyee said.
Al-Qaida in Iraq said 10 of its fighters died in Saturday's assault on Abu Ghraib, while the U.S. military put the urgents' casualties at one dead and about 50 wounded. Forty-four American soldiers and 13 prisoners were injured in the fighting - the latest in a series of large-scale attacks by insurgents in Iraq.
In an Internet posting, Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed about 20 militants scaled the prison's walls and one of them reached a prison tower and yelled: "God is great!" It said two of its fighters were wounded and 10 were killed, including seven suicide bombers.
The statement, which appeared late Sunday, was impossible to independently verify, and it conflicted with the U.S. account.
The U.S. military denied anyone got inside the prison and said no inmates escaped. It said only one suicide bomber participated, while others fired assault rifles, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
Rudisill said he did not believe any attackers were captured. He said the wounded insurgents either escaped on their own or were dragged away by other militants.
The military said the insurgents staged simultaneous assaults on multiple locations at the prison, focusing on two guard towers and then using a car bomb to try to penetrate a gate.
Combat helicopters helped push back the attack, which was the largest at Abu Ghraib since insurgents fired mortar rounds into the compound nearly a year ago, killing more than 20 detainees and injuring nearly 100.
Also, the military said a detainee evacuated from an unnamed facility to the 115th Field Hospital died Monday after suffering gunshot wounds two weeks ago during an attack on U.S.-led coalition forces. The incident is under investigation, the military said in a statement.
Some Iraqi lawmakers have called for the release of the prisoners at Abu Ghraib, and the National Assembly's newly elected speaker, Hajim al-Hassani, told Al-Jazeera television the topic will be among the first discussed by lawmakers.
"There are some problems regarding the security issue and troubles concerning Abu Ghraib detainees," he said. "These issues will be the main subject we are concerned about in the National Assembly."
President Bush called al-Hassani on Monday to congratulate him on becoming parliament speaker.
"The two leaders expressed confidence that democracy will succeed in Iraq," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said. "The president reiterated our commitment of continued support for Iraq as they move forward."
Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, also congratulated al-Hassani, saying his election was "a hopeful sign as you begin the assembly's tasks, including laying down the constitution."
The selection of al-Hassani, a Sunni Arab, ended weeks of bickering and cleared the way for the formation of a government more than two months after Iraq's first free election in 50 years. Legislators next meet Wednesday, when they plan to name Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani as Iraq's president.
Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan said Monday that most of Iraq's neighbors - including Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia - are helping Iraq's government fight terrorism.
"The terrorist attacks have been limited now because of the cooperation of the neighboring countries," said Shaalan, who previously accused Iran and Syria of supporting insurgents in Iraq.
He also welcomed an edict issued Friday by Sunni clerics that called for Iraqis to join the police and army. "The Iraqi army will accept the new waves of volunteers," Shaalan said.
The edict, read by a cleric in the Association of Muslim Scholars, instructed enlistees to refrain from helping foreign troops against their own countrymen. It said Sunnis should join to prevent the police and army from falling into "the hands of those who have caused chaos, destruction and violated the sanctities."
On Monday, a bomb exploded at a cafe in the northern city of Talafar, killing two civilians and injuring 13, local official Salem al-Haj Eissa said. He speculated the bomb was intended for Iraqi army soldiers who frequent the cafe but said no soldiers were thought to be there.
In the same city, on Saturday, an American soldier was killed and another was wounded by insurgent gunfire, the U.S. military said Monday.
Thai workers clean up the scene of a bomb blast at a shopping mall in Songkhla province, south of Bangkok, April 4, 2005. Three bombs exploded almost simultaneously at an airport, a supermarket and a hotel in Thailand's restive Muslim south on Sunday, killing one person and wounding more than 50 others, police and witnesses said. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom
Armed Thai Gangs Attack Police Station
By ALISA TANG
Associated Press Writer
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Groups of armed men attacked a police station and a government office Monday in southern Thailand, less than 24 hours after the area was shaken by bombings that killed two people at its main airport.
The organized assaults in Joh Irong district of Narathiwat province, and Sunday's deadly bombings in nearby Songkhla province, raised concerns an Islamic insurgency in the region was gaining momentum.
No casualties were reported among the defenders in Monday's assaults, in which the attackers used one or more M-79 grenade launchers, said police Col. Thanongsak Wangsupah.
He said the attackers operated in two groups of about 10 men each, fleeing to the forest on a nearby mountain.
As night fell, security forces were pursuing the attackers, he said.
"If they keep fighting, we probably can't catch them alive," said Narathiwat Governor Pracha Tharath, who indicated authorities had been warned about the attacks.
Earlier Monday, a bomb buried in a road in neighboring Yala province wounded four soldiers.
The attacks came despite security forces being put on high alert after two people were killed Sunday night by a bomb at Hat Yai International Airport in another southern province, Songkhla.
A department store and a hotel in the province were also bombed, and more than 70 people in all were wounded.
The bombings set off fears that Muslim insurgents who had previously restricted their attacks to the southernmost provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani were broadening their theater of operations.
Since January 2004, almost 800 people have been killed in sectarian violence in the provinces. The Muslim militant suspects have generally restricted their almost daily attacks to hit and run shootings carried out by one or two gunmen and small bombings.
Songkhla is just north of the three Muslim-dominated provinces, and Hat Yai is the biggest city in Thailand's far south.
Airports, railway stations and other tourist destinations throughout the south were on full alert after the Songkhla bombings.
Interior Minister Chitchai Wannasathit said authorities have pictures of the attackers at the airport from closed-circuit cameras, but declined to give further details.
The airport bomb was left in a bag by a man in the waiting area, Gen. Chaiyasit Shinawatra, the Thai military supreme commander, said earlier.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra condemned the blasts, expressed his condolences to the victims and said security had to be strengthened.
Thaksin has been criticized previously for adopting an iron-fist policy that critics said would only breed more insurgents. However, he has recently called for a more measured approach that would de-emphasize military action.
Southern Thailand's Muslim minority has long complained of discrimination by the central government. Thailand is predominantly Buddhist.
President George W. Bush places his hand on the shoulder of 11-year-old David Smith after he presented the young man with the Medal of Honor, awarded his father, Sgt. 1st Class Paul Smith, posthumously Monday during ceremonies at the White House. Joining David on stage are his step-sister Jessica and his mother, Birgit Smith.White House photo by Eric Draper
President Presents Medal of Honor to Sergeant First Class Paul Ray Smith
The East Room
President's Remarks
3:07 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon and welcome to the White House. Today is a special occasion: We are here to pay tribute to a soldier whose service illustrates the highest ideals of leadership and love of our country.
Sergeant First Class Paul Ray Smith, of Florida, gave his life for these ideals in a deadly battle outside Baghdad. It is my great privilege to recognize his extraordinary sacrifice by awarding Sergeant Smith the Medal of Honor.
I appreciate Secretary Don Rumsfeld joining us today; Secretary Jim Nicholson, of the Department of Veterans Affairs; Senator Carl Levin, Senator Bill Nelson, Senator Mel Martinez, Senator Johnny Isakson and Congressman Ike Skelton. Thank you all for joining us.
I appreciate Secretary Francis Harvey, Secretary of the Army; General Dick Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; General Pete Pace, Vice Chairman; General Pete Schoomaker, Chief of the Army.
I want to thank the Medal of Honor recipients who have joined us today: John Baker, Barney Barnum, Bernie Fisher, Al Rascon and Brian Thacker. Honored you all are here.
I appreciate the family members who have joined us today. Thank you all for coming: Birgit Smith, his wife; Jessica Smith; David Smith; Janice Pvirre, the mom; Donald Pvirre, stepfather, and all the other family members who have joined us. Welcome.
I appreciate Chaplain David Hicks, for his invocation. I want to thank Lieutenant Colonel Tom Smith, for joining us, who was Paul Smith's commander. I particularly want to welcome soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division, Paul's unit in Iraq.
The Medal of Honor is the highest award for bravery a President can bestow. It is given for gallantry above and beyond the call of duty in the face of enemy attack. Since World War II, more than half of those have been awarded this medal gave their lives in the action that earned it. Sergeant Paul Smith belongs to this select group.
The story of Paul Smith is a story of a boy transformed into a man and a leader. His friends and family will tell you that he joined the Army in 1989, after finishing high school. When he joined the Army, he was a typical young American. He liked sports, he liked fast cars, and he liked to stay out late with his friends -- pursuits that occasionally earned him what the Army calls "extra duty." (Laughter.) Scrubbing floors.
Two things would change Paul's life and lead him to the selfless heroism we honor today. The first would come when he was stationed in Germany and fell for a woman named Birgit Bacher. It turns out that Paul had a romantic streak in him: On the first night he met her, Paul appeared outside Birgit's window singing "You've Lost That Loving Feeling." (Laughter.) In 1992, the two married, and soon, a young soldier became a devoted family man who played T-ball with his son and taught his daughter how to change the oil in his Jeep Cherokee.
Second great change in Paul's life would come when he shipped off to Saudi Arabia to fight in the first Gulf War. There the young combat engineer learned that his training had a purpose and could save lives on the battlefield. Paul returned from that war determined that other soldiers would benefit from the lessons he had learned.
Paul earned his sergeant's stripes and became known as a stickler for detail. Sergeant Smith's seriousness wasn't always appreciated by the greener troops under his direction. Those greener troops oftentimes found themselves to do tasks over and over again, until they got it right. Specialist Michael Seaman, who is with us today, says, "He was hard in training because he knew we had to be hard in battle." Specialist Seaman will also tell you that he and others are alive today because of Sergeant Smith's discipline.
That discipline would be put to the task in a small courtyard less than a mile from the Baghdad airport. Sergeant Smith was leading about three dozen men who were using a courtyard next to a watchtower to build a temporary jail for captured enemy prisoners. As they were cleaning the courtyard, they were surprised by about a hundred of Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard.
With complete disregard for his own life and under constant enemy fire, Sergeant Smith rallied his men and led a counterattack. Seeing that his wounded men were in danger of being overrun, and that enemy fire from the watchtower had pinned them down, Sergeant Smith manned a 50-caliber machine gun atop a damaged armor vehicle. From a completely exposed position, he killed as many as 50 enemy soldiers as he protected his men.
Sergeant Smith's leadership saved the men in the courtyard, and he prevented an enemy attack on the aid station just up the road. Sergeant Smith continued to fire and took a -- until he took a fatal round to the head. His actions in that courtyard saved the lives of more than 100 American soldiers.
Scripture tells us, as the General said, that a man has no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends. And that is exactly the responsibility Paul Smith believed the Sergeant stripes on his sleeve had given him. In a letter he wrote to his parents but never mailed, he said that he was prepared to "give all that I am to ensure that all my boys make it home."
On this day two years ago, Sergeant Smith gave his all for his men. Five days later, Baghdad fell, and the Iraqi people were liberated. And today, we bestow upon Sergeant Smith the first Medal of Honor in the war on terror. He's also the first to be awarded this new Medal of Honor flag, authorized by the United States Congress. We count ourselves blessed to have soldiers like Sergeant Smith, who put their lives on the line to advance the cause of freedom and protect the American people.
Like every one of the men and women in uniform who have served in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Sergeant Paul Smith was a volunteer. We thank his family for the father, husband and son and brother who can never be replaced. We recall with appreciation the fellow soldiers whose lives he saved, and the many more he inspired. And we express our gratitude for a new generation of Americans, every bit as selfless and dedicated to liberty as any that has gone on before -- a dedication exemplified by the sacrifice and valor of Sergeant First Class Paul Ray Smith.
And now if his family would join me, please. Lieutenant Commander, please read the citation.
(The citation is read and the medal is presented.) (Applause.)
END 3:17 P.M. EDT
Claude M. (Mick) Kicklighter
Claude M. Kicklighter, of Georgia, to be a Member of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission (New Position), which was sent to the Senate on March 15, 2005.
Bush Appoints Commission on Base Closings
By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL
Associated Press Writer
April 2, 2005, 11:36 PM EST
WASHINGTON -- President Bush, brushing aside a stall tactic by Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., appointed the nine-member commission that will determine military bases closings without waiting for Senate confirmation.
Bush made the appointments while the Senate was in recess, the White House announced Friday night. The recess appointments prevent delays as the commission prepares to make the first round of base closings in a decade.
Before it left for its spring recess the full Senate had been expected to vote on the nomination of Anthony J. Principi, former secretary of veterans affairs, as chairman of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission. The other commissioners, nominated by Bush on March 15, also required Senate confirmation.
However, Lott -- who opposes base closures and has pledged to protect military facilities in his home state -- placed a "hold" on Principi's nomination, according to aides and lobbyists speaking on condition of anonymity. The hold delayed voting on the nomination.
Lott was expected to place holds on the other nominations as well, the aides and lobbyists told The Associated Press earlier this week. The Senate Armed Services Committee had approved Principi's nomination and planned to review the other nominations in the next few weeks.
The White House said Bush felt the recess appointments were appropriate since the full committee had already acted on Principi. Plus, the president wants no delay in the "important work for the nation" that the base closure panel will have before it, spokesman Ken Lisaius said Saturday.
"The president believes there is important work for the (commission) to start on," he said.
Lott has said the United States should not be closing bases while troops are at war. "I will try to stop it at any point and in any way I possibly can," he said in February.
Recess appointments expire when the Senate's current session ends, in this case in 2006. However, the commission probably will have concluded its work by the end of this year.
Lott's chief of staff, William Gottshall, and Lott spokesman Lee Youngblood did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.
Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, praised the appointments, saying the closures are important for national security.
The commission law "sets a very tight schedule, with specific dates, within which the commission must hire a staff, travel to numerous military bases, consult with community leaders, conduct a thorough analysis and prepare its detailed report," Warner said in a statement. "The time to accomplish these essential tasks is very short, and I support the president's decision to expedite their appointments."
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld must recommend bases for closure or consolidation by May 16.
Appointed to the commission were:
* Principi, of California, chairman.
* Former Rep. James H. Bilbray of Nevada.
* Former Assistant Defense Secretary Philip Coyle of California.
* Retired Adm. Harold W. Gehman Jr. of Virginia.
* Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Sue Ellen Turner of Texas.
* Former Rep. James V. Hansen of Utah.
* Retired Army Gen. James T. Hill of Florida.
* Samuel Knox Skinner of Illinois, former chief of staff and transportation secretary under President George H.W. Bush.
* Retired Air Force Gen. Lloyd Warren Newton of Connecticut.
Bush had nominated retired Army Lt. Gen. Claude M. Kicklighter of Georgia for the commission. However, his name did not appear on the list of appointments. Instead, Newton was appointed. The White House statement made no reference to the change.
* __
On the Net:
The White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news
Kyrgyzstan's ousted president Askar Akayev, who formally resigned from his post, ending the political uncertainty that followed the sudden toppling of his longtime regime in the key Central Asian nation.(AFP/File)
By Vladimir Isachenkov, The Associated Press
Published: April 4, 2005
MOSCOW—Kyrgyzstan President Askar Akayev, who fled the country last month after demonstrators stormed his offices, signed a resignation agreement Monday, a key step toward restoring stability in the Central Asian nation. Kyrgyz lawmakers said.
The ex-Soviet state has been in turmoil since an anti-Akayev demonstration on March 24 grew into a clash outside the presidential administration building. Riot police guarding the building fled and protesters rushed inside. Akayev surfaced in Russia several days later.
Akayev signed the agreement at the Kyrgyz Embassy in Moscow and made a recording, apologizing to the people, that will be read to the parliament and be broadcast on television in Kyrgyzstan, said lawmaker Tashkul Kereksizov, who helped arrange the deal.
The resignation will be effective Tuesday, lawmakers said.
By stepping down, he would remove the last major obstruction to holding new presidential elections, tentatively scheduled for June 26. If Akayev did not step down, the legitimacy of such elections would be open to question.
“Akayev has made an important decision. The people needed it very much,” Kereksizov said.
“The revolution has taken place, the new government is working, but this document is necessary” to make it legal, Kereksizov said. He said parliament would endorse Akayev’s resignation Tuesday.
Kereksizov said Akayev recognized the new authorities.
“He said he will not confront the new government in either words or deeds and wished it success,” the lawmaker said.
In his address to the nation, Akayev “listed the nation’s achievements during his 14 1/2-year presidency, but also apologized to people who bore grudges against him,” said Bermet Bukasheva, an aide to parliament speaker Omurbek Tekebayev, who headed the delegation to Moscow.
The 60-year-old Akayev became leader of Kyrgyzstan in 1990, a year before it became independent in the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. He was regarded as the most reformist and liberal of the ex-Soviet Central Asian leaders. During his first years as president, Kyrgyzstan acquired the image of an island of democracy in a region noted for heavy-handed autocratic leadership.
In recent years, opponents complained that he had become increasingly authoritarian and repressive. The revolt capped weeks of protests by opposition supporters who accused Akayev of manipulating the results of parliamentary elections to ensure a compliant legislature.
After he fled, the political crisis deepened as the previous and newly elected parliaments competed for legitimacy. There were two nights of looting and gunfire in the capital in which at least three people were killed.
The chaos began to ebb last week after the previous parliament ceded authority.
By DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - A federal report on the collapse of the World Trade Center towers highlights flaws in the emergency response and incorrect assumptions about how quickly people can evacuate a skyscraper in crisis, two individuals who worked on the study said Monday.
A team of engineers who have spent more than two years investigating the collapse of the twin towers are to issue three reports Tuesday in New York analyzing the Sept. 11, 2001, building collapses and the response by rescue workers and building occupants.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology will also detail how early decisions played a key role in determining who lived and who died. The attacks killed some 2,749 at the towers, including those who died on the two jetliners that hijackers crashed into the buildings.
The findings represent NIST's last step before issuing its final recommendations in June, the culmination of exhaustive research and testing that produced 10,000 pages of data.
The centerpiece of Tuesday's findings will be the engineers' final conclusions about to the exact sequence of each tower's collapse.
The probe was ordered more than two years ago by Congress to answer lingering questions about the unique design of the World Trade Center buildings, the quality of the buildings' steel, and the ability of the floors and fireproofing to keep them upright.
NIST has already issued preliminary findings that there were no significant problems with the steel.
The two collapses, though different in each building, resulted largely from the way each plane's impact stripped away fireproofing, dislodged key columns, and ignited tons of office material that burned long after the jet fuel had burned away, NIST has concluded.
David Collins, a member of the advisory committee that offered suggestions and questions to NIST investigators, said the research showed design and construction of the building were not major contributors to the collapse.
"I think everyone took deliberate steps to try to do what was necessary to make the buildings as safe as possible," said Collins, a Cincinnati-based architect.
The other findings — about the emergency response and the behavior of those who were in the building — are likely to fuel an ongoing debate over skyscraper safety.
Investigators have determined that previous expectations about how long people would take to evacuate buildings were not borne out by events at the World Trade Center, according to two individuals who worked on the study and have seen the latest drafts of the reports. They spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity before publication of the data.
The pair who discussed the findings would not specify how much of a time difference the investigators found between evacuation predictions and the actual behavior at the World Trade Center but said the discrepancy often stemmed from individuals' lingering in offices before going to stairwells. That behavior that had not been contemplated in previous models.
The evacuation models are important because architects use them to calculate the capacity needed in stairwells, elevators, and other means of exiting a building.
The report also emphasizes the limited ability of rescue personnel to reach higher floors quickly to battle fires and rescue trapped civilians, the two individuals said.
That proved critical for firefighters who climbed 70 flights of stairs carrying up to 100 pounds of gear — and then tried to battle flames or clear debris once there.
Those concerns are spurring a debate both within the NIST group and among the larger fire rescue and construction fields about stairwell and elevator design.
The debate centers around whether "fireproof" elevators, designed to resist flames and smoke, should be installed in new buildings, particularly those that rise above 40 or 50 stories, and the best width and location of stairwells.
Elevators played a critical, but contradictory, role. In some cases, they helped significant numbers of people get out quickly. For others, they became sealed containers trapping them inside a doomed building.
NIST's ultimate goal is to improve building codes. ___
On the Net: National Institute of Standards and Technology: http://www.nist.gov International Code Council: http://www.iccsafe.org
A US Border Patrol officer patrols the fence at the US-Mexico border near Nogales, Arizona. The United States will reinforce patrols along the Arizona section of its border with Mexico in order to stem the flow of illegal immigrants, the government announced.(AFP/File/Maxim Kniazkov)
Border Patrol Complains About Volunteers
By ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN, Associated Press Writer
TOMBSTONE, Ariz. - Volunteers who have converged on the Mexican border to watch for illegal immigrants are disrupting U.S. Border Patrol operations by unwittingly tripping sensors that alert agents to possible intruders, agency officials complained Monday.
Scores of participants in the Minuteman Project began assembling late last week and clusters of volunteers began regular patrols Monday, in an exercise some law enforcement authorities and civil rights groups fear will result in vigilante violence. Many of the volunteers were recruited over the Internet, and some planned to be armed.
Over the past few days, they have set off sensors, forcing agents to respond to false alarms, said Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Jose Maheda.
"Now we not only have to look out for aliens and drug smugglers, now we have to look out for these untrained civilians who are unfamiliar with the landscape," Border Patrol spokesman Andy Adame said.
Adame said apprehension numbers have gone down since the volunteers arrived, an indication fewer people might be trying to cross. But he also noted the Mexican military and police have apparently been conducting an operation south of the border town of Naco, which tends to drive down crossings.
"No one's crossing and that was the goal, to show the government that if we have people out here no one's going to cross," said Chris Simcox, Minuteman field operations director.
The volunteers had a limited presence across 23 miles of the San Pedro Valley during the weekend. They spent Monday expanding their line southeast of Naco to watch the border and report any illegal activity to federal agents.
They gathered in groups of three or four spaced out about every quarter mile. Some sat in lawn chairs, others stood scanning the desert with binoculars.
The idea, according to project organizers, is partly to draw attention to problems on the Arizona-Mexico border, considered the most porous stretch of the 2,000-mile southern border. Of the 1.1 million illegal immigrants caught by the Border Patrol last year, 51 percent crossed into the country at the Arizona border.
Jim Coniglio of Tucson, who plans to patrol with other volunteers this week, said residents in some areas of the border have complained of being "overrun routinely" by migrants. "They're feeling insecure," he said.
The Border Patrol opposes the operation. "The possibility for something going drastically wrong is very high," Maheda said.
Minuteman Project volunteers Tammy Ahrens (L) and her husband Les keep watch along the US/Mexico border west of Douglass, Arizona April 3, 2005. Minuteman volunteers are manning observation posts around the clock this month along the border in the eastern part of Arizona, to bring attention to the number of illegal immigrants coming north from Mexico. Photo by Fred Greaves/Reuters
Minuteman Project volunteers Larry Morgan (L) and Paul Johnson look for potential illegal border crossers along the US/Mexico border road west of Douglas, Arizona April 4, 2005. Minuteman volunteers are manning observation posts around the clock for the month of April along the border in the eastern part of Arizona to bring attention to the number of illegal immigrants coming north from Mexico. (Fred Greaves/Reuters)
Minuteman Project volunteer Freddie Puckett scans the area with binoculars along the US/Mexico border road west of Douglas, Arizona April 4, 2005. Minuteman volunteers are manning observation posts around the clock for the month of April along the border in the eastern part of Arizona to bring attention to the number of illegal immigrants coming north from Mexico. They are calling on the federal government to increase the border presence to stem the flow of illegal immigrants. REUTERS/Fred Greaves
Minuteman Project volunteer Freddie Puckett, wearing his Minuteman badge on his hat, radios information to other members of the group along the US/Mexico border road west of Douglas, Arizona April 4, 2005. Minuteman volunteers are manning observation posts around the clock for the month of April along the border in the eastern part of Arizona to bring attention to the number of illegal immigrants coming north from Mexico. They are calling on the federal government to increase the border presence to stem the flow of illegal immigrants. REUTERS/Fred Greaves
US Border Patrol agents talk with a member of Grupo Beta across the US/Mexico border fence west of Douglas, Arizona April 4, 2005. Both Grupo Beta, a department of the Mexican government that aids immigrants headed north towards the border, and the US Border Patrol have increased their presence in the area due to the Project Minuteman volunteers, some of whom that are armed, that have taken up posts on the border. REUTERS/Fred Greaves
In this image released by the U.S. Border Patrol shows the legs of a five-year-old girl inside a party pinata that was discovered on Nov. 2, 2004 during a vehicle search at the San Ysidro, Calif., border station crossing along the U.S.-Mexican border. Smugglers and individual migrants have a long history of adapting their tactics to try to circumvent whatever barriers immigration officials put in their way. But they've shown more creativity in recent years as the government has launched repeated crackdowns along the frontier. (AP Photo/U.S. Border Patrol)
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - A videotape of James Earl Ray's autopsy is up for sale, the brother of Martin Luther King Jr.'s confessed killer said Monday.
Jerry Ray said he hopes to sell the two-hour video for up to $400,000, though no firm price has been set.
"A lot of people have an interest in things like that," Ray said.
Ray made the announcement on a sidewalk near the National Civil Rights Museum on the site of King's assassination on April 4, 1968.
Ray intended to hold a news conference just below the balcony where King was felled by a rifle slug. He left without argument when told to move on.
The museum was hosting visitors on the 37th anniversary of King's death.
"For him to come and besmirch the memory of one of the greatest leaders of the world, on today of all days, is unacceptable," said Gwen Harmon, the museum's marketing director. "Freedom of speech, I'm all for. He has that freedom, but he can do that press conference in the middle of (Interstate) 240 or on Main Street. But not here."
Ray said he planned to offer the videotape on eBay. The Internet trading site said, however, that it does not handle morgue pictures or videos.
Ray said he needs money to continue a legal fight over the .30-caliber hunting rifle identified as the firearm used to kill King. Tennessee courts say the rifle belongs to the state, and it is on display at the civil rights museum.
The Conspiracy Museum in Dallas has offered $100,000 for the rifle, and Ray said he has gotten offers of up to $250,000 in the past.
James Earl Ray died of liver disease in Nashville in 1998 while serving a 99-year prison sentence for King's murder.
By MIKE ROBINSON, Associated Press Writer
CHICAGO - An American foreign service officer was arrested in the nation's capital Monday on charges of plotting to sell visas at the American Embassy in Lithuania for more than $40,000 and a vintage motorcycle, federal prosecutors in Chicago said.
Matthew Christ, 41, of Alexandria, Va., was arrested on charges contained in a 19-count superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Chicago on March 24 and unsealed Monday, prosecutors said.
He was released on bond by a federal judge in Alexandria, Va., pending further court action in Chicago, prosecutors said. A public telephone listing for Christ could not be found in Alexandria. His attorney's name was not immediately learned.
According to the indictment, an unnamed coconspirator in Chicago wired money to the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius where one of the 10 defendants charged in the case, Darius Reika, 28, would buy the visas from Christ, who served as political officer, for $3,000 to $14,000.
Most of those charged in the case were recipients of the visas and already charged in an earlier version of the indictment that did not include Christ, according to prosecutors.
The sales took place between August 1999 and July 2001 while Christ was posted to the embassy, prosecutors said.
Christ is charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit visa fraud, defrauding the government of his honest services, eight counts of visa fraud and one count of bribery.
"Visa fraud is a serious crime that threatens American borders and the national security of the United States," said Joe D. Morton, assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Diplomatic Security in announcing the arrest.
The indictment seeks forfeiture of $42,500 from Christ and Reika and a vintage BMW motorcycle from Christ.
Good grief..That is disgusting and despicable.
Mon Apr 4, 4:32 PM ET
By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - People with criminal records and other disqualifying factors have access to explosives because the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is failing to do adequate background checks, posing a significant risk to public safety, the Justice Department's internal watchdog said Monday.
At least 655 people can continue to work for companies licensed to handle explosives even though they have criminal records or fall into one of six other prohibited categories, Justice Inspector General Glenn A. Fine said. ATF continues to classify their applications as pending; until the clearance process is complete, applicants can continue to handle explosives.
The agency did not even request an FBI background check on an estimated 3,420 of the 38,000 people who have sought government clearance to work with explosives, Fine said.
"This represents a significant risk to public safety," Fine said in a 132-page report on ATF's use of new powers to regulate the manufacture, purchase and use of explosives, part of homeland security legislation enacted in 2002.
Everyone who handles explosives will have to get a permit from ATF by next year.
ATF Director Carl Truscott, in response to the report, ascribed many of the problems Fine identified to the short six-month period to implement what Truscott called "the most significant changes to federal explosives laws in over 30 years."
More than 5.5 billion pounds of explosives are used each year by a range of industries, most of it in coal mining. Car makers need explosives for inflatable air bags, ski resorts use them to control avalanches and law enforcement employs exploding dye capsules to try to foil bank holdups.
Federal law has long banned felons and people under indictment, fugitives, drug addicts and people who have spent time in mental institutions from working with explosives. Following the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, Congress added to the list most non-U.S. citizens, veterans who were dishonorably discharged from the military and people who have renounced their U.S. citizenship.
ATF continues to evaluate the application of four people who have been arrested multiple times, including one person serving a 33-month prison sentence in Arizona for theft, Fine said.
Those applications have since been denied, Truscott said.
___
On the Net:
Justice Department inspector general: http://www.usdoj.gov
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives: http://www.atf.gov
Just sick, just really sick.
A Palestinian boy looks at a house destroyed by Israeli troops, because it was built without permission, in east Jerusalem April 4, 2005. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pledged on Monday to push ahead with expansion of a large Jewish settlement near Jerusalem, despite U.S. concerns and Palestinian protests that it would cut them off from the city. (Mahfouz Abu Turk/Reuters)
Gaza Settlers Agree to Meet With Sharon
Mon Apr 4, 2:13 PM ET Middle East - AP
By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writer
JERUSALEM - Ending months of angry opposition, several Jewish settler leaders agreed Monday to sit down with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to discuss Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
The meeting, set for Tuesday, was the latest sign that some settlers have come to terms with their failure to scuttle the plan and are preparing for life after the pullout this summer. Agreement by a majority of settlers to cut a deal would reduce the threat of confrontations.
Settlers are demanding higher compensation from the government for giving up their homes. And some leaders, who are urging followers to refrain from violence, say they want to move their tight-knit communities as a group to Israel.
Zevulun Orlev, a pro-settler lawmaker who helped organize Tuesday's meeting, said the participants would outline settlers' concerns for Sharon. "We want the meeting to be the start of a dialogue between the prime minister and the settlers," he said.
While Orlev said he still bitterly opposed the withdrawal, he reluctantly acknowledged its inevitability. "We have to understand that we have to prepare for the possibility of the day after," he said.
The meeting follows a bruising but failed struggle in parliament to defeat Sharon's plan for uprooting all 21 settlements in Gaza and four small settlements in the West Bank.
Sharon says removal of these communities, which are home to 9,000 people, will improve Israel's security and help consolidate control over larger West Bank settlements.
Sharon reportedly told a parliamentary committee Monday that Israel should press forward with plans to connect the largest Jewish settlement in the West Bank to Jerusalem despite strong U.S. and Palestinian objections.
"This program has been in existence for 10 years. We should definitely move ahead with it," Sharon was quoted as saying by a meeting participant.
Palestinian officials condemned Sharon's comments. The Palestinians say that project will prevent them from setting up a viable independent state with east Jerusalem as their capital.
Since announcing his Gaza plan last year, Sharon has repeatedly outflanked opponents, overcoming divisions within his own party to win parliamentary approval. Last week, he cleared the final obstacle by winning approval for his 2005 budget. A failure to pass the spending plan would have caused the government to collapse and forced elections for a new parliament.
Many settlers have now turned their attention to the future, particularly how much money they will receive.
"Today, that's the central issue," said Gershon Blomberg, an 11-year resident of Ganim, one of the West Bank settlements slated for evacuation.
Blomberg said he has been offered $135,000 for his modest home, located on a quarter-acre plot. He says that isn't enough to buy something similar inside Israel — even in the rural communities he has looked at near the northern city of Afula.
"We've come to terms with the withdrawal, but we want to leave with respect, like we deserve," said Blomberg, 60.
Yonatan Bassi, head of the government body in charge of paying compensation, acknowledged such concerns. "I think that for most of the settlers, the compensation is reasonable. There are certain groups for whom the compensation truly is very low," he told Channel Two television.
Bassi said he expected payments to begin within days. Under current guidelines, settler families are expected to receive about $200,000 to $300,000, depending on the size of their home and other factors.
One report said settler leaders would demand an additional $1 billion at Tuesday's meeting, on top of the $900 million allocated by the government for compensation.
The settler representatives are also expected to propose that the 7,000 residents of Gush Katif, the main group of Gaza settlements, be moved as a group to a coastal area near the Israeli town of Ashkelon, which is just north of Gaza.
Israeli officials said that Sharon supported the idea of moving people in groups and that the government would consider raising compensation, saying their biggest concern was avoiding violence by militants.
Over the weekend, police began tightening security around the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, and police searched cars Monday passing through the main entry into the area. An attack on the site, which is also revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, would cause widespread anger across the Muslim world.
An employee of city hall puts up the national flag with a black ribbon in tribute to the late Pop John Paul II at the Bastide-Clairence, southwestern France. Critics complained Monday about France's decision to lower flags to half-staff to mark the death of the pontiff, saying the signs of mourning for a religious leader conflicts with the French principle of secularism. (AP Photo)
Some in France Criticize Pope Observance
By CHRISTINE OLLIVIER, Associated Press Writer
PARIS - Secularists criticized the French government Monday for lowering flags to half-staff out of respect for Pope John Paul II, calling it an attack on the country's century-old separation of church and state.
Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin's office ordered that flags at public buildings be lowered for 24 hours following the pope's death Saturday "in keeping with republican custom."
But critics said France's republican custom is secular, pointing to the law enacted last year that bans Islamic head scarves and other conspicuous religious symbols from schools. (Coming to a city near you, if it has not already.)
"The French Republic should not descend to such a level," said Socialist Sen. Michel Charasse, a former finance minister. "If the Dalai Lama were to die tomorrow, would we lower the flags to half-staff?"
The Communist mayor of Aniane refused to lower flags in the picturesque village in southern France, the mayor's office said.
Cardinal Bernard Panafieu of Marseille disputed the critics' view.
Lowering flags "in no way damages secularism, which we ourselves strongly support," he said. "It's simply a sign that there are people in the world who transcend ideologies and borders because they are men of peace and reconciliation."
The debate was taken up on national television discussion programs.
"I'm troubled," Christophe Girard, a Green party member who is deputy mayor for culture at Paris City Hall and describes himself as a Roman Catholic, told France-2 television.
"On the front of our town halls, our schools, it is marked 'liberty, equality, fraternity.' It isn't written 'Catholic France' or 'the Catholic Republic of France,' like the Islamic Republic of Iran."
Government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope dismissed the objections, saying the debate "shouldn't even be taking place."
"John Paul II was an exceptional man, a man of peace," Cope said. Lowering flags was "a simple act of homage by the republic."
Some also questioned President Jacques Chirac and other top officials going to a memorial service for the pope Sunday in Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral. Chirac's office said late Monday that he and his wife, Bernadette, would attend the pope's funeral Friday in Vatican City.
France is a largely Roman Catholic country with western Europe's largest populations of Muslims and Jews. However, this year it is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 1905 law separating church and state that culminated a hard-fought battle with the clergy.
By The Associated Press
Dignitaries planning to attend Pope John Paul II's funeral:
ALBANIA: President Alfred Moisiu, Prime Minister Fatos Nano.
ARGENTINA: Vice President Daniel Scioli, Foreign Minister Rafael Bielsa.
AUSTRIA: President Heinz Fischer, Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, Parliament Speaker Andreas Khol.
BELGIUM: King Albert II, Queen Paola, Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt.
BRAZIL: President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
BRITAIN: Prince Charles, Prime Minister Tony Blair.
BULGARIA: President Georgi Parvanov.
CANADA: Prime Minister Paul Martin.
CHILE: Foreign Minister Ignacio Walker.
COLOMBIA: Vice President Francisco Santos.
COSTA RICA: President Abel Pacheco.
CUBA: National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon, head of religious affairs for Cuba's Communist Party Caridad Diego and Ambassador to the Vatican Raul Roa Kouri.
CZECH REPUBLIC: President Vaclav Klaus, Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: First lady Margarita Cedeno and Ambassador to the Vatican Carlos Rafael Marion-Landais.
EL SALVADOR: First lady Ana Ligia Mixco de Saca and Foreign Minister Francisco Lainez.
ESTONIA: President Arnold Ruutel.
FINLAND: Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen.
FRANCE: President Jacques Chirac and his wife, Bernadette.
GERMANY: Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, President Horst Koehler.
GUATEMALA: President Oscar Berger and his wife, Foreign Minister Jorge Briz and Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu.
HAITI: Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue.
HONDURAS: President Ricardo Maduro.
HUNGARY: President Ferenc Madl, Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany.
INDIA: Vice-president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. IRELAND: President Mary McAleese, Prime Minister Bertie Ahern.
ISRAEL: Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom.
LATVIA: President Vaira Vike-Freiberga.
LEBANON: President Emile Lahoud, Prime Minister Omar Karami.
LIECHTENSTEIN: Prince Hans-Adam II, Princess Marie, Prince Nicholas.
LITHUANIA: President Valdas Adamkus.
LUXEMBOURG: Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker.
MEXICO: President Vicente Fox.
NICARAGUA: President Enrique Bolanos, Foreign Minister Norman Caldera, Ambassador to the Vatican Armando Luna.
PANAMA: First lady Vivian Fernandez de Torrijos.
PARAGUAY: Foreign Minister Leila Rachid.
POLAND: President Aleksander Kwasniewski and his wife, Prime Minister Marek Belka, former President Lech Walesa.
PORTUGAL: European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, President Jorge Sampaio.
ROMANIA: Romanian President Traian Basescu, Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu.
RUSSIA: Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov; Metropolitan Kirill, foreign minister for the Russian Orthodox Church.
SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO: Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova.
SLOVAKIA: President Ivan Gasparovic, Parliament Chairman Pavol Hrusovsky.
SPAIN: Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia.
SWITZERLAND: President Samuel Schmid.
SYRIA: President Bashar Assad. UNITED NATIONS: Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
UNITED STATES: President George Bush and his wife, Laura.
URUGUAY: First lady Maria Auxiliadora Delgado de Vazquez.
VENEZUELA: Foreign Relations Minister Ali Rodriguez, Planning Minister Jorge Giordanni.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.