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Thread 4: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1096779/posts |
Posted on 02/24/2004 3:19:05 AM PST by Revel
Edited on 05/26/2004 5:19:43 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
And yes Martha took the day. I heard Judge Napolitano (sp?) say that one of the jurors that was interviewed after Martha was convicted had given Martha and her defense team a good reason for appeal in stating that they (some of the members of the jury) thought that Martha was making a mockery of the jury by not testifying. According to Napolitano it was in the jury instructions that they could not consider in any way if Martha did not take the stand.
When that juror appeared before the media cameras directly after court was adjourned I got negative vibes about his boastful in what seemed to be a 5 minute question and answer interview.
Kind of makes you want to plan that trip to Vegas right now doesn't it? It could be any hotel in Vegas - not a comforting thought! If this is only a cleanliness issue, then the hotel name should be given, otherwise it could affect tourism in a negative way. Better that the offending hotel takes its own hit than involve all the hotels who keep a clean house.
This case represents a scary precedent because the jurors have the opportunity to be "celebrities" for 15 minutes after the upcoming trials.
Yes! What you said!
By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Shiite leaders refused to sign an interim constitution after Iraq's top Shiite cleric rejected portions of the charter, in a last-minute dispute that wrecked a planned signing ceremony Friday and marred a landmark in the U.S. plans to hand over sovereignty to the Iraqis.
A spokesman for one of the Shiite parties said no signing would take place before Monday, giving time for members to consult with Shiite Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani — who has already forced two major revisions in U.S. plans to transfer power to the Iraqis.
The maneuver by five Shiite members of the Iraqi Governing Council — including the current council president and the Pentagon-backed Ahmad Chalabi — broke the unity that the body showed earlier this week when it overcame deep differences to unanimously agree on a draft of the charter.
It also highlighted the power that al-Sistani wields over the political process because of his considerable influence over Iraq's Shiite majority.
A statement distributed early Saturday by the Governing Council said the members would reconvene Monday "to finalize" outstanding issues "and sign" the interim charter. However, it was unclear whether the final hurdles could be overcome according to the statement's timetable.
Along with top U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer, council members negotiated in private in an attempt to resolve the Shiite objections. But seven hours after the ceremony had been set to take place, a coalition spokesman said no deal was reached Friday and gave no date for the signing to take place.
The council's squabbles squandered an enormous public relations and security effort for the ceremony, a stinging embarrassment for the U.S.-led occupation authority and its hand-picked Governing Council. Earlier, Bremer had appeared on morning television shows in the United States, touting the constitution on CNN's "American Morning" as "an extraordinary document, which is really unprecedented in Iraq's history."
U.S. and Iraqi officials had planned an elaborate ceremony for the signing, full of symbols of Iraqi unity, that was left a shambles. A map of the country was emblazoned with the slogan "We all participate in the new Iraq." Twenty-five fountain pens, one for each member, were lined up on an antique desk belonging to King Feisal I, Iraq's first monarch.
Children wearing traditional costumes representing Iraq's main ethnic groups were brought in for the occasion. With the audience waiting for the signing to take place, the children went ahead on stage and sang a repertoire of patriotic songs.
At the same time, helicopters swarmed the skies around the convention center, scouting for would-be attackers.
The attacks never materialized, but the meeting was sabotaged anyway.
The Shiite objections focused on two clauses in the document: one that effectively gives the Kurds a veto over a permanent constitution due to be put to a referendum next year and another on the shape of the presidency in a future government, said Hamed al-Bayati, a senior official in one of the Shiite parties that balked at signing.
But by the end of the evening, the dispute seemed to have become broader. Entifadh Qanbar, a spokesman for the Iraqi National Congress, one of the parties that balked at signing, said members had to deal with the issue of how "an unelected body can bind an elected body in the future." He did not elaborate.
Qanbar said the parties would have to consult with their leadership — and likely with al-Sistani as well. The council would meet again Monday, he said, adding that he hoped a signing would take place then.
Mahmoud Othman, an independent Kurd on the council, denounced the Shiites for "putting obstacles in front of the declaration."
The interim constitution, which will remain in effect until a permanent charter is drafted next year, is a crucial part of the U.S. plan for handing over power to the Iraqis on June 30. The Bush administration is eager to carry out the transfer well before the U.S. presidential elections in November.
The planned Friday signing was already six days past the date it was supposed to occur under the U.S. timetable. The Governing Council was unable to overcome sharp divisions by the Feb. 28 deadline, and finally agreed on a draft Monday only Bremer pushed them into marathon negotiations.
Then on Tuesday, suicide bombers struck Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad and the city of Karbala, killing at least 181. The signing was put off for a three-day mourning period.
Al-Sistani appeared to be at the source of the last-minute Shiite complaints.
During negotiations last weekend to hammer out the charter, some council members complained that talks were complicated because Shiite members would agree on a point, then reverse themselves and revive the issue later after consulting with al-Sistani.
A source on the council said al-Sistani objected to the clause in the agreed-upon charter that the Kurds had insisted on writing in to ensure that a permanent constitution, to be approved in a 2005 referendum, does not encroach on their self-rule region in the north.
The clause says that even if a majority of Iraqis support the permanent constitution, the referendum would fail if two-thirds of the voters in three provinces reject it. The Kurds control three provinces in the north.
"The marja'iya (al-Sistani's office) will not accept" the clause, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Some of these provinces have only 400,000 or 500,000 people. We cannot have that number of people rejecting a constitution for 25 million people," said al-Bayati, of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.
Renegotiating the clause, however, could threaten Kurdish support for the charter.
"The constitution was agreed upon after serious negotiations, so no power can hamper it. Any attempt to break up this agreement will be damaging for Iraq's unity," said Sard Qadir, a senior official in the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which holds a seat on the Governing Council.
The council members that refused to sign were Pentagon ally Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress, Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim of the Supreme Council, Ibrahim al-Jaafari of the Dawa party, independent Shiite Mouwafak al-Rubaie and the current council president Shiite cleric Muhammad Bahr al-Ulloum, al-Bayati said.
Another cause of dispute was the makeup of the presidency, al-Bayati said. The draft approved Monday set up a single president with two deputies. Al-Bayati said the Shiites were reviving their demand for a five-person rotating presidency.
Under that proposal, which was raised in the debate over the final accord, the presidency would rotate between three Shiites, a Kurd and a Sunni — giving the Shiites a dominant role.
Council spokesman Hamid al-Kafaie, however, denied that the presidency's shape was at issue.
By Adam Entous
CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - The Bush administration plans to impose sanctions on Syria within weeks for its support of terrorist groups and for failing to stop guerrillas entering Iraq, congressional officials and other sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.
Though the White House insists no final decisions have been made, senior administration officials on Friday informed Florida Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a senior member of the House International Relations Committee, that an announcement was "imminent," said her spokesman, Alex Cruz.
Several sources said the administration was leaning toward imposing economic rather than diplomatic sanctions under legislation signed into law by Bush in December.
Washington accuses Syria of sponsoring terrorism, occupying Lebanon and failing to secure its border with Iraq while allowing anti-American fighters to cross into the country.
"Damascus' destabilizing behavior in the Middle East has only gotten worse," U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat, said in urging Bush to act.
The administration's move against Syria would stand in stark contrast to President Bush's decision to ease sanctions on Libya as a reward for scrapping its nuclear arms programs. Bush has seized on Libya's pledge to abandon weapons programs as an example for other countries, including Syria.
The Syria Accountability Act bars trade in items that could be used in weapons programs until the administration certifies Syria is not supporting terrorist groups, has withdrawn personnel from Lebanon, is not developing unconventional weapons and has secured its border with Iraq.
The law also authorizes Bush to impose at least two other sanctions from a menu that includes barring U.S. businesses from investing in Syria, restricting travel in the United States by Syrian diplomats, and banning exports of U.S. products other than food and medicine to Syria.
The legislation allows the White House to waive the sanctions, but a senior administration official said: "We will implement the Syrian Accountability Act."
The official declined to say which sanctions would be put in place and when.
Several sources said the announcement was likely to be made next week or the week after.
The White House informed Ros-Lehtinen that the announcement was imminent in response to her letter urging Bush to expedite implementation of the sanctions. The congresswoman heads a House of Representatives subcommittee on the Middle East.
"They're ready to go," another source said of the sanctions, calling it "a serious signal to the Syrians that it needs to throw out terrorist groups."
Syria says its support for the Palestinian and Lebanese groups it calls freedom fighters is merely political and their only activity in Syria is speaking to media.
Allegations from Washington during the Iraq war that Damascus was helping aides of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein flee raised concern in the Arab world that Syria could be the next target of what the U.S. calls its "war on terror."
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld complained last month that Syria was not doing enough to stop guerrillas entering Iraq.
But with trade between the two countries a modest $300 million or less annually, the sanctions would have more political than economic effects.
Sources said they expected the administration to impose the sanctions gradually. These could include blocking transactions in which the government of Syria has any interest and reducing U.S. diplomatic contacts with Syria. (Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed)
By TODD PITMAN, Associated Press Writer
STUTTGART, Germany - Squeezed out of sanctuaries elsewhere in the world, al-Qaida may be looking to the deserts and jungles of Africa as a haven where terrorists could train recruits and plan new attacks, the deputy head of U.S. forces in Europe said Friday.
Key among U.S. military proposals to fight back is deploying American units of about 200 soldiers to train armies throughout the continent, patrol alongside them, or hunt terrorists on short notice if necessary.
"Some people compare it to draining a swamp," Air Force Gen. Charles Wald told The Associated Press, eyeing a map of Africa in his office in Stuttgart. "We need to drain the swamp."
Wald said some terrorists had been sent to Iraq from North Africa, and there were indications that al-Qaida has established a presence and tried to recruit in North Africa over the past two years.
Mauritania and Nigeria are among West African nations alleged by some Western think tanks to have al-Qaida cells and top al-Qaida figures came from Mauritania. The country's government has cracked down on Muslim extremism and tried to stop recruiting of fighters for Saddam Hussein's cause in Iraq.
"They're there for a purpose, whether it's looking for real-estate, or recruiting or looking for arms, whatever it is, we know there's a presence," Wald said. "It may be small but it's a bad indicator."
Africa is an ideal location, with its remote deserts and jungles and centuries-old Arab-African Saharan trade route. Governments are weak and poorly paid authorities are easily bribed. Communications are slow and in some places don't exist.
African armies, relatively small and poorly equipped, have difficulty monitoring the vast territories they are supposed to control, Wald said.
"It's an area we think is becoming appealing potentially for terrorist organizations or individuals to operate with semi-impunity," Wald said. "It has a lot of expanses of open area that are conducive to terrorist operations or sanctuary."
The European Command covers 93 countries from Russia to Syria, and all of Africa except the northeast. It is awaiting a decision from Washington on its proposals for a major reconfiguration of forces for the war on terror.
Critics say the European Command, traditionally focused on Europe, is not well-equipped to pay closer attention to Africa. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative U.S. think tank, is pushing for the U.S.-based Central Command to take over responsibility for the entire continent.
Central Command already oversees operations in the northeast Horn of Africa, where al-Qaida is believed to be most active. Al-Qaida was blamed for deadly attacks in East Africa — the bombing of U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and a Kenyan hotel in 2002.
The European Command's new plans pay more attention to Africa and its oil supplies. The Gulf of Guinea is seen as a possible alternative to the oil reserves in the volatile Middle East. The region already supplies the United States with 15 percent of its oil, a figure expected to rise to 25 percent by 2015.
The chief homegrown concern is the Algerian-based Salafist Group for Call and Combat, which was accused of kidnapping 32 European tourists in the Sahara last year.
Wald said the group had issued a manifesto claiming allegiance to al-Qaida. He and others have blamed the group for robberies in Niger and Mali, although some dismiss the culprits as simple bandits.
The United States is already working to boost security in Niger and Mali.
About 100 U.S. special operations forces are training armies in Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Chad as part of a U.S. State Department-funded program called the Pan-Sahel Initiative, which aims to help those nations guard porous borders against terrorists, arms and other trafficking.
The Sahel is a vast region straddling the southern edge of the Sahara desert.
The European Command has proposed expanding the Pan-Sahel Initiative to include Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, where terror threats are believed to be growing.
Beyond that, the European Command wants to establish a half-dozen low-maintenance bases at airports or remote camps in Africa. About 200 troops would be deployed to each base at a time.
"They'd be places that we could go into for a small period of time, either train locally with those governments or actually use those to maybe execute an operation from," Wald said.
The European Command now has about 120,000 troops. Wald said that number would likely drop after forces are moved around to account for changes in the world since the Cold War.
Agreements with various African governments to use other airports as fuel stops would help U.S. troops move across the continent as needed.
"The areas (in Africa) are large, you have to be able to respond fast as intelligence becomes actionable," Wald said. "You have to be fast and get ahead of it, and that forces us to think of more mobile, smaller, lighter, nimble forces."
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