Daily Times : Parliamentary sec was in LT

Parliamentary sec was in LT

November 15, 2006

ISLAMABAD: Major (r) Tanvir Hussain Syed, parliamentary defence secretary, disclosed on Tuesday that he was once a member of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LT). “I was a member of the LT and I admit it on the floor of this house,” he told the National Assembly while taking part in a debate on Bajaur and Dargai. The secretary did not explain what role he played in the banned outfit and when he joined it. The retired major claimed that Indian consulates in Afghanistan played a part in the Dargai suicide attack. “The government wanted to resolve all disputes through dialogue, but if someone opens fire on the army, our jawans will reply,” he said. irfan ghauri

NDTV : Pak MP admits being an LeT member

Pak MP admits being an LeT member

Islamabad | November 15, 2006

A former Pakistan military official who is now the Parliamentary Secretary of Defence said he was an activist of the banned militant outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba.

He startled the National Assembly by disclosing this information.

"I want to inform the house that I have been a member of this (LeT) organisation," retired Major Tanvir Hussain Syed, a member of the ruling pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League-Q said in the Assembly.

Hussain was taking part in the Assembly debate on the Pakistan Army attack on a madrassa in Bajaur tribal area killing 80 persons and the subsequent suicide bomb attack on Pakistani troops in Dargai in which 42 soldiers were killed.

"The government wanted to resolve all disputes through dialogue, but if someone opens fire on the army, our jawans will reply," he was quoted as saying by Daily Times.

Still a member

Hussain, however, did not explain what role he played in LeT whose leader, Hafeez Sayeed has started yet another outfit called Jamat-ud-Dawa.

LeT was also kept under the watch list by Pakistan government.

Another newspaper, The Post, quoted him as saying that he was still a member of LeT even though it was banned.

"I am still a member of the LeT. I go to its congregations and deliver speeches," he said.

He said he has no hesitation in "swimming against the tide" even though the government in which he is a part was trying to wash away the pro-jihad past from the memories of its people.

He added that he extends support to jihadi activists when they approach him, though he did not clarify the nature of support.

(PTI)

Hindustan Times : I was an LeT member: Former military official

I was an LeT member: Former military official

Press Trust of India | Islamabad | November 15, 2006

A former Pakistan military official who is now the Parliamentary Secretary of Defence startled the National Assembly on Wednesday by disclosing that he was an activist of the banned militant outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba.

"I want to inform the house that I have been a member of this (LeT) organisation," retired Major Tanvir Hussain Syed who later joined ruling pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League-Q said in the Assembly on Tuesday.

Hussain was taking part in the Assembly debate on the Pakistan army attack on a madrasa in Bajaur tribal area killing 80 persons and the subsequent suicide bomb attack on Pakistani troops in Dargai in which 42 soldiers were killed.

"The government wanted to resolve all disputes through dialogue, but if someone opens fire on the army, our jawans will reply," he was quoted as saying by Daily Times.

Hussain, however, did not explain what role he played in LeT whose leader, Hafeez Sayeed has started yet another outfit called Jamat-ud-Dawa, which was also kept under the watch list by Pakistan government.

Another newspaper, The Post, quoted him as saying that he was still a member of LeT even though it was banned. "I am still a member of the LeT. I go to its congregations and deliver speeches," he said.

He said he has no hesitation in "swimming against the tide" even though the government in which he is a part was trying to wash away the pro-jihad past from the memories of its people.

He added that he extends support to jihadi activists when they approach him, though he did not clarify the nature of support.

DNA India : A history of violence

A history of violence

[excerpt from "Pak amends anti-woman laws"]

November 15, 2006

LAHORE: The parliamentary secretary for defence in the Pakistani federal cabinet, Major Tanvir Hussain (Retd), made history of sorts by proudly confessing on the floor of the house his active links with the defunct jehadi organisation, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).

In an apparent rebuttal of the Pakistan government’s claim that Hafiz-Saeed led jehadi group Lashkar-e-Toiba has already shifted its headquarters to Indian administered Kashmir, the Major disclosed: “I want to inform the house that I have been a member of the Lashkar-e-Toiba”, he declared in the flow of his spirited speech, adding that it is a jehadi group and not a terrorist organisation.

Besides reaffirming his links with the LeT, which was proscribed as a terrorist organization by General Musharraf in January 2002, he felt no hesitation in revealing that he often addressed the congregations of the LeT to deliver speeches doing advocacy for jehad.

This Is London : Police investigation into 'liquid bomb plot' cost £20million

Police investigation into 'liquid bomb plot' cost £20million

November 15, 2006

The police investigation into the alleged 'liquid bomb plot' to blow up transatlantic airliners has cost Scotland Yard at least £20 million, it emerged.

'Operation Overt' was launched when police swooped on a gang accused of plotting to launch a series of terrorist 'spectaculars' on flights between Britain and the USA.

The bill for the first two weeks of the probe was at least £7 million.

Yard Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson revealed that the current total was £20 million but admitted that this was likely to rise even higher.

This is because of the costs associated with planning the subsequent court case which is not expected take place for some time.

At least £8.5 million has been paid out in overtime since the raids were launched in August this year in Walthamstow, East London and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

Police received information that a gang was planning to mix together chemicals to produce bombs to take on board aircraft.

The raids prompted a huge security clampdown at Britain's airports.

Passengers faced lengthy queues and were barred from taking on board any liquids. This ban has only just been relaxed.

In all, 25 people were arrested over the plot - 11 of who have been charged with conspiracy to murder.

A further four face trial on other matters while ten have been released.

But the enormous cost of the Yard investigation has plunged the force into financial problems.

It must now ask the Home Office for extra funding to cover the costs of terrorist investigations which can cost up to £1 million a week.

Mr Stephenson said that police had little choice but to commit huge resources to the first few weeks of any terrorist investigation.

He said there was a period of 'intensive' investigation to protect the public and recover as much evidence as possible.

Len Duvall, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority, said the force was under 'unprecedented pressure' in what he described as a 'new normality'.

The Yard is currently in negotiations over its new budget and currently has a budget 'gap' of at least £20 million. Its new budget is likely to rise to £3 billion. Terrorist investigations are notoriously expensive because of the huge amounts of manpower allocated to them and time consuming searches for evidence such as examining computer hard drives and checking mobile phone records.

The Mail revealed that the search for a chemical device in Forest Gate, East London, in June this year cost £2.2 million. The 'bomb' was never found.

Pak Tribune : No arrests made so far apropos Dargai Blasts: Sherpao

No arrests made so far apropos Dargai Blasts: Sherpao

November 14, 2006

RAWALPINDI: Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, Minister for Interior said that no arrests have been made so far in connection with the last week Dargai catastrophe that left 42 military personnel dead adding that Pakistan Army, FIA, FC and Frontier police joint team is interrogating the incident.

Talking to journalists on Monday after inaugurating KFC outlet here at the International Food Point, Satellite Town the Interior Minister said that extradition treaty between Pakistan and England has been reached. He said all banned outfits including Tehrik Nifaaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (SAW) will be strictly bulldozed if they`ll try to rise up again.

Terming the Dargai catastrophe a highly tragic incident, he said as soon as those behind the incidents are arrested and the causes known the public will be informed.

He observed that in apropos the Dargai incident so far no specific arrest have been made nor there is anyone alleged in the incident under arrest. He said that the incident is being investigated with purely professional virtuosity from all angles. He said calling involvement of any religious party or group will be too early. With the completion of the investigations everything will open up in front of all others.

He said though the suicide bomber of Dargai blasts has not been identified but all the evidences from the site have been collected.

In response to a query, he said the government is not creating any tension in the province nor is fanning it. He maintained that no gentleness will be shown to the terrorist elements.

To a question regarding banned Tehreek Nifaaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (SAW) he said it was an organized organization that was banned for terrorist and negative activities.

He said that in case any of its members or the organization tries to rise up again strict action will be taken under the anti-terrorism act.

The Federal Minister told that there were only 5 Pakistanis left at Guantanamo Bay prison, the return of the rest have been completed.

Regarding the Pak-Britain extradition treaty, he told that matters have been settled formally and the matter has been forwarded to the Prime Minister that will soon be presented in the cabinet.

He said the treaty is not for any specific person including Rashid Rauf rather it`s a broad agreement between two countries.

He dismissed speculations of PML jointly contesting elections with PPP patriot saying no such proposal is under consideration of merging the two parties.

Earlier, while addressing the inauguration ceremony, he said that it is a matter of honor for us that Pakistan is the only country where there are specially designed outlets of KFC for deaf and dumb.

He mentioned that at present more than hundred deaf and dumb persons are employed at various KFC outlets in the country.

End.

This Is Hertfordshire : Ministry of Sound bomb supsect was brother's 'gopher'

Ministry of Sound bomb supsect was brother's 'gopher'

By Ruth Holmes | November 8, 2006

THE youngest suspect in an alleged bomb plot targeting a London nightclub and shopping centre was dragged into it unwhittingly by his brother, his barrister claimed.

Shujah Mahmood, 19, was "used as a gopher" by his older brother Omar Khyam, Baroness Helena Kennedy QC told the Old Bailey.

She said the younger of the pair was ignorant of the alleged UK-wide fertiliser bomb plot which had the Ministry of Sound in London and the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent in its sights.
continued...

Baroness Kennedy, defending, told the court Mr Mahmood had learning problems and was considered backward at school.

She said: "He was a low achiever, not a learner - someone who lived in the shadow of his older brother."

The lawyer said the pair's mother had charged the older brother with looking after his younger sibling, who was 16 at the time of the alleged plot.

The brothers, from Crawley, West Sussex, deny accusations that they conspired with five others to set off the explosions.

But the prosecution claims the men were part of a cell which had links to al-Qaeda.

The seven defendants were arrested after more than half a ton of fertiliser was found at a storage depot in Hanwell, west London in March, 2004.

A tin containing aluminium powder, also used for making explosives, was found near a shed at the brothers' family home.

Mr Mahmood's fingerprints showed up on a plastic bag found in the tin but he told the jury one of the bags had contained a pair of trainers he had bought.

He said: "There is a cupboard in mum's kitchen where she puts bags. It must have come from that."

The brothers face charges of conspiring to cause explosions likely to endanger life between January 1, 2003 and March 31, 2004. Others charged are Waheed Mahmood, 34, and Jawad Akbar, 23, of Crawley; Salahuddin Amin, 31, from Luton, Bedfordshire; Anthony Garcia, 24, of Barkingside, east London; and Nabeel Hussain, 21, of Horley, Surrey.

Mr Khyam, Mr Garcia and Mr Hussain are also charged under the Terrorism Act of possessing 600kg of ammonium nitrate fertiliser for terrorist activity. They have denied the allegations.

BBC : Bomb plot accused 'used as gofer'

Bomb plot accused 'used as gofer'

BBC News | November 8, 2006

The youngest defendant in an alleged fertiliser bomb plot was "used as a gofer" by his older brother, his barrister has told the Old Bailey.

Baroness Helena Kennedy QC said Shujah Mahmood, 19, was "completely overshadowed" by Omar Khyam, 24.

She said he knew nothing of the alleged UK-wide bombing campaign plot he was accused of taking part in.

The brothers, from Crawley, West Sussex, deny conspiring to cause explosions along with five others.

The seven defendants were arrested after more than half a ton of fertiliser was found at a storage depot in Hanwell, west London in March, 2004.

The prosecution alleges the men were part of a cell linked to al-Qaeda which was targeting utilities, the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent, and the Ministry of Sound nightclub in London.

'Low achiever'

Baroness Kennedy told the court her client was "someone with learning problems, someone considered backward at school".

"He was a low achiever, not a learner - someone who lived in the shadow of his older brother," she said.

Mr Khyam had been asked to take his brother under his wing by their mother because she was worried he was falling under bad influences, she said.

She told the court her client, who was only 16 when he was alleged to have taken part in the plot, was "useful" to Mr Khyam but was "never part of the inner circle".

"Shujah was taken for granted but never taken on board," she said.

A tin containing aluminium powder, another component for explosives, was found near a shed at the brothers' family home in Crawley.

Fingerprints

Mr Mahmood's fingerprints were found on a plastic bag in the tin.

Mr Mahmood told the jury one of the bags had contained a pair of trainer shoes he had bought.

He said: "There is a cupboard in mum's kitchen where she puts bags. It must have come from that."

The brothers deny conspiring to cause explosions likely to endanger life between January 1, 2003 and March 31, 2004, along with Waheed Mahmood, 34, and Jawad Akbar, 23, of Crawley; Salahuddin Amin, 31, from Luton, Bedfordshire; Anthony Garcia, 24, of Barkingside, east London; and Nabeel Hussain, 21, of Horley, Surrey.

Mr Khyam, Mr Garcia and Mr Hussain deny a further charge under the Terrorism Act of possessing 1,300lb (600kg) of ammonium nitrate fertiliser for terrorism.

The brothers also deny possessing aluminium powder for terrorism.

Pak Tribune : Drug money being used in promoting terrorism in Afghanistan: Kasuri

Drug money being used in promoting terrorism in Afghanistan: Kasuri

November 8, 2006

ISLAMABAD: Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs said the drug money in Afghanistan is being used for crimes and terrorism.

He said this while speaking to UN Secretary General's Special Representative Thomas Koenigs on Tuesday at Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Foreign Minister informed the UN secretary General representative that he would be soon be visiting Afghanistan during early December 2006.

Mr Keonigs briefed Khurshid Kasuri on the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan's role and functions.

NYT : Candidates Make Dash for Finish Line

Candidates Make Dash for Finish Line

By JOHN M. BRODER and JIM RUTENBERG | November 7, 2006

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 — Exhausted candidates across the country delivered their final appeals on Monday, closing a campaign that will determine the balance of power in Washington for the next two years and render a judgment about President Bush and the war in Iraq.

Candidates, party committees and interest groups flooded voters with a flurry of late advertising and heavy spending on turn-out-the-vote operations on the last day of the most expensive, and one of the nastiest, midterm elections in American history.

Most independent analysts predicted a strong Democratic wave on Tuesday, but Republicans found a glimmer of hope in a handful of weekend polls that showed the percentage of voters saying they planned to vote for Democrats dipping slightly. And Democratic officials acknowledged that Senate seats they thought they had wrapped up — in Maryland, Montana, New Jersey and Rhode Island — were no longer sure things.

After months of attacks on the stump and on the airwaves about sex and race, scandal and war, candidates and parties turned most of their attention to closing the sale and driving their voters to the polls on Tuesday.

In Georgia, Representative Jim Marshall, one of fewer than a half dozen threatened Democratic incumbents, spent the day making phone calls to answer questions from undecided voters.

The candidates in a tight race for a seat along Florida’s east coast, Representative E. Clay Shaw Jr., the Republican, and Ron Klein, his Democratic challenger, spent the day trolling for votes in complexes for the elderly, talking about prescription drug benefits under the new Medicare program.

In the contest for an open House seat in Colorado’s Seventh District, around Denver, Republicans contacted more than 50,000 households over the weekend by telephone and door-to-door canvassing.

Some 4,500 members of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known as Acorn, donned bright red T-shirts were out campaigning in favor of ballot proposals to raise the minimum wage in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri and Ohio.

In Arizona, the actor Michael J. Fox appeared with two Democratic candidates to advocate lifting restrictions on stem cell research, an issue that has come to play a prominent role in several races around the country.

In Texas, Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, the Republican write-in candidate for the seat vacated by Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader, closed a hectic day Monday night with a party in the affluent Clear Lake area of Houston. She scoffed at predictions made by some news outlets about her candidacy.

“They may have jumped the gun when they said two months ago that there was no way that Congressional District 22 would stay Republican,” Ms. Sekula-Gibbs told the crowd, “but guess what, it’s going to stay Republican.”

Mr. Bush spent the day on the fringes of contests for the House and Senate, seeking to rally Republican voters in Arkansas, Florida and Texas. But Karl Rove, his senior adviser, expressed open irritation at the last-minute decision by Charlie Crist, the Republican candidate for governor in Florida, not to appear with the president at a large and spirited rally in Pensacola, a development that underscored the reluctance of his own party’s candidates to be too closely linked to Mr. Bush.

Mr. Bush, with his shirtsleeves rolled up and his wife, Laura, and brother Jeb at his side, told the crowd that Republicans were more devoted to the nation’s security than were Democrats. He received some of his most sustained applause — mixed with chants of “U.S.A., U.S.A.!” — when he reminded the crowd, “Saddam Hussein was convicted and sentenced to death.”

Ending his day of campaigning in Dallas, he told thousands at the Reunion Arena, “We’re closing strong because we’re right on the issues,” and exhorted volunteers to work the telephones and get voters to the polls.

In addition to contests for Congress, 36 governor’s chairs and thousands of state legislative seats are to be decided. Polls indicate that Democrats could pick up as many as 10 governor’s offices now held by Republicans without losing a single one now in Democratic hands.

Voters in 37 states will consider dozens of ballot initiatives on embryonic stem cell research, the minimum wage, same-sex marriage, abortion, the environment and other issues.

Democratic Party officials have sought from the beginning of the campaign to frame the election as primarily about Mr. Bush, and particularly about his conduct of the war in Iraq.

“We’ve always wanted this to be a national referendum,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, “and it’s helping us from one end of the country to the other.”

Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said that most races would be decided on local issues and that party volunteers were knocking on an average of three million doors a day nationwide, part of the Republicans’ so-called 72-hour strategy for turning out their voters.

Mr. Mehlman, however, introduced a cautionary note in contrast with confident predictions by Mr. Bush, Mr. Rove and Vice President Dick Cheney that Republicans would retain majorities in the House and Senate.

Asked about his party’s prospects in the House, Mr. Mehlman said that although he saw signs of new hope that Republicans could retain control, “I believe it’s going to be very close; I think it remains an uphill climb.”

He sounded more confident about the Senate.

Independent analysts predict Democratic gains of 20 and 40 seats in the House, giving the party control for the first time since 1994. An analysis accompanying a Gallup Poll released over the weekend said that based on calculations from Congressional elections from 1946 to 2002, the Democrats were poised to gain 11 to 58 seats, with a gain of 35 the most likely outcome.

More than 100 optimistic but anxious House Democrats took part in a party conference call Monday afternoon, getting an update on races and some guidance from Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, on how to proceed should Democrats prevail. According to participants, Ms. Pelosi told her colleagues that the first 48 hours after the election would be important in defining the party’s image if they gained a majority and that Democrats should be united, show respect for diverse views and a willingness to work with Republicans and President Bush

A half-dozen Senate seats remained competitive, with both parties warily watching races in Rhode Island, Maryland, Missouri, Montana and Virginia.

All the last-minute spending and the spin, the door-knocking and the robocalling will have no effect on the estimated 25 percent of the electorate that has already cast votes, either by absentee ballot or at early voting stations.

California’s secretary of state, Bruce McPherson, said that local elections officials issued 5.1 million absentee ballots and that he expected that 44 percent of all votes cast in the state would be cast by mail. Ohio elections officials won a court ruling that they could immediately begin counting tens of thousands of absentee ballots that were piling up in county clerks’ offices.

Over all, about 42 percent of eligible voters are expected to cast ballots, which would be the highest percentage in any midterm election since 1982, said Curtis Gans, director of the Center for the Study of the American Electorate at American University and an expert on voter behavior. Mr. Gans said he based his estimate on the intensity of voter interest and the number of absentee ballots issued.

“Even the ugly campaign has not dampened their desire to come out,” he said.

The barrage of negative advertising continued, but some candidates adopted an almost elegiac tone to their final arguments.

Representative James T. Walsh, a nine-term Republican from Syracuse who is facing a tough challenge, began running a television advertisement last weekend in which he wore a casual sweater and spoke directly to the camera.

“I think you know me,” Mr. Walsh says in the commercial. “I think you trust me. I want you to know I share your frustration with the war. These are difficult times for America. We’ve got to stop the finger-pointing and the partisanship and address all our nation’s challenges, both at home and abroad, together.”

Bob Casey, the Pennsylvania Democrat who appears likely to unseat Senator Rick Santorum, a Republican, sits on the stoop of his home in Scranton, Pa., in his final advertisement and talks about binding up the wounds of the bitter campaign.

“After all the noise of this campaign year,” Mr. Casey says in the spot, “I wanted to talk with you about what lies ahead. The only way we’re going to work through problems like losing jobs to other countries, protecting Americans from terrorism or the war in Iraq is for Democrats and Republicans to start working together again.”

Reporting for this article was contributed by Adam Nossiter, Carl Hulse, Jeff Zeleny, Abby Goodnough and Randal C. Archibold.

WP : Angry Campaigns End on an Angrier Note

Angry Campaigns End on an Angrier Note

Iraq War Remains Paramount Issue as Voters Go to Polls

By Jim VandeHei and Dan Balz | Washington Post Staff Writers | November 7, 2006

As the 2006 campaign staggered to an angry close, national security and the Iraq war dominated the final-day debate of midterm elections in which national themes, not simply local choices, have framed the most competitive races. Democrats said that a vote for them would force change in Iraq strategy, while President Bush led the GOP charge in warning that the opposition party cannot be trusted in a time of war.

Dozens of too-close-to-call House and Senate races finished on a surly tone, as the traditional political strategy of shifting to a positive message at the end gave way this year to a calculation that the best chance to tip the balance was through continued attacks over personal character and alleged corruption.

But strategists on both sides said yesterday that national security broadly -- and Iraq specifically -- are likely to determine control of Congress today. Unlike the 2002 and 2004 elections, when Republicans held a decisive edge on national security, polls over the past year have shown the public losing faith in the war and the GOP, and Democratic candidates nationwide were using their last TV advertising dollars on spots critical of Iraq policy.

"I think, frankly, people don't believe the president anymore" when it comes to the war, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, echoing other party leaders, said in an interview. "We are telling people if they want to stay the course, vote Republican. If you want a change of direction, vote Democrat."

Bush, however, was betting that the Republican Party's historic advantage with voters in times when security issues are prominent will pay dividends again. "As you go to the polls, remember we're at war," he told thousands of GOP supporters in Pensacola, Fla. "And if you want this country to do everything in its power to protect you and at the same time lay a foundation for peace for generations to come, vote Republican."

Democrats confidently predicted that they will win control of the House and trim if not topple the GOP's Senate majority. Republican operatives, however, said there is mounting evidence that fears about the nuclear threats in Iran and North Korea, coupled with more generalized doubts about Democratic competence and fortitude on national security, have provided GOP candidates with much-needed momentum in the final days. GOP tracking polls, these strategists said, have shown a slight but steady uptick since Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), in what he called a botched joke, suggested that uneducated people end up fighting in Iraq -- a comment that infuriated top Democrats despite the 2004 presidential nominee's repeated apologies and explanations.

"All of those things remind people we are at war and the importance of the national security issue," said Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee.

There are more than two dozen House races and at least five Senate contests that both sides considered too close to call heading into Election Day. A series of public polls released over the past few days offers contradictory findings about the public's views nationally and in many key races, confounding strategists in both parties. Some surveys show Republicans gaining on the generic question of whom they plan to vote for, while others suggest that Democrats are pulling away. The most recent, from CNN, showed Democrats with a 20-point advantage on the generic ballot question, which asks people which party they prefer but does not offer a choice between specific candidates.

Whether Republicans will succumb to adverse trends or manage to at least partly blunt them will determine whether Democrats can win back the House or Senate or both -- all scenarios that could dramatically change the trajectory of Bush's final two years in office.

Regardless of the margins, officials in both parties are planning for the stiffest challenge yet to Bush's war policy when Congress returns for its lame-duck session next week. Lawmakers are also bracing for GOP leadership changes in the House and Senate and a new policy agenda that is not dictated by the White House. Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), a leader of House conservatives, has told colleagues that he plans to seek a top leadership position, congressional aides said.

Democrats, who lost control of the House in 1994, need a net gain of 15 seats to win it back. Republicans generally agree that the opposition is on track to do that, but they hold out hope that a superior voter-turnout effort will tip just enough races to preserve the narrowest of House majorities. A top GOP strategist said yesterday that several GOP House members who appeared safe one month ago -- including Reps. Charles Bass (N.H.) and Melissa Hart (Pa.) -- are in serious jeopardy. If Bass and Hart lose, it could signal mass casualties for the GOP, other strategists say.

Senior strategists in both parties said the GOP is virtually certain to lose 10 seats, mostly because of a variety of scandals. If these projections are correct, Republicans would have to win more than three-quarters of the 30 or so races that were tied heading into the final weekend.

Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg, who released a survey yesterday showing Democrats up 49 to 44 in 50 GOP districts, said that Republicans have closed the gap slightly, but not enough to save their majority. "I don't see any evidence of anything but a minor pushback of getting some of the most partisan Republicans re-engaged," Greenberg said. Using his poll, he predicted Democrats will win 30 to 35 seats "as a conservative estimate."

It will be much harder for Democrats to pick up the six seats needed to control the Senate. GOP Sens. Mike DeWine (Ohio) and Rick Santorum (Pa.) are far behind in state-based polling, but Republicans have a shot at winning the five other targeted GOP seats: in Missouri, Montana, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Virginia. Republicans also have a chance to pick up Democratic seats in Maryland and New Jersey, though both are uphill efforts.

Three premier contests -- Missouri, Tennessee and Virginia -- have been in the tossup category for several weeks. Republicans said yesterday that they think Tennessee is the most likely of the three to remain in their hands. Democrats said a big turnout among black voters is Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr.'s best chance for a narrow victory over former Chattanooga mayor Bob Corker, who polls show has taken control of the race in recent days. In Virginia, Sen. George Allen (R) is fighting for his political life against Democrat James Webb, while the race in Missouri between Sen. James M. Talent (R) and State Auditor Claire McCaskill is considered the tightest.

Two other races have given Republicans reason to hope that they can hold the Senate. In Rhode Island, Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee (R) has closed the gap in his contest against former attorney general Sheldon Whitehouse. But Chafee is running into one of the stiffest headwinds in the country, with only about a quarter of voters there approving of Bush's performance.

In Montana, weekend polls painted a conflicting picture of the battle between Sen. Conrad Burns (R) and state Senate President Jon Tester. One survey showed a tie, while another gave Tester a clear lead. Bush and Vice President Cheney campaigned there last week, but Tester has been getting help from popular Gov. Brian Schweitzer.

Campaign volunteers continued to make telephone calls and walk precincts in the most contested races in an effort to maximize voter turnout. The A Washington Post-ABC News poll found that as of Saturday, 41 percent of registered voters said they have been contacted directly by a campaign or party, up from 29 percent two weeks earlier.

Of those who said they had been contacted, 29 percent said they had heard from Republicans, 20 percent said they had heard from Democrats and 41 percent said they had been contacted by both parties. Several officials said this comports with anecdotal evidence that Republicans have done a better job than Democrats of reaching voters in the final stretch.

"We've got to get our votes out," former president Bill Clinton said during a campaign stop for House candidates in New York. "There are still people who will go to the polls tomorrow not entirely sure of who they're going to vote for because, frankly, a lot of these people never voted for us before."

Washingtonpost.com staff writer Chris Cillizza contributed to this report.

NYT : A Last Hurrah of Sorts for Bush-Rove Partnership

A Last Hurrah of Sorts for Bush-Rove Partnership

By JIM RUTENBERG | November 7, 2006

PENSACOLA, Fla., Nov. 6 — President Bush and his political partner, Karl Rove, ended it where they started it: in this sliver of Northwest Florida that arguably gave them their 2000 victory.

Like then, the two have utilized a symbiotic relationship in which, friends say, Mr. Rove, the president’s chief political adviser, is both mastermind and supplicant, and Mr. Bush is both leader and follower.

Where several members of the team that got Mr. Bush to the White House in 2000 are gone, Mr. Rove remains.

Mr. Rove helped to give Mr. Bush a winning strategy, first guiding him to the governor’s seat in Texas, then to the White House. Mr. Bush brought Mr. Rove along on a remarkable journey to the pinnacle of the political world. They have won every election they have taken on together.

Mr. Bush, who is more involved in the nitty-gritty of politics than he lets on publicly, gave Mr. Rove the clearance to run the White House midterm elections plan according to his standard playbook, even as other Republicans began to question Mr. Rove’s reputation for strategic brilliance and detach themselves from Mr. Bush and the Iraq war.

This year has not been easy on the two men, but in public at least, Mr. Bush and Mr. Rove usually seem to be enjoying themselves. In the campaign’s waning days, Mr. Rove emerged as the campaign jester of Air Force One, a role he has taken on in all of Mr. Bush’s big campaigns.

On almost every leg of every trip, Mr. Rove appeared before the traveling group of journalists to alternately tease them or flatter them, all the while spinning scenarios pointing to yet another Republican victory in the face of forecasts to the contrary.

Thus, there last week was the man Mr. Bush calls “the architect” — and some liberal bloggers call an evil genius — walking into the Air Force One press cabin to distribute chocolate-covered caramels to the traveling reporters. His prediction for Election Day: “Victory, victory, victory.”

Another day while dispensing candy to the press, he shouted, “Sweets for my sweets!”

Mr. Bush is reveling in being on the campaign trail too, rolling up his sleeves and going into arenas where audiences explode at lines that get polite applause from the more moneyed crowds he has addressed this year. An aide to Mr. Bush recalled how, just before taking the stage at a booming gymnasium in Le Mars, Iowa, the president turned to him and several others and said, “All right, boys, I have some new chestnuts for ’em tonight,” adding, “They ain’t seen nothing yet.”

Despite several requests, the White House would not arrange an interview with Mr. Rove to discuss what is, in effect, his last big campaign for Mr. Bush. Indicating that he still plans on being relevant, along with Mr. Bush, two years from now, a White House aide said that Mr. Rove “disputes the premise.”

Post-Tuesday Thinking

Indeed, what happens after Tuesday is something of a sore subject with several of Mr. Bush’s advisers.

They refuse to discuss the possibility of life with a Democratic speaker of the House, presumably Representative Nancy Pelosi of California. And whenever the subject of the president’s last two years come up, the aides make sure everybody knows that Mr. Bush intends to go out with a bang, not a whimper.

Asked Monday about plans for a possible Democratic-controlled Congress, Tony Snow, the White House spokesman, repeated his standard refusal to discuss the topic, then added, “Here’s the thing that you do need to know, which is that the president plans for a very active final two years of his presidency.”

He added, “So the president is going to be very aggressive, and he’s not going to play small ball.”

Everywhere, though, there are reminders that Washington will soon begin to focus on 2008 — like, say, Wednesday. Charlie Crist, the Republican candidate for governor in Florida, skipped out on an appearance in Pensacola with Mr. Bush, choosing instead to appear in Jacksonville with Senator John McCain of Arizona, a favored contender for the Republican presidential nomination should he run.

A person close to Senator McCain said that his advisers had checked with the White House last week to make sure there was no conflict and noted the events were two hours apart. The senator is expected to start his 2008 political strategy sessions on Wednesday.

And last Saturday, Mr. Bush beckoned a reporter, Nedra Pickler of The Associated Press, to his cabin at the front of Air Force One, to say goodbye. She is leaving her job as a White House correspondent to begin covering the 2008 campaign.

Not-So-Sunshine State

Florida has been good to Mr. Bush over the years. Yet, there are signs of wear here, like elsewhere, and Mr. Crist is not the only Republican in the state with whom the White House has had its differences.

Representative Katherine Harris, the state’s former Secretary of State and onetime Bush loyalist who was credited with helping to secure Mr. Bush’s victory in 2000, is running for the seat held by Senator Bill Nelson, a Democrat.

But Ms. Harris and the Bushes — that includes the president’s brother, Florida’s outgoing governor, Jeb Bush, are no longer allies; she defied their wishes that she not run for the Senate seat, and, despite a lot of trying, they were unable to persuade anybody else to run.

When Mr. Crist backed out of the Pensacola rally, Ms. Harris was the most prominent Republican candidate on the state ballot this year in attendance. Yet she was not up on the stage with Mr. Bush, his wife Laura, Governor Bush and Senator Mel Martinez.

Asked before landing in Pensacola whether Mr. Bush was “excited” to campaign with Ms. Harris, Mr. Snow said flatly: “He wants Republican candidates to win.”

If enough of them do not, it is going to be a very different world for him come Wednesday.

NYT : For Democrats, Even a Gain May Feel Like a Failure

For Democrats, Even a Gain May Feel Like a Failure

By ADAM NAGOURNEY | November 7, 2006

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 — In most midterm elections, an out-of-power party picking up, say, 14 seats in the House and five seats in the Senate could call it a pretty good night.

But for Democrats in 2006, that showing would mean coming up one seat shy of taking control of both the Senate and the House. And it would probably be branded a loss — in the case of the House, a big one.

For a combination of reasons — increasingly bullish prognostications by independent handicappers, galloping optimism by Democratic leaders and bloggers, and polls that promise a Democratic blowout — expectations for the party have soared into the stratosphere. Democrats are widely expected to take the House, and by a significant margin, and perhaps the Senate as well, while capturing a majority of governorships and legislatures.

These expectations may well be overheated. Polls over the weekend suggested that the contest was tightening, and some prognosticators on Monday were scaling back their predictions, if ever so slightly. (Charlie Cook, the analyst who is one of Washington’s chief setters of expectations, said in an e-mail message on Monday that he was dropping the words “possibly more” from his House prediction of “20-35, possibly more.”)

Some Democrats worry that those forecasts, accurate or not, may be setting the stage for a demoralizing election night, and one with lasting ramifications, sapping the party’s spirit and energy heading into the 2008 presidential election cycle.

“Two years ago, winning 14 seats in the House would have been a pipe dream,” said Matt Bennett, a founder of Third Way, a moderate Democratic organization. Now, Mr. Bennett said, failure to win the House, even by one seat, would send Democrats diving under their beds (not to mention what it might do to all the pundits).

“It would be crushing,” he said. “It would be extremely difficult.”

Mr. Cook put it more succinctly. “I think you’d see a Jim Jones situation — it would be a mass suicide,” he said.

On election eve, the rough consensus among officials in both parties was that the Democrats would win the House but come just short of capturing the six seats they needed in the Senate. There was wide disagreement, though, about how many House seats Democrats might win.

Many of these predictions had been based on polls showing that President Bush, the Republican Party and Congress were extraordinarily unpopular. But going into Election Day, at least 20 House seats and probably 3 Senate seats were tied or close to it, no matter what the national polls say.

So, what if Democrats just squeak to victory in the House by a seat or two? What if Democrats win just three seats in the Senate or — unlikely but not impossible — even two?

“I’m not getting into the Washington expectations game,” said Representative Rahm Emanuel, the Democrat from Illinois running his party’s effort to capture the House, in what he said would be a very brief minute he would devote to commenting on this subject. “My job is to deliver north of 15 seats and that’s what I am going to do.”

Howard Wolfson, a Democratic consultant advising candidates in some of the most competitive races in upstate New York — and one of his party’s biggest optimists this year — said the size of the margin would not matter, assuming, of course, that Democrats win. “It’s not a question of 25 or 35,” Mr. Wolfson said. “It’s a question of 14 or 15. Would you rather have a bigger margin? Of course. But if you take back the House, the world changes.”

But any casual reader of a newspaper, or watcher of television news, or consumer of polls could be forgiven for thinking that the nation was about to witness its biggest shift in power since Republicans seized control of Congress by capturing 54 House seats in 1994. In the past week, analysts like Mr. Cook and Stuart Rothenberg, as well as on-the-record Democrats and Republicans, were talking about the Democrats’ racking up as many as 35 seats. (Republicans, of course, may have decided that they have a Machiavellian interest in setting up Democrats with inflated expectations.)

“From a communications standpoint, the Democrats have done a lousy job managing expectations,” said Justin Blake, an executive vice president at Edelman, the public relations firm.

Indeed, Mr. Emanuel and his Senate counterpart, Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, have gone to some lengths not to project overconfidence. Mr. Schumer likes to say that Democrats are “on the edge” of taking back the Senate.

Other Democratic leaders are less restrained.

“I am now even more certain that Democrats will take control of the House and believe the net gain will be at least 30 seats and that we will certainly know the outcome early in the evening,” Martin Frost, the former Texas Democratic congressman, wrote in a column he e-mailed around last week.

Mr. Bennett said that winning only 14 seats would produce an inevitable drop in contributions and a round of whither-the-Democrats post-election sessions. But he also said that, based on what had happened after Senator John Kerry’s failed presidential effort in 2004, a race that many Democrats thought they should have won, he doubted the impact would last long.

And, unless the Democrats make no gains at all, it seems highly unlikely that there would be the kind of recriminations that typically follow a party loss, the kind of bloodletting already being seen on the Republican side.

Almost without exception, Democrats have praised Mr. Emanuel and Mr. Schumer — though Howard Dean, the party’s national chairman, may have to defend his decision to spread Democratic National Committee money to build up parties in all 50 states, while parrying requests for support in the Congressional races.

The scope of a Democratic victory could go a long way in determining just how much power the party had in Congress.

Perceptions matter in politics, and this White House has shown it knows how to shape them; it would no doubt relish trying to weaken its new Congressional foes by portraying a small Democratic edge as a loss.

The obvious best outcome for Democrats would be to win control of both houses, allowing them to claim a public mandate. But unless they somehow control 60 votes in the Senate — which, not to be setting any expectations here, is not going to happen — they will have to work with Republicans to pass legislation. If they win the House by a large margin but do not get the Senate, they will also no doubt claim something of a mandate, though that would seem to be a recipe for gridlock.

If the Democrats fail to capture the House and the Senate, it would provide a psychic boost for the White House and some political vindication for Karl Rove, the president’s chief political adviser. But given the intramural Republican squabbling of the past two years, it seems fair to say that nothing much could be expected out of Congress for the next two.

Mr. Bennett said, of the possibility of Democrats’ losing in the end, “Some people will be saying, maybe that’s better, which I think is crazy, but people are going to say it anyway.”

NYT : Repeat Calls Spur a Debate Over Tactics

Repeat Calls Spur a Debate Over Tactics

By CHRISTOPHER DREW and CARL HULSE | November 7, 2006

Karyn Hollis, an English professor at Villanova University outside Philadelphia, said the same computerized calls had been ringing her telephone as often as five times a day for more than a week.

They all start with a simple, if somewhat ambiguous, statement: “Hello, I’m calling with information about Lois Murphy,” a Pennsylvania Democrat who is the challenger in one of the hottest House races. That opening sounds “kind of positive in tone,” Ms. Hollis said. But the message quickly turns negative, blasting Ms. Murphy’s political views. After she hangs up, the phone rings again later with the same message. And again. And again.

The calls are part of a telephone blitz that the Republican Party has unleashed in several dozen races that are likely to determine control of the House in Tuesday’s elections. And the repeat calls to the same homes have set off a new furor over campaign tactics, with the Democrats claiming the calls violate federal communications rules and are tantamount to harassment.

Ms. Murphy and other Democrats say they have been flooded with complaints from irritated voters who think that the calls are coming from the candidates themselves. Many of the voters had hung up before the message was over, and never heard that it was produced by the Republican Party.

Democratic leaders contend that the messages violate federal rules that require groups making automated calls to identify themselves at the outset. And the National Republican Congressional Committee, which has financed the calls, agreed on Sunday to quit making some of them in New Hampshire, where a state law limits who can receive computerized phone messages.

Ed Patru, a committee spokesman, said the phone campaign complied with federal law and was “drawing contrasts” between the candidates. “There’s no statutory requirement that our phone calls be complimentary to Democrats,” Mr. Patru added.

Federal filings indicate that the committee has spent about $2 million on phone calls in the last week.

But Democratic officials say they fear the saturation calling is just a tactic to irritate voters and discourage them from going to the polls.

“Make no mistake about it,” said Representative Rahm Emanuel, an Illinois Democrat who is leading his party’s effort to retake the House. “This is a dirty trick, one they have pulled before, one they have gotten caught on, and they are still doing it.”

Mr. Emanuel was referring to past fights over last-minute phone campaigns, particularly in New Hampshire, where three Republican officials were convicted of campaign violations stemming from an effort in 2002 to jam phone lines used by the Democratic Party to get out the vote.

Complaints about the recent Republican calls first surfaced about a week ago in a smattering of states. Rozanne Ronen, who lives in a Chicago suburb, said she had gotten more than 20 of the calls, all relating to the same House race. “To me, it’s just harassment,” she said.

New York Democratic Party officials complained Monday that the calls also had been made on Sunday and Monday to voters in four hotly contested House districts.

The Democrats say that a few calls have been made in the early morning or middle of night, and that some voters received several calls minutes apart. Republican officials said that would have happened only if there was a computer glitch.

Others, like Ms. Hollis, the Villanova professor, say they have filed complaints with the Federal Communications Commission. Its rules on automated calls require that callers state their identity at the beginning of the message. These calls end with a disclaimer that they were paid for by the Republican committee; no identification is made at the start of the message.

Political messages are exempt from the federal do-not-call rules meant to discourage unwanted sales pitches. But a New Hampshire law prohibits making automated calls to people who are on the do-not-call list. The Republican committee agreed on Sunday to halt calls there at the urging of the state attorney general.

David Kaplan, a registered Republican in Connecticut who has received more than two dozen of the calls, said he was so annoyed that the Republicans might “have shot themselves in the leg” in terms of winning his vote.

CNN World : Al Qaeda bomb plotter gets life

Al Qaeda bomb plotter gets life

LONDON, England (AP) -- An al-Qaeda operative who planned to blow up landmark London hotels using limousines packed with gas tanks, napalm and nails, and plotted to attack the New York Stock Exchange and the World Bank was sentenced on Tuesday to life in prison.

Dhiren Barot, a former airline ticket clerk and Muslim convert, pleaded guilty last month to conspiring to commit mass murder on both sides of the Atlantic. After his sentencing, he could be transferred to the United States to face a four-count indictment if U.S. officials request the transfer.

Barot trained for years at terrorist camps around the world to refine skills with weapons, bomb-making and chemicals, said the prosecutor, Edmund Lawson. He became quickly inspired to plot a "memorable black day for the enemies of Islam," Lawson said, quoting a passage from Barot's notebook.

Barot, a 34-year old who was born in India but raised in Britain, wrote to leaders of the terrorist network in documents that detailed a series of synchronized strikes in Britain and several attacks targeting U.S. financial targets such as the New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup headquarters in Manhattan, the World Bank headquarters in Washington and the Prudential building in Newark, N.J.

Barot put the U.S. plot on hold after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Lawson said, but the plan for Britain "was in its final stages."

In a detailed proposal submitted to al-Qaida financiers in Pakistan, Barot planned to use a six-man team to detonate limousines crammed with gas cylinders in underground parking garages -- a plan that Barot said would kill "hundreds if the building collapses."

Lawson said Barot also wrote in documents that he wanted to add napalm and nails to the limousine bombs to "heighten the terror and chaos." He also considered adding radioactive material, Lawson said, but decided a dirty bomb should be used in a separate attack.

"You have chosen to use your life to bring death and destruction to the Western world," Judge Neil Butterfield said as he passed the sentence. "You planned to slaughter hundreds, if not thousands, of wholly innocent men, women and children."

London hotels including The Ritz and The Savoy, and the Waterloo, Paddington and King's Cross railway stations were identified as targets.

Barot's lawyer Ian MacDonald called Barot's plans "rough and exploratory" and said they were far from fruition.

"There is no evidence as to when an attack was due to be carried out," MacDonald said.

Scotland Yard pointed to Barot's capture as a victory against terrorism.

"For well over two years we have been unable to show the British public the reality of the threat they faced from this man. Now they can see for themselves the full horror of his plan," said Peter Clarke, the head of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch.

Jailing Barot was the first major blow against homegrown terrorists since suicide bombings in July 2005 against London's transit network that killed 52 commuters. Details of Barot's plots -- which included blowing up a subway train as it passed below the River Thames -- resurrected fears of the strikes against three subways and one bus last year.

The July 7, 2005, bombings opened a divide between Muslims and non-Muslims, prompting an ongoing debate over the country's segregated communities and the extent of religious tolerance in Britain.

Butterfield said Barot's actions only made things worse for Muslims in Britain.

"In this country there are thousands and thousands of ordinary, decent, hardworking, law-abiding Muslims -- British citizens just like you -- who have to live their lives under a deep cloud of suspicion and distrust caused by you and others like you," Butterfield said.

Inayat Bunglawala, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, said terror trials such as Barot's may harden views against Muslims.

"These kinds of incidents are building up and it does appear Muslims have become folk devils in popular mythology," said Bunglawala.

On Monday, Lawson showed clips of a reconnaissance video taken by Barot during a 2001 visit to New York.

The footage zoomed in on the World Trade Center's towers as a man is heard mimicking the sound of an explosion. It was found spliced into a copy of the movie "Die Hard With A Vengeance."

Barot, who will have the possibility of parole after 40 years, is wanted in the United States and Yemen on separate terror-related charges.

Under the alias Issa al-Britani, Barot was named in the report of the U.S. commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, as an associate of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged Sept. 11 planner.

The Associated Press, The British Broadcasting Corp., and Times Newspapers Ltd. successfully challenged a court ruling that threatened to prevent news media reporting details of Barot's sentencing hearing.

Butterfield had ruled that publishing details of the case could prejudice trials of Barot's seven co-defendants, scheduled to take place in London next year.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Raw Story : Muslim convert sentenced to life for al-Qaeda plots

Muslim convert sentenced to life for al-Qaeda plots

dpa German Press Agency | November 7, 2006

London- An Islamic convert who turned a top al-Qaeda agent was sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in London Tuesday for plotting to kill thousands of people in "spectacular" attacks in Britain and the United States. Dhiren Barot, a former Hindu who converted to Islam, would have to spend at least 40 years in jail for his plan to "cause carnage on a colossal and unprecedented scale," the presiding judge told Woolwich Crown Court in south London.

The 34-year-old defendant, from London, had planned to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the British capital and also plotted assaults on the World Bank in Washington and the New York Stock Exchange.

He had planned to detonate limousines filled with gas cylinders in underground car parks, the court was told.

Barot was also said to have plotted to detonate a bomb under the river Thames to flood the Underground (Tube) network and potentially drown hundreds of commuters.

Barot's 40-year minimum jail term is one of the toughest sentences ever handed down by a British judge, making the defendant not eligible for parole until he is 74 years old.

Barot was born in India in December, 1971, and came to Britain with his parents a year later.

He last worked as an airline ticket clerk in London before disappearing to Pakistan in for 1995, where he visited terrorist training camps, the court heard.

A "chilling" document retrieved from Barot's computer, seized in Pakistan in the summer of 2004, showed that he had planned to "inflict mass damage and chaos," the court heard.

Although the prosecution conceded that police had not found any evidence that materials had been acquired to carry out the plans, or that an attack was imminent, an attack was "likely to have happened at some stage."

Barot, who is also wanted by the US authorities over charges of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction in the US and in Yemen, had admitted conspiracy to murder.

He was placed under surveillance in April, 2004, following a tip-off from the intelligence authorities in Pakistan, and arrested in London in August, 2004.

Footage he took of his intended targets in the US and Britain were released by police Tuesday, showed that the attacks were planned "long before" the 9/11 attacks in America, the BBC said Tuesday.

The judge told Barot: "This was no noble cause. Your plans were to bring indiscriminate carnage, bloodshed and butchery first in Washington, New York and Newark, and thereafter the UK on a colossal and unprecedented scale."

British Home Secretary John Reid said the nature and severity of the sentence showed that the terrorist threat remained "very real and serious."

Peter Clarke, the head of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch, said if Barot had succeeded in his aims, thousands would have died.

"Barot was a determined and experienced terrorist. He went to terrorist training camps in 1995, long before 9/11 or the invasion of Afghanistan or Iraq," said Clarke.

© 2006 dpa German Press Agency

The Daily Record : Blair Loses The Rag

BLAIR LOSES THE RAG

November 7, 2006

TONY Blair lost his cool yesterday when he was put on the spot over Saddam Hussein's fate.

The Prime Minister said it was "right" the former dictator - who on Sunday was sentenced to hang - should face "Iraqi justice".

But the UK Government officially oppose the use of the death penalty around the world.

When pushed, he finally said: "We are against the death penalty, whether it's Saddam or anybody else."

He added: "That is just enough, thank you very much", and insisted there were "other and bigger issues to talk about".

Pittsburgh Post-gazette : Terror force stands down on Heinz Field break-in try

Terror force stands down on Heinz Field break-in try

By Torsten Ove and Gary Rotstein | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | November 7, 2006

The two young men who tried to break into Heinz Field on Sunday morning appear to have been up to nothing more than fooling around like what they are -- a couple of college kids.

Although the Joint Terrorism Task Force responded to the incident and has been monitoring it after Pittsburgh police arrested the two Carnegie Mellon University students, all indications are that they were not bent on anything nefarious.

The FBI and federal prosecutors, who would certainly attempt to detain them if there were even a hint of terrorism, are no longer involved.

"They are not under any federal scrutiny," said Jeff Killeen, spokesman for the Pittsburgh FBI office. "Everything has been deferred to the district attorney's office."

City police on Sunday arrested Sudeep Paul, 21, of New York, and Anand Shankar Durvasula, 20, of California, after security guards at the field saw them trying to scale a fence at 1:48 a.m.

They had earlier entered a door at Gate B that hadn't sealed completely following a private party at one of the stadium's clubs, but they left for unexplained reasons and walked to Gate 5, a nearby service entrance. There they found a chair and started walking around with it, apparently looking for a way to get in, then returned to Gate 5. Mr. Durvasula then stepped up onto the chair and began scaling the fence, police said.

That's when guards, who had been watching them on security cameras, approached them. The students started to walk away, but were detained by city officers from the North Side station.

Authorities said the men, who were described as frightened after the arrest, initially explained that they had tickets to the 4:15 p.m. game and had decided to check things out so they knew where to go.

They later said they were filming a music video for a Carnegie Mellon film project. Mr. Paul, a film student, said he was in the final stages of completing a video featuring Mr. Durvasula and had planned to film the last scene at Heinz Field.

But they didn't have their video camera and tripod with them; police found those items inside a Lexus sport utility vehicle parked nearby.

Four bomb dogs responded to the scene, and two of them alerted on the vehicle, but no explosives were found. False alerts are not uncommon among bomb detection dogs, depending on their level of training, and experts said the animals sometimes alert to chemicals, particularly nitrates, inside electronic equipment such as cameras and other products.

Carnegie Mellon University officials declined to comment on the students, but their friends and peers on campus were abuzz with talk of their situation.

"The people I've talked to feel this is absolutely ridiculous," said Ramzi Ramsey, a senior from Sacramento, Calif., who is president of the Undergraduate Finance Association.

Mr. Paul is involved in the group as its activities director, and Mr. Ramsey said, "I couldn't see him hurting a fly. He's an honor student, one of the top students in our business class."

Mr. Paul was described as hard-working at his studies but also interested in many of the things typical of college students -- intramural sports, video games and weekend parties.

Student Gunnar Gissel said that when he once made a joke tied to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Mr. Paul, from Long Island about an hour from Manhattan, punched him on the arm and told him to knock it off.

"He got kind of combatively defensive about it," said Mr. Gissel, a senior from Alaska. "You can't drag him into anything off color. I'd be surprised if he was doing anything more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. ... Sudeep is not a terrorist."

The two student suspects are American-born, but of Indian descent, which one local defense attorney, Thomas Farrell, believes may have contributed to the tough reaction by authorities. A police affidavit filed Sunday mistakenly referred to "2 Middle Eastern males" trying to climb a fence at Heinz Field.

"Think about it. It's the kind of prank that college students do all over the country every week. It really does sound like people went overboard because of their ethnicity," said Mr. Farrell, a former federal prosecutor who is not involved in the students' case. Million-dollar bail cases, he said, "are for serious offenses, or if people have no ties to the country."

Still, said one first-year Carnegie Mellon student, Aditya Natraj, "they should have known better. You can't just do whatever you want. Just because you're shooting a film. ..."

The FBI and the National Football League, along with local authorities in every NFL city, have been on heightened alert since a threat to stadiums a few weeks ago that turned out to be a hoax by a Wisconsin man.

Before that happened, a stadium break-in would probably not have warranted the attention of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, which is made up of numerous federal, local and state agencies. But now, no one's taking any chances.

Mr. Paul is charged with criminal conspiracy and Mr. Durvasula with criminal trespass and conspiracy.

Their bonds remained at $1 million each yesterday. Mike Manko, spokesman for the district attorney's office, said the bond could be reduced, but that has to happen at a bond hearing. As of yesterday afternoon, no hearing had been scheduled and Mr. Manko said he wasn't sure if the men had hired lawyers yet.

(Torsten Ove can be reached at tove@post-gazette.com or 412-231-0132. Gary Rotstein can be reached at grotstein@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1255. Staff writer Chico Harlan contributed. )

People's Daily Online : U.S. prosecutors reject 87% of international terrorism cases: report

U.S. prosecutors reject 87% of international terrorism cases: report

November 7, 2006

Federal prosecutors in the United States rejected 87 percent of international terrorism cases brought by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) during the first nine months of fiscal year 2006, the USA Today newspaper reported on Monday.

The report, citing an analysis by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, said the number of rejections had been generally increasing since 2001.

The rejection rate was 33 percent in fiscal 2001, increasing sharply to around 55 percent in fiscal 2002.

However, during the first nine months of fiscal 2006, up to Sept. 30, the figure soared to 87 percent.

There was a slight decrease for fiscal 2004, according to the report.

The findings were challenged by the Justice Department, which said the analysis represented an "astonishing misunderstanding" of the inner workings of the federal criminal justice system.

"This report contains inaccurate figures, relies on a faulty assumption that every referral from an investigative agency should result in a criminal prosecution and ignores the reality of how the war on terrorism is being conducted," department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse was quoted as saying.

In the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Justice Department announced a dramatic transformation of its mission, from a prosecution-driven institution to an agency that emphasized prevention and the development of a domestic intelligence system. Additionally, as a result of the new mission, cases rejected for prosecution did not necessarily close investigations, Roehrkasse said.

The Justice Department had prosecuted 36 international terrorism defendants, nearly double the number reported in the analysis, in the nine-month period, and its rejection rate stood at 67 percent, not 87 percent, he said.

Source: Xinhua

People's Daily Online : Pakistan, U.S. to continue fight against terrorism

Pakistan, U.S. to continue fight against terrorism

November 7, 2006

Pakistan and the United States will determine to continue in fighting against terrorism with Washington assuring Islamabad of all possible assistance in economic and defense sectors, the Pakistani newspaper The Nation reported Tuesday.

During Monday's meetings between the visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard A. Boucher and Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri, the two sides reaffirmed their commitment to fight against terrorism, the report said.

Boucher assured the Pakistani official of continued U.S. assistance to Islamabad in economic and defense sectors, it added.

During talks, the two sides discussed the latest situation in Afghanistan, including India-Pakistan peace process, nuclear energy cooperation and the recently carried out air strike on a religious seminary in Bajaur tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

Both sides also exchanged views on counter-terrorism cooperation, according to the report.

Source: Xinhua