STAR/TRIBUNE
A cop lay dying at the hands of Tim Eling. The former Marine had botched yet another pharmacy robbery, escaping after a gunfight with police officer Richard Walton. Now, bleeding from a gunshot to the leg, Eling lay holed up at a relative's house in St. Paul, drifting in and out from a heavy dose of painkillers.
His brother-in-law walked in and dropped the morning newspaper. "The guy's dead,'' he said in disgust. He left Eling to read about the trail of grief he had blazed at Mounds Park Hospital in St. Paul the night before.
Today, 29 years later, Eling still walks the corridors at the Stillwater prison. A former drug addict and a first-degree murderer, he learned last week that his life sentence has been brought to an end with an extraordinary parole decision by state Corrections Commissioner Tom Roy. Corrections officials say they cannot recall the last time a first-degree murderer of a police officer was granted a parole.
Roy's decision has triggered an emotional debate over justice and forgiveness that has quickly spread to the State Capitol. On Friday, the Legislature's top Republicans, Sen. Amy Koch and Rep. Kurt Zellers, sent a letter to Gov. Mark Dayton protesting the parole and calling for legislative hearings.
The state's largest organization of police officers not only opposes parole for Eling, it says that cop killers deserve capital punishment. "I don't think anyone who kills an officer should ever get out alive,'' said Dennis Flaherty, executive director of the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association. "Where do you draw the line, what kind of world would you be creating?''
Roy and his deputies understand the reaction, but say they believe their decision speaks to the ability of some violent criminals to transform themselves. They say Eling's conduct over the past 15 years suggests he will lead a life of service on the outside. They also note that, across several previous Corrections administrations, he had to repeatedly prove he was making changes in his life.
Eling, now 62, says he knows the gravity of the decision. Despite the parole, he must still complete four more years of a companion 1996 sentence for smuggling drugs while in prison. At the same time he'll try to outlast a cancer that doctors discovered several years ago.
In the course of a two-hour interview last week, Eling said he understands the disgust felt by police. "I'd probably feel the same way," he said. "The record speaks for itself. I have not been a good person in this life."
MaryAnn Walton, 74, the officer's former wife, said last week that she accepts the judgment of state parole officials. But she added: "I believe in transformations of heart and that people can be forgiven by God. What bothers me is I know how hard this will be on police officers. What kind of example is it going to be to have a cop killer turned loose?''
Several days before his September parole hearing, he said, Commissioner Roy spoke with him privately for an hour.
Life in prison didn't mean staying clean. Eling found himself part of a smuggling operation involving cocaine and marijuana. His urine screens kept coming back dirty and by the mid-1990s authorities went to his daughter's home to search for a possible connection. The warden at Oak Park Heights told him during a parole review: If you're trying to make sure you never get out, you're doing a good job of it, Eling recalled.
"The warden said, 'You need to find a reason to get up in the morning. Why don't you go back to school?' Out of nowhere this thought came to my head, 'You know, I'm done with it' and I've never been high since then."
Eling became a founding member of Stillwater's Restorative Justice Program, which brings crime victims in to speak to offenders about the pain they've caused. He took up painting, and today teaches a daily art class to 22 offenders. During Mass in the prison chapel, he gives the first reading.
"You have to ask yourself, 'How do I make amends for this?' '' Eling said. "If you stole something from somebody you can pay them back. If you broke something, it can be fixed. But how do you make amends for taking somebody's life?"
If he beats the cancer long enough to get out, Eling said he hopes to travel to Grand Marais and live along the North Shore, performing volunteer work and painting.
Yet he has a recurring dream in which he is stopped for a driving violation. The officer runs a license check that comes back with the murder conviction that pops up on the computer screen.
"Some things you just don't get past,'' he said. "If you go by just the record, holy mackerel, look at this guy here. He doesn't deserve anything. It doesn't show anything else.''
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Amy Winehouse drank herself to death
STAR/TRIBUNE
LONDON - Amy Winehouse drank herself to death. That was the ruling of a coroner's inquest into the death of the Grammy-winning soul singer, who died with empty vodka bottles in her room and lethal amounts of alcohol in her blood — more than five times the British drunk driving limit.
Coroner Suzanne Greenaway gave a verdict of "death by misadventure," saying Wednesday the singer suffered accidental alcohol poisoning when she resumed drinking after weeks of abstinence.
"The unintended consequence of such potentially fatal levels (of alcohol) was her sudden and unexpected death," Greenaway said.
The 27-year-old Winehouse had fought a very public battle with drug and alcohol abuse for years, and there had been much speculation that she died from a drug overdose. But a pathologist said the small amount of a drug prescribed to help her cope with the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal had nothing to do with her death.
Instead, a resumption of heavy drinking killed the singer, best-known for her tall beehive hairdos and Grammy-winning album "Back to Black." A security guard found Winehouse dead in bed at her London home on July 23.
"She's made tremendous efforts over the years," said Dr. Christina Romete, who had treated Winehouse. But "she had her own way and was very determined to do everything her way."
Winehouse gave up illicit drugs in 2008, but had swerved between heavy alcohol use and abstinence for a long time, Romete said. The singer had resumed drinking in the days before her death after staying away from alcohol for most of July, she said.
Romete said she warned Winehouse of the dangers of alcoholism. "The advice I had given to Amy over a long period of time was verbal and in written form about all the effects alcohol can have on the system, including respiratory depression and death, heart problems, fertility problems and liver problems," she said.
Winehouse joins a long list of celebrities who died after fighting alcohol problems, including jazz great Billie Holiday, AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott, film legend Richard Burton, writers Dylan Thomas and Jack Kerouac, and country music pioneer Hank Williams.
Police Detective Inspector Les Newman said three empty vodka bottles — two large and one small — were found in her bedroom.
Pathologist Suhail Baithun said blood and urine samples indicated Winehouse had consumed a "very large quantity of alcohol" prior to her death. The level of alcohol in her blood was 416 milligrams per 100 milliliters, he said — a blood alcohol level of 0.4 percent. The British and U.S. legal drunk-driving limit is 0.08 percent.
LONDON - Amy Winehouse drank herself to death. That was the ruling of a coroner's inquest into the death of the Grammy-winning soul singer, who died with empty vodka bottles in her room and lethal amounts of alcohol in her blood — more than five times the British drunk driving limit.
Coroner Suzanne Greenaway gave a verdict of "death by misadventure," saying Wednesday the singer suffered accidental alcohol poisoning when she resumed drinking after weeks of abstinence.
"The unintended consequence of such potentially fatal levels (of alcohol) was her sudden and unexpected death," Greenaway said.
The 27-year-old Winehouse had fought a very public battle with drug and alcohol abuse for years, and there had been much speculation that she died from a drug overdose. But a pathologist said the small amount of a drug prescribed to help her cope with the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal had nothing to do with her death.
Instead, a resumption of heavy drinking killed the singer, best-known for her tall beehive hairdos and Grammy-winning album "Back to Black." A security guard found Winehouse dead in bed at her London home on July 23.
"She's made tremendous efforts over the years," said Dr. Christina Romete, who had treated Winehouse. But "she had her own way and was very determined to do everything her way."
Winehouse gave up illicit drugs in 2008, but had swerved between heavy alcohol use and abstinence for a long time, Romete said. The singer had resumed drinking in the days before her death after staying away from alcohol for most of July, she said.
Romete said she warned Winehouse of the dangers of alcoholism. "The advice I had given to Amy over a long period of time was verbal and in written form about all the effects alcohol can have on the system, including respiratory depression and death, heart problems, fertility problems and liver problems," she said.
Winehouse joins a long list of celebrities who died after fighting alcohol problems, including jazz great Billie Holiday, AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott, film legend Richard Burton, writers Dylan Thomas and Jack Kerouac, and country music pioneer Hank Williams.
Police Detective Inspector Les Newman said three empty vodka bottles — two large and one small — were found in her bedroom.
Pathologist Suhail Baithun said blood and urine samples indicated Winehouse had consumed a "very large quantity of alcohol" prior to her death. The level of alcohol in her blood was 416 milligrams per 100 milliliters, he said — a blood alcohol level of 0.4 percent. The British and U.S. legal drunk-driving limit is 0.08 percent.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Student survey links teen soda consumption with violence
STAR/TRIBUNE
High school students who drink a lot of soda pop are also more likely to be violent, according to a study of surveys completed in 2008 by more than 1,800 Boston high school students. The study, released late Monday in the British medical journal Injury Prevention, does not suggest a cause and effect -- only an association between soda consumption and violence.
It is possible – even likely, researchers say – that other social or biological factors make teens who are prone to violence also prone to drinking a lot of soda. Maybe poor parenting or low-blood sugar are the catalysts that make students pursue both bad habits.
Even without proving cause and effect, the study makes a meaningful contribution because there has been little focus on this connection between soda consumption and violence before. The surveys asked students how much soda they had consumed in the prior week, and whether they had carried a weapon or been violent to classmates, boy/girlfriends or relatives in the past year. Perhaps soda consumption is simply a red flag that schools and parents can monitor for a higher likelihood of violent behavior. “If we want to understand youth violence and we want to reduce it, then we want to look at everything that can impact it,” said Sara Solnick, the chairwoman of the University of Vermont’s economic department who co-authored the Boston student study. “This was something that was not on the radar. Maybe we need to start paying attention.”
Students who drank a lot of soda also drank more alcohol and smoked. Those are behaviors that are strongly correlated with youth violence. However, even when the latest study factored out tobacco and alcohol use, there still was a strong relationship between heavy soda consumption and a higher rate of self-reported violence.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota (not involved with the study) urged great caution in interpreting the results, and certainly discouraged anyone from believing soda causes aggression at this point. The U's Simone French noted it can't simply be the sugar in soda that agitates teens and makes them more violent. "Using this logic, Halloween, a socially supported sugar-overdose, should cause an increase in violent behaviors among adolescents across the country," she said.
High school students who drink a lot of soda pop are also more likely to be violent, according to a study of surveys completed in 2008 by more than 1,800 Boston high school students. The study, released late Monday in the British medical journal Injury Prevention, does not suggest a cause and effect -- only an association between soda consumption and violence.
It is possible – even likely, researchers say – that other social or biological factors make teens who are prone to violence also prone to drinking a lot of soda. Maybe poor parenting or low-blood sugar are the catalysts that make students pursue both bad habits.
Even without proving cause and effect, the study makes a meaningful contribution because there has been little focus on this connection between soda consumption and violence before. The surveys asked students how much soda they had consumed in the prior week, and whether they had carried a weapon or been violent to classmates, boy/girlfriends or relatives in the past year. Perhaps soda consumption is simply a red flag that schools and parents can monitor for a higher likelihood of violent behavior. “If we want to understand youth violence and we want to reduce it, then we want to look at everything that can impact it,” said Sara Solnick, the chairwoman of the University of Vermont’s economic department who co-authored the Boston student study. “This was something that was not on the radar. Maybe we need to start paying attention.”
Students who drank a lot of soda also drank more alcohol and smoked. Those are behaviors that are strongly correlated with youth violence. However, even when the latest study factored out tobacco and alcohol use, there still was a strong relationship between heavy soda consumption and a higher rate of self-reported violence.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota (not involved with the study) urged great caution in interpreting the results, and certainly discouraged anyone from believing soda causes aggression at this point. The U's Simone French noted it can't simply be the sugar in soda that agitates teens and makes them more violent. "Using this logic, Halloween, a socially supported sugar-overdose, should cause an increase in violent behaviors among adolescents across the country," she said.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Moammar Gadhafi's bloody end seals rebel triumph in Libya
STAR TRIBUNE
Article by: CHRISTOPHER GILLETTE and KIM GAMEL , Associated Press
SIRTE, LIBYA - Dragged from hiding in a drainage pipe, a wounded Moammar Gadhafi raised his hands and begged revolutionary fighters: "Don't kill me, my sons." Within an hour, he was dead, but not before jubilant Libyans had vented decades of hatred by pulling the dictator's hair and parading his bloodied body on the hood of a truck.
The death Thursday of Gadhafi, two months after he was driven from power and into hiding, decisively buries the nearly 42-year regime that had turned the oil-rich country into an international pariah and his own personal fiefdom. It also thrusts Libya into a new age in which its transitional leaders must overcome deep divisions and rebuild nearly all its institutions from scratch to achieve dreams of democracy.
"We have been waiting for this historic moment for a long time. Moammar Gadhafi has been killed," Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril said in the capital of Tripoli. "I would like to call on Libyans to put aside the grudges and only say one word, which is Libya, Libya, Libya."
President Obama told the Libyan people: "You have won your revolution."
Bloody images of Gadhafi's last moments in his hometown of Sirte -- where revolutionary fighters overwhelmed the last of his supporters after weeks of heavy battles -- raised questions over how he died after he was captured wounded, but alive.
The official version of events -- that Gadhafi was killed in cross-fire -- was not supported by the photographs and videos. Forensics experts said the wounds appeared to have been caused by handgun fire at close range and not higher-velocity assault-rifle fire from a distance, raising the possibility that he was executed at the hands of anti-Gadhafi fighters. The conflicting accounts seemed to reflect an instability that could consume Libya after the euphoria fades about Gadhafi's death.
A senior Western official said there had been strong suspicions for days that Gadhafi and his sons were hiding in the northwest quadrant of the city, but that they might attempt to flee at any time. He said U.S.-supplied surveillance drones alerted NATO to an 80-vehicle convoy leaving that area at dawn, and that French jets blasted two of the convoy's armed vehicles. That's when Gadhafi and a handful of his men appeared to run from their convoy and take shelter in two drainage pipes, fighters on the ground said.
Jibril said Gadhafi was armed with a pistol and was wearing pants and a long-underwear shirt, a far cry from his famously flamboyant outfits. He did not resist arrest.
As he was being walked to a truck, he was shot in the right arm in an exchange of gunfire between his supporters and revolutionaries, Jibril said. The truck then got caught in crossfire as it headed toward a hospital, and Gadhafi was shot in the head, Jibril said. "That was the deadly shot," he said.
But in another version, told to Al Arabiya, Gadhafi was shot moments after his capture by an 18-year-old fighter who was hailed as a hero by his comrades.
Cellphone videos showed a crowd of fighters shoving and pulling Gadhafi, who had blood splattered on his face and soaking his shirt.
"We got you!" revolutionaries yelled as they crowded around him. Gadhafi struggled against them, stumbling and shouting "What do you want from me?" One fighter held him down, pressing shoes against his thigh in a show of contempt. Fighters propped him on the hood as they drove for several moments, apparently to parade him around.
Later footage showed fighters rolling Gadhafi's lifeless body over on the pavement, stripped to the waist and a pool of blood under his head. His body was then paraded on a car through Misrata, which suffered a brutal siege by regime forces during the eight-month civil war that eventually ousted Gadhafi. Crowds cheered, "The blood of martyrs will not go in vain."
Across Tripoli well past midnight, people packed into Martyrs' Square, shouting "God is great." In Sirte, the ecstatic former rebels celebrated the city's fall after weeks of fighting by firing endless rounds into the sky, pumping their guns, knives and even a meat cleaver in the air and singing the natinal anthem.
The outpouring of joy reflected the deep hatred of a leader who had brutally warped Libya with his idiosyncratic rule. After seizing power in a 1969 coup that toppled the monarchy, Gadhafi created a system of "rule by the masses," which supposedly meant every citizen participated in government but really meant all power was in his hands. He wielded it erratically, imposing random rules while crushing opponents, often hanging anyone who plotted against him in public squares.
Abroad, Gadhafi posed as a Third World leader, while funding terror groups. His regime was blamed in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, and the downing of a French passenger jet in Africa in 1989, as well as the 1986 bombing of a German discotheque frequented by U.S. servicemen that killed three people.
Thursday's final blows to the Gadhafi regime allow Libya's interim leadership, the National Transitional Council, to declare the country liberated -- something it will announce on Saturday. That begins a key timetable toward creating a new system: The council has always said it will form a new interim government within a month of liberation and will hold elections within eight months. But underscoring the challenge ahead in building a new Libya, revolutionary forces already have exchanged accusations that each is trying to dominate the new rule.
The Washington Post, McClatchy and New York Times contributed to this report
Article by: CHRISTOPHER GILLETTE and KIM GAMEL , Associated Press
SIRTE, LIBYA - Dragged from hiding in a drainage pipe, a wounded Moammar Gadhafi raised his hands and begged revolutionary fighters: "Don't kill me, my sons." Within an hour, he was dead, but not before jubilant Libyans had vented decades of hatred by pulling the dictator's hair and parading his bloodied body on the hood of a truck.
The death Thursday of Gadhafi, two months after he was driven from power and into hiding, decisively buries the nearly 42-year regime that had turned the oil-rich country into an international pariah and his own personal fiefdom. It also thrusts Libya into a new age in which its transitional leaders must overcome deep divisions and rebuild nearly all its institutions from scratch to achieve dreams of democracy.
"We have been waiting for this historic moment for a long time. Moammar Gadhafi has been killed," Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril said in the capital of Tripoli. "I would like to call on Libyans to put aside the grudges and only say one word, which is Libya, Libya, Libya."
President Obama told the Libyan people: "You have won your revolution."
Bloody images of Gadhafi's last moments in his hometown of Sirte -- where revolutionary fighters overwhelmed the last of his supporters after weeks of heavy battles -- raised questions over how he died after he was captured wounded, but alive.
The official version of events -- that Gadhafi was killed in cross-fire -- was not supported by the photographs and videos. Forensics experts said the wounds appeared to have been caused by handgun fire at close range and not higher-velocity assault-rifle fire from a distance, raising the possibility that he was executed at the hands of anti-Gadhafi fighters. The conflicting accounts seemed to reflect an instability that could consume Libya after the euphoria fades about Gadhafi's death.
A senior Western official said there had been strong suspicions for days that Gadhafi and his sons were hiding in the northwest quadrant of the city, but that they might attempt to flee at any time. He said U.S.-supplied surveillance drones alerted NATO to an 80-vehicle convoy leaving that area at dawn, and that French jets blasted two of the convoy's armed vehicles. That's when Gadhafi and a handful of his men appeared to run from their convoy and take shelter in two drainage pipes, fighters on the ground said.
Jibril said Gadhafi was armed with a pistol and was wearing pants and a long-underwear shirt, a far cry from his famously flamboyant outfits. He did not resist arrest.
As he was being walked to a truck, he was shot in the right arm in an exchange of gunfire between his supporters and revolutionaries, Jibril said. The truck then got caught in crossfire as it headed toward a hospital, and Gadhafi was shot in the head, Jibril said. "That was the deadly shot," he said.
But in another version, told to Al Arabiya, Gadhafi was shot moments after his capture by an 18-year-old fighter who was hailed as a hero by his comrades.
Cellphone videos showed a crowd of fighters shoving and pulling Gadhafi, who had blood splattered on his face and soaking his shirt.
"We got you!" revolutionaries yelled as they crowded around him. Gadhafi struggled against them, stumbling and shouting "What do you want from me?" One fighter held him down, pressing shoes against his thigh in a show of contempt. Fighters propped him on the hood as they drove for several moments, apparently to parade him around.
Later footage showed fighters rolling Gadhafi's lifeless body over on the pavement, stripped to the waist and a pool of blood under his head. His body was then paraded on a car through Misrata, which suffered a brutal siege by regime forces during the eight-month civil war that eventually ousted Gadhafi. Crowds cheered, "The blood of martyrs will not go in vain."
Across Tripoli well past midnight, people packed into Martyrs' Square, shouting "God is great." In Sirte, the ecstatic former rebels celebrated the city's fall after weeks of fighting by firing endless rounds into the sky, pumping their guns, knives and even a meat cleaver in the air and singing the natinal anthem.
The outpouring of joy reflected the deep hatred of a leader who had brutally warped Libya with his idiosyncratic rule. After seizing power in a 1969 coup that toppled the monarchy, Gadhafi created a system of "rule by the masses," which supposedly meant every citizen participated in government but really meant all power was in his hands. He wielded it erratically, imposing random rules while crushing opponents, often hanging anyone who plotted against him in public squares.
Abroad, Gadhafi posed as a Third World leader, while funding terror groups. His regime was blamed in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, and the downing of a French passenger jet in Africa in 1989, as well as the 1986 bombing of a German discotheque frequented by U.S. servicemen that killed three people.
Thursday's final blows to the Gadhafi regime allow Libya's interim leadership, the National Transitional Council, to declare the country liberated -- something it will announce on Saturday. That begins a key timetable toward creating a new system: The council has always said it will form a new interim government within a month of liberation and will hold elections within eight months. But underscoring the challenge ahead in building a new Libya, revolutionary forces already have exchanged accusations that each is trying to dominate the new rule.
The Washington Post, McClatchy and New York Times contributed to this report
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Occupy Wall Street movement goes global
New York, NY -- After triumphing in a standoff with the city over the continued protest of Wall Street at Liberty Square in Manhattan's financial district, the Occupy Wall Street movement has spread world wide today with demonstrations in over 1,500 cities globally and over 100 US cities from coast to coast. In New York, thousands marched in various protests by trade unions, students, environmentalists, and community groups. As occupiers flocked to Washington Square Park, two dozen participants were arrested at a nearby Citibank while attempting to withdraw their accounts from the global banking giant.
Occupy Wall Street began on September 17, 2011 in Liberty Square in Manhattan’s Financial District, and has spread to over 100 cities in the United States and actions in over 1,500 cities globally. Protesters say they are fighting back against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process, and the role of Wall Street in creating an economic collapse that has caused the greatest recession in generations.They say they aim to expose how the richest 1% of people who are writing the rules of the global economy are imposing an agenda of neoliberalism and economic inequality that is foreclosing our future.
While the spotlight is on New York, "occupy" actions are also happening all across the Midwestern and the Southern United States, from Ashland, Kentucky to Dallas, Texas to Ketchum, Idaho. Four hundred Iowans marched in Des Moines, Iowa Saturday as part of the day of action:
Protests filled streets of financial districts from Berlin, to Athens, Auckland to Mumbai, Tokyo to Seoul. In the UK over 3,000 people attempted to occupy the London Stock Exchange. "The financial system benefits a handful of banks at the expense of everyday people," said Spyro Van Leemnen, a 27-year old public relations agent in London and a core member of the demonstrators. "The same people who are responsible for the recession are getting away with massive bonuses. This is fundamentally unfair and undemocratic."
There were also demonstrations in South Africa, Canada, and Australia.
The movement's success is due in part to the use of online technologies and international social networking. The rapid spread of the protests is a grassroots response to the overwhelming inequalities perpetuated by the global financial system and transnational banks. More actions are expected in the coming weeks, and the Occupation of Liberty Square in Manhattan will continue indefinitely.
Occupy Wall Street began on September 17, 2011 in Liberty Square in Manhattan’s Financial District, and has spread to over 100 cities in the United States and actions in over 1,500 cities globally. Protesters say they are fighting back against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process, and the role of Wall Street in creating an economic collapse that has caused the greatest recession in generations.They say they aim to expose how the richest 1% of people who are writing the rules of the global economy are imposing an agenda of neoliberalism and economic inequality that is foreclosing our future.
While the spotlight is on New York, "occupy" actions are also happening all across the Midwestern and the Southern United States, from Ashland, Kentucky to Dallas, Texas to Ketchum, Idaho. Four hundred Iowans marched in Des Moines, Iowa Saturday as part of the day of action:
Protests filled streets of financial districts from Berlin, to Athens, Auckland to Mumbai, Tokyo to Seoul. In the UK over 3,000 people attempted to occupy the London Stock Exchange. "The financial system benefits a handful of banks at the expense of everyday people," said Spyro Van Leemnen, a 27-year old public relations agent in London and a core member of the demonstrators. "The same people who are responsible for the recession are getting away with massive bonuses. This is fundamentally unfair and undemocratic."
There were also demonstrations in South Africa, Canada, and Australia.
The movement's success is due in part to the use of online technologies and international social networking. The rapid spread of the protests is a grassroots response to the overwhelming inequalities perpetuated by the global financial system and transnational banks. More actions are expected in the coming weeks, and the Occupation of Liberty Square in Manhattan will continue indefinitely.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
U.S. foils Iranian plot to assassinate Saudi ambassador
STAR TRIBUNE
The United States has apparently broken up an Iranian plan to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States.
The U.S. criminal complaint said the Iranian plotters hired a would-be assassin in Mexico who was a paid informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and told U.S. authorities all about their plot, which they code-named "Chevrolet."
Manssor Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old U.S. citizen who also holds an Iranian passport, was charged along with Gholam Shakuri, who authorities said was a Quds Force member and is still at large in Iran. The Treasury Department listed addresses for Arbabsiar in two Texas cities — the Austin suburb of Round Rock and the Gulf city of Corpus Christi — and prosecutors say he frequently traveled to Mexico for business.
FBI Director Robert Mueller said many lives could have been lost. But Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said no explosives were actually placed and no one was in any danger because of the informant's cooperation with authorities.
Shortly after the announcement, the Treasury Department announced economic penalties against Arbabsiar and four Quds Force officers it says were involved. The Quds force is a feared special operations wing of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard military unit.
The Obama administration has often said that no option is off the table with Iran, a position that a U.S. official said had not changed Tuesday. But the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the policy publicly, said the emphasis now is on increasing diplomatic and economic pressure on Iran.
The alleged target was Al-Jubeir, a commoner educated at the University of North Texas and Georgetown University who was foreign affairs adviser to Saudi King Abdullah when he was crown prince. A month after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, in which 15 of the 19 Arab hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, Abdullah sent al-Jubeir to the United States to rebuild Saudi Arabia's image here. He was appointed ambassador in 2007.
The Saudi Embassy said in a statement that it appreciated the U.S. efforts to prevent the crime. "The attempted plot is a despicable violation of international norms, standards and conventions and is not in accord with the principles of humanity," the statement read.
The complaint alleges this past spring that Arbabsiar approached the DEA informant, who he believed was associated with a well-known Mexican drug cartel with access to military-grade weapons and explosives and has a history of assassinations. Justice Department officials say Arbabsiar initially asked the informant about his knowledge of plastic explosives for a plot to blow up a Saudi embassy.
But through subsequent meetings in Mexico over the past six months in which they spoke English, secretly recorded for U.S. authorities, Arbabsiar offered $1.5 million for the death of the ambassador. He eventually wired nearly $100,000 to an account number that the informant provided, authorities said.
Arbabsiar was arrested Sept. 29 at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and was ordered held without bail during his brief first court appearance Thursday afternoon. Prosecutors said he faces up to life in prison if convicted.
The complaint said that after his arrest, Arbabsiar made several calls to Shakuri in which they discussed the purchase of their "Chevrolet," and Shakuri urged Arbabsiar to "just do it quickly."
Iran's parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, called the Justice Department's claims a "childish game." "These are cheap claims. By giving it a wide media coverage, it was evident that they are trying to cover up their own problems," Larijani told an open session of the parliament Wednesday. "They (Americans) suffered a political stroke and learned that they had begun a childish game," he said. "We have normal relations with the Saudis. There is no reason for Iran to carry out such childish acts."
In New York, Alireza Miryousefi, head of the press office of the Iranian mission to the United Nations, sent Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon a letter "to express our outrage" over the allegations. "The U.S. allegation is, obviously, a politically-motivated move and a showcase of its long-standing animosity toward the Iranian nation," the letter said.
In the AP interview, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton predicted an Iranian denial, but added: "We want to reassure our friends that the complaints against Iran are well-founded."
Saudi Arabia is the main Sunni Muslim power center in the Middle East, and the one most closely allied with the United States, Iran's declared enemy. Iran is the most powerful and influential Shiite Muslim state. The two have long vied for power and influence across the region. Saudi Arabia and other countries like Bahrain have accused Iran of trying to create dissent in their countries this year, during democracy movements across the region.
But it is not clear what motive Iran might have had for trying to kill the Saudi official. An assassination might have ignited anti-American sentiment in Saudi Arabia and beyond by highlighting the close relationship, which is one explanation for Iran's alleged involvement. Yet Iranian fingerprints on the killing surely would have meant retribution that Iran's military is ill-prepaed to meet.
The United States has apparently broken up an Iranian plan to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States.
The U.S. criminal complaint said the Iranian plotters hired a would-be assassin in Mexico who was a paid informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and told U.S. authorities all about their plot, which they code-named "Chevrolet."
Manssor Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old U.S. citizen who also holds an Iranian passport, was charged along with Gholam Shakuri, who authorities said was a Quds Force member and is still at large in Iran. The Treasury Department listed addresses for Arbabsiar in two Texas cities — the Austin suburb of Round Rock and the Gulf city of Corpus Christi — and prosecutors say he frequently traveled to Mexico for business.
FBI Director Robert Mueller said many lives could have been lost. But Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said no explosives were actually placed and no one was in any danger because of the informant's cooperation with authorities.
Shortly after the announcement, the Treasury Department announced economic penalties against Arbabsiar and four Quds Force officers it says were involved. The Quds force is a feared special operations wing of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard military unit.
The Obama administration has often said that no option is off the table with Iran, a position that a U.S. official said had not changed Tuesday. But the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the policy publicly, said the emphasis now is on increasing diplomatic and economic pressure on Iran.
The alleged target was Al-Jubeir, a commoner educated at the University of North Texas and Georgetown University who was foreign affairs adviser to Saudi King Abdullah when he was crown prince. A month after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, in which 15 of the 19 Arab hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, Abdullah sent al-Jubeir to the United States to rebuild Saudi Arabia's image here. He was appointed ambassador in 2007.
The Saudi Embassy said in a statement that it appreciated the U.S. efforts to prevent the crime. "The attempted plot is a despicable violation of international norms, standards and conventions and is not in accord with the principles of humanity," the statement read.
The complaint alleges this past spring that Arbabsiar approached the DEA informant, who he believed was associated with a well-known Mexican drug cartel with access to military-grade weapons and explosives and has a history of assassinations. Justice Department officials say Arbabsiar initially asked the informant about his knowledge of plastic explosives for a plot to blow up a Saudi embassy.
But through subsequent meetings in Mexico over the past six months in which they spoke English, secretly recorded for U.S. authorities, Arbabsiar offered $1.5 million for the death of the ambassador. He eventually wired nearly $100,000 to an account number that the informant provided, authorities said.
Arbabsiar was arrested Sept. 29 at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and was ordered held without bail during his brief first court appearance Thursday afternoon. Prosecutors said he faces up to life in prison if convicted.
The complaint said that after his arrest, Arbabsiar made several calls to Shakuri in which they discussed the purchase of their "Chevrolet," and Shakuri urged Arbabsiar to "just do it quickly."
Iran's parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, called the Justice Department's claims a "childish game." "These are cheap claims. By giving it a wide media coverage, it was evident that they are trying to cover up their own problems," Larijani told an open session of the parliament Wednesday. "They (Americans) suffered a political stroke and learned that they had begun a childish game," he said. "We have normal relations with the Saudis. There is no reason for Iran to carry out such childish acts."
In New York, Alireza Miryousefi, head of the press office of the Iranian mission to the United Nations, sent Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon a letter "to express our outrage" over the allegations. "The U.S. allegation is, obviously, a politically-motivated move and a showcase of its long-standing animosity toward the Iranian nation," the letter said.
In the AP interview, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton predicted an Iranian denial, but added: "We want to reassure our friends that the complaints against Iran are well-founded."
Saudi Arabia is the main Sunni Muslim power center in the Middle East, and the one most closely allied with the United States, Iran's declared enemy. Iran is the most powerful and influential Shiite Muslim state. The two have long vied for power and influence across the region. Saudi Arabia and other countries like Bahrain have accused Iran of trying to create dissent in their countries this year, during democracy movements across the region.
But it is not clear what motive Iran might have had for trying to kill the Saudi official. An assassination might have ignited anti-American sentiment in Saudi Arabia and beyond by highlighting the close relationship, which is one explanation for Iran's alleged involvement. Yet Iranian fingerprints on the killing surely would have meant retribution that Iran's military is ill-prepaed to meet.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Perry backer says Mitt Romney is not a Christian
POLITICO
By ALEXANDER BURNS
Texas evangelical leader Robert Jeffress, the Baptist megachurch pastor who introduced Rick Perry at the Values Voter Summit, said Friday afternoon he does not believe Mitt Romney is a Christian.
Jeffress described Romney's Mormon faith as a “cult,” and said evangelicals had only one real option in the 2012 primaries.
“That is a mainstream view, that Mormonism is a cult,” Jeffress told reporters here. “Every true, born again follower of Christ ought to embrace a Christian over a non-Christian.” Asked by POLITICO if he believed Romney is a Christian, Jeffress answered: “No.”
Jeffress's comments represent the first major attack of the 2012 cycle on Romney over his membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, an issue that some Romney supporters believe cost the former Massachusetts governor in his last presidential run.
The attack on Romney wasn’t just faith-based. Jeffress called the Republican presidential candidate a “conservative out of convenience” who “does not have a consistent track record on the subject of marriage, on the sanctity of life.”
“I just do not believe that we as conservative Christians can expect him to stand strong for the issues that are important to us,” he said.
Jeffress said that he had not spoken with Perry about his views on Romney's faith and was “in no way speaking for him.” In an email, Perry campaign spokesman Robert Black said that the campaign didn’t choose Jeffress to introduce Perry and does not share his view of Mormonism.
The Romney campaign did not respond to a request for comment, nor did the campaign of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, the other Mormon candidate in the Republican presidential race.
Looking ahead to the general election, Jeffress warned that in a race between Romney and Obama, he believes many evangelicals will stay home and leave the GOP nominee without their votes. “I do not think evangelical voters are going to be motivated to go out and vote for Mitt Romney,” he said.
The conservative Christian leader said that he himself would vote for Romney and does not doubt that he is a good man. “I think he’s a fine family person,” Jeffress explained. “It is only faith in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone that qualifies you as a Christian.”
Jeffress said he does not believe that Mormonism is a disqualifier for the presidency, pointing out that constitutionally, the “government can impose no religious test.” “Private citizens can impose all kinds of religious tests,” he added.
By ALEXANDER BURNS
Texas evangelical leader Robert Jeffress, the Baptist megachurch pastor who introduced Rick Perry at the Values Voter Summit, said Friday afternoon he does not believe Mitt Romney is a Christian.
Jeffress described Romney's Mormon faith as a “cult,” and said evangelicals had only one real option in the 2012 primaries.
“That is a mainstream view, that Mormonism is a cult,” Jeffress told reporters here. “Every true, born again follower of Christ ought to embrace a Christian over a non-Christian.” Asked by POLITICO if he believed Romney is a Christian, Jeffress answered: “No.”
Jeffress's comments represent the first major attack of the 2012 cycle on Romney over his membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, an issue that some Romney supporters believe cost the former Massachusetts governor in his last presidential run.
The attack on Romney wasn’t just faith-based. Jeffress called the Republican presidential candidate a “conservative out of convenience” who “does not have a consistent track record on the subject of marriage, on the sanctity of life.”
“I just do not believe that we as conservative Christians can expect him to stand strong for the issues that are important to us,” he said.
Jeffress said that he had not spoken with Perry about his views on Romney's faith and was “in no way speaking for him.” In an email, Perry campaign spokesman Robert Black said that the campaign didn’t choose Jeffress to introduce Perry and does not share his view of Mormonism.
The Romney campaign did not respond to a request for comment, nor did the campaign of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, the other Mormon candidate in the Republican presidential race.
Looking ahead to the general election, Jeffress warned that in a race between Romney and Obama, he believes many evangelicals will stay home and leave the GOP nominee without their votes. “I do not think evangelical voters are going to be motivated to go out and vote for Mitt Romney,” he said.
The conservative Christian leader said that he himself would vote for Romney and does not doubt that he is a good man. “I think he’s a fine family person,” Jeffress explained. “It is only faith in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone that qualifies you as a Christian.”
Jeffress said he does not believe that Mormonism is a disqualifier for the presidency, pointing out that constitutionally, the “government can impose no religious test.” “Private citizens can impose all kinds of religious tests,” he added.
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