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From LA Times

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Hundreds of women lead protest in Afghanistan

Followed by about 500 men, they demand that the government purge anyone connected to the Taliban, war crimes or corruption. Many hold pictures of slain relatives.

by Tony Perry

1:04 AM PST, December 10, 2009

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan

Several hundred women, many holding aloft pictures of relatives killed by drug lords or Taliban militants, held a loud but nonviolent street protest today, demanding that President Hamid Karzai purge from his government anyone connected to corruption, war crimes or the Taliban.

"These women are being very brave," said the protest leader, her face hidden by a burka. "To be a woman in Afghanistan and an activist can mean death. We want justice for our loved ones!"

Afghan police, in riot gear, monitored the rally as it worked its way slowly through muddy streets to the United Nations building here, but they did nothing to disrupt the event.

The unusual display of political activism by women comes as Karzai is under increasing pressure to remove from his cabinet anyone connected to rampant corruption, including links to the flourishing drug trade. His own finance minister says corruption is the biggest threat to the future of Afghanistan.

Karzai, elected to a second term in a vote marred by ballot-stuffing, had been expected to announce his selections for cabinet positions this week but delayed his announcement until next week.

In a surprise visit to Kabul this week, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he hopes that Karzai appoints reformers.

Karzai declined to say who he will appoint but promised that his selections will satisfy the Afghan public and the international community.

The protest group, under the banner Social Assn. of Afghan Justice Seekers, said that "our people have gone into a nightmare of unbelieving" because of the disputed election and the fact that "the culture of impunity" still exists despite Karzai's vow to eliminate it.

While the women took the lead in the protest, about 500 men followed them in support, an unusual display in Afghan culture of men allowing women to take a leadership role.

The group spokeswoman, who gave her name as Lakifa, said many women are still afraid to demand an accounting of the death or disappearance of family members during the three decades of war that have ripped Afghanistan.

"We need to know about all of our martyrs, and the government needs to find the mass graves and the killers, not give them jobs and protect them," she said.

Although it was not a major focus of the protest, the group was also critical of President Obama's decision to send additional troops.

"The innocent and oppressed people will be the victims of American air and ground attacks," said the group's statement handed to Afghan and U.S. reporters.

Earlier this week, the Afghan Rights Monitor released a poll suggesting that half of Afghans think of the Karzai government as illegitimate because of the election fraud. The cabinet selections, said the group's director, Ajmal Samadi, represent a "win or lose time" for Karzai.

"Mr. Karzai must urgently implement transformational reforms in all aspects of his government or accept grave consequences," Samadi said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-afghanistan-protest11-2009dec11,0,1278622,print.story

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Five young Americans arrested in Pakistan

The men, all U.S. citizens about age 20 who recently disappeared from the Washington, D.C., area, were detained in the Punjab region for suspicious activities.

by Josh Meyer

10:06 PM PST, December 9, 2009

Reporting from Washington

Five young students who recently vanished from the Washington, D.C., area have been arrested in Pakistan, authorities confirmed Wednesday, raising fears that they are part of a recent wave of U.S.-based Muslims traveling to South Asia and other extremist hot spots to engage in terrorist activities.

Authorities did not release the names of those arrested but said they were all men, U.S. citizens in their late teens or early 20s. One of them left behind a video -- still being analyzed by authorities -- that shows American casualties, officials said. On the video, he says Muslims need to stand up and fight to defend their fellow Muslims, according to several sources familiar with the case.

In recent months, authorities have arrested or charged nearly a dozen other Americans or U.S.-based foreign nationals accused of going to Pakistan or Somalia for terrorist training or recruiting and financing those who did go. Authorities say it's an alarming trend that has put the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies on heightened alert.

In this case, the families of the five young men who suddenly disappeared went to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based civil rights and advocacy group. The families and the council "immediately determined that the FBI had to be brought into the situation," said the organization's spokesman, Ibrahim Hooper.

"Obviously, the circumstances were suspicious enough that we felt it was a matter for law enforcement."

The FBI and the Justice Department confirmed the arrests, but provided only broad outlines of the case because of an ongoing investigation by U.S. and Pakistani officials.

"We are working with Pakistan authorities to determine their identities and the nature of their business there, if indeed these are the students who had gone missing," said Supervisory Special Agent Katherine Schweit of the FBI's Washington field office.

The video found in Washington was being studied for content and possible clues about the men's motives for traveling to Pakistan, the FBI said.

A Washington-based Pakistani official said Pakistani police arrested the men Monday in the town of Sargodha in the Punjab region, a hotbed of militant activity.

Nadeem Kiani, a spokesman for the Pakistani Embassy who has been briefed on the initial investigation, said one of the men is of Pakistani descent, another is of Yemeni descent and a third is of Egyptian descent. He had no information on the other two.

He said the men flew into the southern port city of Karachi on Nov. 30, continued on to Lahore on Saturday and made it 100 miles farther, to Sargodha, before their arrest.

"While the initial investigation is ongoing, there are many questions. Who they are, what are their nationalities, what was the purpose of their visit to Karachi and Sargodha, and what were their intentions?" Kiani said.

The men have not been charged with any crime, he said, but they can be held for at least a week while being questioned.

Kiani said the men were arrested because they raised suspicions, especially in light of Pakistan's heightened security after numerous recent militant attacks. "If a person is in a certain area where he does not have apparently any business there, he can be arrested and investigated," Kiani said.

The arrests occurred in the home of a relative of the Pakistani American student, Kiani said, but he could not comment on reports by a Pakistani newspaper that the home was owned by a militant affiliated with Jaish-e-Muhammad, an Islamist militant group that the U.S. has designated a terrorist organization because it has been implicated in numerous attacks on India.

Hooper said the families were in anguish, wondering why the young men suddenly left Washington for a part of Pakistan known for hosting militant Islamist organizations.

The Associated Press said one of the men is Ramy Zamzam, a dental student at Howard University.

Samirah Ali, president of the university's Muslim Student Assn., said the FBI contacted her last week about Zamzam and told her that he had been missing for a week, the AP reported.

"He's a very nice guy, very cordial," Ali said of Zamzam.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-pakistan-arrests10-2009dec10,0,1339584,print.story

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Gunmen abduct 75 in Philippine village raid

Many of those kidnapped are children, some of whom are freed as negotiations continue. Authorities say there is no link to a mass slaying last month.

by Al Jacinto and John M. Glionna

2:30 AM PST, December 10, 2009

Reporting from Seoul and Zamboanga City, Philippines

Gunmen raided a remote village before dawn today and abducted at least 75 people -- most of them children -- in a restive southern province, a Philippine army spokesman said.

Within hours, assailants freed 18 captives, including 17 children, amid ongoing government negotiations, authorities said.

The incident was the second recent mass abduction in the Philippines.

Last month, 57 people, including 30 journalists, traveling in an election convoy were massacred in southern Maguindanao province. The mass killings, believed to involve battling warlords, led to the imposition of martial law in the province.

Authorities say the two hostage-taking episodes are not related.

Today, police and army forces converged on the town of Prosperidad, in the southern province of Agusan del Sur, after reports of attackers swarming the village, said Maj. Michelle Anayron, a spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division.

At least 15 armed mountain tribesmen stormed the village and rounded up two forest rangers, teachers and several parents who were present during the 6 a.m. attack, authorities said.

Police said the attackers initially abducted 125 people, but 50 hostages were able to escape. The gunmen, whom authorities had reportedly chased from a nearby village the previous day, immediately took the remaining hostages away to a forested area.

The estimated 57 remaining hostages, mostly adults, were brought to the nearby village of San Martin, said Police Chief Inspector Apollo Abao, who said the negotiations were ongoing.

The gunmen "were asking for blankets and food and water for the hostages," he said.

Described as bandits responsible for several robberies and killings in the area, the men reportedly used hostages as human shields as they made their escape.

Authorities said the abductions may have been a response to police attempts to arrest the leader of the gang, Ondo Perez, who has a string of arrest warrants and is connected to the massacre of a farming family.

Late in the day, the kidnappers demanded that the government drop all criminal charges against Perez and his group in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages, the police and military said.

"These demands are impossible," said Anayron. "The law of the land must be followed. It is up to the government to negotiate for the release of the hostages."

In October, tribesmen also seized seven government forest rangers in Agusan del Norte province and demanded that the government return their ancestral lands and cancel all forest agreements with commercial loggers in areas inhabited by indigenous tribes, authorities said.

The victims, employees of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, were freed in the town of Sibagat in Agusan del Sur province after the government canceled several forestry agreements with logging firms.

Both provinces are a known area for illegal loggers and a stronghold of New People's Army rebels.

Last year, some 500 leaders of indigenous tribes and representatives of nongovernmental organizations and the Catholic Church appealed to Manila to put an end to illegal logging and destructive mining in the province.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-philippines-abductions11-2009dec11,0,4550693,print.story

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From the Daily News

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Seniors fear losing home

by Dana Bartholomew, Staff Writer

Updated: 12/09/2009 08:49:35 PM PST

After Robert Peter Rogers was discharged from the Navy 40 years ago, he promised his sweetheart a hamburger.

No, a young Julie Ann told him. She didn't want hamburger. She wanted a house - where she could flip him all the burgers he wanted.

They got their house, whose property tax is due today. But the disabled couple could lose their home because of the suspension of a state property tax deferral program.

"It's scary," said Julie Ann Rogers, 59, standing next to her husband in the North Hills rambler where they've lived for 23 years. "Here you think you've finally settled into a place. You're of retirement age. And boom.

"We can't afford to pay the taxes."

The Rogers are among 5,700 Californians dropped last spring from a 30-year-old program letting low-income seniors put off paying property taxes.

The state property-tax postponement program, a casualty among billions in budget cuts, was self-sustaining. The state paid the tax bill and was paid back, with interest, when the owners either sold the home or died.

Without tax assistance, many many seniors are at risk of losing their homes.

While counties cannot force a home sale until taxes are unpaid for five years, banks can begin foreclosure proceedings when property taxes become delinquent.

Most of the seniors in the program paid a mortgage. And one of five live in Los Angeles County, with more participants than any other region of the state.

"It allowed them to make ends meet to stay in the house," said Jean Ross, director of the California Budget Project, which researches state spending affecting poor and middle class residents. "It was highly targeted. It was highly effective."

A San Fernando Valley lawmaker is now working to restore the tax deferment loans. Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield, D-Van Nuys, said the state's most vulnerable citizens - its seniors - bore the brunt of budget cuts at the bottom of the recession.

"They are in a very precarious position," Blumenfield said. "They are the folks on edge. They have a home. They have played by the rules. And at this point, can't pay their property taxes."

Blumenfield's bill, AB-1029, would reinstate the senior and disabled citizen property tax postponement program with $15 million devoted to a revolving loan fund.

It would also put a five-year moratorium on mortgage foreclosures against program participants for non-payment of property taxes.

The bill, now working its way through committees, may be considered by the legislature next month.

"We're getting desperate calls from people who can't pay their taxes. They don't know what to do. Some even talk about suicide," Blumenfield said. "If I can get assurance that these people aren't foreclosed upon ... to get this (program) up and running, it helps the seniors without burdening taxpayers. It's a win-win."

For many seniors on fixed incomes, relief can come none too soon.

Nadine, a senior on a fixed income of $1,100 a month, of which more than half goes to her mortgage, managed to pay the $675 biennial tax due today.

"It totally drained me," said Nadine, 81, of Lake Hughes, in northern Los Angeles County, who asked her last name not be used. "I don't have $10 to put gas in the tank. I can't go grocery shopping. I owe money for propane."

She said the tax program was her "only salvation."

Grace Leland managed to pay her taxes today because of an $1,800 loan from an ailing friend.

"I'm in a lot of trouble without this program," said Leland, 68, of Redondo Beach, who is disabled and can't afford the $3,600 tax payment on the home she bought in 1987.

For the Rogers, it could mean having to sell their home and move. Robert Peter, a former mechanic, is disabled and Julie Ann is recovering after brain surgery.

Together, they live on a $1,500-a-month disability check. Their yearly taxes, paid by state loans under the program since 2003, are $2,500.

Without the state deferment program, they couldn't afford today's tax bill.

"What am I going to do?," said Julie Ann Rogers. "I didn't know the money was due.

"(But) let somebody try to take this house from me, I'm gonna go kill `em."

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_13964570

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California economy won't be growing, national outlook will improve slowly

Daily News Wire Services

Updated: 12/09/2009 01:36:10 PM PST

The California economy will continue to show little to no growth heading into 2010, but the national outlook will begin improving slightly -- albeit slowly -- over the coming year, according to a forecast released Wednesday by UCLA economists.

According to the UCLA Anderson Forecast, unemployment will continue to rise for the balance of the year, topping out at 12.7 percent. The job outlook is expected to improve in 2011, but not significantly.

"Though the California economy will be growing in 2011, it will not be generating enough jobs to drive the unemployment rate below double digits until 2012," economist Jerry Nickelsburg wrote in the quarterly forecast.

"The stalled California economy is simply not producing the jobs required for the new entrants to the labor force over the next couple of years to prevent these elevated levels of unemployment to persist once the job layoffs cease," he wrote.

At the end of 2009, personal income is expected to show a decline of 2.7 percent for the year, but it is expected to increase by 0.4 percent in 2010 and 2.8 percent in 2011.

Although the Anderson Forecast paints a slightly rosier picture for the national economy, the state's continuing budget crisis means an extended reduction in state government spending that will blur California's financial picture.

"The keys to California's recovery remain exports of manufactured and agricultural goods, a recovery in U.S. consumption which increases the demand for Asian imports and for products from California's factories, increased public works construction and increased investment in business and equipment software," Nickelsburg wrote.

On the national front, UCLA economist David Shulman predicted that while the economy is in a "painful period of transition," he believes the next decade will "start from a cyclical trough and end at a peak," beginning with a slow growth in the U.S. economy next year.

The national unemployment rate will likely peak at 10.5 percent in the first quarter of 2010, then hover around 10 percent for the rest of the year.

"We hypothesize that one reason for the high rate of unemployment is that business firms who hitherto viewed office overhead costs as fixed now view them as variable," Shulman wrote. "Thus, where in prior recessions much of the marketing, finance, research and administrative employees were generally immune from layoffs, the new management regimes have made those functions vulnerable to severe cutbacks."

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_13960978

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From the Washington Times

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Obama accepts Nobel, says war has role in peace

by Matthew Mosk

President Obama acknowledged his accomplishments were "slight" as he accepted the Nobel Prize for Peace at a ceremony Thursday in Oslo, but he said he would collect the award nevertheless, in the hope he could inspire others to "reach for the world that ought to be."

In a speech that his aides said was written with history in mind, the president focused on an inherent contradiction etched in world history -- that peace is often reached only through the agony of armed conflict.

Mr. Obama delivered remarks that appeared to be aimed at those, particularly in Europe, who have long been critical of American military excursions. He issued what could only be seen as a cutting reminder to those critics: "Whatever mistakes we have made, the plain fact is this: the United States of America has helped underwrite global security for more than six decades with the blood of our citizens and the strength of our arms."

"We have borne this burden not because we seek to impose our will," Mr. Obama said. "We have done so out of enlightened self-interest -- because we seek a better future for our children and grandchildren, and we believe that their lives will be better if other peoples' children and grandchildren can live in freedom and prosperity."

The president sharply advised his audience to "make no mistake: evil does exist in the world."

"A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitlers armies," he said. "Negotiations cannot convince al Qaedas leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism -- it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason."

While the speech at times ranged into the esoteric, the president's exploration of the topic was concrete and immediate, as the man accepting the prize for peace was at the same time sending soldiers into battle. That conflict presented him with a daunting oratorical challenge -- one made more difficult because he has continued to encounter global realities that have further complicated his trip to Oslo.

He stepped to the podium scarcely a week after announcing his decision to expand the Afghanistan war effort and less than a week after his vision of a world without the threat of nuclear weapons received a major setback. The Nobel Prize jurors specifically cited that vision when they announced the award in October.

Last weekend, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty of 1991 (START) expired before the U.S. and Russia could complete negotiations on a new version. Though both countries have said they intend to honor the expired pact in the interim, the Russians have moved to shutter an American monitoring post that kept track of Russian missile production.

Even more difficult, the president acknowledged, was that so few Americans considered him to be worthy of the honor. A Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday found that 66 percent say the award was undeserved, compared with 26 percent who thought Mr. Obama had earned the prize.

"I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable controversy that your generous decision has generated," he said. "In part, this is because I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage."

"Compared to some of the giants of history who have received this prize -- Schweitzer and King; Marshall and Mandela -- my accomplishments are slight," the president said. "And then there are the men and women around the world who have been jailed and beaten in the pursuit of justice; those who toil in humanitarian organizations to relieve suffering; the unrecognized millions whose quiet acts of courage and compassion inspire even the most hardened of cynics. I cannot argue with those who find these men and women some known, some obscure to all but those they help -- to be far more deserving of this honor than I."

Mr. Obama said that while he did not "bring with me today a definitive solution to the problems of war," he would use the honor of the Nobel Prize to meet "challenges will require the same vision, hard work, and persistence" of the world leaders who brought peace to Europe and much of the rest of the globe.

To this end, he called for global standards on the use of force, the use of sanctions that "exact a real price" to help head off armed conflict, the aggressive promotion of human rights and economic security.

"I refuse to accept the idea that the 'isness' of man's present condition makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal 'oughtness' that forever confronts him," he said. "So let us reach for the world that ought to be -- that spark of the divine that still stirs within each of our souls."

"Somewhere today, in the here and now, a soldier sees he's outgunned but stands firm to keep the peace," Mr. Obama said. "Somewhere today, in this world, a young protester awaits the brutality of her government, but has the courage to march on. Somewhere today, a mother facing punishing poverty still takes the time to teach her child, who believes that a cruel world still has a place for his dreams. Let us live by their example."

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/10/obama-accepts-nobel-says-war-has-role-peace//print/

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Text of President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize speech

ASSOCIATED PRESS

The text of President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, delivered Thursday in Oslo, Norway, as provided by the White House:

Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Distinguished Members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, citizens of America, and citizens of the world:

I receive this honor with deep gratitude and great humility. It is an award that speaks to our highest aspirations -- that for all the cruelty and hardship of our world, we are not mere prisoners of fate. Our actions matter, and can bend history in the direction of justice.

And yet I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable controversy that your generous decision has generated. In part, this is because I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage. Compared to some of the giants of history who have received this prize -- Schweitzer and King; Marshall and Mandela -- my accomplishments are slight. And then there are the men and women around the world who have been jailed and beaten in the pursuit of justice; those who toil in humanitarian organizations to relieve suffering; the unrecognized millions whose quiet acts of courage and compassion inspire even the most hardened of cynics. I cannot argue with those who find these men and women -- some known, some obscure to all but those they help -- to be far more deserving of this honor than I.

But perhaps the most profound issue surrounding my receipt of this prize is the fact that I am the Commander-in-Chief of a nation in the midst of two wars. One of these wars is winding down. The other is a conflict that America did not seek; one in which we are joined by 43 other countries -- including Norway -- in an effort to defend ourselves and all nations from further attacks.

Still, we are at war, and I am responsible for the deployment of thousands of young Americans to battle in a distant land. Some will kill. Some will be killed. And so I come here with an acute sense of the cost of armed conflict -- filled with difficult questions about the relationship between war and peace, and our effort to replace one with the other.

These questions are not new. War, in one form or another, appeared with the first man. At the dawn of history, its morality was not questioned; it was simply a fact, like drought or disease -- the manner in which tribes and then civilizations sought power and settled their differences.

Over time, as codes of law sought to control violence within groups, so did philosophers, clerics and statesmen seek to regulate the destructive power of war. The concept of a "just war" emerged, suggesting that war is justified only when it meets certain preconditions: if it is waged as a last resort or in self-defense; if the forced used is proportional; and if, whenever possible, civilians are spared from violence.

For most of history, this concept of just war was rarely observed. The capacity of human beings to think up new ways to kill one another proved inexhaustible, as did our capacity to exempt from mercy those who look different or pray to a different God. Wars between armies gave way to wars between nations -- total wars in which the distinction between combatant and civilian became blurred. In the span of 30 years, such carnage would twice engulf this continent. And while it is hard to conceive of a cause more just than the defeat of the Third Reich and the Axis powers, World War II was a conflict in which the total number of civilians who died exceeded the number of soldiers who perished.

In the wake of such destruction, and with the advent of the nuclear age, it became clear to victor and vanquished alike that the world needed institutions to prevent another World War. And so, a quarter century after the United States Senate rejected the League of Nations -- an idea for which Woodrow Wilson received this Prize -- America led the world in constructing an architecture to keep the peace: a Marshall Plan and a United Nations, mechanisms to govern the waging of war, treaties to protect human rights, prevent genocide and restrict the most dangerous weapons.

In many ways, these efforts succeeded. Yes, terrible wars have been fought, and atrocities committed. But there has been no Third World War. The Cold War ended with jubilant crowds dismantling a wall. Commerce has stitched much of the world together. Billions have been lifted from poverty. The ideals of liberty, self-determination, equality and the rule of law have haltingly advanced. We are the heirs of the fortitude and foresight of generations past, and it is a legacy for which my own country is rightfully proud.

A decade into a new century, this old architecture is buckling under the weight of new threats. The world may no longer shudder at the prospect of war between two nuclear superpowers, but proliferation may increase the risk of catastrophe. Terrorism has long been a tactic, but modern technology allows a few small men with outsized rage to murder innocents on a horrific scale.

Moreover, wars between nations have increasingly given way to wars within nations. The resurgence of ethnic or sectarian conflicts, the growth of secessionist movements, insurgencies and failed states have increasingly trapped civilians in unending chaos. In todays wars, many more civilians are killed than soldiers; the seeds of future conflict are sown, economies are wrecked, civil societies torn asunder, refugees amassed and children scarred.

I do not bring with me today a definitive solution to the problems of war. What I do know is that meeting these challenges will require the same vision, hard work and persistence of those men and women who acted so boldly decades ago. And it will require us to think in new ways about the notions of just war and the imperatives of a just peace.

We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth that we will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes. There will be times when nations -- acting individually or in concert -- will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified.

I make this statement mindful of what Martin Luther King said in this same ceremony years ago: "Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: It merely creates new and more complicated ones." As someone who stands here as a direct consequence of Dr. Kings lifes work, I am living testimony to the moral force of non-violence. I know there is nothing weak, nothing passive, nothing naive in the creed and lives of Gandhi and King.

But as a head of state sworn to protect and defend my nation, I cannot be guided by their examples alone. I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people. For make no mistake: Evil does exist in the world. A nonviolent movement could not have halted Hitlers armies. Negotiations cannot convince al-Qaidas leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism -- it is a recognition of history, the imperfections of man and the limits of reason.

I raise this point because in many countries there is a deep ambivalence about military action today, no matter the cause. At times, this is joined by a reflexive suspicion of America, the worlds sole military superpower.

Yet the world must remember that it was not simply international institutions -- not just treaties and declarations -- that brought stability to a post-World War II world. Whatever mistakes we have made, the plain fact is this: The United States of America has helped underwrite global security for more than six decades with the blood of our citizens and the strength of our arms. The service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform has promoted peace and prosperity from Germany to Korea, and enabled democracy to take hold in places like the Balkans. We have borne this burden not because we seek to impose our will. We have done so out of enlightened self-interest -- because we seek a better future for our children and grandchildren, and we believe that their lives will be better if other people's children and grandchildren can live in freedom and prosperity.

So yes, the instruments of war do have a role to play in preserving the peace. And yet this truth must coexist with another -- that no matter how justified, war promises human tragedy. The soldiers courage and sacrifice is full of glory, expressing devotion to country, to cause and to comrades in arms. But war itself is never glorious, and we must never trumpet it as such.

So part of our challenge is reconciling these two seemingly irreconcilable truths -- that war is sometimes necessary, and war is at some level an expression of human feelings. Concretely, we must direct our effort to the task that President Kennedy called for long ago. "Let us focus," he said, "on a more practical, more attainable peace, based not on a sudden revolution in human nature but on a gradual evolution in human institutions."

What might this evolution look like? What might these practical steps be?

To begin with, I believe that all nations -- strong and weak alike -- must adhere to standards that govern the use of force. I -- like any head of state -- reserve the right to act unilaterally if necessary to defend my nation. Nevertheless, I am convinced that adhering to standards strengthens those who do, and isolates -- and weakens -- those who dont.

The world rallied around America after the 9/11 attacks, and continues to support our efforts in Afghanistan, because of the horror of those senseless attacks and the recognized principle of self-defense. Likewise, the world recognized the need to confront Saddam Hussein when he invaded Kuwait -- a consensus that sent a clear message to all about the cost of aggression.

Furthermore, America cannot insist that others follow the rules of the road if we refuse to follow them ourselves. For when we dont, our action can appear arbitrary, and undercut the legitimacy of future intervention -- no matter how justified.

This becomes particularly important when the purpose of military action extends beyond self-defense or the defense of one nation against an aggressor. More and more, we all confront difficult questions about how to prevent the slaughter of civilians by their own government, or to stop a civil war whose violence and suffering can engulf an entire region.

I believe that force can be justified on humanitarian grounds, as it was in the Balkans, or in other places that have been scarred by war. Inaction tears at our conscience and can lead to more costly intervention later. That is why all responsible nations must embrace the role that militaries with a clear mandate can play to keep the peace.

Americas commitment to global security will never waver. But in a world in which threats are more diffuse, and missions more complex, America cannot act alone. This is true in Afghanistan. This is true in failed states like Somalia, where terrorism and piracy is joined by famine and human suffering. And sadly, it will continue to be true in unstable regions for years to come.

The leaders and soldiers of NATO countries -- and other friends and allies -- demonstrate this truth through the capacity and courage they have shown in Afghanistan. But in many countries, there is a disconnect between the efforts of those who serve and the ambivalence of the broader public. I understand why war is not popular. But I also know this: The belief that peace is desirable is rarely enough to achieve it. Peace requires responsibility. Peace entails sacrifice. That is why NATO continues to be indispensable. That is why we must strengthen U.N. and regional peacekeeping, and not leave the task to a few countries. That is why we honor those who return home from peacekeeping and training abroad to Oslo and Rome; to Ottawa and Sydney; to Dhaka and Kigali -- we honor them not as makers of war, but as wagers of peace.

Let me make one final point about the use of force. Even as we make difficult decisions about going to war, we must also think clearly about how we fight it. The Nobel Committee recognized this truth in awarding its first prize for peace to Henry Dunant -- the founder of the Red Cross, and a driving force behind the Geneva Conventions.

Where force is necessary, we have a moral and strategic interest in binding ourselves to certain rules of conduct. And even as we confront a vicious adversary that abides by no rules, I believe that the United States of America must remain a standard bearer in the conduct of war. That is what makes us different from those whom we fight. That is a source of our strength. That is why I prohibited torture. That is why I ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed. And that is why I have reaffirmed Americas commitment to abide by the Geneva Conventions. We lose ourselves when we compromise the very ideals that we fight to defend. And we honor those ideals by upholding them not just when it is easy, but when it is hard.

I have spoken to the questions that must weigh on our minds and our hearts as we choose to wage war. But let me turn now to our effort to avoid such tragic choices, and speak of three ways that we can build a just and lasting peace.

First, in dealing with those nations that break rules and laws, I believe that we must develop alternatives to violence that are tough enough to change behavior -- for if we want a lasting peace, then the words of the international community must mean something. Those regimes that break the rules must be held accountable. Sanctions must exact a real price. Intransigence must be met with increased pressure -- and such pressure exists only when the world stands together as one.

One urgent example is the effort to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, and to seek a world without them. In the middle of the last century, nations agreed to be bound by a treaty whose bargain is clear: All will have access to peaceful nuclear power; those without nuclear weapons will forsake them; and those with nuclear weapons will work toward disarmament. I am committed to upholding this treaty. It is a centerpiece of my foreign policy. And I am working with President Medvedev to reduce America and Russias nuclear stockpiles.

But it is also incumbent upon all of us to insist that nations like Iran and North Korea do not game the system. Those who claim to respect international law cannot avert their eyes when those laws are flouted. Those who care for their own security cannot ignore the danger of an arms race in the Middle East or East Asia. Those who seek peace cannot stand idly by as nations arm themselves for nuclear war.

The same principle applies to those who violate international law by brutalizing their own people. When there is genocide in Darfur, systematic rape in Congo or repression in Burma -- there must be consequences. And the closer we stand together, the less likely we will be faced with the choice between armed intervention and complicity in oppression.

This brings me to a second point -- the nature of the peace that we seek. For peace is not merely the absence of visible conflict. Only a just peace based upon the inherent rights and dignity of every individual can truly be lasting.

It was this insight that drove drafters of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights after the Second World War. In the wake of devastation, they recognized that if human rights are not protected, peace is a hollow promise.

And yet all too often, these words are ignored. In some countries, the failure to uphold human rights is excused by the false suggestion that these are Western principles, foreign to local cultures or stages of a nations development. And within America, there has long been a tension between those who describe themselves as realists or idealists -- a tension that suggests a stark choice between the narrow pursuit of interests or an endless campaign to impose our values.

I reject this choice. I believe that peace is unstable where citizens are denied the right to speak freely or worship as they please, choose their own leaders or assemble without fear. Pent up grievances fester, and the suppression of tribal and religious identity can lead to violence. We also know that the opposite is true. Only when Europe became free did it finally find peace. America has never fought a war against a democracy, and our closest friends are governments that protect the rights of their citizens. No matter how callously defined, neither Americas interests -- nor the worlds -- are served by the denial of human aspirations.

So even as we respect the unique culture and traditions of different countries, America will always be a voice for those aspirations that are universal. We will bear witness to the quiet dignity of reformers like Aung Sang Suu Kyi; to the bravery of Zimbabweans who cast their ballots in the face of beatings; to the hundreds of thousands who have marched silently through the streets of Iran. It is telling that the leaders of these governments fear the aspirations of their own people more than the power of any other nation. And it is the responsibility of all free people and free nations to make clear to these movements that hope and history are on their side.

Let me also say this: The promotion of human rights cannot be about exhortation alone. At times, it must be coupled with painstaking diplomacy. I know that engagement with repressive regimes lacks the satisfying purity of indignation. But I also know that sanctions without outreach -- and condemnation without discussion -- can carry forward a crippling status quo. No repressive regime can move down a new path unless it has the choice of an open door.

In light of the Cultural Revolutions horrors, Nixons meeting with Mao appeared inexcusable -- and yet it surely helped set China on a path where millions of its citizens have been lifted from poverty, and connected to open societies. Pope John Pauls engagement with Poland created space not just for the Catholic Church, but for labor leaders like Lech Walesa. Ronald Reagans efforts on arms control and embrace of perestroika not only improved relations with the Soviet Union, but empowered dissidents throughout Eastern Europe. There is no simple formula here. But we must try as best we can to balance isolation and engagement, pressure and incentives, so that human rights and dignity are advanced over time.

Third, a just peace includes not only civil and political rights -- it must encompass economic security and opportunity. For true peace is not just freedom from fear, but freedom from want.

It is undoubtedly true that development rarely takes root without security; it is also true that security does not exist where human beings do not have access to enough food, or clean water, or the medicine they need to survive. It does not exist where children cannot aspire to a decent education or a job that supports a family. The absence of hope can rot a society from within.

And that is why helping farmers feed their own people -- or nations educate their children and care for the sick -- is not mere charity. It is also why the world must come together to confront climate change. There is little scientific dispute that if we do nothing, we will face more drought, famine and mass displacement that will fuel more conflict for decades. For this reason, it is not merely scientists and activists who call for swift and forceful action -- it is military leaders in my country and others who understand that our common security hangs in the balance.

Agreements among nations. Strong institutions. Support for human rights. Investments in development. All of these are vital ingredients in bringing about the evolution that President Kennedy spoke about. And yet, I do not believe that we will have the will, or the staying power, to complete this work without something more -- and that is the continued expansion of our moral imagination, an insistence that there is something irreducible that we all share.

As the world grows smaller, you might think it would be easier for human beings to recognize how similar we are, to understand that we all basically want the same things, that we all hope for the chance to live out our lives with some measure of happiness and fulfillment for ourselves and our families.

And yet, given the dizzying pace of globalization, and the cultural leveling of modernity, it should come as no surprise that people fear the loss of what they cherish about their particular identities -- their race, their tribe and, perhaps most powerfully, their religion. In some places, this fear has led to conflict. At times, it even feels like we are moving backwards. We see it in the Middle East, as the conflict between Arabs and Jews seems to harden. We see it in nations that are torn asunder by tribal lines.

Most dangerously, we see it in the way that religion is used to justify the murder of innocents by those who have distorted and defiled the great religion of Islam, and who attacked my country from Afghanistan. These extremists are not the first to kill in the name of God; the cruelties of the Crusades are amply recorded. But they remind us that no Holy War can ever be a just war. For if you truly believe that you are carrying out divine will, then there is no need for restraint -- no need to spare the pregnant mother, or the medic, or even a person of ones own faith. Such a warped view of religion is not just incompatible with the concept of peace, but the purpose of faith -- for the one rule that lies at the heart of every major religion is that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us.

Adhering to this law of love has always been the core struggle of human nature. We are fallible. We make mistakes, and fall victim to the temptations of pride, and power, and sometimes evil. Even those of us with the best intentions will at times fail to right the wrongs before us.

But we do not have to think that human nature is perfect for us to still believe that the human condition can be perfected. We do not have to live in an idealized world to still reach for those ideals that will make it a better place. The nonviolence practiced by men like Gandhi and King may not have been practical or possible in every circumstance, but the love that they preached -- their faith in human progress -- must always be the North Star that guides us on our journey.

For if we lose that faith -- if we dismiss it as silly or naive, if we divorce it from the decisions that we make on issues of war and peace -- then we lose what is best about humanity. We lose our sense of possibility. We lose our moral compass.

Like generations have before us, we must reject that future. As Dr. King said at this occasion so many years ago: "I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the 'isness' of mans present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal 'oughtness' that forever confronts him."

So let us reach for the world that ought to be -- that spark of the divine that still stirs within each of our souls. Somewhere today, in the here and now, a soldier sees hes outgunned but stands firm to keep the peace. Somewhere today, in this world, a young protestor awaits the brutality of her government, but has the courage to march on. Somewhere today, a mother facing punishing poverty still takes the time to teach her child, who believes that a cruel world still has a place for his dreams.

Let us live by their example. We can acknowledge that oppression will always be with us, and still strive for justice. We can admit the intractability of deprivation, and still strive for dignity. We can understand that there will be war, and still strive for peace. We can do that -- for that is the story of human progress; that is the hope of all the world; and at this moment of challenge, that must be our work here on Earth.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/10/text-obamas-nobel-peace-prize-speech//print/

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Museum racing to name every victim of Holocaust

by Jay Bushinsky

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

JERUSALEM | Motivated by the principle that "every victim has a name," Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum has identified nearly 4 million Jews who lost their lives to Nazi Germany's genocide and is trying to identify the rest while survivors are still alive.

"We are in a race against time," said American-born Cynthia Wroclawski, outreach manager of the Shoah Victims' Names Recovery Project. "Our mission is to reach people who have information."

Ms. Wroclawski said 3.6 million names - just over half the estimated Jewish death toll - have been registered to date.

The monumental task began in 1955, two years after Yad Vashem was established by Israel's parliament, and accelerated in the 1990s in part because of technical advancements such as the creation of a computerized database.

Once completed, the list could help put to rest arguments over whether the death toll has been inflated for political reasons, such as to justify the creation of the modern Jewish state.

Although the number of Jews who perished in Nazi death camps from gas, firing squads, medical experimentation, illness or malnutrition is commonly given as 6 million, analysts differ on the precise figure.

Jacob Lestchinsky, the demographer who calculated the death toll immediately after the end of World War II, concluded that there were 5.95 million Jewish victims. Raul Hilberg, a U.S.-based historian, put it at 5.1 million. Yisrael Gutman and Robert Rozett estimated that between 5.59 million and 5.86 million died, and Wolfgang Benz, a German scholar, says the range is between 5.29 million and 6 million.

Most of Yad Vashem's data have been drawn from the "pages of testimony" given by Holocaust survivors and others who have evidence that their relatives or friends were killed by the Nazis from the inception of Adolf Hitler's regime in January 1933 to the end of World War II in May 1945.

Ms. Wroclawski cited an example of the kind of evidence that has been compiled.

"In 1941, David Berger, an electrician who was 21 years old at the time, sent a letter from occupied Lithuania, to his girlfriend who had managed to reach Palestine saying, 'I would like someone to remember that there lived a person named David Berger,' " she said.

Major international archives, such as that of the International Tracing Service in Bad Arolsen, Germany, have hardly been tapped. Its files contain the names of 50 million people, most of them non-Jews, who perished in Nazi death camps or worked as slave laborers.

Until two years ago, the archive was off-limits, except to Holocaust survivors. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which was given custody of the records in 1955 - a decade after they were collected by U.S. and British troops by order of the Allied military command - did not let historians, other researchers or lawyers examine the material.

In 1958, the ICRC did allow a team from Yad Vashem and the Israeli Foreign Ministry to microfilm almost all of the documents that pertain to Jews. The excluded material - about 5 percent of the data - related to "kapos," inmates used by SS guards to control the prisoners - as well as purported informers, thieves and other supposed deviants.

Ms. Wroclawski estimates that it will take two more years for the digitization process to be completed. At that point, she said, it should be possible to find the names of most of the Holocaust's victims.

Moshe Zimmermann of Jerusalem's Hebrew University, a renowned scholar of German history and of the German-Jewish community in particular, said that estimate was far too optimistic.

"Yad Vashem is barely halfway through the name-gathering project," he said, but it will take at least 14 years for it to be completed.

Mr. Zimmermann noted that until the Nazi era, most of Germany's Jews lived in well-organized communities but substantial numbers did not consider themselves Jewish. Even though the Nazis forced many to trace their Jewish identities back to their grandparents, records remained incomplete. As a result, some of the German Jews who perished may remain anonymous.

Another complicating factor, said Shlomo Aronson, also of the Hebrew University, is that the Waffen-SS and other Nazi units that engaged in mass killings throughout Eastern Europe did not record the names of their victims. Nor were Soviet Jewish casualties registered as Jews. In contrast, there were detailed records of local Jewish communities in France, the Netherlands, Belgium and other Western European countries.

Name-gathering efforts have not been limited to Israel's Yad Vashem. A similar project was undertaken by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the U.S., which has a massive genealogical database used for posthumous baptisms.

Ernest Michel, honorary chairman of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors, criticized the Mormon project.

He issued a statement in 2008 saying: "We ask you to respect our Judaism just as we respect your religion."

Mr. Michel, whose parents perished in Auschwitz, added: "We ask you to leave our 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust alone; they suffered enough."

Mike Otterson, a spokesman for the Mormon church, said he regretted Mr. Michel's stand and that "it belies the long and valued mutual respect that has been had in past years."

In 1995, the Mormons reportedly agreed not to perform baptisms by proxy or other rites for Holocaust victims except in rare instances in which the victims have living descendants who are Mormons.

Asked whether collecting and publishing the names of Holocaust victims would provide an effective rebuttal to those who deny that the Holocaust occurred or say that it affected relatively few Jews, Ms. Wroclawski said that was not the intention.

"Yad Vashem does not argue with Holocaust deniers," she said.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/10/racing-time-to-name-every-victim//print/

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From the Wall Street Journal

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U.K. Convicts Failed Jet Bomber

Associated Press

LONDON -- A Muslim man was convicted Wednesday of conspiracy to murder for his role in a plan to blow up trans-Atlantic passenger jets using liquid explosives, a plot that sparked sweeping restrictions for passengers carrying on liquids and gels.

Adam Khatib, 22 years old, was convicted of plotting with Abdulla Ahmed Ali, who in September was sentenced to 40 years in prison for leading a team that planned to down at least seven trans-Atlantic flights in simultaneous attacks that officials say would have killed thousands.

Mr. Khatib's co-defendant Mohammed Shamin Uddin, 39, was found guilty of possessing materials that could be useful to a person preparing or committing an act of terrorism. Nabeel Hussain, 25, was also found guilty of preparing for terrorism and for possessing several items that could be used for terrorism.

Messrs. Khatib and Hussain were convicted by a majority of 11 jurors to one following the eight-week trial. Mr. Uddin was convicted unanimously. Prosecutors have said that all three defendants had been prepared to help Mr. Ali, but they also acknowledged they may not have known all the details of the plan.

Authorities broke up the terrorist ring in August of 2006. It caused massive disruptions at London's Heathrow Airport and brought new restrictions, including limits on the amount of liquids and gels passengers can take on board. The restrictions remain in place to this day.

The plot was described by former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte as "on a par, or something similar to 9/11." Britain's then-Home Secretary Alan Johnson said that, if successful, the attacks would have wrought "murder and mayhem on an unimaginable scale."

Three other men -- Assad Sarwar, Tanvir Hussain and Umar Islam -- were also convicted of playing key roles in preparing for the attacks at the same time as Mr. Ali.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126038244809583793.html#printMode

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From the White House

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Remarks by the President on Community Health Centers

South Court Auditorium

12:39 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, everybody. I am pleased that you could all join us today as we announce three new initiatives to help our community health centers provide better care to people in need all across America. (Applause.)

I want to thank our Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius; our Surgeon General, Dr. Regina Benjamin; our Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, Dr. Mary Wakefield; and our Deputy Secretary of HHS, Bill Corr, for being here today and for their outstanding work to support community health centers. There they are. (Applause.) By the way, Regina, it's good to see you in your uniform. (Laughter.) We had been waiting for that.

I also want to thank the many members of Congress who are with us today both in the audience and up on the stage, particularly Bernie Sanders and Representative Jim Clyburn. We are grateful for all that you've done. (Applause.)

And I especially want to recognize the leaders here today from health centers across the country for what all of you are doing in your communities every day –- working long hours to provide quality care at prices that people can afford, with the dignity and respect they deserve, and in a way that takes into account the challenges that they face in their lives.

For you folks, health care isn't just about diagnosing patients and treating illness –- it's about caring for people and promoting wellness. It's about emphasizing education and prevention, and helping people lead healthier lives so they don't get sick in the first place.

And it works. Studies show that people living near a health center are less likely to go to the emergency room and less likely to have unmet critical medical needs. CHCs are proven to reduce ethnic and racial disparities in care. And the medical expenses of regular CHC patients are nearly 25 percent lower than those folks who get their care elsewhere -- 25 percent lower.

So you can see why, in a speech marking the first anniversary of the first community health centers in America, Senator Ted Kennedy declared, "You have not only assured the best in health care for your families and neighbors, but you've also begun a minor revolution in American medicine."

Now, unfortunately, today, nearly 45 years later, that care has yet to reach many of the folks in this country who need it most. Today, millions of Americans still have difficulty accessing primary health care, and many of them are uninsured. Many have insurance, but live in underserved areas, whether in urban or rural communities. So they don't get regular checkups, they don't get routine screenings. When they get sick or hurt, they tough it out and hope for the best, and when things get bad enough they head to the emergency room.

So we end up treating complications, crises and chronic conditions that could have been prevented in the first place. And the cost is measured not just in dollars spent on health care, or in lost workplace absences and lower productivity, but in the kind of raw human suffering that has no place in the United States of America in the year 2009.

No matter what party we belong to, or where on the political spectrum we fall, none of us thinks this is acceptable. None of us would defend this system. And that's why we've taken up the cause of health insurance reform this year. It's why many of the folks in this room fought so hard to ensure that the Recovery Act included unprecedented investments –- a total of $2 billion –- to upgrade and expand our health centers –- investments that embody the act's core mission: to help folks hardest hit by this recession, to put people back to work, and to leave a legacy of improvements that will continue to lift up communities for generations to come.

Today, we're well on our way to meeting these goals. We've created or saved up to 1.6 million jobs, according to the CBO -- the Congressional Budget Office -- through the Recovery Act. Our economy is growing again. We're doubling our capacity in renewable energy and rebuilding schools and laboratories, railways, and highways. Yesterday, the Kaiser Family Foundation issued a new report showing the Recovery Act has helped many states keep and improve access to health insurance for families in need.

And so far, we've allocated nearly $1.4 billion to health centers across America so they can get to work building and renovating and hiring new staff this year. And today, I'm pleased to announce that we're awarding more than $500 million to 85 centers in more than 30 states and Puerto Rico that are providing critical care for so many folks with nowhere else to turn. (Applause.)

We're investing in places like Canyonlands Community Health Care in Arizona, that has one facility operating in a building originally constructed as a chicken coop and another in a cramped fire station. We're investing in places like Avis Goodwin Community Health center in Dover, New Hampshire, that's become so overcrowded -- you must be from there. (Laughter.) It's become so overcrowded the doctors are using bathrooms and closets as offices. We're investing in Bucksport Regional Health Center in Maine, where doctors are double-booked and the waiting rooms are often standing room only. We're giving places like these the funding they need to upgrade and expand their facilities so they can meet the skyrocketing demand for services that's come with this economic downturn.

But we won't just want our health centers to provide more care for more patients; we want them to provide better care as well. So starting today, we're making $88 million in funding available for centers to adopt new health information technology systems to manage their administrative and financial matters and transfer old paper files to electronic medical records. (Applause.) These investments won't just increase efficiency and lower costs, they'll improve the quality of care as well –- preventing countless medical errors, and allowing providers to spend less time with paperwork and more time with patients.

That's the purpose of the final initiative I'm announcing today as well -– a demonstration project to evaluate the benefits of the "medical home" model of care that many of our health centers aspire to. The idea here is very simple: that in order for care to be effective, it needs to be coordinated. It's a model where the center that serves as your medical home might help you keep track of your prescriptions, or get the referrals you need, or work with you to develop a plan of care that ensures your providers are working together to keep you healthy.

So taken together, these three initiatives –- funding for construction, technology, and a medical home demonstration –- they won't just save money over the long term and create more jobs, they're also going to give more people the peace of mind of knowing that health care will be there for them and their families when they need it.

And ultimately, that's what health insurance reform is really about. That's what the members of Congress here today will be voting on in the coming weeks. (Applause.)

Now, let me just end by saying a little bit about this broader effort. I know it's been a long road. (Laughter.) I know it's been a tough fight. But I also know the reason we've taken up this cause is the very same reason why so many members from both parties are here today –- because no matter what our politics are, we know that when it comes to health care, the people we serve deserve better.

The legislation in Congress today contains both Democratic ideas and Republican ideas, and plenty of compromises in between. The Senate made critical progress last night with a creative new framework that I believe will help pave the way for final passage and a historic achievement on behalf of the American people. I support this effort, especially since it's aimed at increasing choice and competition and lowering cost. So I want to thank all of you for sticking with it, for all those late nights, all the long weekends that you guys have put in. With so much at stake, this is well worth all of our efforts.

It is now my pleasure to sign the memo that will direct Secretary Sebelius to get started on that medical home demonstration. So let's do that. (Applause.)

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-community-health-centers

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From the Department of Homeland Security

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Secretary Napolitano Unveils “Virtual USA” Information-Sharing Initiative

Release Date: December 9, 2009

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today officially launched Virtual USA, an innovative information-sharing initiative—developed in collaboration with the emergency response community and state and local governments across the nation—that helps federal, state, local and tribal first responders communicate during emergencies.

“Our first responders need interoperable tools to make accurate and timely decisions during emergencies,” said Secretary Napolitano. “Virtual USA makes it possible for new and existing technologies to work together seamlessly during disaster response and recovery and gives the public an opportunity to contribute information in real-time to support the efforts of police officers, firefighters and other emergency management officials.”

The announcement came as part of the White House Open Government Initiative and reflects President Obama and Secretary Napolitano’s shared commitment to making government more efficient and fostering a culture of transparency, participation and collaboration.

Virtual USA links disparate tools and technologies in order to share the location and status of critical assets and information—such as power and water lines, flood detectors, helicopter-capable landing sites, emergency vehicle and ambulance locations, weather and traffic conditions, evacuation routes, and school and government building floor plans—across federal, state, local and tribal governments.

Virtual USA:

Developed by the DHS Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), Virtual USA currently operates as a pilot in eight states—Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Virginia and Tennessee—with plans to incorporate additional states underway. In Virginia alone, Virtual USA has reduced response times to incidents involving hazardous materials by 70 percent.

For more information, visit www.dhs.gov

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1260375414161.shtm

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From the Department of Justice

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Georgia Couple Charged with Human Trafficking and Immigration Violations for Exploiting Woman from Swaziland

A federal grand jury in Atlanta has indicted an Ellenwood, Ga., husband and wife, Juna Gwendolyn Babb, 54, and Michael J. Babb, 53, on charges of conspiracy, forced labor, document servitude, which is confiscating someone’s passport and visa, and harboring an alien for financial gain, the Justice Department announced.

The indictment was handed down last week by a federal grand jury in Atlanta and remained sealed until the defendants were arrested today. They are expected to make their initial appearances today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Linda T. Walker.

According to the indictment and information presented in court: between about March 2005, and continuing until on or about Feb. 7, 2007, Juna Gwendolyn Babb and Michael J. Babb allegedly conspired to compel the labor of the victim by enticing her to come to the United States from the Kingdom of Swaziland, Africa. The indictment alleges they falsely promised the victim a lucrative, short-term opportunity to provide catering services at the wedding of a family member of theirs. However, upon the victim’s arrival to the United States, the couple allegedly compelled her labor as a housekeeper and nanny in their home through the use of debt and threats of arrest and imprisonment.

After the victim’s arrival in the United States, the defendants confiscated her passport and return airline ticket, and told the victim that she owed them a debt for the costs of her travel to the United States. The Babbs allegedly then compelled the victim’s labor by using the debt that they claimed the victim owed them, and by threatening her with arrest and imprisonment by immigration authorities once her tourist visa expired. The couple then allegedly required the victim to clean the homes of their friends and associates, and to assist with Michael Babb's construction business. The indictment also alleges that the defendants required the victim to work long hours every day of the week, for which the victim was grossly underpaid on those few occasions that the Babbs paid her at all for her labor and services.

An indictment is merely an allegation and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

This case is being investigated by Special Agents of the FBI and ICE. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stephanie Gabay-Smith and Richard Moultrie Jr., and Trial Attorney Karima Maloney of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2009/December/09-crt-1322.html

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From the FBI

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Timothy J. Healy
Director, Terrorist Screening Center
Federal Bureau of Investigation

Statement Before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee

December 9, 2009

Good morning Chairman Lieberman, Ranking Member Collins and members of the Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) and its role in combating terrorist travel.

Over the past six years, the TSC has become a powerful tool to fight terrorism and integrate the law enforcement and intelligence communities by consolidating terrorist information into a single Terrorist Watchlist. We are continuing to move forward to enhance our partners’ ability to combat terrorism by improving the U.S. government’s approach to terrorist screening and safeguarding civil liberties in the process. Our interagency watchlisting and screening efforts have matured into a true information sharing success, and with your continued support we hope to improve upon our initiatives to provide critical terrorist identity information to our domestic and foreign partners for terrorist screening purposes. Let me begin by telling you about where we are today and where we want to be in the future.

Overview

Established in 2003, the TSC is a multi-agency center that connects the law enforcement communities with the intelligence community by consolidating information about known and suspected terrorists into a single Terrorist Screening Database, which is commonly referred to as the Terrorist Watchlist. The TSC facilitates terrorist screening operations, helps coordinate the law enforcement responses to terrorist encounters developed during the screening process, and captures intelligence information resulting from screening.

Of paramount significance is the TSC’s success in making this critical information accessible to the people who need it most—the law enforcement officers who patrol our streets, the Customs and Border Protection Officers who protect our borders, and our other domestic or foreign partners who conduct terrorist screening every day. In the six years since we began operations, the Terrorist Watchlist has become the world’s most comprehensive and widely shared database of terrorist identities. The current terrorist watchlisting and screening enterprise is an excellent example of interagency information sharing whose success is due to the superb collaborative efforts between the TSC, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of State, the Department of Defense, the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), and other members of the intelligence community.

Operating in the Interagency and International Environment

Issued on September 16, 2003, Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD) 6 directed the Attorney General to establish an organization to consolidate the U.S. government’s approach to terrorist screening and provide for the appropriate and lawful use of terrorist information in screening processes. That organization, the TSC, became operational on December 1, 2003. The TSC is administered by the FBI with support from the DHS, the Department of State, the Department of Defense and others in the intelligence community. Staffed with personnel from these agencies, the TSC’s single strategic goal is to enhance our partners’ ability to combat terrorism. In order to do so, we provide those who conduct terrorist screening operations throughout the world with a thorough, comprehensive, and consolidated listing of all known or suspected terrorists. We strive to maintain the highest-quality data concerning known or suspected terrorists to aid in the identification process. We ensure the timely dissemination of terrorist identity data and that prompt notification is made when a known or suspected terrorist has been identified through a screening process. We also ensure that privacy is protected and civil liberties are safeguarded throughout the entire watchlisting and screening process.

The identities contained in the Terrorist Watchlist originate from credible information developed by our intelligence and law enforcement partners or by our trusted foreign partners. Federal departments and agencies submit nominations of known or suspected international terrorists to the NCTC for inclusion in the NCTC’s Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) database. These nominations are reviewed and then forwarded to the TSC for final adjudication and inclusion in the Terrorist Watchlist. In a similar process, nominations of domestic terrorists are provided to TSC directly by the FBI.

TSC accepts nominations into the Terrorist Watchlist when they satisfy two requirements. First, the biographic information associated with a nomination must contain sufficient identifying data so that a person being screened can be matched to or disassociated from a watchlisted terrorist. Second, the facts and circumstances pertaining to the nomination must meet the “reasonable suspicion” standard of review established by terrorist screening Presidential Directives. Reasonable suspicion requires “articulable” facts which, taken together with rational inferences, reasonably warrant a determination that an individual is known or suspected to be or has been engaged in conduct constituting, in preparation for, in aid of or related to terrorism and terrorist activities, and is based on the totality of the circumstances. Due weight must be given to the reasonable inferences that a person can draw from the facts. Mere guesses or inarticulate “hunches” are not enough to constitute reasonable suspicion.

Most of the individuals on the Terrorist Watchlist are not U.S. citizens, but are terrorists living and operating overseas. The Terrorist Watchlist is made up of approximately 400,000 people. The reasonable suspicion standard includes known or suspected terrorists ranging from suicide bombers to financiers. The “No Fly” list has its own minimum substantive derogatory criteria requirements which are considerably more stringent than the Terrorist Watchlist’s reasonable suspicion standard. In order to be placed on the No Fly list, a known or suspected terrorist must present a threat to civil aviation or national security. Consequently, the No Fly list is a very small subset of the Terrorist Watchlist currently containing approximately 3,400 people; of those, approximately 170 are U.S. persons. On a daily basis, the TSC receives between 400 and 1,200 unique additions, modifications, or deletions of terrorist identities. It is through this nomination and review process that the TSC strives to maintain a thorough, accurate, and current database of known or suspected terrorists for lawful and appropriate use in the screening process.

The Terrorist Watchlist is utilized by law enforcement, intelligence, and other U.S. government agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and Department of State, as well as foreign partners who conduct terrorist screening operations. The screening process leverages thousands of our law enforcement officers and other governmental partners to help identify, detect, and deter terrorists. Terrorist screening occurs throughout the world at our embassies, ports of entry, and international postal and cargo facilities. Terrorist screening occurs during police stops, during special events, when a HAZMAT license is issued, or when a gun is purchased.1 Screening occurs when passports or visa applications are processed, as well as when citizenship and immigration applications are processed. Select foreign partners use a subset of the Terrorist Watchlist when they conduct screening operations abroad.

Our Tactical Operations Center runs 24 hours a day and receives approximately 150 calls a day. They determine whether individuals encountered are a positive match to a watchlisted known or suspected terrorist. All positive matches, which are approximately 30-40 percent of all reported encounters, are forwarded to the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division for an appropriate law enforcement response. The response could range from arresting the subject, if there is an outstanding federal warrant, to merely gathering additional intelligence information about the subject. During fiscal year (FY) 2009, the TSC processed over 55,000 “encounters” from federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial screening agencies and entities. Of those encounters, over 19,000 were a positive match to a watchlisted known or suspected terrorist.2

Most encounters provide valuable intelligence to the FBI case agent. Each provides information regarding the specific time, place, geographic location, and circumstances of the encounter with the watchlisted individual. During an encounter, additional biographic or biometric identifiers for the watchlisted individual might be discovered, new derogatory information could be obtained, or additional terrorist associates could be identified. Throughout FY 2008 and FY 2009, the number of daily encounters steadily increased. We expect the number of daily encounters will continue to increase as new screening partners join our national and international enterprise.

In conjunction with Department of State, we have completed bilateral terrorist screening agreements with 17 foreign governments. Furthermore, we have provided additional screening support for certain international events, such as the World Games. Over the past two years, our outreach teams have coordinated with all 72 state and local fusion centers. In response to requests from state, county, and local law enforcement agencies, terrorism-related information is now electronically available online via Law Enforcement Online (LEO). It is also available to the Regional Information Sharing System (RISS), and the Homeland Security State and Local Intelligence Community of Interest (HS-SLIC). To provide situational awareness, TSC now notifies fusion centers when encounters occur within their area of responsibility or when encounters occur with cases that originated from their area of responsibility. We also provide coast-to-coast briefings and training to both police dispatchers and law enforcement officers concerning the importance of notifying TSC of any encounter they have with a watchlisted known or suspected terrorist. Because of the significance of TSC’s contribution to fusion centers, the TSC was recognized for its innovative information sharing initiatives at the 2009 National Fusion Center Conference.

The Road Ahead

As we move ahead, the TSC remains focused on fulfilling its presidential and interagency mandates to share terrorist screening information with our domestic and foreign partners. We have a standing commitment to improve our operational processes, to enhance our human capital and technological capabilities, and to continue to protect Americans while protecting privacy and safeguarding their civil liberties.

Our watchlisting efforts must be predicated upon four basic operational concepts: maintenance of high-quality terrorist identity data, timely dissemination of terrorist identity data, responsive information sharing, and safeguarding civil liberties. We update existing Terrorist Watchlist records as more current information becomes available as a result of screening encounters. This screening process triggers an automatic review of the record, ensuring its accuracy, and determines the continued appropriateness for inclusion into the Terrorist Watchlist. We also continuously conduct reviews of every record already contained within the Terrorist Watchlist to ensure its current accuracy.

Once a known or suspected terrorist is identified and included in the Terrorist Watchlist, we must ensure the timely dissemination of the terrorist identity data to our screening partners. The utility of the watchlisting enterprise is of little value unless the information contained within the Terrorist Watchlist is efficiently disseminated to those who need it the most. The screening agencies throughout the world who attempt to ascertain if a person screened is watchlisted constitute a global network, dedicated to identifying, preventing, deterring, and disrupting potential terrorist activity. U.S. Customs and Border Protection uses the Terrorist Watchlist at all 327 ports of entry and all of the 15 pre-clearance offices located in Canada, the Caribbean, and Ireland. They also use the Terrorist Watchlist to conduct screening operations at international mail and cargo facilities. State, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement agencies use the Terrorist Watchlist when conducting police checks. The Transportation Security Administration uses the Terrorist Watchlist when they coordinate the screening of all commercial air passengers traveling on domestic and international flights. Department of State diplomatic posts and passport offices use the Terrorist Watchlist to screen aliens seeking visas, and U.S. persons applying for U.S. passports. Our 17 foreign partners seek access to the Terrorist Watchlist to conduct screening operations in their respective countries.

Throughout the entire watchlisting and screening process the TSC continues to play a significant role in ensuring that civil liberties are safeguarded and privacy is protected. The TSC led the interagency initiative to develop an effective interagency redress process and maintains a separate unit dedicated to resolving redress matters regarding individuals who believe they have been incorrectly watchlisted. The goal of the redress process is to provide a timely and fair review of redress inquiries referred to the TSC. Working closely with our interagency partners, we implemented a memorandum of onderstanding (MOU) on Terrorist Watchlist redress procedures that was signed in September 2007. The MOU standardizes interagency watchlist redress procedures and provides complainants with an opportunity to receive a timely, fair, and accurate review of their redress concerns. A traveler or complainant who believes they were inconvenienced as a result of screening can submit a redress complaint through the DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program, commonly referred to as DHS TRIP. Pursuant to the interagency redress MOU, the complaint is reviewed by the agency that received it, and referred to the TSC Redress Unit after it has been determined that there is a connection to the Terrorist Watchlist. Of note, only 0.7 percent of the DHS TRIP complaints actually have some connection to the Terrorist Watchlist. Of the 0.7 percent that have a connection to the watchlist, approximately 51 percent are appropriately watchlisted, 22 percent have been modified or reviewed prior to redress, 10 percent were similar names, and 15 percent were removed or downgraded due to the redress process. Our Redress Unit researches the complaints, coordinates with the agency that nominated the complainant to the Terrorist Watchlist, and, if warranted, corrects any Terrorist Watchlist data that may cause the individual difficulty during a screening process. We review all available information and work with the nominating or originating agency to determine if the complainant’s watchlisted status should be modified. Upon the conclusion of our review, we advise DHS TRIP representatives of the outcome so they can directly respond to the complainant. In some cases, we determine that the individual should remain watchlisted, but we may modify the individual’s watchlist status (i.e. downgrade the individual from being on the No Fly list to the Selectee list).

We have also established protocols to aid individuals who have continuously been misidentified as possible known or suspected terrorists during the screening process because their name is similar to that of a properly watchlisted individual. In these situations, we often determine that their identity is very similar to a known or suspected terrorist. To provide relief, we issue what is called a “Primary Lookout Override,” so the individual will not be inconvenienced during future screenings.

Additionally, when the TSC is advised, through media or Congressional inquiries, of individuals who have encountered travel difficulties due to their perceived watchlist status, we review the pertinent watchlist encounter records to determine if the individuals are indeed being misidentified. If they are misidentified, we examine our records to determine if there is any additional information that could be added that would reduce future misidentifications. The TSC neither confirms nor denies that an individual is watchlisted. We do, however, assure the inquiring entity that we have examined applicable Terrorist Watchlist records to ensure they contain current and accurate information, and that we have taken all reasonable measures to reduce any future misidentifications.

The operating procedures that we have implemented to accurately process all watchlisting data, expeditiously respond to terrorist screening encounters, and promptly provide a redress mechanism to resolve watchlisting discrepancies are all designed to enhance our partners’ ability to combat terrorism, while simultaneously protecting privacy and safeguarding civil liberties. Our ongoing commitment to maintain high-quality terrorist identity data, to timely disseminate terrorist information, and to share what has been identified during encounters is evidenced by the following projects and initiatives:

Conclusion

As previously stated, our watchlisting and screening enterprise would not be where it is today without the superb collaborative efforts between the TSC, the FBI, the DHS, the Department of State, the Department of Defense, the NCTC, and other members of the intelligence community. Chairman Lieberman, Ranking Member Collins, and members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to address this Committee. I look forward to answering your questions.

1In fact, based on figures from a GAO report from 2004 to 2009, less than 1,000 background checks resulted in positive matches to the Terrorist Watchlist with less than 100 individuals (or approximately 10 percent of the total) being prevented from purchasing a weapon.

2The watchlisted person being screened may not always be present during the screening encounter. For example, a watchlisted person may apply for immigration benefits by mail and will, therefore, not be present during the screening encounter that takes place at a distant U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office.

http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress09/healy120909.htm

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From the Buffalo News

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Oldest sex offender about to be freed here

100-year-old pedophile unrepentant awaiting move to E. Side apartment

by Lou Michel
News Staff Reporter

Updated: December 08, 2009

Theodore A. Sypnier is a century old, but you wouldn't know it by looking at him or talking with him.

He is highly alert, physically active and very capable of living alone and taking care of himself.

Theodore A. Sypnier also is a pedophile.

He has been convicted at least twice of molesting children and suspected in other cases over the last six decades in the Town of Tonawanda and Buffalo, and psychologists, police and others say he is likely to molest children again.

Therein lies a big problem.

Sypnier has been in prison for most of the last nine years and is soon to be released into a one-room apartment in Buffalo to live on his own.

If ever there was a person who should be permanently confined, even after serving out his prison term, police and experts say, it is Sypnier.

Sypnier, the oldest registered sex offender and parolee in New York State, is unrepentant.

"Those children crawled into bed with me because they were frightened, but there was never any sexual hanky-panky," Sypnier said of the two Town of Tonawanda sisters he was accused of molesting in 1999 while he was baby-sitting them.

He says he loves children and hopes to clear his name so that he can start up a relationship with several great-grandchildren he has never met.

Sypnier contends that he is the victim of a colossal miscarriage of justice, but authorities say he remains a threat to society and will be closely monitored once he leaves a Bailey Avenue halfway house.

Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III says he has no sympathy for Sypnier, who portrayed himself as a loving grandfather to children he met.

"Mr. Sypnier is the personification of evil and should be removed from civilized society permanently, until the day he dies," Sedita said. "He is an unrepentant child molester who has been doing this or trying to do this for 60 years. He can't be cured. He's not sick. He's evil. He's not old. He's evil."

Sedita's predecessor, Frank J. Clark, said Sypnier remains "manipulative and pathological," even as a centenarian.

"It's just that guile that allowed him to succeed for as many years as he did. His daughter had come forward and said that he had molested her when she was growing up," Clark said.

"He remains a threat'

As long as Sypnier "can walk and talk, he remains a threat," Clark said.

The Rev. Terry King, who runs Saving Grace halfway house in the 1900 block of Bailey Avenue, reluctantly allowed Sypnier to stay there temporarily.

"As a father, I would not want my child anywhere near him," King said.

New York does have a civil confinement law that allows the state to confine a sex offender who has completed his sentence if he has an abnormality that makes him likely to commit more sex crimes. But Sypnier was ruled ineligible for lifetime civil confinement, state officials told The Buffalo News.

King met Sypnier in 2007 when he was first released from prison, after serving an eight-year sentence on his plea deal conviction involving the two sisters.

Sypnier, King said, was stubborn and rebellious in maintaining he was innocent, despite confessing to authorities. He moved out of Grace House after he found an apartment in the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood.

By July 30, 2008, Sypnier was back in prison for violating parole with his refusal to attend sex-offender counseling classes.

And though he is now complying with parole mandates, Sypnier still insists he should not have to attend classes.

"I shouldn't have to go to school; that's for young people," he said during an interview at the halfway house.

King says he did not want to provide Sypnier with a room this time around, and only did so because he would have been sent to the Buffalo City Mission, where he would have been unsupervised for several hours a day.

On parole until May 2012

"It was for the good of the community that we allowed him to come here temporarily while he is placed into independent living," King said. "We didn't want him wandering around unsupervised. There are strict guidelines here."

By the end of the month, Sypnier says, he will have a furnished apartment somewhere on the East Side. King says Sypnier's release could happen within a week.

State parole officials say they will closely monitor Sypnier, who remains under their jurisdiction until May 16, 2012. "He's someone you truly don't want wandering around Buffalo. Not just Buffalo — anywhere," King said.

Sypnier, a retired telephone company worker, says he now plans to hire an attorney to get him off supervision by parole officers. He contends that parole was never mentioned in the second plea deal he accepted in 2004, after winning an appeal on his 2000 plea-deal conviction to multiple charges of sex crimes committed against the sisters, who were 4 and 7 years old.

He won the appeal on the grounds that he was "confused" at the time he accepted the plea deal. But rather than go to trial after his legal victory, Sypnier chose to plead guilty to one count of attempted sodomy.

The Town of Tonawanda case is not the first time he has been punished for molesting children. In 1994, he completed a one-year jail sentence for sexually abusing a minor, and in 1987, he served three years on probation for a sex-abuse conviction.

At 5-feet-5 and 145 pounds, with wisps of white hair and blue eyes, the bespectacled Sypnier brushes aside all of the criminal complaints against him from over the years.

"They were all single mothers with children and wanted my money," he said. "They were blackmailing me, threatening me with jail if I didn't give them money."

Required to register

What about the molestation complaint from one of his three daughters?

"I worked two jobs when I was raising my family and never had time to screw around with children," said Sypnier, who with his late wife raised five children on Royal Avenue in Riverside.

If he succeeds in getting out of parole, Sypnier says, he would no longer be under the mandate barring him from contact with children, and he then could attempt to see his five great-grandchildren.

"I'll tell them I never harmed any children," he said, adding that if his legal plans to end parole fail, he will be done with parole in two years anyway. "I'll be free in 2012."

Living on monthly Social Security and pension checks, he will not be entirely free of the law whenever his parole ends.

"After 2012, we will no longer be supervising him," said Heather R. Groll, spokeswoman for the state's Division of Parole, "but he will still be required to register as a sex offender, and his address will be publicly available online 24 hours a day."
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Theodore A. Sypnier

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