A family in China made babies their business

The lucrative trade in newborns was fueled by an adoption frenzy that saw government-run orphanages paying for children who they then made available to Westerners.

By Barbara Demick

January 24, 2010

Reporting from Changning, China

The telephones kept ringing with more orders and although Duan Yuelin kept raising his prices, the demand was inexhaustible. Customers were so eager to buy more that they would ply him with expensive gifts and dinners in fancy restaurants.

His family-run business was racking up sales of as much as $3,000 a month, unimaginable riches for uneducated Chinese rice farmers from southern Hunan province.

What merchandise was he selling? Babies. And the customers were government-run orphanages that paid up to $600 each for newborn girls for adoption in the United States and other Western countries.

"They couldn't get enough babies. The demand kept going up and up, and so did the prices," recalled Duan, who was released from prison last month after serving about four years of a six-year sentence for child trafficking.

Huddled around a gas stove that barely took the chill out of their ground-floor apartment, Duan and his parents offered a rare look at the inner workings of a "mom and pop" baby-trafficking ring run by members of his family and an illiterate garbage collector with a habit of picking up abandoned babies.

From 2001 to '05, the ring sold 85 baby girls to six orphanages in Hunan.

His story, which is backed up by hundreds of pages of documents gathered in his 2006 court case, shed light on the secretive process that has seen tens of thousands of unwanted girls born to dirt-poor parents in the Chinese countryside growing up in the United States with names like Kelly and Emily.

"Definitely, all the orphanages gave money for babies," said the 38-year-old Duan, a loquacious man with a boxy haircut.

At first, Duan said, his family members assumed that they weren't breaking the law because the babies were going to government-run orphanages. It had been an accepted practice among peasant families to sell unwanted children to other families.

But the police didn't see it that way. Chinese law had been strengthened in 1991 to clearly prohibit commerce in children.

The concern is that not only is paying for babies unethical, it can encourage kidnapping, a rampant problem in China. And when babies are trafficked and their records falsified, they grow up with no sense of where they are from and their heritage.

Although Duan and his family trafficked babies only from the southern province of Guangdong, he says other families were doing the same -- bringing in babies from impoverished parts of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces to the west.

The merchandise may have been human, but it was a trading business like any other. Cash on delivery; prices set by laws of supply and demand. The Duans' supplier in Guangdong would charge extra if a baby was prettier or stronger than the average. The orphanages would often phone in their orders and haggle over the price.

"Sometimes they would give us money in advance to buy the babies. They'd say, 'We'll take this many babies at such-and-such a price,' " Duan recalled.

Duan and five members of his family -- two younger sisters, his wife, sister-in-law and brother-in-law -- were convicted in 2006 of child trafficking. The others remain in prison. Only Duan was released, on the grounds that he needed to support his parents.

Family members complain that they were made scapegoats in the widespread buying and selling of babies. Several orphanage directors involved were promoted afterward.

"The government was making the big money. . . . We only got a little bit, like the dregs of the tofu," said Duan Fagui, Yuelin's 59-year-old father. He said that many other families were selling babies to orphanages -- "the only difference is that we got caught."

It began in 1993 when Chen Zhijin, Yuelin Duan's mother, and the two sisters who remain in prison were hired for $1 a day to take care of babies for the orphanage in Changning, a town adjacent to the larger city of Hengyang.

At the time, the Communist Party's campaign to limit population size was running strong, and overly zealous cadres would sometimes demolish the houses of families that had more than one child (two for peasants if the first was a girl, because rural families wanted boys to carry on the family name).

It is illegal in China to abandon a baby, even at an orphanage, so people would discard their unwanted daughters in the dark of night in cardboard boxes or bamboo baskets. If they were leaving baby near an orphanage, they often would light a firecracker as a signal for the staff to find the child.

"We'd find the babies all over," recalled Chen, a tiny woman in tattered plaid trousers with short hair hugging her face. "They'd be wrapped in rags, filthy. . . . Sometimes they'd have ants all over their face because babies have a sweet smell and the ants like them."

Because Chen worked for the orphanage, rural people sometimes asked her to take their unwanted babies there. The orphanage would accept some, not all; it didn't have enough caretakers or formula for all the babies.

Then, in 1996 and '97, the orphanages around Hunan began to participate in a fast-growing program that was sending thousands of baby girls abroad for adoption. For each baby adopted, the supplying orphanage would receive a donation of $3,000 from the adoptive parents.

Instead of rejecting the babies, the local orphanage director began begging Chen to bring in as many as she could, even offering to pay her expenses and then some.

" 'Do us a favor, auntie,' " she said the director told her. " 'Bring us all the abandoned babies you can find.' "

Five other orphanages opened nearby and were making the same request. By 2000, however, the supply of babies was drying up.

Rising incomes, changing attitudes toward girls and weaker enforcement of the one-child policy had combined to stem the widespread dumping of baby girls. Besides, pregnant women who were insistent on a boy would determine the gender with ultrasound (illegal, but common just the same) and abort female fetuses.

But foreign adoptions were in full swing, with more than 5,000 babies heading to the United States in 2000 alone.

"It used to be that you'd get 50 or 100 yuan [$7.30 or $14.60] per baby, then 700 or 800, but there was more demand and fees kept rising and they'd bring in babies from other provinces," Duan said.

One such place was neighboring Guangdong, the manufacturing hub of China, with a large population of migrant workers who often couldn't keep their babies.

By chance, the husband of Duan's sister Meilin got a job in 2001 working on a chicken farm in the small Guangdong city of Wuchuan. Nearby lived an older woman by the name of Liang Guihong, a former garbage collector, who for years had been taking in babies. She sometimes had more than 20 newborns in her home, lined up on blankets on her beds.

The Duan family members saw opportunity. They started buying up the babies to sell to the orphanages in Hunan.

"Liang used to take care of the babies out of kindness, but she turned into a businesswoman," Duan recalled in the interview.

Instead of turning over extra babies to the orphanages in Guangdong, Liang preferred to sell them to traffickers who would pay more to take them to Hunan or adjacent Jianxi province, which also supplied many of the babies adopted in the United States. The Duans say that in addition to the 85 babies she provided them, Liang sold more than 1,000 to orphanages.

The orphanages disguised the origins of the babies, the Duans said.

"They would fabricate the information. They would say that the baby was found at the Sunday market, near the bridge, on the street. Very few of the stories they put in the babies' files were true. Only the director of the orphanage knew the babies were really from Guangdong," Duan's father said.

The orphanages had to comply with a law requiring that they look for the birth parents before putting a baby up for adoption. The Hunan civil affairs department put official notices seeking the birth parents of the babies in a local paper, but they were filled with deliberate misinformation about where the babies had been found.

The well-publicized court case involving the Duans prompted the China Center of Adoption Affairs to suspend adoptions from Hunan and warn orphanages against paying for babies. Insiders in the orphanage community here say the practice continues, but with more discretion.

Deng Yuping, director of an orphanage in Yichun in Jiangxi province, said he pays up to $75 to cover transportation costs for people who bring in babies, but that many walk away because they can get more from other orphanages.

"It's true, some orphanages are paying bigger 'finder's fees' than we are," Deng said.

Orphanage directors acknowledge that they don't have the resources to make sure that babies brought in had been abandoned.

"We can only take care of the child. It is up to the public security bureau [police] to investigate if that child was really abandoned," said Chen Ming, a former orphanage director who received a suspended sentence in the Duans' case.

The Chinese government acknowledges that each year 30,000 to 60,000 children go missing, most of them abducted.

The Los Angeles Times reported in September that local family planning officials in Guizhou and Hunan provinces sometimes confiscated babies from families that had violated the one-child policy and then collected money by selling the children for foreign adoption.

There is no evidence, in the Duans' case, that any of the babies had been kidnapped or forcibly taken from their parents. The Duans insist that even if they broke the law, the babies have had a better life as a result.

"Many of those babies would have died if nobody took them in. I took good care of the babies," said the mother, Chen. "You can be the judge -- am I a bad person for what I did?"

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-china-adopt24-2010jan24,0,7365522,print.story

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EDITORIAL

What to do about Haiti

The U.S. and international community must provide immediate aid, then help plan a future for it that includes a functioning government.

January 24, 2010

Even now, despite the haunting images, the unending tales of loss and broken survival, it is difficult to fathom the scale of devastation in Haiti. The estimated 200,000 dead on half the island of Hispaniola is similar to the toll from South Asia's tsunami five years ago -- but that was across 14 countries. Haiti's approximately 1.5 million homeless is nearly quadruple the population of New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina struck. At least two-thirds of Port-au-Prince has been leveled. The country's capital and its government, quite simply, have been reduced to scree.

If clearing the rubble, burying the dead and tending the wounded were all that confronted the international community in Haiti, it would be an enormous task. But one need only reflect back on the country a day before the magnitude 7.0 earthquake to comprehend the true magnitude of the challenge ahead. Eighty percent of the population lived in poverty, and nearly half was illiterate. Huge swaths of Port-au-Prince had no drinking water, sewage systems or electrical service -- at least not provided by the state. The government often seemed to exist in name only, exercising weak leadership with rampant corruption. Most of those with college educations fled at the first opportunity, depriving the country of an educated bureaucracy and managerial class.

These systemic problems persisted despite the fact that most of the world's major charitable organizations worked in Haiti, and the country received roughly $2 billion in foreign assistance from the United States alone over the last 20 years. Now, in the aftermath of the earthquake, development experts estimate that Haiti will need that much annually for several years, and continued aid for decades to come.

The international community responded quickly to Haiti's tragedy. Forty-three rescue crews flew in from around the globe, while U.S. troops arrived to keep order, distribute food and, hopefully, to counter the memory of U.S. occupation with a demonstration of humanitarian relief. Governments pledged nearly $1 billion last week, and more poured in from private donors via telephones and text messages. This is heartening. It is also just a beginning.

Haiti's myriad demands may be unprecedented, and there is no obvious model to follow for successfully redeveloping the country. International groups have rebuilt infrastructure after natural disasters, as they did in Indonesia following the tsunami. They have helped to establish the rule of law after man-made disasters such as the genocide in Rwanda, and engaged in nation-building, as when they supported Nelson Mandela's post-apartheid South Africa. But Haiti needs infrastructure, an economic base and a full-functioning government. Besides funding, the country lacks the dynamic leadership and trained workforce necessary to emerge from the rubble and, as former President Clinton proposed, "build back better."

Naturally the United States must play a leading role in the reconstruction of Haiti, which is only about 700 miles from our shores and culturally connected by more than a million Americans of Haitian descent. That said, the United States alone does not have the capacity to meet Haiti's needs. Nor should we. Reconstruction must be an international effort with the United Nations, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank at the forefront. All of Haiti's neighbors, from the Dominican Republic and Mexico to Cuba and Venezuela, have a stake in ensuring stability and preventing an exodus of desperate Haitians. France has colonial ties; Canada has a large Haitian community; and there should be shared responsibility among the rest of the developed nations as well.

Reconstruction must be coordinated and carried out in collaboration with Haitians themselves. In the past, corruption and weak leadership have prompted international organizations to build parallel networks of schools, hospitals and even water projects that then further undermined the role of the state. This time they must find ways to funnel aid through the Haitian government and private sector, but with mechanisms in place to ensure the money is not lost to mismanagement and corruption. Haitians must be empowered to decide what to rebuild and how they want to do it. Should the capital be reconstituted in Port-au-Prince? Is it possible to create viable, self-sustaining villages elsewhere? What is the right mix of agriculture and manufacturing to guarantee the country's future? Haitians have a right to choose how to spend the aid, and those footing the bill are entitled to demand transparency and accountability. Haitians should be trained to manage the money -- perhaps by hired members of the diaspora -- then held to high standards.

Some people say that Haiti is hopeless -- because it's cursed, inherently corrupt, or simply because its problems are too great. There are those who argue that the problem extends far beyond Haiti -- that wealthy countries have spent trillions of dollars across the developing world and still have not figured out how to use foreign aid effectively to transform an economy and pull a country out of poverty. Theories on how to do so have been tried, abandoned and recycled. The debate continues between those who advocate massive transformational approaches and those who argue for incremental change.

There are no easy answers for Haiti, but there are certain truths: First, we have a moral obligation to respond to an emergency when people are in need of food, water and shelter. Second, we cannot wall ourselves off from the problems of the rest of the world, and least of all those countries near our shores. We must break the tired pattern of responding to a crisis in Haiti, promising help and then quickly losing interest. Haiti's needs are long term. Just to match the success of the Dominican Republic on the other half of the island, Haiti needs investment in education, agriculture and industry. Hopefully some of the 200 companies that sent representatives to an Inter-American Development Bank conference with Clinton in October will follow through with investments now. The goal is neither to occupy Haiti nor to turn it into a protectorate of the U.N. It is to help Haiti stand on its own.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-haiti24-2010jan24,0,7005686,print.story

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An opportunity to reform the criminal justice system

Sen. James Webb's bill could help make the case for treating and rehabilitating nonviolent offenders

By Harry K. Wexler

January 20, 2010

In its Jan. 17 editorial, “A poor prison plan for California” and several other articles, The Times has detailed some of the long-standing problems in the American criminal justice system. As a member of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's prison reform strike team in 2007 and '08, I had a firsthand look at how the system is rife with inequities and in many ways dysfunctional.

Most experts would agree that the system generally fails on half its mission -- rehabilitating offenders -- and is only partially successful in the other half of preserving public safety. I say partially successful because very few inmates escape but far too many (about 50% to 75%) wind up back behind bars after their release.

These issues have been reported on many times in the media, yet in recent years there hasn't been any comprehensive response at the federal level. A proposal by Sen. James Webb (D-Va.) could bring forth that response, however. The bill (S 714) would authorize a national criminal justice commission to review system dysfunctions, document what works and make recommendations for reform. The proposed commission is a historic opportunity that should not be missed.

The two most critical problems include the incarceration of nonviolent offenders -- primarily drug abusers (many with associated mental health disorders) -- and the lack of meaningful rehabilitation, which contributes to very high recidivism rates. Basically, we are endangering public safety by imprisoning many nonviolent individuals -- who would be better served at lower cost in the community -- while limiting space for violent criminals who should be incarcerated.

Despite the aforementioned challenges, substantial progress has been made. The National Institute on Drug Abuse has been especially active in supporting research, producing a body of solidly replicated findings about drug treatment within the criminal justice system. The Center for Substance Abuse Treatment has supported many effective interventions.

Most professionals in the field agree that, based on available research, workable solutions are available. For example, researchers have demonstrated that a well-designed prison program with aftercare can reduce recidivism by about 50% up to five years after release. Other research has shown that diversion of nonviolent first-time offenders can be highly effective in reducing crime and substance abuse, and that very few first-time offenders who are initially diverted then go on to prison. As we all know, prison often teaches minor offenders who could have been diverted to become chronic recidivists.

Thus, a good case can be made for reconsidering who goes to prison and for providing effective rehabilitation to those who do.

The Senate bill identifies a number of problems that need to be addressed by the commission. Consider the following data cited by the legislation:

* The United States has the highest reported incarceration rate in the world.

* Minorities make up a disproportionately large share of prison populations.

* There are 7.3 million Americans incarcerated or on probation or parole, equal to one in every 31 adults, an increase of 290% since 1980.

* On average, two out of every three released prisoners will be rearrested, and one in two will return to prison within three years of release.

* Corrections expenditures compete with and diminish funding for education, public health, public safety, parks and recreation, and programs specifically designed to reduce the prison population.

* Despite high incarceration rates for drug-related offenses, illicit drugs remain consistently available.

* Treating addiction will significantly help decrease demand.

* Drug offenders in prisons and jails have increased 1,200% since 1980, and a significant percentage of these offenders have no history of violence or high-level drug selling activity.

* Prisons and jails nationwide have become holding facilities for the mentally ill, about 73% of whom suffer from a substance-abuse disorder.

The commission could address these issues head-on. Its review of the criminal justice system and relevant research would include looking at how other Western countries handle crime, punishment and rehabilitation. The commission would be funded for 18 months and be responsible for producing detailed findings, conclusions and recommendations to Congress and the president.

At this juncture there are many reasons to believe that we can make reform work instead of continuing to incarcerate nonviolent offenders. Unless we stop our overreliance on severe laws and fundamentally reform the system, we risk sacrificing our educational system and other important social institutions to fund the continual expansion of our prisons.

Harry K. Wexler has been researching substance-abuse treatment and policy for four decades and has directed projects that helped establish prison treatment programs in 20 states.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-oew-wexler20-2010jan20,0,3055164,print.story

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OPINION

By focusing on planes, terrorists take a calculated risk

There are easier targets with less security, but radicals believe that bombing an aircraft is the best way to their objectives.

By Andrew H. Kydd and Barbara F. Walter

January 24, 2010

On Christmas Day, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly attempted to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit with plastic explosives hidden in his underwear. On Dec. 22, 2001, Richard Reid tried to blow up a transatlantic flight with explosives hidden in his shoes. Incompetent and poorly supported, they were quickly foiled by passengers and flight crew. But the fact that Abdulmutallab would try a variation of Reid's attack eight years later raises some interesting questions about terrorist tactics.

One question in particular is, why airplanes? Anyone who has traveled on a train, subway, bus or ferry in the United States knows that anyone can board without much fear of being detained or searched.

Meanwhile, other terrorists have developed a brutally simple tactic, just opening fire with automatic weapons in crowded areas. The 10 terrorists in the 2008 Mumbai attacks claimed more than 170 victims, and Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is charged with killing 13 people at Ft. Hood, Texas, in November.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, security surrounding U.S. airplanes has become tighter and tighter, yet terrorists still target planes, even if this means that their attacks are more likely to be thwarted. Why do terrorists continue to target airplanes when other transportation systems are less heavily secured and other modes of attack have proved successful?

Targeting civilian aircraft still makes sense, from the terrorists' point of view, for at least five reasons.

First, nature is working with them. People don't naturally fly 30,000 feet above the ground at 300 mph; it takes a very special machine. These machines are much more vulnerable than trains or ships. One person can easily carry enough explosives to blow a hole in the side of a pressurized aircraft, which may be enough to bring it down and kill everyone aboard. The same explosive on a train or ship would likely only cause minor damage.

Second, the costs of reduced air travel, or slower air travel, are borne by business travelers and those with money -- exactly those people who are most likely to influence policymakers and government decisions. Terrorists aren't attacking for the fun of it; they want to have an impact on government policy, and the way to do that is to target those who have clout.

Third, it is difficult for these travelers to switch to another mode of transportation, given the distances involved. Much as the folks at Cunard might wish otherwise, almost no amount of terrorism is going to persuade most people to take a passenger ship across the Atlantic for seven days rather than fly in seven hours. This means that demand for air travel is inelastic; travelers have little option but to bear the costs of increasing security, lost time and risks.

Fourth, people are already afraid of flying. Despite statistics showing that flying is safer than driving, people are still more afraid of hurtling through the air in a large aluminum tube than sliding behind the wheel for a trip to the grocery store. It's easy to play on these fears, even with incompetent attacks that fail.

Finally, our political system is structured to overreact to attacks on aircraft and to underreact to other kinds of attacks, particularly shooting sprees. In reaction to the "shoe bomber," we now all take off our shoes at security checkpoints. Because of the "underwear bomber," we now may be subject to thorough body scans before boarding a flight. The 2006 plot to blow up seven transatlantic flights out of London cursed us with the inability to bring a bottle of water on board.

Security agencies feel duty-bound to do something, and politicians wring their hands about whether they are doing enough. In comparison, there appears to be no limit to the number of fatalities that can be inflicted by automatic weapons fire in the United States without generating a political reaction. Politicians limit themselves to expressions of sorrow for the victims and the families, and then the matter is quietly dropped.

One might think this provides an opportunity for Al Qaeda to easily kill large numbers of Americans, but that misses the point of terrorism. Killing large numbers in a way that is quickly forgotten is much less useful than killing a few or even none in a way that causes profound ripples of fear and costly overreactions on the part of the target group. Al Qaeda has no need to organize gun rampages against Americans if the occasional low-budget aircraft attack does the trick.

Andrew H. Kydd is an associate professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Barbara F. Walter is a professor of political science at UC San Diego's Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies. They are the authors of "Strategies of Terrorism."

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-walter24-2010jan24,0,4894772,print.story

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From the Daily News

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AP Exclusive: The Christmas attack interrogation

WASHINGTON—Badly burned and bleeding, the suspect in the Christmas Day flight to Detroit tried one last gambit as he was led away: He claimed there was another bomb hidden on the plane he'd just tried to destroy, officials said.

There was no second bomb, federal agents learned after a tense search. But the Nigerian suspect's threat began hours of conversations that are now the subject of a fierce political debate over the right way to handle terrorism suspects.

In interviews with The Associated Press, U.S. officials described for the first time the details of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's arrest Dec. 25 at Detroit Metro Airport.

Captured after a bomb hidden in his underwear ignited but failed to explode, Abdulmutallab spoke freely and provided valuable intelligence, officials said. Federal agents repeatedly interviewed him or heard him speak to others. But when they read him his legal rights nearly 10 hours after the incident, he went silent.

Since the attempted bombing, several prominent lawmakers have argued he should have been placed immediately in military custody, and the nation's top intelligence official said he should have been questioned by a special group of terror investigators, rather than the FBI agents who responded to the scene.

The officials who spoke to The AP said on-scene investigators never discussed turning the suspect over to military authorities. And their accounts show that as the hours passed, the FBI turned to its own expert counterterror interrogators and made no effort to involve the special unit, because it was not yet up and running.

The officials provided an account of the law enforcement response to the holiday bombing on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose details of the investigation.

Here is what officials say happened:

Shortly after noon on Christmas, federal agents were notified that Northwest Airlines flight 253 had arrived at the Detroit airport from Amsterdam, with a passenger who had lit an explosive device on the aircraft.

After being restrained and stripped bare by fellow passengers and crew, Abdulmutallab was handed over to Customs and Border Protection officers and local police.

The officers decided the suspect needed immediate medical attention, and an ambulance crew took him to the burn unit at the University of Michigan Medical Center.

Along the way, Abdulmutallab repeatedly made incriminating statements to the CBP officers guarding him. He told them he had acted alone on the plane and had been trying to take down the aircraft.

Abdulmutallab arrived at the hospital just before 2 p.m. Still under guard, Abdulmutallab told a doctor treating him that he had tried to trigger the explosive. The Nigerian said it didn't cause a blast, but instead began popping and ignited a fire on his groin and legs.

FBI agents from the Detroit bureau arrived at the hospital around 2:15 p.m., and were briefed by the Customs agents and officers as Abdulmutallab received medical treatment.

Shortly after 3:30 p.m., FBI agents began interviewing the suspect in his hospital room, joined by a CBP officer and an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.

The suspect spoke openly, said one official, talking in detail about what he'd done and the planning that went into the attack. Other counterterrorism officials speaking on condition of anonymity said it was during this questioning that he admitted he had been trained and instructed in the plot by al-Qaida operatives in Yemen.

The interview lasted about 50 minutes. Before they began questioning Abdulmutallab, the FBI agents decided not to give him his Miranda warnings providing his right to remain silent.

While the Miranda warning—based on a 1966 Supreme Court ruling—is a bedrock principle of the U.S. justice system and a staple of television cop shows, there is a major exception which could apply in Abdulmutallab's case.

Investigators are allowed to question a suspect without providing a Miranda warning if they are trying to end a threat to public safety.

In a future trial in a federal court, prosecutors would likely justify Abdulmutallab's questioning without a Miranda warning by arguing that the FBI agents needed to know quickly if there were other planes with other bombs headed for the United States. The 9/11 attacks and other past plots have shown al-Qaida's penchant for synchronized attacks in multiple locations.

Since the incident, Republican lawmakers have argued that the Obama administration mishandled the case by not considering putting Abdulmutallab in military custody—part of a larger political argument about whether terror suspects should face military or civilian justice.

"Those who now argue that a different action should have been taken in this case were notably silent when dozens of terrorists were successfully prosecuted in federal court by the previous administration," Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller said earlier this week.

Abdulmutallab's interview ended when the suspect was given medication and the investigators decided it would be better to let the effects of the drugs wear off before pressing him further. The suspect went into surgery—counterterrorism officials went into overdrive tightening airline security and chasing leads.

He would not be questioned again for more than five hours. By that point, officials said, FBI bosses in Washington had decided a new interrogation team was needed. They made that move in case the lack of a Miranda warning or the suspect's medical condition at the time of the earlier conversations posed legal problems later on for prosecutors.

There was no effort to call in the elite federal High-Value Interrogation Group, a special unit of terror specialists that the Obama administration said early last year it would create to deal with terror suspects captured abroad.

Last week, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair said the unit should have been called in after Abdulmutallab's arrest. But even if federal officials wanted to expand its use to domestic cases, the special team was not ready for action, FBI Director Robert Mueller told Congress last week.

Based on the instructions from Washington, the second interview was conducted by different FBI agents and others with the local joint terrorism task force.

Such a move is not unusual in cases where investigators or prosecutors want to protect themselves from challenges to evidence or statements.

By bringing in a so-called "clean team" of investigators to talk to the suspect, federal officials aimed to ensure that Abdulmutallab's statements would still be admissible if the failure to give him his Miranda warning led a judge to rule out the use of his first admissions.

Even if Abdulmutallab's statements are ruled out as evidence, they still provided valuable intelligence for U.S. counterterrorism officials to pursue, officials said.

In the end, though, the "clean team" of interrogators did not prod more revelations from the suspect.

Having rested and received more extensive medical treatment, Abdulmutallab was told of his right to remain silent and right to have an attorney.

He remained silent.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_14254819

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From the Wall Street Journal

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Bin Laden Takes Credit for Jet Bombing Attempt

CAIRO--Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden issued a new audio message claiming responsibility for the Christmas day bombing attempt and vowed further attacks.

"The message delivered to you through the plane of the heroic warrior Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was a confirmation of the previous messages sent by the heroes of the Sept. 11," he said.

"America will never dream of security unless we will have it in reality in Palestine," he added. "God willing, our raids on you will continue as long as your support to the Israelis will continue."

On Christmas Day, Nigerian national Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to blow up the Northwest Airlines flight he was sitting on as it approached Detroit Metro Airport. But the bomb he was hiding in his underwear failed to explode.

He told federal agents shortly afterward that he had been trained and instructed in the plot by al Qaeda operatives in Yemen.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula originally took credit for the attack, but by issuing this message, Mr. bin Laden is indicating that he himself is ordering attacks, rather than just putting his seal of approval on events afterward.

Analysts had previously suggested that al Qaeda's offshoots in North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and elsewhere were operated independently from Mr. bin Laden, who is believed to be somewhere in Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.

There was no way to confirm the voice was actually that of Mr. bin Laden, but it resembled previous recordings attributed to him.

In the past year, Mr. bin Laden's messages have concentrated heavily on the plight of the Palestinians in attempt to rally support across the region. Many analysts believe that he is worried about Mr. Obama's popularity across the Middle East considering the president's promises to withdraw from Iraq and his personal background, so the al Qaeda leader is focusing on the close U.S.-Israeli relationship.

The suffering of the Palestinians, especially in the blockaded Gaza Strip where 1,400 died during an Israeli offensive there last year, angered many in the Arab world.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, Andy David, dismissed the latest al Qaeda message and its attempt to link Israel with attacks on the U.S.

"This is nothing new, he has said this before. Terrorists always look for absurd excuses for their despicable deeds," he said.

The last public message from Mr. bin Laden appears to have been on Sept. 26, when he demanded that European countries pull their troops out of Afghanistan. The order came in an audiotape that also warned of "retaliation" against nations that are allied with the U.S. in fighting the war.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704375604575022481769751908.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLETopStories#printMode

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Recessionomics 101: How to Make Extra Money

Jennifer Winslow wanted to earn some extra cash without giving up the flexibility of working part time.

An avid cook, she and a friend initially planned to cater meals for busy families. When that turned out to be too time consuming, she tried baking. More than five years later, she has a thriving bakery business in Winslow, Maine (her husband's family has been in town a long time).

Now on her own, she supplies four restaurants with cakes and other sweets and makes desserts for individuals and weddings.

A growing number of Americans would like to follow Mrs. Winslow's example. Job loss, tighter credit and a renewed appreciation for savings is persuading more people to cut expenses.

But you can cut only so far. Two full years of recession have not left many unexamined family expenses. Meanwhile, prices -- from gasoline to utilities to food -- haven't fallen. And incomes, if you still have one, aren't exactly shooting through the roof. It's time to make some money.

Fortunately, there also are many ways to earn extra cash even when full-time jobs and extra shifts aren't an option. They include taking in boarders, starting a small business and getting paid for your opinion. Some of this work provides only a free meal and $10 fee but others, such as tutoring or selling Grandma's diamond broach, could be quite lucrative.

The key, according to Gail Cunningham, a spokeswoman for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, is to "find your skill or what you think would be fun to do." She says, for example, someone with computer skills may want to teach a class, install computers or create Web sites.

"Think about what are people willing to pay for," says Ms. Cunningham. "Who do you know and how can you leverage existing relationships." For example, does your dentist need someone to clean the office or does your accountant need someone to cater the Christmas party?

1 Sell It: One of the fastest and easiest ways to get extra cash is to sell unwanted and unused stuff. And it's never been easier to make hundreds or even thousands of dollars. You could post a few signs in the neighborhood and sell everything at a Saturday garage sale or you could try the online route with services such as eBay or Craigslist.

Linda Lightman first tried eBay more than 10 years ago because she wanted to help her sons get more for their old videogames. It was so easy that the former lawyer started selling her old suits. Then, friends asked her to sell theirs.

Today, shoplindasstuff.com has 50 employees and expects to reach $7 million in sales this year on eBay. "The economy has been the perfect storm for my business," Ms. Lightman says. "More people need cash, and more people are looking for bargains."

Auction houses also are a popular place to sell potentially valuable items. Alexander Eblen, head of the jewelry and fine timepieces department at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers in Chicago, says people often don't realize the value of an old watch or grandmother's Art Deco jewelry. For example, a Tiffany broach recently sold for about $68,000.

Don't overlook some of the more mundane items, such as books and sports equipment. Many bookstores provide cash or store credits for "gently" used books. Similarly, stores like Play It Again Sports provide cash and store credits for gently used sports equipment. Check with local stores but they often need golf clubs, ice skates, lacrosse equipment and other gear.

2 Rent It: Your home, probably your biggest asset, is a potential source of extra cash. A growing number of people are renting out a room or grabbing a roommate for extra income. It's less difficult for residents in "destination" locations near colleges, resorts or cities to rent a room or even the house for a few weeks, months or long term.

Some homeowners prefer using a real-estate agent, others like finding renters themselves, online or through friends. Either way, it's crucial to vet the potential tenant and spell out expectations. Rents vary from a few hundred dollars to thousands in large cities.

Another option that's a longtime favorite of students and young adults is earning extra cash for house and pet sitting.

3 Say It: Many businesses are willing to reward individuals for taking opinion polls, testing products or being a secret shopper. The compensation varies, and it's crucial to avoid scams. Work only with reputable companies and avoid anything that requires a membership fee. One place to start is OpinionPlace.com, which lets poll participants choose Amazon.com gift cards, PayPal credits or American Airlines AAdvantage miles. There also are stores such as CVS, whose Advisor program provides consumers who complete surveys with ExtraBucks coupons.

People won't make much but they might have fun working in a focus group or evaluating products or services as a mystery shopper. Once again, watch out for scams. Don't pay any fees or respond to unsolicited emails. A good place to start is Volition.com or Mysteryshop.org, the Web site for the Mystery Shopping Providers Association.

4 Do It: One of the best ways to earn extra cash is by creating a business using existing skills and interests. An artist may teach a class, a photographer may do weddings and a sports enthusiast may referee or caddy.

"What are you volunteering for that you could get paid for?" asks Ms. Cunningham. She says it could be as simple as getting paid for office work or watching your child's classmate after school.

One of the most popular and lucrative part-time jobs is to tutor, either for a college-prep class or a specific subject. Typical pay ranges from $30 to more than $100 an hour, depending on where you live.

Mrs. Winslow always loved to cook. "People would always ask me if I could bring the dessert if I was going somewhere for dinner," she says.

A master at multitasking, she works about 20 hours a week for Jennifer's Edibles. Her advice: "Start small and do things that are manageable. Don't get so overwhelmed that you want to quit."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126428109487634281.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsThird#printMode

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From the Washington Times

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U.S. Marines end role in Iraq

Adam Schreck

ASSOCIATED PRESS

RAMADI, Iraq (AP) -- The U.S. Marines marked the end of nearly seven years in Iraq on Saturday by handing the Army their command of Anbar province, once one of the war's fiercest battlefields but now a centerpiece of U.S.-Iraqi cooperation.

The changing of the guard -- overseen by military brass and some of Anbar's influential Sunni sheiks -- signals the start of an accelerated drawdown of American troops as the U.S. increasingly shifts its focus to the war in Afghanistan.

American commanders are trumpeting security gains in places such as the western Anbar province as a sign that their partnership with Iraqi security forces is working, and that the local troops can keep the country safe.

But fears are growing about a possible resurgence in sectarian tensions -- fed by the Shiite-dominated government's plans to blacklist more than 500 parliamentary candidates over suspected links to Saddam Hussein's regime.

In Baghdad, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden met with Iraq's leaders Saturday to try to alleviate the pressures. While he kept expectations of a breakthrough low -- telling reporters after a meeting with President Jalal Talabani it was up to the Iraqis, not him, to resolve the issue -- his visit alone underscored Washington's concern.

The White House worries the bans could raise questions over the fairness of the March 7 parliamentary election, which is seen as an important step in the American pullout timetable and a way to break political stalemates over key issues such as dividing Iraq's oil revenue.

"I am confident that Iraq's leaders are seized with this problem and are working to find a just solution," Biden said during his visit.

The Marines formally handed over U.S. responsibility for Sunni-dominated Anbar, Iraq's largest province, to the Army during a ceremony at a base in Ramadi, the scene of some of the war's most intense fighting. Overall control of the province shifted from the U.S. military to Iraq in September 2008, but the U.S. continues to provide support for Iraqi forces.

Iraqi and American color guards stood together at attention as both countries' national anthems were played by a U.S. military band.

As many as 25,000 Marines were in Iraq at the peak of the fighting, mostly in Anbar province. Fewer than 3,000 remain. All but a handful of those will ship out in a matter of weeks.

The Marines' extended stay in Anbar went against the grain of the Corps' usual role as a fighting force designed to quickly seize territory and then turn it over to the Army to maintain control from fixed bases.

Sharing the front row at the handover ceremony with American Army and Marine generals were some of Anbar's influential tribal sheiks in traditional checkered headdresses and gold-embroidered robes. Their decision to shift support to the Americans is credited with sapping the Sunni insurgency -- including al-Qaida in Iraq -- of much of its strength in areas near Baghdad.

Maj. Gen. Terry Wolff, the Army commander who assumed responsibility for the province, said he hoped security gains cemented by U.S. troops and their Iraqi counterparts would ensure a smooth transfer despite the overall drawdown in American forces.

"The goal that we all seek is the Iraqis securing their own election, and that the election is fair and the election is free," he told reporters after the handover.

If all goes as planned, the last remaining Marines will be followed out by tens of thousands of soldiers in the coming months. President Barack Obama has ordered all but 50,000 troops out of the country by Aug. 31, with most to depart after the parliamentary election in March.

The remaining troops will leave by the end of 2011 under a U.S.-Iraqi security pact.

The changeover at Ramadi, 70 miles (115 kilometers) west of Baghdad, leaves the U.S. Army's 1st Armored Division with responsibility over both Baghdad and Anbar, the vast desert province that stretches from western Baghdad to the borders of Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

The province was once the heart of the deadly Sunni insurgency that erupted after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. In the battles for control of the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, the Marines saw some of the most brutal and deadliest fighting of the war.

Violence began dropping off in the province in late 2006 when Sunni fighters -- known as Awakening Councils -- turned against al-Qaida and sided with the Marines to fight the insurgency.

The upcoming parliamentary election is considered an important step toward speeding the U.S. troop pullout and seeking progress on stalled political initiatives. Among them: passing laws clarifying the rules for foreign oil investment and dividing the revenue among Iraq's main groups.

But plans to ban hundreds of candidates have raised deep concerns in Washington that the voting could widen rifts between the majority Shiites who gained power after Saddam's fall and Sunnis who are struggling to regain influence.

Biden, who arrived late Friday, had a full agenda of meetings with Iraqi leaders, including Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has strongly supported the blacklist and has resisted attempts at possible American mediation.

Some Sunni leaders have accused the Shiite-led government of using the ban as a political tool. But al-Maliki insists that Iraq must purge all ties to Saddam's Sunni-dominated regime. A vetting panel has put 512 names on the blacklist and more are expected.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told The Associated Press that during the meeting with al-Maliki, Biden was careful not to "give the wrong message that America wants to interfere in the Iraqi affairs."

Biden later met with Talabani, who has asked for a legal review on the blacklist. The courts are expected to examine whether the vetting panel has legal grounding because it does not have formal parliamentary approval.

The panel includes two controversial Shiite figures: Ali al-Lami, who was once detained by the U.S. military over a 2008 attack in a Shiite district of Baghdad; and Ahmed Chalabi, who is blamed for supplying U.S. officials with faulty intelligence on Saddam's weapons program prior to the 2003 invasion.

Al-Lami is also a candidate in the March election -- raising further complaints from Sunnis about possible political motives behind the list.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jan/23/us-marines-end-role-iraq-biden-baghdad//print/

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Obama: Campaign finance ruling 'devastating'

Darlene Superville

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama says he can't imagine "anything more devastating to the public interest" than the Supreme Court's decision to ease limits on campaign spending by corporations and labor unions.

He also suggested in his radio and Internet address Saturday that the ruling could jeopardize his domestic agenda.

In the 5-4 decision Thursday, the high court threw out parts of a 63-year-old law that said companies and unions can be prohibited from using their own money to produce and run campaign ads that urge the election or defeat of particular candidates by name.

"This ruling opens the floodgates for an unlimited amount of special interest money into our democracy," the president said. "It gives the special interest lobbyists new leverage to spend millions on advertising to persuade elected officials to vote their way -- or to punish those who don't."

Obama said that means lawmakers who stand up to Wall Street banks, oil companies, health insurers and other powerful interests could find themselves under attack at election time.

"I can't think of anything more devastating to the public interest," he said. "The last thing we need to do is hand more influence to the lobbyists in Washington or more power to the special interests to tip the outcome of elections."

The ruling came out as lawmakers make re-election plans and as Obama's Democratic Party feels the pressure from losses in New Jersey, Virginia and in Massachusetts, where Republican Scott Brown came from behind to win a Senate seat on Tuesday that Democrats had held for decades.

Obama said the decision will make it harder to enact financial, tax, health care and energy changes.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jan/24/obama-blasts-supreme-court-campaign-finance-ruling//print/

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TSA employee pranks college student

PHILADELPHIA | A college student returning to school after the winter break fell victim to a prank at Philadelphia's airport by a Transportation Security Administration worker who pretended to plant a plastic bag of white powder in her carryon luggage.

The worker is no longer employed by the TSA after the incident this month, a spokeswoman said.

Rebecca Solomon, 22, a University of Michigan student, wrote in a column for her campus newspaper that she was having her bags screened on Jan. 5 before her flight to Detroit when the employee stopped her, reached into her laptop computer bag and pulled out the plastic bag, demanding to know where she had gotten the powder.

In the Jan. 10 column for The Michigan Daily, she recounted how she struggled to come up with an explanation, wondering if it was bomb-detonating material slipped in by a terrorist or drugs put there by a smuggler.

"He let me stutter through an explanation for the longest minute of my life," Solomon wrote. "Tears streamed down my face as I pleaded with him to understand that I'd never seen this baggie before."

A short time later, she said, the worker smiled and said it was his.

The worker "waved the baggie at me and told me he was kidding, that I should've seen the look on my face," she said.

Solomon said she asked to speak to a supervisor and filled out a complaint, and during that process was told that the man was training TSA workers to detect contraband. Two days later, she said, she was told he had been disciplined.

"I had been terrified and disrespected by an airport employee," she said. "He'd joked about the least funny thing in air travel."

There was no answer Saturday at a telephone listing for Solomon at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. An e-mail message seeking comment from her was sent Saturday by The Associated Press, and a telephone message was left at her parents' home in suburban Philadelphia.

TSA spokeswoman Suzanne Trevino said late Saturday that the employee was no longer with the agency but did not say whether he had been fired or quit, referring only to "disciplinary action" taken by the TSA. She also declined to identify the worker or his job title, citing privacy laws. She said she did not know whether his actions would be subject to criminal charges.

"The behavior exhibited by this TSA employee was highly inappropriate and unprofessional," Trevino said in a statement.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jan/23/tsa-employee-pranks-college-student//print/

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From Fox News

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Agencies Fear Traffickers Will Target Haiti's Displaced Children

Saturday , January 23, 2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti  — 

Thousands of children unaccounted for since Haiti's earthquake are at risk of falling prey to child traffickers, aid agencies have learned, as fears were raised over at least 15 children who have vanished from hospitals within the past few days.

Unicef, the U.N. children's agency, warned that "traffickers fish in pools of vulnerability. We know from past experience that trafficking happens in the chaos that usually follows emergencies." A Unicef adviser, Jean Luc Legrand, said he knew of at least 15 cases of children disappearing from hospitals.

Save the Children, World Vision and the British Red Cross have called for an immediate halt to adoptions of Haitian children not approved before the earthquake, warning that child traffickers could exploit the lack of regulation. There has been a surge in offers from well-meaning foreigners.

Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that child enslavement and trafficking was "an existing problem and could easily emerge as a serious issue over the coming weeks and months."

Nearly 30 agencies helped by the UN peacekeeping mission and the Haitian government are urgently pooling information and resources to counter the threat. They are are touring hospitals and orphanages, broadcasting radio messages, and increasing surveillance of road traffic, the airport and the border with the Dominican Republic.

The scale of the problem is potentially enormous. Haiti is awash with children, with 45 percent of its population younger than 15. One U.N. official estimated that between 40,000 and 60,000 children were killed, orphaned or separated from their families by the earthquake, which struck while most were still in school, and anecdotal evidence suggests many have been left to fend for themselves.

One small orphanage visited by The Times yesterday said it had turned away ten children because its buildings were badly damaged. A World Vision official in Jimani, a town just across the border in the Dominican Republic, said eight orphans and 25 unaccompanied children — many injured — had turned up there by Tuesday. A UN official spoke of people driving to the airport in expensive cars and putting children on outgoing flights without any documentation.

The alarm is particularly acute given Haiti's dire record of child abuse. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees reported in 2008 that 29 per cent of children under 14 were already working, and roughly 300,000 were ‘restaveks' (a creole corruption of ‘rester avec') whose impoverished parents send them to work for wealthier families in the hope they will receive food and shelter.

Some were cared for and educated, but others were "sexually exploited and physically abused; and are unpaid, undocumented, and unprotected". When they turn 15, and must by law be paid, many are turned on to the streets to join as many as 3,000 other children who survive on the streets of Port-au-Prince as vendors, beggars or prostitutes.

Even before the earthquake, Haitian children were regularly sent to the Dominican Republic to work in sex tourism, or recruited by armed gangs. A Haitian women's organisation documented 140 rapes of girls younger than 18 years in the 18 months to June 2008. Haiti's many orphanages — there are said to be 200 in Port-au-Prince alone — are poorly regulated, and some are mere fronts for international child traffickers.

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,583709,00.html

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Part of U.K. Airport Evacuated After Unidentified White Powder Found

Saturday , January 23, 2010

LONDON — 

Police have closed and evacuated part of Manchester Airport in England after finding an unidentified white powder there.

The action came after airport staff found the power in hand luggage a man planned to carry onto a domestic flight to London on Saturday.

Police have cordoned off the check-in area where the powder was discovered and passengers are being checked in at other terminals. The man is being questioned by police.

Police officer Leor Giladi says there is no imminent danger, but authorities are trying to identify the powder.

The event occurred one day after Britain raised its terror threat alert from "substantial" — meaning a strong possibility of a terrorist attack — to "severe," indicating such an attack is considered highly likely.

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,583741,00.html

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Flight Diverted to Denver After Passenger Tries to Open Door

Saturday , January 23, 2010

DENVER — 

An airplane flying from Washington D.C. to Las Vegas has been diverted to Denver International Airport after a passenger tried to open an exterior door on the plane while it was in flight.

DIA spokesman Jeff Green says that United Flight 223 was diverted to Denver at 5:10 p.m. Saturday, and police who met the plane at the gate took the passenger into custody.

Green told the Denver Post that it is "virtually impossible" to open an exterior door in mid-flight.

Green said the police were interviewing the passenger Saturday night but did not know if the man would be charged.

United Airlines and the Denver police department did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press.

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,583750,00.html

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150 Bodies Recovered From Wells After Nigerian Massacre

Saturday , January 23, 2010

At least 150 bodies were recovered from wells following deadly Muslim-Christian clashes in central Nigeria, a village headman said Saturday, taking the unofficial death toll past 400.

"So far we have picked 150 bodies from the wells. But 60 more people are still missing," Umar Baza, head of Kuru Karama village near the city of Jos, told AFP by telephone.

"We took an inventory of the displaced people from this village, sheltering in three camps, and we realize that 60 people can still not be accounted for," he said. "We believe there are more bodies in the wells."

The unrest erupted on Sunday over plans to build a mosque in a mainly Christian district of the city, a hotbed of sectarian tensions for many years. Mobs set fire to buildings while many people were shot dead.

The Head of the Muslim volunteer team for the victims' burial, Mohammed Shittu, said further searches would be carried out on Saturday.

"Now we have 150 bodies in all, taken from the wells as from Thursday," he told AFP.

"From the account of survivors, some people fleeing attacks were ambushed and killed in the bush. That is why we are going there to search for more bodies."

Global rights watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Saturday urged Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to order "an immediate criminal investigation into credible reports of a massacre of at least 150 Muslim residents of a town in central Nigeria."

A Muslim official who visited Kuru Karama to arrange for the burial of bodies told HRW that 121 corpses had been recovered, including those of 22 young children.

Dozens of them were "stuffed down wells or in sewage pits," HRW said in a statement.

The state government has given no official death toll for the violence, which broke out in Jos, capital of Plateau State, and spread to nearby towns and villages.

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,583733,00.html

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