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From the Los Angeles Times

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Wait times drop for cellphone 911 calls in California

After years of call centers not being able to keep up with emergency calls from wireless phones, the number of such calls not getting through fell to just 5% so far this year.

By Rich Connell, Los Angeles Times

November 28, 2010

Millions of California cellphone users are no longer getting busy messages, experiencing unconnected calls or being put on hold for extended periods when they dial 911.

The number of wireless emergency calls reaching busy operators or failing to go through for various reasons dropped from 4.9 million or 42% of calls in 2007 to just 470,000 or 5% so far this year, according to the state's Public Safety Communications Division. The improvement came even as cellphone 911 call volumes continued growing steadily.

In addition, the California Highway Patrol, by far the largest recipient of emergency cellphone calls, has significantly reduced the time that callers wait for someone to answer.

The new data represent a turnaround for a system that struggled for years to adapt as wireless devices rapidly proliferated, becoming the public's primary link to police and fire rescuers.

When mobile phones were relatively rare, bulky contraptions installed chiefly in cars, all 911 wireless calls were sent to the CHP. By the late 1990s, as smaller, cheaper cellphones became ubiquitous, CHP call centers were being overwhelmed.

Callers often had to wait several minutes to reach an operator, only to then be quizzed and transferred to the nearest public safety dispatch center. The delays added crucial minutes to emergency response times.

The state reacted several years ago with a push to reroute many wireless calls, which now eclipse land-line emergency calls 2 to 1, directly to local police and fire agencies. State grants helped equip local dispatchers to handle their jurisdiction's mobile calls.

Local dispatch centers now take 60% of wireless calls directly.

"We've really had some success in moving wireless calls" to public safety agencies best prepared to handle them, said Karen Wong, who heads the state division overseeing 911 programs.

Last year, about 17 million wireless 911 calls were made in the state, a 28% increase from 2007. Land-line emergency calls decreased 20% to 8.2 million over the same period.

Emergency call hold times at the CHP also have improved. In 2007, The Times reported that about half of the CHP's call centers failed to meet state standards of 90% of 911 calls being answered in 10 seconds or less. Many were averaging delays of four times that or more, with some waits of 20 minutes or longer.

Over the last three months, all 25 of the centers exceeded the quick-answer standard, records show. Statewide this year, the agency has answered 94% or more of its emergency calls within 10 seconds.

A combination of increased staffing, more efficient operator scheduling and more refined call-routing procedures contributed to the improvement, said CHP Chief Reginald Chappelle, who oversees the 911 program.

"With these types of numbers, [callers] are going to hit some level of assurance that, no matter who they call, it will be answered in three rings or less," he said.

The added burden of cell calls initially strained some local 911 call centers, including the city of Los Angeles. But generally, officials say they have adjusted and are serving the public better.

In 2008, Long Beach became one of the last large cities in the state to accept emergency cellphone calls directly. Officials were concerned about residents and visitors being routed through the CHP, but they feared that an influx of cell calls could swamp city dispatchers and delay emergency response times.

"The initial switch was a bit of a task," said Lt. Ken Rosenthal, who supervises the city's emergency call center. "But that's long since gone. We're doing fine."

Getting calls directly is a significant benefit, he said. On a "medical rescue or a crime in progress," he said, "obviously, seconds" can make a difference.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-911-calls-20101129,0,5761396,print.story

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California prison overcrowding case heads to Supreme Court

The state is appealing a 2009 federal judicial order to reduce the prison population by more than 40,000 in two years. Lawyers for 18 other states are backing the appeal.

By David G. Savage and Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times

November 29, 2010

Reporting from Washington and Los Angeles

The suicide rate in California's overcrowded prisons is nearly twice the national average, and one inmate dies every eight days from inadequate medical care.

These are just two indicators cited in the 15-year legal battle over whether the state's prisons are failing to provide humane medical care for the 165,000 inmates.

On Tuesday, the problems of California's prisons will move to a national stage when the Supreme Court hears the state's challenge to an extraordinary court order that would require the prison population to be reduced by about 25% in two years. That could mean releasing or transferring more than 40,000 inmates, state lawyers say.

The case is not just of interest to California.

Lawyers for 18 other states, including Illinois, Pennsylvania and Virginia, joined in support of California's appeal, saying they feared a ruling upholding the prison release order could trigger similar moves across the nation. "Real world experience" suggests that releasing a large number of inmates would "inevitably place innocent citizens at much greater risk," they said.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other state officials call the order from a panel of three federal judges "the most sweeping intrusion into a state's management" of its prisons ever handed down by a court. They say the panel — composed of two federal district judges and a federal appeals judge — is "using the guise of providing healthcare" to order a restructuring of the state's correctional system. They also argue that the forced release of prisoners would threaten public safety.

Defenders of the judges' order cite Schwarzenegger's own words in 2006 declaring that California faced an overcrowding emergency in its prisons. They also say the state is exaggerating the possible effect of the order. California locks up many prisoners for repeat petty crimes or for technical parole violations, even though they are not considered dangerous or violent.

"California has people in prison who wouldn't be in prison in any other state," said former George W. Bush administration Solicitor Gen. Paul D. Clement, who represents one group of state prisoners. His brief cites comments from a former Texas prison director who said he was surprised and disturbed by the overcrowding in California's prisons.

Supporters of the judges' order also emphasize that it does not require a wholesale release of inmates. For example, the prisons could free up space by relocating some inmates to county jails, private prisons or out-of-state facilities. In addition, some nonviolent inmates could be released early.

"We're sending 80,000 people to prison each year for two to three months — parole violators who are going from their home communities to sit in reception centers where there is no rehabilitation, no healthcare, no drug programs," said Michael Bien, lead attorney in the case brought on behalf of prisoners deprived of mental healthcare.

"This is the kind of thing that everyone knows doesn't do anything for public safety," Bien added. "These men and women come back home after a couple of months having been exposed to much more dangerous people. If they weren't dangerous before, they are now."

The case began in the early 1990s with separate lawsuits contending that inmates who were mentally ill or had chronic health problems were suffering behind bars. The 8th Amendment forbids cruel and unusual punishment, and it has been read to mean prisoners cannot be denied needed medical care.

U.S. District Judges Lawrence Karlton in Sacramento and Thelton Henderson in San Francisco separately ruled that the prisoners were suffering from unconstitutional ill treatment, and they handed down at least 80 orders requiring state prisons to make improvements. Despite promises from prison authorities, the state did not comply with most of the orders.

Frustrated, the judges called for convening a three-judge panel under the terms of a federal law that authorizes prison releases as a last resort. The chief judge of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals appointed Judge Stephen Reinhardt from that court to sit on the panel with Karlton and Henderson.

The panel then determined that overcrowding was the "primary cause" of the substandard medical care, and on Aug. 4, 2009, ordered the state to reduce the prison population to 137.5% of the original design capacity in its 33 prisons, or about 40,000 fewer inmates than they now hold.

In June, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Schwarzenegger's appeal.

Most legal experts assume the conservative justices of the high court will cast a skeptical eye on the prison release order, especially because the three judges from California have long liberal records. In a friend-of-the-court brief, Kent Scheidegger of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a law-and-order group in Sacramento, called the choice of Reinhardt "astonishing" and said it was reason enough for the high court to set aside the release order.

But Robert Weisberg, a professor of criminal justice at Stanford University, said the court should focus on the long record in the case.

"I hope this will be looked at as a lawsuit on appeal and not a political Armageddon," he said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-california-prisons-20101129,0,6174300,print.story

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Mixed portraits of Oregon terrorism suspect

Classmates of Mohamed Osman Mohamud, accused of trying to detonate a bomb at a Christmas tree-lighting, describe a typical teen. Fire ravages an Islamic center in Corvallis, Ore.

By Bob Drogin and April Choi, Los Angeles Times

November 29, 2010

Reporting from Washington and Portland, Ore.

Friends called him "Mo," and one remembered him as the class clown. He drank beer, followed the Portland Trail Blazers and liked hip-hop music. He sometimes worshipped at a local Muslim center but wasn't devout.

And for a high school physics project, he told the class how to operate a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

Mohamed Osman Mohamud — the 19-year-old Somali American accused of trying to explode a powerful car bomb amid throngs of people at a holiday ceremony Friday night in downtown Portland, Ore. — appears a mix of typical teenager and aspiring jihadist, according to former classmates, neighbors and court documents.

Authorities said the bomb was a deliberate dud supplied by the FBI, and no one was injured. Federal agents arrested Mohamud on the spot. He is scheduled to be in federal court Monday on a charge of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.

In a possible reaction to the purported bomb plot, federal officials said an arson fire early Sunday ravaged part of a two-story Islamic center in Corvallis, Ore., that Mohamud occasionally attended.

The pre-dawn blaze at the Salman Al-Farisi Islamic Center, a fixture for 40 years in the university town, destroyed the main office. It did not affect the worship areas, said Yosof Wanly, imam at the center.

FBI officials said they didn't know if the mosque was targeted as revenge for the alleged plot to kill revelers attending Portland's annual Christmas tree-lighting ceremony. The bureau offered a $10,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of whomever set the fire.

"We have made it quite clear that the FBI will not tolerate any kind of retribution or attack on the Muslim community," said Arthur Balizan, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon. "We are working very closely with the leadership at the mosque. We will find the person responsible for this attack and bring the full force of the federal justice system to bear."

Both the alleged bomb plot and the arson have stunned Portland, and raised fears of further backlash against Muslims.

Officials said Mohamud was born in 1991 in Mogadishu, capital of Somalia, at the start of the African country's civil war.

He and his parents, Mariam and Osman Barre, came to America when he was 5 as part of a diaspora that brought tens of thousands of Somali refugees to U.S. cities. About 6,500 Somalis are said to live in the Portland area.

Few details were available about Mohamud's early years. It wasn't known when he became a naturalized American citizen. Neighbors said he had a younger sister, Mona, and a younger brother.

In 2008, the family settled in the newly built Merlo Station Apartments, which provides housing for low-income families. The three-story complex sits between a light-rail station and the Tualatin Hills park and recreation center in Beaverton, on the west side of Portland.

The upscale suburb could not be more different from war-torn Mogadishu.

Beaverton boasts more than 100 parks, plus winding hiking trails and miles of bike paths. Ski slopes and beaches are just more than an hour away. Residents are overwhelmingly white and Asian.

"His mom stated to me once that she loved America," said Stephanie Napier, a former neighbor. "They all moved here so they could go to school."

She remembered Mohamud as quiet and polite. "He would always wave hello."

Napier's son, Tyler, 17, said Mohamud "had his own little social group, mostly Somali kids or Middle Eastern kids," he said.

As a boy, Mohamud attended Markham Elementary School and Jackson Middle School, both in southwest Portland. Jackson's arts-based curriculum was "inspired by the vision of the great American composer, Leonard Bernstein," according to its website.

He next attended Wilson High School but soon transferred to Westview High School, just down the street from the Merlo Station complex. He joined the school's literary magazine, played a fierce game of pickup basketball and graduated in June 2009.

It was at Westview that Mohamud detailed a rocket-propelled grenade launcher for his physics class, former classmates said. One student, Andy Stull, told Portland's NewsChannel 8 that he and Mohamud had fought over a messy locker.

"The main thing was the way he said he hated Americans," Stull said. "It was serious. He looked me in the eye and had this look in his eye, like it was his determination in life — 'I hate Americans.' "

Stull said he was frightened enough to tell school counselors. School officials could not be reached Sunday.

Another former classmate said Mohamud sometimes joked about being a terrorist, and that he had sent a peculiar text message this month.

"He texted me asking if I knew of any places where he could shoot guns off where nobody would hear," said Alex Masak. "I didn't think much of it. …I assumed he was just messing around with his friends."

Other students recalled Mohamud as outgoing and laid-back. One youth, who asked not to be identified, told KPTV Fox 12 News that Mohamud was "the class clown … always making jokes and acting funny."

Neighbors said Mohamud's parents separated in summer 2009. That was when the FBI said Mohamud began sending e-mail messages to a suspected Al Qaeda recruiter in Pakistan, drawing the bureau's attention.

That fall, Mohamud started taking pre-engineering classes at Oregon State University in Corvallis, although he was not in a degree program. Classmates said he lived off-campus, attended fraternity parties and had many friends.

"He's a chill kid," Mo Kim, 23, an Oregon State student, told the local Democrat-Herald newspaper. "He was Black Friday shopping with friends the night before. It's kind of crazy. No one saw this coming. Some people think he was framed."

He said Mohamud didn't express radical views or appear violent. "He was a stand-up guy. He played basketball, liked the Blazers. He was a normal Oregonian."

Mohamud registered for fall courses at Oregon State this year, but dropped out Oct. 6, according to university spokesman Todd Simmons. That was just as the FBI said the alleged bomb plot was picking up steam.

According to an FBI affidavit, Mohamud told undercover FBI agents that he "had been thinking of committing some form of violent jihad since the age of 15," and once e-mailed a friend, asking him to pray "that I will be a martyr in the highest chambers of paradise."

The affidavit quotes him as telling FBI agents that he once made a special prayer for guidance on whether he should "make jihad in a different country, or make like an operation here, you know, like something like Mumbai," referring to the 2008 terrorist attack that killed 175 people in India's largest city.

Mohamud also boasted that "because he had been a rapper, he could obtain" a pistol or an AK-47 assault rifle, the affidavit said.

A federal law enforcement official, who was not authorized to speak publically about the case, said U.S. officials were "confident no other people were involved in this."

Mohamud aimed to flee the country after the bombing, the FBI said, and hoped to obtain a U.S. passport using the pseudonym Beau Coleman. Why he purportedly chose the name is not clear.

Army private accused of murder in Afghan prisoner's death

Pfc. David Lawrence faces a military hearing in Ft. Carson, Colo. His parents and attorney say he showed signs of mental instability before last month's slaying in Kandahar.

By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times

November 29, 2010

Reporting from San Diego

The military equivalent of a preliminary hearing is set for Monday at Ft. Carson, Colo., for an Army private accused of premeditated murder in the shooting death of a senior Taliban commander being held prisoner in Afghanistan.

Pfc. David W. Lawrence, 20, is accused of shooting Mullah Mohebullah in the head Oct. 17 while assigned to guard duty at a detention center in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province.

Under military law, premeditated murder can carry the death penalty.

The death was announced by an angry Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who vowed to launch his own investigation. Karzai has repeatedly criticized NATO forces for what he has termed a wanton use of deadly force.

The case sits at the intersection of two of the more controversial aspects of the war: the testy relationship between the U.S. and Karzai, and the military's treatment of soldiers who show signs of mental instability while in the war zone.

In the days before the shooting, Lawrence had been seen by medical personnel at Kandahar and given drugs for depression and sleeplessness, his attorneys said. Shortly afterward, Lawrence was assigned to guard duty, a task for which he had no training.

Lawrence's parents, Brett and Wendy Lawrence, said that their son had told them repeatedly in e-mail messages and phone calls that he was hearing voices, including one that told him how to avoid the buried roadside bombs that are the top killer of NATO and Afghan troops.

"He said those voices were guiding him and telling him what to do," Wendy Lawrence said.

The stress and danger of Kandahar, a major battleground between the U.S. and Taliban fighters, was causing Lawrence's mental state to deteriorate, his parents said.

"He said it was the worst place on earth," said Brett Lawrence, a hospital employee in Lawrenceburg, Ind.

Wendy Lawrence said several of her relatives had mental illnesses including paranoia and schizophrenia. David is her son from a previous marriage.

The Army has ordered a sanity board investigation. Lawrence's civilian lawyer, James Culp, was denied a request to delay the preliminary hearing, called an Article 32, until the sanity board reached its conclusions.

"We are going to an Article 32 for a kid who is hearing voices," Culp said. He said he was concerned the Army might be rushing the case to court-martial to appease Karzai.

Rather than hold the Article 32 in Afghanistan, the Army decided to bring Lawrence to Ft. Carson.

"He seemed like he was heavily sedated," said Brett Lawrence, who was allowed to see his son. "He didn't seem like he's seeing reality."

His son told him that he was seeing soldiers who had died in Afghanistan, including Capt. Dale Goetz, a chaplain. "He said he could see the chaplain with only half a head remaining," Brett Lawrence said.

The young soldier had become friends with the charismatic chaplain at Ft. Carson before their deployment and remained in contact with him in Afghanistan.

Goetz was among five U.S. soldiers killed Aug. 30 when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb outside Kandahar. He was the first chaplain killed in combat in 40 years, the Army said.

Lawrence had spoken of Goetz to his parents in glowing terms. They feel Goetz's death may have exacerbated their son's mental problems.

Lawrence, who has been examined by doctors at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany and Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, is restricted to his barracks at Ft. Carson.

Lawrence left high school at 17 to join the Indiana National Guard and later transferred to the active-duty Army. He liked to fish, ride his motorcycle and play computer games but was not much of a student.

"We thought he wanted to better his life and make a career out of the Guard and the Army," Wendy Lawrence said.

He had been in Afghanistan, his first deployment, for four months when the prisoner was killed. Prior to his guard duty assignment, he was part of a security detail for the battalion commander, which meant repeated missions "outside the wire" and exposure to the threat of snipers and roadside bombs.

Under military rules, the Article 32 hearing officer will recommend to the senior officer acting as convening authority whether the case should go to a court-martial, be dismissed or be dealt with through an administrative procedure.

Culp, a lawyer based in Austin, Texas, has defended several military personnel accused of crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. He asked that the Article 32 hearing be delayed until he could go to Afghanistan to see the crime scene and meet with a soldier who may have witnessed the killing. His request was denied.

The Lawrence family is preparing for what may be a long and costly legal fight.

"It just doesn't seem like our son," Wendy Lawrence said tearfully. "That breaks my heart. If he goes to jail, if he doesn't die physically, he'll die mentally."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-soldier-hearing-20101129,0,1914457,print.story

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Escondido man held on suspicion of possessing explosive devices

A 45-year-old Escondido man was arrested early Sunday on suspicion of possessing explosive materials after neighbors called police to complain that he was standing outside his home yelling obscenities, police said.

Richard Hinkel was arrested on suspicion of 18 counts of possessing explosive materials and one of having a bomb-making device, according to Lt. Craig Carter. He was booked into county jail in Vista.

Carter said there is no indication that the case is linked to that of George Jakubec, the 54-year-old Serbian emigre arrested Nov. 18 on possession of having explosive materials including acid and compounds often found in the bombs made by terrorist groups. Jakubec's rented home is just outside the Escondido city limits.

The materials found at Hinkel's home were similar to black powder and were of a lesser explosive nature, Carter said. The San Diego County Sheriff's Department bomb squad was called to the scene to examine the materials.

Escondido police responded to a call from neighbors about 4:49 a.m. that Hinkel was yelling obscenities.

Found on the property were 10 rifles, several handguns and a quantity of ammunition, Carter said.

Hinkel also had a large amount of fireworks, which are illegal to possess in San Diego County. None of the charges relate to the fireworks.

Promising HIV prevention

Treatment can't solve the problem, but adding a couple of new tools to the fully scaled-up implementation of available HIV prevention options could cut the global HIV infection rate in half.

By Seth Berkley

November 29, 2010

The recent announcement that a pill currently used to treat HIV infection can also help prevent it was an important milestone in the effort to keep people from getting the virus.

The breakthrough utilizes a strategy known as pre-exposure prophylaxis. At-risk people take a drug in advance of exposure to the pathogen that makes it less likely they will become infected.

The HIV drug's success in a Phase III trial is one of several recent breakthroughs in HIV prevention. None of the approaches, which also include a vaginal gel and an AIDS vaccine, is perfect, but all are promising. Together they add momentum to the growing body of evidence that science, if properly focused and funded, can deliver effective methods of preventing HIV. And the advancements have appeared on the horizon at a time when the battle against AIDS is at a crossroads.

Until recently, there had been just one great advance in responding to HIV since it was discovered in 1983: a revolution in treatment. Thanks largely to AIDS activists who demanded expedited research and approvals, today there are more drugs licensed to treat HIV than there are for all other viruses combined. Generous donors and innovative pricing mechanisms have made these antiretroviral drugs available to about 36% of those in the developing world who need them to stay alive and healthy.

Increasingly, however, both donor and recipient governments are questioning the sustainability of foreign funding for antiretroviral treatment. Faced with the economic downturn, donor countries are resisting commitments that will continue to escalate indefinitely. Currently, about 7,100 people a day become infected. Two people are newly infected with HIV for every one who starts antiretroviral treatment. This year, donors to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria committed $1 billion less than the minimum amount — $13 billion — needed for the fund to maintain current levels of treatment and add programs at a significantly reduced pace.

It has become clear that treatment for HIV, though still crucially important, can't solve the problem. That will only happen through preventing transmission of the virus in the first place. The goal of the prevention revolution that is finally taking off is to end the devastation of AIDS once and for all. In order for governments to have the confidence to continue making the enormous investment required to provide access to treatment to all those living with HIV, they must have reasonable assurance that one day the bill will be paid in full. That will require having ways to reliably prevent new infections.

One way of reducing rates of HIV transmission is through campaigns that make people aware of all the currently available evidence-based methods of prevention. At the same time, we must expand and improve what is available. In the recent drug trial that demonstrated the effectiveness of pre-exposure prophylaxis, which was conducted among men who have sex with men in Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, South Africa, Thailand and the U.S., volunteers who took a daily dose of the antiretroviral treatment Truvada — a combination of two drugs — were 44% less likely to become HIV infected than those who took a placebo.

Experts will now debate whether a confirmatory trial is needed to license the combination drug for prophylactic use, but because it is already available, some physicians will probably prescribe it that way off label.

After a clinical trial in South Africa this summer found that an experimental vaginal gel containing the antiretroviral Tenofovir reduced the risk of HIV infection in female volunteers by 39%, the FDA has agreed to rapidly review further studies of the gel.

As for vaccines, the first proof of efficacy — albeit modest efficacy — in an HIV vaccine candidate was established in a large clinical trial in Thailand last year. Follow-up studies are being planned. And the discovery of multiple, potent antibodies that neutralize many strains of HIV has suggested new avenues for the design of AIDS vaccines.

According to some projections, adding microbicides and pre-exposure prophylaxis to the fully scaled-up implementation of available HIV prevention options could cut the global HIV infection rate in half. A broadly effective vaccine, on top of that, could eventually finish AIDS off.

Though the science for these new tools is promising, the funding base is flat, despite large investments of stimulus dollars by the United States government. The U.S. deserves praise for financing the lion's share of both HIV treatment in Africa and HIV prevention research internationally. Other donor countries that are contributing to HIV treatment globally should also make simultaneous and significant investments in new prevention methods to ensure that their HIV costs won't rise indefinitely. Governments of developing countries can also play their part, first by instituting proven HIV prevention efforts while being accountable for results as measured by reductions in new infections. Second, they can demand the development of new HIV prevention tools as passionately as they have demanded universal access to HIV treatment.

Seth Berkley is the CEO of the nonprofit International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.

End-of-life uncertainty

Americans need to be more assertive in detailing the medical treatment they want as they age.

November 29, 2010

Americans have a near obsessive interest in death and dying. Today's most popular television series is about violent crime investigators. The biggest movie of the year is likely to be " Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1." The bestseller list is packed with crime novels. And the latest hit video game revolves around Cold War assassins.

And yet, Americans also are notoriously reluctant to confront the realities of death itself. In particular, how is it that so few people have taken steps to ensure that their wishes will be respected if they're too sick or injured to speak for themselves?

That question is squarely posed by a recent study of end-of-life care for cancer patients. Researchers at the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care looked at the treatment of Medicare patients over age 65, focusing on those suffering from especially lethal versions of the disease. They found that "many hospitals and physicians aggressively treat patients with curative attempts they may not want, at the expense of improving the quality of their last few weeks and months."

In Los Angeles, more than 40% of the cancer patients studied died in a hospital or intensive care unit — a setting few people would choose. They may have stayed in the hospital instead of shifting into a hospice program because they hadn't given any instructions on when to stop aggressively treating their illness. Or perhaps the instructions they gave weren't clear enough to overcome the institutional bias in favor of using all available medical means even when there's little to be gained.

There's nothing wrong with people insisting that doctors keep trying to hold back their death with aggressive interventions, no matter how bad the side effects may be or how diminished their faculties. It should be up to each individual to strike the right balance between prolonging life and maintaining its quality. What the Dartmouth study shows, though, is that "there is no consistent pattern of care or evidence that treatment patterns follow patient preferences."

In other words, unless people strongly assert their preferences, their end-of-life care will largely be determined by the prevailing customs of their communities. Those customs vary widely; for example, the study found that patients in Minneapolis were four times less likely than those in Los Angeles to receive aggressive life-sustaining treatment during their last weeks on earth.

There is a way of making one's preferences known: It requires completing a form called an advance directive. And under federal law, hospitals have to tell their patients about these forms and ask if they've filled one out. But only about 25% of the population has done so.

One reason is that advance directives have a gruesome image. They're more than just "do not resuscitate" orders — a directive could just as easily instruct doctors to take heroic measures to sustain life. Even so, a directive can be daunting to complete. Each state has its own standardized form; some of them ask only for the name of someone authorized to make medical decisions on a patient's behalf, while others invite people to declare when their doctors should switch from trying to prolong their life to reducing their pain and suffering.

For example, California's form asks people to choose between telling doctors to take all "generally accepted" measures to try to prolong their life, or to not prolong their life if they're close to death, in an irreversible coma or more likely to be hurt or burdened by the treatment than helped. It's a chillingly stark choice. The "Five Wishes" form developed by the nonprofit organization Aging With Dignity, which is accepted in California and many other states, offers a more flexible set of instructions to doctors, but it forces people to make far more decisions about their future care.

More alternatives would be welcome. In particular, rather than focusing on treatment preferences, advance directives should let people express what they'd like to achieve through treatment should they become terminally ill. Those goals — such as seeing a child graduate from high school or simply having the chance to put one's affairs in order — change as people and their families age, so advance planning has to be an ongoing process.

Another challenge is finding the right advocate for this kind of planning. Health insurers don't have the requisite credibility, given their obvious interest in cutting costs. Doctors and hospitals, meanwhile, have little incentive to do so. Medicare pays more for aggressive treatment than for "palliative" care that's aimed only at relieving pain and reducing symptoms. And physicians can't seek extra dollars from Medicare for the time they spend counseling patients about end-of-life options; when Democrats included such a provision in the healthcare reform bill, critics said they were trying to create "death panels."

Still, Medicare is encouraging doctors to offer end-of-life counseling as part of their patients' annual "wellness" visits. And states are giving them a bigger role in advance planning. More than 30 recognize "life-sustaining treatment" orders that physicians fill out in consultation with patients. Ultimately, though, the burden rests with individuals to explore their options, decide how they want to be treated as death approaches, and make their preferences known — ideally, as part of their regularly updated medical record. Those who do not make those decisions themselves will leave it to others, with uncertain consequences at the most trying times.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-endoflife-20101129,0,508408,print.story

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From the New York Times

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U.S. Expands Role of Diplomats in Spying

WASHINGTON — The United States has expanded the role of American diplomats in collecting intelligence overseas and at the United Nations, ordering State Department personnel to gather the credit card and frequent-flier numbers, work schedules and other personal information of foreign dignitaries.

Revealed in classified State Department cables, the directives, going back to 2008, appear to blur the traditional boundaries between statesmen and spies.

The cables give a laundry list of instructions for how State Department employees can fulfill the demands of a “National Humint Collection Directive.” (“Humint” is spy-world jargon for human intelligence collection.) One cable asks officers overseas to gather information about “office and organizational titles; names, position titles and other information on business cards; numbers of telephones, cellphones, pagers and faxes,” as well as “internet and intranet ‘handles', internet e-mail addresses, web site identification-URLs; credit card account numbers; frequent-flier account numbers; work schedules, and other relevant biographical information.”

Philip J. Crowley, a State Department spokesman, on Sunday disputed that American diplomats had assumed a new role overseas.

“Our diplomats are just that, diplomats,” he said. “They represent our country around the world and engage openly and transparently with representatives of foreign governments and civil society. Through this process, they collect information that shapes our policies and actions. This is what diplomats, from our country and other countries, have done for hundreds of years.”

The cables, sent to embassies in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the United States mission to the United Nations, provide no evidence that American diplomats are actively trying to steal the secrets of foreign countries, work that is traditionally the preserve of spy agencies. While the State Department has long provided information about foreign officials' duties to the Central Intelligence Agency to help build biographical profiles, the more intrusive personal information diplomats are now being asked to gather could be used by the National Security Agency for data mining and surveillance operations. A frequent-flier number, for example, could be used to track the travel plans of foreign officials.

Several of the cables also asked diplomats for details about the telecommunications networks supporting foreign militaries and intelligence agencies.

The United States regularly puts undercover intelligence officers in countries posing as diplomats, but a vast majority of diplomats are not spies. Several retired ambassadors, told about the information-gathering assignments disclosed in the cables, expressed concern that State Department employees abroad could routinely come under suspicion of spying and find it difficult to do their work or even risk expulsion.

Ronald E. Neumann, a former American ambassador to Afghanistan, Algeria and Bahrain, said that Washington was constantly sending requests for voluminous information about foreign countries. But he said he was puzzled about why Foreign Service officers — who are not trained in clandestine collection methods — would be asked to gather information like credit card numbers.

“My concerns would be, first of all, whether the person could do this responsibly without getting us into trouble,” he said. “And, secondly, how much effort a person put into this at the expense of his or her regular duties.”

The requests have come at a time when the nation's spy agencies are struggling to meet the demands of two wars and a global hunt for militants. The Pentagon has also sharply expanded its intelligence work outside of war zones, sending Special Operations troops to embassies to gather information about militant networks.

Unlike the thousands of cables, originally obtained by WikiLeaks, that were sent from embassies to the State Department, the roughly half-dozen cables from 2008 and 2009 detailing the more aggressive intelligence collection were sent from Washington and signed by Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

One of the cables, signed by Mrs. Clinton, lists information-gathering priorities to the American staff at the United Nations in New York, including “biographic and biometric information on ranking North Korean diplomats.”

While several treaties prohibit spying at the United Nations, it is an open secret that countries try nevertheless. In one 2004 episode, a British official revealed that the United States and Britain eavesdropped on Secretary General Kofi Annan in the weeks before the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The requests for more personal data about foreign officials were included in several cables requesting all manner of information from posts overseas, information that would seem to be the typical business of diplomats.

State Department officials in Asunción, Paraguay, were asked in March 2008 about the presence of Al Qaeda, Hezbollah and Hamas in the lawless “Tri-Border” area of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. Diplomats in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo were asked in April 2009 about crop yields, H.I.V. rates and China's quest for copper, cobalt and oil in Africa.

In a cable sent to the American Embassy in Bulgaria in June 2009, the State Department requested information about Bulgaria's efforts to crack down on money laundering and drug trafficking and for “details about personal relations between Bulgarian leaders and Russian officials or businessmen.”

And a cable sent on Oct. 31, 2008, to the embassies in Israel, Jordan, Egypt and elsewhere asked for information on “ Palestinian issues,” including “Palestinian plans, intentions and efforts to influence US positions on the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.” To get both sides, officials also sought information on “Israeli leadership intentions and strategy toward managing the US relationship.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/29/world/29spy.html?_r=1&ref=world&pagewanted=print

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Mexican Drug Gang Leader Confesses to Killings

MEXICO CITY — A notorious drug gang leader has been captured and has confessed to ordering most killings in the battle-scarred border city of Ciudad Juárez since August 2009, including the drive-by shootings of a United States consular employee and her husband, Mexico's federal police said Sunday.

Arturo Gallegos Castrellón, 32, leader of the gang Los Aztecas, was arrested along with two other gang leaders in a Juárez neighborhood on Saturday, said Luis Cárdenas Palomino, chief of the regional security division of the federal police.

Mr. Cárdenas said Mr. Gallegos claimed to have ordered 80 percent of the killings in the last 15 months. “He is in charge of the whole organization of Los Aztecas in Ciudad Juárez,” Mr. Cárdenas told reporters at a news conference in Mexico City. “All the instructions for the murders committed in Ciudad Juárez pass through him.”

The arrest marked a public-relations victory for the Mexican government as it takes aim at the top leaders of Mexico's brutal drug cartels, but it offered no guarantee to weary Juárez residents that the violence that has claimed more than 2,000 lives in the city this year would diminish.

Los Aztecas are a cross-border gang that carries out enforcement activities for the Juárez drug cartel, which has been fighting the Sinaloa cartel for control over the city, according to Mexican officials.

Mr. Gallegos claimed responsibility for several of the most notorious killings in Ciudad Juárez this year, including the shooting death of Lesley A. Enriquez, a worker at the United States Consulate in Ciudad Juárez who was pregnant, and her husband, Arthur H. Redelfs, an officer at the El Paso County Jail.

The couple was leaving a children's birthday party in Ciudad Juárez on March 14 to return home to El Paso, when gunmen fired on their white S.U.V. Their seven-month-old daughter, who was in the back seat, was unharmed.

The husband of another consulate worker was also killed the same afternoon, possibly in a case of mistaken identity, as he was driving a similar vehicle returning from the same party.

The police did not say why Mr. Gallegos ordered the consulate killings.

In July, Mexican authorities announced that they had arrested another gang leader, Jesús Ernesto Chávez Castillo, known as the Camel, who they said had told them he had ordered the consulate killings because the consulate had given United States visas to members of a rival gang.

But in a statement Sunday, the federal police said that after Mr. Chávez was arrested, Mr. Gallegos ordered the killing of his wife after she visited him in jail, apparently because he felt Mr. Chávez had given the authorities too much information about Los Aztecas.

Mr. Gallegos also admitted to ordering the massacre last Jan. 31 at a teenager's party in the neighborhood of Villas del Salvárcar because he thought members of a rival gang were there, the police said. Fifteen people were killed, and the episode shocked the city and forced President Felipe Calderón to acknowledge that innocent people were being caught up in the drug war's carnage.

Over the past year, the Mexican government has had several notable successes against the drug cartels, arresting or killing top leaders of the Beltrán Leyva drug trafficking organization, and a high-ranking leader of the Sinaloa cartel. Most recently, marines surrounded and killed Antonio Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillén, a top leader of the Gulf cartel in Matamoros on Nov. 5.

Since then, fighting between drug gangs along the border west of Matamoros has sent hundreds of people fleeing from their homes.

A flurry of polls released this week show that, for the first time since Mr. Calderón began his crackdown against drug cartels four years ago, a majority of the public no longer has confidence in the government's strategy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/29/world/americas/29mexico.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

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Calls From Man With Terror Links Prompted German Alert, Official Says

BERLIN — Germany's recent decision to declare a terrorism alert and dispatch heavily armed police around the nation was set off by phone calls from a man who said he wanted to quit working with terrorists and warned of a pending Mumbai-style attack, according to a law enforcement official with firsthand knowledge of the alert.

The man's calls to the German Federal Criminal Police earlier this month prompted a quick turnaround by the interior minister, Thomas de Maizière, who had tried to preserve a public appearance of calm even while law enforcement and intelligence forces had stepped up behind-the-scenes efforts to safeguard the nation from the growing threat of radical Islamic terrorists.

“Whoever knows the personality of Minister for the Interior de Maizière knows that he is not a man of quick conclusions,” said Rolf Tophoven, director of the Institute for Terrorism Research and Security Policy in Essen.

But the caller, who claimed to have been a jihadist working with terrorists in the Pakistan-Afghanistan region, phoned the federal police three times providing what law enforcement officials said was concrete information: plans for a team of armed terrorists to rampage through the Reichstag, the popular tourist site that also serves as the home for Germany's Parliament.

Even more alarming, the man said that there were already two members of the group in or near Berlin, and that four others would soon be trying to join them, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of his work in intelligence and security matters.

The existence of the caller, who was not identified, was first reported in the German magazine Der Spiegel.

At the moment, the official said, security agencies were focused on four or five possible terrorist plots aimed at different locations around the country. The official said the authorities were uncertain if the plots were linked in one grand scheme or if they were completely separate.

In the nearly two weeks since the interior minister issued his warning, Germany appears have settled down from its early jitters, with streets and shops and markets busy in spite of a cold snap. Christmas lights have been hung along busy streets, and the familiar booths for Christmas markets have also gone up, selling crepes and warm mulled wine, candy, sausages and other treats.

Reports of suspicious packages appear to have slowed down. Commuters hurry past bomb-sniffing dogs and travelers ask heavily armed police officers for directions at the main train station in Berlin.

The lawn in front of the Reichstag, which has since been closed to tourists, is quiet. The familiar long line out front is gone. Heavy security surrounds the Chancellery, police officers patrol airports and hop into trains when they cross into Germany, and there is an intense effort to monitor the border.

Security forces are still on the lookout for two men, believed to be in the Berlin area and part of the plot on the Reichstag, and federal and intelligence forces have been watching German citizens known to have traveled to the Pakistan-Afghanistan region. Two German citizens believed to be connected with terrorist training camps are being held in a Turkish prison, awaiting return to Germany, officials said.

When Der Spiegel first reported the existence of the caller and the Reichstag as a target, police and security officials said that talk of a specific target was speculation. But the law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the report was correct, though the official lamented the leak, saying it may have endangered the life of the informer and tipped off terrorists that German officials knew of their plans.

The law enforcement official also said the report may have prompted them to choose an alternate target. The official also warned that there was no way to know if the caller was providing accurate information or was sincere in his desire to switch sides, or whether the calls were part of a ruse to trick German law enforcement, like the Jordanian double agent who gained the trust of American officials in Afghanistan before bombing a base there, killing seven C.I.A. officials.

The man asked German officials to help him return to his family, presumably in Germany. If German forces are able to locate the caller and bring him in, the official said, they will initially treat him as potentially hostile.

Since the terrorism alert, German officials have tried to convince the public that regardless of the veracity of the caller's information, Germany faces the threat of an attack from radical Islamists, not only from the Pakistan region, but from home as well. Increasingly, security officials have acknowledged their growing concern that German citizens are becoming radicalized and perhaps plotting strikes.

Shortly after the government raised its terrorism alert and closed the Reichstag to tourists, the chancellor, Angela Merkel, called for calm and then in her weekly video podcast, said this was a concern not just for German law enforcement, but for all of NATO: “terrorism, failed states — these are the future challenges against which we have to prepare ourselves.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/29/world/europe/29germany.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

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After Thwarted Attack, Question Is ‘Why Portland?'

Portlanders call Pioneer Courthouse Square the city's living room.

But on Sunday, two days after federal law enforcement officials arrested Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, and accused him of plotting to bomb the square during a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony, it was more subdued.

Workers were preparing the brick-covered plaza for the 15th annual Holiday Ale Festival that starts on Wednesday. Private security officers patrolled the area. And visitors were still puzzled by the news of the plot.

“Who would want to bomb here?” said Naoki Hirai, a 29-year-old from Japan who is a graduate student at Portland State University. Betty Behrens, a tourist from Seattle, said, “I was astounded.”

In response to the thwarted plot, Mayor Sam Adams has floated the idea of cooperating more fully with federal law enforcement agencies. In 2005, the Portland City Council passed an ordinance that put conditions on the city's continued participation in the F.B.I. Joint Terrorism Task Force out of concern for the civil liberties of residents.

Now Mr. Adams said he was prepared to reconsider his opposition. “It's been five years since our last policy review,” he said.

City officials said they were also concerned about the safety of Portland's Muslim population. The police authorized additional patrols around Muslim community centers, said Sgt. Peter Simpson, a police spokesman.

At a news conference outside City Hall attended by the mayor and Muslim leaders, Kayse Jama, executive director of Portland's Center for Intercultural Organizing, condemned the bombing attempt. “We left Somalia because of war,” Mr. Jama said, “and we would like to live in peace.”

Mr. Mohamud is expected to make his first court appearance on Monday morning. “Eventually there will be due process,” said Amanda Fritz, a city commissioner. “In the meantime, we need to make sure innocent people aren't blamed or victimized.”

Until this weekend, Portland's biggest concern about Pioneer Courthouse Square was the presence of assertive panhandlers and homeless people. The Portland Business Alliance pressed for city rules that would clear sidewalks of perceived nuisances in the shopping district.

In May, after months of public outreach on the thorny topic, city leaders approved what they called a compromise on sidewalk use, restricting sitting within certain zones.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/29/us/29portland.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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From the Chcago Sun Times

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Detectives talking to 19-year-old about slaying of officer, ex-CHA cop

DAVID BLAKE | 500 police at wake for officer slain in SUV

November 29, 2010

BY ROSE SOBOL AND KIM JANSSEN

A teenage "person of interest" in the murders of a Chicago officer and a former Chicago Housing Authority cop remained in custody as one of the worst weekends for the Chicago Police Department came to an end Sunday night.

As more than 500 fellow officers and friends paid their respects at a wake for Officer David Blake -- shot dead Monday in his SUV on the South Side -- detectives continued to interview the 19-year-old parolee about his possible involvement in the Friday afternoon murders of Officer Michael Flisk and former CHA cop Stephen Peters, law enforcement sources said.

Evidence technician Flisk, 46, was investigating the scene of a burglary in the garage of Peters' mother's home in the 8100 block of South Burnham when both men were fatally shot. Peters' mother said Saturday she believes the burglar may have returned to collect stolen loot he had hidden in trash cans, then started shooting when confronted. Peters' red Ford Mustang was stolen during the original burglary, police said.

The man being questioned by police since Saturday lives in the neighborhood and had been free on parole since Sept. 14 after being convicted of armed robbery, records show. His home was searched Saturday, the source said.

The developments came as an anonymous donor offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of Flisk's killer, taking the total reward to $20,000.

The hundreds of officers at Blake's wake Sunday afternoon at A.R. Leak Funeral Home, 7838 South Cottage Grove, were struggling to come to terms with the murder of another Chicago Police officer this year.

Blake's partner Sean Davis told NBC5 Blake was "the ultimate cop." CPD Gold Star Families Support Group president Donna Marquez added that the murder of officers "has got to stop."

Blake will be buried after a private funeral. Arrangements for Flisk and Peters have yet to be finalized.

No charges have been filed in any of the three murders.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/2929058,CST-NWS-cop1129.article

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Oregon Muslims fear backlash

CORVALLIS | Fire set at Islamic center where bomb-plot suspect worshipped

November 29, 2010

BY JONATHAN COOPER AND NIGEL DUARA

CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Someone set fire to an Islamic center on Sunday, two days after a man who worshipped there was accused of trying to blow up a van full of explosives during Portland's Christmas tree lighting ceremony. Other Muslims fear it could be the first volley of misplaced retribution.

The charges against Mohamed Osman Mohamud, a Somali-born 19-year-old who was caught in a federal sting operation, are testing tolerance in a state that has been largely accepting of Muslims.

The fire at the Salman Alfarisi Islamic Center in Corvallis was reported at 2:15 a.m., and evidence at the scene led authorities believe it was set intentionally, said Carla Pusateri, a fire prevention officer for the Corvallis Fire Department.

Authorities don't know who started the blaze or exactly why, but they believe the center was targeted because Mohamud occasionally worshipped there.

"We have made it quite clear that the FBI will not tolerate any kind of retribution or attack on the Muslim community," said Arthur Balizan, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon.

Mohamud was being held on charges of plotting to carry out a terror attack Friday on a crowd of thousands at Portland's Pioneer Courthouse Square. He is scheduled to appear in court today.

On Friday, he parked what he thought was a bomb-laden van near the ceremony and then went to a nearby train station, where he dialed a cell phone that he believed would detonate the vehicle, federal authorities said. Instead, federal authorities moved in and arrested him. No one was hurt.

There were also no injuries in Sunday's fire, which burned 80 percent of the center's office but did not spread to worship areas or any other rooms, said Yosof Wanly, the center's imam.

After daybreak, members gathered at the center, where a broken window had been boarded up.

"I've prayed for my family and friends, because obviously if someone was deliberate enough to do this, what's to stop them from coming to our homes and our schools?" said Mohamed Alyagouri, a 31-year-old father of two who worships at the center. "I'm afraid for my children getting harassed from their teachers, maybe from their friends."

Wanly said Corvallis, a college town about 75 miles southwest of Portland, has long been accepting of Muslims.

"The common scene here is to be very friendly, accepting various cultures and religions," Wanly said.

In Portland, residents are alarmed by the terror plot, but Mayor Sam Adams said they are "not going to let this change our values of being an open and embracing city." He said that he beefed up patrols around mosques "and other facilities that might be vulnerable to knuckle-headed retribution" after hearing of the bomb plot.

Authorities have not explained how Mohamud, an Oregon State University student until he dropped out on Oct. 6, became so radicalized. Mohamud graduated from high school in the Portland suburb of Beaverton, although few details of his time there were available Saturday.

Wanly described him as a normal student who went to athletic events, drank an occasional beer and was into rap music and culture. He described Mohamud as religious, saying he attended prayers in Corvallis once or twice a month over a year and a half.

Wanly, 24, said that in about 15 conversations he had with Mohamud, the teen rarely discussed religion. He said that may have been because Mohamud knew his extremist views wouldn't be tolerated.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/2928764,CST-NWS-bomb1129.article

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U.S. supercarrier takes up position off South Korea

November 29, 2010

BY DAVID GUTTENFELDER AND JEAN H. LEE

YEONPYEONG ISLAND, South Korea -- A U.S. supercarrier and South Korean destroyer took up positions in the tense Yellow Sea on Sunday for joint military exercises that were a united show of force just days after a deadly North Korean artillery attack.

As tensions escalated across the region, China belatedly jumped into the fray. Beijing's top nuclear envoy, Wu Dawei, called for an emergency meeting in early December among regional powers, including North Korea.

Seoul responded cautiously to the proposal from North Korea's staunch ally, even as protesters begged President Lee Myung-bak to find a way to resolve the tension and restore peace.

Washington and Seoul had been pressing China, North Korea's main ally and benefactor, to help defuse the situation amid fears of all-out war.

China, slow at first to react, has quickened its diplomatic intervention in recent days. Chinese state councilor Dai Bingguo made a last-minute visit to Seoul to confer with Lee.

Lee pressured China to contribute to peace in a "more objective, responsible" matter, and warned Sunday that Seoul would respond "strongly" to any further provocation, the presidential office said.

Appearing on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday, U.S. Sen. John McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said China should rein in its neighbor.

"The key to this, obviously, is China," McCain said. "And, unfortunately, China is not behaving as a responsible world power. It cannot be in China's long-term interest to see a renewed conflict on the Korean peninsula."

Washington, which keeps 28,500 troops in South Korea to protect the ally, insists the routine drills were planned before last Tuesday's attack that killed two South Korean marines and two civilians.

The exercises will take place over four days, but no live-fire drills are planned, said Cmdr. Jeff Davis, spokesman for the 7th Fleet in Japan.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/world/2928784,CST-NWS-korea1129.article

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From Google News

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Grandmother of missing Morenci boys makes plea for their return

The grandmother of three missing Lenawee County boys this morning said she believed they were still alive and made an emotional plea for their safe return.

Roxann Skelton — whose son, John Skelton, reportedly gave his sons 9-year-old Andrew, 7-year-old Alexander and 5-year-old Tanner Skelton to a female friend before trying to commit suicide last week — appeared on "Good Morning America" asking the woman to drop off the children with authorities or at a restaurant with a note to call for help.

"She needs to put herself in the mother's position," Roxann Skelton, who lives in Florida, said today on the ABC morning news show. "Then she would know the pain and hurt the family is going through."

John Skelton, 39, of Morenci has said he gave his children to a woman known only as "Joann Taylor" last week before he tried to commit suicide. He said he had met Taylor years ago when he stopped to help after Taylor and her husband's vehicle had broken down on the side of the road and said he stayed in touch with her via the Internet. John Skelton said he asked her to take the children to their mother, Tanya Skelton, also of Morenci. The parents are separated and have joint custody.

Investigators have no proof that a Joann Taylor exists after searching several electronic devices. Police wouldn't say exactly what they examined. Police said on Sunday they could not corroborate anything John Skelton has told them about the boys and their whereabouts.

Search efforts were resuming at 8 a.m. today and a news conference is expected at 11 a.m.

Hundreds of volunteers and FBI investigators have searched areas of Michigan and Ohio for the boys over the weekend. A vigil was held Sunday night at Morenci United Methodist Church. John Skelton has remained in a mental health facility.

John Skelton's mother also said on the show today that she doesn't care what the name of the woman is or who her son has claimed to have given the boys. She just wants to see them home.

"Whether her name is Joann Taylor or Mary Poppins. It doesn't matter to me. All I know is these children are with her," Roxann Skelton said. "Those boys are out there. Terrified. But they are out there."

Skelton wouldn't comment on any conversations she had with her son during her appearance on the show.

Roxann Skelton told The News on Sunday that she remains hopeful.

"My heart tells me they're OK," she said.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20101129/METRO/11290353/1361/Grandmother-of-missing-Morenci-boys-makes-plea-for-their-return

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AP Exclusive: Close calls for al-Qaida's No. 2

By ADAM GOLDMAN and KATHY GANNON

The Associated Press

November 29, 2010

WASHINGTON -- The CIA has come closer to capturing or killing Osama bin Laden's top deputy than was previously known, during a nine-year hunt at the root of a devastating 2009 suicide bombing at an agency base in Afghanistan, The Associated Press has learned.

The CIA missed a chance to nab Ayman al-Zawahiri in 2003 in the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar, where he met with another senior al-Qaida leader who was apprehended the next day, several current and former U.S. intelligence officials said.

The fugitive Egyptian doctor may also have narrowly survived a bombing by Pakistani military planes in 2004, the former and current officials said. And a well-publicized U.S. missile strike aimed at him in 2006 failed because he did not turn up at the attack site, they said.

Targeting al-Zawahiri - along with bin Laden - is a main goal of U.S. counterterror efforts, focused on a man who has retained control of al-Qaida's operations and strategic planning even as he has led an underground existence in Pakistan's rugged tribal border zone.

"Finding senior al-Qaida terrorists - at a time when we're pursuing the most aggressive counterterrorism operations in our history - is of course a top priority for the CIA," said agency spokesman George Little.

But unlike bin Laden, a cipher since the Sept. 11 attacks who has surfaced only in occasional taped statements, al-Zawahiri has kept a higher public profile, taking risks that expose him more.

He is known to travel cautiously and regularly issues audio and video harangues that are scrutinized closely for clues, said the current and former officials, who insisted on anonymity to discuss the classified hunt for the al-Qaida leader.

The CIA's pursuit of al-Zawahiri climaxed last December in the suicide bombing that left seven agency employees dead at the agency's eastern Afghanistan base in Khost, one of the worst U.S. intelligence debacles in recent decades.

The bomber turned out to be an al-Qaida double agent who had lulled U.S. intelligence into believing he could bring them closer to al-Zawahiri. Part of the terrorist's bait was his claim that al-Zawahiri suffered from diabetes - a revelation about his health, if true.

A blunt internal inquiry raked the CIA last month for failing to properly vet the double agent in the months before the bombing and suggested its preoccupation with al-Zawahiri may have led to lapses in judgment. One person familiar with the inquiry said the agency's intent on getting to al-Zawahiri was a "significant driver" behind the mistakes, a conclusion even CIA director Leon Panetta acknowledged.

"That's what this mission was all about," Panetta said. "It was the opportunity that we all thought we had to be able to go after No. 2." He added that "in some ways maybe the mission itself clouded some of the judgments that were made here."

Al-Zawahiri has presented a more opportunistic target than bin Laden both because of his visibility and also because of the CIA's ability to develop better intelligence about his movements.

"We felt like we did at times come very close to getting him," said a former senior U.S. official familiar with the targeting efforts. "We had more of it (intelligence) and we had better confidence in it."

Former intelligence officials say both bin Laden and al-Zawahiri take elaborate precautions, keeping their distance from each other to ensure that al-Qaida's top leadership would not be eliminated in a single strike.

Bin Laden, 53, is believed to be hiding near the border between Pakistan's lawless tribal regions and Afghanistan. Al-Zawahri, 59, appears to have spent time in Pakistan's northwest tribal region of Bajaur, populated by large numbers of Wahabi Islam followers.

Both men are believed wary of using cell or satellite phones. But al-Zawahiri has tried at times to make contact with family members in Egypt, former intelligence officials say. More importantly, he has remained in the public eye with numerous messages.

According to the private SITE Intelligence Group, bin Laden has made 23 audio and one video tape since 2006. Al-Zawahiri has outpaced his superior, making 37 audio and 22 video recordings in the same period. In al-Zawahiri's latest audio recording, issued Nov. 4, he warned the U.S. that "we will fight you until the last hour."

Each time al-Zawahiri speaks, he increases the chances the U.S. could zero in on him. The CIA scours his recordings for clues, the former officials said, sifting for signs that might indicate how long it takes al-Zawahiri to receive information about current events he cites.

"It tells us about information flow," said Brian Fishman, a counterterrorism research fellow at the New America Foundation.

But despite the risks he takes, al-Zawahiri has always been able to keep several steps ahead of his pursuers.

The CIA had its first chance on Feb. 28, 2003. Former intelligence officials say al-Zawahiri met that day in a car with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-professed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, in Peshawar. Al-Zawahiri, a former official said, was on his way to the remote northern tribal region.

The former officials say the CIA was pursuing Mohammed at the time, but did not have a fix on him until an informant sent a text message to a CIA handler the next day that he was in Rawalpindi, about 110 miles to the east. Pakistan's spy service, which was working with the CIA, moved in and captured Mohammed.

By then, al-Zawahiri was gone.

Mohammed was flown to a CIA black site in Poland and interrogated using harsh methods, including waterboarding, which simulates drowning. Mohammed admitted he had met with al-Zawahiri but would not disclose the details, a former CIA officer said.

The next chance to target al-Zawahiri came in mid-March 2004, former officials said. A detainee in U.S. custody passed along information about a possible al-Qaida hideout in the mountainous northwest Pakistani region of South Waziristan, where government troops, helicopters and planes were mounting a military offensive against militants.

The CIA passed the intelligence to the Pakistan military, which bombed the village of Azam Warzak near the Afghan border. The former U.S. officials said they later received reports that al-Zawahiri was at the scene during the bombing and suffered minor injuries.

Pakistani military spokesman Gen. Athar Abbas would not confirm the reports, but noted recently that "these were the times when the two intelligence agencies were working hand in glove."

Taliban operatives and Pakistani civilians told AP recently that al-Zawahiri was injured in the attack. The al-Qaida leader then spent three days in the town of Mir Ali in north Waziristan before heading north to Bajaur, said the militants and locals, all who insisted on anonymity for safety reasons.

One key to locating al-Qaida's upper echelon, former U.S. officials said, is cracking the crude but effective communications network linking the fugitive terrorists. The system uses a chain of human couriers ensuring no one messenger interacts with either bin Laden or al-Zawahiri.

A Taliban operative who filmed one of al-Zawahiri's messages told AP that both bin Laden and al-Zawahiri rely heavily on Arabs instead of locals for security. The operative insisted on anonymity for safety reasons. His role inside al-Qaida was confirmed by Afghan officials.

The CIA appeared to come close to cracking the network in May 2005, when Pakistani intelligence officials nabbed a high value detainee near Peshawar named Abu Faraj al-Libi. The suspect took command of the terror group's operations and communications after Mohammed's 2003 arrest.

The CIA had intelligence indicating the Libyan acted as "communications conduit," relaying messages from senior al-Qaida leaders to bin Laden. The former officials said al-Libi "almost certainly" had met with bin Laden or al-Zawahiri after 9/11.

The day he was arrested, al-Libi was believed to be delivering a message to al-Zawahiri. Taken to a black site in Romania, al-Libi gave up no information about al-Zawahiri and bin Laden or how they traded messages, the former officials said.

"Libi seemed to be the key to the puzzle but it turned out he was a dead end," said Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution Saban Center and a former CIA officer.

Despite his silence, the CIA thought it had another chance to target al-Zawahiri on January 13, 2006. The CIA had received a tip their target was headed to a gathering of top al-Qaida operatives in the town of Damadola in the Bajaur region. Al-Zawahiri reportedly had met with al-Libi a year earlier in Bajaur- where locals had also pinpointed the terrorist leader after the 2004 bombing.

A former senior CIA official familiar with the episode said all the "intelligence signatures" pointed to al-Zawahiri's arrival that day. Former CIA Director Porter Goss gave a green light to launch a drone missile strike, the former senior official said. Goss declined comment through a spokeswoman.

The drone strike obliterated a mud compound, killing eighteen people, provincial officials said, including several al-Qaida figures and a dozen civilians.

But al-Zawahiri was not among them. Pakistani intelligence officials said at the time that he was invited to the dinner but decided instead to send several aides. The CIA initially thought the strike had missed the terrorist leader by an hour, but a current U.S. official recently acknowledged al-Zawahiri never showed up.

Later that month after the strike, al-Zawahiri taunted then-President George W. Bush in a videotape. "Bush," he said, "do you know where I am? I am among the Muslim masses."

The CIA thought it had its best chance yet to strike at al-Zawahiri last year when a doctor working with Jordanian intelligence claimed to offer new details suggesting the terrorist leader suffered from diabetes. The former and current U.S. officials said there were already indications al-Zawahiri might have the disease.

CIA officers began working with the informant, Humam al-Balawai, believing the doctor might gain access to al-Zawahiri for medical reasons, the former officials said. When al-Balawi was taken to meet with CIA officials at a secret base in Khost, in eastern Afghanistan, last Dec. 30, the double agent detonated hidden explosives as the officials neared him.

Those familiar with the CIA's inquiry into the suicide bombing said the operation aimed at al-Zawahiri ran afoul of one of the spy game's cardinal perils - wishfulness. In this case, the CIA was convinced it might finally have him in its sights after so many misses.

It proved to be one more miss, and a costly one.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/29/AR2010112900991.html

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John Robert Boone

Kentucky's ‘King of Pot' is on the lam two years after giant raid by Brett Barrouquere The Associated Press SPRINGFIELD, Ky. | With authorities closing in to seize 2,400 marijuana plants on John Robert Boone's farm two years ago, the legendary Kentucky outlaw vanished like a puff of smoke. The prolific grower has been dodging the law ever since, his folk-hero status growing with every sale of a “Run, Johnny, Run” T-shirt and click on his Facebook fan page. Tracking down the fugitive who resembles a tattooed Santa Claus has proved as hard as “trying to catch a ghost” for the federal authorities canvassing tightlipped residents among the small farms in a rural area southeast of Louisville. Boone, who is trying to avoid the life sentence he would get if convicted a third time of growing pot, has plenty of sympathizers in an area where many farmers down on their luck have planted marijuana. “That's all he's ever done, raising pot,” said longtime friend Larry Hawkins, who owns a bar and restaurant called Hawk's Place. “He never hurt nobody.” Boone, 67, spent more than a decade in federal prison after being convicted in the late 1980s of taking part in what federal prosecutors called the “largest domestic marijuana syndicate in American history,” a string of 29 farms in Missouri, Kansas, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Nebraska and Wisconsin.

The group became known as the Cornbread Mafia, and Boone was tagged by prosecutors as their leader.

Although federal authorities don't describe him as violent, his criminal record dates to the 1960s and includes charges of wanton endangerment and illegal firearm possession.

Deputy U.S. Marshal James Habib and Boone's friends call him an innovator — separating male from female plants on a large scale to increase potency and experimenting with seeds.

“He was the player. There might have been one or two close to him,” said Jack Smith, a former federal prosecutor who represented Boone in the 1980s case. “I never heard of anybody who was bigger.”

Boone's latest trouble came in 2008, when the Kentucky State Police, doing aerial surveillance, spotted marijuana plants on trailers on Boone's farm near Springfield. A raid turned up over 2,400 plants.

“As soon as he found out they were there, he split,” said Jim Higdon, a writer based in Lebanon, Ky., who interviewed Boone for a book project.

Boone, who has marijuana-growing contacts in Central America, could be anywhere. Then again, Habib said he could still be hiding out in the tight-knit area around his farm.

http://www.kansascity.com/2010/11/27/2475757/kentuckys-king-of-pot-is-on-the.html

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