Spanish PM Pledges to Bring Home Troops

LONDON - Spain's newly elected prime minister pledged to bring his peacekeeping troops home from Iraq by June 30. All other governments helping rebuild Iraq said they would stay the course, but there were signs of nervousness after the Madrid bombings and the Spanish government's defeat at the polls.


Socialist leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's remarks Monday came as Spanish police investigated whether Thursday's coordinated bombings were carried out by Islamic extremists — possibly al-Qaida — intent on punishing Spain for its support for the U.S.-led war. The blasts killed 200 people and wounded about 1,600.

Britain, America's closest ally, insisted the coalition must remain committed to bringing stability and democracy to Iraq. So far, no significant opposition party has called for a withdrawal of Britain's 8,220 troops.

Poland, which leads a multinational force in southern Iraq, said a pullout of its 2,500 troops would hand a victory to terrorists. Prime Minister Leszek Miller pledged to stay with the peacekeeping mission despite pressure from opposition lawmakers.

"It would amount to an admission that the terrorists are right and that they are stronger than the whole civilized world," Miller said.

The European Union, meanwhile, announced it would hold high-level security talks Friday in Brussels, Belgium, to assess additional anti-terrorism measures, including a continentwide intelligence service and a European arrest warrant.

Last October, Poland and Spain, also a U.S. ally in Iraq, were named as possible targets on a taped message attributed to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

"We reserve the right to respond at the appropriate time and place against all the countries participating in this unjust war (in Iraq), particularly Britain, Spain, Australia, Poland, Japan and Italy," said the voice on the tape, broadcast on Al-Jazeera.

But British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Monday that all countries, not just those who supported the campaign to topple Saddam Hussein, were the targets of terrorists.

"We are under a threat from Islamic extremism, and so is almost every other country in the world," Straw told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. "No one should believe that somehow if you say `I opposed the military action in Iraq,' that this makes you safer or exempts you as a potential victim."

Spanish voters on Sunday ousted the conservative government of Jose Maria Aznar, some of them accusing his government of provoking the attacks by backing President Bush.

His successor, Zapatero, described the war as an "error" and said Monday he would bring the 1,300 Spanish peacekeepers home by June 30 unless the United Nations takes control in Iraq.

The U.N. Security Council has authorized the current multinational force in which Spain is participating. But there has been no talk of turning that force, which is led by the United States, into a U.N.-controlled peacekeeping force.

The Polish ambassador to NATO, Jerzy Nowak, told The Associated Press he was deeply concerned about a possible Spanish withdrawal, adding it would leave a "terrible loophole" in the multinational force.

In Bulgaria, which lost four citizens in the Madrid bombings, the government insisted it would not pull its 500-member infantry battalion from the southern Iraqi city of Karbala.

"The only policy we can conduct is to fight international terrorism," Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Pasi said.

In Japan, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said he foresaw no change in plans to deploy 1,000 Japanese military personnel in the Persian Gulf region to assist in Iraq's reconstruction.

"Japan's (political) situation is different from Spain's," Kyodo News agency quoted him as saying.

Koizumi faces intense pressure from opponents who fear Tokyo's involvement could make Japan a terror target. Last November, an alleged al-Qaida operative threatened to attack Tokyo if it sent troops to Iraq.

Roman Giertych, the head of the Polish Families' League, a far-right Catholic party, said he wants a referendum to determine whether Poland remains with the U.S.-led coalition.

"The whole nation is in danger — not the government itself — and people should decide if our troops should stay there or not," Giertych told AP.

The Czech government said it had no plans to withdraw its 150 military police from Iraq.

Ukraine, which has contributed some 1,650 troops to the Polish-led multinational contingent, is also not considering a withdrawal, said Kostiantyn Khivrenko, Defense Ministry spokesman.

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said proposals to be discussed at the EU meeting would also include a "solidarity clause" committing nations to help each other in response to terror attacks, as well as appointment of a security coordinator to oversee counterterrorism measures, improved intelligence sharing and closer cooperation with outside nations to combat terrorism.
- posted by Kevin @ 2:11 AM

 
Gitmo men arrested upon UK return

LONDON, England -- Four of five British men released by the U.S. military from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and returned to the UK have been arrested and sent to a London police station.


Anti-terrorism police apprehended the men immediately after their Royal Air Force plane they arrived at RAF Northolt, outside of London at about 1900 GMT Tuesday.

The United States says the five men -- held at Camp X-Ray for over two years as terrorism suspects -- were released as they presented only a low risk.

Four other British citizens still remain in U.S. custody at the Guantanamo facility.

A police statement said the four men returned to the UK -- two aged 22 and two aged 26 -- were arrested for their "alleged involvement in the commission, preparation, or instigation of acts of terrorism."

A fifth man was detained for questioning then later released by police.

The individual -- Jamal Udeen, 37 -- was detained "for questioning by police under port and border controls contained within the Terrorism Act 2000," the statement said.

"He has been treated in a cruel, inhuman and degrading manner," Udeen's lawyer Robert Lizar said.

Peter Clarke, a spokesman for Scotland Yard, said, "Everything that happens to these men from the moment they arrived on UK soil will be entirely in accordance with the United Kingdom law and the normal procedures in these cases will be followed."

According to police, the flight was videotaped in its entirety and the men were allowed to move about freely in civilian clothes.

British police and two independent observers, including one from the Muslim community, also traveled on the flight.

The men are to receive medical exams at a central London police station.

"As is normal practice each man will be allowed to make a phone call and have access to a solicitor of his choice," the police statement said.

"Each man will be interviewed by officers from the Met's Anti-Terrorist Branch."

Legal experts say it is unlikely the four will be tried because it is unclear what British law would apply to events in Afghanistan, and information gleaned from Guantanamo Bay cannot be used because the men had no access to legal representation.

'Low risk'

According to officials, the decision to transfer the detainees is based, in part, on whether they pose a continued threat and whether they have continued intelligence value.

"Our government has made a considered judgment that it was appropriate to transfer these individuals to the government of the United Kingdom," U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters Tuesday in Washington.

Asked why it had taken two years to conclude that the men posed no security threat, Rumsfeld said: "At some point, you say, 'we think we've got what we need out of this crowd -- five people -- let's move them along.'"

But that intelligence is not foolproof, he added.

"I've been told by senior people in this department that, of the people that have been released, we know of at least one who's gone back to being a terrorist. So, life isn't perfect. You can make mistakes in evaluating these people. Let's hope that none of these do."

The release of the British men comes as the families of European detainees at the controversial U.S. prison camp traveled to Washington to press for greater justice for their relatives.

They were joined by former Beirut hostage Terry Waite, who said the detention without trial of those at Guantanamo Bay was similar to his own situation.

About 640 people are being detained at Guantanamo Bay, while around 100 have been released or transferred to the custody of their home nation.

Of those that remain, many have been held without trial for more than two years -- a situation which has drawn international criticism of the United States from human rights organizations and legal groups.

The group Human Rights Watch also has accused the U.S. military of using excessive force during arrests of suspected Islamic militants in Afghanistan, alleging it resulted in avoidable civilian deaths.

The United States has rejected the group's criticism.

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide this year whether the detainees at the base come under the jurisdiction of the U.S. civil legal system.

The four Britons remaining at Guantanamo Bay are Feroz Abbasi, 23, from Croydon, south London; Moazzam Begg, 36, from Sparkhill, Birmingham; Martin Mubanga, 29, from London; and Richard Belmar, 23, from London, the Press Association reported.

They face the prospect of U.S. military tribunals after UK Home Secretary David Blunkett said evidence against them would be "best used in the U.S. not in Britain."
- posted by Kevin @ 12:24 AM

 
Third time lucky for comet chaser

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- It was third time lucky for European space officials when an Ariane-5 rocket blasted off to launch a pioneering 10-year journey to land a probe on a comet


The Rosetta lander soared into the skies above South America aboard the rocket from Kourou, French Guiana, at 0717 GMT Tuesday -- the third attempt after two launches last week were scrubbed.

After a final countdown in French, mission controllers in Darmstadt outside Frankfurt peered quietly but intently into their monitors as the rocket took off into space on the first attempt to send a robotic lander onto a comet.

Rosetta is expected to reach an ice-caked comet called 67P/Churymov-Gerasimenko in May 2014 and go into orbit around it, then release a lander that will try to touch down on the surface. Previous spacecraft have made only brief fly-bys of comets.

A first launch attempt Thursday was scrapped because of high winds in the upper atmosphere.

The second attempt was abandoned Friday when a routine inspection found that a piece of insulating foam had fallen off the main booster stage -- raising fears that ice could form at the hole and break off after liftoff, possibly damaging the rocket.

Scientists hope the mission will reveal clues about the birth of the sun and the planets of the solar system, since comets are the system's most primitive objects -- formed when it was still very young, more than 4.6 billion years ago.

Rosetta is already more than a year behind schedule. ESA abandoned a January 2003 launch window after another rocket in the Ariane-5 family veered off course the previous month and had to be destroyed.

The rocket now launching the comet probe is a more time-tested version.

Since comets pelted the earth in the time after the solar system formed, scientists theorize they may have brought some of the building blocks for life, such as water and organic materials, onto our planet.
- posted by Kevin @ 4:52 AM

 
Britain Accused of Spying on U.N.'s Annan

LONDON - Britain spied on U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the build up to the Iraq war, a former Cabinet minister said Thursday, triggering yet another postwar crisis for Prime Minister Tony Blair.


Blair refused to confirm or deny the accusation and branded his former international development secretary, Clare Short, "deeply irresponsible" for commenting on sensitive security issues.

For Blair, the allegation is another potentially damaging aftershock of the Iraq invasion, following controversies over Britain's prewar intelligence dossiers, the death of a weapons scientist, the coalition's failure to find weapons of mass destruction and the collapse of a court case on alleged U.S.-British bugging of the United Nations.

But in a poised performance at his monthly news conference, the prime minister insisted British spies always acted within international law.

The United Nations said any spying on Annan's office would be illegal.

"Such activities would undermine the integrity and confidential nature of diplomatic exchanges. Those who speak to the secretary-general are entitled to assume that their exchanges are confidential," U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

It's not clear what legal steps, if any, the world body will take. "We are throwing down a red flag and saying if this is true, please stop it," Eckhard said.

In Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell had no comment on the case. "I have nothing to say with respect to the activities in the United Kingdom. We never talk about intelligence matters of that nature. "

Britain's United Nations Ambassador Emyr Jones-Parry, called Annan on behalf of Blair, Eckhard said. He did not provide details of the conversation.

Britain's opposition was quick to criticize Blair's government.

"I'm afraid the situation now seems to be a complete mess. It's about time the prime minister got a grip on it and sorted it out," said Michael Howard, leader of the main opposition Conservative Party.

Charles Kennedy, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said Blair "must come clean" and "reassure the British people that his government was not involved in spying on Kofi Annan."

Short, who has repeatedly embarrassed Blair since she quit the Cabinet in May over the war, said she read transcripts of Annan's conversations while she was a member of the government.

"The U.K. in this time was also getting, spying on Kofi Annan's office and getting reports from him about what was going on," she said in an interview with British Broadcasting Corp. radio.

"These things are done. And in the case of Kofi's office, it's been done for some time," added Short, who has accused Blair of being "reckless" and misleading the country, and has repeatedly called on him to resign.

Asked explicitly whether British spies had been instructed to carry out operations within the United Nations on people such as Annan, she said: "Yes, absolutely."

She made no comment on the method of spying on Annan.

Blair refused to comment directly on the allegation, and stressed his silence was not an indication it was true.

"I'm not going to comment on the operations of our security services," he said. "But I do say this: we act in accordance with domestic and international law, and we act in the best interests of this country, and our security services are a vital part of the protection of this country."

It is not the first time Britain has been accused of spying on foreign diplomats.

In December, Pakistan asked Blair's government to respond to a newspaper report that British intelligence agents had attempted to plant listening devices at its embassy in London. President Pervez Musharraf said Britain's failure to respond strained relations between the two countries.

The European Union revealed last March that bugging devices planted by an undisclosed country were found on phone lines of several nations — including Britain — in the building used for EU summits.

Short's allegation came a day after the collapse of a criminal case against a British intelligence agency worker who admitted leaking a document disclosing a U.S. appeal for British help in monitoring phones and e-mail traffic of members of the U.N. Security Council, when the two countries were seeking the council's backing for war.

Opposition politicians have questioned whether the government intervened to drop the case against Katharine Gun, fearing a trial would probe the legal argument for going to war.

Gun, 29, a former Mandarin translator with Britain's Government Communications Headquarters listening station, leaked a Jan. 31, 2003 memo from U.S. intelligence officers asking their British counterparts to spy on members of the U.N. Security Council in advance of a key vote on Iraq.

In preparing her defense, Gun's lawyers demanded the government disclose the advice it received from Attorney General Lord Goldsmith on the legality of going to war.

Goldsmith told the House of Lords the decision to drop the case was made solely on legal grounds and "free from any political interference."

The government said Thursday it would review the working of the Official Secrets Act, under which Gun was charged, saying it was disappointed with the collapse of the case.

Blair's decision to back President Bush caused his popularity to sag. Despite the swift fall of Baghdad, his personal ratings show little signs of recovering.

British intelligence dossiers claiming Iraq had an active and growing program of weapons of mass destruction — Britain's principal rationale for joining the conflict — have not been validated by evidence on the ground.

The government's bitter row with the BBC, over a report that it "sexed up" the threat posed by Iraq, ensured months of negative headlines and the worst crisis of Blair's career when a weapons scientist at the center of the allegations committed suicide.
- posted by Kevin @ 12:44 AM

 
Democratic Race Down to Kerry, Edwards

MIDDLETON, Wis. - The Democratic presidential campaign is spreading out to 10 crucial "Super Tuesday" states, and it's down to a two-man race between front-runner John Kerryand a plucky challenger, John Edwards.


Tuesday's Wisconsin primary set the stage for the March 2 contests. Kerry emerged again as the victor, Edwards is still in the race after a surprisingly close second place finish and Howard Dean's candidacy appeared doomed after he came in a distant third.

"The voters of Wisconsin sent a clear message," Edwards said. "The message was this: Objects in your mirror may be closer than they appear."

But Kerry gave no indication he was fazed by the Edwards surge in Wisconsin. "We're going to win the nomination," Kerry told The Associated Press.

Kerry's advisers pointed out that even though Edwards closed the gap in Wisconsin, Kerry still has won 15 of 17 contests. Edwards has only one, South Carolina, where he was born.

"We play everywhere, unlike John Edwards and Howard Dean and anyone else in the race," said Steve Elmendorf, Kerry's deputy campaign manager. "The problem these other candidates have is they are not competing in a serious way to get enough delegates to get the nomination."

The March 2 contests are in California, New York, Ohio, Minnesota, Vermont, Georgia, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Maryland. At stake will be 1,151 delegates, more than half the total needed to claim the nomination.

Utah, Idaho and Hawaii will vote next Feb. 24, but with only 61 delegates up for grabs total, those states will not be a focus of the campaign.

Aides say Edwards' populist message will resonate in Ohio and upstate New York, areas hard hit by job losses. The Southern-bred candidate also should do well in Georgia. California is by far the day's biggest prize, with 370 delegates, followed by New York with 236.

In the final days of the Wisconsin race, Edwards criticized Kerry's support of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The message found a receptive audience: In exit polls, three-fourths of voters said trade with other countries takes jobs from their state.

Edwards and Kerry split the vote among those voters, though the North Carolina senator did better than the front-runner among voters who cited the economy and jobs as top issues.

Edwards finished far better than pre-primary polls suggested he would, his surge fueled by the highest Republican turnout of the primary season and voters who made up their minds in the last week. His deepest support was in the GOP suburbs of Milwaukee.

"That's been happening in other primaries too," Edwards said in an interview. "Republicans who would consider voting Democratic and independents are the people we have to win over to win the general election. That's why I'm the best candidate to take on George Bush."

The strong GOP turnout was boosted by city government elections in Milwaukee and a controversial referendum on casino gambling by an Indian tribe.

Primaries in Georgia, Ohio and Vermont on March 2 will be open to all voters as will the caucuses in Minnesota.

Now the only Democrat with a glimmer of hope to beat Kerry, Edwards is pushing for a one-on-one debate with the front-runner before next month's showdown.

The Democratic race once had 10 candidates, but the field is now down to five, including Dean, Dennis Kucinich and Al Sharpton, who haven't won a single contest.

Dean ignored pleas to give up the fight. "We are not done," he told his supporters, even as his own advisers were saying his campaign for the presidency was effectively over. He headed home to Vermont to regroup, in search of a way to convert his political network into a movement that helps elect Democrats.

Senior advisers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Dean, with no hope of winning the presidency, was considering scaling back his campaign sharply — but not formally withdrawing. He was just as likely to cede the nomination and, with hopes of becoming a kingmaker, endorse a rival.

His campaign reached out to Edwards' team, believing Dean's fund-raising prowess could help reshape the race, aides said. But they did not rule out Dean endorsing Kerry, a move they said would seal the nomination for the Massachusetts lawmaker.
- posted by Kevin @ 11:52 PM

 
No guarantees for high-tech degrees

NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey (AP) -- Eager to ride the high-tech tide, Andrew Zhou double-majored in computer science and finance when he arrived at Rutgers University in 2000.


But as graduation approaches, Zhou is pinning his hopes on finance and dropping the idea he once had that computer know-how guaranteed him a job.

"Four years ago, it seemed like an awesome major," Zhou said as he waited to speak with a recruiter for a telecommunications management firm at Rutgers' annual career day.

"Now, nobody wants to get in because all the jobs are going to India."

While there are hopeful signs outside the technology sector, outsourcing of computer programming and customer service jobs to China, India and other countries with cheaper labor costs have dimmed prospects for seniors like Zhou, said Richard White, director of career services at Rutgers.

A recent report from Forrester Research projected that as many as 3.3 million American white collar tech jobs will go to overseas workers by 2015.

"Jobs that used to be available for U.S. citizens are being diverted overseas where the quality is equal or better at a fraction of the cost," White said.

The fallout from outsourcing and stagnant U.S. technology market means that seniors at San Jose State University -- in the heart of Silicon Valley -- face yet another "very tight" job market, said career center director Cheryl Allmen-Vinnedge.

"The entry level positions just aren't out there now," agreed Halbert Wilson.

Finance, health care among most promising sectors

A January graduate with a degree in information technology from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Wilson is counting on contacts made during an internship with a pharmaceutical company to help him get a job.

Experts say the best sectors for seniors to find employment are in finance, health care, advertising and government. And a jump in the number of campus recruiters visiting some campuses is giving students reason for hope.

At the University of Mississippi, for instance, recruiting coordinator Gina Starnes said career center interview rooms are booked solid by corporate representatives during February -- the month many companies converge at the Oxford, Mississippi, campus to troll for job candidates.

After two consecutive years of little or no growth, the National Association of Colleges and Employers -- which tracks college to workplace job trends -- is forecasting a 12.7 percent jump in hiring this year.

NACE spokeswoman Camille Luckenbaugh warned, however, that while 51 percent of the employers surveyed by the group said they would increase recruitment of college graduates this year, another 28 percent indicated they would curtail hiring on campuses.

A leading Internet source for college students seeking entry-level jobs said listings in the accounting and retail fields have both jumped by over 50 percent compared with last year.

Job opportunities in the financial, health care and advertising sectors also have increased, said Michelle Forker, vice president of MonsterTRAK, a subsidiary of Monster.com, the Online job service.

And the Partnership for Public Service -- a nonprofit that promotes civil service career -- is predicting that the federal government will fill 73,000 jobs in the next six months.

Internal Revenue Service recruiter Doug Fuller was besieged at the Rutgers' career day.

"The economy has perhaps changed the mind-set of this generation," he said, "Where they think more about jobs with greater stability than you could encounter in the private sector."
- posted by Kevin @ 3:54 AM