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Politics & The Nation
Politics&Nation FBI-ATF turf battle hurts bomb probes, official says
Salmonella in outbreak confirmed at 2 Iowa farms The Take: KenMehlman’s change of heart
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Protestors use ‘sharia’ as a slur and rallying cry against Islam............A5 Digest Charges dropped for Blagojevich kin
TheWorld With Carter in Pyongyang, Kim heads to China
In Afghanistan, a car for the masses
Digest Chile:NASA offers advice on trapped miners
Opinion MattMiller: The mid-term election front-runner: gridlock.
Eugene Robinson: The dream Glenn Beck can’t dim. Editorial: A honest compensation effort in the gulf. Editorial: Race to the Top’s useful nudge to school reform
CORRECTIONS
l An Aug. 26 A-section article about a CIA analysis released by
WikiLeaks cited a passage from the analysis that contained a factual error. The CIA analysis stated that BaruchGoldstein had emigrated from the United States to Israel in 1994, the same year he opened fire on worship- ers at a mosque in Hebron, killing 29 Palestinians.Goldstein had emigrated to Israel more than a decade before the shoot- ing.
l An Aug. 26 Style article about W. Craig Fugate, director of the
Federal EmergencyManagement Agency, incorrectly described former presidentGeorgeW.Bush as the younger brother of former Florida governor Jeb Bush. GeorgeW. Bush is the eldest son of former president George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush.
l A listing in the Aug. 26 Local Living section for the District
incorrectly indicated a $24 ad- mission price for the D.C. Poetry in the Park event Friday at Carter Barron Amphitheatre. Admis- sion is free.
l A photo caption with an Aug. 25Metro article about the felony
child-neglect conviction of a drug addict for a 5-month-old boy’s heroin overdose, from which the baby recovered, mis- stated the jail sentence given to the infant’s mother, Marilyn R. Fischl. Fischl, who left the child with the addict,was sentenced to 30 days in jail, with none of the time suspended, not to a sus- pended three-year term. The ar- ticle and an item referring to it on the section front also did not make it clear that Fischl’s sen- tence was handed down inMay.
The Washington Post is committed to correcting errors that appear in the newspaper. Those interested in contacting the paper for that purpose can: E-mail:
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In land where cash is king for criminals, Mexico confronts its launderers
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FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, 2010 Prosecution of alleged Cole bomber halted
Only two cases at Guantanamo Bay are moving forward
BY PETER FINN TheObama administration has
shelved the planned prosecution of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the alleged coordinator of the Oct. 2000 suicide attack on the USS Cole in Yemen, according to a court filing. Thedecisionat least temporari-
ly scuttles what was supposed to be the signature trial of a major al-Qaeda figure under a reformed system of military commissions. Anditcomespracticallyontheeve of the 10th anniversary of the attack, which killed 17 sailors and wounded dozens when a boat packed with explosives ripped a hole in the side of the warship in the port ofAden. In a filing this week in the U.S.
CourtofAppeals for theDistrictof Columbia, the Justice Depart- ment said that “no charges are either pending or contemplated with respect to al-Nashiri in the near future.” The statement, tucked into a
motion to dismiss a petition by Nashiri’s attorneys, suggests that the prospect of further military trials for detainees held at Guan- tanamo Bay, Cuba, has all but ground to a halt, much as the administration’s plan to try the accused plotters of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in federal court has stalled. Only two cases aremoving for-
ward at Guantanamo Bay, and both were sworn and referred for trial by the time Obama took of- fice. In January 2009, Defense Secretary RobertM. Gates direct- ed the Convening Authority for Military Commissions to stop re- ferring cases for trial, an order that 20months later has not been rescinded. Military officials said a teamof
prosecutors in the Nashiri case has beenready go to trial for some time. And several months ago, military officials seemed confi- dent that Nashiri would be ar- raigned this summer. “It’s politics at this point,” said
onemilitary officialwho spoke on the condition of anonymity to dis- cuss policy.He said he thinks the
BILL O’LEARY/THE WASHINGTON POST
After the administration told prosecutors to suspend legal proceed- ings at Guantanamo Bay, charges againstNashiri were dropped.
administration does not want to proceed against a high-value de- tainee without some prospect of civilian trials for other major fig- ures atGuantanamoBay. AWhiteHouseofficialdisputed
that. “We are confident that the re-
formed military commissions are a lawful, fair and effective prose- cutorial forum and that the De- partment of Defense will handle the referrals in an appropriate manner consistentwith the inter- ests of justice,” said the official, whoalsospokeontheconditionof anonymity. The Defense Department is-
sued a statementThursday saying the case is not stalled. “Prosecu- tors in theOffice ofMilitary Com- missions are actively investigat- ing the case againstMr. al-Nashiri and are developing charges against him,” the statement said. With the 10th anniversary of
theCole bombing approaching on Oct. 12, relatives of those killed in the attack expressed deep frustra- tionwith the delay. “After 10 years, it seems like
nobody really cares,” said Gloria Clodfelter, whose 21-year-old son, Kenneth,was killed on theCole.
Militaryprosecutors allege that
Nashiri, a Saudi national, was a senior al-Qaeda operative and close associate of Osama bin Lad- en, who orchestrated the suicide attack on the Cole. Nashiri was scheduled to be arraigned in Feb- ruary 2009 but the new adminis- tration instructed military prose- cutors to suspend legal proceed- ings at Guantanamo Bay. The charges against Nashiri were withdrawn. In November 2009, however,
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. appeared to revive the case when he announced that themili- tarywould prosecuteNashiri, one of at least 36 detaineeswho could be tried in federal court or amili- tary commission. “With regard to the Cole bomb-
ing, thatwasanattackonaUnited Stateswarship,andthat, I think, is appropriatelyplacedintothemili- tary commission setting,” Holder said. But critics of military commis-
sions saytheNashiricaseexempli- fies the system’s flaws, particular- ly the ability to introduce certain evidence such as hearsay state- ments that probablywould not be admitted in federal court. The
prosecution is expected to rely heavily onstatementsmade to the FBI by two Yemeniswho allegedly implicated Nashiri. Neither wit- ness is expected at trial, but the FBI agentswho interviewed them will testify, said Nashiri’smilitary attorney, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Stephen C. Reyes. “Unlike in federal court, you don’t have the right to con- front the witnesses against you,” he said. Such indirect testimony could
be critical to a conviction because any incriminating statements Nashiri might have made are probably inadmissible under the 2009 Military Commissions Act, which bars the use of evidence obtainedthroughtorture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Nashiri, 45,was capturedinthe
United Arab Emirates in Novem- ber 2002, and immediately placed in CIA custody. He was among threedetaineesheldbytheagency who was water-boarded, and a report by the CIA’s inspector gen- eral foundthatNashiriwasthreat- enedwith a gun and a power drill. “I am very confident, based
uponwhat Ihaveheard, that there is more than sufficient evidence linking him to the attack on Cole directly, and that they donotneed any of the information that may have come from black site inter- views and interrogations,” said Kirk S. Lippold, who was com- mander of the Cole when it was attacked. Reyes said Nashiri’s treatment
at thehandsof theCIAwillbepart of any proceeding and will be relevant to any sentence he re- ceives if he is found guilty. The government is expected to seek the death penalty. “I’mnot admitting to guilty,but
his treatment is absolutely rele- vant in a death case and can be used in mitigation to lessen the sentence,”Reyes said. Nashiri, who has been held at
Camp 7 at Guantanamo Bay since September 2006, has never ap- peared in court. But according to the transcript of a 2007 Combat- ant Status Review Tribunal, he said that he had nothing to do with the Cole bombing and that his connections to those involved in the explosion, including the purchase of the suicide boat,were unwitting. “We were planning to be involved in a fishing project,” he said.
finnp@washpost.com Shaky economy alters tax-cut dynamic in Congress
Some Democrats rethink opposition to Bush-era breaks
BY LORI MONTGOMERY With the economy rapidly
weakening, some senior Demo- crats are having second thoughts about raising taxes on the na- tion's wealthiest families and are pressing party leaders to consid- er extending the full array of Bush administration tax cuts, at least through next year.
This rethinking comes barely
a month after Democrats trum- peted plans to stage a high- stakes battle over taxes in the final weeks before the November congressional elections. The Bush tax cuts are set to
expire in December. Republicans are pushing to extend them all, while President Obama has forcefully argued that the coun- try cannot afford to keep tax breaks on income over $250,000 a year for families and $200,000 a year for individuals. But a growing cadre of Demo-
crats—alarmed by evidence that the recovery is losing steam and
fearful ofwounding conservative Democrats in a tough election year—are advocating a plan that would permanently extend tax cuts benefiting the middle class while renewing breaks for the wealthy through 2011, senior Democratic aides said. That idea has long appealed to
some conservative Democrats in both chambers, who say that Congress should not raise any- one's taxes until the economy is more stable. But Democrats said it has gained momentum since economist Mark Zandi, a key adviser to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), adopted that view during a presentation at a Democratic issues conference in California inmid-August. Zandi, an adviser to the presi-
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supports a one-year extension of tax cuts for the wealthy — with the cuts phased out starting in 2012 — in part because election- year anxiety about budget defi- cits is preventing Congress from approving additional stimulus in any other form. He acknowl- edged that tax cuts for the rich tend not to be an effective way to pump money into the economy because they tend to save it rather than spend it. “Normally, I would firmly
agree that raising taxes on peo- ple who make over $250,000 a year would notmake ameaning- ful difference in the way they spend money. But I worry that these aren’t normal times and that even this income groupmay
be sensitive,” Zandi said, noting that the top 3 percent of house- holds account for a quarter of all personal spending. “With 9.5 percent unemploy-
ment — which is clearly going to move higher — raising taxes is a gamble that is unnecessary,” he said. Some progressives are push-
ing back. In an opinion piece this week in the Financial Times, John Podesta of the Center for American Progress and Robert Greenstein of the Center on Bud- get and Policy Priorities, argued that extending the high-income tax breaks even temporarily would send a bad signal to investors worried about rising U.S. debt. And it would leave the task of ending the cuts to the next Congress, which will proba- bly be even more conservative because of anticipated Republi- can gains in the midterm elec- tions. Extending all the tax cuts
would add $3.9 trillion to the national debt over the next de- cade, according to the latest estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The upper-income cuts account for less than a fifth of that figure, or $700 billion. Obama administration offi-
cials and the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate, mean- while, say they are determined to stay the course and still hoping to spend September and October on a debate that forces Republi- cans to defend expensive tax breaks for a tiny,wealthyminori- ty.
“The speaker and the presi-
dent have been clear theywant to extend the middle-class tax cuts because they have the greatest economic benefit,” Pelosi spokes- man Brendan Daly said.
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