U.S. inspectors in Iraq have formally put to rest an assertion repeated by U.S. President George W. Bush in his 2003 State of the Union address (above) that Iraq had tried to acquire uranium from Africa following the 1991 Gulf War (AFP photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais). No Evidence Iraq Sought Foreign Uranium, ISG Says By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The Iraq Survey Group, the coalition unit that searched for evidence of prewar Iraq’s alleged WMD efforts, has found no evidence that Baghdad sought to acquire uranium from abroad following the 1991 Gulf War, according to a report released last week by U.S. chief weapons inspector Charles Duelfer (see GSN, Aug. 2)...Full Story

U.S.-Libya Gain Partial Victory on Plant Request By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — An international body yesterday endorsed a proposed change to the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention that could allow Libya to convert a former chemical weapons production facility into a civilian pharmaceutical plant (see GSN, Oct. 13)...Full Story

Homeland Security Officials Tout Air, Sea Defenses By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The United States hopes to build on an existing system of WMD screening of U.S.-bound sea shipments by creating a similar program for air cargo, the Homeland Security Department’s top transportation official said yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 9)...Full Story

	Friday, October 15, 2004

Homeland Security Officials Tout Air, Sea Defenses By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The United States hopes to build on an existing system of WMD screening of U.S.-bound sea shipments by creating a similar program for air cargo, the Homeland Security Department’s top transportation official said yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 9). Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration is planning for an air-cargo system akin to the existing Container Security Initiative, Assistant Homeland Security Secretary for the Transportation Security Administration David Stone said at an airline-industry meeting here. “That is definitely the course that we are on,” Stone said. In the existing screening initiative, U.S. customs agents stationed at 26 of the world’s largest ports screen shipping containers bound for the United States. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bureau has indicated its desire to expand the program (see GSN, Aug. 26). In related remarks, Stone said the agency hopes to use larger amounts of data to better identify and inspect the highest-threat air shipments. “The issue should be one of risk,” he said. He said screening choices should be based on threat information, vulnerability assessments and the importance of potential terrorist targets. As they seek to use limited resources in ways that address the most probable and most potentially damaging threats, top officials of Stone’s agency spend several hours each morning reviewing incidents that took place in the previous 24 hours and receiving an intelligence briefing, Stone said. Adjusting to exposed weaknesses and new threat information, Stone said, is “what’s most important to us. We have to get that right every day, and so it’s our center of gravity for our entire mission.” Outlining recent air-security efforts by his agency, Stone highlighted expanded use of dogs to sniff out hazardous materials, an increase in hiring of cargo inspectors and wider use of explosive-detection technology at airports. He added that the agency participates in efforts to understand the terrorist threat as both a consumer and a contributor of intelligence circulated via agencies such as the Terrorist Screening Center and the Terrorist Threat Integration Center. Another top Homeland Security official, Deputy Secretary James Loy, yesterday stressed the importance of “maritime domain awareness” as a key to improved defenses against sea-based terrorism. A day after Homeland Security’s inspector general released a report calling for improvements in radiation detection and search procedures at ports (see related GSN story, today), Loy touted “joint harbor centers” recently established in San Diego and Norfolk, Va., that seek to bolster defenses by improving cooperation among agencies such as the Coast Guard, the Navy and port officials. “The goal of these centers is to leverage existing sensors and databases and incorporate them all into one location to develop a common operational picture. … Both San Diego and Norfolk are prototypes for the kind of integration we want to achieve between agencies and the commercial sector at all of our strategic ports,” Loy said. Loy also provided an update on the three-month-old International Ship and Port Facility Security Code, under which he said U.S. inspectors have completed six port inspections, and on the 2002 Maritime Transportation Security Act, under which he said the Coast Guard has received required security plans from 99 percent of affected port and shipping entities. Back to top

U.S. Senator Criticized for Closing Capitol Hill Office in Response to Security Briefings Senator Mark Dayton (D-Minn.) closed his Washington office this week and warned potential visitors to avoid Capitol Hill. His decision followed a joint CIA-FBI briefing last month that presented an extreme scenario of simultaneous al-Qaeda attacks on the United States using weapons of mass destruction, the Washington Post reported. “I would not advise someone to visit Capitol Hill between now and the election, out of extreme precaution,” Dayton said Wednesday. “I would not bring my two sons to Capitol Hill between now and the election.” Lawmakers from both political parties quietly described the move as “paranoid”, according to the Post, and various federal and local officials in Washington were publicly critical. Washington Mayor Anthony Williams (D) called the decision “ill-informed,” while Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) criticized Dayton for undermining trust in Washington’s security apparatus. “He’s damaged us. He’s unnecessarily panicked people across the United States,” said Norton, a frequent critic of federal security decisions in Washington. “Now we have a member of Congress who steps out and says, ‘I’m going to tell you something the rest of Congress won’t tell you.’ That’s unfair to the entire security network that is in constant communication about this place.” Dayton’s decision came after a series of briefings to senators by the Terrorist Threat Integration Center, a joint CIA-FBI agency, in which the worst-case al-Qaeda scenario was presented, according to a U.S. official. “This scenario was way over the top,” the official said, describing it as “fire and brimstone raining down from the skies” and “the continental U.S. up in smoke,” according to the Post. “It’s not based on any credible information that’s come in. Nobody knows why he is doing what he is doing,” said D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey. “It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to think that the White House and the Capitol are targets. But there is no credible information about planned attacks — nothing to set off the reaction we saw.” At least one senator saw an opportunity in Dayton’s departure. “Since I assume Senator Dayton won’t feel safe any time soon, I suggest that you find Senator Dayton permanent space off Capitol Hill and that you allocate his Russell office space to me,” Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) wrote in a tongue-in-cheek message to Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.). Senate Sergeant-at-Arms William Pickle, according to the Post, jokingly said the CIA called and “wondered what information we had that they didn’t have.” Pickle added, however, that Dayton “chose to use an abundance of caution, and that’s within his prerogative” (Fan/Dewar, Washington Post, Oct. 14). Back to top       German Leader Meets With Qadhafi Libyan leader Col. Muammar Qadhafi met yesterday in Libya with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and accepted an invitation to visit Germany, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, Oct. 14). Schroeder’s visit to Libya is “very important for the development of relations with Western states, especially with Germany,” Libyan Foreign Minister Abdelraham Shalgham said. The two men were expected to meet again during the visit, and Schroeder planned to press Qadhafi for better cooperation in the war on terror, AP reported. Schroeder is also expected to complete a number of large business deals during his trip to Libya, Agence France-Presse reported (Agence France-Presse/Channel News Asia, Oct. 15). Meanwhile, British Foreign Office minister Elizabeth Symons met with Shalgham yesterday in Libya and provided him a message from British Prime Minister Tony Blair to Qadhafi, according to Agence France-Presse. The Libyan state-run news agency JANA said that Symons and Shalgham discussed “strengthening bilateral cooperation in all fields” (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Oct. 15). Back to top

No Evidence Iraq Sought Foreign Uranium, ISG Says By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The Iraq Survey Group, the coalition unit that searched for evidence of prewar Iraq’s alleged WMD efforts, has found no evidence that Baghdad sought to acquire uranium from abroad following the 1991 Gulf War, according to a report released last week by U.S. chief weapons inspector Charles Duelfer (see GSN, Aug. 2). Prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom, U.S. officials cited Iraq’s alleged attempts to obtain uranium as evidence of efforts by former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to relaunch his nuclear program. Citing information received from sources such as the former head of Hussein’s nuclear weapons program, though, Duelfer dismissed allegations that Iraq sought uranium from Niger and the Democratic Republic of the Congo — two countries cited as possible sources by U.S. intelligence. “ISG has not found evidence to show that Iraq sought uranium from abroad after 1991,” his report states. In an October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate, U.S. intelligence listed the two nations and Somalia as countries from which Iraq may have sought to obtain uranium. The U.S. report was preceded by a British government dossier released in September 2002 indicating that Iraq had sought uranium from Africa. U.S. President George W. Bush included the Iraq-Africa claim in his 2003 State of the Union address. “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa,” Bush said. The claim began to fall apart in March 2003, when the International Atomic Energy Agency determined that documents provided by the United States, purporting to show an Iraq-Niger uranium deal, were forgeries. The following July, the White House acknowledged that the claim should not have been included in Bush’s address. An inquiry by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in the aftermath of the war found that U.S. intelligence had “overstated” in the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate what was known about Iraq’s possible uranium procurement efforts. The committee, however, also said that U.S. intelligence had been “reasonable” to assess, prior to receiving the fraudulent documents in October 2002, that Iraq may have sought to obtain uranium from Africa. A British inquiry citing separate intelligence determined that the Iraq-Africa uranium claim was “well-founded.” In his report last week, Duelfer described the claims made by the former head of Iraq’s pre-1991 nuclear weapons program, Jafar Jafar, regarding Iraq’s two contacts with Niger after 1998. Neither involved discussions on uranium, according to Jafar. The purpose of one visit in 1999 by Iraq’s ambassador to the Holy See, Jafar claimed, was to invite Niger’s president to visit Baghdad. Duelfer’s report does not mention the possible purpose of the Iraqi invitation. Jafar also claimed, according to Duelfer, that a second contact between Iraq and Niger occurred when a Nigerien official traveled to Baghdad in 2001 to discuss purchasing petroleum products. The trip did not involve, though, an offer by Niger to provide uranium instead of cash for the purchase, the report says. In addition, there is no sign that prewar Iraq sought to obtain uranium from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and it may actually have rejected an opportunity to do so, according to Duelfer’s report. It notes the discovery in May 2003 of a document from the Iraqi Embassy in Nairobi detailing an offer made by a Ugandan businessman to sell uranium, “reportedly” from the Congo. According to the document, embassy officials told the businessman that they did not handle such issues and explained the circumstances of international sanctions imposed against Iraq, Duelfer’s reports states. “We told him … that Iraq is not concerned about these matters right now,” says the embassy document, a copy of which is included in Duelfer’s report. Duelfer’s report does not address the prewar allegations that Iraq may have sought to obtain uranium from Somalia.  The CIA refused to comment on the report, referring all questions to Duelfer. Duelfer has not responded to requests for comment. Back to top       Missing Iraqi High-Precision Nuclear Experiment Was Stolen by Experts, Not Looted, Diplomats Say There are indications that missing high-precision nuclear-related equipment in Iraq was removed by experts working systematically, contrary to claims by Iraqi officials that the equipment was taken during disorganized looting, diplomats said yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 14). Satellite imagery available to the International Atomic Energy Agency of Iraqi nuclear sites indicates the scale and complexity of an operation to remove the missing equipment, one diplomat said. “Our assumption is that this had to have been an organized effort by professionals who had to have had heavy lifting equipment and big trucks,” the diplomat said (George Jahn, Associated Press/Boston Herald, Oct. 14). Meanwhile, Russia yesterday called on the United States and the interim Iraqi government to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency and the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission to return to Iraq, according to Agence France-Presse. “We believe that these organizations, which possess all the necessary expertise to that end, must as soon as possible receive unlimited access to Iraq’s nuclear sites to resume their interrupted task,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said in a statement (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Oct. 15). Back to top       U.S. Plays Down Expectations for G-8 Meeting on Iran Today; Iran Threatens to Bar IAEA Inspectors A “carrots and sticks” proposal aimed at persuading Iran to cease suspected nuclear weapons development is set to be presented today by European members of the Group of Eight economic powers at a meeting in Washington, U.S. and European officials said (see GSN, Oct. 14). According to the plan, G-8 member nations would approach Iran individually, but with a unified demand that Tehran immediately and permanently halt uranium enrichment and related activities or face having its case sent to the U.N. Security Council, the Washington Post reported. “We want to make clear to Iran that it has to comply immediately, and everyone agrees we should go to the Security Council (if it does not). If they do, we might start talking about what we might be able to offer — in comprehensive ways, not just economic,” said a European envoy familiar with the draft (Wright/Linzer, Washington Post, Oct. 15). U.S. officials yesterday sought to lower expectations for the plan. “This is not a decision meeting. It’s not going to come up with a joint position. ... It’s for the Europeans to preview with us what they intend to say to the Iranians,” a senior U.S. official told Reuters. He added that the administration does not think the new initiative would be more effective than previous European efforts at diplomacy with Iran. “Especially since June, the Iranians have stiffed the Europeans repeatedly (and this experience suggests) that Iran is not going to come around,” he said. The Europeans want U.S. agreement for a final diplomatic push to present the package to the Iranians, said Robert Einhorn, top U.S. nonproliferation official in the Clinton administration. “What’s also different here is the clear implication that this is a last attempt, that either Iran agrees clearly to a genuine comprehensive suspension of (uranium) enrichment or the issue will go to the Security Council,” said Einhorn. Both the U.S. official and Einhorn said the Europeans have moved closer to the U.S. position on sending Iran to the Security Council of it does not agree at the Nov. 25 meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency to suspend nuclear work. “The Europeans and Russia have to send a lot tougher message than before. ... They have to signal that if this goes to the Security Council, there won’t be gridlock in New York but instead Iran will face a progression of increasingly tough measures,” Einhorn said (Carol Giacomo, Reuters, Oct. 14). Meanwhile, a top Iranian legislator traveling in Moscow said yesterday that Iran would bar inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency if debate on its nuclear work was moved to the Security Council, Agence France-Presse reported. “There will be no place for any kind of inspections, no continuation of our openness with IAEA inspectors,” said Aladdin Boujerdi, chairman of the Iranian parliament’s committee on national security and foreign affairs. Alexander Rumyantsev, head of Russia’s Atomic Energy Agency, could sign an agreement on return of spent nuclear fuel to Russia next month during an expected visit to Iran “if commercial issues are resolved by that time,” said Gholameza Shafei, Iranian ambassador to Russia. U.S. officials have repeatedly alleged that Iran’s ample natural resources make justification for a nuclear power reactor untenable. Boujerdi said such arguments are unreasonable. “The American argument that we have oil and gas resources and therefore we don’t need nuclear power sounds like a joke,” Boujerdi said. “One day the resources will run out and we are responsible to future generations of our people.” (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Oct. 14). Back to top       KEDO Postpones Decision on North Korea Reactor Project; China Prepares for Pyongyang Visitor The Executive Board of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) decided yesterday to wait until late November to decide whether to maintain the suspension of a project to build two light-water nuclear reactors in North Korea, the Kyodo news agency reported (see GSN, Oct. 14). Meeting in New York, the board agreed to hold another meeting next month before the existing freeze expires at the end of November, diplomatic sources said. Comprised of Japan, South Korea, the United States and the European Union, KEDO is likely to agree to a one-year extension of the freeze at the next meeting, according to organization officials and diplomatic sources. The organization is responsible for implementing the 1994 Agreed Framework in which North Korea promised to freeze and dismantle its nuclear program in exchange for two one-megawatt light-water nuclear reactors for electricity. KEDO voted to freeze the project last November for one year, accusing Pyongyang of failing to keep its commitment (Kyodo/Yahoo!News, Oct. 15). Meanwhile, some Chinese analysts said Beijing is likely to pressure North Korean parliament chief Kim Yong Nam to rejoin six-party talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear work during his anticipated visit from Oct. 18-20. “The continuous refusal to talk probably will force Pyongyang into a corner,” Zhu Feng, head of the international security program at Peking University, told Reuters. “China really has to persuade Pyongyang of the danger of enduring refusal to talk. China now is trying to launch a new campaign of shuttle diplomacy,” (John Ruwitch, Reuters, Oct. 15). Back to top       Watchdog Faults U.S. Port Defenses By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Radiation inspections of seafaring cargo entering the United States are in need of improvement, the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general said in a report released yesterday (see related GSN story, today). In a review requested by two House of Representatives Democrats following two successful uranium-smuggling incidents conducted by ABC News (see GSN, Sept. 11, 2003), Inspector General Clark Kent Ervin’s office said Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection Bureau should improve detection equipment and search protocols. The inspector general’s office said the bureau has made steps toward such improvements. ABC News in July 2002 shipped 15 pounds of depleted uranium from Turkey to the United States, where customs officials failed to detect the material. In August of last year, the network shipped the same cylinder of uranium from Indonesia to the United States via Malaysia, again succeeding in bringing the uranium into the United States. Customs officials targeted the shipments as high-risk but then failed in both cases to detect the presence of uranium. Customs and Border Protection stressed to the inspector general’s office that depleted uranium such as that used by ABC News has a different radiation signature from that of weapon-grade uranium. For the purposes of the inspector general’s report, Customs and Border Protection enlisted Energy Department scientists from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to conduct analyses of various detection devices. The inspector general yesterday released an unclassified version of the report describing the results of the analyses only in vague terms. “The analysis described the distances beyond which the detection equipment would no longer detect the radiation source. The radiation portal monitors installed by CBP have the inherent sensitivity to detect both depleted and highly enriched uranium in cargo,” reads the report. “The ability to detect is reduced by certain factors. We made recommendations that will enhance the effectiveness of radiation-detection equipment.” “The protocols and procedures that CBP officials followed at the time of the two smuggling incidents were not adequate to detect the depleted uranium,” the office added. “CBP has since enhanced its ability to screen targeted containers for radioactive emissions based on deployment of more sensitive technology, better procedures and training. Along these lines, we made recommendations that would enhance training and search procedures followed by CBP inspectors.” Back to top       China, Russia Agree on Nonproliferation Cooperation Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russia President Vladimir Putin signed yesterday during a meeting in Beijing a statement pledging to increase cooperation “within the framework of a multilateral nuclear export control mechanism,” according to the Xinhua News Agency (see GSN, May 28). The statement says that China and Russia believe it is important to hold a conference on the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty next year, and that the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty enters into force as soon as possible, Xinhua reported. In addition, both countries “all-out support” the creation of nuclear weapons-free zones around the world, especially in Central Asia, and back a nuclear weapons-free Korean Peninsula, the statement says (Xinhua News Agency, Oct. 15). Back to top

U.S.-Libya Gain Partial Victory on Plant Request By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — An international body yesterday endorsed a proposed change to the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention that could allow Libya to convert a former chemical weapons production facility into a civilian pharmaceutical plant (see GSN, Oct. 13). The Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), however, deferred at least until December a decision on Libya’s specific proposal for converting its former chemical weapons facility at Rabta.  The United States and 16 other nations supported Libya’s effort this week to gain OPCW approval to convert the Rabta plant. “Libya desires to convert the Rabta chemical weapons production facility to produce low-cost pharmaceuticals to treat AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis throughout the African continent and the developing world. The United States supports Libya’s proposal,” said U.S. ambassador Eric Javits, addressing the council on Tuesday. The treaty currently requires parties to destroy such facilities, or to have converted them within six years after the treaty took effect in 1997. Libya, however, only joined the pact earlier this year. The approved treaty-change would erase the 2003 deadline. The 41-member council, which is the primary decision-making organ of the organization, unanimously approved the treaty-change recommendation. The change must now be approved by a conference of states parties to take effect. A council member, however, blocked a decision on Libya’s actual plant conversion, for further review of the plan. That effectively delays any action at least until the next Executive Council session in December, according to a senior U.S. official who asked not to be identified. The blocking council member was Russia, according to another source. Delays in approving highly technical plans are not unusual at the OPCW, according to the U.S. official, who said past approvals have taken years. Politics can sometimes be a factor, said John Hart, a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Nevertheless, the council’s treaty change endorsement is seen as a positive step by the United States, the official said. “It’s a victory in the sense that the Executive Council has considered a situation that was not exactly foreseen by the treaty and has reacted to it in a constructive fashion,” the official said. It is unlikely that the conference of states parties would not approve the council’s recommendation, Hart said. Treaty Change Was Sought To enable Libya’s conversion plan, countries had sought to amend the treaty to eliminate the conversion deadline.  The change sought by the United States and Libya would allow a treaty conference of states parties in the future to set a specific conversion deadline for each new member. “The proposal will work not just for Libya, but for any future acceding state that may possess a chemical weapons production facility and legitimately wish to convert it for purposes not prohibited by the convention,” Javits said at the meeting earlier this week. Another U.S. official who spoke with Global Security Newswire on condition of anonymity said the 2003 deadline was included in the treaty to compel countries to join the treaty early so they could take advantage of the six years allowed for conversion, and avoid having to destroy facilities by joining late. “It was put in purposely back when the treaty was negotiated to be carrots and sticks to get people to join the treaty,” the official said. Now, however, the requirement can have a negative impact by discouraging states to join, Javits said at the meeting. “The adoption of this technical change will correct a disincentive for nonmember states to accede to the convention,” he said. “In short, the United States places great importance on adoption of this technical change by the council, not only for the immediate benefit which will accrue to people in Africa and developing nations, but for the contribution it will make toward achieving universal adherence to the convention,” he said. Back to top       Most Safety Problems Resolved at Newport Chemical Disposal Facility, Army Inspectors Find U.S. Army Materiel Command inspectors recently concluded that nearly all operational and safety concerns at the Newport Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Indiana have been addressed, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Sept. 28). The inspectors’ report had only minor recommendations for improvements at the facility, which has addressed 190 shortcomings inspectors found in July, said Newport Army site manager Jeff Brubaker (Associated Press/PhillyBurbs.com, Oct. 14). “They took a close look at critical areas, including chemical agent surety, security and safety programs,” Brubaker said in a press statement. Newport officials are reviewing the team’s recommendations, which are not expected to impact the start of chemical neutralization of the 1,269 tons of VX nerve agent stored at the depot. “Security and surety activities within the facility are being conducted as though VX destruction operations are in full swing,” Brubaker said. “This gives us several weeks to test our procedures and resolve any issues before we begin to neutralize the stockpile” (U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency release, Oct. 13). The Army now awaits a review by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of its plan to neutralize the nerve agent at Newport and to haul the chemical byproduct to a disposal plant in New Jersey (Associated Press, Oct. 14). Back to top       Last Sarin Rockets Moved for Disposal at Anniston Workers at the Anniston Army Depot in Alabama on Tuesday transported the final batch of sarin-filled M55 rockets to the Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility for destruction, the U.S. Army announced in a press statement (see GSN, Aug. 20). The rockets are awaiting disposal. Anniston has now shipped 42,738 sarin rockets for disposal. Storage crews are expected to begin training for shipment of the next type of munition scheduled for destruction, 8-inch sarin-filled projectiles (U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency release, Oct. 12). Back to top

Two Japanese Businessmen Found Guilty of Missile-Related Exports to Iran A Japanese court today convicted two men of illegally exporting missile-related equipment to Iran, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, June 13). The employees of Seishin Enterprise Co. were arrested last year on charges of having illegally exported to Iran in 1999 and 2000 equipment that could be used to produce solid missile fuel, AP reported. The Tokyo company’s president received a suspended sentence of 2 1/2 years, while Seishin’s former South Korean branch manager was given a suspended 1 1/2 year sentence. Seishin Enterprise was also fined $134,000 (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Oct. 15).   Back to top

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