Friday, April 27, 2007

U.S. border chief touts 'virtual wall' - U.S. Security - MSNBC.com

U.S. border chief touts 'virtual wall' - U.S. Security - MSNBC.com

U.S. border chief touts 'virtual wall'
He says high-tech system will detect 95 percent of illegal crossings
The Associated Press
Updated: 8:51 p.m. ET April 26, 2007

MEXICO CITY - A high-tech “virtual wall” will detect more than 95 percent of illegal crossings at the busiest jumping-off point along the U.S.-Mexico border, the U.S. Border Patrol chief said Thursday.

In a videoconference with reporters in Mexico, David Aguilar predicted the so-called “virtual wall” of lights, ground sensors and cameras — reinforced by more agents — will essentially halt illegal crossings along the Arizona border, the busiest section for clandestine entries.

Officials expect to complete 28 miles of the high-tech system in Arizona by June, and by next year it should run into New Mexico and parts of Texas.

Eventually, the integrated system will cover sections along the entire border, from San Diego to Brownsville, Texas.

“We will be able to identify, detect and classify more than 95 percent of illegal entries with the virtual wall,” Aguilar said.

Fewer attempted crossings
Detentions along the U.S.-Mexico border already have dropped by 30 percent from October 2006 to this week, compared to the same period last year, Aguilar said — a reduction officials attribute to fewer attempted crossings. In 2006, 1.1 million migrants were detained.

He attributed the fall to President Bush’s deployment of 6,000 National Guard troops to the border, the addition of more than 700 Border Patrol agents this fiscal year and new strategies.

Along a 210-mile stretch in west Texas, detentions have dropped 65 percent since the start of a federal project called Operation Streamline, which jails and prosecutes any illegal immigrant caught crossing there.

Aguilar said far fewer immigrants have been seen at traditional staging points in Mexico and that agents have not seen a shift to new crossing areas along the border.

Congress has approved 700 miles of fence for the border and has allowed officials to decide whether to build metal fences or virtual walls.

Aguilar expects most of the distance will be covered by the virtual barrier, with metal walls kept to a minimum.

The U.S. government is adding 70 miles of metal walls this year and 225 miles next year. The barriers are being built primarily in Arizona, which has seen the largest flow of illegal migrants since a U.S. crackdown in Texas and California more than a decade ago funneled people into its remote desert.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has likened the barriers to the Berlin Wall.
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18336458/
© 2007 MSNBC.com

Va. Tech students get questionnaires - Massacre at Virginia Tech - MSNBC.com

Va. Tech students get questionnaires - Massacre at Virginia Tech - MSNBC.com

Va. Tech students get questionnaires
State police asked for it as 'another evidentiary tool'
The Associated Press
Updated: 4:34 p.m. ET April 27, 2007

BLACKSBURG, Va. - Stumped in their search for a motive, authorities at Virginia Tech have sent out a questionnaire asking students for any information they may have about gunman Seung-Hui Cho and his first victim.

A copy of the questionnaire obtained by The Associated Press asks students in the dorm where the rampage began if they had any interaction with Cho and whether they knew freshman Emily Hilscher, who was killed along with senior Ryan Clark in West Ambler Johnston Hall.

State police requested the questionnaire earlier this week, and the FBI asked resident advisers to help circulate the forms, said state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller. The questionnaires are voluntary, she said.

"This is another evidentiary tool," Geller said Friday. "It's just a way of reaching out to the student base."

No link to first victim
Earlier this week, state police Superintendent Col. W. Steven Flaherty said police have been unable to determine why Cho began his attacks at the dormitory, and why Hilscher was the first victim.

Witnesses place Cho outside West Ambler Johnston shortly before 7:15 a.m., when he fired the two shots that killed Hilscher and Clark. It is not known how Cho entered the building.

Cho eventually killed 30 other people inside Norris Hall, before taking his own life in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Most students said they did not mind filling out the questionnaire and hoped it would help investigators.

"Even though it is a little bit creepy for us to be having to fill this out, they should do whatever they can," said sophomore Kristina Ticknor, who lives on the floor where Cho killed Clark and Hilscher. "If anybody did see him around West AJ, or if anybody did see him the night before, and they're too scared to come out about it, this gives them the opportunity to do so."

A memorial of wilting flowers and rain-dampened letters of support still remained Friday outside Ambler Johnston, which houses nearly 1,300 students.

Dorm rooms sealed off
Ticknor said two white plywood walls have been put up to seal off Hilscher and Clark's rooms.

"I came back on Sunday, a week later, and it was really, really creepy to be back," Ticknor said. "But being back here in the community, everybody's doing so much to support each other, that it completely helps the healing process."

The questionnaire asks students six questions:
# Briefly describe your activities in and around Ambler Johnston Hall between the night of April 15 and April 16. Please include times.
# Have you seen any suspicious activity in or surrounding Ambler Johnston Hall that might pertain to the events of April 16? If so, please describe.
# Did you know Emily Hilscher? If you did, please describe the nature of your relationship.
# Have you ever seen Seung-Hui Cho in or surrounding Ambler Johnston Hall? If so, please describe.
# Did you know or have any interactions with Seung-Hui Cho? If so, please describe.
# Please provide any other additional information that may be helpful to the investigation.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18355907/

Tenet: White House warned of Iraq chaos - Politics - MSNBC.com

Tenet: White House warned of Iraq chaos - Politics - MSNBC.com


Tenet: White House warned of Iraq chaos
Book by ex-CIA chief highly critical of Cheney; Bush official rejects claims
The Associated Press
Updated: 8:01 p.m. ET April 27, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO - The CIA warned the Bush White House seven months before the 2003 Iraq invasion that the U.S. could face a thicket of bad consequences, starting with “anarchy and the territorial breakup” of the country, former CIA Director George Tenet writes in a new book.

CIA analysts wrote the warning at the start of August 2002 and inserted it into a briefing book distributed at an early September meeting of President Bush’s national security team at Camp David, he writes.

The agency analysis painted what Tenet calls additional “worst-case” scenarios: “a surge of global terrorism against U.S. interests fueled by deepening Islamic antipathy toward the United States”; “regime-threatening instability in key Arab states”; and “major oil supply disruptions and severe strains in the Atlantic alliance.”

While the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies have been widely criticized for being wrong about much of the prewar intelligence on Iraq, the analysis Tenet describes concerning postwar scenarios seems prescient. Iraq is buffeted by brutal sectarian violence, and there are suggestions that the country be partitioned into ethnic zones.

However, Tenet cautions against concluding that the CIA predicted many of the difficulties that followed. “Doing so would be disingenuous,” because the agency saw them as possible scenarios, not certainties, he writes. “The truth is often more complex than convenient.”

The analysis also presaged an intelligence community conclusion last year that the Iraq war was fueling Islamic resentment toward the United States and giving rise to a new generation of terror operatives.

Tenet’s recollection of the memo also comes at a time when Bush and the Democratic-controlled Congress are locked in a high-stakes dispute over war funding and whether to set hard timetables for ending the war.

A copy of the book, “At the Center of the Storm,” was purchased by an Associated Press reporter Friday at a retail outlet, ahead of its scheduled Monday release. Tenet served as CIA chief from 1997 to 2004.

The book is highly critical of Vice President Dick Cheney and other administration officials, who Tenet argues rushed the United States into war in Iraq without serious debate — a charge the White House rejected Friday. Beyond that, he contends, the administration failed to adequately consider what would come in the war’s aftermath.

“There was precious little consideration, that I’m aware of, about the big picture of what would come next,” Tenet writes. “While some policy makers were eager to say that we would be greeted as liberators, what they failed to mention is that the intelligence community told them that such a greeting would last only for a limited period.”

The former CIA director offers a litany of questions that went unasked:
# “What impact would a large American occupying force have in an Arab country in the heart of the Middle East?”
# “What kind of political strategy would be necessary to cause the Iraqi society to coalesce in a post-Saddam world and maximize the chances for our success?”
# “How would the presence of hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops, and the possibility of a pro-West Iraqi government, be viewed in Iran? And what might Iran do in reaction?”

Tenet laments that “there seemed to be a lack of curiosity in asking these kinds of questions, and the lack of a disciplined process to get the answers before committing the country to war.”

Tenet assigns his own agency part of the blame, saying the intelligence community should have strove to answer the questions not asked by the administration.

The memoir paints a portrait of constant tension between the CIA and the office of Cheney, who Tenet says stretched the intelligence to serve his own belief that war was the right course.

It alarmed Tenet and surprised even Bush, the author says, when Cheney issued his now-famous declaration that, “Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.”

Chastising Cheney nearly five years later, Tenet writes: “Policy makers have a right to their own opinions, but not their own set of facts.” Here again, Tenet blames himself for not pulling Cheney aside and telling him the WMD assertion was “well beyond what our analysis could support.”

For the first time, Tenet offers an account of his own view of a historic moment in the run-up to war: Secretary of State Colin Powell’s February 2003 speech before the United Nations, with Tenet sitting just behind him.

“That was about the last place I wanted to be,” Tenet recalls. “It was a great presentation, but unfortunately the substance didn’t hold up,” he says of the performance, in which Powell charged Iraq had WMD stockpiles.

“One by one, the various pillars of the speech, particularly on Iraq’s biological and chemical weapons programs, began to buckle,” he writes. “The secretary of state was subsequently hung out to dry in front of the world, and our nation’s credibility plummeted.”

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18348452/page/2/

9/11 Truth Protesters in New York Harrassed By Silverstein Security Thugs

9/11 Truth protesters in New York peaceably hold signs outside the new Building 7, before Silverstein's security thugs emerge to hassle the group, with one cackling about their impending arrest.

For Mark Dice's 911 Truth Jam Contest
Directed by Dan and Rob
Produced by Luke
www.wearechange.org

University develops lip-reading technology for surveillance systems

cctv-core
Richard Harvey, a senior lecturer in computer vision at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, has secured £391,814 funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, for a three-year project to develop lip-reading technology which could be used in video surveillance systems.

The project will collect lip-reading data which will be used to create systems that can automatically convert lip motions into readable text.

Researchers will develop techniques for recognising head positions, lip shapes, and their related sounds.

Lip-reading technology would help video surveillance systems identify people planning a crime or terror attack by recording the movement of suspects’ lips.

The system would be able to identify key words or sentences which would trigger an alert message to a central console, mobile phone, or other communications device.

Automated lip-reading systems are already in existence, but they are relatively inaccurate and require good lighting and static heads.

The technology being developed by the project can already lip-read between 10 and 30 utterances, with an accuracy of around 50%. With further development the technology could be able to handle natural speech.

The technology has obvious security applications but could also be incorporated in camera phones to allow users to communicate in noisy environments.

related link
http://www.cctv-core.co.uk/25-04-2007-university-develops-lip-reading-technology-for-surveillance-systems.html

Saudi arrests 172 in anti-terror sweep - International Terrorism - MSNBC.com

Saudi arrests 172 in anti-terror sweep - International Terrorism - MSNBC.com

Saudi arrests 172 in anti-terror sweep
Police seize caches of arms, $5 million; some suspects said training to fly
NBC News and news services
Updated: 11:24 a.m. ET April 27, 2007
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Police have arrested 172 militants who were plotting to attack Saudi Arabia’s oil fields, storm its prisons to free the inmates and use aircraft in their attacks, the Interior Ministry said Friday.

"They had reached an advance stage of readiness and what remained only was to set the zero hour for their attacks," Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Mansour al-Turki told the Associated Press. "They had the personnel, the money, the arms. Almost all the elements for terror attacks were complete except for setting the zero hour for the attacks."

The militants planned to carry out suicide attacks against “public figures, oil facilities, refineries ... and military zones,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement, adding that some of the military targets were outside the kingdom, but it did not elaborate.

Some of the militants were being trained to fly aircraft, the statement added, raising the specter of more attacks like Sept. 11, 2001, in which terrorists hijacked passenger planes and flew them into buildings in New York and Washington.

“Some had begun training on the use of weapons, and some were sent to other countries to study aviation in preparation to use them to carry out terrorist operations inside the kingdom,” the statement said.

It said the suspects, mostly Saudis, had been “influenced by the deviant ideology,” a reference frequently used by Saudi officials to refer to al-Qaida.

Plastic explosives found
The Saudi state TV channel Al-Ekhbariah broadcast footage of large weapons cache discovered buried in the desert. The arms included bricks of plastic explosives, ammunition cartridges, handguns and rifles wrapped in plastic sheeting.

Al-Turki told the privately owned Al-Arabiya TV channel that the militants included non-Saudis and that one cell planned to storm a prison and release the inmates.

The ministry said more than $5 million was seized in the operation, one of the largest sweeps against terror cells in the kingdoms. Earlier reports gave the amount as $32 million.

Al-Ekhbariah showed investigators breaking tiled floors with hammers to uncover pipes that contained weapons. In one scene, an official upends a plastic pipe and bullets and little packets of plastic explosives spill out.

U.S. intelligence sources told NBC News that the planned attacks were very serious but not imminent and part of a long-standing plan by al-Qaida to take down the Saudi monarchy.

"We and the Saudis are taking this very seriously," said one official. "This plot was being worked by the Saudis for a long time, but I would steer you away from suggesting that it was imminent. Saudis have been working this intently."


Last attacks in February
The al-Qaida terror group, whose leader Osama bin Laden is a Saudi, has called for attacks on the kingdom’s oil facilities as a means of crippling both the kingdom’s economy and the hurting the West, which he accuses of paying too little for Arab oil.

Militants in February killed four French expatriates working and living in Saudi Arabia in the latest attack on foreigners in the pro-Western kingdom.

Saudi Arabia warned foreign embassies last month that a group blamed for the killings could strike again.

Militant Islamists have said they want to drive “infidel” Westerners out of Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and home to its holiest sites.

Tough security measures and a powerful publicity campaign helped crush the violence but analysts and diplomats have said the underlying drives of radical Islamic ideology and anger at Western policy in the region remain strong.

© 2007 MSNBC InteractiveNBC News investigative producer Robert Windrem as well as The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18349238/


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© 2007 MSNBC.com

Internal Carlyle Group Memo: Market Good For 12-24 Months

IF - internatinoal forcaster
Now hear this! What we are about to tell you comes from deep within the bowels of the Illuminati. This information runs parallel with what we have been forecasting in our issues of the IF.

In February, via an internal memo, the Carlyle Group said they see another 12 to 24-months or more of “excess liquidity,” which will drive further profits and growth and that the current liquidity environment cannot go on forever; and, that the longer it lasts the more money our investors will make; but also that the longer it lasts, the worse it will be when it ends”

In the missive it was stated that Carlyle's fabulous profits were not solely a function of their investment genius, but have resulted in large part from a great market and the availability of enormous amounts of cheap debt. In fact, there has been and is so much liquidity in the world financial system that lenders, even their own lenders, are making very risky credit decisions. This sea of money and credit has allowed deals to be done that could never have been done otherwise.

They do not expect the Fed to reduce interest rates anytime soon.

What could bring this global liquidity to an end? Just that business would diminish their borrowing or could it be higher interest rates? Could it be a terrorist attack; $100 per barrel oil; trade protectionism; the absorption of excess skilled labor into the global economy; the US elections; Russian energy policies; a multi-billion dollar bankruptcy; a tightening by the Bank of Japan or the Fed; an end to the yen carry trade as a result; or perhaps the collapse of several hedge funds or a derivative collapse? All are possible and at least one is probable.

The strategy should be to take lower risk deals and earn lower returns rather than higher risk deals at only small incrementally higher returns. We should redouble our focus on deals with downside protection, asset coverage, multiple and early exit paths, strategic partners, debt pay down, government protection, consumer needs, controllable capital expenditures, defensible market positions, etc.

Carlyle is being careful because they know what is coming, just as we have been telling you here in the IF. Carlyle is the insider. What we have been busy doing for years is figuring out what these elitists will do before they do it.

This is exactly what we have been forecasting. If we and Carlyle are correct, we can expect more than ample liquidity until February of 2009. During the year to 1-1/2 years that follow liquidity will decline and inflation will diminish. After three months of declining liquidity or declining use of liquidity we will know it is time to sell all assets except gold bullion coins, quality gold shares and for those of you who have to have some liquidity, Swiss francs.

Now that foreclosures are going wild lots of crooks are defrauding homeowners. Here are some tips. Don't pay upfront fees to any person or organization promising help. Don't sign anything without have an independent lawyer review it. Seek out accredited financial counselors, using lists such as those kept by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Wild rescue offers that are too good to be true are just a scam.

This week the Supreme Court stepped into the subprime lending crisis with a potentially far-reaching ruling that limits the power of individual states to regulate mortgage lending. The elitists have to control everything in our lives.

The Supreme Court is allowing banks to offer new terms on mortgages in violation of the law.

This will have a big impact on the ability of states to act independently on predatory lending and throws the spotlight on federal authorities.

The Consumer federation of America said, “This is really disappointing news, it could work to the detriment of consumers.”

Applications for mortgages fell for the 5th straight week as ARMs fell to 18.1% of applications, the lowest since 7/03. A year ago they accounted for 30%. Refis were 2.5% lower wow, but they were up 10% yoy. Refi apps fell 0.3% and accounted for 44% of applications. The volume of loan applications to buy a home fell 4.2%, but purchase loans were down 3% yoy. US home sales are off 5.5% yoy. The average 30-year fixed rate mortgage rose from 6.16% to 6.22%, the highest in nine weeks. The 15's rose 1 bps to 5.92% and the one-year ARMs rose 1 bps to 5.89%.

US foreclosure filings rose 47% in March yoy. That was 149,000 as California's filings rose 31,434. Nevada and Colorado had the largest percentage gains. Those making late payments are at a four-year high and the failure of 55 subprime mortgage companies has tightened the supply of money for lending. Nevada's foreclosures were triple yoy. That is one foreclosure for every 183 households, which is four times the national average. Colorado's rate was one for every 292. Nationally it was one of every 775. California had 6 of the 10 metropolitan areas with the highest foreclosure rates, Stockton being the highest. The others were Vallejo-Fairfield, Modesto, Sacramento, Riverside-San Bernardino and Bakersfield. Greeley, Colorado and Detroit and Denver were also up near the top.

Suspected al Qaeda operative in U.S. custody

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An al Qaeda member accused of assassination plots against Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and U.N. officials has been captured by the CIA and is in U.S. military custody, the Pentagon said on Friday.

Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi was also accused of commanding al Qaeda's paramilitary operations in Afghanistan and launching attacks on U.S. and coalition forces from Pakistan, the Defense Department said.

The Iraqi was detained trying to get back into Iraq to "manage al Qaeda's affairs" there, according to Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.

But the Pentagon would not say when he was captured.

With al-Hadi, the Pentagon is now holding 15 men it considers "high-value detainees" -- a classification that indicates U.S. officials believe the capture had a significant effect on al Qaeda operations and the prisoner is capable of providing high-quality intelligence.

Weak economic growth hits dollar


The US economy grew at its weakest pace for four years during the first quarter of 2007, figures from the US Commerce Department show.

The news pushed the dollar to record lows of $1.3667 against the euro.

US gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an annual rate of just 1.3% in the first three months of the year, down from 2.5% in the previous quarter.

Separately, the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index also fell, but not as much as had been feared.

Its consumer sentiment index slid to 87.1 in April from 88.4 in March, which was the third fall in a row.

But the latest figure had been expected to be even worse - the preliminary reading for April was 85.3.

The final result was boosted by optimism about the current rally on Wall Street.

"We got a better than expected number amid several months of disappointing news," said Michael Woolfolk from The Bank of New York.

"This is the first ray of sunshine befitting a dreary April," he added.

Economic concerns

The Commerce Department blamed the slowdown in growth on a slump in the housing market and America's widening trade gap.

I think we're going to see one euro worth $1.38 without too much trouble here."
Analyst Joe Trevisani


US exports declined at a rate of 1.2% in the January to March quarter, while imports rose 2.3%, helping to drag output figures lower.

GDP - which measures the value of all goods and services produced in a country - is considered the best measure of the economic health of the US.

The latest figures were considerably worse than earlier forecasts of 2% growth, and triggered fears for the future of the world's largest economy - pushing the dollar lower against the euro.

On Wednesday, the latest Beige Book - which measures regional economic data - recorded only "modest" growth across the country since February.

Concerns over the housing market and related sub-prime mortgage market have also taken their toll. Earlier this week, figures showed sales of non-new US homes dropped 8.4% in March.

Some analysts fear a sharp drop in the housing market, along with a weak manufacturing sector, could trigger a US recession.

Data earlier this week from the Conference Board survey also showed US consumer confidence fell to its lowest level since August last year.

Balancing act

However, despite widespread concern over the future of the US economy, central bank chief Ben Bernanke has said he does not expect the US to slide into recession this year.

His comments contrasted with comments from former Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan who put the chances of a recession at one in three.

The Federal Reserve has long been battling a tough balancing act with its rates decision - trying to rein in inflation without cutting into growth.

As a result, US rates have remained on hold at 5.25% since August last year.

But the latest figures could cause more problems for the Fed, as while growth has slowed, inflation increased during the first quarter.

The Fed's preferred inflation rate, which strips out volatile food and energy costs rose 2.2% during the first three months of the year, up from 1.8% in the previous quarter.

The rise comes despite Fed signals that it believed inflation had eased slightly .

Putin slams U.S. plans for anti-missile system


MOSCOW, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday lashed out at U.S. plans to deploy anti-ballistic missile systems in Poland and the Czech Republic.

"We see absolutely no arguments in favor of the deployment of missile defense systems in Europe; there are no s
uch reasons," Putin was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying after discussing such issues with his visiting Czech counterpart in Moscow.

The United States suggested earlier this year that a missile shield be deployed in central Europe, including interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar station in Czech Republic. The operation is expected to start from 2011.

Russia has repeatedly criticized the U.S. proposal, saying that it will harm regional security situation. The United States has insisted that it will only target the possible missile threat from Iran or North Korea.

The president, however, regarded the facility "an inalienable part of American strategic nuclear weapons," rather than a defense system, and threatened to take counter measures.

"For the first time in history, systems of American nuclear strategic complex appear on the European continent...These systems will control the Russian territory to the Urals if we, of course, take no counter measures, and we shall be doing that," he said.

Putin also criticized the growing NATO military presence in Europe, including alleged plans to establish two new bases in Bulgaria and Romania, for 5,000 troops each.

"It turns out that Russia is disarming unilaterally, while our partners are filling European space with new armaments," Putin said.

During his final state-of-the-nation speech delivered on Thursday, Putin said Russia will suspend obligation under the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe as NATO signatories to the treaty are not ratifying it, which has been inked by Russia and three other nations.

Saudi arrests suspects planning oil attacks

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia said on Friday it foiled an al Qaeda-linked plot to attack oil facilities and military bases, arresting more than 170 suspects, including some trainee pilots preparing for suicide operations.

The Interior Ministry, in a statement read on state television, also said police seized weapons and more than 20 million riyals ($5.33 million) in cash, from seven armed cells.

"Some had begun training on the use of weapons, and some were sent to other countries to study aviation in preparation to use them to carry out terrorist operations inside the kingdom," the statement said.

"One of their main targets was to carry out suicide attacks against public figures and oil installations and to target military bases inside and outside (the country)," it added.

Saudi Arabia is the world's top oil exporter, supplying about 7 million barrels a day to world markets. It holds nearly a quarter of the world's oil reserves.

The ministry said the suspects had been "influenced by the deviant ideology," a reference used by Saudi officials to refer to al Qaeda, led by Saudi-born Osama bin Laden.

Most of the 19 al Qaeda militants who commandeered hijacked planes in the September 11 attack on the United States were Saudis.

Islamist militants swearing allegiance to al Qaeda launched a violent campaign to topple the U.S.-allied Saudi monarchy in 2003, carrying out suicide bomb attacks on foreigners and government installations, including the oil industry.

"It is obvious that the deviant group is still trying to revive its criminal activities in the kingdom," Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki said.

TRAINING IN "RESTIVE AREAS"


He said that a total of 172 suspects from seven cells have been arrested, mostly Saudis but including some foreigners, who had trained abroad.

"They are linked to foreign elements and had benefited from restive areas to recruit, plan and train (for attacks)," he added, in an apparent reference to Iraq, where up to 3,000 Saudi militants joined Iraqi insurgents to fight the U.S.-led forces.

The television showed police digging in desert areas and searching buildings, seizing weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades and automatic rifles, computers and bundldes of money.

Militants in February killed four French expatriates working and living in Saudi Arabia in the latest attack on foreigners in the pro-Western kingdom.

Saudi Arabia warned foreign embassies last month that a group blamed for the killings could strike again.

Al Qaeda militants have said they want to drive "infidel" Westerners out of Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and home to its holiest shrines.

Tough security measures and a powerful publicity campaign helped crush the violence but analysts and diplomats have said the underlying drives of radical Islamist ideology and anger at Western policy in the region remain strong.

Officials say about 144 foreigners and Saudis, including security forces, and 120 militants have died in attacks and clashes with police since May 2003, when al Qaeda suicide bombers hit three Western housing compounds in Riyadh.

Blair wants end to 'abstract' EU


The EU needs to focus on issues of concern to its citizens, rather than spend years on "abstract constitutional debate", the UK prime minister says.

Tony Blair said it was easier to make the case for the EU if it was not "remote from the people in the street".

People felt the EU was "on their side" when it tackled "bread-and-butter issues" such as jobs, immigration and energy, he said in Warsaw.

He was speaking after talks on the EU treaty with Polish leaders.

He said the two countries shared "basic concepts" about the future of the EU.

'Working together'

"We both want a Europe that is effective, that is practical, but a Europe that is one of sovereign and independent states collaborating and working together."

His meeting with prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and president Lech Kaczynski came head of a key EU summit in June, which Mr Blair is expected to attend as one of his final foreign events before he leaves office.

The EU is trying to work out new rules to govern its expanded 27 country membership.

In 2005 the EU constitution was put on hold after it was rejected by two countries in referendums.

It was fully ratified by 16 of the 27 member states but it cannot come into force unless it is ratified by all 27.

Remote arguments

In a swipe at the lengthy process of agreeing on a constitution, Mr Blair said: "We believe in Europe, Britain believes in Europe, Poland believes in Europe.

"But it is easier to make the case for our people when it is a Europe that is not arguing about things that are remote from people in the street, but are arguing about the bread and butter issues, the jobs, and the immigration and the crime and issues like energy, [issues] that are absolutely vital for our citizens.

"When we are debating those issues people feel Europe's on their side.

"When we end up with years and years of quite abstract constitutional debate people don't feel Europe is really in the place they want it to be."

Earlier this week Mr Blair, who is expected to announce his retirement date within the next two weeks, held talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The German EU presidency plans to propose a timetable and some suggestions on the substance of a future treaty at the June summit.

The Berlin Declaration adopted in March 2007 called for institutional changes by the European Parliament election in mid-2009.

'Sneak' criticism

Mr Blair has already backed a Dutch proposal for the EU to push for changes to existing treaties with the aim of easing some fears of a European super-state.

But he has been accused by opponents, including the UK Independence Party, of trying to "sneak" the constitution through without a referendum which UKIP says he would "lose heavily".

UKIP leader Nigel Farage said: "Every time a new treaty comes on the horizon they describe it as a 'tidying up exercise' or 'amendments'. The reality is that each treaty drags us further into a country called Europe."

As part of his diplomatic talks on the issue, Mr Blair also met Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende earlier this month.

Ex-CIA chief pens critical memoir


bbc
The former head of the CIA, George Tenet, has criticised the way the White House conducted itself in the run-up to launching the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

In a new book, Mr Tenet accuses the US administration of failing to properly debate the evidence for going to war.

And he said one of his own comments was distorted by the US vice-president.

Mr Tenet, who resigned in 2004, is the first member of President Bush's inner circle to pen a memoir recalling 9/11 and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

His 549-page book, At The Centre of the Storm, focuses on Mr Tenet's seven-year tenure as CIA director.

"There was never a serious debate that I know of within the administration about the imminence of the Iraqi threat."
George Tenet
Former CIA director


According to excerpts of the book published in the New York Times, Mr Tenet is critical of his own role in the build-up to war, most notably taking blame for a flawed 2002 intelligence assessment of Iraq's weapons capability.

"In retrospect, we got it wrong partly because the truth was so implausible," he writes.

Speech dropped

But Mr Tenet is unequivocal in his judgement about the administration's approach to Iraq before 2003.

"There was never a serious debate that I know of within the administration about the imminence of the Iraqi threat," he writes.

Special criticism is reserved for the US Vice-President Dick Cheney, who he says had to be reined back on one occasion from delivering a speech that explicitly linked Saddam Hussein to al-Qaeda.

Mr Tenet also accuses the vice-president of twisting the meaning of one of his own remarks.

In the months preceding the invasion, Mr Tenet told a high-level meeting that conclusive evidence that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) would be a "slam dunk" in publicly promoting the case for war.

Mr Tenet insists that his remark was theoretical and was not intended to persuade President Bush that Iraq actually had WMD.

Mr Cheney has since told a TV interviewer that the "slam dunk" remark helped convince Mr Bush to give the go-ahead for war - an argument Mr Tenet laughs off in his memoir.

"I remember watching and thinking: 'As if you needed me to say "slam dunk" to convince you to go to war with Iraq,'" he says.

First Quarter Economy Slows to 1.3 Percent Growth

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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and other economists don't expect the economy to fall into a recession this year, despite the slow economic growth that economists are saying is the worst economic performance in four years. Former Fed chief Alan Greenspan has put the odds of a recession at one in three, however.

Economic growth slowed to a near crawl of 1.3 percent in the first three months of 2007, the worst performance in four years. The main culprit: the housing slump.

The fresh reading on gross domestic product, released by the Commerce Department on Friday, was even weaker than the 2.5 percent growth rate logged in the final three months of last year. The new figures underscored just how much momentum the economy has been losing as it copes with the strain of the troubled housing market, which has made some businesses more cautious in their spending.

The first-quarter GDP figure was the weakest since a 1.2 percent pace registered in the opening quarter of 2003. GDP measures the value of all goods and services produced within the United States and is considered the best barometer of the country's economic fitness.

"This was tepid activity in the first quarter. The economy was taking a breather," said Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics.

The performance was even weaker than what economists expected; they had forecast a growth rate of 1.8 percent.

Still, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and other economists don't expect the economy to fall into a recession this year. Former Fed chief Alan Greenspan has put the odds at one in three, however.

Even though the economy slowed in the first quarter, inflation picked up -- a development that will complicate the Fed's work.

An inflation gauge tied to the GDP report and closely watched by the Fed showed that core prices -- excluding food and energy -- rose at a rate of 2.2 percent in the first quarter, up from a 1.8 percent pace in the fourth quarter. Another measure tracking all prices jumped by 3.4 percent in the first quarter, compared to a 1.0 percent decline, on an annualized basis in the fourth quarter.

Federal Reserve policymakers say the biggest danger to the economy is if inflation doesn't recede as they currently predict.

The Federal Reserve hasn't moved a key interest rate since August. Before that it had steadily lifted rates to ward off inflation. Many economists predict the Fed will continue to leave rates alone when it meets next month. The Fed's goal is to slow the economy sufficiently to key inflation in check, but not so much as to provoke a recession.

In other economic news, employers' costs to hire and retain workers grew by 0.8 percent in the first quarter, down slightly from a 0.9 percent increase in the fourth quarter, the Labor Department reported.

Wages and salaries went up 1.1%, the fastest since 2001. Benefit costs, however, edged up 0.1%, the slowest since the first quarter of 1999. The Fed keeps close tabs on labor costs for clues about inflation.

The reports come as President Bush continues to cope with mediocre ratings from the public on his economic stewardship, according to AP-Ipsos polls. Democrats, who have accused Bush of not doing enough to close the widening gap between high- and low-paid workers, are advocating a boost to the federal minimum wage and policies to help unions.

The biggest factor behind the first-quarter's slowdown was the crumbling housing market. Investment in home building was cut by 17 percent, on an annualized basis. That came after such investment was slashed at an even deeper 19.8 percent pace in the fourth quarter.

Weak investment by businesses in inventories also held back first-quarter GDP. However, business investment in equipment and software edged up at a 1.9 percent pace in the first quarter. That was lackluster but nevertheless marked an improvment from the 4.8 percent cut in the fourth quarter.

The country's bloated trade deficit also weighed on first quarter economic growth, shaving 0.52 percentage point off GDP.

Another factor holding back GDP in the first quarter was a 6.6 percent drop, on an annualized basis, in federal defense spending. That was the biggest cut since the final quarter of 2005.

Consumers whose shopping is indispensable to a booming economy boosted their spending at a 3.8 percent pace in the first quarter. That was a solid showing although it was slightly weaker than the 4.2 percent growth rate logged in the fourth quarter.

A key reason why consumers have remained resilient, even in the face of the painful housing slump, is that the jobs markets has managed to stay in good shape. The nation's unemployment rate dropped in March to 4.4 percent, matching a five-year low.