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White House defends Libya response

By Alan Silverleib, CNN

March 24, 2011 10:57 p.m. EDT

 

Washington (CNN) -- The Obama administration strongly defended its handling of the Libyan crisis Thursday, drawing a clear line between military and political objectives while dismissing criticism that it has failed to adequately consult with members of Congress.
"We are not engaged in militarily-driven regime change," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters. Instead, the administration is engaged in "time-limited, scope-limited" action with other countries to protect civilians from forces loyal to strongman Moammar Gadhafi.
American forces will be transitioning to a "support and assist" role in the international coalition within a matter of days, he promised. U.S. ground troops will not be sent into Libya, he stressed.
Later in the day, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced that NATO members will take over enforcement of the no-fly zone as soon as Sunday. But he stopped short of interpreting that mandate as a license to attack pro-Gadhafi forces who may be threatening unarmed civilians. Nor did he say its goal was to effect regime change.
President Barack Obama has said the administration's ultimate objective is Gadhafi's removal from power. U.S. officials have indicated they hope Gadhafi will be removed quickly by forces currently loyal to him, though they haven't publicly called for a coup.

 

 Carney listed a series of recent meetings, hearings and briefings by top officials -- including the president -- with members of Congress on Libya. The list was produced in response to accusations by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and others that the White House failed to properly consult with legislators before launching the Libyan mission.
Boehner sent a letter to the president Wednesday complaining that "military resources were committed to war without clearly defining for the American people, the Congress, and our troops what the mission in Libya is and what America's role is in achieving that mission."
Carney said the administration has "endeavored to answer (Boehner's) questions already," and noted that the speaker received a classified intelligence briefing on March 14. He also accused some critics of being "perhaps driven by politics."
Carney said the president will continue to speak out on Libya "with relative frequency."
A Republican source, meanwhile, told CNN that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, and National Intelligence Director James Clapper will deliver a classified briefing to members of Congress on March 30.
Hearings were also scheduled for the House Foreign Affairs and House Armed Services committees next week, according to a Democratic source.
Asked about the financial cost of the mission, Carney said expenses should be covered by existing Pentagon funds. But he told reporters, "I don't want to get into numbers. I'm not an economist."
While the White House insists it has been -- and will continue to be -- responsive to questions about the Libyan mission, critics on the right and the left remain unmollified.
Shortly after Carney spoke to reporters, Brendan Buck, a spokesman for Boehner, released a statement arguing that "it's fair to say the (speaker's) letter wouldn't have been necessary if the speaker -- and the American people -- had received answers."
Buck also said it's "important to note that an update on conditions in Libya is far different than a briefing on military operations under consideration."
One key House Republican called Wednesday for a withdrawal of U.S. forces, arguing that Obama had failed to rally public support for military action.
"Mr. President, you have failed to state a clear and convincing explanation of the vital national interest at stake, which demands our intervention in Libya," said Rep. Candice Miller, R-Michigan. "You have failed to state a clearly defined mission for our military to defend that interest. ... I believe you must pull our forces from the coalition immediately."
Rep. Tom McClintock, R-California, contends the president violated the 1973 War Powers Act and other constitutional restrictions on authorizing military action.
The president's actions constitute "a usurpation of constitutional powers clearly and solely vested in the United States Congress and is accordingly unlawful," McClintock said Wednesday.
Some liberal Democrats have also expressed unease with the intervention, particularly in regard to the relative lack of congressional consultation and the prospects for an open-ended conflict.
Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva and California Reps. Barbara Lee, Mike Honda and Lynn Woolsey released a statement earlier in the week arguing that "the United States must immediately shift to end the bombing in Libya."
"We will fight in Congress to ensure the United States does not become embroiled in yet another destabilizing military quagmire in Libya with no clear exit plan or diplomatic strategy for peace," they said.
Top Senate Democrats, however, continue to defend the administration, insisting that Obama moved methodically and carefully to assemble a strong international coalition capable of saving innocent lives and reinforcing the broader Middle East reform movement.
Some analysts have echoed complaints about what they insist was unclear administration guidance about ultimate U.S. goals in Libya and the methods being used in pursuit of those objectives.
Obama has been "fairly muddy in what he's said," Max Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, argued Wednesday. The president has been "reacting frantically" to events and "being pulled hither and yon."
Boot predicted air power would not be sufficient to knock out the Gadhafi regime, and warned of a "protracted and costly stalemate" if the United States doesn't send in military advisers to help arm and train the rebels.
Obama may be hoping for a palace coup, he said, but "I wouldn't bet on it."
Boot also stressed the need for more planning for a post-Gadhafi Libya. There's a "real danger of chaos" and protracted tribal warfare if Gadhafi falls, he said. Al Qaeda may be able to exploit such a situation, he warned.
He blasted the White House for "not really preparing the American people for the possibility that this could be a protracted and expensive conflict."

"The public and the administration should not be going into this with rose-colored blinkers on," Boot said.

NTSB: Air traffic controller fell asleep, leaving planes on their own

By the CNN Wire Staff

March 24, 2011 11:09 p.m. EDT

 

Washington (CNN) -- The air traffic controller suspended for failing to respond to two planes heading into Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport has told investigators that he had fallen asleep, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
The controller, a 20-year veteran, "indicated that he had fallen asleep for a period of time while on duty," according to a statement released Thursday by the safety board. "He had been working his fourth consecutive overnight shift (10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.)."
"Human fatigue issues are one of the areas being investigated," the statement read.
Federal Aviation Administration chief Randy Babbitt said earlier Thursday that the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the incident and that the air traffic controller has been suspended from all operational duties.
An FAA official speaking on background said the controller was given a drug test after the incident. The official said the drug test was "standard procedure" and did not know the results.
The situation began at 12:10 a.m. Wednesday, when an American Airlines plane attempted to call the tower to get clearance to land and got no answer, said Peter Knudson, a spokesman for the safety board. The plane had been in contact with a regional air traffic control facility, and a controller at that facility advised the pilot that he, too, had been unable to contact anyone at the tower, according to a recording of air control traffic at the website liveatc.net.
"1012," the controller said, using the airline's flight number, "called a couple of times on landline and tried to call on the commercial line, and there's no answer.
"The tower is apparently unmanned."
Apparently asked why by a pilot, the controller later responded, "Well, I'm going to take a guess and say that the controller got locked out. I've heard of this happening before. Fortunately, it's not very often," he said.
Knudson said the plane landed without incident in a situation termed an "uncontrolled airport."
About 15 minutes later, a United Airlines flight also failed to reach the tower but landed without any problems, he said. After that, the controller in the tower was back in communication. Knudson said one controller was staffing the tower at the time this occurred.
The controller's admission that he was asleep during the landing emergency underscores concerns about the effect of fatigue on underslept controllers at work.
In 2007, then-NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker wrote in a letter to the FAA that four plane incidents "provide clear and compelling evidence" that controllers are sometimes operating while fatigued because of their work schedules and poor use of rest periods.
"That fatigue has contributed to controller errors," Rosenker wrote.
The incidents cited by the NTSB were:
-- A March 23, 2006, incident in which a Chicago air traffic controller cleared a plane to take off from a runway on which, 15 seconds earlier, he had cleared another aircraft to cross. The pilot of the departing plane stopped when he saw the other craft in the taxiway intersection. The controller told investigators he had slept only four hours during a nine-hour break between shifts.
-- An August 19, 2004, incident in which a Los Angeles controller cleared one passenger jet to take off and another to land on a runway at the same time. The pilot in the landing aircraft noticed the other on the runway and pulled his plane up 12 seconds before they would have collided. The controller said he had slept five or 6 hours before coming to work.
-- A September 25, 2001, incident in which a Denver air traffic controller approved a request from a cargo plane pilot to take off from a runway that had been closed for construction. The aircraft came within 32 feet of hitting lights that had been installed in the construction zone. The controller said he'd slept only two hours between work days.
-- A July 8, 2001, incident in which a Denver controller cleared one passenger plane to cross a runway where another was about to land. The landing pilot hit the brakes, stopping 810 feet from the other plane. The controller said he had worked three shifts in two days.
Of the most recent incident, Babbitt said, "In my 25 years as a professional airline pilot, I've never seen anything happen like this.
"I am outraged by it," Babbitt said. "We're going to make sure something like this never happens again."
Babbitt stressed that, because of a backup system, neither plane was out of "positive radar contact, nor were they out of communication with the FAA, thus allowing both to land safely.
"That said ... this should not have happened," Babbitt said. "We should not have had this gap in communication. We had to rely on a backup system, which shouldn't have happened."
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood ordered the FAA on Wednesday to schedule two controllers on the overnight shift.
"It is not acceptable to have just one controller in the tower managing air traffic in this critical air space. I have also asked ... Babbitt to study staffing levels at other airports around the country," he said.
Knudson said it's not uncommon for planes to land at uncontrolled airports. He said control towers at some fields across the country shut down for the night, and planes still land. However, he could not comment on whether that practice was ever used at Reagan National.
The American Airlines flight, which was coming from Miami, had 91 passengers and six crew members aboard, airline spokesman Ed Martelle said. The United Airlines flight was arriving from Chicago with 63 passengers and five crew members, spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said.

American Airlines had no comment on the situation, saying it was leaving it to the FAA to handle. United Airlines noted that the National Transportation Safety Board is reviewing the incident, and McCarthy said the airline is conducting its own review.

More U.S. states find traces of radiation from Japan

By Elizabeth Landau, CNN

March 23, 2011 10:57 p.m. EDT

(CNN) -- Colorado and Oregon have joined several other Western states in reporting trace amounts of radioactive particles that have likely drifted about 5,000 miles from a quake and tsunami-damaged nuclear power plant in Japan, officials say.
But, on a portion of its website dedicated to tracking such radiation, the Environmental Protection Agency noted Wednesday that these and other readings "show typical fluctuation in background radiation levels" and -- thus far -- "are far below levels of concern."
Sampling from a monitor in Colorado -- part of a national network of stations on the lookout for radioactivity -- detected miniscule amounts of iodine-131, a radioactive form of iodine, the state's public health and environmental department said Wednesday in a press release.
On the same day in Portland, Oregon, tiny quantities of iodine-131 were also detected by an Environmental Protection Agency air monitor, Oregon public health officials said.
Small amounts of radioactive material were detected Wednesday, too, in Hawaii -- just as they had a day earlier, according to the EPA. But while they were above the historical and background norm, the levels weren't considered harmful to human health.
Washington and California previously reported low levels of radioactive isotopes that likely came from Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which has been releasing radioactive particles into the air since its cooling and other systems were damaged by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and massive tsunami on March 11. Efforts continued Thursday to cool down the spent nuclear fuel rods, prevent a further meltdown of the plant's six reactor cores and curb the release of additional radioactive material.
Sampling of these radioactive particles from these various monitors will be further analyzed at the EPA's national lab.
Still, right now, U.S. health officials have emphasized that, at about 5,000 miles from the plant, the West Coast is unlikely to see any dangerous levels of radiation regardless of what happens in Japan. Radioactive particles disperse in the air, thus there is less of a hazard the farther away you are.
"Our finding is consistent with findings in Washington and California. We have expected to find trace amounts of the isotopes released from the Japanese plant. There is no health risk," Gail Shibley, administrator of Oregon's Office of Environmental Public Health, Oregon Public Health Division, said in a statement.
Besides the Hawaii readings, the Environmental Protection Agency has found trace amounts of radioactive iodine, cesium and tellurium at four RadNet air monitor filters on the West Coast -- three in California and one in Washington. These levels are consistent with what a U.S. Department of Energy monitor found last week, the EPA said Monday.
Americans typically get exposure to radiation from natural sources such as the sun, bricks and rocks that are about 100,000 times higher than what has been detected in the United States. coming from Japan.

There is no need for anyone as a precautionary measure to take potassium iodide, a medication that can counter the harmful effects of iodine-131, health officials say.

Holder announces safety initiative after rise in officer deaths

By Carol Cratty, CNN

March 22, 2011 7:15 p.m. EDT

Police stand near the spot where two Miami, Florida, police officers were shot in January, one fatally.

 

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Holder alarmed about the number of officer deaths this year already
• He's asking U.S. attorneys to meet with local police to try to find solutions
• 49 law enforcement officers have been killed in the U.S. since January

Washington (CNN) -- Attorney General Eric Holder announced a Law Enforcement Safety Initiative Tuesday, calling the number of law enforcement officers killed in the United States so far this year "simply unacceptable."
Holder's comments came as he met with a group of police chiefs and the heads of several federal law enforcement agencies to talk about the problem. He said the initiative will involve all U.S. attorneys around the country meeting with their local police and others to discuss the issue and to try to find solutions.
According to data compiled by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, 49 officers have been killed this year through Monday, compared with 41 for the same period last year, an increase of 20%. Holder said 23 of those officers lost their lives due to gunshot wounds, including five who worked in federal law enforcement.
The federal law enforcement officers killed recently include Deputy U.S. Marshal Derek Hotsinpiller in West Virginia, Deputy U.S. Marshal John Perry in Missouri, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent Jaime Zapata in Mexico.
The attorney general said after a two-year decline, officer deaths "spiked by nearly 40 percent" with the loss of 162 officers in 2010. In 2009, 117 officers were killed.
Holder did not offer a theory on why police and other law enforcement officers are encountering so much violence now.
When asked if the Obama administration would call for new legislation -- possibly including a ban on extended ammunition clips like those allegedly used by suspect Jared Loughner in the January shootings in Arizona that killed six people and wounded 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords -- Holder said nothing is "off the table," but he said he wants to look at how existing laws are carried out first.
In a memorandum to all U.S. attorneys, Holder asked them to look for the "worst of the worst" criminal offenders who "cycle in and out of local jails and state prisons" and see whether they might be charged with federal crimes that would carry stiffer prison sentences.
The Justice Department already has some programs in place to combat violence against police officers, Holder said, including a program in which the federal government provides bulletproof vests to officers around the country.
SInce 1999 the Justice Department says $277 million has been committed to help purchase bulletproof vests. Last October, the Justice Department also started the VALOR program, which provides training on how to "anticipate and survive violent encounters."

Among those who met with Holder Tuesday to discuss violence against officers were New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier, Philadelphia Police Chief Charles Ramsey and Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee. Federal law enforcement leaders included FBI Director Robert Mueller, U.S. Marshals Service Director Stacia Hylton, Drug Enforcement Administration chief Michele Leonhart and acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Ken Melson.

CNN correspondent rejects Fox report on human shields

By the CNN Wire Staff

March 21, 2011 9:10 p.m. EDT

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- A CNN correspondent on Monday angrily rejected a report by the Fox network that he and other journalists were used as human shields by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to prevent a missile attack on his compound.
The Fox story, labeled "exclusive" and posted on the Fox website Monday, said the presence of news crews from CNN, Reuters and other organizations forced a British aircraft to call off firing seven Storm Shadow missiles at the area that already had been hit.
"Officials from Libya's Ministry of Information brought those journalists to the area to show them damage from the initial attack and to effectively use them as human shields," said the Fox report.
According to the Fox story, the curtailed strike "led to a great deal of consternation by coalition commanders."
Nic Robertson, a veteran CNN correspondent who was part of the CNN crew cited in the Fox story, called the rival network's report "outrageous and hypocritical."

 Robertson said a Fox staffer was among the journalists on the trip -- a fact left out of the Fox report -- and that the journalists in the group were hurried through their trip by their minders.
"To say it was a human shield is nuts," Robertson said, later adding: "I expect lies from the government here. I don't expect it from other journalists. It's frankly incredibly disappointing."
There was no immediate response from Fox to a CNN request for comment.
The incident involved a trip Sunday night arranged by Libyan authorities to the Gadhafi compound that had been bombed earlier by coalition forces.
Robertson said the 40 or so journalists on the bus weren't told ahead of time where they were going, and that there was no attempt by the Libyan minders to restrict anyone from getting on or off the bus before they left.
Upon arrival, the journalists spent about 20 minutes at the damaged building and then were hurried to a tent where they waited with Gadhafi supporters for him to appear, Robertson said. Gadhafi never showed up, and the journalists went back to their bus and departed, according to Robertson.
A government official even pushed him onto the bus as he tried to broadcast a live shot at the end, Robertson said.
"If they wanted to use us as human shields ... they would have kept us there longer," Robertson said. "That's not what happened."
Robertson noted that the sole participant on the trip from Fox wasn't normally a reporter or videographer, but was given a camera and told to go along. In general, Robertson said, the Fox team in Tripoli rarely goes on the reporting trips arranged by the government.
The CNN team goes in order to get whatever information it can to assess what happened and compare it to government versions of events, he said. Otherwise, he noted, the journalists are dependent on government-edited videotape that likely omits key details.
For example, U.S. officials called the Gadhafi compound a legitimate target because it included command and control capability, Robertson noted.

"We want to go and see: Is it a command and control system? What are the telltale signs there that the government wouldn't want us to see?" Robertson said.

Emergency declared in Yemen as violence rages

From Mohammed Jamjoom, CNN

March 18, 2011 4:10 p.m. EDT

Yemeni anti-government protesters carry away a wounded demonstrator in Sanaa on Friday, March 18.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• France and the United States call on Saleh to allow peaceful assembly
• Saleh, the president of Yemen, declares a state of emergency
• An Interior Ministry official says casualties happened on both sides
• Security forces open fire and use tear gas, witnesses say

(CNN) -- At least 40 people were killed and more than 100 hurt Friday in clashes between tens of thousands of anti-government protesters and security forces outside Sanaa University in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, medical officials on the scene said.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced that a state of emergency had been declared, and he expressed his "deep regret" over the casualties.
An Interior Ministry official said both sides suffered casualties in the violence. The official would not be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
Witnesses said the clashes began after government supporters and anti-government demonstrators threw rocks at each other. Security forces shot into the air and then into the crowd; they also fired tear gas to try to disperse the crowd, witnesses said.

 

"Orders had been issued earlier to all security apparatus to protect the protesters and the opposition, and to separate them," Saleh said.
At the time the firing began, however, the two sides were far apart -- meaning security forces could not protect the protesters, Saleh said. He also said the protesters opened fire in an area that was full of people.
"Their protests have to be carried out in places away from houses of ordinary people, in order to prevent any friction between them and the people living in those areas," he said.
"Therefore we have today announced a state of emergency in all regions and the ban of any acts of armed violence in order to preserve the safety and security of citizens," he added.
A spokesman for the Yemeni Embassy in Washington, Mohammed Albasha, called on senior security authorities to bring the perpetrators of Friday's violence to justice.
Separate statements from France and the United States, however, called on the Yemeni government to allow peaceful protests, implying that they believe the Yemeni government was responsible for the deaths and injuries.
"It is now imperative to stop attacks by security forces and pro-government armed groups against individuals exercising their right of expression and demonstration," the French Foreign Ministry said in a written statement. "We again urge the Yemeni authorities, as they have previously pledged to do, to protect peaceful demonstrators, to guarantee the civil and political rights, and to adopt concrete and credible measures reaching out to the aspirations of the country."
U.S. President Barack Obama also urged Saleh to stick to his pledge to protect peaceful demonstrations.
"The United States stands for a set of universal rights, including the freedom of expression and assembly, as well as political change that meets the aspirations of the Yemeni people," he said in a statement.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton released a statement Friday saying that the U.S. is "alarmed by today's violence in Sanaa against anti-government protesters" and that she joins Obama in "condemning the violence."
The U.S. is "seeking to verify reports that this is the result of actions by the security forces," Clinton said, adding that "all perpetrators of violence should should be held accountable and brought to justice."
Amnesty International went further, saying the shootings were part of an "apparently coordinated sniper attack" on protesters.
"This appears to have been a sniper attack with security forces deliberately shooting to kill protesters from strategic vantage points," said Philip Luther, Amnesty International's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Protesters were reportedly chanting anti-government slogans at a protest camp near Sanaa University when armed men in plain clothes, believed to be members of the security forces, started shooting live rounds from the top of nearby buildings, Amnesty International said.
Members of the security forces also shot at protesters at street level around the same time, it said.
The group said it heard from a witness that the shooting started from different buildings and continued for more than 30 minutes.
Hamid al-Ahmar, a member of parliament and leader of Yemen's opposition Islah Party, also blamed the government. "The attacks on protesters are unacceptable, and the end of the regime is near," he declared. "Saleh has brought upon himself a life of disgrace after the killing of innocent protesters."
Yemen has been wracked by weeks of unrest, with thousands protesting Saleh's government.
High unemployment has fueled much of the anger among a growing young population steeped in poverty. The protesters also cite government corruption and a lack of political freedom.

The president has said he will not run for another term in the next round of elections. He also has pledged to bring a new constitution to a vote by the end of the year and transfer government power to an elected parliamentary system.