WASHINGTON, D.C.
Harman denies wiretap report
Official says she did not contact Justice Department about prosecution of lobbyists
Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) said Monday that she did not contact the Justice Department about its prosecution of employees of a pro-Israeli lobbying organization, denying a published report.
Harman also said she has never been told that she was involved in the FBI’s espionage probe of former officials of the organization, the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee.
Harman’s statement was in response to a report in Congressional Quarterly that she had been recorded on a federal wiretap offering to lobby the Justice Department to reduce espionage-related charges against the AIPAC officials.
The claims “have no basis in fact,” Harman said in a written statement. “I never engaged in any such activity.”
The case centers on allegations that former Defense Department analyst Lawrence Franklin disclosed classified information to two AIPAC officials in 2003.
The two officials, Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, were indicted in 2005 and face prosecution for espionage-related charges.
Harman, who was then the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, has been an ally of AIPAC.
— Greg Miller, Washington Bureau
COLORADO
13 lie down to remember and call for action
Mallory Sanders, 17, granddaughter of slain teacher David Sanders, and 12 other people lie down Monday in a symbolic demonstration of those killed in the Columbine school shootings. Others knelt nearby as the names of the 23 injured also were read. The Columbine Remembrance and Rededication at the state Capitol in Denver on the 10th anniversary of the attack was a memorial and a protest to demand stricter gun control.
IRAQ
Bomber wounds 8 GIs
A suicide bomber wearing an Iraqi army uniform struck a U.S. military delegation visiting the mayor of violence-wracked Baqouba on Monday, injuring at least eight American soldiers and killing three Iraqi civilians.
The attack occurred as a group of Iraqi officials waited at the main gate of the municipal building to greet the U.S. soldiers, said Raad al-Dahalaki, the deputy mayor.
“When the U.S. soldiers left their vehicles and started to walk toward the building, a man wearing a military uniform mingled with the crowd of U.S. soldiers and Iraqi policemen and set off the explosion,” he said.
Iraqi police officials said there was no immediate evidence that the attacker was a member of the military.
ARKANSAS
Mom: I tried to save sons
A woman whose car plunged off a dead-end road into a lake in rainy, dark weather told investigators she tried to rescue her three young sons from the vehicle but lost her grip on them in the water, a sheriff said Monday.
Conway County Sheriff Mike Smith said there was no reason thus far to suspect foul play in the deaths of Aaron Turley, 8; Alex Turley, 7; and Anthony Turley, 2. He said their mother’s story has checked out, but that the investigation is ongoing.
“Right now, there is nothing that indicates it was done intentionally,” Smith said.
The boys’ mother, 26-year-old Amber Turley, told investigators she was driving home from a friend’s house and made a wrong turn, Smith said. The weather was bad Sunday morning, with heavy rain and fog.
SOMALIA
Pirate’s mom urges mercy
The mother of a captured Somali pirate accused of holding a U.S. captain hostage at sea for five days says he is only 16 years old and appealed Monday to President Barack Obama to release her son.
The suspect, identified by his mother as Abdi Wali Abdulqadir Muse, was taken aboard a U.S. Navy ship shortly before Navy SEAL snipers killed three of his compatriots who had held Capt. Richard Phillips hostage.
“I appeal to President Obama to pardon my teenager; I request him to release my son or at least allow me to see him and be with him during the trial,” Adar Abdirahman Hassan said in a telephone interview from her home.
JAMAICA
Gunman barges onto jet
A disoriented young man with a gun forced his way past security and barged onto a jetliner destined for Cuba, taking the crew hostage, firing a bullet that grazed the co-pilot’s face and demanding to be flown off the island, witnesses and police said Monday.
After eight hours of fruitless negotiations, soldiers stormed the plane and arrested the man without further injury, but authorities were deeply embarrassed about the security breach at Montego Bay’s airport, a major Caribbean tourist hub.
The gunman was identified as Stephen Fray, a 20-year-old Jamaican described by police as “mentally challenged.” At least two people chased him, but failed to stop him from reaching the tarmac and boarding CanJet Airlines Flight 918 on Sunday night.
