HOUSTON (AP) -- Turns out even for- mer presidents can fall prey to hackers. A mysterious email hacker appar- ently accessed pri- vate photos and messages sent between members of the Bush family, including both retired commanders in chief. The Secret Service is investigat- ing the breach, which appeared to yield little more than a few snapshots and some family discussions. But the incident illus- trated how easily hackers can pry into private lives, even those of one of the nation's most promi- nent and closely guarded political clans. The Smoking Gun website displayed photos it said came from the hacker, including one that purported to show the elder Bush during his recent stay in a Houston hospital, where the 88-year-old spent almost two months undergoing treatment for complications from a bronchial infection. The website said the hacker, who went by the online moniker "Guccifer," gained access to the material through Bush family members and friends. That could have made George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush vulnerable, even if they have the finest securi- ty that technology can provide. A friend or relative who clicked on a deceptive link or unwittingly downloaded a suspicious program might accidentally have exposed cor- respondence involving the former presidents. "We can't control what our friends do," said Dan Wallach, manager of Rice University's computer security lab and a computer science professor at the Houston school. "If my friends post a photo of me on Facebook, I can untag myself, but I can't delete it. It's not my photo. And that's just a general-purpose problem." Reached by email, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush called the hacking "outrageous." The rest of the family stayed quiet. "There's a criminal investigation and, as such, there's nothing else we can say," said Jim McGrath, a spokesman for George H.W. Bush in Houston. Freddy Ford, a spokesman for George W. Bush, who has a home in Dallas, declined to comment. Free email accounts from commercial providers are especially vulnerable to hackers who exploit easy-to-use features to reset email passwords. Many passwords can be reset by a hacker who discovers, for example, the birth year of a person's mother, a father's middle name or the Place Stamp Here Mailing Address Circulated Weekly To Cities In Kentucky Volume 731 Issue 456 Established 1998 February 11, 2013 HACKER GAINS ACCESS TO BUSH FAMILY EMAILS, PHOTOS In The News This Week name of a favorite p e t . That's what hap- pened to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in 2008, when she was the Republican vice presidential candi- d a t e . "That's the first thing I thought of," said Tyler Moore, an assistant professor of computer science at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. "The key here is when you're famous or a well-known per- son or celebrity, there's not a lot you can do if you're target- ed." A Tennessee college student named David Kernell was convicted two years later on federal charges. Last year, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's free Microsoft Hotmail account was hacked after The Associated Press revealed that he and some top aides had used private email accounts to conduct state business at times when Romney was governor of Massachusetts. The anonymous hacker claimed to have guessed the answer to a security question about Romney's favorite pet to gain access to the account and change the pass- word. Email security is "a constant concern" in presidential politics, Romney senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said Friday. "What we learned is that no matter how secure you make your system, there is someone out there spending every waking minute trying to subvert it," he said. Last year, a group of hackers known as the D33D Company published a list of what it said were usernames and passwords for more than 450,000 email accounts, including more than 25,000 AOL accounts. It was not immediately clear whether the Bush family's hacked AOL accounts were among those. Interestingly, the hacker also revealed that George W. Bush enjoys painting. One photo showed Bush stand- ing at an easel, dabbing at a canvas. Two other images were of paintings that seem to be self-portraits in which the former president is shaving in the shower and soak- ing in a bathtub. Neither shows any nudity. On the Smoking Gun site, the word "Guccifer" was plastered across the photos in translucent, neon blue print. The site said "Guccifer" is a self-described veteran hacker who has long been in the government's sights. HACKER GAINS ACCESS TO BUSH FAMILY EMAILS A mysterious email hacker apparently accessed private photos and messages sent between members of the Bush family. Page 1 GUNMEN KILL NIGERIA WOMEN GIVING POLIO VACCINES Gunmen suspected of belonging to a radical Islamic sect shot and killed at least nine women who were tak- ing part in a polio vaccination. Page 2 LAWMAKERS TEST LEGAL WATERS FOR REGULATING DRONES Lawmakers are considering whether Congress should set up a special court to decide when drones can kill American al-Qaida suspects overseas, Page 3 KENTUCKY ACCIDENT STATISTICS Accident Statistics from Kentucky Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Page 4 KENTUCKY ACCIDENT REPORTS This Weeks Accident Reports from Various countys in Kentucky. Page 5 SYRIAN REBELS PREPARING FOR ADVANCE ON CAPITAL Syrian rebels brought their fight within a mile of the heart of Damascus on Friday, seizing army checkpoints and cutting a key highway with a row of burning tires. Page 6 AMISH LEADER AND OTHER MEMBERS GET PRISON TERMS Denying he ran an Amish cult, the 67-year-old ringleader of hair- and beard-cutting attacks on fellow members of his faith in Ohio was sen- tenced Friday to 15 years in prison..Page 7 SOLAR INDUSTRY GRAP- PLES WITH HAZARDOUS WASTES The 3,500-pound great white shark headed north after spending weeks off the Southeast coast. Page 8 150-FOOT ASTEROID WILL BUZZ EARTH. WEEKLY NEWS DIGEST THE President George W. Bush walks with his father, former President George H.W. Bush, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. A criminal investigation is under way after a hacker apparently accessed private photos and emails sent between members of the Bush family, including both former presidents, according to reports Friday, Feb. 8, 2013. Continued on page 3 A 150-foot-wide asteroid will come remark- ably close to Earth next week, Page 8
Transcript
HOUSTON (AP)-- Turns out even for-mer presidents canfall prey to hackers.
A mysteriousemail hacker appar-ently accessed pri-vate photos andmessages sentbetween members ofthe Bush family,including both retiredcommanders in chief.
The SecretService is investigat-ing the breach, whichappeared to yield littlemore than a fewsnapshots and somefamily discussions.But the incident illus-trated how easilyhackers can pry intoprivate lives, even those of one of the nation's most promi-nent and closely guarded political clans.
The Smoking Gun website displayed photos it saidcame from the hacker, including one that purported toshow the elder Bush during his recent stay in a Houstonhospital, where the 88-year-old spent almost two monthsundergoing treatment for complications from a bronchialinfection.
The website said the hacker, who went by the onlinemoniker "Guccifer," gained access to the material throughBush family members and friends.
That could have made George W. Bush and GeorgeH.W. Bush vulnerable, even if they have the finest securi-ty that technology can provide. A friend or relative whoclicked on a deceptive link or unwittingly downloaded asuspicious program might accidentally have exposed cor-respondence involving the former presidents.
"We can't control what our friends do," said DanWallach, manager of Rice University's computer securitylab and a computer science professor at the Houstonschool. "If my friends post a photo of me on Facebook, Ican untag myself, but I can't delete it. It's not my photo.And that's just a general-purpose problem."
Reached by email, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bushcalled the hacking "outrageous."
The rest of the family stayed quiet.
"There's a criminal investigation and, as such, there'snothing else we can say," said Jim McGrath, aspokesman for George H.W. Bush in Houston.
Freddy Ford, a spokesman for George W. Bush, whohas a home in Dallas, declined to comment.
Free email accounts from commercial providers areespecially vulnerable to hackers who exploit easy-to-usefeatures to reset email passwords. Many passwords canbe reset by a hacker who discovers, for example, the birthyear of a person's mother, a father's middle name or the
Place
Stamp
Here
Mailing Address
Circulated Weekly To Cities In Kentucky Volume 731 Issue 456 Established 1998 February 11, 2013
H A C K E R G A I N S A C C E S S T O
B U S H FA M I LY E M A I L S , P H O T O S
In The News This Week
name of a favoritep e t .
That's what hap-pened to formerAlaska Gov. SarahPalin in 2008, whenshe was theRepublican vicepresidential candi-d a t e .
"That's the firstthing I thought of,"said Tyler Moore, anassistant professor ofcomputer science atSouthern MethodistUniversity in Dallas."The key here iswhen you're famousor a well-known per-son or celebrity,there's not a lot youcan do if you're target-
ed."
A Tennessee college student named David Kernellwas convicted two years later on federal charges.
Last year, Republican presidential candidate MittRomney's free Microsoft Hotmail account was hackedafter The Associated Press revealed that he and sometop aides had used private email accounts to conductstate business at times when Romney was governor ofMassachusetts.
The anonymous hacker claimed to have guessedthe answer to a security question about Romney's favoritepet to gain access to the account and change the pass-word.
Email security is "a constant concern" in presidentialpolitics, Romney senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom saidFriday.
"What we learned is that no matter how secure youmake your system, there is someone out there spendingevery waking minute trying to subvert it," he said.
Last year, a group of hackers known as the D33DCompany published a list of what it said were usernamesand passwords for more than 450,000 email accounts,including more than 25,000 AOL accounts. It was notimmediately clear whether the Bush family's hacked AOLaccounts were among those.
Interestingly, the hacker also revealed that GeorgeW. Bush enjoys painting. One photo showed Bush stand-ing at an easel, dabbing at a canvas. Two other imageswere of paintings that seem to be self-portraits in whichthe former president is shaving in the shower and soak-ing in a bathtub. Neither shows any nudity.
On the Smoking Gun site, the word "Guccifer" wasplastered across the photos in translucent, neon blueprint. The site said "Guccifer" is a self-described veteranhacker who has long been in the government's sights.
HACKER GAINS ACCESSTO BUSH FAMILY EMAILS
A mysterious email hacker apparently accessed
private photos and messages sent between
members of the Bush family. Page 1
GUNMEN KILL NIGERIAWOMEN GIVING POLIO
VACCINES Gunmen suspected of belonging to a radical Islamic
sect shot and killed at least nine women who were tak-
ing part in a polio vaccination.
Page 2
LAWMAKERS TEST LEGALWATERS FOR REGULATING
DRONES
Lawmakers are considering whether Congress
should set up a special court to decide when
drones can kill American al-Qaida suspects
overseas, Page 3
KENTUCKY ACCIDENTSTATISTICS
Accident Statistics from Kentucky Department
of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Page 4
KENTUCKY ACCIDENTREPORTS
This Weeks Accident Reports from Various
countys in Kentucky. Page 5
SYRIAN REBELS PREPARINGFOR ADVANCE ON CAPITAL
Syrian rebels brought their fight within a mile
of the heart of Damascus on Friday, seizing
army checkpoints and cutting a key highway
with a row of burning tires. Page 6
AMISH LEADER ANDOTHER MEMBERS GET
PRISON TERMSDenying he ran an Amish cult, the 67-year-old
ringleader of hair- and beard-cutting attacks on
fellow members of his faith in Ohio was sen-
tenced Friday to 15 years in prison..Page 7
SOLAR INDUSTRY GRAP-PLES WITH HAZARDOUS
WASTES
The 3,500-pound great white shark headed
north after spending weeks off the Southeast
coast. Page 8
150-FOOT ASTEROID WILLBUZZ EARTH.
WEEKLY NEWS DIGESTTHE
President George W. Bush walks with his father, former President George H.W.Bush, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. A criminal investigation is under wayafter a hacker apparently accessed private photos and emails sent betweenmembers of the Bush family, including both former presidents, according toreports Friday, Feb. 8, 2013.
Continued on page 3
A 150-foot-wide asteroid will come remark-
ably close to Earth next week, Page 8
2 Legal Street News Monday February 11, 2013
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G U N M E N K I L LN I G E R I A W O M E N G I V I N GP O L I O V A C C I N E S
KANO, Nigeria
(AP) -- Gunmen sus-
pected of belonging to
a radical Islamic sect
shot and killed at least
nine women who were
taking part in a polio
vaccination drive in
northern Nigeria on
Friday, highlighting the
religious tensions sur-
rounding the inocula-
tion of children in one
of the few nations
where the disease still
remains endemic.
The attack shocked residents of Kano, the largest city
in Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north, where women
often go from house to house to carry out the vaccination
drives as Muslim families feel more comfortable allowing
them inside their homes than men. It also signaled a new
wave of anger targeting immunization drives in Nigeria,
where clerics once claimed the vaccines were part of a
Western plot to sterilize young girls.
The first attack Friday morning happened in Kano's
Hotoro Hayi neighborhood and saw gunmen arrive by
three-wheel taxis and open fire. At least eight female vac-
cinators died in that attack, witnesses said.
The second attack, in the Unguwa Uku neighborhood,
saw another four people killed, witnesses said. The wit-
nesses spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of
angering the radical sect known as Boko Haram.
However, confusion surrounded the death toll, as Kano
state police spokesman Musa Magaji Majia said the attacks
killed only nine people - all of them women taking part in
the drive and giving the oral vaccine drops to children. A
local hospital later said it received only two corpses from
the Unguwa Uku attack, with four others wounded.
Definitive death tolls for such attacks in Nigeria are
difficult to obtain. Police and military forces in Nigeria rou-
tinely downplay such casualties, and families quickly bury
the dead before the next sunset per local Muslim tradition.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman
Victoria Nuland condemned the killing and injuring of
health workers in Nigeria.
"They were engaged in life-saving work, trying to vac-
cinate children," she told reporters. "Any violence that pre-
vents children from receiving basic life-saving vaccines is
absolutely unacceptable wherever it happens."
While police said they had no immediate suspects for
the attacks, witnesses said they believed that Boko Haram
had been behind the shootings. Boko Haram, whose name
means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa lan-
guage of the north, has been behind a series of violent
attacks across northern
Nigeria as part of its
fight against the coun-
try's weak central gov-
ernment. Boko Haram
is blamed for killing at
least 792 people last
year in Nigeria,
according to an
Associated Press
count. That includes a
massive attack in Kano
last January that killed
at least 185.
There have been
other attacks targeting polio vaccinators in Kano. In
October, police said two officers involved in guarding a
polio immunization drive there were shot and killed. State
government officials who oversee the vaccination program
did not immediately respond to requests for comment about
the attack Friday or whether they'd suspend the drive after
the killings.
A Kano radio station earlier this week aired a program
talking about how one of its journalists had been attacked
by local officials and had his equipment confiscated after
coming upon a man who refused to allow his children to be
vaccinated. A producer for the program apparently spoke
on air about fears people have about the vaccine, which
then spread through the city. Kano state's police commis-
sioner later ordered his officers to arrest the producer, offi-
cials said.
The suspicion surrounding polio vaccinations in
Nigeria exploded in 2003, when a Kano physician heading
the Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria said the vac-
cines were "corrupted and tainted by evildoers from
America and their Western allies." That led to hundreds of
new infections in children in Nigeria's north, where beggars
on locally made wooden skateboards drag their withered
legs back and forth in traffic, begging for alms. The 2003
disease outbreak in Nigeria eventually spread throughout
the world, even causing infections in Indonesia.
Today, Nigeria remains one of only three countries
where polio remains endemic, the others being Afghanistan
and Pakistan. Last year, Nigeria registered 121 new polio
infections, more than half of all cases reported around the
world, according to data from the World Health
Organization.
Attacks targeting polio vaccinators don't just occur in
Nigeria, however. In December, militants in Pakistan killed
at least nine workers on a polio vaccine drive. Militants
there have accused health workers of acting as spies for the
U.S., alleging the vaccine is intended to make Muslim chil-
dren sterile. Those rumors only grew after it was revealed a
Pakistani doctor ran a fake vaccination program to help the
CIA track down and kill al-Qaida founder Osama bin
Laden.
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L A W M A K E R S T E S T L E G A L W A T E R SF O R R E G U L A T I N G D R O N E S
Street News Monday, February 11, 2013 3
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Lawmakers are consideringwhether Congress should set up a special court todecide when drones can kill American al-Qaida sus-pects overseas, much as a secret court now grantspermission for surveillance. The effort, after CIADirector-designate John Brennan's vigorous defenseof a drone attack that killed U.S. citizens, reflects aphilosophical struggle in government over remotewarfare.
The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee,Dianne Feinstein of California, spelled it out at thestart of Brennan's confirmation hearing on Thursday.She declared that she intended to review proposalsfor "legislation to ensure that drone strikes are carriedout in a manner consistent with our values and theproposal to create an analogue of the ForeignIntelligence Surveillance Court to review the conductof such strikes."
And Sen. Angus King Jr., in a letter Friday to seniorleaders of the panel, suggested an "independentprocess - similar to the Foreign IntelligenceSurveillance Court - to provide an appropriate checkon the executive branch's procedure for determiningwhether using lethal force in a foreign country againsta U.S. citizen would be lawful."
In FISA proceedings, 11 federal judges review wire-tap applications that enable the FBI and other agen-cies to gather evidence to build cases. Suspects haveno lawyers present, as they would in other U.S.courts, and the proceedings are secret. The govern-ment presents its case to a judge, who issues a war-rant or not.
The notion of something similar for drone strikes drewimmediate criticism from human rights and legalgroups, which contend that such a court must allowthe accused to mount a defense.
"It's not about evidence gathering, it's about punish-ment to the point of execution," said Mary EllenO'Connell, professor of international law at theUniversity of Notre Dame and a critic of the govern-ment's drone program. "We have never thought peo-ple could be executed without some kind of trial."
A former CIA official reacted coolly, too, but from theopposite direction.
"I think it is reasonable to ask the question underwhat circumstances the president can use lethalforce against a U.S. citizen overseas," said JeffSmith, former general counsel of the CIA. "It's afrightening power, and I think we need to think very,very carefully about how that power is used andwhether some judicial review is warranted."
"But I certainly don't think judicial review or congres-sional review is needed to strike al-Qaida or other ter-rorists organizations," he said.
The idea is also so preliminary that lawmakers can'tyet say exactly how a new process would work. Infact, most of those interviewed said the current sys-tem run by the White House works well.
Brennan pioneered the current process to determinewhich targets are dangerous enough to be placed onone of two hit lists for killing or capture - one held bythe CIA and the other by the military's Joint SpecialOperations Command. Many of the names on thelists overlap, and the agency that goes after the tar-get depends on where the suspect appears. Thatprocess was described in a legal memo made publicthis week, and the White House shared classifieddetails with select lawmakers.
The new notion is drawing concern from some inCongress who fear special courts would slow downthe drone strikes - considered by some, includingBrennan, as one of the most effective weapons in thewar against al-Qaida.
But many lawmakers say an update is needed in thelaw, passed in 2001 after the Sept. 11 attacks, thatgives the president sweeping powers to pursue al-Qaida. They say that al-Qaida has grown far beyondthe war zones and technology has improved, too,enabling a Predator drone operator in the UnitedStates to track and kill a target thousands of milesaway with great accuracy.
Drone strikes have expanded dramatically in theObama administration. Fewer than 50 took place dur-ing the Bush administration, while more than 360strikes have been launched under Obama, accordingto the website The Long War Journal, which tracksthe operations. The strikes have been credited withkilling more than 70 senior al-Qaida and Taliban com-manders in Pakistan alone since they began in 2004.
In Thursday's hearing, Brennan defended strikes as
necessary, saying they are taken only as a "lastresort," but he said he had no qualms about the strikethat killed U.S. born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, becauseof his roles in several terror attacks.
"The decisions that are made are to take action sothat we prevent a future action, so we protectAmerican lives," Brennan said. "That is an inherentlyexecutive branch function to determine, and the com-mander in chief ... has the responsibility to protect thewelfare, wellbeing of American citizens.
Still, he said the White House, too, had consideredthe concept of the special courts, and he said hewould be open to discussing it because "Americancitizens by definition are due much greater dueprocess than anybody else by dint of their citizen-ship."
The White House did not offer further commentFriday, and the CIA declined to comment.
Brennan said people are never killed by CIA or mili-tary strikes if there is a way to capture them.
Feinstein said at Thursday's hearing that shebelieved the CIA was open with lawmakers about itspart of the program.
"We have provided a lot of oversight over thePredator," she said. "There's a staff team goes outregularly that is at Langley that does look at the intel-ligence on a regular basis," making more than 30 vis-its to review strikes and the intelligence leading up tothem.
But she said she and senators including DemocratsDick Durbin of Illinois and Pat Leahy of Vermont andRepublican Chuck Grassley of Iowa are all looking atthe concept of how to regulate the strikes.
On Friday, Republicans were circumspect, withprominent members such as House IntelligenceCommittee Chairman Mike Rogers of Michigandeclining to comment, or reserving judgment untilthey can see more details.
"I don't know that we can take that exact model andapply it to every tough policy decision that confrontsthe federal government," said Mac Thornberry ofTexas, a member of the House committee. "If some-one is shooting at you, you can't go to a court and askthem to shoot back," he said.
Many Democrats were more comfortable with thenotion.
"A layer of judicial review could ensure additionalchecks on the designation of targeted individuals anddetermine whether sufficient evidence has been pro-duced," said Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo.
Said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.: "I don't have in mindto redefine the circumstances in the memo" describ-ing the legal rationale behind the strikes "but ratherset up a process for prospective or retrospectiveanalysis of how drone strikes are made,"
The White House allowed lawmakers on the Senateand House intelligence committees to see the classi-fied advice to the president describing the legalrationale behind drone strikes ahead of the Brennanconfirmation hearing - a pre-emptive effort meant toanswer increasing questions from lawmakers aboutthe program, and also to head off threatened holds onthe Brennan nomination.
But that release has produced further demands foraccess and information. The intelligence committeemembers want their staff to read the documents, andthe congressional Judiciary committees are alsodemanding access.
B U S H
www.veteransvoice.org
Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., right, welcomes CIA Director nominee John Brennan onCapitol Hill in Washington, prior to the start of Brennan's confir-mation hearing before the committee. Lawmakers are consider-ing whether Congress can set up a court to decide when dronescan kill U.S. citizens overseas, much like the secret courts thatnow grant permission for surveillance. It's another sign of the U.S.philosophical struggle over remote warfare, raised after CIA headnominee John Brennan's vigorous defense of the drones.
Whoever targeted the Bush family was probably nota "high-tech nation-state adversary," Wallach said. "If itwere, you wouldn't see their tracks. ... It's probably some-body who thought they could make a quick buck."
Unlike the email scams known as phishing thatattempt to fool users into giving up bank account informa-tion and passwords, more sophisticated attempts calledspear-phishing go after specific individuals or institutions,Wallach said.
According to the FBI, spear-phishing sends legiti-mate-looking emails that offer plausible explanations forrequesting personal data, along with a link. Clicking on thelink can download malware that gives the hacker accessto things like address lists.
"It's hard to know what kind of miscreant we're deal-ing with here," Moore said. "It could be someone trying toseek attention to show they can do it. You target a politicalfigure, you're trying to show, `Nobody is above what wecan do.'"
Guccifer could be outside the U.S., making thingsmore complicated for authorities in pursuit, Moore said.
"Of all the famous people to pick on," he added. "Iwouldn't pick on someone who has an entire law enforce-ment branch dedicated to protecting them."
---
Associated Press writers Diana Heidgerd and JamieStengle in Dallas, Ted Bridis in Washington, Gary Fineoutin Tallahassee, Fla., and Steve Peoples in Boston con-tributed to this story.
Continued on page 1
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village in central Homs province on Thursdayshowed people running and screaming in panic,carrying away children and injured as explosionsreverberated and smoke rose from buildings.Areas in Homs were still being targeted on Friday.
Also Friday, the Observatory said 54 people werekilled, including 11 women, in a bombing at a busstop near a military factory earlier in the week.
Observatory director Rami Abdul-Rahman said anexplosive-laden mini-bus blew up at a bus stopoutside the factory in Buraq, near the central cityof Hama, while workers were waiting for rideshome. The factory makes military supplies, but notweapons, he said.
The area is government-controlled, which is whyreports on the blast were slow to emerge.
"These people work for the Ministry of Defense,but they are all civilians," he said, adding that noone from the military was killed in the blast.
Syria's state news agency said "terrorists" detonat-ed a car bomb near the factory. The regime refersto rebels fighting to topple the Assad regime asterrorists.
No one has claimed responsibility for the blast,which resembled others in recent months thatappeared to target buildings associated withSyria's military and security services.
Some of the bombings have been claimed by anal-Qaida-linked group fighting alongside the rebels,Jabhat al-Nusra, which the U.S. had designated aterrorist organization.
As the situation in Syria has worsened, foreignjihadists have flocked to Syria to join what theyconsider a holy war to replace Assad's regime withan Islamic state.
Late Thursday, the chief of the Netherlands' topintelligence agency warned that dozens of Dutchcitizens are fighting with Syria's rebels and couldreturn home battle-hardened and radicalized.
General Intelligence and Security Service chiefRob Bertholee told the Dutch show Nieuwsuur thathundreds of people from around Europe anddozens from the Netherlands have travelled toSyria to join rebels fighting Assad. He said propa-ganda romanticizing the civil war is helping drawforeigners into Syria's maelstrom of violence.
Meanwhile, in the northern town of Saraqeb, a fist-fight broke out between Islamist rebels and moremoderate protesters at an anti-Assad rally Friday,highlighting a growing divide between oppositionforces fighting in Syria.
A video posted online by activists showed protest-ers marching, some carrying black bannersfavored by the Islamists and others carrying theblack, green and white rebel flag.
The fight broke out after some protesters tried totake down the rebel flag. A shouting matchensued, with some shouting, "The people want acivil state!" and others trying to drown them outwith chants of "The people want an IslamicCaliphate!"
6 Legal Street News Monday February 11, 2013________________________________________________________
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BEIRUT (AP) -- Syrian rebels brought their fightwithin a mile of the heart of Damascus on Friday,seizing army checkpoints and cutting a key high-way with a row of burning tires as they pressedtheir campaign for the heavily guarded capital,considered the likely endgame in the nearly 2-year-old civil war.
The clashes raised fears that Damascus, a majorcultural center and one of the world's oldest con-tinuously inhabited cities, could fall victim to a pro-tracted battle that would bring the destruction seenin other major cities and trigger a mass refugeeexodus into neighboring countries.
"Any attempt by the rebels to advance into centralDamascus would mean the beginning of a verylong fight," said Syrian activist Rami Jarrah. "Iimagine Aleppo would be a small example of whatis likely to happen in Damascus."
Aleppo, Syria's largest urban center and maincommercial hub, has been convulsed by violencesince the summer, when rebels launched an offen-sive to take control of the city. Since then the fight-ing has been locked in a deadly stalemate, withthe war-ravaged city carved up into government-and opposition-held strongholds.
The latest Damascus offensive, launched from thenortheastern side of the city, did not appear to becoordinated with rebels on other sides of the capi-tal, and it was unclear whether the opposition fight-ers would be able to hold their ground.
Previous attempts to advance on the capital havefailed. The government controls movement in andout with a network of checkpoints, and rebels havefailed so far to make significant inroads.
In Geneva, the U.N. refugee agency reported amajor increase in the number of people fleeingSyria, with 5,000 refugees crossing the bordersdaily into neighboring countries. The mass exodus"is really a full-on crisis," agency spokesmanAdrian Edwards said.
Some 787,000 Syrians are registered as refugees,mainly in Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Turkey,Edwards said - a number that has shot up 25 per-cent in January alone.
A rebel advance on Damascus, which has largelybeen spared the destruction of other cities, is likelyto trigger a fresh wave of refugees into Jordan andLebanon, where resources are already stretchedto the breaking point.
Syria's crisis began in March 2011 with largelypeaceful protests inspired by the Arab Springrevolts elsewhere in the region that toppled long-time Arab dictators. It evolved into a civil war asthe opposition took up arms to fight a governmentcrackdown on dissent.
The latest fighting in Damascus, some of the heav-iest to hit the city since July, began Wednesdaywith a series of rebel attacks on regime check-
points along a key road from Damascus to north-ern Syria. Opposition fighters and governmentforces have been clashing in the area since.
On Friday, rebels shut down the highway out ofthe capital for several hours, activists said.
Online videos showed a row of burning tires block-ing all traffic as fighters with automatic riflespatrolled the area. Smoke rose up from a numberof areas nearby, reflecting clashes and govern-ment shelling. The videos appeared genuine andcorresponded to activist reports.
A spokesman for one of the opposition groupsfighting in the area said the rebels sought to opena path for a future assault on the city.
"This is not the battle for Damascus. This battle isto prepare for the entry into Damascus," he saidvia Skype, giving only his nickname, Abu al-Fida,for fear of reprisals.
The city is heavily fortified and activists say it issurrounded with three of the most loyal divisions ofthe army, including the Republican Guard and thefeared 4th Division, commanded by PresidentBashar Assad's brother Maher.
Friday's fighting revolved around the capital's mainhighway heading toward the country's north. Abual-Fida said one checkpoint changed hands twiceon Thursday but was securely in rebel handsFriday. He said rebels were within a mile ofAbbasid Square in central Damascus and were fir-ing mortars at a military base near the landmarkplaza.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for HumanRights reported clashes in Jobar and shelling andairstrikes on the nearby areas of Zamalka andQaboun. Rebels also battled government troops inthe southern neighborhood of Yarmouk, as well asin the rebel-held suburbs of Daraya andMoadamiyeh, where six people died in a govern-ment shell attack, it said.
Meanwhile, dramatic footage of the shelling of a
S Y R I A N R E B E L S P R E P A R I N G
F O R A D V A N C E O N C A P I T A L
This image taken from video obtained from Ugarit Newson Friday, Feb. 8, 2013, which has been authenticatedbased on its contents and other AP reporting, show smokerising from fighting near a main highway in Damascus,Syria. Rebels pushed forward in their battle with theSyrian army in northeastern Damascus on Friday, shuttingdown a main highway with a row of burning tires, activistssaid. A number of rebel brigades launched a campaignWednesday to attack regime checkpoints along the high-way and have been clashing in the area since. The gov-ernment has responded by shelling number of rebel areasnearby
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_____________________________________________________Legal Street News Monday, February 11, 2013 7
A M I S H L E A D E R A N D O T H E R
M E M B E R S G E T P R I S I O N T E R M Sit would be shameful and offensive.
"The victims were terrorized and traumatized,"U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster said, notingthat the same constitution that exempts them fromjury service and permission to leave school at 14was turned against the victims. "Each of you hasreceived the benefits of that First Amendment."
With relatives of victims and his family sitting onopposite sides of the public gallery, Mullet said hehas lived his life trying to help others.
"That's been my goal all my life," Mullet said to ahushed courtroom, with his fellow defendants andtheir attorneys sitting at four defense tables andfilling the jury box.
"I'm not going to be here much longer," said Mullet,who didn't elaborate on any health issues.
The government had asked for a life sentence forMullet, while the defense asked for two years orless.
Some defendants tearfully offered to take the bruntof the blame and punishment on behalf of Mullet ortheir spouses. Addressing the judge one by one,they said there would be no more beard-cuttingattacks.
Freeman Burkholder, the 32-year-old husband of aMullet niece and father of eight children, apolo-gized to the judge.
"I won't do it again," he said.
Anna Miller, 33, married to a Mullet nephew andmother of six, also apologized, turning to relativesof victims as she said, "I'm sorry, it won't happenagain." Like most of the women, she was sen-tenced to one year.
Federal prosecutor Bridget Brennan urged thejudge to punish Mullet adequately.
"He is a danger to this community," she said. "Heis capable of controlling 15 defendants."
Brennan repeated key testimony against Mulletand said he has remained the leader of his easternOhio community despite being locked up since hisarrest in late 2011.
U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach, whose officedirected the prosecution, said he was confident thelaw would withstand a constitutional challenge.
As for Mullet, "I think the sentence he got washarsh; I think it was appropriately harsh,"Dettelbach said. "Mr. Mullet's conduct in courttoday reiterated yet again his utter failure torespect the rule of law and his utter lack ofremorse."
The jury had sided with prosecutors' argumentsthat the defendants should be found guilty of ahate crime because religious differences broughtabout the attacks.
The judge said the defendants have two weeks tofile appeals of their sentences or convictions.Defense attorneys have indicated such appealsare likely.
Rhonda Kotnik, attorney for Kathryn Miller, a 24-year-old mother of three who received a one-yearsentence, said appeals would focus on whetherthe hate-crimes law is unconstitutionally broad andwhether restraining the victims to cut their beardsamounted to kidnapping.
"There are lots of issues," she said.
Nine of 10 men who were convicted have beenlocked up awaiting sentencing. The six women,who all have children, have been free on bond.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Denying he ran an Amishcult, the 67-year-old ringleader of hair- and beard-cutting attacks on fellow members of his faith inOhio was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison,while family members convicted of carrying out hisorders got one to seven years.
The judge said the defendants had violated theconstitutional rights protecting religious practicethat had also benefited them as Amish. Authoritieshad prosecuted the attacks as a hate crime.
Before his sentencing, Samuel Mullet Sr. told thejudge he had been accused of running a cult.Mullet, his ankles in chains and a white bearddown to mid-chest, said that if his community isseen as a cult, "Then I'm going to take the punish-ment for everybody."
The 10 men and six women were convicted lastyear in five attacks in Ohio Amish communities in2011. The government said the attacks were retali-ation against Amish who had defied or denouncedMullet's authoritarian hold over the splinter grouphe started in 1995.
The case has opened a rare window to the lives ofthe insular Amish, who shun many facets of mod-ern life and are deeply religious. Amish believe theBible instructs women to let their hair grow longand men to grow beards once they marry. Cutting
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Homeownerson the hunt for sparkling solar panels arelured by ads filled with images of pristinelandscapes and bright sunshine, andwords about the technology's benefits forthe environment - and the wallet.
What customers may not know is thatthere's a dirtier side.
While solar is a far less polluting energysource than coal or natural gas, manypanel makers are nevertheless grapplingwith a hazardous waste problem. Fueledpartly by billions in government incen-tives, the industry is creating millions ofsolar panels each year and, in theprocess, millions of pounds of pollutedsludge and contaminated water.
To dispose of the material, the companiesmust transport it by truck or rail far fromtheir own plants to waste facilities hun-
dreds and, in some cases, thousands ofmiles away.
The fossil fuels used to transport thatwaste, experts say, is not typically consid-ered in calculating solar's carbon footprint,giving scientists and consumers who usethe measurement to gauge a product'simpact on global warming the impressionthat solar is cleaner than it is.
After installing a solar panel, "it wouldtake one to three months of generatingelectricity to pay off the energy invested indriving those hazardous waste emissionsout of state," said Dustin Mulvaney, a SanJose State University environmental stud-ies professor who conducts carbon foot-print analyses of solar, biofuel and naturalgas production.
The waste from manufacturing has raisedconcerns within the industry, which fearsthat the problem, if left unchecked, couldundermine solar's green image at a timewhen companies are facing stiff competi-tion from each other and from low-costpanel manufacturers from China and else-where.
SOLAR INDUSTRY GRAPPLESW I T H H A Z A R D O U S WA S T E S
Sam Mullet Sr. stands in the front yard of his home in Bergholz,Ohio. Mullet, 67, the ringleader in a series of unusual hair- andbeard-cutting attacks on fellow Amish religious followers in theU.S. was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison, and 15 familymembers received sentences of one year to seven years. Thedefendants were charged with a hate crime because prosecutorsbelieve religious differences brought about the attacks.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- A 150-foot-wide
asteroid will come remarkably close to Earth next week,
even closer than high-flying communication and weather
satellites. It will be the nearest known flyby for an object
of this size.
But don't worry. Scientists promise the megarock will
be at least 17,100 miles away when it zips past next Friday.
"No Earth impact is possible," Donald Yeomans, man-
ager of NASA's Near-Earth Object program at Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said Thursday.
Even the chance of an asteroid-satellite run-in is
extremely remote, Yeomans and other scientists noted. A
few hundred satellites orbit at 22,300 miles, higher than the
asteroid's path, although operators are being warned about
the incoming object for tracking purposes.
"No one has raised a red flag, nor will they," Yeomans
told reporters. "I certainly don't anticipate any problems
whatsoever."
Impossible to see with the naked eye, the asteroid is
considered small as these things go. By contrast, the one
that took out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago was 6
miles wide.
Yet Asteroid 2012 DA14, as it's known for its discov-
ery date, still could pack a wallop.
If it impacted Earth - which it won't, scientists were
quick to add Thursday - it would release the energy equiv-
alent of 2.4 million tons of TNT and wipe out 750 square
miles. That's what happened in Siberia in 1908, when for-
8 Legal Street News Monday, February 11, 2013
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E A R T H , N O N E E D T O D U C K
E A R T H - O B S E R V I N G S AT E L L I T E
T O L A U N C H F R O M C A L I F .LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Carrying on afour-decade tradition, a new Earth-observing satellite is set to provideanother watchful eye over our planet'sglaciers, forests, water resources andurban sprawl.
If all goes as planned, the Landsatsatellite will be launched into orbitMonday aboard a 200-foot-tall Atlas Vrocket from the Vandenberg Air ForceBase along California's central coast.
It would be the eighth such satellite in aseries designed to continuously tracknatural changes and society's influenceon Earth's resources.
Since the maiden launch in 1972, thesatellites have been providing "uninter-rupted observations," David Jarrett, pro-gram executive at NASA headquarters,said during a pre-launch news confer-ence on Friday.
Although NASA aimed for a Mondayliftoff, launch director Omar Baez saidthere were two remaining engineeringissues to complete. It was too early toknow whether that would affect thelaunch schedule, he said.
The newest Landsat will be the mostpowerful yet. Once in orbit, it will circleEarth 14 times a day from its 440-mile-high perch.
It was expected to beam back 400images a day to ground stations inSouth Dakota, Alaska and Norway. Asin previous missions, the images will befreely available on the Internet.
The $855 million project is managed byNASA and the U.S. Geological Survey.The space agency developed the satel-
lite and its two sensors, which are moresensitive than previous ones. After acheckout period in orbit, day-to-day dutieswill be turned over to the USGS.
The latest Landsat will build on past mis-sions. The USGS recently retired Landsat5, which operated since 1984 and hasreturned 2 1/2 million images. Landsat 7,launched in 1999, continues to operate.
During the past 40 years, the Landsatsatellites have been key in documentingchanges to the Earth, pinpointing wheredroughts are occurring, how crops acrossthe globe are faring and how erosion isaffecting coastlines.
The satellites also have recorded retreat-ing glaciers in Greenland, captured the1980 Mount St. Helens eruption andrecovery aftermath, tracked populationgrowth in Phoenix and deforestation inthe Amazon.
est land around the Tunguska River was flattened by a
slightly smaller asteroid that exploded about five miles
above ground.
The likelihood of something this size striking Earth is
once in every 1,200 years. A close, harmless encounter like
this is thought to occur every 40 years.
The bulk of the solar system's asteroids are located
between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and remain stable
there for billions of years. Some occasionally pop out,
though, into Earth's neighborhood
The closest approach of this one will occur next
Friday afternoon, Eastern time, over Indonesia.
There won't be much of a show. The asteroid will zip
by at 17,400 mph. That's roughly eight times faster than a
bullet from a high-speed rifle.
The asteroid will be invisible to the naked eye and
even with binoculars and telescopes will appear as a small
point of light. The prime viewing locations will be in Asia,
Australia and eastern Europe.
Observers in the U.S. can pretty much forget it.
Astronomers using NASA's deep-space antenna in
California's Mojave Desert will have to wait eight hours
after the closest approach to capture radar images.
Scientists welcome whatever pictures they get. The
asteroid offers a unique opportunity to observe something
this big and close, and any new knowledge will help if and
when another killer asteroid is headed Earth's way.
The close approach also highlights the need to keep
track of what's out there, if for no other reason than to pro-
tect the planet.
NASA's current count of near-Earth objects: just short
of 10,000, the result of a concentrated effort for the past 15
years. That's thought to represent less than 10 percent of
the objects out there.
No one has ruled out a serious Earth impact, although
the probability is said to be extremely low.
"We don't have all the money in the world to do this
kind of work" for tracking and potentially deflecting aster-
oids, said Lindley Johnson, an executive with the Near-
Earth Object observations program in Washington.
Indeed, when asked about NASA's plans to send astro-
nauts to an asteroid in the decades ahead, as outlined a few
years ago by President Barack Obama, Johnson said the
space agency is looking at a number of options for human
explorations.
One of the more immediate steps, planned for 2016, is
the launch of a spacecraft to fly to a much bigger asteroid,
collect samples and return them to Earth in 2023.
As for Asteroid 2012 DA14 - discovered last year by
astronomers in Spain - scientists suspect it's made of sili-
cate rock, but aren't sure. Its shape and precise size also are
mysteries.
What they do know with certainty:
"This object's orbit is so well known that there's no
chance of a collision," Yeomans repeated during
Thursday's news conference.
Its close approach, in fact, will alter its orbit around
the sun in such a way as to keep it out of Earth's neighbor-
hood, at least in the foreseeable future, Yeomans said.
Johnson anticipates no "sky is falling thing" related to
next week's flyby.
He and other scientists urged journalists to keep the
close encounter in perspective.
"Space rocks hit the Earth's atmosphere on a daily
basis. Basketball-size objects come in daily. Volkswagen-
size objects come in every couple of weeks," Yeomans
said.
The grand total of stuff hitting the atmosphere every
day? "About 100 tons," according to Yeoman, though most
of it arrives harmlessly as sand-sized particles.
This artist rendering released by NASA shows the Landsatsatellite in orbit around Earth. The satellite is slated to launchMonday, Feb. 11, 2013 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.It’s the eighth satellite in a program that began in 1972
This image provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech shows a simulation ofasteroid 2012 DA14 approaching from the south as it passesthrough the Earth-moon system on Feb. 15, 2013. The 150-footobject will pass within 17,000 miles of the Earth. NASA scientistsinsist there is absolutely no chance of a collision as it passes
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