The News in 2 Minutes

From The Associated Press

Report says Hoover planned to arrest 12,000

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover had a plan to suspend the rules against illegal detention and arrest up to 12,000 Americans he suspected of being disloyal, according to a newly declassified document.

Hoover sent his plan to the White House on July 7, 1950, less than two weeks after the Korean War began. But there is no evidence to suggest that President Truman or any subsequent president approved any part of Hoover’s proposal to house suspect Americans in military and federal prisons.

Hoover had wanted Truman to declare the mass arrests necessary to “protect the country against treason, espionage and sabotage,” The New York Times reported Saturday in a story posted on its Web site.

The plan called for the FBI to apprehend all potentially dangerous individuals whose names were on a list Hoover had been compiling for years.

“The details of Hoover’s plan was among a collection of Cold War-era documents related to intelligence issues from 1950-1955. The State Department declassified the documents on Friday.

Turkish warplanes hit Kurdish rebel targets in Iraq

ISTANBUL, Turkey?— Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq on Saturday in the third confirmed cross-border offensive by Turkish forces in less than a week, the military said.

The U.S. Embassy in Ankara said it was informed before the assault took place, but gave no further information. The United States and Iraq both have urged Turkey to avoid a major operation in the area, fearing it could destabilize what has been the calmest region in Iraq.

The bombing lasted nearly a half-hour on Saturday afternoon, and was followed by shelling from inside Turkish borders, the military said in a statement posted on its Web site. It did not say how deep into Iraqi territory the warplanes penetrated, or which areas were shelled.

Belgium frees 14 detained in suspected terrorist plot

BRUSSELS, Belgium — Belgian authorities on Saturday released 14 suspects detained over an alleged plot to free an al-Qaida prisoner because of a lack of evidence, the Federal Prosecutor’s office said.

A court decided there was insufficient evidence to hold the 14 for more than 24 hours, said Lieve Pellens, spokeswoman for the Federal Prosecutors’ office.

She said tightened police anti-terrorism measures triggered by the arrest of the suspected Islamic militants Friday would remain in place over the holidays.

Iraqi defense minister sees no Sunni tribal army

BAGHDAD?—Iraq’s Shiite-led government declared Saturday that after restive areas are calmed it will disband Sunni groups battling Islamic extremists because it does not want them to become a separate military force.

In Iraqi Kurdistan, Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish rebel targets, the military said, in the third confirmed cross-border offensive by Turkish forces in less than a week.

The statement from Defense Minister Abdul-Qadir al-Obaidi was the government’s most explicit declaration yet of its intent to eventually dismantle the groups backed and funded by the United States as a vital tool for reducing violence.

The militias, more than 70,000 strong and often made up of former insurgents, are known as Awakening Councils, or Concerned Local Citizens.

Arizona Highways magazine to have ads for first time

MESA—After 82 years of glossy photos and features about the state’s landscape and destinations, Arizona Highways is adding ads for the first time.

The state-managed non-profit magazine cited steep revenue declines for the decision to reach out to advertisers to help the venerable publication break even. Rather than sell straight ads, the magazine will sell ad “sponsorships.”

“It’s fundamental mathematics,” Publisher Win Holden said. “We have no intention of making advertising a run-of-the-book feature.”

Holden said the magazine will devote only one page a month to an advertiser, presented in a similar way as public broadcasting features its supporters.

Founded in 1925 by the state Department of Transportation, Arizona Highways is unique because it is state-owned and barred by law from accepting standard advertising, usually a prime revenue source for magazines.

CIA says it did cooperate with 9/11 commission

WASHINGTON, D.C.— The CIA on Saturday rebutted suggestions the spy agency was uncooperative and hid from the Sept. 11 commission the videotaped interrogations of two suspected terrorists, saying it waited until the panel went out of business before destroying the material now in question.

The destruction in late 2005 of the videotapes of two al-Qaida suspects has upset a federal judge and riled the Democratic-controlled Congress, which has promised an investigation. The Justice Department also is trying to find out what happened and whether any laws were broken.

A recent memo by Philip Zelikow, the former executive director of the Sept. 11 commission, suggests the CIA was less than forthcoming when asked for documents and other information from the panel, which investigated the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The CIA disputed that characterization and suggested the panel should have requested interrogation videotapes specifically if it wanted them.

“The notion that the CIA wasn’t cooperative or forthcoming with the 9/11 commission is just plain wrong. It is utterly without foundation,” spokesman Mark Mansfield said Saturday. “The CIA’s cooperation and assistance is what enabled the 9/11 commission to reconstruct the plot in their very comprehensive report.”

Saudi terror suspect is kin of Sept. 11 hijacker

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A Saudi terrorism suspect facing possible charges before a military tribunal at Guantanamo has been identified as a brother-in-law of one of the Sept. 11 hijackers.

Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Haza al-Darbi, who is accused of helping to organize an al-Qaida plot to attack a ship, is a brother-in-law of Khalid al-Mihdhar, a Saudi who was one of the hijackers who crashed a plane into the Pentagon, the military said in a statement late Friday.

Al-Darbi, 32, faces possible charges that include conspiracy and providing support to terrorism and could be sentenced to up to life in prison if convicted by the military court at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba.