Global update |
eats in town.”
Sports Illustrated on Campus
Defining the taste of Eugene
for over 25 years.
2588 Willamette St. 541-687-8201 * 1340 Alder Street 541-687-0355
The Army ROTC Leader's Training Course is a paid 4-week summer experience
that marks the beginning of your career as an Officer, a leader of the U.S. Army.
ENROLL IN ARMY
BECOME AH ARMY 0
P .'it
For more info on LTC call CPT Darren McMahon at 541-346-7682.
Specializing in the Care of
German, Swedish ,
& Japanese
Automobiles.
Courtesy
Van Service
D—u Authorized
Service
r ASE Master
Certified Technicians
Since 1975
EUR®,
'ASIAN
MOTIVE
1917 Franklin Blvd., Eugene
www.euro-asian.com
485-8226
FBI agent reveals trained
'jihadists' living in Oregon
BY RUKMINI CALLIMACHI
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PORTLAND — The FBI knows of
“jihadists” who have trained in terror
ist camps in Afghanistan and are now
living in Oregon, the agency’s Oregon
chief said in an interview Tliesday.
“We don’t have an imminent threat
that we’re aware of. But I will say this:
We have people here in Oregon that
have trained in jihadist camps in bad
areas. In the bad neighborhoods of the
world,” said FBI Special Agent in
Charge Robert Jordan.
During a nearly two-hour session,
Jordan discussed a wide range of
themes, from his agents’ participation
in the Bush administration’s war on
terror to the upcoming opening of a
new laboratory in Portland to conduct
forensic work on computers seized
from suspects.
Jordan refused to say how many “ji
hadists” live in Oregon.
He said the FBI knows "they’ve
trained overseas, taken oaths to kill
Americans and engage in jihad,”
but the challenge is “to prove those
things.”
Jordan contrasted the known “ji
hadists” living in Oregon with the so
called “Portland Seven,” a group of
seven Portland-area men accused of
plotting to wage war against U.S.
troops in Afghanistan. One of the men
was killed in combat, while the six oth
ers returned to Oregon, where they
eventually pleaded guilty to all the
charges against them.
Discussing his office’s participation
in the ongoing War on Terrorism, Jor
dan said that last fall, FBI agents in
Oregon took part in an analysis of
crop-dusting aircraft across the coun
try, interviewing their current and past
owners, examining bills of sale and
other pertinent information.
U.S. officials had received intelli
gence that al-Qaida intended to use a
crop duster to spray biological or
chemical weapons on American tar
gets, he said.
The crop duster interviews, he said,
led to some questionable activities be
ing disrupted. He declined to provide
specifics.
Beth Anne Steele, spokeswoman for
the FBI’s Portland office, said it was the
second time since the terror attacks of
Sept. 11, 2001, that FBI agents had in
terviewed owners and pilots of crop
duster planes.
The purpose is not just to make an
accounting of where the aircrafts are,
she said, but also to encourage people
who use the planes to contact the FBI
if a suspicious person inquires about
buying such an aircraft.
Jordan said demands on the FBI’s
agents in Oregon have increased since
the Sept. 11 terror attacks and the
launching of the war in Iraq.
He said some of his agents were as
signed to the U.S. prison for suspected
terrorists at Guantanamo Bay.
Some have also been assigned to
duties in Iraq. Jordan said that his chief
bomb technician volunteered to go to
Iraq, where he helped defuse impro
vised explosive devices — called IEDs
— placed along roads.
Jordan also spoke of a new regional
laboratory that’s being set up in south
east Portland to analyzed seized com
puters. He said the lab will have a staff
of at least 12 and will include officers
from local law-enforcement agencies.
“Our goal is to be one-stop shopping
for law enforcement in the Northwest,
not just Oregon,” Jordan said.
American hostage begs Arab
leaders to help save his life
BY SAMEER N. YACOUB
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq — An American
hostage pleaded for his life with a
rifle pointed at his head in a video
released Tuesday, while nine Iraqis,
including a senior judge, were killed
in a series of attacks that highlight
ed the security risks ahead of this
weekend’s elections.
On a day that the U.S. military said
six American soldiers had died, inter
im Prime Minister Ayad Allawi also
said the time was not right to talk of a
U.S. troop withdrawal. Iraq must first
build up its security forces to confront
the insurgents, Allawi said.
In the video, hostage Roy Hallums
spoke slowly, rubbing his hands as
he sat with the barrel of the rifle inch
es from his head. He said he had
been arrested by a “resistance group”
because “I have worked with Ameri
can forces.” He appealed to Arab
leaders, including Libya’s Moammar
Gadhafi, to save his life.
Hallums, 56, was seized Nov. 1
along with Filipino Robert Tarongoy
during an armed assault on their com
pound in Baghdad’s Mansour district.
The two worked for a Saudi company
that does catering for the Iraqi army.
Tarongoy was not shown in the video.
“I am please asking for help because
my life is in danger, because it’s been
proved I worked for American forces,”
the bearded Hallums said. “I’m not
asking for any help from President
Bush because I know of his selfishness
and unconcern for those who’ve been
pushed into this hellhole.”
Hallums said he was asking for
help from “Arab rulers, especially
President Moammar Gadhafi, be
cause he’s known for helping those
who are suffering. ”
His ex-wife, Susan Hallums, told re
porters outside her Corona, Calif.,
home that he has “never hurt anybody
in his life.”
“He mentioned in the video that — I
believe he said he wouldn’t ask Presi
dent Bush to do anything — but please
President Bush do something,” Susan
Hallums said. “I’m sure it was a
speech he was supposed to say, but
he’s an American hero, and I think we
should try to help him out. He needs
our help.”
A statement that surfaced Tliesday
in the name of the Islamic Army in
Iraq called for more kidnappings and
attacks before Sunday’s elections.
The call, made on a Web site known
for its Islamic militant content, could
not be authenticated. Militants have
used the site to claim responsibility for
attacks and to condemn the Iraqi gov
ernment and U.S.-led forces in Iraq.
Less often, they have made such direct
appeals for violence.
“Enemies of God such as the Ameri
cans and their agents, the hypocrites
and the apostates, are attempting to
make the infidel elections succeed at
the end of the month,” the statement
said. To that end, it said, “the head
quarters of the Islamic Army in Iraq is
giving its orders to all troops affiliated
with it everywhere to escalate their op
erations to the maximum. ”
Officials have warned of a surge in
violence around the elections, which
insurgents have vowed to disrupt.
At least 10 Americans have been
taken hostage, but only one has been
freed or escaped.
Fighting erupted Tuesday in Bagh
dad’s eastern Rashad neighborhood as
police fired on insurgents who were
handing out leaflets warning people
not to vote.
About the same time in the same
neighborhood, insurgents fired on po
lice who were checking on a possible
car bomb.
Another bomb blew off the gate of a
secondary school in the neighborhood,
and gunmen opened fire on Iraqi and
U.S. forces responding to the blast.
In all, three policemen were killed
and nine were wounded in the clash
es, according to an official at Kindi
Hospital. Two insurgents died and a
shopkeeper also was killed in the
crossfire. Earlier, officials reported 11
policemen were killed and offered no
explanation for the revised toll.
www.pphsso.org
www.wccandobctter.org
Birth Contrpl Supplies
& Health Services for
Men <& Women.
‘call to s«% if you qualify
Three locations
1670 High St., Eugene 334-9411
793 N. Oanebo, Eugene 463-9731
Planned
Parenthood
BERG’S SKI BUS
to Willamette Pass
& Mt. Bachelor!