Thursday, November 2, 2017
OFF PAGE ONE
CIA releases more files from bin Laden raid INSURANCE: Free help available
WASHINGTON
(AP)
It was the fourth trove
— Never-before-seen video
of documents, images and
to assist in the sign-up process
of Osama bin Laden’s son
computer files recovered
Page 8A
East Oregonian
and potential successor
was released Wednesday
by the CIA in a trove of
material recovered during
the May 2011 raid that killed
the al-Qaida leader at his
compound in Pakistan.
The video offers the first
public look at Hamza bin
Laden as an adult. Until
now, the public has only seen
childhood pictures of him.
In recent years, al-Qaida
has released audio messages
from Hamza bin Laden. And
to mark a recent anniversary
of 9/11, al-Qaida superim-
posed a childhood photo of
him over a photo of the World
Trade Center. He is expected
to rise to prominence in the
jihadist movement and is
being closely watched as the
rival Islamic State organiza-
tion suffers setbacks in the
Middle East.
One hourlong video shows
CIA via AP
In this image from video
released by the CIA, Ham-
za bin Laden is seen as an
adult at his wedding.
Hamza bin Laden, sporting
a trimmed mustache but no
beard, at his wedding. He
is sitting on a carpet with
other men. A man chanting
Quranic verses can be heard
in the background. Sporting a
traditional white headdress, he
verbally accepts his marriage
to his bride “on the book of
God and the example of the
prophet. Peace be upon him.”
“Takbeer!” the others
shout, marking his marriage
with a kind of religious
hooray.
during the raid of bin Laden’s
compound in Abbottabad,
Pakistan. Earlier materials
were released in May 2015,
March 2016 and in January
of this year.
The CIA said the nearly
470,000 additional files
offer insights into the inner
workings of the terrorist
organization responsible for
9/11 and detail its clashes
with the Islamic State group,
a spin-off of al-Qaida’s
operation in Iraq. They also
shed light on hardships that
al-Qaida faced at the time of
bin Laden’s death.
Included is a 228-page,
handwritten personal journal
of bin Laden and about
79,000 images and audio
files, including practice reels
of public speeches. Also
released were home videos
and more than 10,000 video
files.
Continued from 1A
That may be particularly
true this year. Changes by
the Trump administration,
including a decision to end
government payments to
insurance companies to
cover the cost of people
who struggle to afford their
co-payments and deduct-
ibles, have cause the insur-
ance marketplace to behave
differently than usual. Some
“silver” plans will be more
expensive than some “gold”
plans with better coverage,
for example.
Anyone shopping for
insurance on the exchanges
or seeking help to do so
should be ready to provide
information about their
income, and should bring
a list of any doctors that
they want to continue
seeing. Shoppers can enter
providers into healthcare.
gov to narrow down their
plan options to ones that
include those providers in
their network.
For those who want help
navigating the system, a list
of licensed health insurance
agents in the area can be
found online at oregon-
healthcare.gov/gethelp. The
website also lists commu-
nity partners who will
assist in the sign-up process
for free, including Good
Shepherd Medical Center,
St. Anthony
Hospital
and
Umatilla
County
Human Services offices in
Hermiston, Pendleton and
Milton-Freewater. Oregon
Health Insurance Market-
place staff can also answer
questions by phone toll free
at 1-855-268-3767.
Repeated attempts by
Republicans in Congress
to repeal the Affordable
Care Act, as well as sharp
cuts to advertising and
“navigators” helping people
enroll, have caused some
confusion for consumers
about whether they can still
sign up for health insurance.
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Or-
egon) said in a statement
that it was “disappointing
that people out there are
sowing confusion and
trying to dissuade fellow
Americans from getting
health coverage.”
“It’s
critical
that
everyone in our communi-
ties knows that this is the
window to sign up through
the ACA marketplace,” he
said. “With the financial
assistance available through
the
exchange,
many
Americans will be able
to find affordable, quality
coverage.”
BILL: Will allow logging trees
more than 21 inches in diameter
Continued from 1A
The bill also requires the
Secretary of Agriculture to
create a pilot program for
resolving lawsuits against
forest management projects
through
arbitration,
as
opposed to going to court.
Plaintiffs would not be able
to recover their attorney fees
in such cases under the Equal
Access to Justice Act.
Finally in Eastern Oregon,
the bill lifts the prohibition on
logging trees more than 21
inches in diameter, a rule that
county officials argue “has no
basis in science.”
Opponents of the Resilient
Federal Forests Act criticize
the bill as a way to maximize
the interests of logging
companies while severely
undermining environmental
review laws. Andy Kerr,
former conservation director
for Oregon Wild, has written
the bill would essentially gut
the National Environmental
Policy Act, Endangered
Species Act and Equal Access
to Justice Act to advance the
interests of logging.
Walden said the proposal
now heads to the Senate
with a strong bipartisan vote
out of the House. Unlike the
previous four years, he said
the administration in Wash-
ington, D.C. seems more
receptive to advancing the
bill to the President’s desk.
“I think we have a good
opportunity this time,” he
said. “This time, we’re not
fighting the head winds of
an administration that wasn’t
supportive. That changes the
dynamics.”
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HOUFMUSE: Claims
Cragun’s death was accidental
Continued from 1A
nian is declining to identify
the officer because it can’t
substantiate them.
Hermiston Police Chief
Jason Edmiston said he had
not been made aware of the
letters until last week, and
neither the defense nor the
prosecution informed him of
the letters or their contents.
“I find it interesting that
(Houfmuse is) reaching out
to the judge, but I’ve seen
that a number of times in
my career,” Edmiston said.
“People facing charges have
no problem throwing mud at
a wall and seeing if it sticks.”
Edmiston said he takes
accusations against his staff
members seriously, but that
he was not in a position to
disclose exactly what he’d
do with the information from
the letter other than he would
follow up.
In the second letter,
Houfmuse writes in the third-
person to give an account of
the night Cragun died and the
events he says led up to it. He
states he is not responsible
for Cragun’s death, which he
claims was accidental.
Hermiston police officer
Victor Gutierrez wrote the
application and affidavit to
collect Houfmuse’s DNA
after the shooting. In the
document, Gutierrez asserted
Houfmuse’s statements to
police about what happened
“appear to be untruthful as
they are inconsistent with
the physical evidence and the
trajectories of the bullets as
they passed though Cragun’s
body and clothing.”
In the document, Gutierrez
also describes interviews he
and other officers conducted
with Houfmuse and witnesses
of the shooting. In the inter-
view, Houfmuse states that
Cragun came toward him
with a gun in his hand, and
that the gun went off as they
fought over it. The others
interviewed say they do not
remember Cragun having a
gun in his hand.
Houfmuse’s
court-ap-
pointed attorney, Kara Davis,
said she was aware of the
letters. She said similar docu-
ments may have been public
in other cases, but they have
only been available online
since last summer when the
county switched to a new
e-courts computer system.
Before that, she said, people
had to go to the courthouse to
look at a case file.
Davis said she didn’t think
the letters would have much
of an impact on the case.
“It’s too early to tell if the
letters will have an effect or
not,” she said. “A lot of it was,
frankly, irrelevant.”
Deputy District Attorney
Jaclyn Jenkins said the district
attorney’s office did not bring
the letters to the attention of
the Hermiston Police Depart-
ment because they felt no
need to do so.
“There’s no truth to it,
and (the claim) has been
made by an individual who’s
been indicted for murder,”
said Jenkins. “If we had a
complaint from a defendant
that did cause concern, we’d
talk to the agency. But there’s
no truth in this case.”
Temple, to whom the
letters were addressed, said
she had read at least one of the
letters, but could not comment
on a pending case.
Roy Blaine, trial court
administrator for the local
circuit courts, said typically
a judge makes a decision of
what goes into the case file,
but in this case, court staff
made the decision.
Houfmuse has twice
before been arrested for
violent disputes in the area.
In 2014, he was involved in
a shooting outside a nightclub
in Kennewick, which left
another man paralyzed. He
was arrested in Hermiston,
but in 2015 a jury decided he
acted in self-defense.
In
2005,
Houfmuse
allegedly fired shots into a
moving vehicle with three
people in it, and was charged
with attempted murder. He
pleaded not guilty. No one
was injured in the incident
and the attempted murder
charge was dismissed, but
Houfmuse was charged with
menacing, assault in the third
degree, unlawful use of a
weapon against another, crim-
inal mischief and unlawful
possession of a firearm.
He also has an attempted
murder charge from 2000 that
was dismissed.
–——
Contact
Jayati
Ramakrishnan at 541-564-
4534 or jramakrishnan@
eastoregonian.com.
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