Should N.Y. Terror Suspects Get Bail?

— -- Defense: 6 N.Y. Terror Suspects Pose No Threat

B U F F A L O, N.Y., Oct. 3 — Mere possession of cassette tapes andpapers defending suicide attacks is not sufficient to deny bail tosix men suspected of comprising an al Qaeda-trained terror cell,defense lawyers argued today.

Last week, assistant U.S. Attorney William Hochul Jr. filed anaffidavit that said the tapes and papers recovered from the homesof defendants Sahim Alwan, Yasein Taher and Yahya Goba contain"highly incendiary" language referring to suicide missions andholy war.

As the bail hearing continued, defense lawyers for the sixLackawanna men of Yemeni descent argued the claim was weak, and notenough to keep them in jail without bail.

U.S. Magistrate H. Kenneth Schroeder said the discussion ofsuicide attacks "gets us back to the heart of the matter."

The judge said for purposes of discussion that the tapes anddocuments about suicide attacks "would not be a factor all byitself" for deciding whether to grant bail or to keep the menlocked up. The judge has said he plans to rule on bail next week.

"It's a leap to take these tapes and argue theirdangerousness," said Marianne Mariano, Goba's lawyer.

She said three cassettes described by the government were madein the early to mid-'90s and were available in a bookstoreassociated with the Lackawanna mosque. On the tapes, she said,"there is nothing that is anti-American, that incites or advocatesviolence against America."

Mariano argued that one of those tapes included what thegovernment described as sounds from a battlefield. She said that itis not uncommon for Arabic tapes to use gunfire in the background,likening it to the "Star-Spangled" Banner or a 21-gun salute. Shecalled the government's case "a desperate attempt" to try todetain the six men.

Rodney Personius, representing Taher, who prosecutors contendpossessed papers advocating martyrdom, said the documents weretaken out of context and selectively cited.

One of the documents included a section defining martyrdom thatlooked at the effectiveness of suicide attacks by Palestinians andChechen rebels.

"It's a position paper on this issue and it's written by areligious perspective," Personius said, adding it was a scholarlydocument.

He said "the mere possession" of these documents "should notbe enough to satisfy the government's burden."

Schroeder had planned to rule on the bail issue today, butpostponed his decision to give defense attorneys a chance tocounter the legal papers Hochul submitted last week.

The men, all in their 20s, are charged with providing materialsupport to foreign terrorists. If convicted, they could get up to15 years in jail and fines of up to $250,000.

In documents submitted last week, prosecutor Michael Battleargued that the absence of a U.S. extradition treaty with Yemen wasone reason why the men should be denied bail.

In separate documents, defense lawyers argued that the men poseno danger or flight risk. Families in Lackawanna, five miles southof Buffalo, have pledged more than $2 million worth of property toguarantee their presence at a trial.

The six, who lived just blocks from each other in Lackawanna,were arrested following the Sept. 11 anniversary. Two othersuspected cell members are believed to be in hiding in Yemen.Authorities say they believe one of them, Kamal Derwish, is theringleader.

At their arraignments last month, the judge entered innocentpleas on behalf of Alwan, 29, Faysal Galab, 26, Shafal Mosed, 24,Taher, 24, Goba, 25, and Mukhtar al-Bakri, 22.

All six say they went to Pakistan in the spring of 2001 topursue religious training. But Alwan and al-Bakri said the groupalso attended a military training camp in Afghanistan run by Osamabin Laden's al Qaeda network, according to their lawyers.

During their visit, Osama bin Laden appeared at the camp a fewmonths before the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Prosecutors said binLaden declared that there "is going to be a fight againstAmericans."

— The Associated Press

N.J. Poet Laureate Defends Poem Implying Israel Knew About 9/11

N E W A R K, N.J., Oct. 3 — The state's poet laureate defended a poem hewrote implying that Israel knew of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacksin advance, and rebuffed the demand of Gov. James McGreevey that heresign and apologize.

Amiri Baraka asserted that the meaning of his poem, "SomebodyBlew Up America," has been distorted.

"It is a poem that aims to probe and disturb, but there is notany evidence of anti-Semitism," Baraka told a supportive crowd ofabout 200 at the Newark Public Library on Wednesday.

Baraka used his keynote address at a ceremony naming the librarya "literary landmark" for a nearly 40-minute rebuttal of hiscritics, including the governor and the Anti-Defamation League.

Baraka was appointed poet laureate in July. Gov. James McGreeveydemanded he resign Friday after Baraka read the poem last month ata poetry festival.

"Who knew the World Trade Center was gonna get bombed," thepoem says. "Who told 4,000 Israeli workers at the Twin Towers tostay home that day? Why did Sharon stay away?"

During his speech Wednesday, Baraka insisted that Israel, aswell as President Bush, the FBI and a host of U.S. allies knew ofthe impending terrorist attacks. He cited media reports.

Shai Goldstein, New Jersey regional director of the ADL,supported McGreevey's call for Baraka to resign.

"One of our big concerns is that the `big lie' has now beenrepeated by a representative of the state of New Jersey,"Goldstein said Wednesday.

The poet laureate position was created in 1999 and pays $10,000per two-year term.

A recommendation to name Baraka poet laureate came from the NewJersey Council for the Humanities and the state Council on theArts. The title and the grant money cannot be rescinded, and thedecision to resign is entirely up to Baraka.

Baraka was recommended for the post by a panel convened by theNew Jersey Council for the Humanities. The council had no otherrole in his appointment, said Jane Brailove Rutkoff, the council'sexecutive director.

While recognizing Baraka's right to free speech, the group saidin a statement that it believes Baraka has compromised his positionand should resign.

—The Associated Press

More Guantanamo Terror Detainees Attempting Suicide

G U A N T A N A M O B A Y N A V A L B A S E, Cuba, Oct. 3 — More terrorist suspectsdetained at Guantanamo Bay have tried to kill themselves, followingfour attempted suicides in July and August, U.S. military officialssay.

The attempts occurred since August, but officials declined tosay how many more there had been, when they occurred, or whetherany detainee has tried to kill himself more than once.

"There have been additional suicide attempts but we will notdiscuss that," mission spokesman Lt. Col. Joe Hoey said Wednesday,referring all other questions to U.S. Southern Command in Miami.

Southern Command spokesman Sgt. Ray Sarracino also declined togive details, but said guards had "intervened."

The previous attempts involved four men who all tried to hangthemselves with "comfort items" in their cells, such as towels orsheets. One of the men also tried to cut his wrist with a plasticutensil, officials said last month.

None of the 598 detainees from 43 countries held on the remoteoutpost in eastern Cuba have been charged but they are accused oflinks to the fallen Taliban regime of Afghanistan or al Qaedaterror network. They have not been allowed access to lawyers.

Some launched hunger strikes shortly after they first werebrought to Guantanamo in January. Recently, some have sentpostcards to their families describing depression over theuncertainty of their fate and said they will "see them inheaven," according to Najeeb al-Nauimi, a lawyer and former Qatarijustice minister who argues the detainees should be returned totheir home countries.

Capt. Al Shimkus, in charge of the detention hospital, saidbetween 3 percent and 5 percent of the detainees suffer from mental illnessand many were sick when they arrived in Guantanamo.

"None [of the suicide attempts] have been successful," Shimkussaid, declining to give details.

A full-time psychiatrist and psychologist and mental healthworkers are assigned to help the detainees.

About 26 detainees were being given either antidepressants,anti-anxiety drugs or anti-psychotic medication. Last month, 30detainees were receiving the same types of medications.

Officials refuse to say whether any of those who tried to killthemselves were taking medication.

—The Associated Press

Next Generation of Doctors Preparing for Terror Attack Response

A L B A N Y, N.Y., Oct. 3 — A year after America's first case ofanthrax bioterrorism, schools and hospitals are making sure thenext generation of health professionals has the tools to respond tobiological, chemical or nuclear attacks.

The Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University hasexpanded a long-standing course on infectious diseases to focus ongerms like anthrax and smallpox.

"No one considered this when I was a student. We never dreamtof it. It seemed so far-fetched, like something in a novel," saidRobyn Gershon, an associate professor of sociomedical sciences.

This fall, Gershon is teaching about two dozen graduate andmedical students for the first time how to handle a vaccine or drugshortage if there is an attack. They also will explore ethicalquestions, such as whether people infected with anthrax will beshunned by their communities as people with AIDS were in the 1980s.

Last year, the Association of American Medical Colleges urgedmedical schools and hospitals to train resident physicians how tobe first-responders during an attack, a job usually performed byemergency medical technicians and law enforcement.

The association, along with the Centers for Disease Control andPrevention, also convened a panel of experts to recommendcurriculum changes to include the unthinkable. The Association ofSchools of Public Health has a similar agenda.

"We don't want to lose the focus of a doctor working with apatient, but I think there is an increasing recognition and need toextend beyond that," said Deborah Danoff, AAMC associate vicepresident of medical education.

For years, medical education has been based on a model thatteaches doctors how to treat the individual patient: Where does ithurt? What are the symptoms? What can we do to make it better?

Today's doctors are learning how to quickly identify the firstterrorism cases in emergency rooms, handle mass vaccinations, setup shelters and triages for mass casualties, and better communicatewith first responders and the medical community without alarmingthe public.

"I think doctors of the 21st century likely will have a largerrole to play in the health of the general public and as part ofthat, responding to large disasters will be essential," saidRobert Brooks, associate dean for health affairs at Florida StateUniversity College of Medicine.

The Medical College of Ohio in Toledo requires medical studentsto take a disaster medicine course before they graduate; the samecourse had been offered as an elective for the past five years. Theclass teaches up-to-date practices on how to identify and treatvictims of a terrorist attack.

The University at Albany School of Public Health, one of 15schools named by the federal government as a regional center forpublic health preparedness, plans to offer a disaster managementcourse next fall that will teach, among other things, how toquarantine and decontaminate disaster areas.

"We need to prepare the existing emergency responder work forceto this whole concept of a weaponized event — people purposelydoing things to injure the civilian population," said Albany'sdean Peter Levin.

Courses on biological agents like anthrax and smallpox havealways been taught in the country's top institutions but rarely ina terrorism context. Now instructors are incorporating into theirlectures the different ways these germs and others can be used asweapons.

In the past, disaster drills for doctors and nurses typicallyfocused on chain-reaction car wrecks or plane crashes. After Sept.11, most drills include terrorist-related scenarios like suicidebombers, nerve gas or dirty bomb attacks. Students at JeffersonMedical College in Philadelphia who take part in a drill at ThomasJefferson University Hospital wear protective terrorism suits whiledecontaminating victims using shower heads in the hospital'salleyways.

"Everyone now is sort of expecting a terrorism scenario for ourhospital drills and that was never the case before," said EdwardJasper, director of bioterrorism and disaster preparedness.

Students at Marshall University's Joan C. Edwards School ofMedicine in Huntington, W. Va., can earn a certificate inbioterrorism studies if they attend required lectures on anthrax,smallpox, encephalitis and other emerging diseases and view a PBSdocumentary on bioterrorism, said Terry Fenger, professor ofmicrobiology and forensic science.

Since July 2000, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicinehas taught students how to recognize and treat terrorist-relatedcasualties. After the anthrax scare, the school stepped up trainingand now includes course work on how to handle contaminated food andwater.

"From the first week of medical school to graduation, therewill be components of bioterrorism woven into the medical schoolcurriculum," said John Mahoney, assistant dean for medicaleducation.

Meanwhile, Stanford University, the University of California atLos Angeles and George Washington University each have formed abioterrorism preparedness task force to develop strategies for fastresponse.

"We're going to continue chipping away at the topic until wefeel we're as prepared as we can," said Columbia's Gershon."We're getting ready. We don't want to be caught short."

—The Associated Press

Critics Pan EPA’s Security Strategy for Chemical Plants

W A S H I N G T O N, Oct. 3 — The Environmental Protection Agency outlined ahomeland security strategy Wednesday that leaves it up to thechemical industry to adopt voluntary security measures.

The strategy drew sharp criticism from some environmentalistswho say the agency is not addressing vulnerabilities at theseplants.

The EPA said its main goals are to work closely with states andindustry to protect drinking water and wastewater facilities and tomaintain security at chemical and oil industry facilities.

The strategy "is designed to ensure that this agency is doingwhat it should to meet its responsibilities" as part of thegovernment's broader homeland security effort in the aftermath ofthe terrorists attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, EPA AdministratorChristie Whitman said in a statement.

But several environmental groups took the EPA to task for notpursuing new regulations to require security plants to more closelyscrutinize their vulnerabilities and improve security.

"Why is the EPA and the Bush administration choosing avoluntary approach to this critical component of homelandsecurity?" the Natural Resources Defense Council asked in astatement.

Jeremiah Baumann of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group saidWhitman has advocated giving responsibility for security atchemical plants to the future Department of Homeland Security.

"But that department doesn't exist yet," said Baumann, addingthat EPA now has authority under clean water laws and otherlegislation to enforce new security measures at chemicalfacilities.

Whitman, in congressional testimony last week, said she agreedthe homeland security agency Congress is creating, and not the EPA,should take the lead on security issues involving chemicalfacilities.

But the EPA strategy said the agency will be prepared to providetechnical support and "will work with the states, tribes and otherpartners to enhance security in the chemical and oil industry" andensure that environmental threat monitoring information andtechnologies are available.

Chris VandenHeuvel, a spokesman for the American ChemistryCouncil, said the industry was working with Congress "to identifythe appropriate role in overseeing security" at chemicalfacilities. He called the EPA strategy "an important interimstep" until legislation is developed.

"Everybody agrees that security at chemical facilities needs tobe enhanced," VandenHeuvel said in an interview. But the industry"has instituted a massive security program" since the terroristattacks and is prepared to do more, he said.

He said specific facilities are still being checked to see howvulnerable they are but those most at risk are being singled outfor improvements. "The real question is what role the federalgovernment should play," VandenHeuvel said.

The industry view is that the EPA should take a supporting roleand not specifically be given "counterterrorism authority" whichshould rest in the future Department of Homeland Security, he said. The EPA strategy also outlines the agency's plans to enhance itsresponse role in a terrorist incident.

The agency said it is developing a National DecontaminationTeam, comprised of highly specialized engineers and scientists whoare experts in responding to biological, chemical or radiologicalattacks. In addition, the agency is adding 75 response specialiststo its own work force to better deal with simultaneous and multiple

—The Associated Press