Congresswoman: Probe Bush Over 9/11

— -- Lawmaker: Did Bush Ignore 9/11 Warnings?

W A S H I N G T O N, April 12 — Fellow lawmakers today criticized Rep. Cynthia McKinney's allegations that Bush administration officials may have ignored advance warning of the Sept. 11 attacks and their political allies have profited from the war on terrorism.

Georgia Sen. Zell Miller, a conservative Democrat who has clashed before with McKinney, D-Ga., said her statement was "loony," also "dangerous and irresponsible." He said it was an example of McKinney trying to draw attention to herself.

McKinney made the statements in a March 25 interview on radio station KPFA in Berkeley, Calif.

"What did this administration know and when did it know it about the events of Sept. 11," McKinney said. "Who else knew, and why did they not warn the innocent people of New York who were needlessly murdered? What do they have to hide?"

McKinney alleged the military action that followed the attacks has benefited investment firms specializing in defense contracts. She singled out the Carlyle Group, where President Bush's father is on the board.

In a statement today, McKinney acknowledged she had no evidence anyone with ties to the Bush administration profited from the attacks. But she didn't back off her allegations that Bush officials may have had prior notice.

Carlyle Group spokesman Chris Ullman and White House press secretary Ari Fleischer dismissed the allegation as a baseless conspiracy theory.

"All I can tell you is the congresswoman must be running for the Hall of Fame of the Grassy Knoll Society," Fleischer said.

Erik Smith, spokesman for House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., said Gephardt disagreed with McKinney's comments but defended her right to make them.

McKinney, a five-term House member from Atlanta, is an outspoken liberal who has angered both parties with her comments over the years.

In August 2000, McKinney, who is black, issued a statement contending then-Vice President Al Gore had a low "Negro tolerance level" and refused to travel with more than one black person at a time. More than a week later, McKinney's office explained the statement was a draft and never meant for publication.

More recently, she was criticized for writing a letter scolding former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani for returning a Saudi prince's $10 million check for Sept. 11 victims. Giuliani returned it because, during a visit to New York, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal had suggested U.S. policies toward the Mideast were partly to blame for the attacks.

McKinney also is active on foreign policy issues, opposing U.S. sanctions against Iraq and strongly supporting the Palestinians in the Middle East.

— The Associated Press

Jelly Beans Sweet Medicine in Bioterror Drill

M c A L E S T E R, Okla., April 12 — For three days, this town will be the site of one of the most complex bioterrorism drills ever undertaken, complete with a low-flying airplane simulating an attack run and 10,000 packets of jelly beans used in place of real medicine.

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the discovery of anthrax in mail weeks later left many Americans concerned about what would happen if a bioterrorism attack targeted their town. The exercise in McAlester, a town of 18,000 in eastern Oklahoma, is designed to determine how well authorities would react.

"In McAlester, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma as a whole, the likelihood of a biological attack is hopefully very small," said Dr. Timothy Cathey, medical director for the Pittsburg County Health Department. "But we'll be able to share this information with other communities."

In the drill, which was to begin today, authorities were to pretend that a low-flying transport plane sprayed deadly pneumonic plague on McAlester. If it actually hit McAlester, the lung-attacking plague could wipe out the town's population in four days.

Within three hours of the "attack," officials planned to start distributing thousands of packets of make-believe medication — jelly beans and fruit punch.

The drill was to continue Saturday and wrap up on Monday.

The idea for the exercise came in October, as Americans were worrying that crop-dusting planes could be used to spray biological weapons.

"The country has been thinking about what we need to do to be best prepared long before Sept. 11," said Jim Gass, special projects officer for the Oklahoma City National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism. "Of course, now it's taken on more meaning."

The drill, called "Sooner Spring," is a follow-up to a national program at Andrews Air Force Base called "Dark Winter." In that exercise — conducted last summer — officials pretended that Iraqi-financed Afghan terrorists were spraying the smallpox virus into shopping centers in Oklahoma City, Philadelphia and Atlanta.

In addition to the pneumonic plague scenario in McAlester, there will be a mock outbreak of smallpox in Tulsa and a staged attack of botulism in the water in Lawton.

State officials said the McAlester drill is perhaps the most complex one ever because of the level of community involvement. Nearly 700 volunteers plan to distribute 10,000 doses of jelly beans to adults and 1,000 pediatric doses of fruit punch within 24 hours.

Residents, who've learned about the drill from newspaper and radio reports, have a chance to win prizes donated by local businesses if they show up at one of seven medicine distribution sites on Saturday.

McAlester officials were to collect the fake medicine from local pharmacies, giving it to health-care workers, law officers and their families. They also planned to put in a mock request for the drugs from the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile — real, thoughsecret, stashes of medicine at locations throughout the United States.

An Army National Guard unit in Oklahoma City was to practice sorting the drugs and then fly medical supplies by helicopter to McAlester.

Dr. Robert Petrone, bioterrorism and response coordinator for the state Health Department, said officials will meet after the drill to discuss how they can improve their response to a biological attack.

Organizers expect the exercise to go smoothly because preparations have gone well — and that's a big part of the point of the drill, Petrone said.

"Ninety percent of the benefit has already been accomplished," he said. "It's really been a success beyond my imagination."

— The Associated Press

Terror Victims Urge Senate Action on Border Bill

W A S H I N G T O N, April 12 — Families of people killed during theSept. 11 attacks are urging the Senate to move quickly on a border security bill.

A woman who lost her husband says the United States remains vulnerable to another attack.

Mary Ellen Salamone told a Senate panel that tamper-proof passports and tighter monitoring of foreign students are important aspects of the legislation now being considered.

The bill, which has the backing of the White House, is designed to tighten restrictions on who can get into the country.

It also keeps better tabs on how those people are tracked by immigration and security officials.

But one of the nation's senior senators says his colleagues shouldn't move too quickly on the bill. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., says the measure is too important to be approved without extensive debate.

— The Associated Press

FAA Lets Small Planes Return Over Chicago

C H I C A G O, April 12 — The Federal Aviation Administration has lifted the "no-fly zone" over downtown Chicago for small planes, worrying city officials who fear the 110-story Sears Tower could be a target for terrorists.

No-fly zones was established over the downtowns of several major cities after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Chicago's restriction, which expired this week after a previous extension, was the last small planes ban covering a downtown area except for Washington's.

Federal security officials said no specific terrorist threats have been issued to warrant extending the no-fly zone in Chicago again.

"Temporary flight restrictions mean temporary," FAA spokesman Tony Molinaro said. "The ban was in place long enough to make sure pilots flying in the Chicago area would be better educated about procedures and recommended flight patterns."

But Chicago Aviation Commissioner Thomas Walker, who had tried to persuade the FAA to grant another extension of the no-fly zone for private pilots, said the action was premature.

"The homeland security experts have said we are not out of the woods yet," he said.

FAA spokesman Elizabeth Isham Cory said the decision can still be appealed to the FAA. City officials said they were considering their options.

A variety of other restrictions remain in place in various cities, Cory said.

Chicago's 6.6-mile no-fly zone banned small planes from flying below 3,000 feet in the airspace over downtown.

—The Associated Press

Memorial Service for Dog Killed Sept. 11

T R E N T O N, N.J., April 12 — Port Authority police are planning a memorial service for a canine co-worker killed in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

Sirius, a bomb-detection dog who searched commercial vehicles coming into the trade center, is believed to be the only dog to die in the attacks. He will be honored April 24 during the ceremony at Liberty State Park in Jersey City.

Organizers expect hundreds of people, including K-9 officers and their dogs, will file past an urn containing the fallen dog's ashes. The 4-year-old dog was in a basement kennel in Tower Two when it collapsed during the Sept. 11 attacks, and his remains were found in January.

"I think it's a wonderful thing that he's being acknowledged," David Lim, the dog's handler, told The Record of Hackensack for today's editions. "This, of course, will be some closure to help me get over this loss."

— The Associated Press