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NEWS IN BRIEF
Norway massacre response flawed
OSLO, Norway (AP) A year after a far-right militants bomb and gun attacks exposed flaws in Norways terror preparedness, police are being criticized for failing to improve their ability to stop a gunman bent on inflicting mass casualties. In contrast to the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Colorado, which led to sweeping changes in police tactics and training in the U.S., the massacre of 77 people in July last year hasnt had a tangible impact on Norways police force, critics say. There have hardly been any visible changes from July 22 and until today. That is what our members tell me, said Arne Johannessen, who heads Norways union for police officers. Now things have to happen. Now both the leadership in the police and the politicians must take this seriously. A government-appointed commission on Monday presented a long-awaited 500page report outlining flaws and some bright spots in how police and other authorities responded to Norways worst peacetime attacks. The confessed gunman, right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik, set off a car bomb outside the government headquarters in Oslo, then drove to the Labor youth divisions annual summer camp, disguised as a police officer, and opened fire. Eight people were killed in the explosion, while 69 people died in the massacre on Utoya island, in a lake some 25 miles from the capital. Breiviks shooting massacre lasted for more than an hour before he surrendered to a police anti-terror unit. He is awaiting sentencing on Aug. 24.

House files suit against Holder

Seeks government records in Operation Fast and Furious
By LARRY MARGASAK
Associated Press

NATION & WORLD

resolution led to yesterdays lawsuit. Holder refused requests by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to hand over without preconditions documents that could explain why the Justice Department initially denied in February 2011 that a risky tactic was used to allow firearms to walk from Arizona to Mexico. Federal agents lost track of many of the guns. The operation identified more than 2,000 illicitly purchased weapons, and some 1,400 of them have yet to be recovered. The department failed to acknowledge its incorrect statement for 10 months. Portentously, the (Justice) Department from the outset actively resisted cooperating fully with the committees investigation, the lawsuit said. Among other things, the department initially de-

The MORNINg JOuRNAL | TUESday, aUGUST 14, 2012

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WASHINGTON The Republican-run House yesterday asked a federal court to enforce a subpoena against Attorney General Eric Holder, demanding that he produce records on a bungled gun-tracking operation known as Operation Fast and Furious. The lawsuit asked the court to reject a claim by President Barack Obama asserting executive privilege, a legal position designed to protect certain internal administration communications from disclosure. The failure of Holder and House Republicans to work out a deal on the documents led to votes in June that held the attorney general in civil and criminal contempt of Congress. The civil contempt

clined to produce documents; later produced only very limited numbers of documents in piecemeal fashion; refused to make available to the committee certain witnesses; and limited the committees questioning of other witnesses who were made available, it said. The Justice Department previously said that it would not bring criminal charges against its boss. Democrats have labeled the civil and criminal contempt citations a political stunt. In response to the lawsuit, Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said, We were always willing to work with the committee. Instead the House and the committee have said they prefer to litigate. Numerous lawmakers said this was the first time a Cabinet official had been held in contempt.

douBlE BomBINg

Man locked girlfriend in room for years

By DAVID PORTER
Associated Press

Fidel Castro turns 86 behind closed doors

HAVANA (AP) Cuba marked Fidel Castros 86th birthday yesterday with congratulatory messages in state media but no planned appearance by the retired leader, who has faded from public view. Communist Party newspaper Granma published memories of Castro from people familiar with him such as Cuban journalists and cohorts from the 1959 revolution. Government-run websites carried essays on his life and best wishes from presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua. The milestone was yet another reminder of both the Cuban leaders longevity and his inevitable mortality. He survived in power for nearly 50 years despite numerous attempts on his life and periodic rumors of his passing. Castro seemed to reflect on his mortality in a letter to his friend and ally Hugo Chavez in July, when the Venezuelan president turned 58. Fifty-eight years is nothing, Hugo, Castro wrote in the letter, which was posted online by Venezuelas office of the presidency and reproduced by Cuban website Cubadebate. I, who am almost 28 years older, have lived a great part of the last 100 years and can testify as to the meaning of time. Castro stepped aside temporarily in 2006 due to an illness that he later said nearly killed him. In 2008 he left the presidency permanently and younger brother Raul, who turned 81 earlier this year, took over.

AssociAted Press

People inspect the aftermath of a car bomb attack in Baghdads Shiite enclave of Sadr City, Iraq.

Al-Qaida claims attack on Iraq security HQ

By SAMEER N. YACOUB
Associated Press

BAGHDAD Al-Qaidas branch in Iraq claimed responsibility Monday for a double bombing that targeted a counterterrorism unit in Baghdad last month. The al-Qaida statement claimed 70 people were killed in the July 31 attack on the security headquarters. Government and security officials put the death toll for all the violence that hit the capital that day at 21. In a statement posted Monday on a militant website, the Islamic State of Iraq, al-Qaidas Iraqi branch, said a group of believers from the Sunni people attacked a unit that is part of the pro-Iranian forces in the country. Iran is a regional Shiite powerhouse. The militant group also claimed responsibility for 27 shootings and other attacks on government and security officials from June 17 until July 20. Also Monday, gunmen with silenced pistols shot dead three policemen at a checkpoint in Sadiyah neighborhood in western Baghdad, a police official said.

A medic at a nearby hospital confirmed the death toll. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to reporters. Security forces and government offices are top targets for insurgents seeking to undermine the Shiite-led Iraqi governments authority. Al-Qaidas local wing has for years had a hot-and-cold relationship with the global terror networks leadership. Both shared the goal of targeting the U.S. military in Iraq and, to an extent, undermining the Shiite government that replaced Saddam Husseins regime. But al-Qaida leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri distanced themselves from the Iraqi militants in 2007 for also killing Iraqi civilians instead of focusing on Western targets. Generally, al-Qaida in Iraq does not launch attacks or otherwise operate beyond Iraqs borders. But in early 2012, al-Zawahri urged Iraqi insurgents to support the Sunnibased uprising in neighboring Syria against President Bashar Assad, an Alawite. The sect is a branch of Shiite Islam.

PATERSON, N.J. Police searching an apartment for drugs found a woman they believe was kept padlocked in a bedroom for long periods of time over the last several years perhaps as long as a decade. State police said members of their street gang unit discovered the 44year-old woman on Thursday as they searched the Paterson home of 42-year-old Michael Mendez, believed to be a member of the Latin Kings street gang. Based on interviews and evidence, state police spokesman acting Sgt. 1st Class Brian Polite said investigators believe the woman was kept in the bedroom for extended periods of time for the last two years and possibly up to 10 years. Investigators said the woman was sometimes let out of the room when her boyfriend was home. One neighbor in the complex of three-story brick buildings said that he has known Mendez for about a dozen years and that Mendez was a familiar face around the complex and often could be seen outside, polishing a car and listening to music. The neighbor said he saw the woman a few times in recent years, though it was rare. The man, who refused to give his name because of worries over safety, said he remembered seeing the woman get into a car sometime in the last few years. A maintenance worker, who also declined to give his name because of concerns over his safety, remembered the woman cussing me out one time when I was doing my work. Neighbors on either side of Mendezs top-floor apartment said they werent aware that another person lived in the apartment.

Slot machines hurt Puerto Rico casinos

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) He is just one man gambling alone, his face lit by the pink glow of a slot machine in a dark neighborhood bar, but 69-year-old Pedro Rodriguez represents a threat to one of Puerto Ricos most important money makers legal gambling. As Rodriguez robotically punches buttons on a video slot machine, barely drinking the warm beer in his left hand, he explains why he places wages at a bar in a seedy section of the capital, and not at one of the glitzy hotel casinos that line the islands coast, where he once regularly contributed to the hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue the government badly needs each year. The probabilities are always in favor of the house, he said. They dont like to pay. Growing numbers of people appear to prefer their odds with illegal slot machines set up everywhere from bars to bakeries in this U.S. territory. Thats become not only a problem for the hotels running the bulk of legal casinos but for the government, which is already struggling with gaping budget shortfalls. As is, Puerto Rico will see two casinos close by the end of the year, with five other smaller casinos on the verge.

Rebel video claims to show captured Syrian pilot

BEIRUT (AP) Syrian rebels circulated dramatic video Monday of what they claimed was the downing of a warplane and armed men later holding the captured pilot who ejected as the MiG fighter was engulfed by flames. Syria acknowledged a pilot bailed out of a disabled plane but blamed the crash on a technical malfunction. The authenticity of the images or the claims could not be independently verified. If the rebels did bring down their first aircraft, that could signal a significant jump in their firepower and give opposition forces their most highprofile military captive. But wider questions remain even if the rebel reports are confirmed, including whether this could be just a one-time blow against expanding air offensives by the forces of Bashar Assads regime. Just days ago, protesters across Syria pleaded for the rebels main backers including Turkey and Gulf states to send anti-aircraft weapons for outgunned fighters. Assads military has significantly stepped up aerial attacks in recent weeks. Strafing from warplanes and close-range missile strikes from helicopter gunships have pushed back rebels in key fronts such as Aleppo, the countrys largest city and the scene of fierce attacks to dislodge rebel positions. As the sun was setting on Monday, an Associated Press reporter saw two fighter jets over the village of Marea, 20 miles north of Aleppo. Terrified residents collected on street corners and near the doors to their houses to watch and point as the jets dived low, dropping bombs that sent up clouds of smoke and firing machine guns that crackled over the village. On one crowded market street, a handful of rebels with rifles ran toward the site of the bombings. What are you going to do, bring down a jet with a rifle? a man screamed. After the jets left, young men on motorcycles rushed to the bombing site on the edge of the village to find two craters the size of cars in a dirt field next to a swimming pool. A man working at the privately

AssociAted Press

Syrian Pilot Colonel Rafik mohammed Suleiman is interrogated by a rebel officer monday after his Soviet-made mig warplane was apparently hit by ground fire over deir el-Zour province, an area near the Iraqi border, Syria. owned pool said only three people and tried to chase away journalists were there at the time and that none and residents seeking to film the was injured. He didnt give his name pool.

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