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To: S100 who wrote (112879)2/9/2002 9:42:04 PM
From: Jon Koplik  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 152472
 
Off topic -- Afghan Gov't Frees Taliban Prisoners

February 9, 2002

Afghan Gov't Frees Taliban Prisoners

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 12:09 p.m. ET

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- The Afghan government released 320 captured
Taliban fighters Saturday, a gesture of reconciliation as the new administration
focuses on rebuilding a country shattered by decades of war.

In a brief speech before shivering prisoners lined up in the freezing weather on a
field in front of the presidential palace, Interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai told
the men to go back to their homes.

``Instead of using guns, work and earn money,'' he said.

All of the men wore civilian clothing. Most appeared desperately poor and wore
sandals or cheap plastic shoes. One wore plastic bags on his feet instead of
socks.

Karzai said the men were ``innocent conscripts,'' but gave no details about when
or where the men were captured. Most of the men appeared to be speaking
Pashtu with accents from the area of Kandahar, the Taliban spiritual heartland.

``I ask you to serve your country,'' Karzai said. ``Go, go. Goodbye.''

Karzai did not say how many Taliban prisoners are still being held, but vowed
that captured soldiers who were not in command positions would be released.

One of the prisoners demanded to know when the other fighters would be freed.

``Our other friends are in prison,'' he called out to Karzai. ``What will you do with
them?''

``We will release all the prisoners,'' Karzai replied.

Each of the soldiers was given 500,000 Afghanis, equivalent to $15, or about two
weeks salary for an average civil servant.

In January, 300 Taliban prisoners were also freed, some of whom had been held
for up to five years by the anti-Taliban northern alliance.

Copyright 2002 The Associated Press



To: S100 who wrote (112879)2/9/2002 9:52:40 PM
From: Ruffian  Respond to of 152472
 
Amstel Light?



To: S100 who wrote (112879)2/10/2002 12:12:58 AM
From: Jon Koplik  Respond to of 152472
 
Off topic -- Fugitive Lehman Brothers Broker Surrenders Self to Federal Agents

By CHARLES GASPARINO and SUSANNE CRAIG
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Fugitive Lehman Brothers broker Frank Gruttadauria surrendered
Saturday afternoon to federal agents in Cleveland, ending one of the
largest manhunts in the securities business in recent years, the Federal
Bureau of Investigation said.

Mr. Gruttadauria, accused of bilking more than two dozen investors out
of tens of millions of dollars in savings, is now in FBI custody and will
be arraigned on Monday, federal officials said.

Federal authorities are investigating allegations
that Mr. Gruttadauria used a scheme in which
he falsified brokerage-account statements to
cheat a wealthy group of investors near
Cleveland and Chicago over a 15-year period.

Mr. Gruttadauria, 44, was the subject of a page
one Wall Street Journal article article that
appeared Friday. The article, which discussed
his activities as a broker, also disclosed that
FBI agents were close to bringing him in.

Mr. Gruttadauria had been missing since Jan.
11, after sending a note to local FBI agents
describing in detail how he falsified account
statements, inflated investor holdings and improperly took millions of
dollars of client funds, people close to the inquiry said.

For nearly a month, Mr. Gruttadauria evaded federal authorities and at
one point, they thought he might have taken his own life. However,
people familiar with the investigation say that during that time he was
traveling around the country and was recently seen in Colorado.

Some of his former clients aren't sure what to think. Golda Stout, an
86-great grand mother, said account statements Mr. Gruttadauria
provided her showed that she had investments worth close to $2.5
million. But after his disappearance, she discovered she had just
$86,000.

"I am so shocked its difficult for me to even comprehend," Ms. Stout
said after hearing of his surrender. "I'm not kidding when I say that I
can get through this year living very carefully, but after this I'm going to
have to go on Social Security unless my sons come to my rescue. God
knows the truth is that every time I had a dollar I gave it to Frank."

The case has stunned officials in the securities industry and cast a harsh
light on the compliance practices of major Wall Street firms. Mr.
Gruttadauria had been working at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s
Cleveland, Ohio office since October 2000, joining the firm when
Lehman bought the brokerage arm of S.G. Cowen Securities from
Societe Generale SA, a French bank.

He was one of Lehman's top stock brokers and received $3 million
bonus, payable over three years, to join the firm, people at Lehman
familiar with the matter said.

Some securities industry experts question how a lone broker could
hoodwink firm compliance officials for so long. But Lehman Brothers,
and officials at other firms where he worked allege that Mr. Gruttadauria
hid his activities from their watchful eye. They say federal authorities are
investigating whether Mr. Gruttadauria carried out the alleged scheme
since he broke into the brokerage business in 1987 and whether he has
inflated clients' profits by $250 million or more over that time.

Officials from Lehman and Cowen, who have kept largely silent on
whether investors will get their money back, say Mr. Gruttaduaria's
surrender is a welcome development in helping piece together his
activities. His surrender "will help us to get to the bottom of what
happened to these people over the past 15 years," Lehman spokesman
William Ahearn said after hearing about his surrender. A spokesman for
S.G. Cowen couldn't be reached for comment.

The case began on Jan. 12, when his live-in girlfriend, Sarah Emamy, reported his disappearance after
finding a letter he had written tucked away in the house safe. ``I am not the man you think,'' he wrote,
according to people familiar with the letter.

Ms. Emamy says she heard about his surrender late Saturday afternoon, and Mr. Gruttadauria did not
contact her before going to the FBI. "I am horrified by what has happened as you can imagine," she said.

Write to Charles Gasparino at charles.gasparino@wsj.com and Susanne Craig at susanne.craig@wsj.com

Updated February 9, 2002 8:52 p.m. EST

Copyright © 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved



To: S100 who wrote (112879)2/10/2002 1:12:51 AM
From: Jon Koplik  Respond to of 152472
 
Off topic -- More Detainees Arrive in Guantanamo

February 9, 2002

More Detainees Arrive in Guantanamo

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 8:10 p.m. ET

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) -- Marines equipped with
machine guns, grenade launchers, pepper spray and batons rushed to greet a
transport plane delivering 34 more detainees from Afghanistan on Saturday.

Gearing up for their mission, some of the young members of the Marines' Quick
Reaction Force jammed to the hit Queen song ``We Will Rock You'' as a ferry
carried them across the bay toward the airfield at this remote U.S. Navy base.

``I enjoy getting my hands on them,'' said Michael Pfadenhauer, a 22-year-old
from Baltimore who was among Marines on guard when the C-141 cargo plane
arrived after a 25-hour flight.

``These are the actual people who are responsible for the destruction in New
York and Washington. ... It feels good to see them inside their little cages.
They're where they belong,'' he said.

The fresh arrivals came two days after Washington announced that the Geneva
Convention -- a group of treaties dealing with the treatment of war prisoners --
should apply to detainees from the ousted Afghan Taliban regime, but not to
detainees of the al-Qaida network.

Regardless of the legal distinction, Brig. Gen. Mike Lehnert, the Marine in charge
of the detention mission, said both groups would be treated the same --
humanely. He said they may be separated later if Congress gives approval to build
a semi-permanent prison.

``We have a group that claims status as Taliban. There is a smaller number that
we've confirmed through other sources who are al-Qaida,'' Lehnert told reporters
Saturday. Of the other detainees, ``All we can say for certain is that none of them
are on our side.''

The arrivals Saturday brought to 220 the number of prisoners being held at
what's called Camp X-Ray, a temporary prison of open-air cells with walls of
chain-link fence.

President Bush's administration refused this week to bow to demands from
several countries that the Taliban detainees be given official prisoner-of-war
status. However, a U.S. congressman who toured Camp X-Ray said the
detainees were being treated fairly under the Geneva Conventions.

``They are getting medical screening and medical care. They are getting 2,600
calories a day. Their spiritual needs are being taken care of,'' Rep. James
Sensenbrenner, a Republican from Wisconsin who is chairman of the U.S. House
of Representative's Judicial Committee, said Friday.

Earlier, the lilting cry of a Muslim Navy cleric had risen over the camp, calling
the detainees to midday prayers.

The cleric, Bangladesh-born Lt. Abuhena Saiful-Islam, has said that some of the
detainees have expressed regrets to him about the Sept. 11 attack.

Several countries have demanded that their citizens be returned home to face
interrogation or trial. U.S. officials have said the detainees come from 25
countries. On Thursday, a senior Pentagon official who spoke on condition of
anonymity said they included about 50 Saudis, 30 Yemenis, 25 Pakistanis, eight
Algerians, three Britons and small numbers from Egypt, Australia, France,
Russia, Belgium and Sweden.

Some countries, including Britain, welcomed Washington's announcement about
the detainees' status. But the International Committee of the Red Cross said it fell
short of the requirements of international law.

``The ICRC stands by its position that people in a situation of international
conflict are considered to be prisoners of war unless a competent tribunal
decides otherwise,'' spokeswoman Kim Gordon-Bates said.

Such a status would give the detainees greater legal protections, and prevent the
United States from trying them in secret military commission empowered to
impose the death sentence.

The Geneva Conventions set four conditions for qualification as a POW: to be
part of a military hierarchy; to wear uniforms or other distinctive signs; to carry
arms openly; and to conduct operations according to the laws and customs of
war.

In Washington, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld reiterated Friday that the
Taliban did not wear uniforms, insignia or symbols and had no identifiable chains
of command.

On his way to meet the latest group of prisoners to arrive at the Guantanamo
base during Camp X-Ray's 35 days of operation, Pfadenhauer said Saturday he
didn't expect any major problems from the prisoners.

``They do not give us a hard time,'' he said. ``A lot of them we bring off (the
plane) are actually pretty scared. They should be.''

Copyright 2002 The Associated Press