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To: Cactus Jack who wrote (60610)	1/23/2004 9:01:15 PM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65232

You were right of course. Complicated matters take time to properly resolve themselves. Speaking of which, here's news of more success in the global war on terror. And it happened in Iraq of all places...... Captured Insurgent Said Linked to al-Qaida U.S. Forces in Iraq Capture Insurgent Leader Said to Be Linked to al-Qaida Terror Network The Associated Press WASHINGTON Jan. 23 — U.S. forces in Iraq captured a leader of the insurgency who is believed to be a close associate of Abu Musab Zarqawi, described by some as a key link between the al-Qaida terrorist network and toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, a senior American official said Friday. U.S. troops captured Husam al-Yemeni last Thursday, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He is described by U.S. officials as the leader of an insurgency cell in Fallujah, west of Baghdad. The official said al-Yemeni is the highest-level member of Ansar al-Islam captured so far. That is a group comprising mainly ethnic Kurds from northern Iraq with alleged al-Qaida ties. Zarqawi is a high-priority target for U.S. forces in Iraq. He is a Jordanian operative the CIA describes as a close associate of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. Zarqawi is suspected of coordinating anti-U.S. operations in Iraq. He may be inside that country, although his whereabouts are unknown. The official who disclosed al-Yemeni's capture on Friday said he could provide no more details, including the location where the prisoner was grabbed inside Iraq. Ansar al-Islam operated in a region of northern Iraq that was outside of Saddam's control before the war. It was bombed by U.S. warplanes during the fighting. Now, surviving Ansar members serve as guides and fixers for foreigners entering Iraq, officials say. In recent months, U.S. forces in central Iraq have detained a handful of people suspected of having ties to al-Qaida, but American intelligence officials described them as mostly low-level operatives with unclear purposes in the country. The Bush administration has asserted that bin Laden's terrorist organization maintained links with Saddam's regime, but U.S. authorities searching Iraq since the invasion have found little that would suggest links between the two. U.S. officials say Ansar sent about a dozen people through al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan in 1999 and 2000 and experimented with biotoxin ricin in 2002. The Kurdish territory where Ansar was based was largely autonomous, not controlled by Saddam's government. In late August, Army Gen. John Abizaid, overall commander in Iraq, told reporters that elements of Ansar had migrated south into the Baghdad area and presented an increased terrorist threat. Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. abcnews.go.com

To: Cactus Jack who wrote (60610)	2/19/2004 4:38:48 PM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 65232

Indictment puts Skilling at center of Enron fraud Reuters, 02.19.04, 3:57 PM ET By Matt Daily HOUSTON (Reuters) - An indictment unsealed by federal prosecutors Thursday laid the blame for Enron Corp.'s exaggerated profits and its effort to cover up debts squarely on Jeffrey Skilling, the bankrupt energy trader's former chief executive. The indictment did not mention former Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay, the company's top executive at the time of its collapse, who has not yet faced any criminal charges. Skilling, 50, the highest-ranking Enron official prosecuted so far, was charged with 35 criminal counts for shuffling money-losing operations off the company's books, then hiding the losses from investors and government regulators while selling his stock on inside information. He pleaded not guilty at an initial court hearing. If convicted, Skilling could potentially face 325 years in prison and fines of more than $80 million. Skilling, charged under a new indictment that superseded the one filed against former Enron chief accounting officer Richard Causey last month, was among "the principal architects of the scheme to manipulate Enron's reported financial results and to present Enron in a misleading manner," according to the government's court filing. Among his co-conspirators was former Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow, according to prosecutors. Fastow has been cooperating with the government investigation as part of his plea deal struck last month that would limit his prison sentence to 10 years. Skilling has previously denied any responsibility in the downfall of the company, once the nation's seventh largest, and has said he had no knowledge of any accounting fraud. That claim must be disproved by prosecutors, according to a white collar crime expert, or nearly all the charges could fall apart. "If he can prove he did not have knowledge that the books were cooked, (the charges) may all fall by the wayside," said Mark Biros, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice with Proskauer Rose in Washington, D.C. Among the charges Skilling faces is one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud by working with others in the company to hide losses in order to meet or beat Wall Street's earnings expectations. He has also been accused of securities fraud for using an off-balance-sheet "special purpose entity" to illegally hide the company's debt, as well as four counts of wire fraud for sending money to those partnerships. Seven counts were lodged against Skilling and Causey for filing fraudulent quarterly and annual reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission between March 2000 and August 2001. Another six fraud charges related to deceptive presentations Skilling gave to analysts from April 2000 to July 2001, according to the indictment. Prosecutors also filed six counts against Skilling for making false statements to auditors by claiming the financial statements were correct and certifying the company's annual results filings. Skilling's lawyers told reporters at the courthouse their client was being singled out for blame in one of the worst corporate scandals in U.S. history. "I guess they need a scapegoat, and Jeff Skilling is that scapegoat," attorney Daniel Petrocelli told reporters. Copyright 2004, Reuters News Service forbes.com