Fighting terror notebook

U.S. robe policy sits poorly with Saudis

Saudi officials warned Thursday they would not allow U.S. servicewomen to go around without a head-to-toe robe, and criticized Washington for lifting the requirement that its female troops wear the garment.

A member of the Committee for the Preservation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, a government agency for enforcing Islamic law, said all women must wear the robe, or abaya in Arabic, irrespective of religion, nationality or profession.

Gen. Tommy Franks, head of the U.S. Central Command, issued an order last week saying the abaya is no longer required for U.S. servicewomen in Saudi Arabia "but is strongly encouraged." The requirement dates from the 1990-91 Gulf crisis when U.S. forces were first stationed in Saudi Arabia.

A Saudi military official on Thursday criticized Franks' move, saying the United States should have consulted the kingdom beforehand.

The U.S. decision is a violation of Saudi sovereignty and of Islamic law, the official said.

The highest-ranking female pilot in the U.S. Air Force has challenged the rule in a Washington court. Lt. Col. Martha McSally argued the policy was unconstitutional and said it improperly forced American women to conform to others' customs.

Congressional fact team heading to Guantanamo

About two dozen members of Congress were to go to Cuba today for a tour of the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay holding captured al-Qaida and Taliban fighters from Afghanistan.

The visit's primary purpose is to see whether useful intelligence is being gleaned from the captives, said some lawmakers. The recent spate of international criticism about the treatment of the prisoners was not high on their priority list.

"This has nothing to do whatsoever with treatment of prisoners," said Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. "I am not going to get into the debate about the size of holding cells," or other such matters. "I'm not interested in any of that."

Among those going was Senate Armed Services Committee members Bill Nelson, D-Fla. Staffers from that committee and its House counterpart were to go as well.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Bob Graham, D-Fla., canceled his Guantanamo plans when Majority Leader Tom Daschle scheduled a vote for today on a GOP amendment to the Democratic economic stimulus package.

"My interest is to find out if we are getting information from these terrorist prisoners that will help us prevent further terrorist acts," Nelson said.

But he said he also would take note of the treatment of prisoners.

"There's been a lot of commentary," he said. "I don't have any reason to believe that there is not humane treatment, but I'll be observing everything."

Indonesian cleric denies affiliation with al-Qaida

A Muslim cleric accused of heading a Southeast Asian terrorist network was called in to the Jakarta, Indonesia, police headquarters here Thursday to explain his activities and used the occasion to applaud Osama bin Laden.

Mobbed by reporters as he arrived at the police station, the white-robed Abu Bakar Bashir denied allegations that he is affiliated with bin Laden's al-Qaida network and accused the United States of being the world's real terrorist.

In a statement to the media, the 63-year-old Indonesian called bin Laden "a true Muslim fighter" and said al-Qaida had been active in promoting Muslims' rights.

Bashir, who spent four years in custody in the early 1980s for alleged antigovernment activity, has been named by Singapore and Malaysia as a top leader of a regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiah that allegedly planned to attack American targets in Singapore, including the U.S. Embassy and sailors on leave.

Other developments

ANTIABORTIONIST FACES MORE CHARGES: A man who allegedly mailed fake anthrax letters to abortion clinics nationwide was indicted Thursday in Ohio on firearms and stolen-car charges.

Clayton Lee Waagner, 45, is behind bars in Urbana, Ill., where he is to be sentenced today on other federal convictions.

Waagner had been awaiting sentencing for vehicle theft and a firearm conviction when he escaped Feb. 22 from jail in Clinton, Ill., and became one of the FBI's 10 most-wanted fugitives.

Thursday's six-count indictment charges Waagner with illegally possessing a handgun and a rifle as a fugitive and convicted felon; possessing a stolen handgun; and possessing a stolen car.

BUSH, PAKISTAN LEADER TO MEET: President Bush will meet next month with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

Bush and Musharraf will meet at the White House on Feb. 13. The two leaders last saw each other in November, when they met in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations general assembly.

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