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Fighting terror notebook
Compiled from Times wires Single firefighters left out of union's benefit payoutsNEW YORK -- A bitter dispute has erupted over the decision by a firefighters' union to exclude the families of single firefighters who died on Sept. 11 from receiving any of the roughly $60-million collected through its Widows' and Children's Fund. Officials from the union, the Uniformed Firefighters Association, said they had no choice because the fund's bylaws clearly state that all donations are to go to the widows, children and dependents of firefighters who died in the line of duty. They note that families of single firefighters have already received $418,000 each from a separate fund. But the families of the 97 unmarried firefighters who died that day said the union had advertised that donations to the Widows' and Children's Fund would go to the families of all 343 firefighters who died after the attack on the World Trade Center. "I feel like my own union and my own friends have stabbed me in the back," said Battalion Chief James J. Riches, whose son James died in the attack. Thomas LaMacchia, the union's treasurer, denied that the union's stance was divisive. "We had a meeting yesterday, and everyone was very supportive of what the board is doing," he said. LaMacchia said the union was trying to treat everyone equally. "We certainly don't think there are two types of heroes," he said. "There is only one type of hero, and they're all heroes." The firefighters' union is not the first organization to get tripped up in its own language over Sept. 11. The American Red Cross decided to disburse all of the money it collected for Sept. 11 after donors decried its plans to reserve a portion to finance a speedy response to the next tragedy. That is standard practice among disaster relief organizations, but donors complained that the Red Cross had not done enough to tell them about it. FBI agent testifies at Pearl murder trialKARACHI, Pakistan -- Under heavy security, an FBI agent appeared as a witness on Saturday in the trial of the men accused in the killing of an American journalist, testifying about a laptop computer belonging to one of the defendants that contains e-mail messages and photographs linking the defendants to the crime, lawyers in the case said. The FBI has played an active role in the investigation of the killing of Daniel Pearl, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal who was seized in this bustling port city in January. Several agents arrived back in town this week to investigate an attack Wednesday on a bus that killed 11 French citizens and three Pakistanis. At a news conference, provincial police Chief Syed Kamal Shah said that contrary to earlier reports he could not say definitively that the explosion was a suicide attack. British-born Islamic militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheik, the chief defendant in the Pearl murder, passed a message to reporters Saturday denying any link with the bombing. President Pervez Musharraf, meanwhile, established an anti-terrorist task force Saturday to root out criminals, the state-run news agency reported. "We cannot afford any laxity," Musharraf was quoted saying. He announced a Forensic Science Agency will be established at the cost of $20-million. Pakistan's current forensic facilities are limited, with only one center to service the entire country. Missile tube found near Saudi base used by U.S.DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Saudi soldiers found an empty tube from a shoulder-fired antiaircraft missile near a military base used by U.S. warplanes, Saudi military officials said Saturday. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a patrol discovered the missile launcher tube about a half mile from the remote Prince Sultan Air Base, south of the Saudi capital Riyadh "at the end of the week." No day was given, but the Saudi work week ends Thursday. The Saudi comments came after the Pentagon reported Friday that a launcher tube had been found about 2 miles from a base runway, inside its outer perimeter fence, raising speculation that a missile may have been fired at aircraft using the facility. The Saudi officials were investigating how the launcher came to be near the base. Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said a cover on the front of the launcher tube was intact, but the back of the tube had scorch marks, indicating it could have been used to fire a missile. Saudi forces photographed the 3-foot-long tube, designed for a Soviet-made SA-7 antiaircraft missile, before destroying it, Quigley said.
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
