Miller testifies before Plame grand jury
WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- New York Times reporter Judith Miller testified Friday before the federal grand jury investigating the disclosure of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity.
Miller, in a statement published in the Times, said she was able to testify because her source had "personally and voluntarily" freed her from a promise of confidentiality. The source was identified by others at the Times as Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.
Miller's involvement in the case has been something of a mystery because she did not write about the Plame affair. Plame was identified by conservative columnist Robert Novak after her husband, Joseph Wilson, accused the Bush administration of misleading the public about Saddam Hussein's supposed attempt to buy uranium from Nigeria.
Miller spent 12 weeks in jail. Joseph Tate, one of Libby's lawyers, told the Washington Post he told Miller months ago Libby waived confidentiality and was doing so voluntarily. Miller decided to testify after receiving a personal telephone call from Libby.
"At the outset, she had only a generic waiver of this obligation, and she believed she had ample reason to doubt it had been freely given," Times Executive Editor Bill Keller said. "In recent days, several important things have changed that convinced Judy that she was released from her obligation."
Thieves take advantage of Texas evacuation
HOUSTON, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Many Texans returning after fleeing from Hurricane Rita are finding to their horror that thieves have ransacked their homes during their absence.
"It was devastating. I don't feel safe, and now we're talking about purchasing a gun to protect ourselves, and I never wanted a gun in my home," said one Houston-area homeowner who lost thousands of dollars worth of valuables to thieves, reports the Houston Chronicle.
Authorities say there were increased reports of residential burglaries between last Friday and Tuesday of this week. Police arrested more than the average number of burglary suspects, many of whom were caught after alert neighbors notified them, says the report.
Harris County alone, where Houston is located, recorded at least 201 burglaries of residences and businesses in the past week, which one police official described as higher than normal.
Myers retires as chairman of Joint Chiefs
ARLINGTON, Va., Sept. 30 (UPI) -- U.S. President Bush paid tribute Friday to Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers as he retired as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and welcomed his successor.
In a ceremony at Fort Myer in Virginia, the president said that Myers, who became chairman immediately after the 2001 terrorist attacks, "had plenty to do" in his first weeks on the job.
"We asked more of General Myers in the years that followed," Bush said. "He helped design a broad and innovative military strategy to win the war on terror. His leadership and flexibility were essential to the liberation of Iraq, and to adapting our tactics to defeat the terrorists and help Iraqis build a peaceful democracy."
The president also described Myers as a "kind and humble man," who was prouder of his award as Father of the Year than of any of his medals.
Myers spent 40 years in the Air Force, including service as a fighter pilot in Vietnam. He is succeeded by Gen. Peter Pace, the first Marine to head the Joint Chiefs.
Italy seeks ex-U.S. official in abduction
ROME, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Italian authorities have ordered the arrests of a former U.S. Embassy official in Rome and two others in an alleged kidnapping case.
The incident in question is a so-called rendition case in which CIA operatives were accused of abducting a radical Muslim cleric from Milan and flying him to Egypt, where he claims he was tortured.
The arrest warrants bring to 22 the number of people sought on suspicion of planning and executing the plot and apparently are the first direct connection to the U.S. Embassy in Rome, the Los Angeles Times said.
U.S. intelligence officials in Washington, though refusing to acknowledge the operation publicly, have sought to portray it as conducted by the spy-world equivalent of contractors.
An imam known as Abu Omar was seized in February 2003 in a so-called extraordinary rendition, a controversial practice in which the U.S. snatches suspected terrorists and transports them to other countries without judicial permission.
Russian holds test launches missiles
MOSCOW, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Russia carried out a successful test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile from the Sea of Okhotsk, Itar-Tass reported Friday.
A nuclear-powered submarine, the St. George the Victorious, fired the missile from the Sea of Okhotsk, which borders Asian Russia on the east, the Defense Ministry announced. The warheads struck their targets on Cape Kanin Nos on the White Sea, which borders European Russia on the north.
Earlier this week, Russia carried out its first test of a Bulava strategic missile, which was launched from the submarine Dmitri Donskoy. The dummy warhead hit the target at Kura on the Kamchatka Peninsula, Pravda reported.
