Khalilzad: Iraq is 'defining challenge'
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- U.S. ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad Tuesday said the battle for Iraq will be reflected in the security of the entire world.
Khalilzad, speaking at a Baghdad news conference with U.S. Army Gen. George Casey, talked of the U.S. strategy in Iraq and said "despite the difficulties we face, success in Iraq is possible and can be achieve on a realistic timetable."
The Bush administration Monday said it wouldn't use the term "stay the course," since it didn't accurately reflect that strategies on the ground were constantly being changed.
Part of that position was outlined by Khalilzad who said the United States was working to reduce the sources of violence, increase Iraq's capability to provide its own security and to expand international support of Iraq.
"This is the defining challenge of our era," the ambassador said. "The struggle of the region is between moderates and extremist political forces. The outcome in Iraq will profoundly shape this wider struggle and, in turn, the security of the world."
Italy's spy chief may be replaced
ROME, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Italy's spy chief Nicolo Pollari may be replaced and even face charges in an alleged U.S. "rendition" program which Pollari has denied being involved in.
Prosecutors claim the program concerns the United States allegedly abducting suspected terrorists after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and placing them in secret prisons in Europe and elsewhere where they were tortured. The Italian case stems from the alleged "rendition" of a militant Egyptian cleric from Milan in 2003, the International Herald Tribune reports.
The case is the first in which some Italian government officials have been charged for cooperating with the United States in violation of Italian laws. The Herald Tribune said any indictment of Pollari would make him the most prominent official charged thus far.
More importantly, any trial at the level of Pollari could also throw accusatory light on the cooperation of U.S. allies in such an illegal program.
The case names 25 U.S. Central Intelligence Agency operatives.
Top Italian officials have consistently denied any knowledge of the kidnapping. Despite his denials, the lawyer for Pollari says he has been unable to defend himself fully because of Italy's secrecy laws.
U.S. air cargo security criticized
NEW YORK, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- A test of airline cargo security in Europe and Brazil shows five of six lead-lined packages shipped to the United States were not opened or X-rayed, CBS said.
Over a 2-month period, CBS News shipped the specially created packages from London, Paris and Rio de Janeiro to various airports in the United States.
While the lead lining would have concealed a bomb from X-rays, the network instead shipped a high-speed type of film that would fog if X-rayed. The packages were also rigged so they would reveal if they had been opened.
Only one -- from Brazil -- had been opened when it arrived, and none showed signs of having been X-rayed, the report said.
However, Robert Jamison, second-in-command at the Transportation Security Administration, said the test didn't accurately represent inspection techniques and procedures, as even without opening cargo, it can be inspected with explosive-detection devices and bomb-sniffing dogs.
Hastert aide denies conversation on Foley
WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert's chief of staff told a House ethics panel he did not know of ex-Rep. Mark Foley's behavior before the matter became public.
During testimony Monday before the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, Scott Palmer said conversations about Foley's suggestive correspondence with male House pages "did not happen," the Washington Post said. A statement from the Speaker's office said Palmer and Hastert were not told by others in Hastert's office who may have known about the matter last year, the Post said.
Foley, a Republican from Florida, resigned Sept. 29 after suggestive electronic exchanges with former House pages came to light.
Palmer's testimony conflicts with testimony by Kirk Fordham, Foley's former chief of staff, who said he went to Palmer out of concern about Foley's attention to pages and asked for help, the Post said. Fordham said Palmer later said he met with Foley and spoke with Hastert.
Two House leaders said they spoke with Hastert about Foley's electronic exchanges with a specific page; Hastert said he doesn't recall the conversations, the Post said.
Hastert said he plans to testify this week.
Burglarized DNC Watergate office for rent
WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- The former offices of the Democratic National Committee in Washington, the suite targeted by the Watergate burglars, are available for lease.
As part of a renovation project at the Watergate, new owners are shopping
Suite 610, one of the four office spaces burglars entered in 1972, setting off a chain of events that led to the resignation of U.S. President Richard Nixon, The Washington Post said Tuesday.
The 4,055-square-foot space is renting in the low $40s per square foot, compared to locations downtown, where rents start in the mid-$40s, the Post said.
Andrew Felber of CB Richard Ellis, a broker leasing the suite, said he shows potential tenants -- four so far -- a fact sheet with information on the burglary, the Post said. Felber said people commented, "Wow, this would be kind of cool," the Post said.
Bentley Forbes, a Los Angeles real estate investment firm, last year bought the 11-story Watergate office building and 61,000 square feet of retail space for $86.5 million and plans a $3 million renovation for 2007.
The Watergate complex includes three residential building, and another office building and a hotel being changed to cooperative apartments, the Post said.
