Early Bird summary
Thursday’s Early Bird leads off with an article from the New York Times reporting that President Obama is facing a choice on whether to grant commanders’ requests for additional troops in Afghanistan before he has decided on his new strategy there.While the decision is expected to be the first significant military move of his presidency, defense officials said that Mr. Obama could choose a middle ground, deploying several thousand more troops there in the coming months but postponing a more difficult judgment on a much larger increase in personnel until after the administration completes a review of Afghanistan policy.The officials said that Mr. Obama may deploy one or two additional brigades, between 3,500 and 7,000 soldiers.
The New York Times also reports that Taliban suicide bombers and gunmen struck government buildings at three sites (in Kabul) on Wednesday, killing at least 20 people and wounding 57. It was a complex and closely coordinated attack that demonstrated the ease with which the insurgents could penetrate even Kabul, Afghanistan’s heavily fortified capital.At the Justice Ministry, five Taliban guerrillas armed with explosives and Kalashnikov rifles killed two guards, stormed inside and took control of the building for more than an hour. Frightened employees, including the justice minister, barricaded themselves in their offices while the armed men stalked the halls for victims. At least 10 people were killed, including 2 who were shot in the cross-fire between government forces and the insurgents, security officials said.Afterward, security forces carried the mangled bodies of the attackers out of the building and, in a sign of deep disrespect, dumped the bodies unceremoniously on the concrete forecourt. All eight attackers at the three sites were killed in addition to their 20 victims, the Interior Ministry said.
The Washington Post reports that tens of thousands of assault rifles and other firearms in Afghanistan are at risk of being stolen because U.S. officials have lost track of them, according to a congressionally ordered audit that warns that some weapons may already be in Taliban hands.The audit by the Government Accountability Office found that inventory controls were lacking for more than a third of the 242,000 light weapons donated to Afghan forces by the United States -- a stockpile that includes thousands of AK-47 assault rifles as well as mortars, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
The New York Times reports that Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, said Wednesday that Russia would consider expanding its assistance to NATO in Afghanistan.Russia already delivers nonmilitary cargo to Afghanistan to help NATO, and in response to a question at a news conference about whether Russia would be open to shipping weaponry, Mr. Lavrov did not reject the idea.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that the Philippine Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered a U.S. Marine convicted of rape to be moved from the American Embassy into a Philippine detention facility, reopening an emotional case that has become a rallying point for protests against U.S. military counterterrorism exercises in the country. Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith, 23, of St. Louis, Mo., is appealing a 40-year prison term in the 2006 crime.
Media summary
1. Leading newspaper headlines: After a day of rapid-fire negotiations, House and Senate leaders announced last night that they had reached a deal on a $789.5 billion stimulus package that would, among other things, pay for billions in new construction and infrastructure projects, provide tax relief to individuals and businesses, and extend unemployment benefits. (Slate Magazine)
2. Attacks send Kabul into panic: Eyewitnesses have been describing the chaos and panic that gripped Kabul as gunmen attacked government buildings in a co-ordinated assault. (BBC)
3. Corpsman death under investigation: The Marine Corps is investigating how a Navy corpsman on duty at Stone Bay shooting range was fatally wounded Monday. (Eastern North Carolina Today)
4. Movie premiere hits close to home for service members: Senior military officials and government dignitaries gathered to watch the premiere of “Taking Chance,” the HBO made-for-TV movie, Feb. 9 at the Motion Picture Association of America. (marines.mil)
5. Mental illness evaluation requested for father charged in son’s death: On his MySpace page, Joseph H. Hagerman III said that his Christian faith helped him deal with his mental illness.(Virginian-Pilot)
6. Man admits killing son, neighbors react: WAVY.com did some digging into the background of Joseph Hagerman who admitted in a jailhouse interview that he killed his little boy, Tuesday. We learned he was a former Marine and nighttime security guard for the Virginia Beach School District. (WAVY TV-10)
Leading newspaper headlines
Well, that was quick. After a day of rapid-fire negotiations, House and Senate leaders announced last night that they had reached a deal on a $789.5 billion stimulus package that would, among other things, pay for billions in new construction and infrastructure projects, provide tax relief to individuals and businesses, and extend unemployment benefits. Democrats say it will save or create 3.5 million new jobs, a decline from the 4 million they had originally said was the goal. "The deal all but clinches passage of one of the largest economic rescue programs since Franklin Roosevelt launched the New Deal," notes the Wall Street Journal. The New York Times says that a House vote could come as early as Friday, and the Senate would quickly follow so the president can sign it on Monday. There's talk that President Obama might hold a televised prime-time bill signing ceremony. The Los Angeles Times says the negotiations were able to move quickly partly due to "to the presence of a team from the White House, which injected itself deeply in the process." After all the partisan fighting, it might be surprising to hear that the final deal "followed remarkably closely to the broad outline that Obama had painted more than a month ago," points out the Washington Post.
USA Today gives big play to the news from Congress but devotes its lead spot to a new poll that suggests Americans don't want the government to just focus on the economy and forget about the past. Almost two-thirds of Americans say there should be investigations into the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program and whether torture was used to interrogate terrorism suspects. Almost 40 percent say they'd favor criminal investigations. Americans also want the administration to investigate whether the Bush administration used the Justice Department for political purposes.
Just because the agreement on the stimulus package came quickly doesn't mean it arrived "without moments of high drama," as the LAT puts it. Everybody points out that at one point in the day, Senate Democrats announced they had reached a deal, but House members denied that was the case. That led to a two-hour meeting in which it seems Democrats were able to win some last-minute concessions.
Full details on the revised stimulus package weren't available last night, but the papers, especially the WSJ, have lots of details. In an inside story, the LAT handily outlines who will benefit from the package. Approximately 35 percent of the bill's total would go to tax cuts, and the rest would go to spending. The tax relief for individuals was reduced, and the White House also agreed to cut back on the proposed aid to financially strapped state governments. In the end, $53.6 billion will go to a state "stabilization fund," and most of that money will be for schools. The money devoted to tax breaks for home and car buyers was also decreased. But the final agreement did keep the $70 billion measure to prevent millions of Americans from having to pay the Alternative Minimum Tax next year.
There was grumbling among some Democrats yesterday that their side gave in too easily, but leaders said they had no choice if they wanted to hold on to the three Republican votes in the Senate. There was particular ire directed at the Alternative Minimum Tax provision that they said would have been approved by Congress regardless. "It's about 9 percent of the whole bill," Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa said. "Why is it in there? It has nothing to do with stimulus. It has nothing to do with recovery."
In a front-page analysis, the NYT says that while the agreement represents "a quick, sweet victory" for the president, it "was hardly a moment for cigars." Obama got his package, but without the broad bipartisan support he was expecting. The question now is whether Obama will be able to move on to other items in his domestic agenda so that his first days in office aren't defined solely by a stimulus package that, by his own admission, may not work as quickly as many Americans might be expecting.
In a front-page piece, USAT says that while it's clear that Obama "had some stumbles" along the way, many are impressed by the way "Obama and his team have shown a willingness to cut their losses and revise their tactics." In the end, the fight over the stimulus package may have taught the young administration some valuable lessons about doing business in Washington that could prove to be useful as the president continues to pursue his agenda in the coming months.
The LAT, NYT, and WP front the deadly day in Afghanistan as teams of Taliban suicide bombers and gunmen attacked three government buildings, including the Justice Ministry and Education Ministry, in Kabul, killing at least 20 people and wounding more than 50. All eight attackers were also killed. It was the worst violence in Afghanistan's capital since July, when the Indian Embassy was destroyed, and appeared designed to be a show of strength for the Taliban on the eve of a scheduled visit by Richard Holbrooke, Obama's special envoy to the region. The LAT notes that "Kabul's inner districts are a tangle of blast walls and security checkpoints," but the attackers somehow managed to get "into some of the city's most secure areas." Afghan officials quickly pointed the finger at Pakistan, saying that the attackers sent text messages to Pakistan before they entered the Justice Ministry. The NYT has the most detail about the drama and chaos that engulfed the Justice Ministry and says at least two people were killed in the crossfire between government forces and the gunmen.
The WP off-leads a look at how employers are increasingly trying to block unemployment payments to former workers. More than one-quarter of people applying for unemployment benefits are being challenged by their former employers, and numbers show the proportion of attempts to block the payouts has "reached record levels in recent years." Employers save money on their unemployment insurance when the claims are dropped, so they've increasingly been trying to show that a worker was fired for misconduct or left voluntarily, two factors that makes someone ineligible to receive benefits. The increase is particularly notable in challenges involving misconduct, which employers lose "about two-thirds of the time."
The LAT goes inside with a look at how the White House has made it pretty clear that it believes Iran is pursuing a nuclear bomb. Although officials say that while there isn't new evidence to contradict the National Intelligence Estimate of November 2007, which concluded Iran had stopped working on a nuclear weapon, there's a "growing consensus that it provided a misleading picture and that the country was poised to reach crucial bomb-making milestones this year."
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Attacks send Kabul into panic
People fled the attack on the ministry of justice
Eyewitnesses have been describing the chaos and panic that gripped Kabul as gunmen attacked government buildings in a co-ordinated assault.
Student Assadullah Jagdalak hid under a table inside the ministry of justice when he heard gunfire outside the building.
"Security guards started shooting and then the attackers responded by killing other security guards. One got inside the building and started shooting, one guy got upstairs," he said.
Mr Jagdalak said a number of people had been queuing in the hallway of the ministry as the attackers stormed the building.
I took two dead bodies and stopped a vehicle. I spoke with the driver and asked him to please take them to hospital
Abdul Shirzaad, shopkeeper
"Everybody was running, some were entering the washroom, others were running outside, it was a total disaster."
In another attack in the district two suicide bombers detonated explosives at an office responsible for prisons in the north of the capital.
Shopkeeper Abdul Shirzaad was on his way to the supermarket when he heard explosions and gunshots and saw black smoke rising.
After I heard the firing I could see from my window people running and the security guards everywhere
Salim Hayran,ministry of education worker
As he got to the scene he said he found bodies strewn everywhere and started to help in a makeshift rescue operation.
"My brother and I took two dead bodies and stopped a vehicle. I spoke with the driver and asked him to please take them to hospital," he told the BBC.
"I was very scared and the police came and told us it was too dangerous to stay."
Locked in
Workers in a number of ministries in the area were locked into their offices by security forces for fear that other attackers were targeting government buildings.
Afghan troops surrounded the ministry of justice
Ali Abdullah, who contacted the BBC, had been confined to his office in the finance ministry for many hours.
"I heard the gunfire very close by. We were in great fear because we didn't know what was going on next. We were told that suicide bombers were heading for the ministry of finance."
In other ministries, workers witnessed the violence from their windows.
Salim Hayran works at the education ministry.
"After I heard the firing I could see from my window people running and the security guards everywhere."
He told the BBC that a security guard who had shot dead one of the attackers came up to his office to print the picture he had taken of the gunman he had killed.
The panic quickly spread around the government districts of Kabul according to eyewitnesses.
Habib Totakhil had left the ministry of justice shortly before the attacks and described how staff and visitors fled the buildings around him as the gunfire began.
He says the security forces arrived quickly but people had been running to cars and surrounding buildings for safety.
Dead and wounded
Officials say more than 50 people were injured in the attack .
A relative of Sameer Rajabi was among the injured at the ministry of justice.
"I was 50m away from the attack," Sameer Rajabi told the BBC from a private hospital, "but my relative was injured and is now under the treatment of doctors.
"There are others injured here," he said.
From the Wazir Akbar Khan hospital, bio-medical engineer Shaker Hamdard said that two bodies had been taken to the morgue and medical staff were attending to more injuries.
"When these incidents happen, the casualties are taken to hospitals all round. Some of them are here," he said.
Workers at some ministries say they are now being allowed to leave their offices and that a semblance of calm is being restored to Kabul.
But many say they fear future attacks targeting civil servants.
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Corpsman death under investigation
February 11, 2009 - 10:58 AM
JENNIFER HLAD
The Marine Corps is investigating how a Navy corpsman on duty at Stone Bay shooting range was fatally wounded Monday.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Andrew J. King, 29, of Black Forrest, Colo., was injured at Stone Bay and flown to the Camp Lejeune Naval Hospital, where he was declared dead, said Marine spokeswoman Gunnery Sgt. Brenda Varnadore.
Marines initially said the wound appeared to have been caused by a bullet ricochet, but stressed the cause of death had not been determined. A press release from II Marine Expeditionary Force, King's unit, said he died "during training at Camp Lejeune."
"Despite any initial accounts, it is still unclear if this fatality was caused by a ricochet," Varnadore said. "The cause of death is still under investigation."
Marine Corps Installations East has convened a Safety Investigation Board to examine the incident, at the direction of Marine Corps Force Command in Norfolk, Va., Varnadore said.
King was assigned to II MEF Headquarters Group, said II MEF spokesman Master Sgt. Matthew Sewell. King joined the Navy in October 1996.
King's awards include three Armed Forces Expeditionary medals, three Navy and Marine Corps Achievement medals with Combat V, the Presidential Unit Citation, National Defense Service Medal, three Good Conduct medals, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, four Sea Service Deployment ribbons and the Navy and Marine Corps Overseas Service Ribbon.
Crime reporter Lindell Kay contributed to this report. Contact interactive content editor and military reporter Jennifer Hlad at jhlad@freedomenc.com or 910-219-8467.
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Movie premiere hits close to home for service members
2/11/2009 By Lance Cpl. Bryan G. Carfrey, Headquarters Marine Corps
WASHINGTON —
Senior military officials and government dignitaries gathered to watch the premiere of “Taking Chance,” the HBO made-for-TV movie, Feb. 9 at the Motion Picture Association of America. “Taking Chance” depicts the experiences of Lt. Col. Michael R. Strobl while escorting a fallen Marine from Dover Air force Base in Dover, Del., to Dubois, Wyo., in April 2004. Lance Cpl. Chance Phelps was killed in action during combat operations April 9, 2004, in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, while assigned to Battery L, 3rd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment. “When we started filming the movie I thought the American people should be the main character,” said Strobl, who retired in 2007 and co-writer of the movie. “That’s why I wrote it - the reaction of the American people who witnessed the journey along the way.” Actor Kevin Bacon portrays Strobl in the movie and also made an appearance at the premiere. “I was amazed and surprised I didn’t know anything about it and had no idea about the (escorting) process,” Bacon said. “I liked that it was a simple telling of Mike’s journey with Chance. It doesn’t really hit you over the head. It kind of sneaks up on you, and the accumulative effect of watching the process and the way people reacted along the trip is what I responded to as an actor.” To prepare for the role, which was his third time portraying a Marine, Bacon said he met with Strobl on several occasions. “I try my best when playing Marines to pay attention to detail and try to humanize them as much as possible,” Bacon said. “People who aren’t in the military sometimes find it tough to look past the uniform.” After the movie, spectators, which included Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. James Cartwright, were given the opportunity to shake hands with and express their thanks to director Ross Katz, who co-wrote the screenplay with Strobl. “I wanted to portray honesty in this movie,” Katz said. “When you witness the remains of a young man who gave his life for civilians like me, we aren’t red states or blue states, we’re purple states. We’re all Americans. “ “Taking Chance” is scheduled to premiere on HBO Feb. 21.
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Mental illness evaluation requested for father charged in son's death
Posted to: Crime News Virginia Beach
Joseph Henry Hagerman III
Joshua D. Hagerman
Shirley Hagerman
By Duane BourneLauren RothShawn DayThe Virginian-Pilot© February 12, 2009
VIRGINIA BEACH
On his MySpace page, Joseph H. Hagerman III said that his Christian faith helped him deal with his mental illness.
"Schizophrenia can't hold me down," he wrote. "Thank God for Jesus."
But in the hours after Hagerman's arrest Tuesday, friends said the Joseph H. Hagerman III who confessed in television interviews that he decapitated his 5-year-old son to save him from the "anti-Christ" must have been overcome by mental illness.
"The Joe Hagerman I know from high school is not the monster that would decapitate his own child," said Rob Wilkie, a Green Run High School classmate and wrestling teammate who kept in touch with Hagerman through the Internet. They graduated in 1993.
"I am certain that if he ever regains his sanity, he will be even more horrified than we are at what he has done."
Hagerman, 33, appeared coherent at his arraignment Wednesday on murder and felonious assault charges, and he responded politely to questions via closed-circuit TV from the jail. During the four-minute hearing, Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Judge Ramona D. Taylor appointed an attorney to represent Hagerman and scheduled a bond hearing for this morning.
The public defender's office requested a competency evaluation for Hagerman, and by Wednesday afternoon, Hagerman's family retained attorney Brandon Zeigler to represent him.
The lawyer said the bond hearing would be delayed at least until after the competency evaluation.
Zeigler planned to meet with Hagerman on Wednesday evening and said he saw the TV interview in which his client confessed. But he pointed to Hagerman's issues with mental illness.
"There's no way you can... think that that is the ramblings of a sane individual," the lawyer said.
According to a search warrant affidavit, authorities took a 911 call at 11:22 Tuesday morning from Shirley Hagerman. She told dispatchers that her husband had murdered their son and assaulted her, the affidavit showed.
When officers arrived, they discovered the body of Joshua Hagerman.
A medical examiner determined he died of decapitation.
Shirley Hagerman, who sustained severe lacerations to her hands, remained in the hospital Wednesday.
Police spokeswoman Margie Long declined to describe the weapon used in the slaying or what led to the attack inside the one-story house in the 3200 block of Sugar Creek Drive, off Lynnhaven Parkway and Riverbend Road.
Relatives and Hagerman's father, who lives next door, would not comment. Neighbors on the dead-end street described Hagerman as friendly and quiet. The family kept to itself, the neighbors said, but Joshua Hagerman was seen riding his bicycle and walking with his grandfather.
On Wednesday, a yellow rose lay at the front door. Blood was smeared on the doorframe.
Hagerman, a night security guard with Virginia Beach Public Schools since 2001, has been suspended with pay. He was known as dependable, polite and soft-spoken, said Dick Ponti, director of safe schools and risk management.
Christopher Bellamy, a Hagerman family friend, said the killing baffled him. He said he knew Hagerman as an "overly nice" father and husband.
"Basically, the complete opposite of what happened," Bellamy said. "It's like a different person overcame him."
Bellamy said Hagerman developed schizophrenia overseas while serving for three years in the Marine Corps.
Hagerman was an administrative clerk and a corporal by the time he left the service in 1997, according to the corps.
The mental illness seemed to be kept in check through medication, Bellamy said. The two last saw each other about a year ago, when the Hagermans left International Christian Church, where Bellamy is music director. They kept in touch through the Internet.
"The only thing I can think of is that he had mentioned he changed his medication and it had made him think differently," Bellamy said.
Duane Bourne, (757) 222-5150, duane.bourne@pilotonline.com
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Man admits killing son;neighbors react
Updated: Wednesday, 11 Feb 2009, 11:32 PM ESTPublished : Wednesday, 11 Feb 2009, 6:08 PM EST
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - WAVY.com did some digging into the background of Joseph Hagerman who admitted in a jailhouse interview that he killed his little boy, Tuesday. We learned he was a former Marine and nighttime security guard for the Virginia Beach School District.
Seeing 33-year-old Joseph Hagerman sitting in the back of a police car is not the scene his neighbors ever envisioned for the former Marine of three years.
"Seemed like a family man, concerned with my family," says Keith Vanacore.
Vanacore lives just three houses away from the Hagermans. When he heard Joseph Hagerman confessed to stabbing his 5 year-old son, Joshua, to death, he couldn't believe the news.
"I don't know what the word is that I'm, that I can even find for something like that. I just can't imagine, unimaginable, to your own child, unimaginable."
WAVY.com learned when Hagerman worked as a night security guard for the Virginia Beach School District, he worked with a team of guards to make sure school grounds and buildings were safe. However, district officials are quick to point out, he did NOT work a shift that coincided with any children being at school. They also say Hagerman is suspended without pay, pending the outcome of the case.
In Hagerman's town Wednesday, neighbors were stunned and tired. Vanacore says it was a difficult conversation with his 8-year-old daughter Tuesday night, explaining to her that Joshua Hagerman was dead.
"My wife took care of most of that. She explained to her. We talked just briefly on the phone. I talked to my daughter and she said, "What happened Daddy?" and then I was a little hesitant and she said, 'Somebody killed a little boy I heard' and I said yes and we didn't get into detail, but that's the way we left it."
Hagerman made his first court appearance Wednesday. Stay with WAVY.com and WAVY News 10 for the very latest in this case.
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