LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I looked up to him, I fought next to him, and I am deeply saddened that he is gone. He leaves a void that simply can never be filled.”
West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller,
on the death of fellow Democrat Robert Byrd, the longest-serving member of Congress in history Article, 1AWill retire, McChrystal tells Army
WASHINGTON - Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who was fired last week as the top U.S. general in the stalemated Afghanistan war, has told the Army that he will retire.
Army spokesman Col. Tom Collins said McChrystal notified the service of his plans on Monday, but he has not yet submitted formal retirement papers. It is not clear when he will leave the service, but the process usually takes a few months.
President Barack Obama has praised McChrystal’s long Army career but says his intemperate remarks in a magazine article that appeared last week could not be abided.
The Rolling Stone article quoted the general and his aides as criticizing Vice President Joe Biden, National Security Adviser James Jones and U.S. Ambassador to Kabul Karl Eikenberry.
McChrystal apologized for the remarks and flew to Washington last week to resign as commanding general of the war.
Sinking of ship not terrorism, U.S. says
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration said Monday that the sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on North Korea was not terrorism and not enough by itself to put Pyongyang back on a U.S. terror blacklist.
The State Department said the March sinking of the South Korean frigate Cheonan by a reported torpedo from a North Korean submarine was a “provocative action” and a violation of the truce that ended the Korean war.
But it added that the sinking was the act of one state’s military against another and not an act of terrorism. Thus, it is not grounds to put North Korea back on the U.S.
“state sponsors of terrorism” list as some in South Korea had wanted, spokesman P.J. Crowley said.
The North had been on the terror list but was removed in 2008 amid progress in the now-stalled effort to get it to abandon nuclear weapons.
Ex-Chicago officer convicted as liar
CHICAGO - A former Chicago police lieutenant accused of suffocating, shocking and beating confessions out of scores of suspects was convicted Monday of federal perjury and obstruction of justice charges for lying about torture.
Jurors deliberated for parts of three days before finding former Lt. Jon Burge guilty.
Burge, who did not react as the verdict was read, can remain free on bond until his Nov. 5 sentencing, when he faces up to 45 years in prison.
For decades, dozens of suspects - almost all of them black men - claimed Burge and his officers tortured them into confessing to crimes including armed robbery and murder. Burge was fired from the Police Department in 1993 over the alleged mistreatment of a suspect, but he was not criminally charged.
Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan released four condemned men from death row in 2003 after Ryan said Burge had extracted confessions from them using torture.
The four later reached a $20 million settlement with the city.
Burge was charged with lying about the alleged torture in a lawsuit filed by former death row inmate Madison Hobley, who was sentenced to death for a 1987 fire that killed seven people, including his wife and son, and pardoned by Ryan.
Gates plans to trim weapons budget
WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday he wants to trim some of the billions of dollars the Pentagon spends on weapons systems and contractor services, part of a Pentagon-wide effort to find $100 billion in savings in the next five years.
Gates, who already plans to pare down the Pentagon’s huge bureaucracy to save money, said that the Defense Department will focus on unnecessary spending by defense contractors.
Gates said it is “a matter of principle and political reality to make sure every taxpayer dollar counts.” His goal is to shift money from overhead expenses to supporting U.S. troops spread around the globe.
The Pentagon will spend about $400 billion of its roughly $700 billion budget on weapons and services from defense contractors.
The new plan calls for annual savings of about 2 percent to 3 percent through measures like contracts that require the defense companies to shoulder cost overruns and encouraging competition between contractors.
Front Section, Pages 3 on 06/29/2010