China tells Japan to set down historical baggage

BEIJING — China's foreign minister renewed calls Sunday for senior Japanese leaders to abandon any attempt to water down their nation's guilt over its World War II aggression against China and others.

Looking ahead to this year's 70th anniversary of the end of the war, Wang Yi told reporters at an annual briefing that history continues to haunt relations between Beijing and Tokyo. He said Japanese leaders had to choose whether to keep those feelings raw or to put history behind them.

"Seventy years ago, Japan lost the war. Seventy years afterward, Japan must not lose its conscience," Wang said. "Will it continue to carry the baggage of history or will it make a clean break with past aggression? Ultimately the choice is Japan's."

Japan launched a full-bore assault on China in 1937, withdrawing only after its surrender at the end of World War II in 1945. Many if not most Chinese believe Japan has never shown true contrition for its brutal occupation that China claims caused the deaths of 14 million people and massive population displacement as refugees fled the Japanese army and set back the country's embryonic modernization by decades.

China intends to mark the 70th anniversary of the war's end with a military parade and other grand commemorations, fueling fears in Japan that it is attempting to belittle its post-war contributions to development and security.

However, Wang said China's goal was to "remember history, commemorate the martyrs, cherish peace and look to the future." He said invitations to the events would be extended to "all relevant countries and international organizations," and said China welcomed the participation of "anyone who is sincere about coming."

Japan issued a landmark apology on the 50th anniversary of the war's end 1995 under then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, acknowledging for the first time its colonization and aggression in parts of Asia before and during the war. In 2005, then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi also apologized.

However, substantial questions surround plans by current hawkish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to issue a statement on the Aug. 15 anniversary, fueling speculation that he may water down previous apologies.

A key question is whether Abe will use terms such as "colonial rule" and "aggression" that appeared in previous statements. He recently appointed a 16-member panel — 10 academics, three business leaders, two journalists and an international aid worker — to seek advice on what he should say.

Among those panelists, Masashi Nishihara, head of a national security think tank, has written that reports of the Japanese military's use of sex slaves during the war were "fabricated in South Korea." Entrepreneur Yoshito Hori says the war was one of self-defense, not aggression.

Purchase at Turkey's Grand Bazaar lands American in putrid prison cell

Chicago businessman Martin O'Connor was at the tail end of a church-sponsored trip to Turkey with his wife in November when he bought a sword engraved with Arabic script at Istanbul's teeming Grand Bazaar.

Inside a cramped kiosk stuffed with military memorabilia, O'Connor haggled the price down to $500.

Two days later, as he and wife Maureen were about to fly home, the couple were stopped at an airport checkpoint by Turkish police who suspected the sword was a valuable antiquity. Assured that the matter would be cleared up quickly, O'Connor persuaded his wife to board the jet and told her he'd follow on the next flight.

Instead, the financial trader spent the next eight harrowing days locked up in a filthy prison, charged with attempting to smuggle an artifact, an offense that can bring up to 12 years behind bars.

O'Connor is now safely back in the U.S., but three months after his return, the case is still playing out in Turkey, where the nation's Ministry of Culture and Tourism has appealed a court decision in January that cleared O'Connor of any wrongdoing.

"It's been hell," O'Connor, 50, told the Tribune. "I spent a fortune. I went through a nightmare, and my wife went through a nightmare not knowing what was happening with me in prison. ... And I do not expect anyone to ever say they are sorry."

The couple know they were fortunate to have had financial resources and family connections to fall back on. O'Connor's father, Edmund, was a driving force behind the creation of the Chicago Board Options Exchange in the 1970s. Maureen, an attorney who volunteers with Catholic Charities, is the sister of an Illinois state senator who was able to bring significant political pressure to bear.

After spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and travel expenses, the O'Connors want their ordeal to serve as a warning to anyone vacationing in the region — particularly college-age kids with no cash or clout — that even a seemingly innocuous souvenir could land them in trouble.

"If I did not have the money, if I did not have the connections and if I didn't have a loving, hardworking, caring wife that managed it all and took care of it, I would still be in prison," O'Connor said on a recent afternoon in his town home in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood. "I needed all three things."

Black market smuggling

O'Connor's travails in Turkey are not unheard of for a country that for centuries was looted by various powers only to be hit with the added insult of seeing its priceless artifacts put on display in museums around the world. The illegal sale of historical treasures has also been linked recently to the funding of terrorist groups such as the Islamic State, putting pressure on governments across the Middle East to clamp down.

In an effort to combat black market smuggling, Turkey has enacted laws that have broad definitions of what constitutes an artifact, and the government regularly prosecutes anyone believed to be removing antiquities from its borders.

In 2013, a U.S. Department of Defense civilian contractor vacationing with his wife in Turkey was detained on suspicion of smuggling antiquities after he was found with some stones and debris he'd collected from the beach in front of his hotel. Like O'Connor, Jason Dement was whisked away from his wife at the airport and booked into custody. He wound up cutting a plea deal that allowed him to leave after he was detained just one night.

A few months earlier, Swiss police Chief Christian Varone was convicted of smuggling artifacts for taking a stone from near a historical site as a souvenir, but his sentence of a little more than a year in prison was suspended as long as he stayed out of trouble.

For those buying antiquities in Turkey, the U.S. State Department warns on its website, "use only authorized dealers and obtain museum certificate for each item they are authorized to sell. At departure, you may be asked to present a receipt and the certificate. Failure to have them can result in your arrest and jail time."

Old World charm

The O'Connors didn't know of the recent arrests when they signed up to go to Turkey last fall with a group from Old St. Patrick's Church in Chicago — their first "empty nester" trip after their youngest child went off to college.

For a week and a half they lived it up, soaking up the Old World charm of Turkey while touring ancient ruins and sites like the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia cathedral.

"It's a beautiful country, and we were having a blast," Maureen O'Connor said.

On their second-to-last day, the O'Connors went with a guide to the Grand Bazaar, a sprawling covered market with thousands of merchants that's sometimes referred to as the top tourist destination in the world.

Most of the couple's purchases that day were typical souvenirs — backgammon sets, Turkish towels, scarves and spices. Then Martin wandered into a kiosk and set his sights on the sword and its sleek curved handle and 2-foot blade without an edge, signifying it was ceremonial and never intended for battle.

O'Connor, a history buff, and the shop owner surmised it was from the early 1900s — relatively new for a country where civilizations can be traced back to the Stone Age.

"I wouldn't have bought anything that was really old," O'Connor said. "I wanted something I could buy as a memento."

Two days later, on Nov. 20, the couple arrived at Ataturk Airport for their flight home and went through the metal detectors set up near the entrance. Maureen O'Connor froze when two security guards pulled the sword out of a red suitcase containing all their souvenirs.

"I was like, 'They think we're going to bring that on the plane!'" she recalled. "I said, 'No, no, no, we are checking that.'"

That wasn't the problem, though it took some time for the O'Connors to figure that out because of the language barrier. Eventually a woman who spoke a bit of English explained that Martin O'Connor had to go with police while they sent the sword across town to the Topkapi Palace Museum to determine whether the weapon could be exported.

O'Connor, convinced by the guards that it was all just a routine procedure, told his wife he'd follow her home to Chicago as soon as he was cleared. As he was escorted to the airport police station, there didn't seem to be any cause for alarm.

"They bring me in unhandcuffed, offer me tea. One says in broken English, 'If museum say not old, you go. If old, sword stay, you go,'" O'Connor said. "They took me to the ticket counter and had me switch my flight to the next day. No big deal."

About an hour after Maureen O'Connor boarded her flight alone and in tears, word came back from the museum that the archaeologist who examined the weapon had determined it was a protected historical property. "This work must not be exported," an email read in Turkish. O'Connor's real troubles had just begun.

"The cop comes up to me and goes, 'Sword very old. Problem.'" O'Connor said.

'The most disgusting place'

O'Connor was booked and told he would see a judge in the morning. He can still picture the door slamming behind him at the airport police station lockup, where he spent a long night in a cell that was filling up by the hour with arrestees of all stripes.

In the morning he was handcuffed, put in a van and driven to a hospital where he was stripped and examined for bruises or other signs of mistreatment, a tedious process that was repeated several times over the next few days as he was taken back and forth to the Bakirkoy courthouse.

When his case was finally called in the afternoon, O'Connor was told by his court-appointed lawyer to make a statement to the judge explaining that he didn't know he wasn't allowed to take the sword out of the country. The merchant who sold him the sword was also in court, represented by an attorney, and submitted a written statement saying he believed the weapon was ordinary.

But the judge, armed with the report from the museum, found there was enough evidence for the case to continue to trial and ordered that O'Connor remain in custody. O'Connor was told he would be in prison until he had a full hearing. How long that could take was unclear — at first he'd heard a month, but later he was told it could be six months or longer.

"Every time they would tell me something, the story changed," O'Connor said. "It went from no problem to a small problem to a very big problem."

That night he was processed into the Maltepe Prison, an expansive complex on the outskirts of Istanbul that houses convicted terrorists and drug smugglers as well as arrestees awaiting trial. O'Connor was given a thin mattress, a scratchy blanket and a pillowcase — but no pillow. He was escorted to a pod for new inmates that had seven four-man cells that opened into a common room with a lone shower stall and porcelain hole for a toilet. The garbage can was overflowing with weeksold food, and flies and gnats swarmed around stale bread on the floor.

"This is the most disgusting place in the universe," O'Connor said. "No toilet paper, hasn't been cleaned in years. The smell was just as bad or worse than any outhouse."

He spent four days in the "orientation" cell, battling fatigue and boredom, trying to keep active by pacing around the cell pod several times a day. He never showered or brushed his teeth and stayed hydrated only by drinking tap water from the filthy sink. Food was brought in through a chuckhole in the steel door — usually bread and an unfamiliar stew. But there were no utensils, and he hardly ate a bite.

Strike Force One

By the time O'Connor ended up at Maltepe, his wife was back in Chicago, busy marshaling resources despite the shock of what had happened. Through connections at the Chicago law firm of Baker & McKenzie, she was able to hire an affiliated lawyer in Turkey, who visited O'Connor on his first overnight stay in prison and later filed a series of appeals to the high courts in Istanbul to try to spring him from custody.

Meanwhile, Maureen's twin brother, state Sen. Michael Connelly, was in the middle of a legislative session in Springfield when he learned that O'Connor had been detained in Turkey and no one knew his whereabouts.

"The first thing that goes through your mind when you get a call like that is, is this a joke or something?" Connelly said. "We all remember the movie 'Midnight Express.' ... It's just a feeling of pure terror."

Connelly contacted the offices of U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk to intervene with the State Department. Once they found out where O'Connor was being held, Maureen's other brother, Tim, a Cook County probation officer, teamed up with a close family friend and flew to Istanbul to meet with the Turkish lawyer and visit O'Connor in prison.

"We called them Strike Force One," Connelly said.

That Monday, Maureen O'Connor went with brother Michael, U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam and a Kirk aide to meet with officials in the Turkish Consulate in downtown Chicago. The next day, Durbin sent a letter on his official letterhead to the president of Turkey asking if anything could be done about the "unfortunate misunderstanding" that had landed O'Connor in prison.

"By then it was out of my hands," Maureen O'Connor said. "It had gotten really high up."

Still, no one knew if the efforts would pay off. On Tuesday, his sixth day in custody, O'Connor was transferred into the prison's regular population. He was housed in a cellblock with mostly English-speaking prisoners who were doing longer stretches of time, most for drug smuggling.

His new surroundings were comparatively immaculate, thanks in part to a British cellmate who was paid in cigarettes to be the "maid." The Brit, who called O'Connor "Professor" because of his fresh beard and a sport jacket he'd been wearing for warmth, said he'd been at the prison for nine months and had yet to see his first court hearing. O'Connor said he was resigned to the fact that he might not be going anywhere for a while.

"If I keep telling myself I'm going to get out, it would drive me insane," he said.

But by Wednesday, the tables had turned. Istanbul's highest available court ordered O'Connor released as long as he stayed in Turkey pending a hearing in December. O'Connor finally walked out of prison in the early morning hours of Nov. 27. It was Thanksgiving Day back home.

Standard-issue sword

With O'Connor staying at an Istanbul hotel awaiting his hearing, his wife flew back to Turkey to be with him. On Dec. 11 the travel ban was lifted, and O'Connor was allowed to come back to Chicago. A final decision, however, was not made — partly because the key evidence, the sword, was not brought into court that day.

It wasn't until more than a month later that the court heard from a weapons expert with the national museum who confirmed that the first inspector had been wrong: The weapon was a standard-issue "bombardier's sword" from the 20th century, not an antiquity, court records show.

"It is not a cultural property that should be protected," the expert's report said. "These kinds of properties (carpet, rug, and wooden properties) can be taken out of the country with the relevant museum's permission."

The O'Connors thought that would be the end of it. But the Turkish legal process continued to play out as prosecutors and other government entities mulled whether to appeal. Prosecutors eventually declined to pursue the matter further, but last week came word that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism had challenged the dismissal of the case to the supreme court in Ankara, claiming the lower court's ruling was "against law and the procedure."

Their Turkish lawyer told the O'Connors it may take up to two years for the court to hear the case. But he reassured them that such appeals are routine — a characterization the O'Connors have heard at just about every step.

"It's just procedure, no problem," Maureen O'Connor said. "But then it comes back to bite us."

As for the sword, Martin O'Connor said he's looking forward to its return, as called for by the lower court's ruling. To his wife's chagrin, he already has a prominent spot picked out for it on a living room wall, a perfect conversation starter for when guests visit. He can already picture how his story will begin.

"So back when I was in a Turkish prison ..." O'Connor said.

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Islamic State tightens grip on Libya's Derna

Tripoli, Libya (Tribune News Service) — The Libyan Army, headed by General Khalifa Haftar, has edged closer to the small coastal town of Derna, 250km east of Benghazi. It is believed to be preparing for an attack to rid the area of fighters with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

The army's move comes on the back of violent tit-for-tat attacks. The beheadings on a Libyan beach last month of 21 Coptic Christians by a group calling itself the Tripoli Province of the Islamic State was followed one day later by joint Egyptian and Libyan air strikes on Derna, killing seven civilians. Another group calling itself the Barqa Province for the Islamic State retaliated days later in al-Gubba, claiming responsibility for twin suicide blasts that killed 44 people and injured scores more.

Derna is home to the Islamic Youth Shura Council, which was among the first groups in Libya to declare allegiance to ISIL last fall. To mark the occasion, fighters paraded their vehicles through the town's centre in a show of strength. Judges and prosecutors have since been targeted and courts abolished, while the fighters serve up their own interpretation of Islamic law.

"Armed militias that control the eastern city of Derna are terrorising residents through summary executions, public floggings, and other violent abuse," Human Rights Watch reported at the time. "The abuses are taking place in the absence of state authorities and the rule of law."

Mohammed, a local government worker who did not provide a last name, told Al Jazeera that the government has a "bad relationship" with the fighters.

"Many of them are foreigners, from countries like Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Egypt. There is no justice, and they have closed most government offices," he said. "We hate them here."

In addition to ISIL fighters, the al-Qaeda-affiliated Abu Salim Martyrs' Brigade and Ansar al-Sharia - not connected to Ansar al-Sharia in Benghazi, allegedly responsible for the death of US Ambassador Christopher Stephens - have recently formed the Derna Mujahideen Shura Council to fight Haftar's military alliance. The council is also aiming to contain ISIL's expansion.

Last December, US Africa Command (AFRICOM) leader, General David Rodriguez, estimated there were a couple of hundred ISIL training camps in east Libya. "ISIL has begun its efforts over in the east out there to introduce some people over there," he said. "But we'll have to just continue to monitor and watch that carefully in the future to see what happens or whether it grows on unabated."

Today, Libya is bitterly split in two. It has two opposing governments, parliaments, and militias intent on seizing the country's power and assets. Tripoli-based Prime Minister Omar al-Hassi and the General National Congress is allied with the Libya Dawn military coalition. In the east, Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni and the House of Representatives are aligned with Haftar's Operation Dignity campaign.

Some of the most well-known intellectuals and fundamentalists were in Derna. Now it is completely under the control of fundamentalists.

Local education ministry official

Libya Dawn and Dignity forces are fighting each other in Benghazi, the Sidra basin, the west and the south, severely damaging key infrastructure such as airports and oil installations, and prompting the National Oil Corporation (NOC) to threaten to stop all remaining oil operations.

Derna, with an estimated 100,000 residents, has a famously intellectual and pious history, and is known for its young men fighting abroad. In one infamous roundup in the 1990s, former leader Muammar Gaddafi sent his troops house-to-house to arrest suspected opposition.

"Many of the younger generation of militants in Derna, and in eastern Libya more generally, are the sons and nephews of those who were rounded up, tortured or killed by Gaddafi during his crackdown on Islamists in the 1990s," said Mary Fitzgerald, an analyst and author based in Libya. "[Now] what has happened in Derna is similar to what is happening in Sirte and Benghazi. [ISIL] is peeling away younger militants from other groups because it is seen as increasingly assertive and more powerful than the others."

Many men from Derna were part of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), who went to Afghanistan to fight the Soviets in the 1980s, and comprised the majority of Libyan fighters in Iraq after the 2003 US invasion.

Following in this tradition, Derna residents flocked to northern Syria in 2011 to fight Bashar al-Assad's regime with their newly formed al-Batter brigade. But when infighting kicked off between the homegrown al-Qaeda affiliate, Jabhat Al-Nusra, and ISIL, some of these same Libyans grew disgusted and started trickling home.

The fall of Gaddafi's regime saw hundreds of Islamists released from places such as the notorious Abu Salim prison. Others returned to Libya from exile abroad, or later, from the fighting in Iraq and Syria.

This combination has led to Derna's circumstances today.

"Some of the most well-known intellectuals and fundamentalists were in Derna," a local education ministry official told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity. "Now it is completely under the control of fundamentalists."

He said ISIL mostly mans the checkpoints leading into town, on the lookout for Libyan army and government personnel allied with Haftar. They are also rationing gasoline and electricity to avoid shortages. In this deeply divisive and fearful atmosphere, women are pressured to wear the niqab, schools have been gender-segregated, tobacco shops have been banned and armed fighters mete out their own brutal justice.

"People are angry. We don't have a government, we don't have security, and we have allowed foreigners to enter our city," the education official said. "But they have the guns. And Daesh [ISIL] are now targeting our youth and giving them guns within their comfort zone."

Amira, a teacher who suffered two months of intense fighting in the hard-hit neighbourhood of Laithi in Benghazi, visited her relatives last month in Derna before leaving Libya. She said she was stopped at an ISIL checkpoint leading into town, but did not notice an armed presence inside the town.

"But most people tell me they are scared," Amira, who did not provide a last name, told Al Jazeera. "They know these fighters have weapons and can kill without feelings. Some families in Derna have escaped because they think the war will come there next, but others don't want to, because they think Daesh will take over their homes. So they go on, and pretend everything is normal."

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©2015 Al Jazeera (Doha, Qatar)

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Nisei vet to receive hall of fame honor

The late Dick Shigemi Hamada, a Japanese-American picked for World War II duty in what would become the Central Intelligence Agency, will be inducted into the Army's Military Intelligence Corps Hall of Fame at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., in June.

The Military Intelligence Service Veterans Club said Maj. Gen. Robert P. Ashley, commanding general of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, made the announcement of the award.

Hamada, who died in May 2014 at the age of 92, was one of about 6,000 nisei, or second generation Japanese-Americans, who served in the Military Intelligence Service in World War II.

Hamada is one of the veterans featured in the new MIS exhibit at the U.S. Army Museum of Hawaii. A grand opening of the exhibit will be held 9 a.m. March 28, as part of the MIS Veterans National Reunion. U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. Harry Harris Jr. and Army historian James McNaughton will be featured speakers at the national reunion.

According to a 2014 Hono­lulu Star-Advertiser obituary, Hamada was born on Hawaii island. Hamada later watched as Japanese planes flew over Moiliili in the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. In a firsthand account, he said: "I felt betrayed and now feared for the worst to come to all American Japanese."

Volunteering for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in 1943, Hamada was one of a small number of nisei to be picked for duty with the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor of the Central Intelligence Agency.

He was assigned to Detachment 101, whose soldiers spent months behind enemy lines in northern Burma "conducting clandestine operations, leading native and Allied troops in guerrilla raids, gathering intelligence and rescuing downed Allied aviators," the Military Intelligence Service Veterans Club of Hawaii said. Hamada was hospitalized twice with malaria and dysentery, encountered tigers and learned how to deal with leeches, according to the veterans club's news release.

MIS records show that in early 1945, Hamada saved his battalion, made up primarily of Kachin troops, from being decimated at the village of Ke Hsi Mansam, the MIS veterans club said. The battalion was in the third day of fighting, and Hamada was leading a platoon of Nationalist Chinese troops on its left flank.

Hamada went from foxhole to foxhole, exposed to direct enemy fire. He rallied his men and manned a machine gun, according to the club. The platoon held and the enemy was repulsed. Hamada was credited with saving the entire battalion from "total defeat," the MIS club said.

After the Burma campaign, Hamada was assigned to Operation Magpie and parachuted into Fengtai Prison in Peiping (Beijing) on Aug. 17, 1945, according to the veterans club. After two days of negotiation, the Magpie team secured the liberation of several hundred prisoners, including four of the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders and the commander and survivors of the Wake Island garrison, according to the veterans club release.

After the war, Hamada worked at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and retired as a planner and estimator supervisor, the news release said. He also was a baseball and softball umpire.

He was nominated for the Military Intelligence Corps Hall of Fame by retired Maj. Gen. Arthur Ishimoto, an MIS veteran of World War II who later became adjutant general of Hawaii, the veterans club release said.

"Dick Hamada was a true American hero whose exploits were largely unnoticed during his lifetime. His induction into the Military Intelligence Corps Hall of Fame is long overdue and well deserved," Ishimoto said in the club's news release. Ishimoto served in combat in the Philippines and in the occupation of Japan after the war.

"The nisei were recruited to use our knowledge of Japanese language and culture against the enemy," said Ishimoto. "But we were soldiers first, as Dick Hamada and many others demonstrated."

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Hawaii-based troops close Philippine counterterror mission

The Hawaii-based Special Operations Command Pacific continues to wind down a more than decade-long counterterrorism mission to the southern Philippines as former inward concerns shift to the external threat posed by China.

Joint Special Operations Task Force Philippines — which grew out of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and al-Qaida's rise — included nearly 2,000 U.S. personnel in 2003, 500 to 600 in more recent years and about 250 service members as of September, officials said.

Philippine media said the U.S. task force held a deactivation ceremony in late February in Zamboanga city.

The flag-lowering symbolized the transition and paid tribute to the U.S.-Philippine partnership, said Maj. Kari McEwen, spokes­woman for Special Operations Command Pacific at Camp H.M. Smith. U.S. troops worked with Philippine army and police forces.

"The transition is scheduled to be complete by May 1, but U.S. military personnel and equipment have been leaving the Philippines since the announcement (of the task force shutdown) was made last summer," McEwen said in an email.

By May 1, U.S. "foreign liaison elements" will advise and assist Philippine counterterrorism efforts "at higher levels of command within the Philippine security forces," McEwen said.

As of September about 300 service members were assigned to the Special Operations Command Pacific in Hawaii. About 20 percent of those were commandos.

SOCPAC, as it is known, has units with Army Special Forces in Japan and Naval Special Warfare sailors on Guam.

Seventeen U.S. service members died while advising Philippine forces, including 10 in a helicopter crash, three in bombings and four in "non-hostile" incidents and a drowning, according to the U.S. government and reports.

In 2002 the Philippines agreed to the deployment of U.S. advisers in the fight against the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Is­lami­yah terrorist organizations, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Gen. Joseph Votel, in charge of U.S. Special Operations Command, said during his U.S. Senate confirmation in July that the effort in the southern Philippines initially was known as Joint Task Force 510 before it became Joint Special Operations Task Force Philippines.

"The intent of these operations was to go at the heart of the (Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Is­lami­yah) support zones and eliminate their ability to operate by improving government legitimacy, separating terrorists from the populace and assisting in (counterterrorism) targeting," Votel said in prepared answers for the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"Our Philippine partners have now progressed to a point where they can maintain security and stability with minimal advisory support," Votel added.

The Philippine constitution prohibited American personnel from engaging in direct combat, and U.S. troops could use force only to defend themselves.

The Congressional Research Service said in May that territorial disputes between the Philippines and China remained tense, with frequent confrontations involving Chinese paramilitary or coast guard vessels.

The U.S. government has pledged greater security assistance to the Philippines as joint military exercises "reorient from a domestic focus to an outward one," the research service said.

An Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, finalized in April, allows for the increased presence of U.S. personnel, ships, aircraft and equipment in the Philippines on a temporary basis.

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Top US general optimistic about outcome of Tikrit battle

ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT — The one-two punch of Iranian-back militias and Iraqi government troops is likely to prevail in the unfolding battle for Tikrit, but it would not have been possible if U.S. airstrikes had not tied down Islamic State fighters elsewhere in northern Iraq, the top U.S. general said.

Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was asked by reporters traveling with him from Washington to Iraq whether he believes the Islamic State group will be pushed out of Tikrit.

"Yeah, I do," he said. "The numbers are overwhelming."

Dempsey said about 23,000 Iranian-based Shiite militiamen and Iraqi soldiers are involved in the offensive, compared to only "hundreds" of IS fighters.

The offensive is not what the Americans would consider textbook military tactics, he said, describing a hodge-podge of Iraqi Humvees, trucks and other vehicles surging toward Tikrit like rush hour on the Washington Beltway.

"I wouldn't describe it as a sophisticated military maneuver," he said.

Dempsey was flying overnight Friday to Bahrain and later to Iraq to meet with U.S. commanders and Iraqi government leaders.

His visit comes at an intriguing stage of the war to force the Islamic State group out of Iraq. Its fighters swept across much of northern and western Iraq last summer and now control numerous key cities, including Tikrit, which is the birthplace of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

The U.S. and its allies have launched hundreds of airstrikes at IS targets since August and credits its attacks with halting the group's territorial advances. But in the Tikrit offensive, which began Monday, the U.S. is on the sidelines. It is watching as Iran asserts influence by providing training, weapons and leadership for Iraqi Shiite militias who are leading the charge on Tikrit.

Dempsey said he sees no evidence that the Iranian military is actually doing any of the fighting. They have improved the Iraqi militias' fighting capabilities, but their role also has raised worries among America's coalition allies, who include Gulf Arab nations who despise Iran.

Dempsey plans to visit one of those Gulf allies, Bahrain, during his trip.

The general said that while Iran is getting credit for enabling the Tikrit offensive, the full story of how it was made possible has not been told.

"If it weren't for the (U.S.-led coalition) air campaign over time depleting the ISIL forces in Beyji ... then the current campaign (in Tikrit) as currently constructed would not be militarily feasible," he said.

Islamic State forces had surged into Beyji, which lies just north of Tikrit, in hopes of controlling a key oil refinery there. But they have been halted and tied down by a series of U.S. airstrikes, Dempsey said. That little-noted IS setback has divided and weakened its forces, he added.

"The important thing about this operation in Tikrit is less about how the military aspect of it goes and more about what follows," Dempsey said.

The mostly Sunni population of Tikrit must be allow to returned to their homes, and the Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad must step in with reconstruction and humanitarian aid, he said.

If that happens, "then I think we're in a really good place," he said. If it does not happen, then the future could be problematic, he said.

The key task for Iraq's leaders, Dempsey said, is to balance the Iranian role in empowering Shiite militias with Iraq's partnership with the U.S. and other coalition members.

"The only one that can balance that is the prime minister of Iraq," Dempsey said. "So I want to get his views on how he is seeking to balance that concern."

NCIS investigator tells of how Hamdania probe took abrupt turn

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – A top investigator in the 2006 killing of an Iraq civilian in Hamdania testified on Friday that when he first heard about the case, he believed it was a “good shoot.”

“I just didn’t think the Marines would do something like this,” James Connolly, the lead investigator for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, said in a pretrial hearing Friday. He later added that he thought claims by the victim’s family that the man was murdered were “just another way for the Iraqis to get money from the United States.”

But after a few days of site visits and witness interviews, everything went “sideways,” Connolly said.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos “spilled his guts” about the killing to another investigator, Connolly said, changing the possible wrongful death into a homicide investigation.

Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III, who served as Bacos’ squad leader in Iraq, was convicted in 2007 in the killing of unpremeditated murder, larceny and making a false official statement. He has already served more than six years of his 11-year sentence.

Hutchins' conviction was overturned in 2011, reinstated and then overturned again in 2013 because he was placed in solitary confinement for a week with no access to an attorney during the interrogation.

Now, he’s facing another court-martial for the same incident, despite efforts by his civilian lawyer to have the case thrown out because of comments made by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus that he believes amount to unlawful command influence.

The attorney, Chris Oprison, called a handful of witnesses to speak to the issue.

One of them, retired Marine Corps lawyer Colby Vokey, said by telephone that after the comments were published in 2009, he heard Marines saying that it seemed like evidence that Hutchins couldn’t get a fair trail and that the Marine Corps was “out to get him.”

Prosecutor Maj. Adam Workman disputed the idea that comments made more than five years ago would have an impact on this court-martial.

Friday was the second day of the pretrial hearing, and Connolly’s testimony stood in contrast to testimony Thursday by Hutchins’ previous defense attorney, who said that team was allowed only 45 minutes for a site visit and was not able to interview anyone who had been in the town that night.

Still, Connolly said he had been trained before his deployment to do “20-minute crime scenes” – get in, and get out.

“I kept that in the back of my mind when we were doing stuff,” he said.

The comment upset Hutchins’ wife, Reyna.

“My Marine, my husband, my life, is charged with murder based on a 20-minute crime scene investigation!!!” she wrote in a note to Stars and Stripes.

Oprison, Hutchins' attorney, also requested the judge delay the trial until an investigation can determine whether NCIS purposely failed to provide roughly 3,000 pages worth of documents to the defense. The documents were released Feb. 27, Oprison said, but he and his fellow lawyers were out of town and couldn’t look at them until this week.

“Right now we’re looking at an eight-year suppression,” he said. “I think we need a criminal investigation.”

The judge, Navy Capt. Andrew Henderson, said he would wait to rule on the issue until Oprison and Workman can determine how many of the documents had, in fact, already been provided to the defense, and how many are new.

“I don’t know what I don’t know,” Henderson said.

hlad.jennifer@stripes.com

Twitter: @jhlad

Final plan for North Coast marine sanctuary expansion expected within days

A dispute with the U.S. Coast Guard that for more than a month has stalled expansion plans for adjoining marine sanctuaries off the California coast appears to be resolved, paving the way for publication of the final regulatory proposal.

North Coast Congressman Jared Huffman said Thursday he thought it would be a matter of days before publication of the final rule appeared in the Federal Register, a step that would mark a landmark moment for a federal plan in the works for more than two years and a proposal envisioned far earlier than that by supporters, including former Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma.

“We’re all very excited to hear the final word when it comes,” said Huffman, D-San Rafael, speaking frankly about the potential risk of substantial delays had the Coast Guard persisted in its demands for regulatory exemptions in the sanctuaries. “This is going to be wonderful news for the North Coast and certainly for Congresswoman Woolsey and others who have worked many years on this.”

The plan to expand the Cordell Bank and Gulf of the Farallones national marine sanctuaries would extend federal protections to coastal waters from Bodega Head to southern Mendocino County, putting an additional 2,769 square miles of ocean off-limits to energy and mineral extraction and more than doubling the combined size of the sanctuaries.

It would safeguard productive habitat fed by the nutrient-rich upwelling off Point Arena, and because the southern border of the Farallones sanctuary abuts the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, it would ensure federal stewardship along 350 miles of coastline from Cambria to Manchester Beach.

The proposal, unveiled in December 2012 by President Barack Obama after years of legislative effort failed to garner sufficient backing in Congress, has strong support along the North Coast and in Washington, according to officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

It was expected to be published in late January.

But officials said the proposal was held up for weeks by demands from top Coast Guard brass who sought the same exemptions already included in the expansion language for the Navy and other branches of the military that fall under the Department of Defense.

The Coast Guard, an arm of the Department of Homeland Security, is not covered by the DOD provisions, which in essence waive sanctuary rules for ongoing activities deemed essential to the nation’s defense. Authorization for any new activities would follow consultation between the two agencies.

The Coast Guard also is concerned about retaining the ability to use some small vessels in its fleet that cannot store wastewater, and thus would be at risk of violating sanctuary rules on effluent discharge.

The agency, which would be tasked with enforcement within the sanctuary, also feared its training and exercises could be restricted, according to people familiar with the discussions in Washington.

Huffman said the Coast Guard’s concern was “reasonable,” but called it “unfair to raise it at the eleventh hour in a long review process.”

He also noted that the Coast Guard and NOAA sanctuary administrators have a track record of cooperation, and said an agreement now in place to work out a process of Coast Guard activities in all marine sanctuaries will cover the agency’s needs.

Huffman and Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, were among five members of Congress from Central and Northern California coastal districts who last week called on the White House Office of Management and Budget to conclude negotiations and finalize the rule, citing an earlier, similar plea by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco.

“Ultimately, I’m glad to see that the Coast Guard stood down,” Huffman said.

Once published in the Federal Register, the final step in the expansion is a 45-day review period in which Congress or Gov. Jerry Brown could still raise objections, though sanctuary and NOAA officials have downplayed the likelihood of any impediment that would prevent the plan from going into effect.

Thompson, who was not available for an interview, said in writing that he was pleased “to hear that this expansion should be moving forward very soon.”

“When it happens, communities along our coast will see big benefits in the form of increased tourism dollars and a healthy ocean,” Thompson said in a written statement. “Once this expansion is completed, we will continue working toward our long-term goal of an integrated sanctuary system that protects our nation’s marine resources.”

Oregon Military Department shuts down 12 indoor gun ranges, Forest Grove armory, over lead dust conc

The Oregon Military Department has closed all 12 of its indoor gun ranges at armories across the state over concerns about high levels of lead dust.

The closures came after preliminary testing at the Forest Grove and McMinnville armories found surface levels of lead beyond thresholds allowed by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA).

The Forest Grove armory was closed entirely, and the McMinnville armory was closed to public events and rentals, though military personnel continue to operate out of the building, said Capt. Stephen Bomar, OMD spokesman.

Indoor gun ranges were closed at additional armories in Salem, Baker City, Coos Bay, Ontario, Roseburg, Springfield, Pendleton, Bend, Portland and Ashland, though air and surface testing at those facilities were within permissible levels, Bomar said.

Bomar said testing of lead levels at OMD's indoor ranges was first conducted in 2012. Based on preliminary sampling in 2014, all 12 indoor ranges were closed for use in November, though Bomar said he did not know what the results were that prompted the closures.

So far, seven of the 12 armories with indoor ranges have been tested for lead, Bomar said. Of those, only Forest Grove and McMinnville showed troubling results.

Sampling was done at the Forest Grove armory on Jan. 9 of this year. The results, received on Jan. 12 according to Bomar, were "concerning enough to move people out of the armory," and prompted the closure of the entire building.

Lead is a naturally occurring metal that can be dangerous if inhaled or ingested at certain levels. Lead can cause serious health effects, including high blood pressure, cardiovascular and reproductive problems, and lower kidney function, according to OSHA.

Symptoms of lead poisoning in adults include headaches, weight loss, memory loss and fatigue. The problems are significantly worse for children, who can develop learning disorders, anemia and hearing problems from exposure.

In indoor shooting ranges, lead dust from spent bullets can accumulate in the air and on surfaces without proper cleaning and ventilation.

OSHA guidelines state that employees should not be exposed to airborne lead levels of more than 50 micrograms per cubic meter over an eight-hour period. Lead traces on surfaces in a workplace should not exceed 200 micrograms per square-foot.

The air quality tests "came back with flying colors" in Forest Grove, Bomar said, where the air level of lead was .001 microgram per cubic meter.

But the surface tests caused concern.

Bomar did not provide the specific levels of surface lead found in the most recent testing. But of about 500 samples of surface level testing done throughout the Forest Grove armory - not just in the indoor range - he said about half came back below OSHA action levels, and about half were beyond 200 micrograms per square foot.

The tests were deemed "inconclusive," Bomar said, because it was unclear why some areas came back with high lead results while others were within acceptable ranges.

For now, those who are normally stationed at the armory in Forest Grove have been moved to the Jackson Armory near the Portland International Guard Base. Gun range activities throughout Oregon are taking place at outdoor ranges.

"From a training standpoint, it's obviously inconvenient, but it's more important for our personnel to be safe," Bomar said.

Bomar said he anticipates final results by the end of the month. That additional testing will determine if additional cleaning, or air circulation design changes, would make the indoor ranges safe to reopen. It's also possible that they will have to remain closed permanently, he said.

Employees who worked in the affected armories were asked to get additional blood testing for lead levels.

"We asked the individuals that were in the armory to go ahead and visit their doctors and make sure it gets annotated," Bomar said. "As of my knowledge right now, nobody has come back with anything."

Employees who worked in the indoor ranges did not receive training on the dangers of lead, Bomar said.

"There's not a specific training as of yet on lead exposures," he said, adding that is now something OMD is looking at.

Operation Atlantic Resolve expands with Black Hawks

GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — An additional 450 soldiers and 25 Black Hawk helicopters will join the expanding roster of units converging on eastern Europe in March as part of a longer-term effort to reassure allies worried about Russia’s intentions.

Pilots, flight and ground crews from the 4th Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade out of Hunter Army Air Field, Ga., will be deploying to Illesheim, Germany, later this month.

From the staging ground there, they will then deploy in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve, a multinational training mission to reassure Poland and the Baltic countries of NATO’s commitment in the face of Russia’s aggressive moves in Ukraine.

The unit will remain deployed for about nine months, U.S. Army Europe said in a March 3 news release.

While in Europe they will serve as a supporting element to the Operation Atlantic Resolve ground forces, led by the 1st Armor Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, from Fort Stewart, Ga., as that unit assumes the role of the regionally aligned force in the area. The Vilseck-based 2nd Cavalry Regiment is currently holding that position.

About 100 soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division from Fort Carson, Colo., make up the regionally aligned force operational command element, led in part by Brig. Gen. Randy George, the 4th ID deputy commander.

“USAREUR right now is running [Operation Atlantic Resolve], but the commander of USAREUR also has responsibilities elsewhere throughout Europe,” said 4th ID mission command element deputy chief of staff Maj. George H. Johnson. “He just has somebody now that he can give particular direction to.”

George will run the first iteration of the mission command element in Europe. His first task, according to Johnson, will be to coordinate the transition with the outgoing 2CR.

After that, the 4th Infantry soldiers will settle in for their first long-term command of troops in Europe as Operation Atlantic Resolve continues.

“USAREUR was running that themselves and that is because there hasn’t been a division headquarters in Europe since the 1st Infantry Division left,” Johnson said. “Now they see a place where having a division headquarters in Europe could help in synchronizing between the militaries of nations, making sure that we train together and learn how to work and operate together. That’s what we’re here to do."

darnell.michael@stripes.com

Hawaii's Ewa Field clears historic registry hurdle

FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii — The National Park Service has given the green light for a historic, but largely overlooked, military air field on Oahu to become a protected National American Battlefield.

The Keeper of the National Register issued a formal determination in February that Ewa Field, also known as Ewa Mooring Mast Field, is eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places. The Navy, which owns the roughly 1,000-square-yard parcel of land, submitted the request for eligibility consideration in September.

Ewa Field has changed little since the Dec. 7, 1941, attack by the Imperial Japanese naval air forces, which heavily strafed the air field. Some of the concrete still bears bullet marks.

The Park Service’s notice of determination of eligibility, however, concluded that the Navy had been too conservative with its “narrow focus” on still-existing battlefield features, such as the 1941 runways, a warm-up platform and the foundation of a hangar.

“Considering only those resources evidencing direct associations (strafing marks, destruction of ground aircraft, defensive positions) with the battle, rather than the broader extent of the historic 1941 installation overlooks the equally justifiable significance of outlying support areas where the ‘battlefield action’ may have involved people fleeing from aerial bombs and bullet fire and taking shelter wherever possible,” the Park Service notification stated.

“The chaos and confusion of an unprovoked attack seems to call for an expanded definition of the involved ‘battlefield.’ We believe that the Ewa Mooring Mast Field is only one eligible component of a potential larger battlefield district whose boundaries and contributing resources have yet to be fully defined.”

Denise Emsley, a spokeswoman for Naval Facilities Engineering Command Hawaii, said in a written statement to Stars and Stripes that the Navy acknowledges it “is required to treat the newly defined boundary as eligible.”

The term “Pearl Harbor attack” is misleading because the assault was actually all over the island of Oahu, said Daniel A. Martinez, chief historian with the National Park Service at the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument. For a long time, the Ewa Field attack had been neglected, and designating it as a national historic landmark would finally cement its importance and history, he said.

“It brings significance to those who defended that field and to those who lost their lives,” Martinez said. “It also brings significance to the people of Ewa who assisted the Marines and lost two individuals themselves at Ewa Plantation.”

Four Marines were killed in the area that morning.

Ewa Field had been established to defend against an attack on Pearl Harbor, a Navy stronghold about 17 miles to the west. The Marine Corps base was still under construction in late 1941, with many of the 800 Marines there still living in tents.

Three “waves” of attack planes passed over en route to other targets. The first planes began strafing the almost 50 U.S. aircraft parked there, destroying most of them.

During World War II, the field expanded into the larger Marine Corps Air Station Ewa and was used to train fighter pilots.

The base closed in 1952, and the property was annexed into the nearby Naval Air Station Barbers Point.

The push to preserve Ewa Field has been spearheaded by local resident and historian John Bond, who founded the organization Save Ewa Field to generate public support.

The eligibility determination impedes any further development on the site, Bond said.

“The nomination will be the final icing on the cake,” he said. “The advantage of that is we can get the National Park Service more involved in it officially because then it’s an actual nominated battlefield and would have, we would hope, official recognition by the Park Service to become part of World War II Valor in the Pacific.”

Martinez said the site could potentially be melded into the mix of sites in Hawaii, California and Alaska that comprise the WWII Valor Memorial, but that’s “down the road.”

“There now needs to be some time to consider what that future will be,” Martinez said.

The actual nomination must now be approved by the Hawaii state historic preservation officer, followed by a review by the Navy and approval by the Navy’s federal preservation officer. Final approval would then be made by the keeper of the National Register.

olson.wyatt@stripes.com

Security questioned in probe of attack on US envoy to Seoul

SEOUL, South Korea — Police on Friday investigated the motive of the anti-U.S. activist they say slashed the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, as questions turned to whether security was neglected.

The attack Thursday on Mark Lippert, which prompted rival North Korea to gloat about "knife slashes of justice," left deep gashes on his face and hand and damaged tendons and nerves. It also raised safety worries in a city with a reputation as a relatively low-risk diplomatic posting, despite regular threats of war from North Korea.

While an extreme example, the attack is the latest act of political violence in a deeply divided country where some protesters portray their causes as matters of life and death.

Lippert, 42, was recovering well but complaining of pain in the wound on his left wrist and a finger where doctors repaired nerve damage, Severance Hospital official Yoon Do-Heum said in a televised briefing. Doctors plan to remove the 80 stiches on Lippert's face on Monday or Tuesday and expect him to be out of the hospital by Tuesday or Wednesday. Hospital officials say he may experience sensory problems in his left hand for several months.

Police, meanwhile, searched the offices and house of the suspect, Kim Ki-jong, 55, and seized hundreds of documents, books and computer files. Police also obtained Kim's telecommunication and financial transaction records to help investigate how the attack was planned and whether others were involved, police officials said in a televised briefing.

Seoul Central District Court was expected to decide later Friday whether to grant a police request for Kim's formal arrest. Police said the potential charges against Kim include attempted murder, assaulting a foreign envoy, obstruction, and violating a controversial law that bans praise or assistance for North Korea.

Police are also looking into Kim's past travels to North Korea — seven times between 1999 and 2007 — during a previous era of inter-Korean cooperation, when South Korea was led by a liberal government.

Kim, who has a long history of anti-U.S. and violent protests, said he acted alone in the attack on Lippert. He told police he was protesting annual U.S.-South Korean military drills that started Monday — exercises that the North has long maintained are preparations for an invasion. Kim said the drills, which Seoul and Washington say are purely defensive, ruined efforts for reconciliation between the Koreas, according to police officials.

Security for Lippert was another focus.

U.S. ambassadors have security details, but their size largely depends on the threat level of the post. It's not clear how many guards Lippert had at the downtown venue where he was attacked, but since Seoul is seen as fairly safe, the number of guards would have been fewer than for American ambassadors in most of the Middle East.

The U.S. Embassy, citing security reasons, only informed South Korean police of what Lippert was doing a little before Thursday's event, and it provided its own security detail for the ambassador, according to a Seoul police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing office rules. The U.S. Embassy in Seoul didn't immediately respond to emailed questions about security for the ambassador.

By law, South Korea provides police protection for a U.S. ambassador only when the American Embassy requests it, according to South Korean police. The U.S. Embassy didn't request security for Lippert, but 29 officers were deployed as a precaution, although all but four were on standby outside the building, the officer said.

Even before the attack on Lippert, Kim was well-known among police and activists as one of a hard-core group of protesters willing to use violence to highlight their causes. He received a three-year suspended sentence in 2010 for throwing a piece of concrete at the Japanese ambassador to Seoul while protesting Japan's claim to small disputed islands that are occupied by South Korea.

More recently, Kim had been under investigation by Seoul prosecutors after allegedly assaulting at least one public employee at an outdoor pop concert in January.

Officials at Seoul's Jongno police station said they were aware of Kim's violent history, but did not consider the possibility that he would show up at the breakfast meeting, despite his ties to the group that hosted it.

When Kim entered the hall where the attack occurred, a police officer asked one of the event organizers whether he should be allowed to enter, Jongno district police Chief Yun Myung-sung told reporters. The organizing official answered that Kim could enter because he was associated with an organization that had been invited to the meeting.

A security expert called the police inept.

"There is no excuse for allowing a blacklisted person to enter the venue for an event like this," said Yu Hyung-chang, a professor at Kyungnam University in Changwon who served in South Korea's presidential secret service for 20 years until 2000. "If you are going to let him enter, then the very basic thing to do is to have an officer stay close to him at all times."

Yu said the police, knowing what they did about Kim, should have told the embassy about the danger and provided better security, especially since there has been a recent surge in anti-U.S. demonstrations.

While most South Koreans look at the U.S. presence favorably, America infuriates some leftists because of its role in Korea's turbulent modern history.

Washington, which backed South Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War against the communist North, still stations 28,500 troops here, and anti-U.S. activists see the annual military drills with Seoul as a major obstacle to their goal of a unified Korea.

"South and North Korea should be reunified," Kim shouted as he slashed Lippert with a 25-centimeter (10-inch) knife, police and witnesses said.

Lippert became ambassador last October, and is a popular figure. He's regularly seen walking his basset hound, Grigsby, near his residence, not far from where the attack happened. His wife gave birth here and the couple gave their son a Korean middle name.

Associated Press writer Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul contributed to this report.

General says no command influence in decision to retry Marine for Iraq death

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — A Marine general said Thursday that his decision to order a retrial for a sergeant who already has served six years for the killing of an Iraqi civilian was not affected by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus’ statement that the victim “was murdered.”

Last year, Lt. Gen. Robert Neller ordered the new trial for Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III, who was convicted of unpremeditated murder for the 2006 incident in Hamdaniya and sentenced to 11 years in military prison. Hutchins’ conviction has been overturned by military appeals courts twice.

During a pre-trial hearing Thursday, Neller was asked by defense counsel to explain his decision.

“I felt no external influence from anyone,” Neller told the court. Instead, he said, he decided to retry Hutchins because “I believe he committed a crime.”

In 2009, Mabus denied clemency for Hutchins, saying he thought the original 11-year sentence was “commensurate with the crime.”

At the time, Mabus told the Marine Corps Times the killing was “so completely premeditated, that it was not in the heat of battle, that not only was the action planned but the cover-up was planned, and that they picked somebody at random, just because he happened to be in a house that was convenient. He was murdered.”

Speaking by phone from Norfolk, Va., where he now serves as commander of Marine Forces Command, Neller said his decision was based on his personal knowledge of the case – he was serving in Iraq when the killing happened – along with statements made by Hutchins’ squad members and “a fair amount” of the trial record that he went through.

Six other Marines and one Navy corpsman in Hutchins’ unit were convicted in the same killing, but none served more than 18 months.

Though he signed a memo saying Hutchins’ actions harmed America’s relationship with Iraq and contributed to Iraq not signing a status of forces agreement, Neller said he didn’t remember that language and would change it if he could.

“I don’t believe they were going to sign a status of forces agreement with us, ever,” he said. “I would certainly say I believe what Sgt. Hutchins is alleged to have done did not support or help us politically in Iraq.”

Hutchins’ civilian attorney, Chris Oprison, said he is hoping to delay the retrial, saying investigators have been holding back roughly 3,000 pages of documents that he just got permission to review.

“NCIS was suppressing this” for the last eight years, Oprison said. “This story gets worse and worse. … We’re not close to finishing this fight.”

Oprison also called to the stand Lt. Col. Joseph Smith, who defended Hutchins in the original trial. Smith said he submitted a request in July 2006 to visit Hamdaniyah and interview witnesses because he deemed it important to go as soon as possible.

The defense team was allowed to go to Iraq in January 2007, but no real effort was made to contact the witnesses they had sought to interview.

Instead, on the one day the team was allowed to leave Camp Fallujah for interviews and a site visit, they were only able to interview a man who did not live in Hamdaniyah but was related by marriage to a man the Marines are alleged to have assaulted.

On the site visit, Smith said, not all of the team members were allowed to get out of the vehicles, and they were not able to see all the locations they had planned to visit.

Oprison has asked the judge, Navy Capt. Andrew Henderson, to send the new defense team to Iraq for a site visit and to interview witnesses.

Henderson ruled Thursday that the government must provide funds for one member of the defense team to visit two out-of-state witnesses the government has interviewed in person, and that the defense must be allowed to inspect the NCIS investigation file, particularly in light of the documents that he ordered released this week.

He rejected a motion to delay the trial but indicated he was open to a motion after Oprison has gone through the documents and determined whether they are duplicates of materials the defense already has or new materials that will require additional work.

The hearing is expected to continue Friday morning.

Hlad.jennifer@stripes.com

Twitter: @jhlad

NATO ready to advise Libya on security, eyes more drones

ROME — NATO's chief said Thursday the alliance was ready to advise Libya's government on defense and security issues, saying the deteriorating situation in the country is posing new security threats for Europe that require a more robust defense.

Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also told a news conference in Rome that the alliance plans to bolster its surveillance of the region by using drones based at the air station in Sigonella, Sicily, starting next year.

NATO enforced a U.N. mandate to protect civilians and enforced no-fly zone and arms embargo on Libya during the 2011 ouster of Moammar Gadhafi's regime. The mission ended in October 2011, and the security situation has since spiraled out of control with two separate governments and multiple armed groups, including some affiliated with the Islamic State group.

Stoltenberg has said there should have been more international presence in Libya after the military operation ended, and pledged Thursday that NATO was available to help.

"NATO stands ready to support Libya with advice on defense and security institution building, as requested by the Libyan government," he said, repeating a pledge by NATO members at a September summit in Wales.

He cited the deteriorating situation in Libya, the Mideast and the conflict in Ukraine as evidence that NATO requires more robust defense spending than in the years after the end of the Cold War, when defense budgets were slashed.

"The world has changed. We have seen new threats and new challenges," he said.

On Ukraine, he called for all sides to respect the cease-fire and in particular for Russia to withdraw its heavy weaponry.

"Russia has transferred in recent months over 1,000 pieces of equipment, tanks, artillery and air defense systems. They have to withdraw this equipment and stop supporting the separatists," he said. "Any attempts to expand further the territory held by separatists would be a clear violation of the cease-fire. And it would be unacceptable to the international community."

Associated Press writer John-Thor Dahlburg in Brussels contributed to this report.

Flights halted at LaGuardia after Delta plane skids off runway

NEW YORK (Tribune News Service) — A Delta Air Lines jet skidded on landing at LaGuardia Airport during a winter storm on Thursday, then crashed through a fence before coming to a stop feet from the icy water, officials said on Thursday.

There were 127 passengers and five crew members aboard Delta Flight 1086, an MD-88 that arrived in New York from Atlanta at about 11:05 a.m. local time. It traveled thousands of feet down Runway 13, veered to the left and crashed through the chain-link fence that separates the airport from Flushing Bay.

The plane came to rest on an embankment, nose perilously poised over the frigid waters as passengers and crew evacuated in the snow.

Officials said there were about two dozen minor injuries reported, including two passengers who were taken to a hospital for treatment.

Patrick Foye, executive director of the Port Authority, praised the pilot and crew for acting quickly and keeping the injury toll relatively low.

“I think the pilot did everything he could to slow the plane down,” Foye told reporters at a news conference. “Those good efforts are reflected by the fact there were only minor injuries.”

There was no immediate cause of the accident, which will be investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Foye said he would not speculate about what caused the incident, but noted that two other flights had landed without problem just minutes before the Delta flight. Those pilots reported “good braking action” on that same runway, he said.

Poor weather had forced airports in the United States to cancel nearly 2,700 flights on Thursday. LaGuardia had canceled 167 arrivals and 201 departures as of noon ET, according to Flightstats.com, a website that monitors airline delays and cancellations.

There was also a minor spill of fuel from the plane, about 1 gallon a minute, Foye said. The fluid was quickly contained by the first responders who arrived just minutes after the plane came to a stop.

Gail Grimmett, a senior vice president of Delta, told the briefing that the passengers had begun leaving the airport by early afternoon to be reunited with their families or to continue their business in New York.

Two runways were closed at the airport, but one was reopened within hours. The second runway could reopen by evening.

LaGuardia is known for its relatively short runways and its outdated infrastructure. The airport’s two runways are about 7,000 feet long; the runways at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, by comparison, are 8,400 to more than 14,000 feet long.

In 1989, a USAir jet rolled off the end of a runway into the East River while aborting a takeoff, killing two passengers.

The last mishap at La Guardia occurred in July 2013, when the nose gear of a Southwest Airlines flight collapsed upon landing. Eleven people on board were hurt.

“The first indication (that something was wrong) was literally within a second or two of the wheels hitting the ground of the runway and you knew there was going to be a problem because it was not getting the traction and grab that you typically feel when the wheels touch down,” passenger Jared Faellaci told WABC-TV. “And obviously the skidding started and that continued for close to 20 seconds.”

“We’re skidding and I did not know when it was going to stop — was it going to stop in the water or before the water? I was holding onto the seat in front of me and I was praying and it literally stopped just a few feet from the water as you can see from the photos.

“Obviously, it was quite scary and caused people to reflect. Some people were frantic, some people cried, others prayed,” he said.

Los Angeles Times staff writers Tina Susman in New York and Hugo Martin and Michael Muskal in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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Iraq says Islamic State militants 'bulldozed' ancient site

BAGHDAD — Islamic State militants "bulldozed" the renowned archaeological site of the ancient city of Nimrud in northern Iraq on Thursday using heavy military vehicles, the government said.

A statement from Iraq's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities didn't elaborate on the extent of the damage, saying only that the group continues to "defy the will of the world and the feelings of humanity" with this latest act, which came after an attack on the Mosul museum just days earlier.

The destruction of the site of one of ancient Mesopotamia's greatest cities recalled the Taliban's annihilation of large Buddha statues in Afghanistan more than a dozen years ago, experts said.

Nimrud was the second capital of Assyria, an ancient kingdom that began in about 900 B.C., partially in present-day Iraq, and became a great regional power. The city, which was destroyed in 612 B.C., is located on the Tigris River just south of Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, which was captured by the Islamic State group in June.

The late 1980s discovery of treasures in Nimrud's royal tombs was one of the 20th century's most significant archaeological finds. After Iraq was invaded in 2003, archaeologists were relieved when they were found hidden in the country's central Bank — in a secret vault-inside-a-vault submerged in sewage water.

The Islamic State extremists, who control a third of Iraq and Syria, have attacked other archaeological and religious sites, claiming that they promote apostasy. Earlier this week, a video emerged on militant websites showing Islamic State militants with sledgehammers destroying ancient artifacts at the Mosul museum, sparking global outrage.

Last year, the militants destroyed the Mosque of the Prophet Younis — or Jonah — and the Mosque of the Prophet Jirjis, two revered ancient shrines in Mosul. They also threatened to destroy Mosul's 850-year old Crooked Minaret, but residents surrounded the structure, preventing the militants from approaching.

Suzanne Bott, the heritage conservation project director for Iraq and Afghanistan in the University of Arizona's College of Architecture, Planning and Archaeology, worked at Nimrud on and off for two years between 2008 and 2010. She helped stabilize structures and survey Nimrud for the U.S. State Department as part of a joint U.S. military and civilian unit.

She described Nimrud as one of four main Assyrian capital cities that practiced medicine, astrology, agriculture, trade and commerce, and had some of the earliest writings.

"It's really called the cradle of Western civilization, that's why this particular loss is so devastating," Bott said. "What was left on site was stunning in the information it was able to convey about ancient life.

"People have compared it to King Tut's tomb," she said.

Iraq's national museum in Baghdad opened its doors to the public last week for the first time in 12 years in a move Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said was to defy efforts "to destroy the heritage of mankind and Iraq's civilization."

The Islamic State group has imposed a harsh and violent version of Islamic law in the territories it controls and has terrorized religious minorities. It has released gruesome videos online showing the beheading of captives, including captured Western journalists and aid workers.

A U.S.-led coalition has been striking the group since August, and Iraqi forces launched an offensive this week to try to retake the militant-held city of Tikrit, on the main road linking Baghdad to Mosul.

Jack Green, chief curator of the Oriental Institute Museum at the University of Chicago and expert on Iraqi art, said Thursday that the IS group seems bent on destroying objects they view as idols representing religions and cultures that don't conform to their beliefs.

"It's the deliberate destruction of a heritage and its images, intended to erase history and the identity of the people of Iraq, whether in the past or the present," Green said. "And it has a major impact on the heritage of the region."

Green noted that in many of these attacks on art, pieces that can be carried away are then sold to fund the IS group, while the larger artifacts and sculptures are destroyed at the site.

___

Associated Press writers Verena Dobnik in New York and Amanda Myers in Washington contributed to this report.

Army secretary defends stripping Special Forces officer of awards

WASHINGTON — The secretary of the Army is defending his decision to strip awards for heroism from a former Green Beret officer, saying the soldier demonstrated a "lack of honorable conduct" after he earned the medals.

Maj. Mathew L. Golsteyn received the Silver Star in 2011 for valor in Afghanistan on Feb. 20, 2010, and was later approved for an upgrade to the even more prestigious Distinguished Service Cross. That award is considered second only to the Medal of Honor in recognizing heroism in combat.

Golsteyn was later investigated for an undisclosed violation of the military's rules of engagement in combat — a violation related to the killing of a known enemy bombmaker, according to officials familiar with the case. The investigation closed in 2014 without Golsteyn's being charged with a crime, but Army Secretary John McHugh made the rare decision to strip him of both awards anyway.

The move has been scrutinized by the media and criticized by Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., a Marine veteran who has advocated on Golsteyn's behalf. But McHugh stood by his decision in a new letter to Hunter, saying that the senior officer who initially approved Golsteyn's Silver Star, Gen. David Rodriguez, agreed with his decision.

"Every step in the process of investigating Major Golsteyn's actions, and reviewing and subsequently revoking his valor awards has been thorough, objective and justified," McHugh wrote in the February 26 letter, obtained by The Washington Post. "The Army's investigation demonstrated that Major Golsteyn's service during or at the time of the distinguished act, achievement or meritorious service was not honorable, which led to the revocation of the Distinguished Service Cross."

Golsteyn, a former member of the 3rd Special Forces Group and graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, has declined to comment through his lawyer. In recent months, the Army has taken away his Special Forces tab, a qualification that goes to any soldier who completes Special Forces training, and reassigned him to the conventional Army as an infantry officer.

The service also decided recently to separate him from active duty, a move that would likely require Golsteyn to face an administrative board that could issue an other-than-honorable discharge. That could prevent him from receiving medical benefits once out of the military — important because Golsteyn has been diagnosed with spinal damage, a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress, and had an operation on his heart while serving, said his attorney, Phil Stackhouse.

Neither Army officials nor Golsteyn's advocates have been willing to elaborate on the allegations he faced. The Army began investigating him after he interviewed for a job at the CIA, three sources with knowledge of the probe told The Post in February.

In a letter that month, Hunter told McHugh he was concerned that the investigation and decision to strip Golsteyn of awards were not objective, and he asked for the secretary to confirm that he had nothing to do with quashing an appeal filed by the former Special Forces officer.

After McHugh's reply on February 26, Hunter fired back with a letter the following day. The congressman wrote that he disagreed with McHugh's characterization of the investigation, adding that an "allegation relayed by the CIA" could not be used to criminally charge Golsteyn.

"The Army knows this already, of course," Hunter wrote. "The Administrative actions currently underway are a direct result of the Army's inability to justify a criminal charge based on the evidence."

Hunter declined to attend a briefing McHugh offered on the situation if it would only "recite what's already known, or attempt to justify the political end that the Army has sought to achieve."

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(c) 2015, The Washington Post.

Fate of US training mission to Ukraine could depend on cease-fire

If final approval from the White House isn’t granted in a matter of days, plans to send U.S. paratroopers into western Ukraine this month for a long-planned training mission will be pushed back if not canceled outright, U.S. military officials say.

Only a few weeks ago, plans for the 173rd Airborne Brigade to train three Ukrainian national guard battalions appeared to be set in stone. However, U.S. officials have been analyzing the results of a new cease-fire in eastern Ukraine, where for the past year government forces have been waging a battle against Russian-backed separatist fighters.

On Tuesday, U.S. Army Europe commander Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges told reporters in Berlin that Washington has placed the training mission on hold as it looks for signs that the agreement, reached in Minsk February, is being honored. A decision on whether to proceed with the training would be needed within days to continue with the original plan to start by mid-March, Hodges said.

“We are prepared to conduct training at the request of the Ukrainian government,” Hodges told Anadolu Agency, Turkey’s state-run news agency. “But my government is obviously anxious to see the Minsk cease-fire agreement fulfilled and has put on hold this training mission.”

The U.S. plan called for sending roughly 300 U.S. soldiers to western Ukraine as part of an effort to help that country build up its national guard forces.

The 173rd remains prepared to train three Ukrainian battalions over a six-month period, focusing on skills ranging from small unit infantry tactics to battalion staff functions. The Vicenza, Italy-based soldiers are on standby, ready to press ahead if called upon.

“We are ready to go and execute the training,” said Maj. Michael Weisman, 173rd spokesman.

If the mission gets pushed back, soldiers will be able to quickly regroup to execute the training under a different time line, he said. “That’s one of the benefits of already being over here in Europe. We’re here, we’re airborne and we can go when needed,” Weisman said.

If delayed, this would not be the first time circumstances in Ukraine have pushed back a training mission. Last summer, turmoil in Ukraine forced the Army to postpone its Rapid Trident exercise. The mission, which included troops from the 173rd, was eventually carried out in September.

vandiver.john@stripes.com

NATO maritime group enters Black Sea as Ukraine crisis continues

NAPLES, Italy — International warships assigned to a U.S.-led NATO maritime group entered the Black Sea on Wednesday to train with alliance members in the region.

The arrival of the Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 continues a string of visits to the region by the U.S. and its allies over the past year — a response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea last year and its support of separatists in eastern Ukraine. The American destroyer USS Cole left the Black Sea in late February.

Six ships make up the current group,one of two immediate-reaction forces under the alliance’s maritime arm. The group is commanded by U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Brad Williamson, who is embarked with his staff on the guided-missile cruiser USS Vicksburg.

The ships will train with NATO member counterparts from Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey, NATO said in a news release. Exercises will focus on anti-submarine and anti-air-warfare and defending small boat attacks.

The visit is the second by a NATO maritime group to the Black Sea in the past year and follows an exercise in September with American and Ukrainian navies. For that visit, three members of the group entered the Black Sea.

The maritime groups groups often exercise with counterparts across the alliance, and they rotate participation in NATO’s anti-piracy operation, Ocean Shield.

During its latest tour, the maritime group 2 has made stops in Italy and Croatia and participated in NATO’s post-9/11 counterterrorism mission, Operation Active Endeavor. The group also exercised with the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, which was on its way to Middle Eastern waters for participation in airstrikes against the Islamic State group.

The U.S. and NATO have sought to reassure allies in the Black Sea region after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, where Russia maintains a critical naval base in Sevastopol. The U.S., in particular, has increased its visits to the Black Sea, which provides Russia’s only access to the Mediterranean Sea and is home to Russia’s Black Sea fleet.

U.S. warships, which previously made only sporadic visits, now enter the region almost monthly. Russia has responded to the visits with more aggressive flight operations.

The other ships in the NATO maritime group are the Canadian frigate HMCS Fredericton, the Turkish frigate TCG Turgutreis, the German tanker FGS Spessart, the Italian frigate ITS Aliseo, and the Romanian firgate ROS Regina Maria.

beardsley.steven@stripes.com

Twitter: @sjbeardsley

4 months in, Veterans Choice Program remains underused, officials say

The four-month old VA program that allows certain veterans to seek medical care from outside facilities has been vastly underused by eligible veterans, according to a VFW report issued Monday.

The report’s survey of veterans found that 80 percent of the 1,068 respondents who were interested in and eligible to receive outside medical care through the Veterans Choice Program had not been offered non-VA care.

Late last month Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., described the program as “shockingly underutilized,” with only about 30,000 veteran appointments made through the program in its first three months.

VA spokeswoman Linda West said the VA remains committed to providing veterans with the care that they have earned, where they want it and how they want it.

“VA is working with VFW and other veteran service organizations to learn from their members and better inform veterans of their eligibility and options available through the Veterans Choice Program,” West told Stars and Stripes on Wednesday. “We appreciate the VFW’s recommendations to VA and Congress and their suggestions for ways we can improve services to our veterans.”

In an effort to reduce long wait times at VA medical facilities, Congress in August passed the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014, establishing the Choice Program.

The program gives veterans who cannot be seen by a VA clinic within 30 days or who live more than 40 miles from the nearest VA facility the option of seeking care from certain approved health care providers.

The program was rolled out on Nov. 5.

About 8.6 million Veterans Choice Cards were issued, and about 27,000 veterans had requested non-VA care as of Feb. 5, the report said.

The VFW received 2,511 responses from veterans during its survey of the first three months of the program.

Among the survey findings were:

• About a third of 2,157 respondents lived farther than 40 miles from the nearest VA medical facility.


• 35 percent of 746 respondents who attempted to schedule an appointment after Nov. 5 reported waiting more than 30 days for a VA appointment.


• 57 percent of the 97 participants who received non-VA care said they were satisfied with the Veterans Choice Program.

The report said that veterans approved for non-VA care are put on the Veterans Choice List, a database used by outside healthcare facilities to determine whether a veteran is eligible.

The report said that the VA had discovered lag times in transferring this information and had taken steps to correct that.

“However, the VFW remains concerned about possible inconsistencies in the way VA medical facilities report VCI data to the contractors,” the report said.

The VFW also found that the VA’s wait-time standard “still requires veterans to wait unreasonably long and remains susceptible to data manipulation.”

One idiosyncrasy contributing to long wait times is the so-called “clinically indicated date” requirement.

“For example, if a VA health care provider deems it clinically necessary that a veteran receive a colonoscopy within 60 days, such veteran will be required to wait for a minimum of 90 days before being given the option to see a non-VA provider through the Veterans Choice Program,” the report said.

The report found that the 40-mile rule in some cases was not realistic because the distance is measured “as the crow flies” when determining eligibility for the Choice Program, which “does not accurately capture the travel burden.”

This is contrary to the method used by veterans when applying for beneficiary travel benefits, which literally measure the number of miles driven.

“Thus, it is illogical to veterans that they can qualify for beneficiary travel of 40 miles but cannot quality for the Veterans Choice Program as a 40-miler,” the report said.

The report concluded with a list of recommendations for the VA and Congress to improve the program, including modifications to the 40-mile rule and wait-time standards.

On Tuesday a group of about 50 House representatives sent a letter to VA secretary Robert McDonald urging him to alter the 40-mile rule.

“When Congress passed the Veterans Choice Program, we intended the program to be widely available to ensure that all veterans receive timely access to medical appointments,” said Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Calif., in a news release Tuesday.

olson.wyatt@stripes.com

North Korea: Airmen died with ‘suicidal-attack spirit’ during 2009 missile launch

TOKYO — North Korea lost 14 airmen to an accident during the launch of a long-range missile and satellite in 2009, according to a state media report issued Tuesday.

The deaths were revealed in a Korean Central News Agency story about North Korean premier Kim Jong Un’s visit to an air force unit, where he dedicated a monument.

The story said the 14 airmen died assisting the satellite Kwangmyongsong-2, which would correspond with North Korea’s 2009 launch of a missile that experts considered a major weaponry upgrade at the time.

The KCNA story praised “the suicidal-attack spirit of the fighter pilots who defied death to carry out the order of the party,” though it did not mention how the airmen died.

North Korea, one of the world’s most isolated and economically undeveloped nations, trumpets its perceived successes in daily news reports, but rarely mentions failures and tragedies.

In 2009, North Korea announced the satellite launch as a peaceful move aimed at broadcasting patriotic songs about its ruling dynasty.

Western observers were less concerned about what might be on the satellite than they were about the Unha-2 rocket used to launch it.

“Our analysis shows that the Unha launcher represents a significant advance over North Korea’s previous launchers and would have the capability to reach the continental United States with a payload of 1 ton or more if North Korea modified it for use as a ballistic missile,” the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists wrote in a 2009 opinion story.

Since that time, North Korea has continued to advance its ballistic missile and nuclear programs, despite international consternation.

Kim dedicated a monument Monday to the airmen who died during the launch by planting a tree, at which time he also taught onlookers about the “scientific and technological requirements” of tree planting, according to the story.

Kim has been photographed or written about by North Korean media during recent years instructing on several specialized fields, including factory optimization, fish farming, piloting and now forestry.

slavin.erik@stripes.com

Twitter:@eslavin_stripes