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WORLD

Terror detainee will serve nine-months in Australia

Australian David Hicks pleaded guilty here Friday to supporting terrorism in exchange for a nine-month prison sentence under a plea deal that forbids him from claiming he was abused in U.S. custody.

In return, Hicks, 31, will be allowed to leave Guantanamo within 60 days to serve out the sentence in his native Australia. And he will be free by New Year’s Eve. It was a startling conclusion to the first U.S. war-crimes tribunal since World War II.

“They told us this was one of the world’s worst terrorists, and he got the sentence of a drunken driver,” said Ben Wizner, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union.

The Bush administration had originally sought life in prison for Hicks. Eight senior U.S. military officers were told they could sentence him to seven years for providing material support to terrorism, which they did. But moments after they were ushered out of the tribunal chambers at 8:15 p.m., the presiding officer, Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann, disclosed that a Pentagon official had cut the deal.

Under the deal, Hicks agreed not to talk to reporters for a year, to forever waive any profit from telling his story, to renounce any claims of mistreatment or unlawful detention and to submit voluntarily to U.S. interrogation and testify at future U.S. trials or international tribunals.

The agreement drew criticism from civil liberties and human rights attorneys monitoring the trial. They were especially critical of the order forbidding Hicks from protesting any mistreatment, saying such a requirement would be unconstitutional in a civilian U.S. court.

“If the United States were not ashamed of its conduct, it wouldn’t hide behind a gag order,” Wizner said. “The agreement says he wasn’t mistreated. Why aren’t we allowed to judge for ourselves?”

Hicks’ Marine defense attorney had sought a 20-month sentence, arguing that Hicks should get credit for his five years and four months in detention at Guantanamo as a so-called enemy combatant.

“His heart wasn’t with al-Qaida,” said Marine Maj. Dan Mori, Hicks’ attorney. He cast Hicks as a “wannabe” soldier who as a high-school dropout was rebuffed by a bid to enlist in the Australian army.

Countered Marine Lt. Col. Kevin Chenail, the case prosecutor, in urging the maximum seven years: “Other confused, lost souls might follow in his footsteps.”

During the morning hearing where he entered his plea, Hicks admitted to a 35-point narrative that he’d taken four training courses with al-Qaida before the Sept. 11 attacks and that he’d asked bin Laden why he offered no training manuals. He also admitted to standing guard with an AK-47 during the U.S.

invasion of Afghanistan, first at Kandahar Airport and later beside a Taliban tank. He said he was engaged in two hours of combat with U.S. proxy Northern Alliance troops, but didn’t admit to ever firing a shot. Not in his final agreement were some of the most explosive charges that had initially been drawn against him: that he had discussed going on a suicide mission with a senior al-Qaida leader, that he’d met the so-called shoe-bomber Richard Reid and that he fought in the same unit as John Walker Lindh, an American captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan and now serving time in a federal prison for his actions.

NATIONAL

Lawsuit alleges Microsoft misled on Windows Vista

A Washington woman who bought a computer in November 2006 marked as “Vista Capable” and later discovered it’s capable of running only the most basic version of Microsoft’s new operating system, has sued the company for unfair and deceptive marketing.

Dianne Kelley, represented by Seattle law firm Gordon Murray Tilden, filed a lawsuit Thursday, alleging “Microsoft engaged in bait and switch _ assuring consumers they were purchasing `Vista Capable’ machines when, in fact, they could obtain only a stripped-down operating system lacking the functionality and features that Microsoft advertised as `Vista.’”

The suit seeks class-action status.

A Microsoft attorney defended the marketing practices in an interview Tuesday, noting that the “Vista Capable” logo was one part of an “unprecedented effort” by the company to distribute information about the operating system’s features and hardware requirements.

“Our goal is to give (customers) as much information as possible down to the precise technical specifications that they need” to operate the various versions of Vista, said Linda Norman, associate general counsel in Microsoft’s litigation group.

In March 2006, Microsoft began a program that allowed computer makers whose machines met certain specifications to label them as “Vista Capable.” The required specs included at least 512 megabytes of memory and a DirectX 9 graphics processor. But PCs bearing the “Capable” logo “cannot run, or run poorly, with Vista Home Premium, the least expensive version of Vista that includes Vista’s heavily marketed and most popular features,” Kelley’s complaint said.

Microsoft later introduced a “Premium Ready” designation for PCs with enough memory and graphics processing power to handle the additional features, including the translucent Aero user interface and many of the digital media applications for photos and DVDs.

Jeffrey Thomas, an attorney at Gordon Murray Tilden, said the average consumer shopping for a new PC and seeing a “Vista Capable” sticker has “a reasonable expectation” of getting “the core experience that Microsoft has spent quite a lot of money advertising as the Vista experience.”

Microsoft said consumers running the Basic version are in fact getting the “core Vista experience” of increased performance, better security and easier file searching.

Microsoft attorney Norman said advertising is a visual medium so it’s not surprising the snazzy translucent user interface called Aero and other visual aspects of Vista are highlighted.

“(But) what customers are going to appreciate on a day-to-day basis is the underlying architectural changes that have increased the security and reliability of that experience _ not something that’s easy to put up on an advertising board and catch a consumer’s attention,” she said.

The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle.

LOCAL / BSU

Idaho gas prices jump

Aside from a country drive or a visit to a city park, the Easter holiday is not a big one for holiday travelers.

And that’s good news for motorists in the Gem State, where pump prices have climbed 40 cents higher in just the past month, and appear poised to move even higher, AAA Idaho reported Tuesday.

Dave Carlson, AAA Idaho public and government affairs director, said the markets suggest motorists could see rising prices for the near future.

Based on AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report, Idaho’s average price for a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline is $2.66, up 41 cents from $2.25 on March 1. A year ago, Idaho’s average price was $2.36.

Carlson said gas prices were already high, especially for this time of year, reflecting tight inventories, strong demand and problems with key refineries. Now, crude oil prices are also higher — as much as $10 a barrel — as a result of the standoff between Britain and Iran over captive British personnel.

“Jittery traders define a nervous petroleum marketplace, where $10 moves in crude prices and 30-cent moves in gasoline prices are common,” Carlson said. “A few short years ago, that was not the case.”

Idaho’s average price was higher than the national average price for a six-month period from August until February. At one point last August, Idahoans were paying as much as 40 cents more a gallon than the national average, but by early March they were paying 20 cents less.

The gap has closed in recent weeks.

The national average price for regular grade gasoline is $2.70, compared to Idaho’s $2.66 average. But Idaho’s average price is well below West Coast neighbors California, $3.27; Oregon, $2.95, and Washington, $2.97. Tight supplies in those states mean motorists could face high pump prices for the remainder of the year.

Coupled with the seasonal drawdown of gasoline inventories that happens each spring, tensions in the Mideast will likely mean high prices will be around for a while, Carlson said.

Some analysts are hopeful that this early seasonal run-up in prices could end if inventories go up and the tensions in the Mideast ease.

County eyes new 911 system

Canyon County dispatchers will get updated telephone systems later this year to help provide faster responses to emergency calls.

The Sheriff’s Office has requested the new phone systems out of necessity, Dispatch Manager Mary McMillan said, because the current system is outmoded and repair parts are unavailable.

Once a new service provider has been chosen, new telephone systems will be installed at all county dispatch centers, except Nampa, which has it own operation for emergency calls. The new systems could be installed by the end of June, McMillan said.

“The contract will upgrade our telephone systems and capabilities for better information from the public and faster responses,” she explained.

New systems under consideration are computer-aided with backup handsets, and are more modern and more user-friendly for dispatchers.

The county is considering four vendor bids to provide the eight to 10 new phone systems that will be funded through existing customer 911 surcharges.

No county funds are involved in the purchase of the new system, and customers will not notice any changes other than potentially quicker response times, McMillan said.

Courtesy Idaho Press-Tribune

WHAT THE ?

Stupid Earthlings, your laws don’t apply to me

Police in Trenton, N.J., arrested a man for possession of a controlled dangerous substance and resisting arrest. So the man claimed diplomatic immunity as a member of the Abannaki “indigeneous nation” that includes people from Mars, Venus and “the so-called planet Earth.”

Money first, wedding later

A woman in Singapore hooked up with a rather stupid man in an online chatroom, pretended to be a beautiful actress and promised to marry him. And, oh yes, she got him to send her $45,000 before the wedding could take place. The woman’s real husband defended his wife after she was arrested, saying “no sensible man would send so much money to a woman without seeing her in person first.”

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