WASHINGTON

LEADERS PROMISE TO TRY TO PASS 9/11 REFORMS BEFORE ELECTIONS

Congressional leaders yesterday would not guarantee passage of an overhaul of the nation’s intelligence agencies by the November election but pledged to try to make it happen. “I think we need to do a serious attempt at it. I would like to pass something by Election Day. I think we need to do it,” said House Speaker Dennis Hastert, a Republican of Illinois. “We just can’t let this sit fallow.” Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Republican of Tennessee, said both the House and Senate have held hearings this summer and worked diligently on how to deal with recommendations for change offered by the commission that investigated the September 11 attacks. The commission found serious shortcomings in intelligence handling and analysis. Among the suggestions was creation of a national director of intelligence with the power to oversee spending, hiring, and firing of all intelligence agencies. “We will be deliberate. We will be aggressive. We will be focused,” said Mr. Frist, who appeared with Mr. Hastert on “Fox News Sunday.” Still, the senator said, “It’s not going to be a knee-jerk reaction. This is too big. …We’ll do it in a very careful and thoughtful and aggressive way.” President Bush issued executive orders Friday to expand the powers of the CIA director to perform many of the functions of a proposed national intelligence director until Congress comes up with a formula for the intelligence system. – Associated Press

NORTHWEST

TRIAL BEGINS FOR GUARDSMAN ACCUSED OF OFFERING AID TO AL QAEDA

SEATTLE – A videotape showing a U.S. soldier willingly sharing military information with federal undercover agents he believed to be Al Qaeda members is expected to be among key evidence in his court-martial, scheduled to begin today.

Specialist Ryan Anderson of the Washington National Guard is charged with five counts of trying to provide the Al Qaeda terrorist network with information about American troop strength and tactics, as well as methods for killing American soldiers. On the video, Specialist Anderson offers sketches and information about weaknesses in the M1A1 Abrams, the Army’s primary battle tank.

“While I love my country, I think the leaders have taken this horrible road,” he is recorded as saying. “I have no belief in what the American Army has asked me to do. They have sent me to die.”

Specialist Anderson, a 26-year-old Muslim convert, has pleaded innocent and requested his general court-martial at Fort Lewis be heard by commissioned officers rather than a judge or a mixed panel of officers and enlisted soldiers. The hearing is expected to last five days.

“He’s making a tactical decision. They believe the officers, given this type of charge, will give him the fair shake,” said David Sheldon, a Washington, D.C., attorney who specializes in military law.

The tank crewman with the Guard’s 81st Armor Brigade, whose unit is in Iraq, faces life in prison without parole. A conviction requires agreement by two-thirds of a panel of commissioned officers, unlike a federal trial that requires a unanimous decision.

– Associated Press

WEST

CALIFORNIA CHURCH ABUSE CLAIMS MAY COST $1.5B

LOS ANGELES – Lawyers for hundreds of alleged victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests estimate that their clients’ claims could cost the Archdiocese of Los Angeles more than $1.5 billion, the largest amount ever paid out by a diocese, according to court documents.

Attorney Raymond Boucher said the amount is based on verdicts and settlements in clergy abuse cases nationwide and is consistent with secret estimates of local claims done by a Los Angeles judge earlier this year, the Los Angeles Times reported yesterday.

Mr. Boucher, the lead attorney for plaintiffs in Southern California, asked insurers to put aside at least $3.1 million for each of more than 500 claims against the Los Angeles archdiocese, according to the Times. Another 60 claims are against the Diocese of Orange, which covers Orange County.

If the claims are successful, damages would be covered by insurance, as well as other church assets, because insurance companies would not cover punitive damages.

Donald F. Woods Jr., an archdiocese attorney, said the $1.5 billion figure “seems way too high….As far as we know, there is not any diocese anywhere in America that comes anywhere near reaching that amount,” he told the Times.

– Associated Press