Navy SEAL Adm. Eric Olson, the top commander of U.S. special operations forces, said that Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaida network is bloodied and "nearing its end," but he warned about the next generation of militants. Olson told a security forum in Aspen, Colo., that "Al-Qaida 1.0" has taken a near-killing blow with Bin Laden's death, but "Al-Qaida 2.0," with new leaders in Yemen and elsewhere, is the challenge of the future.
WHISTLEBLOWER GETS NEARLY $1M
Ending a six-year legal battle, the Army Corps of Engineers has agreed to pay nearly $1 million to a former top contracting official who charged that she was demoted after she objected to a $7 billion no-bid contract granted to Halliburton's KBR subsidiary to repair oil fields in Iraq in early 2003.
In a settlement agreement made final by a federal judge this week, the corps agreed to pay the former official, Bunnatine H. Greenhouse, $970,000 to cover lost wages, legal fees and compensatory damages, including for harm to her reputation and her mental health. The U.S. attorney's office in Washington and the Pentagon confirmed the terms of the agreement but declined to comment further.
12 IRAQIS KILLED BY BANK BLASTS
Two explosions -- a car bomb followed by the detonation of a suicide vest -- killed 12 people outside a bank in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown, just as Iraqi soldiers were lining up to cash their paychecks, officials said.
NEWS SERVICES
