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By Brian Skoloff The Associated Press DARRINGTON, WASh. » Becky Bach watches and waits, hoping that search crews find her brother and three other relatives who are miss - ing in Washington state's deadly mudslide. Doug Massingale waits too, for word about his 4-month-old granddaugh - ter. Searchers were able to identify carpet from the in- fant's bedroom, but a log jam stood in the way of a more thorough effort to find little Sanoah Huestis, known as "Snowy." With little hope to cling to, family members of the miss - ing are beginning to con- front a grim reality: Their loved ones might never be found, remaining entombed forever inside a mountain of mud that is believed to have claimed at least 24 lives. "It just generates so many questions if they don't find them," Bach said. "I've never known anybody to die in a natural disaster. Do they is - sue death certificates?" Search crews using dogs, bulldozers and their bare hands kept slogging through the mess of broken wood and mud again Wednesday, look - ing for more bodies or any- one who might still be alive nearly five days after a wall of fast-moving earth de- stroyed a small rural com- munity. But authorities have acknowledged they might have to leave some victims buried. Trying to recover every corpse would be impracti - cal and dangerous. The debris field is about a square mile and 30 to 40 feet deep in places, with a moon- like surface that includes quicksand-like muck, rain- slickened mud and ice. The terrain is difficult to nav - igate on foot and makes it treacherous or impossible to bring in heavy equipment. To make matters worse, the pile is laced with other hazards that include fallen trees, propane and septic tanks, twisted vehicles and countless shards of shat - tered homes. "We have to get on with our lives at some point," said Bach, who has spent the past several days in the area in hopes that searchers would find her brother, his wife, her 20-year-old great niece and the young girl's fiance. Sixteen bodies have been recovered, but authorities believe at least 24 people were killed. And scores of others are still unaccounted for, although many of those names were believed to be duplicates or people who es - caped safely. The knowledge that some victims could be abandoned to the earth is difficult to ac - cept. "Realistically ...I hon- estly don't think they're go- ing to find them alive," Bach said, crying. "But as a fam- ily, we're trying to figure out what to do if they find no bodies." Bach spoke via phone about a wedding the family had planned for summer at the rural home that was de - stroyed. And how, she won- dered, do you plan a funeral without a body? "We'll prob- ably just have a memorial, and if they find the bodies eventually, then we'll deal with that then." In previous mudslides, many victims were left where they perished. Mud - slides killed thousands in Venezuela in 1999, and about 1,500 bodies were found. But the death toll was estimated at 5,000 to 30,000, so the government declared entire neighborhoods "memorial grounds." As families grieved, offi - cials were questioned again Wednesday about warn- ings from years ago that showed the potential for cat- astrophic landslides in the area. A 1999 report by geo- morphologist Daniel Miller raised questions about why residents were allowed to build homes in the area and whether officials had taken proper precautions. Snohomish County Emer - gency Management Direc- tor John Pennington said authorities took steps to mitigate risks after a 2006 landslide and told residents about potential hazards. But the sheer size of this disaster was overwhelming. "It haunts me," a some - times-emotional Penning- ton told reporters. "I think we did what we could do. Sometimes large slides hap- pen." He said the landslide risk has been high this win- ter, and the Department of Natural Resources put out warnings on a routine basis. Officials will try to learn from this tragedy, he said. Mea nwhile, hundreds of rescuers kept slogging through the muck, following search dogs over the unsta - ble surface of the immense pile. For the last three days, "the most effective tool has been dogs and just our bare hands and shovels un - covering people," Snohom- ish County District 21 Fire Chief Travis Hots said. "But the dogs are the ones that are pinpointing a particular area to look, and we're look - ing and that's how we're find- ing people." Massinga le sa id he's grateful that his daughter, Natasha Huestis, survived the slide. She had gone to Ar - lington that morning and left her baby with her mother, Christina Jefferds. Her hus- band Seth, a volunteer fire- fighter, was also away at the time. "She didn't suffer," Mass- ingale said after he was told about Christina's death. Massingale said he would miss his first grandchild. STIll mISSING Grim reality: Some slide victims may not be found AssociAted Press searchers stand in a pile of debris at the scene of a deadly mudslide that covered the road Wednesday in oso, Wash. sixteen bodies have been recovered, but authorities believe at least 24 people were killed. By larry Neumeister The Associated Press NEW YORK » Osama bin Lad- en's son-in-law was con- victed Wednesday for his role as al-Qaida's fiery chief spokesman after 9/11 — a verdict prosecutors said vindicated the Obama ad - ministration's strategy of bringing terror suspects to justice in civilian court. A federal jury deliberated six hours over two days be - fore finding 48-year-old Su- laiman Abu Ghaith guilty of charges that included con- spiracy to kill Americans and providing support to al-Qaida. Abu Ghaith, a Ku- waiti who married bin Lad- en's eldest daughter about five years ago, is the high- est-ranking al-Qaida figure brought to trial on U.S. soil since the Sept. 11, 2001, at- tacks. Prosecutors sa id he played a powerful role in the terror organization's post-9/11 propaganda vid - eos, in which he and others gloated over the destruction and he warned of a "storm of airplanes" to follow. He could get life in prison at sentencing Sept. 8. In a statement, U.S. At - torney Preet Bharara said he hopes the verdict brings some comfort to al-Qaida victims. "He was more than just Osama bin Laden's propa - ganda minister," Bharara said. "Within hours after the devastating 9/11 attacks, Abu Ghaith was using his position in al-Qaida's homi- cidal hierarchy to persuade others to pledge themselves to al-Qaida in the cause of murdering more Ameri - cans." Abu Ghaith's law yers had argued that he was be- ing prosecuted for his words and associations — not his deeds — and that there was no evidence tying him to any of the terror plots that pros - ecutors suggested he knew about ahead of time. Attorney General Eric Holder said the verdict was a success for the Obama ad - ministration's policy of us- ing the federal courts in- stead of military tribunals to handle terrorism cases. "It would be a good thing for the country if this case has the result of putting that political debate to rest," he said. As the verdict was read, Abu Ghaith appeared com - posed. He smiled at a friend from Kuwait in the court- room as he was led away. Abu Ghaith's attorney, Stanley Cohen, vowed to appeal, complaining that the judge had pressured the jury for a verdict and had barred the defense from calling self-described 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed as a witness. In a written statement, Mohammed had said Abu Ghaith had no military role in al-Qaida. In the trial's most dra - matic testimony, Abu Ghaith described being summoned to a dark Afghanistan cave within hours of the Sept. 11 attacks to confer with bin Laden, who told him: "We are the ones who did it." Abu Gaith testified that a worried bin Laden asked him how America would re - spond. "America, if it was proven that you were the one who did this, will not settle until it accomplishes two things: to kill you and topple the state of the Taliban," Abu Ghaith said he replied. Prosecutors alleged that during the meeting, Abu Ghaith agreed to speak on the widely circulated vid - eos used to recruit new fol- lowers willing to go on sui- cide missions like those car- ried out by the 19 men who hijacked four planes for the 9/11 attacks. "The storm of airplanes will not stop," Abu Ghaith warned in an October 2001 video played for the jury. Also shown repeatedly to the jury were frames of a video made the day after 9/11 that showed Abu Ghaith seated next to bin Laden and two other top al-Qaida leaders as they tried to jus - tify the attacks. On the witness stand, the defendant calmly de- nied he was an al-Qaida re- cruiter and claimed his role was a religious one aimed at encouraging all Muslims to rise up against their op - pressors. Prosecutors did not ac- cuse him of any role in 9/11 or any direct knowledge of the plot ahead of time. SEpT. 11 ATTAcKS Feds praise swi verdict at N.Y. terror trial AssociAted Press in this courtroom sketch, from le, sulaiman Abu Ghaith stands next to his attorney, stanley cohen, as courtroom deputy Andrew Mohan reads the verdict and Judge Lewis Kaplan, right, listens Wednesday at federal court in New York. By matthew Daly The Associated Press WAShINGTON » The Obama administration is refusing to turn over documents related to enforcement of environ - mental laws at wind farms where dozens of eagles and other protected birds have been killed, House Repub - licans charged Wednesday. Rep. Doc Hastings, R- Wash., said the Fish and Wildlife Service has engaged in a "deliberate slow rolling of documents and answers" for nearly a year. Hastings is chairman of the House Nat - ural Resources Committee, which has been seeking to compel the wildlife agency turn over internal docu - ments related to its enforce- ment of laws protecting ea- gles and other birds. An Associated Press in- vestigation last year re- vealed that the administra- tion was not prosecuting wind energy companies for killing eagles and other pro- tected birds. Only one wind energy company has been prose- cuted for killing eagles and other birds in violation of federal law. Duke Energy pleaded guilty in November to killing eagles and other birds at two Wyoming wind farms and will pay $1 million. The government esti - mates that at least 85 eagles are killed each year by wind turbines. T he w i ld l i fe a genc y "dragged its feet for six months" before providing a two-page memo written the year before, Hastings said, and many of the documents that have been turned over so far are incomplete or have largely been blacked out. "This is not compliance. This is deliberate slow roll - ing of documents and an- swers," Hastings said. C om m it t e e mem b er s asked the agency's direc- tor, Dan Ashe, at a hear- ing Wednesday about a new agency rule allowing energy companies to kill or injure eagles without fear of pros - ecution for up to 30 years. The rule provides legal protection for the lifespan of wind farms and other proj - ects if energy companies obtain permits and make efforts to avoid killing pro- tected birds. WIlDlIfE Republicans: Administration stonewalling on bird deaths By Ricardo Alonso- Zaldivar The Associated Press WAShINGTON » Millions of Americans could get ex- tra time to enroll for tax- payer-subsidized coverage this year under President Barack Obama's health care law. That would let the ad - ministration boost sign-ups and aid Democrats under attack over the program's troubles. The Health and Hu - man Services Department Wednesday posted two doc- uments that outline "spe- cial enrollment periods" for broad groups of people try- ing to access the new online health insurance markets. Those who've started an application, but weren't able to finish before the March 31 open enrollment deadline, would get a limited amount of time to sign up for cover - age that would take effect May 1. Additionally, people with 10 general categories of "special" circumstances would also get extra time to apply — up to 60 days. Cate - gories include natural disas- ters, system errors related to immigration status, com- puter error messages due to technical difficulties, family situations involving domes- tic abuse, and other sorts of problems. "We won't close the door on those who tried to get covered and were not able to do so through no fault of their own," Julie Bataille, communications director for the health care rollout, told reporters. She deflected repeated questions on whether there is a hard deadline beyond which the administration won't take applications. Special enrollment peri - ods are allowed under the health law, and standard for workplace insurance. But they are mainly used to accommodate changes in life circumstances, such as marriage, divorce, the birth of a child or job loss. The latest tweaks to health overhaul rules drew immediate scorn from Re - publicans committed to re- pealing "Obamacare." "The administration has now handed out so many waivers, special favors and exemptions to help Demo - crats out politically ... it's basically become the legal equivalent of Swiss cheese," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. The administration an - nouncement added to a per- ception of disarray that has dogged the health care over- haul from its early days. It also raised concerns about the potential for another round of technology prob - lems like the ones that par- alyzed HealthCare.gov after its Oct. 1 launch. Several factors seemed to be involved: • Concern about turn - ing away millions of peo- ple belatedly trying to en- roll this week. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 6 in 10 unin- sured people were unaware of the March 31 enrollment deadline, and half said they didn't plan to get coverage. It can take several visits to the website to finish an ap - plication, even without tech- nical glitches. • Millions of consumers may still be getting tangled up in the complicated enroll - ment process. hEAlTh cARE Millions could get extra time for health sign-ups | NEWS | redBLUFFdAiLYNeWs.coM thUrsdAY, MArch 27, 2014 4 B