Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/64514
6A Daily News – Friday, May 4, 2012 US offers a peek at a few Osama bin Yemen's al-Qaida offshoot that, in the face of U.S. power, it is futile to try to establish a government that will offer it safe haven. Laden letters WASHINGTON (AP) — Letters from Osama bin Laden's last hideaway, released by U.S. officials intent on discrediting his terror organization, portray a network weak, inept and under siege — and its leader seemingly near wit's end about the passing of his global jihad's glory days. The documents, pub- lished online Thursday, are a small sample of those seized during the U.S. raid on bin Laden's Pakistan compound in which he was killed a year ago. By no accident, they show al- Qaida at its worst. The raid has become the signature national security moment of Barack Obama's presidency and one he is eager to emphasize in his re-election campaign. Those ends are served in the 17 documents chosen by U.S. officials for the world to see — not to mention American voters. The Obama administration has refused to release a fuller record of its bin Laden col- lection, making it difficult to glean any larger truths about the state of the terrorist organization. documents U.S. officials Thursday released a small sampling of the documents captured when U.S. special opera- tions forces killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden last year in Pakistan. Some highlights: ATTACK AMERICA: Bin Laden wanted al-Qaida to focus on the U.S. and not waste time and resources attacking other enemies such as Britain or trying to overthrow governments in the Muslim world. ''Even though we have the chance to attack the British, we should not waste our effort to do so but con- centrate on defeating Amer- ica, which will lead to defeating the others, God willing,'' reads one letter, which scholars believe was written by bin Laden or a top deputy. ''We want to cut this tree at the root. The problem is that our strength is limited, so our best way to cut the tree is to concentrate on sawing the trunk of the tree.'' Bin Laden What is clear from the documents released so far is that al-Qaida's leaders are constantly on the run from unmanned U.S. aircraft and trying to evade detection by CIA spies and National Security Agency eaves- droppers. In one letter, either bin Laden himself or his senior deputy tells the leader of Blind activist's reversal deepens suspicion BEIJING (AP) — The diplomatic disarray deep- ened Thursday after a blind activist reversed course and asked to leave China with his family, abandoning an arduously negotiated agree- WORLD BRIEFING ment even though he had left the protection of the U.S. Embassy and was in a Beijing hospital ringed by Chinese police. Bewildered and alone with his wife and children, Chen Guangcheng periodi- cally switched on a cell phone to tell friends and for- eign media he felt scared and wanted to go abroad, and that he had not seen U.S. officials in over a day. He even called in to a congressional hearing in Washington, telling law- makers he wanted to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. ''I hope I can get more help from her,'' Chen said. Chen's high-profile not just because of how much money it will raise but because Facebook itself is so popular. The world's largest online social network has more than 900 million users worldwide. GSA offered energy contractors tax breaks WASHINGTON (AP) effort to keep his case in the public eye served to increase pressure on Wash- ington and embarrass Bei- jing as it hosted Clinton and other U.S. officials for annual talks on global polit- ical and economic hotspots. Taken aback at Chen's change of heart, U.S. diplo- mats spent much of Thurs- day trying to confirm that the family wanted to leave, and they eventually said they would try to help him. Still, it remained unclear how they might do so now that he has left the embassy, or whether the Chinese would be willing to renego- tiate a deal that both sides thought had been settled a day earlier. Facebook sets $28 to $35 per share — It was a curious offer to contractors from a govern- ment agency: We'll give you a tax deduction for making federal buildings more energy efficient if you qualify and if you'll write us a check for 19 percent of the tax break's value. initial public offering of stock. At the high end, this could raise as much as $11.8 billion. If the underwriters sell the extra stock reserved for overal- lotments, the IPO will value Facebook at $79.3 billion at the high end of the price range. That's much higher and I'm certainly going to investigate this.'' GSA officials said the practice was legal and a way for them to raise money to make additional federal buildings more energy efficient. GSA manages 9,600 federally owned or leased buildings, more than any other land- lord, though some federal properties are owned by the Defense Department or other agencies. Man left in cell suggests bigger problem Facebook has set a price range of $28 to $35 for its for IPO NEW YORK (AP) — than any other Internet IPO in the past, even Google Inc. in 2004, which raised $1.9 billion. The range came in a regu- latory filing Thursday. After that, Facebook will go on an ''IPO road- show,'' where executives talk to potential investors about why they should invest in the stock. If all goes well, Facebook's stock is expected to price on May 17 and make its public debut on May 18. Facebook's IPO has been highly anticipated, The General Services Administration, already under a cloud for a lavish Las Vegas employee con- ference, says that after seven months, it dropped its demand for the give- back requirement because there were no takers. But the policy is now raising new questions about whether GSA was trying to raise money for its own budget without congressional authoriza- tion, whether that effort was legal and whether other agencies have tried anything similar. ''It was brought to our attention that certain peo- ple at agencies were ask- ing for what looked like kickbacks in order to get allocations of a tax deduc- tion,'' Rep. Charles Bous- tany, R-La., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee's over- sight panel, said Thursday. 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