Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/78325
10A Daily News – Saturday, August 11, 2012 foothold WASHINGTON (AP) — Al-Qaida has advanced beyond isolated pockets of activity in Syria and now is building a network of well-organized cells, according to U.S. intelli- gence officials, who fear the terrorists could be on the verge of establishing an Iraq-like foothold that would be hard to defeat if rebels eventually oust President Bashar Assad. At least a couple of hundred al-Qaida-linked militants are already oper- ating in Syria, and their ranks are growing as for- eign fighters stream into the Arab country daily, current and former U.S. intelligence officials say. The units are spreading from city to city, with vet- erans of the Iraq insur- gency employing their expertise in bomb-build- ing to carry out more than two dozen attacks so far. Others are using their experience in coordinat- ing small units of fighters in Afghanistan to win new followers. US officials say al-Qaida is gaining a stronger can fight the far stronger Syrian army. It all could point to a widening danger posed by extremists who have joined rebels fighting the Assad government. Although the extremists are ostensibly on the same side as Washington by opposing Assad, U.S. officials fear their pres- ence could fundamentally reshape what began as a protest movement for reform composed of largely moderate or secu- lar Syrians. The opposi- tion expanded into a civil war pitting Assad's four- decade dictatorship against a movement promising a new, democ- ratic future for the coun- try. In Syria on Friday, rebel commanders appealed anew for new and better weapons from abroad, complaining that Assad's forces have them badly outgunned from the air and on the ground. In fact, rebel leaders say that with so little aid coming to them from the U.S. and other nations, they are slowly losing the battle for influence against hardline militants. They say their fighters are sometimes siding with extremists who are better funded and armed so they offers some explanation for the Obama adminis- tration's reluctance to offer military aid to the anti-Assad insurgency, which Washington says it is still trying to better understand. U.S. officials have repeatedly rejected providing any lethal assis- tance to the conflict that has killed at least 19,000 people over the past 17 months. With the U.S. weighing its options, Sec- retary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will dis- cuss the situation with top Turkish officials and Syri- an opposition activists in Istanbul on Saturday. The intelligence also Air Force relieves basic training commander AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A widening sex scan- dal at Lackland Air Force Base has led to the dis- missal of the top com- mander who oversees basic training for every new American airman, officials said Friday. WORLD BRIEFING Col. Glenn Palmer was commander of basic train- ing for the 737th training group at the Texas base, where more than a dozen military instructors in the past year have been inves- tigated or charged with sexually assaulting recruits. Officials familiar with the decision said Palmer has been relieved from those duties, speak- ing on condition of anonymity because the announcement was not yet public. The officials said there national gathering since a Vatican review concluded the sisters had ''serious doctrinal problems'' and promoted ''certain radical feminist themes'' that undermine Catholic teaching on all-male priesthood, birth control and homosexuality. The nuns also were accused of remaining nearly silent in the fight against abortion. was no indication Palmer was facing any criminal charges. In all, six instruc- tors have been charged with offenses ranging from rape to adultery. Investigators say more than three dozen female trainees have been victim- ized by male instructors at Lackland, where approxi- mately 35,000 airmen graduate each year. About one in five recruits are female, while most instructors are male. The most serious allega- tions involved an instruc- tor sentenced to 20 years in prison last month after being convicted of raping one female recruit and sexually assaulting sever- al others. on Fort Hood WACO, Texas (AP) — Naser Jason Abdo sat alone in court with his hands shackled and a white cloth secured over his mouth and neck. The soldier who went AWOL and plotted to kill other troops outside a Texas Army post remained defiant Friday as he was sentenced to life in prison, not asking for mercy and vowing to never end what he considers his holy war. Life in prison for planning bomb attack ''I will continue until the day the dead are called to account for their deeds,'' Abdo said in a low, gravelly voice through the cloth mask. A federal judge sen- tenced Abdo, 22, to two life terms plus additional time. The federal prison system offers no chance of parole. He was convicted of plan- ning what he claimed would have been a massive attack on a Texas restaurant filled with troops from Fort Hood. In court, Abdo referred to Maj. Nidal Hasan — the Army psychiatrist soon to be tried in a deadly shooting rampage at that Army post — as ''my brother.'' He said he lived in Hasan's shadow despite ''efforts to outdo him.'' at age 17. Abdo became a Muslim to reform ST. LOUIS (AP) — An American nuns group rebuked by the Vatican US nuns facing Vatican order said Friday it would hold talks with the bishops appointed to overhaul the organization but would not ''compromise its mis- sion.'' Sister Pat Farrell, pres- ident of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, called a Vati- can assessment charging the sisters with tolerating dissent a ''misrepresenta- tion.'' But she said the more than 900 women who attended the group's national assembly this week decided they would stay open to discussion for now with three bish- ops the Vatican appointed to oversee them. ''The officers will pro- ceed with these discus- sions as long as possible but will reconsider of LCWR is forced to com- promise the integrity of its mission,'' Farrell said at a news conference, where she declined to discuss specifics. The organization rep- resents about 80 percent of the 57,000 Roman Catholic nuns in the U.S. The St. Louis meeting was the group's first problems NEW YORK (AP) — A surprise surge in gaso- line prices is taking some of the fun out of summer. The national average for a gallon of gas at the pump has climbed to $3.67, a rise of 34 cents since July 1. An increase in crude oil prices and problems with refineries and pipelines in the West Coast and Midwest, including a fire in Cali- fornia, are mostly to blame. Gas prices spike amid refinery Analysts don't expect gas prices to get as high as they did in April, when 10 states passed $4 a gal- lon and the U.S. average topped out at $3.94. But this is still unwelcome news in this sluggish economy, since any extra money that goes to fill gas tanks doesn't get spent on movies and din- ners out. The rising prices could also put pressure on Pres- ident Barack Obama in the heat of his re-election campaign. When Phil Van Schep- en recently went to fill up his dry-cleaning delivery van in Coon Rapids, Minn., he found a Post-it note a driver before him had placed on the pump faulting Obama for high gasoline prices. http://dfm-ssp.medianewsgroup.com/