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THE BULLETIN • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2012
A DAWN DEPLOYMENT FOR MONTANA GUARDSMEN
Details emerge on U.S. decisions in China scandal By Steven Lee Myers and Mark Landler New York Times News Service
WASHINGTON — On the evening of Feb. 6, a vice mayor of a major Chinese city who had a reputation as a crime fighter turned up at the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu in an agitated state and telling a tale of corruption and murder that has ensnared the Obama administration in a scandal it wants nothing to do with. The official, Wang Lijun, sought asylum, fearing for his life even as Chinese security forces quickly surrounded the building and knocked on the consulate door, asking the U.S. diplomats inside to turn him over. Instead, after a frantic debate that reached the White House, Wang stayed until he could arrange for an official from a Beijing ministry to come 36 hours later and escort him past the local security cordon. The authorities from Beijing took him into custody, and he is now under investigation for divulging internal Chinese affairs to the Americans. If charged with and convicted of treason, he could face a death sentence. The information Wang possessed involved Bo Xilai, who was the Communist Party chief in Chongqing until last month and Wang’s onetime patron before a falling-out led Wang to seek refuge in the consulate, according to administration officials, congressional aides, diplomats and others briefed on what had happened. According to the officials’ version, the U.S. diplomats who oversaw his brief, bizarre stay pre-empted any formal application for asylum because of the difficulties of spiriting him out of the country and questions about his eligibility. Instead, they said, the State Department shielded him from almost certain arrest by police officers loyal to Bo and ensured he could make his accusations in Beijing. Those charges brought down Bo and his wife, Gu Kailai, who is now charged with the murder of a British businessman, Neil Heywood, and involved the U.S. and Britain in the biggest scandal facing China’s leadership in a generation. “He was not tossed out,” a senior administration official said, referring to Wang. Some Republicans in Congress question, however, whether the Obama administration mishandled Wang’s case and left him to the mercy of the Chinese authorities when he had sought to pass along explosive information that affected a power struggle at the top of the Chinese Communist Party. Wang’s arrival at the consulate could not have come at a more sensitive moment for
Guard Continued from A1 According to documents released by the standards board, Myers is facing a lifetime ban for his improper use of sick leave. “The identified conduct did involve dishonesty in regards to Myers’ use of sick time when he was not sick,” said the report. The report then states that “the Corrections Policy Committee recommend to the Board a lifetime revocation based on dishonesty.” The board found Myers to be in violation of several other standards set for a corrections officer, including “disregard for the rights of others” due to derogatory remarks made to supervisors and co-workers, “misuse of authority” for using a work computer for personal use, “misconduct” for the content of some emails and coercing staff to destroy emails, and “gross misconduct” for not using work time “effectively” and “creating a danger/risk to inmates and staff.” Those violations carry revocation lengths ranging from three to 15 years. — Reporter: 541-617-7837 ehidle@bendbulletin.com
the administration: just a week before China’s likely future leader, Xi Jinping, was scheduled to visit Washington at the invitation of Vice President Joe Biden. Granting asylum to Wang could have soured or scuttled Xi’s trip. Even now, the episode — which one congressional official described as “a ‘Bourne Supremacy’ plot” — risks straining relations as the White House hopes to manage China’s rise and enlist its support on issues like the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran and the government crackdown in Syria. According to the State Department, the U.S. cannot simply grant asylum to anyone who walks into a diplomatic compound, given the legal and logistical complications of spiriting someone out of a sovereign nation. Asylum seekers — who typically face persecution for political or religious beliefs — usually apply outside their own nation, whether in the U.S. or a third country. There are exceptions, but they are rare. In June 1989, the Chinese dissident Fang Lizhi walked into the U.S. Embassy in Beijing a day after security forces attacked protesters in Tiananmen Square. The embassy at first resisted, but the administration of President George H.W. Bush offered him sanctuary, provoking a standoff that lasted a year until the Chinese allowed him to leave, ostensibly for medical treatment. (Fang died in Arizona on April 6; he was 76.) This case, however, differs significantly. Wang, a vice mayor in Chongqing who had overseen the police before a falling-out with Bo, is no political dissident. During his years as one of Bo’s top aides, he had a reputation in Chongqing for ruthless and arbitrary enforcement of the law. That made a decision on asylum all but impossible, the diplomats felt, according to one official briefed on the case, who like others would speak only on condition of anonymity.
Larry Mayer / The Billings Gazette
A soldier waves to his family as the Montana Army National Guard 484th MP Company departs from Edwards Jet Center in Billings, Mont., on Tuesday morning. The unit is headed to Afghanistan.
SECRET SERVICE SCANDAL
Senator: As many as 21 prostitutes involved David Nakamura The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Investigators believe that as many as 21 women were brought by U.S. Secret Service and military personnel to the Hotel Caribe in Cartagena, Colombia, last week during a night of carousing, a dramatic increase in the number of women previously disclosed by government officials. Officials said 11 Secret Service and 10 military personnel are suspected of misconduct that took place before President Barack Obama arrived in Colombia for an economic summit. Initial reports suggested that the military personnel, some of whom were confined to their rooms after the scandal broke, had violated curfew, while the Secret Service members had engaged with the women, who were allegedly working as prostitutes. But Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Tuesday that Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan told her
that the preliminary investigation has determined that 20 or 21 women were brought to the hotel last Wednesday night. Agency investigators in Cartagena have obtained copies of the women’s identification cards, which they were required to present at the hotel, and are attempting to interview some of the women, said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., head of the House Committee on Homeland Security. King said investigators have determined that none of the women were minors. In a statement, Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said that Sullivan briefed Collins on the investigation “and advised her that 21 U.S. personnel were involved, to include 11 Secret Service personnel. The allegations involved misconduct with women. The exact number of individuals beyond the U.S. personnel is still under investigation.” The disclosures make clear that what first appeared to be an isolated case of misbehavior was in fact a night of more widespread debauchery that included heavy drinking and
a trip to the Pleyclub, a strip club where the men allegedly paid for women’s services. The participation of two Secret Service supervisors, according to people with knowledge of the investigation, suggests that the men had little fear of repercussions — until hotel workers and Colombian police reported the matter to the U.S. Embassy. At his daily briefing, White House press secretary Jay Carney said Obama has “confidence” in Sullivan’s leadership of the Secret Service and will await the results of an internal investigation before weighing in further on the future of the agency. “Sullivan acted quickly in response to this incident, and he’s overseeing an investigation as we speak,” Carney said. “This incident needs to be investigated, and it is being investigated. We need to see what the investigation reveals. We’re not going to speculate about the conclusions it might reach.” Collins, the ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs Committee, said Sullivan told her that “the most important quality for a Secret Service officer is character. If the facts prove to be as reported on this, this is an incredible lack of character and breach of security, and potentially extremely serious.” The Secret Service has revoked the top-secret security clearances of the 11 men under investigation and placed them on administrative leave. The men have turned in their agency BlackBerrys, said King, who added that some of the men said they did not know that the women were prostitutes. “Even if they weren’t prostitutes, it’s not right to bring foreigners back to their rooms,” King said. “It would probably be safer if they were prostitutes because then we would know who they were working for.” Two of the Secret Service personnel are senior agents paid at the higher levels of the government’s pay scale, according to congressional officials with knowledge of the investigation.