TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012 • THE BULLETIN
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T S Romney cashes in as Obama lags for 3rd month
Prime minister’s defection in the dark jolts Syria
By Ken Thomas and Julie Pace The Associated Press
By Damien Cave and Dalal Mawad New York Times News Service
BEIRUT — The defection of Syria’s prime minister, Riad Farid Hijab, began like many others: with coded conversations and furtive planning. He began discussing the idea of fleeing, an aide said, as soon as President Bashar Assad strongarmed him into taking the job in June. In recent days, he worked to get his extended family out. Then, early Monday, the prime minister slipped out of Damascus under cover of darkness with his wife and four children, scrambling through the desert as a fugitive. At sunrise, he crossed into Ramtha, Jordan, shocking the Syrian regime — which immediately claimed he had been fired — and spurring jubilation within a weary opposition. “This is a proof that the political basis of the regime is collapsing,” said Samir Nachar, a leader of the Syrian National Council, the main exile opposition group. “This is the momentum we needed to tell the political and military elite that it is time for them to jump off the sinking ship.” Hijab’s journey began when he climbed into a simple car with a driver who did not know his identity, according to an account provided by a Free Syrian Army commander, an activist at the Syria-Jordan border and Hijab’s spokesman. He traveled down roads lined with rebel lookouts until he reached a contested stretch of border. Finally, he made his dramatic departure from Syria. Syria’s powerful military pounded rebels again Monday in Aleppo, Damascus and other cities. But the scale of the Hijab defection — involving 10 prominent Sunni families who escaped over the past week — suggests Assad is losing the loyalty of Sunni officials crucial to his minority regime’s ability to hold power. His feared internal security apparatus also seems to be cracking. Hijab, the highest-level official to defect, was closely watched by the Assad regime, which nonetheless failed to keep him from communicating with the opposition for months and arranging for dozens of relatives to leave Damascus.
M. Spencer Green / The Associated Press
Amardeep Kaleka, son of the president of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, center, comforts members of the temple Monday in Oak Creek, Wis., where a gunman killed six people a day earlier. Satwant Kaleka, 65, founder and president of the temple, died in the shooting. He was among four priests who died.
Picture starts to emerge of Sikh temple shooter tively tell you what that motive is — if we can determine The Associated Press that,” Edwards said. OAK CREEK, Wis. — BePage, who was shot to death fore he strode into a Sikh by police, joined the Army in temple with a 9mm handgun 1992 and was discharged in and multiple magazines of 1998. He was described Monammunition, Wade Michael day by the Southern Poverty Page played in white su- Law Center as a “frustrated premacist heavy metneo-Nazi” who had al bands with names long been active in the such as Definite Hate obscure underworld and End Apathy. of white supremacist The bald, heavily music. tattooed bassist was Page wrote frea 40-year-old Army Page quently on white suveteran who trained premacist websites, in psychological warfare be- describing himself as a fore he was demoted and dis- member of the “Hammercharged more than a decade skins Nation,” a skinhead ago. group rooted in Texas that A day after he killed six has offshoots in Australia worshippers at the suburban and Canada, according to the Milwaukee temple, frag- SITE Monitoring Service, a ments of Page’s life emerged Maryland-based private inin public records and inter- telligence firm that searches views. But his motive was the Internet for terrorist and still largely a mystery. So far, other extremist activity. no hate-filled manifesto has In online forums, Page proemerged, nor any angry blog moted his music while interor ranting Facebook entries acting with other skinheads. to explain the attack. He posted 250 messages on Oak Creek Police Chief one site between March 2010 John Edwards suggested and the middle of this year, Monday that investigators and appeared eager to remight never know for certain cruit others. In March 2011, why the lone attacker target- he advertised for a “family ed a temple full of strangers. friendly” barbecue in North “We have a lot of informa- Carolina, exhorting those ontion to decipher, to put it all line to attend. together before we can posi“If you are wanting to meet By Scott Bauer and Todd Richmond
Law OKs care for Lejeune Egypt pledges water swift response victims to Sinai attack By Ernesto Londoño The Washington Post
CAIRO — The Egyptian government on Monday vowed to act swiftly to restore security in north Sinai as a brazen attack near the Israeli border that killed 16 Egyptian security personnel dealt the country’s new president a vexing first crisis. The ambush and the gunmen’s attempt to storm across the border Sunday night brought into sharp focus challenges that could define or undo the presidency of the nation’s first Islamist statesman. The assailants are believed to be Islamist extremists who have secured a foothold near the Israeli border as the area has descended into lawlessness in recent years. No assertion of responsibility has emerged. The incident is likely to become the first real test of the power struggle between Egypt’s military chiefs and President Mohamed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood leader who was among the thousands of Islamists persecuted by the state under the reign of ousted leader Hosni Mubarak.
McClatchy Newspapers WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Monday signed into law legislation to provide health care to thousands of sick Marine veterans and their families who were exposed to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. Retired Marine Jerry Ensminger and cancer survivor Mike Partain stood looking over the president’s shoulder as he, with the swipe of his pen, vindicated all their late nights poring over undisclosed documents, cross-country trips to seek out other victims, and countless battles with Marine Corps officials who, they say, continue to ignore their pleas. “Sadly, this act alone will not bring back those we’ve lost, including Janey Ensminger,” Obama said before signing the bill, named partly after Ensminger’s daughter, “but it will honor their memory by making a real difference for those who are still suffering.” Janey Ensminger was just 9 years old when she died in 1985 of a rare form of leukemia.
people, get involved and become active, then you really need to attend,” he wrote, according to SITE. “Stop hiding behind the computer or making excuses.” In November, Page challenged a poster who indicated he would leave the United States if Herman Cain were elected president. “Stand and fight, don’t run,” he replied. In an April message, Page said: “Passive submission is indirect support to the oppressors. Stand up for yourself and live the 14 words,” a reference to a common white supremacists mantra. Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the law center, a nonprofit civil rights organization in Montgomery, Ala., said Page played in groups whose often sinister-sounding names seemed to “reflect what he went out and actually did.” The music talked about genocide against Jews and other minorities. In a 2010 interview, Page told a white supremacist website that he became active in white-power music in 2000, when he left his native Colorado and started the band End Apathy in 2005. The band’s MySpace page listed the group as based in Nashville, N.C.
Contraceptive access bill moves ahead in Philippines New York Times News Service MANILA — Despite opposition from the powerful Roman Catholic Church, a bill that would mandate sex education in schools and subsidize contraceptives moved ahead Monday after being stalled in the Philippine Congress for 14 years. “May God have mercy on our Congress,” said Angel N. Lagdameo, an archbishop in the central Philippines, one of a number of church leaders who condemned the measure. The Philippine House of Representatives voted Monday to close debate and allow amendments on the bill — not final approval but an important procedural step. The Reproductive Health Bill, as the measure is known, must also be approved by the Senate and signed by President Benigno S. Aquino III before it can become law, but Aquino backs the bill and his allies control the Senate. The bill would direct the Department of Health to distribute “medically safe, legal, accessible, affordable and effective reproductive health care services nationwide,” and requires “ageappropriate reproductive health and sexuality education” from the fifth grade through high school. Contraceptives are le-
gal and can be bought readily here, but unlike some other Asian nations with fast-growing populations, the Philippines has no distribution program to help the poor obtain them.
STAMFORD, Conn. — Can President Barack Obama raise the money he needs to hold onto the White House? Money wasn’t supposed to be a worry for the president’s campaign, which smashed fundraising records in 2008. But Mitt Romney’s team has hauled in more than Obama and Also his allies for a • Tea party third straight turns to month, raisMissouri ing the onceprimary, unthinkable A7 question. While the race for voter support is tight, according to polls, Romney’s robust fundraising and a crush of money from Republicanleaning political action committees have forced the president’s campaign to spend heavily through the summer. Highlighting the challenge for Obama, Romney on Monday reported a July fundraising haul of more than $101 million along with the Republican National Committee, compared to the $75 million that Obama’s campaign said it had brought in along with the Democratic National Committee. During a fundraiser in Stamford, Conn., Obama said Romney’s tax proposal would benefit the wealthy at the expense of many middle-class families. “It’s like Robin Hood in reverse,” he said. “It’s Romney Hood.” Romney campaign spokesman Ryan Williams countered that Obama was the only “candidate in this race who’s going to raise taxes on the American people.” The president also warned that his campaign faced a deluge of Republican money. “Over the course of the next three months, the other side is going to spend more money than we have ever seen on ads that basically say the same thing you’ve been hearing for the past three months,” Obama said, then summarized their argument as “the economy is not where it needs to be and it’s Obama’s fault.” Before Romney’s summer surge, Obama had not been outraised by an opponent since 2007. In an email to supporters after the July num-
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Romney’s VP list gets shorter Mitt Romney appears to have narrowed his short list of potential running mates, as national Republicans announced Monday that at least four people once thought to be under consideration for the No. 2 spot will speak at this month’s Republican National Convention — all but ruling them out of contention for the vice presidential slot. The Republican National Committee announced that former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez are among those expected to address the Aug. 27-30 convention in Tampa. That still leaves a number of presumed contenders — including former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — in the mix. With less than three weeks until the convention, speculation about Romney’s selection is escalating rapidly. And his campaign is doing its best to maximize the attention, taunting reporters with the prospect of news, joking about the timing and scheduling a bus tour through four swing states this weekend that could be the backdrop for a vice presidential rollout — or not. — The Washington Post
bers were announced, the Obama campaign said, “If we don’t step it up, we’re in trouble.” A huge spending advantage in the final months of a close election can help a campaign as it seeks to sway undecided voters. Obama officials say they expected Romney to outraise the president through the summer and have made contingency plans if the disparity continues. Part of that planning has involved heavy spending on ads through the spring and summer in an attempt to define Romney for voters before he has access to most of his general election funds.