INTERNATIONAL THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2014 WASHINGTON: The Homeland Security Department appears to be preparing for an increase in the number of immigrants applying for work permits after President Barack Obama announces his long-promised plans for executive actions on immigration reform later this year. US Citizenship and Immigration Services confirmed to The Associated Press that it has published a draft con- tract proposal to buy the card stock needed to make work permits and Permanent Resident Cards, more com- monly known as green cards. The pro- posal calls for providing material for at least 5 million cards a year, with as many as 9 million “during the initial period ... to support possible future immigration reform initiative requirements.” The con- tract calls for as many 34 million cards over five years. USCIS, the Homeland Security agency that oversees immigration benefits, pro- duces about 3 million work permits and Green Cards annually, so the new con- tract would at least provide the Obama administration with the flexibility to issue far more work permits or green cards even if it chose not to exercise that option. USCIS spokesman Christopher Bentley described the proposal posted earlier this month a routine contract solic- itation. “Solicitations of this nature are fre- quent practice,” Bentley said. He said the number of immigration applications can rise “for any number of any reasons.” The contract proposal was first reported by the online news site Breitbart.com. Obama said earlier this year that he would act on his own if Congress failed to pass immigration leg- islation. He has twice delayed making any changes, saying as recently as last month that he would hold off on execu- tive actions until after November’s midterm elections. The administration has repeatedly declined to say what options Obama was considering, but it is widely believed that he will expand protections from deportation already extended to more than 500,000 young immigrants who came to the United States as children. Under that program, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, many young immigrants who are in school or who have graduated and don’t have a criminal record can win protection from deportation for up to two years. They are also eligible for work permits. The president does not have the legal authority to unilaterally offer immigrants in the country illegally green cards or any other permanent immigration sta- tus. But administration officials have said the president can authorize protection from deportation for immigrants on a case-by-case basis, such as with the DACA program, and issue work permits. USCIS Director Leon Rodriguez told an audience at a Georgetown University Law Center conference Tuesday that his agency was ready for whatever immigra- tion changes Obama may announce. He declined to provide details. — AP Govt seeks supplies for immigration documents WASHINGTON: In this Jan. 6, 2009 file photo, former Blackwater Worldwide security guard Dustin Heard leaves federal court in Washington. A jury returned guilty verdicts for Heard and three other former Blackwater guards charged in Iraq shootings. — AP WASHINGTON: In a sweeping victory for the US government, a federal jury yesterday found four former Blackwater guards guilty on nearly every count they faced in connection with the 2007 killing of 14 unarmed Iraqis at a Baghdad traffic circle. Jurors found three of the ex-guards guilty of manslaughter and weapons charges, and a fourth guilty of murder. The verdict comes more than seven years after the shooting incident that outraged Iraqis and inflamed anti- American sentiment around the world. A court clerk read the jury’s ver- dict aloud on Wednesday around noon to a packed courtroom, repeat- ing the word “guilty” 71 times as the defendants sat and listened silently. Paul Slough, Dustin Heard and Evan Liberty were convicted of volun- tary manslaughter in connection with at least 12 deaths at Nisur Square, where the Blackwater unit had been trying to clear a path for a US State Department convoy. The Washington jury also found the three guilty of attempted manslaughter in connec- tion with the wounding of at least 11 Iraqis who had been at the site. The fourth guard, Nicholas Slatten, was found guilty of murder in connec- tion with the first death at the circle. The 2007 shooting stood out for its brazenness, even during a war replete with grisly incidents, and raised ques- tions about the rules governing secu- rity contractors working overseas for the U.S. government. Mohamad al-Quraishy, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Iraqi Embassy in Washington, came to court to hear the jury’s verdict and said the Iraqi people had been closely monitoring the trial hoping that the guards would be convicted. “They will welcome this decision,” he said. 100 questions Yesterday’s verdict follows more than seven weeks of deliberations during which jurors considered nearly 100 different questions. During more than two months of trial, prosecutors flew family members of some of the victims to the United States to testify, and drew on the testi- mony of the other guards in the unit. The government sought to portray the indicted guards as recklessly unleashing their massive firepower, including multiple grenades not designed to be used in urban areas, on innocent Iraqi civilians, including women and children. Lawyers for the guards had argued that while the loss of life was unfortu- nate, the men were operating in a volatile war zone and used their weapons at Nisur Square only in response to incoming fire and a vehi- cle that appeared to be a car bomb. The defendants’ lawyers presented only four of their own witnesses at tri- al, but extensively cross-examined government witnesses and had tried to draw attention to inconsistencies in the testimony. In the end, the jury did not acquit any of the defendants on a single count. It was unable to reach a deci- sion on a few counts, leading to a mis- trial on those counts. Much of the case turned on whether the unit was actually facing incoming fire, or whether a white Kia realistically appeared to be a car bomb bearing down on the convoy. Slatten had been charged with the murder of the driver of the car. When jurors heard closing argu- ments in the case in August, prosecu- tor Anthony Asuncion told them that on Sept. 16, 2007, there were “no insurgents, no AK-47s, just people seeking shelter from these men.” Slatten faces a life sentence on the murder charge. The other three face at least 30 years in prison based on the gun charge they were all convicted on, though defense lawyers are likely to appeal the verdict. — Reuters US jury convicts ex-Blackwater guards in 2007 Baghdad killings Family members flown to US to testify MEXICO CITY: At least 12 and probably 15 of the 22 people killed by soldiers at a rural warehouse last summer were exe- cuted, the president of the governmental Human Rights Commission said Tuesday, contradicting both the army’s and prose- cutors’ versions of the mass killing in southern Mexico. Commission President Raul Plascencia called it “one of the most serious human rights violations that can be committed” and issued a formal rec- ommendation demanding prosecutors investigate what he said were attempts to cover up the executions of the suspected gang members. Three of the victims were adolescents. Plascencia said bodies were moved and the crime scene was altered to mimic a shootout - the army’s initial explanation of what happened. The human rights investigation turned up gruesome details, including that some- one had twisted the head of one suspect until his neck broke, Plascencia said at a news conference. Four other bodies had marks of having been beaten with blunt objects before they were killed. Bullet marks and other evidence indi- cated that seven others among the dead were lined up near three of the ware- house’s walls and shot “when they were disarmed and were not resisting,” Plascencia said. His report constituted the third official version of what happened at the aban- doned warehouse in the town of San Pedro Limon in southern Mexico. The army initially said all 22 suspected gang members died during a gunbattle with soldiers, but Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said recently that eight of the 22 had presumably been extrajudicial- ly executed. The army’s version almost immediately came under question because only one soldier was wounded The Associated Press visited the scene three days after the shootings and found evidence suggesting some of the dead may have been execut- ed. A witness later told the AP that only one man died in an initial shootout and all the others were shot after surrendering. Three soldiers face civilian murder charges and eight soldiers face military discipline charges in the case. Federal prosecutors say that the three entered the warehouse and killed suspects who were no longer fighting and that the other five soldiers, including an officer, stayed out- side. But Plascencia said his commission’s investigations found a scene of such bru- tality that it raised questions on whether three soldiers alone could have carried out the acts. The report marks the latest chapter in a string of government contradictions over the killings. Prosecutors in the State of Mexico, where the shootings occurred, said in July that they had found no evi- dence of executions. Plascencia’s commission demanded an investigation into the cover-up. The com- mission’s recommendations are not bind- ing, but the government must publicly explain its reasons if it does not comply with them. —AP Mexico military kill 15 suspected criminals SAN PEDRO LIMOM: In this July 3, 2014 file photo, bullet holes and blood stains cover a wall above papers marking where bodies were found in an unfinished warehouse that was the site of a shootout between Mexican sol- diers and alleged criminals on the outskirts of the village of San Pedro Limon, in Mexico state, Mexico. — AP WASHINGTON: Legendary former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee, who oversaw reporting on the Watergate scandal that brought down US president Richard Nixon, died Tuesday. He was 93. Bradlee, who died of natural causes at his Washington home, leaves a last- ing legacy at the Post and in the wider media, and has been hailed as a genius and for having “the courage of an army.” He was also a friend to John F. Kennedy. President Barack Obama, who awarded Bradlee the Presidential Medal of Freedom last year, led the tributes, saying that for the newspa- per man, “journalism was more than a profession-it was a public good vital to our democracy.” During Bradlee’s leadership of the Post from 1968 to 1991, he inspired reporters who “told stories that need- ed to be told-stories that helped us understand our world and one anoth- er a little bit better,” the president added. His wife, former Washington Post reporter Sally Quinn, revealed last month Bradlee had been diagnosed with dementia. Donald E. Graham, who served as publisher of the Post and was Bradlee’s boss, said: “Ben Bradlee was the best American news- paper editor of his time and had the greatest impact on his newspaper of any modern editor.” It was Graham’s mother, Katharine Graham, who was publisher of the Post when Bradlee charged young reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein with investigating the Watergate burglary. ‘New era of transparency’ The reporting uncovered a vast scheme of surveillance and dirty tricks, and the resulting coverage led to the impeachment and resignation of Nixon in 1974, and the prosecution of dozens of administration officials. “Ben was a true friend and genius leader in journalism,” Bernstein and Woodward said in a joint statement on the Post website as news of his death emerged. “His one unbending principle was the quest for the truth and the neces- sity of that pursuit. He had the courage of an army.” Bradlee’s reign as editor saw the Post win the Pulitzer Prize for its Watergate stories, and the respected newspaper also played a role in the successful legal challenge to the publication of the Pentagon Papers revealing the political maneu- vers leading up to the Vietnam War. The Watergate coverage trans- formed the notion of political inves- tigative journalism, and became the topic of a best-selling book, and later a film, “All the President’s Men.”—AFP Washington Post editor dead at 93 WASHINGTON: The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward, left, and Ben Bradlee confer in the newsroom of the paper in Washington, after former FBI official W. Mark Felt let it be known he was the Watergate whistleblow- er and Woodward’s source, known as Deep Throat. — AP