Officials Launch Probe into Pentagon Shooting

By American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON: The FBI, in collaboration with the Pentagon Force Protection Agency and Virginia's Arlington County Police Department, are working to figure out why a California man approached an entrance to the Pentagon yesterday and shot two PFPA officers.

The lone shooter, John Patrick Bedell, of Hollister, Calif., was shot in the head and left arm during an exchange of gunfire outside the Pentagon, near the building entrance adjacent to the Pentagon Metro Transit Center, at about 6:40 p.m. Bedell was transported to George Washington University Hospital and died at about 10 p.m. Two PFPA officers, Jeffery Amos and Marvin Carraway, were injured in the exchange. The officers were treated at George Washington University Hospital and released. A third officer also was involved in the exchange of gunfire, but that officer's name is not being released at this time, officials said. Bedell, who was 36 years old, is believed to have driven to Washington in a green 1998 Toyota Avalon that has been located and removed from a nearby mall parking garage. At the time of the shooting, he had a full beard and was dressed in slacks, a white collared shirt and a blazer. Investigators are searching the car, conducting interviews and reviewing a video of the shooting in an effort to piece together a timeline of Bedell's activities leading up the incident. Investigative efforts include reviewing Bedell's possible internet activity, his cell phone usage and other information which might assist in determining Bedell's state of mind at the time of the shooting. The investigation is ongoing and anyone who believes he or she may have witnessed the shooting, or may have additional information, is urged to call the FBI at 202-278-2000. (From a news release issued jointly by the FBI and the Pentagon Force Protection Agency.)

Related Articles: Shooting Outside Pentagon Causes Lockdown

(Issued on March 5, 2010)

Blogger Prosecuted by Military Court---Amnesty International Urges Egypt to Release

Washington, DC : Amnesty International today called for the Egyptian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release a blogger and prisoner of conscience facing up to nine and a half years in prison after he published a post alleging nepotism within the armed forces. 
Ahmad Mostafa, 20, is set to face a military trial in Cairo on March 7 over a post published on his Matha Assabaka ya Watan (What happened to you, oh nation?) blog in March 2009. He is the first Egyptian blogger to face a military trial for his alleged activities. 
“Ahmed Mostafa has been prosecuted solely for exercising peacefully his right to freedom of expression on his blog,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa program. 
“He is now facing bogus charges that reveal the determination of the authorities to control the Egyptian blogosphere, which has become a pocket of free expression in the country.” 
The post recounted the story of a student who had allegedly been forced to resign from a military academy in order to leave room for another applicant amid accusations of nepotism. 
Mostafa, an engineering student at the university of Kafr El Sheikh, has been accused of publishing military secrets online, publishing false information about the army and of insulting officers involved in the recruitment process at the military academy. 
According to lawyers from the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, he was first arrested by military intelligence officers on February 17 and was questioned about his blog. 
He first appeared before a military tribunal on March 1, although lawyers representing him from the Hisham Mubarak Law Center and the Association for the Freedom of Thought and Expression told Amnesty International that they only received his case file from the authorities on March 2. 
“The use of military courts to try bloggers is a shocking new development. Egypt has consistently been criticized by U.N. human rights bodies for this misuse of military justice. Rather than addressing the unfairness of trials of civilians by such courts, the Egyptian authorities are now seeking to widen their use,” said Hadj Sahraoui. 
Ahmed Mostafa is not the only Egyptian blogger in jail for his writing. 
Karim Amer, an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience, was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment in February 2007 for criticizing President Hosni Mubarak and Egypt’s al-Azhar religious authorities on his blog. 
Hani Nazeer, another prisoner of conscience, has been held in administrative detention since October 2008 for posting on his blog the cover of a book deemed insulting to Muslims. 
Amnesty International also urged the Egyptian authorities to accept key U.N. recommendations on freedom of expression and peaceful dissent. 
On February 19, 2010, during a U.N. examination of Egypt’s human rights record,  the Egyptian authorities rejected a recommendation calling on them to “release bloggers and activists currently detained under the Emergency Law and cease its arrests and detentions of political activists,” as factually incorrect or inaccurate. 
Background 
In line with international law, Amnesty International opposes the trial of civilians by military courts. Such trials violate the right to a fair and public hearing before a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law as guaranteed in Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Egypt is a state party. 
Military courts were established in Egypt under the Code of Military Justice (Law No. 25 of 1966). The Law was amended in April 2007, but the changes did not address the fundamental flaws inherent in trying civilians before military courts. 
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied. 

According to Zeinobia an Egyptian girl and blogger said in her post it seems that the online campaign has did something already despite I can't categorize that something as good or bad especially now local blogs are not only speaking about the matter but also the human rights watch is speaking about itwith the rest of the world.

Again Mustafa did not breach any military secret but rather defending the rights of all citizens to apply and serve their country's army. He wants his army to be free from corruption as much as possible.

River security patrol

 U.S. Sailors with Riverine Squadron 1 simulate a river security patrol at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek - Fort Story, Va., March 1, 2010. (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Paul D. Williams, U.S. Navy/Released)

U.S. Marines conduct training

U.S. Marines conduct training on setting up, operating and disassembling a BGM-71 Tube-launch, Optically-tracked, Wire-guided Missile Weapons System aboard the amphibious dock landing ship USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49) while under way in the South China Sea Feb. 28, 2010. The Marines are assigned to Battalion Landing Team, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Geronimo Aquino, U.S. Navy/Released)

setup up of an antenna, Haiti

Army Pfc. Paul Garland and Pfc. Sean McCall check the setup up of an antenna for voice and data tactical communications in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Feb. 28, 2010. U.S. Navy photo by Chief Petty Officer Robert J. Fluegel    Read Full Story

Communications in Haiti

Army Pfc. Paul Garland checks the set up of an antenna for voice and data tactical communications in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Feb. 28, 2010. U.S. Navy photo by Chief Petty Officer Robert J. Fluegel.  Read full story




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