Iraq: Blackwater guards fired unprovoked

BAGHDAD - Iraqi investigators have a videotape that shows Blackwater USA guards opened fire against civilians without provocation in a shooting last week that left 11 people dead, a senior Iraqi official said Saturday. He said the case was referred to the Iraqi judiciary.

Iraq's president, meanwhile, demanded that the Americans release an Iranian arrested this week on suspicion of smuggling weapons to Shiite militias. The demand adds new strains to U.S.-Iraqi relations only days before a meeting between President Bush and Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said Iraqi authorities had completed an investigation into the Sept. 16 shooting in Nisoor Square in western Baghdad and concluded that Blackwater guards were responsible for the deaths.
He told The Associated Press that the conclusion was based on witness statements as well as videotape shot by cameras at the nearby headquarters of the national police command. He said eight people were killed at the scene and three of the 15 wounded died in hospitals.
Blackwater, which provides most of the security for U.S. diplomats and civilian officials in Iraq, has insisted that its guards came under fire from armed insurgents and shot back only to defend themselves.
Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell said Saturday that she knew nothing about the videotape and was contractually prohibited from discussing details of the shooting.
Khalaf also said the ministry was looking into six other fatal shootings involving the Moyock, N.C.-based company in which 10 Iraqis were killed and 15 wounded. Among the shootings was one Feb. 7 outside Iraqi state television in Baghdad that killed three building guards.
"These six cases will support the case against Blackwater, because they show that it has a criminal record," Khalaf said.
Khalaf said the report was "sent to the judiciary" although he would not specify whether that amounted to filing of criminal charges. Under Iraqi law, an investigating judge reviews criminal complaints and decides whether there is enough evidence for a trial.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh denied that authorities had decided to file charges against the Blackwater guards and said Saturday that no decision had been taken whether to seek punishment.
"The necessary measures will be taken that will preserve the honor of the Iraqi people," he said in New York, where al-Maliki arrived Friday for the U.N. General Assembly session. "We have ongoing high-level meetings with the U.S. side about this issue."
Al-Maliki is expected to raise the issue with Bush during a meeting Monday in New York.
It is doubtful that foreign security contractors could be prosecuted under Iraqi law. A directive issued by U.S. occupation authorities in 2004 granted contractors, U.S. troops and many other foreign officials immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law.
Security contractors are also not subject to U.S. military law under which U.S. troopers face prosecution for killing or abusing Iraqis.
Iraqi officials have said in the wake of the Nisoor Square shooting that they will press for amendments to the 2004 directive.
A senior aide to al-Maliki said Friday that three of the Blackwater guards were Iraqis and could be subject to prosecution. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.
Shortly after the Sept. 16 shooting, U.S. officials said they "understood" that there was videotape, but refused to give more details. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not supposed to release information to the media.
Following the Nisoor Square shooting, the Interior Ministry banned Blackwater from operating in Iraq but rolled back after the U.S. agreed to a joint investigation. The company resumed guarding a reduced number of U.S. convoys on Friday.
The al-Maliki aide said Friday that the Iraqis were pushing for an apology, compensation for victims or their families and for the guards involved in the shooting to be held "accountable."
Hadi al-Amri, a prominent Shiite lawmaker and al-Maliki ally, also said an admission of wrongdoing, an apology and compensation offered a way out of the dilemma.
"They are always frightened and that's why they shoot at civilians," al-Amri said. "If Blackwater gets to stay in Iraq, it will have to give guarantees about its conduct."
Allegations against Blackwater have clouded relations between Iraq and the Americans at a time when the Bush administration is seeking to contain calls in Congress for sharp reductions in the 160,000-strong U.S. military force.
Adding to those strains, President Jalal Talabani demanded the immediate release of an Iranian official detained Thursday by U.S. forces in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah.
The U.S. military said the unidentified Iranian was a member of the Quds force — an elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards accused of arming and training Shiite militias in Iraq.
A statement issued Saturday by Talabani's office said the arrest was carried out without the prior knowledge or the cooperation of the Kurdish regional government.
"This amounts to an insult and a violation of its rights and authority," said the statement, quoting a letter Talabani sent to Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker. Talabani, a Kurd, is one of Washington's most reliable partners in Iraq.
Talabani said Iran had threatened to close the border with the Kurdish region if the official were not freed — a serious blow to the economy in the president's political stronghold.
"I want to express to you our dismay over the arrest by American forces of this official civilian Iranian guest," Talabani wrote to Petraeus and Crocker.
Five Iranians said to be linked to the Quds force were arrested in the Kurdish city of Irbil and remain in U.S. custody.
Also Saturday, the U.S. military announced the death of two more American soldiers — one of an unspecified non-combat related injury and another in a vehicle accident in Diyala province.

La. protests hark back to '50s, '60s

By MARY FOSTER, Associated Press Writer

JENA, La. - Drawn by a case tinged with one of the most hated symbols of Old South racism — a hangman's noose tied in an oak tree — thousands of protesters rallied Thursday against what they see as a double standard of prosecution for blacks and whites.

The plight of the so-called Jena Six became a flashpoint for one the biggest civil-rights demonstrations in years. Five of the black teens were initially charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white classmate.
Old-guard lions like the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton joined scores of college students bused in from across the nation who said they wanted to make a stand for racial equality just as their parents did in the 1950s and '60s.
"It's not just about Jena, but about inequalities and disparities around the country," said Stephanie Brown, 26, national youth director for the NAACP, who estimated about 2,000 college students were among the throngs of mostly black protesters who overwhelmed this tiny central Louisiana town.
But the teens' case galvanized demonstrators as few legal cases have in recent years.
The cause of Thursday's demonstrations dates to August 2006, when a black Jena High School student asked the principal whether blacks could sit under a shade tree that was a frequent gathering place for whites. He was told yes. But nooses appeared in the tree the next day. Three white students were suspended but not criminally prosecuted. LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters said this week he could find no state law covering the act.
Brown said the Jena case resonates with the college-aged crowd because they aren't much older than the six youths charged. Many of the student protesters had been sharing information about the case through Facebook, MySpace and other social-networking Web sites.
Jackson, who led a throng of people three blocks long to the courthouse with an American flag resting on his shoulder, likened the demonstration to the marches on Selma and the Montgomery bus boycott. But even he was not entirely sure why Jena became the focal point.
"You can never quite tell," he said. "Rosa Parks was not the first to sit in the front of the bus. But the sparks hit a dry field."
The noose incident was followed by fights between blacks and whites, culminating in December's attack on white student Justin Barker, who was knocked unconscious. According to court testimony, his face was swollen and bloodied, but he was able to attend a school function that same night.
Six black teens were arrested. Five were originally charged with attempted second-degree murder — charges that have since been reduced for four of them. The sixth was booked as a juvenile on sealed charges.
Martin Luther King III, son of the slain civil rights leader, said punishment of some sort may be in order for the six defendants, but "the justice system isn't applied the same to all crimes and all people."
People began massing for the demonstrations before dawn Thursday, jamming the two-lane highway leading into town and parking wherever they could. State police estimated the crowd at 15,000 to 20,000. Organizers said they believe it drew as many as 50,000.
Demonstrators gathered at the local courthouse, a park, and the yard at Jena High where the tree once stood (it was cut down in July). At times the town resembled a giant festival, with people setting up tables of food and drink and some dancing while a man beat on a drum.
Sharpton admonished the crowd to remain peaceful, and there were no reports of trouble. State police could be seen chatting amicably with demonstrators at the courthouse.
In Washington, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said he would hold hearings on the case, though he did not set a date or say if the prosecutor would be called to testify.
Walters, the district attorney, has usually declined to discuss the case publicly. But on the eve of the demonstrations, he denied the charges against the teens were race-related and lamented that Barker, the victim of the beating, has been reduced to "a footnote" while protesters generate sympathy for his alleged attackers.
President Bush said he understood the emotions and the FBI was monitoring the situation.
"The events in Louisiana have saddened me," the president told reporters at the White House. "All of us in America want there to be, you know, fairness when it comes to justice."
While Jena Six supporters were overwhelmingly black, young whites were also present.
"I think what happened here was disgusting and repulsive to the whole state," said Mallory Flippo, a white college student from Shreveport. "I think it reflected badly on our state and how it makes it seem we view black people. I don't feel that way, so I thought I should be here."
Other rallies in support of the black teens were held elsewhere, including Oklahoma City, where about 500 people gathered.
"It is time for us to express our outrage that such a blatant injustice should happen," said Roosevelt Milton, Oklahoma City NAACP president.
"I'm just glad people are starting to stand up for what is right," said Kiara Andrews, 15, of the Oklahoma City suburb of Midwest City.
In Jena, many white residents expressed anger at the way news organizations portrayed their town of 3,000 people.
"I believe in people standing up for what's right," said resident Ricky Coleman, 46, who is white. "What bothers me is this town being labeled racist. I'm not racist."
Mychal Bell, now 17, is the only one of the defendants to be tried. He was convicted of aggravated second-degree battery, but his conviction was tossed out last week by a state appeals court that said Bell, who was 16 at the time of the beating, could not be tried as an adult on that charge.
He remained in jail pending an appeal by prosecutors. An appellate court on Thursday ordered a hearing to be held within three days on his request for release. The other five defendants are free on bond.
A group of about a dozen white residents and black demonstrators engaged in an animated but not angry exchange during the march. Whites asked blacks if they were aware of Bell's criminal record. Blacks replied that Jena High administrators mishandled the incidents.
Another white resident, Bill Williamson, 59, said he tried to convince visitors that the town was being treated unfairly and that Bell belonged in jail.
"I think we changed one man's mind," he said. "But most of these people don't want to hear."
As she trudged up a hill to a rally at a park, 63-year-old Elizabeth Redding of Willingboro, N.J., remembered marching at Selma, Ala., when she was in her 20s.
"I am a great-grandmother now. I'm doing this for my great-grandchildren," she said.
Alecea Rush, 21, a senior at Prairie View A&M University in Texas, said her grandmother used to tell her stories about the civil rights movement, including one in which she witnessed a lynching in Oklahoma City.
"I thought about every one of those stories being out here today," Rush said. "I never really felt the significance until today."

Bin Laden urges Pakistanis to revolt

By LEE KEATH, Associated Press Writer

CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden called on Pakistanis to rebel against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in a new recording released Thursday, saying his military's siege of a militant mosque stronghold makes him an infidel.

The storming of the Red Mosque in Islamabad in July "demonstrated Musharraf's insistence on continuing his loyalty, submissiveness and aid to America against the Muslims ... and makes armed rebellion against him and removing him obligatory," bin Laden said in the message.
"So when the capability is there, it is obligatory to rebel against the apostate ruler, as is the case now," he said.
Bin Laden's voice was heard over video showing previously released footage of the terror leader. The video was released Thursday on Islamic militant Web sites and first reported by Laura Mansfield, an American terrorism expert who monitors militant message traffic.
The message, titled "Come to Jihad," was the third from bin Laden this month in a flurry of videos and audiotapes marking the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.
Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad, a Pakistani army spokesman, said the army will continue its fight against terrorism, regardless of any threats it faces.
"We have the aim and objective, as our national duty, to eliminate terrorists and eradicate extremism. The Pakistan army will continue to carry out its role against terrorists wherever they are found, whether in the tribal areas (of northwest Pakistan) or elsewhere."
"Such threats issued through videos or in any other way cannot deter us from fulfilling our national duty," he said.
State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the message was "not surprising" since bin Laden seek Pakistan as an ally to the U.S. "in the fight against his kind of extremism."
Earlier Thursday, al-Qaida released an 80-minute documentary-style video that had a new speech from bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, who boasted that the United States was being defeated in Afghanistan, Iraq and other fronts. Speakers in the video promised more fighting in Afghanistan, North Africa and Sudan's Darfur region.
The Pakistani military stormed the Red Mosque after it became a stronghold for Islamic militants and at least 102 people were killed in the fighting, including one of the militants' leaders, Abdul Rashid Ghazi. The siege was followed by a series of suicide bombings in retaliation.
In his message, bin Laden said Ghazi and his followers were killed for seeking the application of Sharia Islamic law, and he condemned Musharraf for allying himself with the U.S. in the fight against al-Qaida.
He quoted fatwas, or religious edits, from hard-line Islamic scholars on the duty to overthrow infidel rulers.
"So Pervez, his ministers, his soldiers and those who help him are all accomplices in the spilling the blood of those of the Muslims who have been killed. He who helps him knowingly and willingly is an infidel like him," bin Laden said.
Al-Qaida leaders have railed against Musharraf and urged Pakistanis to rise up against him in past messages — but the call from bin Laden now may be aimed at adding weight to the rallying cry. The Pakistani president has come under four assassination attempts since 2002.
Bin Laden and al-Zawahri are thought to be hiding in the lawless Pakistan-Afghanistan border region, where many analysts believe they have rebuilt al-Qaida's core leadership.
Thursday's other video underlined al-Qaida's growing technical sophistication in its videos, interspersing al-Zawahri's speech with scenes from the Sept. 11 attacks, interviews with experts and officials taken from Western and Arab broadcasters, and old footage and audio of bin Laden.
The tone was triumphal, with al-Zawahri calling for attacks on French and Spanish interests in North Africa and on U.N. and African peacekeepers expected to deploy in Darfur.
"What they claim to be the strongest power in the history of mankind is today being defeated in front of the Muslim vanguards of jihad six years after the two raids on New York and Washington," al-Zawahri said.
The video included footage of al-Qaida's leader in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu al-Yazeed, meeting with a senior Taliban commander. In contrast to past videos showing al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in rough desert terrain, Abu al-Yazeed and the commander were shown sitting in a field surrounded by trees as a jihad anthem played, extolling the virgins that will meet martyrs in paradise.
Abu al-Yazeed said al-Qaida's ties with the Taliban were strengthening. The Taliban commander, Dadullah Mansoor, vowed to "target the infidels in Afghanistan and outside Afghanistan" and to "focus our attacks, Allah willing, on the coalition forces in Afghanistan."
Another clip in the video showed Abu Musab Abdulwadood, the leader of Algeria's main Islamic insurgency movement, addressing bin Laden and vowing that "our swords are unsheathed."
Al-Zawahri called on supporters in North Africa to "cleanse the Maghrib (western region) of Islam of the children of France and Spain. ... Stand with your sons the mujahedeen against the Crusaders and their children."
He denounced Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for agreeing to an international peacekeeping force in Darfur, saying, "the free mujahid (holy warrior) sons of Sudan must arrange jihad against the forces invading Sudan in the same way their brothers arranged the jihadi resistance in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia."
The video also included old, but previously unreleased footage of bin Laden, according to IntelCenter, a U.S. counterterrorism group that monitors militant messages.
The images show bin Laden, with a beard streaked with gray and white cloth draped over his head, in front of a map showing the Middle East and South and Central Asia.
He condemns Arab Gulf governments that have allied themselves with the United States, saying they have "sold the Islamic nation, colluded with the enemies of Islam and backed the infidels."

Lawyer: Musharraf will give up army post

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - President Gen. Pervez Musharraf will give up his position as army chief if he wins re-election as president, a government lawyer said Tuesday.

The announcement by government attorney Sharifuddin Pirzada was the first clear official statement that Pakistan's military leader plans to contest the upcoming election while in uniform, then relinquish it afterward.
Musharraf, who took power in a military coup in 1999 and has seen his popularity slide in recent months after a failed attempt to sack Pakistan's top judge, currently holds the office of both president and army chief. He is under growing pressure to stand down from the army post — the main source of his power.
His current presidential term expires Nov. 15, and he is expected to seek another five-term year in a vote by all provincial and national lawmakers by Oct. 15. Many experts say that retaining the army position into the next term would violate the Constitution.
"If elected for the second term as president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf shall relinquish charge of the office of the chief of army staff soon after election, but before taking oath of office of the president of Pakistan for the next term," Pirzada said.
Pirzada read the statement in the Supreme Court as it hears petitions that challenge Musharraf's holding of both offices and his eligibility for the presidential election.
Pirzada added that the Musharraf's nomination paper for the election would be scrutinized by the chief Election Commissioner "independently and in accordance with the law."
On Monday, Pakistan's Election Commission changed the rules to open the way for Musharraf to seek a new term without giving up the powerful position of army chief.
Opposition parties decried the move as a brazen violation of the constitution and accused the U.S.-allied leader of trying to bulldoze legal obstacles to his staying in power amid increasing demands for an end to military rule. They predicted a surge in democracy protests.
The ruling was likely to end up before the Supreme Court, which has proved an impediment to Musharraf this year and which many people hope can find a way to guide Pakistan out of a political crisis that some fear could lead to violent demonstrations and martial law.
The high court on Monday resumed hearing arguments on several petitions that seek to disqualify Musharraf as a presidential candidate.
The five-member Election Commission, whose chairman was appointed by Musharraf, said it changed a rule for the presidential vote by legislators, due by Oct. 15, so a constitutional article barring government employees — such as army officers — from running no longer applies.
"The chief election commissioner of Pakistan has made the requisite amendment, with the approval of the president," the panel said in a statement.
The move appeared to signal Musharraf's determination to extend his rule and dimmed the promise of already-stalled negotiations between Musharraf and the moderate party of exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on a potential power-sharing deal.
It also could deepen divisions within the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q party as Musharraf struggles to calm an intensified democracy campaign as well as respond to the resurgence of Taliban and al-Qaida militants entrenched in the region along with border with Afghanistan.
Musharraf's popularity has plummeted since March when he tried to fire the Supreme Court's independent-minded chief justice, sparking widespread pro-democracy demonstrations led by the country's lawyers. The high court later ruled the president could not remove the judge.
Musharraf retrieved some of the political initiative last week by blocking a personal challenge from another exiled prime minister, the man he toppled eight years ago in a bloodless coup. Nawaz Sharif was sent back into exile in Saudi Arabia just hours after he flew in.
However, in doing that, Musharraf has set up another showdown with the Supreme Court, which ruled earlier that the government could not prevent Sharif from coming home.
In the high court action Monday, arguments were made over six petitions challenging Musharraf's eligibility to run. They petitions included one by Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan's largest Islamic group, on Musharraf's eligibility to stand again as president. It was unclear when the court would reach a verdict.
Bhutto forecast that the change in the election rules would further enrage the lawyers who mounted the well-organized protest campaign that preceded the reinstatement of the Supreme Court's chief judge.
"All political parties, irrespective of whether they were moderates or religious, regional or national, came together to back the lawyers and their movement and I think the same would happen again," Bhutto told The Associated Press late Sunday, when Pakistani media first reported the rule change.
Bhutto said her party might join other opposition groups in resigning from parliament. She said that for Musharraf to seek re-election in uniform would be "illegal."
Bhutto and Musharraf have discussed a deal that would include constitutional amendments to remove legal problems to the president running again and let her return home to seek a third term as prime minister in parliamentary elections due by January.
But the talks have snagged amid opposition from right-wingers in the ruling party who could be eclipsed if Bhutto made a triumphant return.
If it remains in place, the rule change announced by the five-member Election Commission would remove the need for a power-sharing pact.
The commission said it was updating its rules to reflect Supreme Court rulings in 2002 and 2005 that Article 63 of the constitution did not apply to Musharraf.
The article bars civil servants, including members of the military, from running for elected office. The article also says former civil servants must wait for two years before they become eligible for election. Some argue that makes Musharraf ineligible even if he quits as army chief.
The 2002 and 2005 court cases challenged the legality of Musharraf's presidency, including his holding of the office of president and army chief at the same time.
Qazi Hussain Ahmed, head of a six-party coalition of Islamic parties in the opposition, said the latest move could destabilize Pakistan by discrediting the election commission.
"Gen. Musharraf is not getting off the bulldozer he has been riding" since toppling Sharif, Ahmed told the AP. "Now he is bent upon further ruining the constitution."
"We will block his way through street power and through every available forum," Ahmed added.

Rule change favors Pakistan's Musharraf

By SADAQAT JAN, Associated Press Writer
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The Election Commission announced a rule change Monday that would apparently allow President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to seek a new, five-year term while still serving as army chief.

Opposition parties insist the U.S.-backed Musharraf is ineligible to run, but the commission said it had changed a rule so that a key article of the constitution no longer applied.
"The chief election commissioner of Pakistan has made the requisite amendment, with the approval of the president," the commission said in a statement.
The rule change drew an outraged response from opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. She also accused Musharraf's allies of leading the country toward a dangerous crisis by refusing to restore democracy and share power.
Bhutto predicted the decision would enrage the same lawyers who led the campaign for the restoration of Pakistan's independent-minded top judge whom Musharraf tried to remove from office in March, sparking a pro-democracy protest movement. The Supreme Court later reinstated the judge.
"All political parties, irrespective of whether they were moderates or religious, regional or national, came together to back the lawyers and their movement and I think the same would happen again," Bhutto told The Associated Press late Sunday, when Pakistani media first reported the rule change.
She said her party may join other opposition groups in resigning from parliament. She said that for Musharraf to seek re-election in uniform would be "illegal."
Pakistan's political turmoil is deepening as Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 coup and became a key U.S. ally after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, tries to extend his rule. He wants lawmakers to vote him back in by mid-October, but faces tough legal and political obstacles.
Musharraf's term expires Nov. 15. The president is elected in a vote by all members of Pakistan's provincial and national assemblies.
Musharraf's standing has plummeted since March, and he is also struggling to contain a surge in attacks by pro-Taliban militants near the border with Afghanistan.
Last week, he sidelined his chief political rival, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, sending him back into exile. But in doing that, he set up another showdown with the Supreme Court that had earlier ruled that Sharif could return to Pakistan.
Bhutto has been in talks with Musharraf on a pact including constitutional amendments to defuse the legal challenges to his re-election and let her return and seek a third term as premier in parliamentary elections due by January.
Negotiations have snagged over Musharraf's reluctance to cede his sweeping powers.
Monday's announcement by the election commission, however, seemed to remove the need for such a pact.
The election commission said it was updating its rules to reflect Supreme Court rulings in 2002 and 2005 that Article 63 of the constitution did not apply to Musharraf. The article includes a bar on government servants running for election that some legal experts argue prevents Musharraf from seeking another term.
The article also says that former government servants must wait for two years before they become eligible to run. Some argue that makes Musharraf ineligible even if he quits as army chief.
Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani said the government was not involved in the rule change. He defended the Election Commission's announcement, saying it had only amended the election rules in accordance with court rulings.
On Monday, the Supreme Court resumed hearing six petitions, including one by Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan's largest Islamist group, on Musharraf's eligibility to stand again. Their eventual verdict could override the decision of the Election Commission.
Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum said that, with the cases pending in court, the Election Commission was "reluctant" to announce the schedule for the presidential election. Ruling party lawmakers have said it will be held in early October.

Saudi in $8.9 billion deal for Eurofighter

AFP.

RIYADH (AFP) - The Saudi defence ministry announced on Monday that it has signed a 4.43 billion pound (8.86 billion dollar) deal to buy 72 Eurofighter planes, in one of the largest ever British export orders.

"The two governments on Tuesday (September 11) signed the contract for the acquisition of (72) planes for a cost of 4.43 billion pounds," a ministry spokesman told the state news agency SPA.
He said the deal follows an August 2006 agreement in principle and "a memorandum of understanding between the London and Riyadh governments to modernise the Saudi armed forces as part of their close defence ties".

The memorandum, inked in December 2005, also provides for "a transfer of technology, investment in Saudi military industry and aviation training for Saudis", the spokesman said.
The Times newspaper reported on September 7 that BAE Systems was poised to clinch the deal to supply 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets to the oil-rich Gulf Arab kingdom.
It had been feared that the deal would be scuppered because of a British probe into allegations Saudi Arabia took bribes from BAE under a military-plane deal struck between Britain and the Middle East kingdom more than 20 years ago.
Britain's Serious Fraud Office last year investigated BAE Systems' 43-billion-pound Al-Yamamah deal in 1985, which provided Hawk and Tornado jets plus other military equipment to Saudi Arabia.
But the investigation was shelved by the British government last December in a move supported by then prime minister Tony Blair amid concerns over Britain's national interests.

Data recorders found in Thai plane crash

By SUTIN WANNABOVORN, Associated Press Writer
PHUKET, Thailand - Authorities on Monday found the two flight data recorders from a plane that crashed and killed 89 people — mostly foreigners — on Thailand's resort island of Phuket, while an airline official said wind shear may have doomed the flight.

The budget One-Two-Go Airlines flight was carrying 123 passengers and seven crew from Bangkok to Phuket when it skidded off a runway Sunday while landing in driving wind and rain, catching fire and engulfing some passengers in flames as others kicked out windows to escape.

Deputy Transport Minister Sansern Wongcha-um told reporters that 89 people, including 53 foreigners, were killed in the crash, and 41 others were injured. The crash was Thailand's worst air accident in a decade.
Kajit Habnanonda, president of Orient-Thai Airlines, which owns One-Two-Go, said wind shear — the rapid change in wind speed which can impact takeoffs and landings — was a possible cause of the accident. Heavy rains could have contributed to the plane skidding off the runway, Kajit added.
At least four Americans were among the foreign tourists killed and one survived the crash, according to a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Bangkok who spoke on condition of anonymity citing protocol.
An Israel Embassy official who spoke on condition of anonymity for the same reason said there were 10 Israelis on the passenger list. Two were injured, the official said.
Passengers from France, Sweden, Iran and Australia also were killed, as were the plane's Indonesian pilot and Thai co-pilot, according to the airline's list of dead passengers, which was obtained by The Associated Press.
Survivors described how the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 was preparing to land in heavy rains when it suddenly lifted off again and then came crashing down on the runway. It rammed through a low retaining wall and split in two after it crashed.
"I think he realized the runway was too close or he was too fast or the wind had hit him," Robert Borland, a survivor who lives in Australia, told The Associated Press. "He accelerated and tried to pull out. I thought he is going around again and the next thought was everything went black and there was a big mess and we hit the ground."
Borland, 48, managed to drag himself to an exit where he was pulled by another survivor from the plane to safety.
"People were screaming. There was a fire in the cabin and my clothes caught fire," he said.
Parinwit Chusaeng, who was slightly burned, said some passengers were engulfed in flames.
"I stepped over them on the way out of the plane," Parinwit told The Nation TV channel. "I was afraid that the airplane was going to explode, so I ran away."
Parts of the twisted plane lay smoking at the side of the runway, while officials wearing masks carried bodies wrapped in white sheets to an airport storage building.
Transport Minister Theera Haocharoen said the plane's black boxes would be sent to the United States for analysis.
"Hopefully, we will learn in a few weeks the cause of accident," he said.
Many of the passengers had been planning to vacation at Phuket, a popular beach resort that was among the areas hit hardest by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed more than 8,000 people on the island.
The accident was likely to raise new questions about the safety of budget airlines in Southeast Asia, which have experienced rapid growth in recent years and often scramble to find qualified pilots. None of Thailand's budget airlines had previously suffered a major accident, but there have been several deadly crashes in Indonesia.
Many budget airlines use older planes that have been leased or purchased after years of use by other airlines. According to Thai and U.S. aviation registration data, the plane that crashed in Phuket was manufactured and put into use in 1983, and began flying in Thailand in March this year.
One-Two-Go Airlines began operations in December 2003 and is the domestic subsidiary of Orient-Thai Airlines, a regional charter carrier based in Thailand.
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Associated Press Writer Audra Ang contributed to this report.