Nation briefs 1/24/06

Congress targets sellers of private phone records

WASHINGTON -- Disclosures that companies are selling private phone records have lawmakers and federal regulators moving to try to halt the practice. Using a method called "pretexting," data brokers call a phone company pretending to be a customer and persuade it to release the information. The data brokers also can use insiders at the phone companies to get the records. The Federal Communications Commission is investigating the online data brokers. The agency has subpoenaed DataFind.org and Locatecell.com for information on how they obtain the phone records.

Demonstrators mark Roe v. Wade anniversary

WASHINGTON -- President Bush told pro-life supporters Monday that they are pursuing "a noble cause" and predicted that their views would prevail eventually, speaking by telephone from Manhattan, Kan., where he was giving a speech. Pro-life supporters gathered at the foot of Capitol Hill to mark the 33rd anniversary of the Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion. Pro-choice supporters held a rally on Sunday, urging the Senate to reject the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to succeed Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court.

-- From wire reports

Officer convicted in Iraqi general's death apologizes

FORT CARSON, Colo. -- Fighting back tears, an Army interrogator convicted of killing an Iraqi general by stuffing him headfirst into a sleeping bag and sitting on his chest apologized Monday and asked the military jury not to separate him from his wife and children by sending him to prison. "I deeply apologize if my actions tarnished the soldiers serving in Iraq," Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Jr. said at his sentencing hearing. Welshofer, 43, was convicted Saturday of negligent homicide and negligent dereliction of duty. Prosecutors said he put a sleeping bag over the head of Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush, sat on his chest and used his hand to cover the general's mouth while questioning him at a detention camp in Iraq in 2003. Prosecutors said the general suffocated.