Nation briefs 5/27/05

Inquiry finds five cases of Quran 'mishandling'

WASHINGTON -- U.S. officials have substantiated five cases in which military guards or interrogators mishandled the Quran of Muslim prisoners at Guantanamo Bay but found "no credible evidence" to confirm a prisoner's report that a holy book was flushed in a toilet, the prison's commander said Thursday. Brig. Gen. Jay W. Hood, who commands the detention center in Cuba, told a Pentagon news conference that a prisoner who was reported to have complained to an FBI agent in 2002 that a military guard threw a Quran in the toilet has told Hood's investigators that he never witnessed any form of Quran desecration.

Four Tenn. lawmakers arrested on bribe charges

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Four Tennessee state lawmakers were indicted Thursday on charges of taking bribes from FBI agents posing as representatives of an electronics-recycling company. In a sting operation dubbed "Tennessee Waltz," the FBI set up a bogus company, then doled out payoffs to lawmakers to sponsor a bill that would allow the business to buy and sell used electronic equipment from the state. The bill was withdrawn Wednesday. One of the lawmakers charged, state Sen. John Ford, allegedly received payments totaling $55,000, beginning last year. The other defendants -- state Sens. Kathryn Bowers and Ward Crutchfield, and state Rep. Chris Newton -- were charged with accepting lesser amounts. A former state senator, Roscoe Dixon, was also charged, as were two non-elected officials.

House rejects effort to shift base-closing money

WASHINGTON -- House Republican leaders on Thursday barely beat back a bid by Democrats to cut $169 million for a contested round of military base closures. The move came as the House overwhelmingly passed an $85.2 billion measure that would provide money for the Veterans Affairs Department and construction projects on military bases. The money is for the budget year that begins Oct. 1. It took a 214-213 vote to defeat an amendment that would have shifted some of the base-closing money to pay for benefits for the families of troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and for veterans' health care accounts.