Colorado

Three killed as small plane crashes, ignites wildfire

A single-engine plane crashed near a mountain pass, killing three people and starting a wildfire that prevented investigators from getting close to the wreckage until it had been extinguished, authorities said Saturday.

A helicopter responding to reports of smoke spotted the wreckage Saturday morning about 90 miles northwest of Denver, near the 9,400-foot Rabbit Ears Pass, Routt County Sheriff John Warner said. The crew spotted two victims from the air, and investigators discovered the third body after the wildfire had been extinguished, he said.

The plane’s tail number was unreadable because of the crash and fire, Warner said. Investigators found an engine number and were working with Federal Aviation Administration officials to identify the plane.

“We have no idea where it came from,” Warner said. “There are no missing or overdue flights reported at this time.”

Washington, D.C.

Arab-American agent files bias suit against FBI

A high-ranking Arab-American FBI agent is taking the bureau to court, accusing it of racial discrimination for freezing him out of the Sept. 11 investigation.

The suit described agent Bassem Youssef as the only polygraph examiner qualified to conduct interviews in Arabic, with extensive experience and Middle Eastern contacts culled from his days with the FBI in Saudi Arabia.

Yet, the complaint said, he was kept away from any substantial investigations related to the hijacking attacks on New York and Washington.

“No other non-Arab FBI employee with similar background and experience in counterterrorism was willfully blocked from working 9-11 related matters,” according to the complaint. “In fact, numerous non-Arab FBI employees with far less experience and expertise in counterterrorism were assigned to 9-11 related work.”

Calls to the FBI and the Justice Department were not returned Saturday.

The lawsuit was filed Friday at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Washington, D.C.

Judge orders Iraqi money put aside for Gulf War POWs

A federal judge ordered the government to retain for now more than $650 million from assets taken from the Iraq government in order to guarantee compensation for 17 American former Persian Gulf War POWs tortured by their Iraqi captors.

A Treasury Department spokesman said Saturday the order, restricting almost half the roughly $1.4 billion in Iraqi money still held in a New York account, would have no effect on transfers to Baghdad already scheduled as operating expenses for the emerging Iraqi government.

District Judge Richard W. Roberts of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued the temporary restraining order late Friday after hearing arguments from attorneys for the former prisoners of war and the government. The order is to continue for 10 days as the two sides present further briefs.

The account represents what remains of $1.7 billion frozen in 1990, after then-President Saddam Hussein sent his troops into neighboring Kuwait and precipitated the Gulf War.