MiamiHerald.com HOTEL COPIES: A copy of The Miami Herald will be delivered to your room. A credit of US$0.25 will be posted to your account if delivery is declined.
INTERNATIONAL EDITION
THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 2012
109TH YEAR I ©2012 THE MIAMI HERALD
Romney, after tight win, goes to New Hampshire BY KATHARINE Q. SEELYE AND JEFF ZELENY Associated Press
ed in the first two rounds of the country’s legislative elections, the Brotherhood on Tuesday entered the third and final round with a chance to extend its lead to a clear majority as the vote moved into districts long considered strongholds.
MANCHESTER, N.H. — Mitt Romney opened up his arrival in New Hampshire on Wednesday with the endorsement of Sen. John McCain, one of the state’s favorite adopted sons. The endorsement came a day after Romney won the Iowa caucuses by a mere eight votes and helped Romney consolidate his support among the Republican establishment. “New Hampshire is the state that will catapult him onto victory in a very short period of time,” McCain declared to applause at a rally here. McCain, who was the party’s nominee in 2008, gave a fiery speech against President Barack Obama in what sounded like a reprise of that campaign. McCain and Romney, archrivals four years ago, strode onto the stage at Central High School in Manchester to the theme of Top Gun. Romney hailed the outcome of the Iowa caucuses, declaring, “My goodness, but what a squeaker.” He implored New Hampshire voters to ratify the result in the state’s primary next week, but asked with a smile, “Do we think we can get more than an eight-vote margin?” The rally welcoming Romney to New Hampshire filled only half of the gymnasium. The applause was friendly, but far from overwhelming, suggesting that the race will begin anew in New Hampshire. The endorsement drew a snarl from Jon Huntsman Jr., who skipped Iowa, where he drew 1 percent of the vote, to campaign instead in New Hampshire. “You can get all the Doles and all the McCains in the world, as Romney probably will,” said Huntsman, referring to former Sen. Bob Dole, the party’s nominee in 1996. “But in the end, who cares?” Other candidates began staging in the state, too, as they sorted out the Iowa results. Rick Santorum, who came in a close second in Iowa, prepared for a town-hall-style meeting Wednesday night in Brentwood, while Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota ended her campaign and Gov. Rick Perry of Texas prepared to gear back up after coming in
• TURN TO EGYPT, 2A
• TURN TO GOP, 2A
PHOTOS BY GERRY BROOME/AP
A trainee investigates at the scene of a suicide bombing during a mock exercise at the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center & School at Fort Bragg, N.C. Below, trainees interrogate a role-playing man.
TRAINING TO TRACK TERRORISTS Special Operations troops learn to be detectives
BY KIMBERLY DOZIER Associated Press
FORT BRAGG, N.C. — A scene of stomach-clenching gore confronted the special operations troops: The shredded remains of a suicide bomber, scattered around the checkpoint. But the blood and body are fake, like the Hollywood-style explosion that began a classroom exercise designed to teach these students to look past the grisly mess for the evidence that could lead to those who built the bomb. Fort Bragg’s Special Warfare Center shows how the United States has turned hunting terror networks into half-science, half-art-form since the al Qaeda attacks of Sept. 11th. Forging lessons painfully learned in the
decade since into a formal curriculum, the training is intended to help elite military units track militants across international boundaries and work alongside sometimes competing U.S. agencies. The coursework is similar to the CIA’s legendary spycraft training center called The Farm, and is at the brainchild of Green Beret Maj. Gen. Bennet Sacolick, a veteran of elite special operations units, and a long stint on loan to the CIA. Among the students at the CIA-approved Fort Bragg course are U.S. Army Green Berets, Navy SEALs and Marine Corps special operators. As in the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden, everything from computers to fingerprints can be retrieved from a raid site
and quickly analyzed. In some cases the analysis is so fast it can lead to several new targets in a single night. The school is also an illustration of how special operations and intelligence forces have
reached an easier coexistence, after early clashes where CIA officers accused the military operators of ineptly trying to run their own spy rings overseas • TURN TO SPECIAL OPS, 5A
Overtures to Egypt’s Islamists reverse U.S. policy BY DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK AND STEVEN LEE MYERS
New York Times Service
CAIRO — With the Muslim Brotherhood pulling within reach of an outright majority in Egypt’s new Parliament, the Obama administration has begun to reverse decades of mistrust and hostility as it seeks to forge
closer ties with an organization once viewed as irreconcilably opposed to U.S. interests. The administration’s overtures — including high-level meetings in recent weeks — constitute a historic shift in a foreign policy held by successive U.S. administrations that steadfastly supported the autocratic govern-
Afghan leader welcomes Taliban office in Qatar BY SLOBODAN LEKIC Associated Press
KABUL — Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday welcomed a possible deal that would allow Taliban insurgents to open an office in Gulf nation of Qatar with the aim of holding talks with the United States. “Afghanistan agrees with negotiations between United States of America and the Taliban which will result in the establishment of an office for Taliban in Qatar,” a presidential statement said. It said establishment of the office could lead to an end of the bloody Afghan conflict. The likelihood that the Taliban will remain a potent fighting force after most foreign forces leave by the end of 2014 is driving the United States and NATO to seek even an incomplete bargain with
the insurgents that would keep them talking with the Kabul government. On Tuesday, the Taliban announced that they had reached a preliminary understanding to open the representative office, an unprecedented step toward peace negotiations that might lead to a winding down of the 10-year conflict. The statement did not say when the office would open. In the past, the Islamist group has publicly opposed peace offers. The insurgents, who perceive themselves as winning the war, have repeatedly said they would not engage in talks with the government while foreign troops remain on Afghan soil. Conducting talks with the United States through the office in • TURN TO AFGHANISTAN, 2A
OBAMA BYPASSES SENATE, INSTALLS NEW CONSUMER CHIEF, 3A
05PGA01.indd 1
ment of President Hosni Mubarak in part out of concern for the Brotherhood’s Islamist ideology and historic ties to militants. The shift is, on one level, an acknowledgment of the new political reality here, and indeed around the region, as Islamist groups come to power. Having won nearly half the seats contest-
Fernandez recovering well after surgery BY MICHAEL WARREN Associated Press
BUENOS AIRES — Argentina’s president was awake and recovering Wednesday after a three-anda-half hour operation to remove her cancerous thyroid gland. Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s surgery went without complications and all her vital signs were good, her spokesman Alfredo Scoccimarro announced, prompting cheers and applause from supporters gathered outside the hospital. Doctors had expected a routine surgery and predicted a complete cure without chemotherapy, since preoperative tests showed the cancer had not spread beyond a nodule on the right side of her thyroid gland. Vice President Amado Boudou was put in charge shortly before the operation, and will remain as the country’s constitutional leader for 20 more days while Fernan-
IRAQ’S FACTIONAL CHAOS THREATENS TO DISRUPT KURDISH HAVEN, 6A
ALEJANDRO PAGNI/AFP-GETTY IMAGES
A young supporter of Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner standing outside the Austral Hospital in Pilar, Argentina. dez takes medical leave, the presidency said. Fernandez, 58, was found to have papillary thyroid carcinoma shortly after beginning her sec-
GREECE’S LEADER WARNS OF DEFAULT WITHOUT LOAN DEAL, BUSINESS FRONT
ond four-year term as Argentina’s leader last month, her doctors said. The surgery at Hospital • TURN TO ARGENTINA, 2A
DEMPSEY RAISES THE BAR FOR U.S. STARS IN EUROPE, SPORTS FRONT
INDEX THE AMERICAS ............4A U.S. NEWS.....................5A OPINION........................7A COMICS & PUZZLES ...6B
1/5/2012 5:09:24 AM
Hotels, Haciendas, Resorts, Amazon Journeys, Andean Treks, Coastal Getaways, Galapagos Adventures, Museums, Restaurants, National Parks, Festivals, Fairs, and many more attractions ‌.each week in
Coming soon www.miamiheraldecuador.com