WASHINGTON

Romney takes initial step toward White House run

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the closest to a front-runner in a wide-open Republican field, took a major step toward a second White House candidacy Monday, formally announcing a campaign exploratory committee.

Romney declared that “with able leadership, America’s best days are still ahead,” vigorously asserting that President Obama had failed to provide it.

The Republican, who has been plotting a comeback since losing the GOP presidential nomination to John McCain three years ago, offered himself as the person best able to lead a country struggling to recover from economic crisis.

Romney, a former venture capitalist with a record of turning around failing companies, announced the formation of the committee, which will allow him to raise money, in a Twitter message.

Romney’s move had been expected, and a full-fledged campaign is a near certainty. He has traveled across the country to meet with donors and sound out their support. His political committee’s headquarters near Boston has been bulking up. And in his few public appearances, he’s honed his criticism of Obama.

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has also taken the initial steps toward a White House run in 2012, setting up an exploratory committee. Ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich is laying the groundwork for an early May announcement.

Gov. Haley Barbour, R-Miss., ex-Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., and Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., are also putting together political machines.

 

Envoy denied private visit with WikiLeaks detainee

A United Nations diplomat charged with investigating claims of torture said Monday that he is “deeply disappointed and frustrated” that U.S. defense officials have refused his request for an unmonitored visit with Pfc. Bradley Manning, the intelligence analyst accused of passing classified material to WikiLeaks.

Juan Mendez, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture, said that his request for a private interview with Manning was denied by the Defense Department on Friday. Instead, he has been told that any visit must be supervised.

Mendez has been seeking to determine whether Manning’s confinement at a military brig at Quantico, Va., amounts to torture following complaints about his treatment and an incident in which the private was forced to strip in his cell at night and sleep without clothing.

“A monitored conversation would not comply with the practices that my mandate applies in every country and detention center visited,” Mendez said in a statement Monday, nothing that at least 18 countries have allowed such interviews.

Manning, 23, is awaiting a possible court-martial on charges that he endangered national security by allegedly leaking classified military and diplomatic information.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.

Controller allegedly found sleeping is on probation

The air traffic controller who allegedly slept for most of five hours while on duty in Tennessee is on probation for an incident last year when police records say he dumped a drink on his girlfriend’s head and then pursued her to a local Waffle House, where witnesses said he brandished a handgun.

The Federal Aviation Administration suspended Jonathan K. Poin-dexter, 27, and is taking steps to fire him after he allegedly was found sleeping Feb. 19 in the radar room of the Knoxville airport while working alone on the overnight shift.

In February 2010, Poindexter was removed from air traffic control duty and placed in an administrative post after his arrest for allegedly waving a gun during the dispute in Alcoa, a town adjacent to Knoxville’s McGhee Tyson Airport.

An FAA spokeswoman said Monday that Poindexter underwent a complete medical examination before being reinstated March 19, 2010.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.

Man gets 23 years in plot to bomb Metrorail stations

A Virginia man who federal prosecutors said plotted to “kill as many Americans as possible” by bombing Washington Metro stations was sentenced Monday to 23 years in prison.

Farooque Ahmed, 35, of Ashburn, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Pakistan, pleaded guilty to two terrorism-related charges in U.S. District Court in Alexandria.

Federal authorities said Ahmed conspired with people he thought were al-Qaida operatives to bomb four Metrorail stations. In reality, he was dealing with people working for the U.S. government.

“Ahmed admitted he was determined to kill as many Americans as possible,” said U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride.

Ahmed pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and collecting information to assist in planning a terrorist attack on a transit facility.

Judge Gerald Bruce Lee, who called the charges “grave,” also gave Ahmed 50 years of supervised release.

Court documents say Ahmed “surveilled, photographed, videotaped, diagramed” and helped gather information to plan “multiple bombings to cause mass casualties.”

 

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