Clinton: Mission in Libya is on track

Hillary Clinton says the NATO mission in Libya is on trackThe rebels are gaining strength and momentum, she saysPressure mounts for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to step down

(CNN) -- The NATO mission in Libya is on track, with pressure on leader Moammar Gadhafi mounting and the rebel forces growing stronger, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Saturday.

"We need to see this through, and we are in complete agreement that we will," she said, speaking alongside Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jiminez in Madrid.

Asked about a threat by Gadhafi to take the war to Europe, in an audio message broadcast Friday, Clinton said: "Instead of issuing threats, Gadhafi should put the interests and well-being of his people first and should step down from power."

She urged him to help enable a transition to a democratic government.

Clinton hailed Spain for its contribution to enforcing the no-fly zone over Libya and an arms embargo on the country, describing Spain as "a valued partner and a trusted friend."

NATO began bombing military targets in Libya after the U.N. Security Council approved a resolution in March authorizing force by whatever means necessary, with the exception of a ground invasion, to protect civilians.

Gadhafi has so far resisted international pressure to step down.

"You are mistaken, you are involved in a battle that you don't know what you are going to face, so withdraw, and run away," he told a pro-government gathering in Tripoli, according to an audio message aired by state TV.

Gadhafi said he " is able in one day to move the battle to the Mediterranean, and able to move the battle to Europe."

He vowed vengeance for the NATO bombings, saying the Libyan military could be "like locusts, like bees" in Europe. Homes and offices could be potential targets, he said.

A State Department spokesman said the United States would take Gadhafi's remarks seriously, but added that the Libyan leader was "given to overblown rhetoric."

CNN

Why Has Pakistan Targeted Informants Who Helped Track Bin Laden? (Time.com)

In the days following the raid that discovered and killed Osama bin Laden, Pakistan's top spymaster recalled that he had long made his feelings plain to his American allies. Where the two countries' interests meet, Lieut. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha told a select group of journalists, there would be co-operation. But where the U.S.'s interests were deemed to be acting against Pakistan's own, it would be a very different matter. "We'll not help you," the head of Pakistan's Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) quoted himself as telling his American counterparts. "We'll resist you."

Now, Pasha seems to be making good on that promise. Stung by the embarrassment of bin Laden's discovery in a garrison town just two hours away from the Pakistani capital, and the humiliation of the U.S. carrying out a unilateral raid, the ISI has apparently gone after the Pakistanis who helped them pull it off. Five Pakistani informants, including an Army major, who furnished the CIA with crucial leads about bin Laden's compound have been taken into custody by the ISI, the New York Times reported. (See photos of the Taliban's war in Pakistan.)

The Pakistani military angrily denies that a major - reported to have tracked the license plates of cars visiting bin Laden's compound - has been taken into custody. But a Pakistan army officer says that some 30-to-40 civilians in total were being interrogated, some of whom were released on Tuesday. And there is speculation that the detained major, thought to be an army medic, may have been the occupant of a house near bin Laden's compound, where a nameplate said that the property belonged to a Major Amir Aziz. The nameplate was later taken down.

The move against the informants appears to be an attempt to stand up to what the ISI sees as American unilateralism and, in particular, an unauthorized expansion of the CIA's footprint in Pakistan. The ISI, says a senior Pakistani official, is "trying to lay down the rule that the CIA does not operate independently in Pakistan." Beyond the humiliation of bin Laden being discovered a mere kilometer away from Pakistan's equivalent of West Point Academy, the Pakistani security establishment has been angered by widely-voiced but unproven suspicions of complicity. But what appears to have angered the powerful generals most is the lack of trust displayed by the unilateral raid - and the strategic vulnerability that it exposed.

At the time of the raid, senior Western diplomats in Islamabad predicted that the Pakistani security establishment would react in two ways. To efface the shame of the bin Laden raid, it would try and demonstrate its commitment to fighting al-Qaeda and other Islamist militants on its soil. Yet, aggrieved for the same reasons, the generals were seen just as likely to react aggressively in less helpful ways. The roundup of the informants and others suggests that more emphasis is being laid on being seen to stand up to the U.S. (See photos of the aftermath of twin suicide bombers in Pakistan.)

Since the Raymond Davis affair, when a CIA contractor unknown to the ISI killed two Pakistani men in the city of Lahore in January, Pasha and his boss, Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani have been keen to minimize the CIA and US military's presence in Pakistan. Last week, they expelled a group of U.S. military trainers who had been invited to the country to help enhance the counterinsurgency capabilities of Pakistani troops fighting militants in the tribal areas along the Afghan border.

Pasha has long been angered by what he sees as an uncontrollably expanding and independent CIA footprint in Pakistan. At the same May briefing with journalists, the embattled spy chief complained indignantly that his spies were on the verge of being "outnumbered" by foreign agents. It's a scenario that spookily echoes the theme of David Ignatius' latest spy thriller, Bloodmoney. In the novel, the fictionalized ISI chief learns of a new capability being run by the CIA beyond his knowledge. "It was an insult," Ignatius writes. "The ISI chief had considered whether he should do something to hurt the Americans back."

Reality is now rivaling fiction as relations between the two spy agencies plunge to fresh depths. The informants' arrests come on the heels of the CIA's allegation that the ISI may have tipped-off militants based at bomb factories in Waziristan. As first reported on TIME.com, CIA chief Leon Panetta (and the likely successor to Defense Secretary Robert Gates) traveled to Pakistan last Friday to confront Pasha with satellite images showing the militants flee the two sites within 24 hours of the CIA passing on their location to the Pakistanis. When Pakistani troops later arrived at the facilities used for the manufacture of improvised explosive devices, the pro-Afghan Taliban militants were long gone. The Times reported that it was at the same meeting with Pasha that Panetta raised the arrests of the informants. See if the U.S. can trust Pakistan.

Such alleged failures at intelligence sharing and action against militants who attack U.S. forces in Afghanistan are what led President Barack Obama to clear the intensification of CIA operations in Pakistan. Shedding the reliance on the ISI, Obama charged the CIA to proceed independently. One manifestation of that change of policy was an intensification of drone strikes, which almost daily continue to target suspected militants in the tribal areas along the Afghan border. Despite the Pakistan Army and government's loud denunciations of the covert program, they have not tried to put a halt to them.

By striking a defiant nationalist pose, Pasha may be hoping to stanch the wave of pressure that has been piling on his institution, and his own position, over the past month. The ISI chief had offered to resign on three occasions. The Pakistani military as a whole has been made the focus of unprecedented criticism from civil society campaigners, journalists and opposition politicians. There is also tremendous pressure from below, with the military's lower ranks registering anger at the U.S. in the wake of the bin Laden raid.

And yet, for others, there was always an element of inevitability about the ISI's relations with the CIA. "They have been deteriorating for a long time," says retired Lieut. Gen. Asad Durrani, a former ISI chief. "With every such event, they take a nosedive. It's not surprising. We did not have the same objectives, and we didn't have the same strategies."

(See photos of Osama bin Laden's Pakistan hideout.)

See if the U.S. is stuck with Pakistan.

View this article on Time.com

Most Popular on Time.com:

Yahoo! News

Why Has Pakistan Targeted Informants Who Helped Track Bin Laden? (Time.com)

In the days following the raid that discovered and killed Osama bin Laden, Pakistan's top spymaster recalled that he had long made his feelings plain to his American allies. Where the two countries' interests meet, Lieut. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha told a select group of journalists, there would be co-operation. But where the U.S.'s interests were deemed to be acting against Pakistan's own, it would be a very different matter. "We'll not help you," the head of Pakistan's Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) quoted himself as telling his American counterparts. "We'll resist you."

Now, Pasha seems to be making good on that promise. Stung by the embarrassment of bin Laden's discovery in a garrison town just two hours away from the Pakistani capital, and the humiliation of the U.S. carrying out a unilateral raid, the ISI has apparently gone after the Pakistanis who helped them pull it off. Five Pakistani informants, including an Army major, who furnished the CIA with crucial leads about bin Laden's compound have been taken into custody by the ISI, the New York Times reported. (See photos of the Taliban's war in Pakistan.)

The Pakistani military angrily denies that a major - reported to have tracked the license plates of cars visiting bin Laden's compound - has been taken into custody. But a Pakistan army officer says that some 30-to-40 civilians in total were being interrogated, some of whom were released on Tuesday. And there is speculation that the detained major, thought to be an army medic, may have been the occupant of a house near bin Laden's compound, where a nameplate said that the property belonged to a Major Amir Aziz. The nameplate was later taken down.

The move against the informants appears to be an attempt to stand up to what the ISI sees as American unilateralism and, in particular, an unauthorized expansion of the CIA's footprint in Pakistan. The ISI, says a senior Pakistani official, is "trying to lay down the rule that the CIA does not operate independently in Pakistan." Beyond the humiliation of bin Laden being discovered a mere kilometer away from Pakistan's equivalent of West Point Academy, the Pakistani security establishment has been angered by widely-voiced but unproven suspicions of complicity. But what appears to have angered the powerful generals most is the lack of trust displayed by the unilateral raid - and the strategic vulnerability that it exposed.

At the time of the raid, senior Western diplomats in Islamabad predicted that the Pakistani security establishment would react in two ways. To efface the shame of the bin Laden raid, it would try and demonstrate its commitment to fighting al-Qaeda and other Islamist militants on its soil. Yet, aggrieved for the same reasons, the generals were seen just as likely to react aggressively in less helpful ways. The roundup of the informants and others suggests that more emphasis is being laid on being seen to stand up to the U.S. (See photos of the aftermath of twin suicide bombers in Pakistan.)

Since the Raymond Davis affair, when a CIA contractor unknown to the ISI killed two Pakistani men in the city of Lahore in January, Pasha and his boss, Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani have been keen to minimize the CIA and US military's presence in Pakistan. Last week, they expelled a group of U.S. military trainers who had been invited to the country to help enhance the counterinsurgency capabilities of Pakistani troops fighting militants in the tribal areas along the Afghan border.

Pasha has long been angered by what he sees as an uncontrollably expanding and independent CIA footprint in Pakistan. At the same May briefing with journalists, the embattled spy chief complained indignantly that his spies were on the verge of being "outnumbered" by foreign agents. It's a scenario that spookily echoes the theme of David Ignatius' latest spy thriller, Bloodmoney. In the novel, the fictionalized ISI chief learns of a new capability being run by the CIA beyond his knowledge. "It was an insult," Ignatius writes. "The ISI chief had considered whether he should do something to hurt the Americans back."

Reality is now rivaling fiction as relations between the two spy agencies plunge to fresh depths. The informants' arrests come on the heels of the CIA's allegation that the ISI may have tipped-off militants based at bomb factories in Waziristan. As first reported on TIME.com, CIA chief Leon Panetta (and the likely successor to Defense Secretary Robert Gates) traveled to Pakistan last Friday to confront Pasha with satellite images showing the militants flee the two sites within 24 hours of the CIA passing on their location to the Pakistanis. When Pakistani troops later arrived at the facilities used for the manufacture of improvised explosive devices, the pro-Afghan Taliban militants were long gone. The Times reported that it was at the same meeting with Pasha that Panetta raised the arrests of the informants. See if the U.S. can trust Pakistan.

Such alleged failures at intelligence sharing and action against militants who attack U.S. forces in Afghanistan are what led President Barack Obama to clear the intensification of CIA operations in Pakistan. Shedding the reliance on the ISI, Obama charged the CIA to proceed independently. One manifestation of that change of policy was an intensification of drone strikes, which almost daily continue to target suspected militants in the tribal areas along the Afghan border. Despite the Pakistan Army and government's loud denunciations of the covert program, they have not tried to put a halt to them.

By striking a defiant nationalist pose, Pasha may be hoping to stanch the wave of pressure that has been piling on his institution, and his own position, over the past month. The ISI chief had offered to resign on three occasions. The Pakistani military as a whole has been made the focus of unprecedented criticism from civil society campaigners, journalists and opposition politicians. There is also tremendous pressure from below, with the military's lower ranks registering anger at the U.S. in the wake of the bin Laden raid.

And yet, for others, there was always an element of inevitability about the ISI's relations with the CIA. "They have been deteriorating for a long time," says retired Lieut. Gen. Asad Durrani, a former ISI chief. "With every such event, they take a nosedive. It's not surprising. We did not have the same objectives, and we didn't have the same strategies."

(See photos of Osama bin Laden's Pakistan hideout.)

See if the U.S. is stuck with Pakistan.

View this article on Time.com

Most Popular on Time.com:

Yahoo! News

Smartphone app lets workers track wages (AP)

WASHINGTON – Workers who don't trust the boss to keep track of their wages can now do it themselves with a new smartphone application from the Department of Labor. But employers worry that the time sheet app, along with other new initiatives, could encourage even more wage and hour lawsuits.

The app, called DOL-Timesheet, lets workers calculate regular work hours, break time and overtime pay to create their own wage records. Department officials say the information could prove valuable in a dispute over pay or during a government investigation when an employer has failed to keep accurate records.

"This app will help empower workers to understand and stand up for their rights when employers have denied their hard-earned pay," Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said.

The app is the latest example of the Obama administration's push for more aggressive enforcement of wage and hour laws. The agency has hired about 300 more investigators to probe complaints of unpaid work time, lack of overtime pay and minimum wage violations.

Last year, the agency began a "Bridge to Justice" program that, for the first time, helps connect aggrieved workers with private lawyers if the department's Wage and Hour Division is too busy to handle a complaint.

As a result, legal experts say, wage and hour compliance has become a leading concern for employers as the new policies help drive up litigation over unpaid wages, also known as wage theft.

"The government is focusing on it like never before," said Gerald Maatman, an employer-side labor lawyer based in Chicago. "I think the mantra is kind of, `All enforcement, all the time, 24/7.'"

Workers brought a record number of wage and hour suits against employers last year, according to an analysis of court filings by Maatman's firm, Seyfarth Shaw. Nearly 6,800 such suits were filed in 2010, about 700 more than the previous year. Most were collective or class actions.

"The concern is that the Department of Labor is putting a lot more attention into this area and employers, at the same time, are putting more hours, more money and more work into auditing and complying with wage and hour laws," Maatman said. "It's turning into somewhat of a full-time job."

The stepped up enforcement is a change from the Bush administration, when some critics accused President George W. Bush's labor secretary, Elaine Chao, of favoring businesses and weakening job safety and enforcement efforts.

While employers are not surprised about increased enforcement, they have questioned some tactics, such as a program that gives workers a toll-free number to contact an attorney referral service run by the American Bar Association.

The Wage and Hour Division gets more than 35,000 calls a year for help and doesn't have the resources to deal with every claim. For those it can't help, it now refers them to the toll-free hot line, where they can be referred to a lawyer who specializes in wage and hour disputes.

Michael Kun, a management-side employment lawyer in Los Angeles, calls the program "a gift to plaintiff's lawyers."

"A DOL investigator has no incentive to pursue a meritless claim," Kun said. "A plaintiff's lawyer has some incentive to do that to get some sort of nuisance value."

Patricia Smith, the Labor Department's top lawyer, says the criticism has taken her by surprise. Before the Bridge to Justice program, the department simply told workers they had a private right of action.

"This just gives them a little more information if they want to exercise it, to go to an attorney that's qualified, as opposed to calling the guy who has advertisements on television at midnight," Smith said.

Nancy Leppink, who heads the Wage and Hour Division, says the office is just doing the job it's supposed to do, which is going after employers who cheat workers out of their hard-earned wages.

"To the extent we have employers who are not complying with the law, we have an obligation to look for all of the opportunities we can to change that behavior," Leppink said.

That includes the department's "We can help" advertising campaign last year, designed to educate employees in the food service, hospitality, apparel, manufacturing and construction industries about their legal rights under federal wage and hour laws.

Wage theft is especially prevalent among immigrant workers who don't speak English or hesitate to challenge their boss for fear of jeopardizing immigration status, labor officials say.

Earlier this year, for example, the department recovered $1.8 million in back wages for nearly 400 workers at the Houston-based Hong Kong Market grocery chain. Investigators found some employees worked as many as 70 hours a week, but were paid less than the minimum wage and denied overtime pay. Labor officials said the company deliberately misled investigators by falsifying payroll records.

The new smart phone app is expected to help low wage immigrant workers, many of whom can't afford a computer, but keep cell phones as a lifeline to family back home.

The app is currently available for the iPhone and iPod Touch, but the agency is exploring versions for use on other devices, including Blackberry and Android smartphones.

___

Online:

Labor Department's Hour and Wage Division: http://www.dol.gov/whd/

Seyfarth Shaw law firm: http://www.wagehourlitigation.com/

Yahoo! News

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