WAR ON TERRORISM Developments

The latest in the fight against terrorism:
BODY RETURNED
Hundreds of Pakistanis chanted "Death to America" at an airport today as the body of a man executed for the murder of two CIA workers was returned home.
Security forces surrounded the small airport in the provincial city of Quetta as the body of Aimal Kasi arrived by plane from the United States, where he was put to death by lethal injection Nov. 14 in a Virginia prison.
About 600 people, many of them Kasi's tribesmen, chanted "God is Great" and "Long live the Mujahid of Islam" outside as a coffin carrying Kasi's body was unloaded into the airport.
"We are proud of you, Aimal," read a banner strung in front of the airport. Mourners later threw flower petals on the street as a car carrying Kasi's remains left the airport.
Funeral prayers are to be held for Kasi on Tuesday, and the family has chosen to hold the Islamic rite for him in Quetta's main sports stadium because of the number of people they expect to attend.
The State Department has warned Kasi's execution could lead to retaliation against Americans, despite a plea for peace from Kasi's family. Four Americans were killed in Pakistan after Kasi's 1997 conviction.
ARMING PILOTS
After more than a year of debate amid fierce opposition from the airline industry, Congress is poised to give thousands of commercial pilots the right to carry guns in the cockpit.
A bill expected to clear Congress this week will enable airline pilots to voluntarily carry pistols on the flight deck after undergoing a training course tailored by the FBI. More than half of the nation's 80,000 to 100,000 passenger airline pilots may eventually participate, according to experts.
The 484-page bill, which creates the Homeland Security Department, could pass the Senate as early as today to advance to the White House for President Bush's signature. The provision arming pilots would be phased in over three months.
Passage of the measure gives a hard-won victory to organized pilots, who clamored for the legislation after the terrorist hijackings on Sept. 11, 2001. Participating pilots will be deputized as unsalaried federal officers with perhaps the smallest jurisdiction on the planet -- the narrow confines of their cockpits.
The armed pilots, who will be called federal flight deck officers, will be authorized under the new law to defend the cockpit "against acts of criminal violence or air piracy." They will be prohibited from taking the guns outside the cabin, even to face down terrorists threatening to kill hostage passengers.
HOMELAND SECURITY
Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge says he doubts the Bush administration would create a domestic intelligence agency separate from the FBI. But some senators seemed open to the idea, skeptical about whether the bureau can fill the spying role.
Ridge, appearing on television talk shows Sunday, also played down as "really nothing new" an alleged statement from Al-Qaida threatening new terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
Ridge declined to say whether he wants to run the new Department of Homeland Security, but a senior administration official speaking on condition of anonymity said the former Pennsylvania governor is President Bush's choice.
Source: Combined dispatches