TASK DEFINITION: You are given a paragraph, a question and some answer options (associated with "A", "B", "C", "D", etc.) You need to list all the correct answer options with their associated letters (e.g. "A" can be a valid answer). Note that sometimes, more than one option can answer the question correctly and completely. In those cases, please generate all such options separated by a comma (e.g. "A, B" is a valid answer). Do not generate anything else apart from one or more of the following characters: 'A', 'B, 'C', 'D', etc.
PROBLEM: Paragraph- Sent 1: The Bush administration did not develop new diplomatic initiatives on al Qaeda with the Saudi government before 9/11.
Sent 2: Vice President Cheney called Crown Prince Abdullah on July 5, 2001, to seek Saudi help in preventing threatened attacks on American facilities in the Kingdom.
Sent 3: Secretary of State Powell met with the crown prince twice before 9/11.
Sent 4: They discussed topics like Iraq, not al Qaeda.U.S.-Saudi relations in the summer of 2001 were marked by sometimes heated disagreements about ongoing Israeli- Palestinian violence, not about Bin Laden.
Sent 5: The confirmation of the Pentagon's new leadership was a lengthy process.
Sent 6: Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz was confirmed in March 2001 and Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith in July.
Sent 7: Though the new officials were briefed about terrorism and some of the earlier planning, including that for Operation Infinite Resolve, they were focused, as Secretary Rumsfeld told us, on creating a twenty-first-century military.
Sent 8: At the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Shelton did not recall much interest by the new administration in military options against al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
Sent 9: He could not recall any specific guidance on the topic from the secretary.
Sent 10: Brian Sheridan-the outgoing assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict (SOLIC), the key counterterrorism policy office in the Pentagon-never briefed Rumsfeld.
Sent 11: He departed on January 20; he had not been replaced by 9/11.
Sent 12: Rumsfeld noted to us his own interest in terrorism, which came up often in his regular meetings with Tenet.
Sent 13: He thought that the Defense Department, before 9/11, was not organized adequately or prepared to deal with new threats like terrorism.
Sent 14: But his time was consumed with getting new officials in place and working on the foundation documents of a new defense policy, the quadrennial defense review, the defense planning guidance, and the existing contingency plans.
Sent 15: He did not recall any particular counterterrorism issue that engaged his attention before 9/11, other than the development of the Predator unmanned aircraft system.
Sent 16: The commander of Central Command, General Franks, told us that he did not regard the existing plans as serious.
Sent 17: To him a real military plan to address al Qaeda would need to go all the way, following through the details of a full campaign (including the political-military issues of where operations would be based) and securing the rights to fly over neighboring countries.
Sent 18: The draft presidential directive circulated in June 2001 began its discussion of the military by reiterating the Defense Department's lead role in protecting its forces abroad.
Question: Was the leadership of Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz confirmed before or after Vice President Cheney called Crown Prince Abdullah to seek Saudi help? (A) Before (B) After the saudi's help (C) March 2001 (D) July 5 2001.

SOLUTION: A, C.

PROBLEM: Paragraph- Sent 1: In Colombia, the drug-financed guerrillas trying to seize the country and destroy democracy include M-19, which Castro has clearly backed.
Sent 2: Robert Merkel, a former U.S. attorney handling drug indictments in Florida, doesn't think for a minute that Castro's much publicized trials of high officials engaged in the drug trade mean he has broken off with the Medellin drug cartel.
Sent 3: "If the cartel succeeds in blackmailing the Colombian authorities into negotiations, the cartel will be in control and Fidel can exploit his past relationships with them," he told the Journal's David Asman recently.
Sent 4: The struggle against the drug lords in Colombia will be a near thing.
Sent 5: This week, the government arrested Jose Abello Silva, said to be the fourth-ranking cartel leader.
Sent 6: He will probably be extradited to the U.S. for trial under an extradition treaty President Virgilia Barco has revived.
Sent 7: Later, another high-ranking trafficker, Leonidas Vargas, was arrested and 1,000 pounds of dynamite seized.
Sent 8: Mr. Barco has refused U.S. troops or advisers but has accepted U.S. military aid.
Sent 9: President Bush has agreed to meet within 90 days with Mr. Barco, President Alan Garcia of Peru and President Jaime Paz Zamora of Bolivia to discuss the drug problem.
Sent 10: It might not be a bad idea to do that sooner, rather than later.
Sent 11: After the Panama fiasco, they will need some reassurance.
Sent 12: Certainly, the Colombian press is much in need of that.
Question: Who said the cartel must not succeed in blackmailing the Colombian authorities into negotiations? (A) Former US Attorney (B) President Bush (C) The Journal's David Asman (D) Fidel Castro (E) Robert Merkel.

SOLUTION: A, E.

PROBLEM: Paragraph- Sent 1: Mr. Thorndike had risen, and, in farewell, was holding out his hand to Andrews.
Sent 2: He turned, and across the court-room the eyes of the financier and the stenographer met.
Sent 3: At the sight of the great man, Spear flushed crimson, and then his look of despair slowly disappeared; and into his eyes there came incredulously hope and gratitude.
Sent 4: He turned his head suddenly to the wall.
Sent 5: Mr. Thorndike stood irresolute, and then sank back into his chair.
Sent 6: The first man in the line was already at the railing, and the questions put to him by the judge were being repeated to him by the other assistant district attorney and a court attendant.
Sent 7: His muttered answers were in turn repeated to the judge.
Sent 8: "Says he's married, naturalized citizen, Lutheran Church, die- cutter by profession." The probation officer, her hands filled with papers, bustled forward and whispered.
Sent 9: "Mrs. Austin says," continued the district attorney, "she's looked into this case, and asks to have the man turned over to her.
Sent 10: He has a wife and three children; has supported them for five years." "Is the wife in court?" the judge said.
Sent 11: A thin, washed-out, pretty woman stood up, and clasped her hands in front of her.
Sent 12: "Has this man been a good husband to you, madam?" asked the young judge.
Sent 13: The woman broke into vehement assurances.
Sent 14: No man could have been a better husband.
Sent 15: Would she take him back?
Sent 16: Indeed she would take him back.
Sent 17: She held out her hands as though she would physically drag her husband from the pillory.
Sent 18: The judge bowed toward the probation officer, and she beckoned the prisoner to her.
Question: What was Mr. Thorndike's occupation? (A) Die-Cutter (B) Mr. Thorndike was a financier (C) Judge (D) the court-room (E) assistant district attorney (F) stenographer.

SOLUTION:
A.