A Global Fight For Critical Thinking IN TEACHING and LEARNING ABOUT VOTING IN IRAQ.

[This page is a dedication to mothers who work all day and night to make it happen-Peace and Love at Carnival-time!] CARNIVAL 2005 ON FEBRUARY 7, 8, 2005 IN TRINIDAD!

[HISTORY UPDATE-Bones of Dinosaurs are still found in museums.] Combat Support Hospital in Africa and Reine Sofia in Spain.

[This page is a dedication to mothers who work all day and night to make it happen-Peace and Love at Carnival-time!]
CARNIVAL 2005 ON FEBRUARY 7, 8, 2005 IN TRINIDAD!

[HISTORY UPDATE-Bones of Dinosaurs are still found in museums.]
Combat Support Hospital in Africa and Reine Sofia in Spain.

"The world's oldest profession should be treated like any other business. Prostitutes are abused by police-men who demand free sex and then arrest them for soliciting and they are victimised by politicians who launch crackdowns to woo voters...the criminalisation and stigmatisation of prostitutes is fundamentally linked to the disrespect of women." In Hong Kong, prostitution is legal, but soliciting for prostitution is illegal, renting out a house for prostitution purposes is illegal. A police-man posing as a client in a raid could easily trump up the charge that the prostitute was soliciting. Working in groups of three, look at the following eight photographs, and choose at least six of them. Arrange them in an order that makes a good story with a happy ending. Discuss the development of the story in the group and invent details that you need. Then, working individually write(type) the story in the textbox above or below. Click this link for more photos and slide shows.

The Role of Information Systems and its impact on a virtual organization- an electronic military school and library!

Middle East - AP 300 Militants Killed in Najaf, U.S. Says 2 hours, 29 minutes ago By ABDUL HUSSEIN AL-OBEIDI, Associated Press Writer NAJAF, Iraq - U.S. helicopter gunships and fighter jets pounded Iraqi insurgents hiding in a sprawling cemetery Friday in the most intense fighting in this Shiite holy city since the fall of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites). The U.S. military said it killed 300 militants. AP Photo Reuters Slideshow: Iraq 3 U.S. Troops Killed in Najaf Fighting (AP Video) The clashes between coalition forces and militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army flared in Shiite communities across the country, killing dozens of other Iraqis, according to Iraqi officials and the militants. The fighting threatened to re-ignite the bloody, two-month Shiite insurrection that ended with a series of truces two months ago. A renewed uprising among the country's majority Shiites would cause severe problems for Iraq (news - web sites)'s fledgling interim government as it tries to gain popular support and coalition forces already struggling against Sunni militants. The Iraqi government said it was determined to crush all militias in the country, including the Mahdi Army, and Najaf Gov. Adnan al-Zurufi gave the insurgents 24 hours to leave the city. "We believe that the end of the military operations is dependent on the exit of the armed militias from Najaf," he told reporters. Al-Sadr blamed all the violence plaguing Iraq on the United States, which he called "our enemy and the enemy of the people," in a sermon read on his behalf at the Kufa Mosque near Najaf. The fighting also raged in the cities of Nasiriyah, where insurgents attacked Italian and Romanian troops, and Samarra, where guerrillas attacked a U.S. military convoy. In the city of Amarah, Shiite militants took over four police stations Friday, before British forces counterattacked. Intense pre-dawn clashes hit the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, where the Health Ministry said 20 people were killed and 114 wounded during two days of fighting. Separate attacks blamed on al-Sadr's followers wounded 15 American soldiers in Baghdad, the U.S. military said Friday. Amid the violence, al-Sadr's aides called for a return to the truces that crumbled in the fighting that began early Thursday and asked for the United Nations (news - web sites) and the government to step in. "We call upon the government � that has announced that it is sovereign � to intervene to stop the American attacks," said Mahmoud al-Sudani, an al-Sadr spokesman. Shiite leaders, who helped broker the earlier truces, said they were working to restore the cease-fire. "We are sparing no effort to reach a peaceful settlement by opening a direct dialogue between Muqtada al-Sadr's representatives on the one hand and the transitional government on the other," Ammar al-Hakeem, a leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq political faction, told Al-Jazeera television. Gunfire and explosions rocked Najaf on Friday as helicopters flew overhead. The streets were nearly deserted. Shops were closed and some residents near the cemetery that was the scene of much of the fighting fled with their belongings on carts. A dead woman lay abandoned on an empty sidewalk, according to Associated Press Television News footage. Fire tore through a nearby outdoor market and smoke rose from several parts of the city. The fighting on Friday dwarfed the spring clashes, residents said. U.S. Marines chased the militants into the massive cemetery, filled with stone and concrete buildings and ditches, which the militants had been using as a base, military officials said. The insurgents had taken advantage of the cemetery's location in the so-called Exclusion Zone � where U.S. forces were forbidden under the truces � to use as a base for attacks and a weapons storage site, said Lt. Col. Gary Johnston, operations officer for the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit. After the Marines attacked a police station from the cemetery early Thursday, the U.S. military retaliated, he said. U.S. helicopter gunships slammed insurgent positions in the cemetery Friday and Marines were sent in to root out the remaining militants, the military said. Gunfire and explosions shook the area throughout the day. The massive U.S. response appeared designed to quickly quash the outbreak, preventing a repeat of the spring uprising. U.S. Col. Anthony Haslam, chief of operations in Najaf, said 300 militants out of a total force of about 2,000 had been killed in Najaf since Thursday. That was among the largest militant death tolls in a single engagement since the end of the war last year. Two U.S. Marines and one U.S. soldier were also killed in the fighting, which wounded 12 other U.S. troops, the military said. Al-Zurufi, the Najaf governor, estimated 400 militants were killed and 1,000 arrested. He also said 80 of the fighters at the cemetery were Iranian. "There is Iranian support to al-Sadr's group and this is no secret," he said. The two days of fighting in Najaf also killed at least 13 civilians and wounded 58 others, according to hospital officials. Guerillas attacked a convoy of U.S. Humvees at dawn in the city of Samarra, 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of the capital, witnesses said. U.S. helicopters fired rockets at insurgent positions, and the U.S. convoy pulled out. Ahmed Jadou'a, an official at Samarra Hospital, said at least two people were killed and 16 injured during the fighting. Two houses were also destroyed. In Amarah, British troops backed by tanks fought with al-Sadr militiamen who had seized four police stations on the outskirts of the city. The troops secured the main police station, said Maj. Ian Clooney, a British military spokesman. It was not clear if they had recaptured the smaller police stations. In the southern city of Nasiriyah, assailants attacked Italian troops early Friday with automatic weapons and also targeted a police station, an Italian military spokesman said on condition of anonymity.

The fighting, which lasted until dawn Friday, killed eight Iraqis, including five militants, and injured 13 others, according to Abdul Khuder al-Tahir, a senior Interior Ministry official. There were no coalition casualties, the Italian spokesman said.

Insurgents also attacked a Romanian patrol outside Nasiriyah with gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades, said Gelaledin Nezir, the Romanian Defense Ministry spokesman. No injuries were reported.

Assailants also attacked a police station in the southern city of Basra and the City Hall there, police Capt. Mushtaq Talib said. The violence wounded three police and five civilians, hospital officials said. Violence in Basra since Thursday killed five al-Sadr fighters, said As'ad al-Basri, an al-Sadr official in the city. Also Friday, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said four Lebanese truck drivers had been taken hostage in Iraq as they drove from Baghdad to Ramadi.

Entertainment - AP Music

Yale Conference Examines Michael Jackson

By DIANE SCARPONI, Associated Press Writer

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Michael Jackson (news), frequently savaged in the tabloid press, was picked apart by more rarified critics as scholars gathered for a conference on the pop star at Yale University.

Eighteen scholars from U.S. universities discussed sexual, racial and artistic aspects of Jackson's life and music Thursday and Friday in the first academic meeting to study him. Jackson "in many ways is the black male crossover artist of the 20th century," said Seth Clark Silberman, who teaches about race and gender at Yale. "He has grown up in front of us, so we have a great investment in him, even though some people today may find his image disturbing." Other universities have hosted conferences about Madonna (news - web sites) and other pop stars, Silberman said. The conference avoided details of the child molestation case against Jackson in California, but it did look at how the media has reported on the case. Jackson pleaded not guilty in April to child molestation and conspiracy charges. His trial is scheduled for Jan. 31. Still, panelists discussed how pedophilia allegations have fed into false stereotypes about gays. Although Jackson married twice and has children, he has long battled rumors that he is gay, said Silberman, who is writing a book about Jackson. Since his days as a child star, Jackson has made his image increasingly strange and contrary to sexual and racial expectations, Silberman said. Panelists discussed Jackson's plastic surgery and his skin tone change from dark to light (which Jackson says is due to a condition called vitiligo). Todd Gray, who was Jackson's personal photographer for four years, described how Jackson asked him to retouch photos to make him appear lighter-skinned. Record executives wanted Jackson to appear masculine in photos, while Jackson preferred pictures of himself kissing animals or hugging the Mickey Mouse mascot at Disneyland, Gray said. Jackson often explores racial issues in his music, noted another panelist, Nora Morrison, a graduate student from Harvard University. In the video for "Beat It," she said, Jackson breaks up a fight between a black gang and a white gang, whose members then join in his dance moves. Megan Burns, who is pursing a master's degree in fine art, said she looks at Jackson as "a self-created piece of art." "He's contributed to the national discussion of race and gender, and that is an invaluable topic for all of us to discuss," she said

Iraqis Receive Legal Custody of Saddam

By JIM KRANE, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Iraqis took legal custody of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) and 11 of his top lieutenants Wednesday, a first step toward the ousted dictator's expected trial for crimes against humanity.

In a one-line announcement, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's office said the Iraqi government assumed legal � but not physical � control "today, 30th June, at 10:15 in the morning." They are to appear in court Thursday for a reading of the charges. Salem Chalabi, the director of the Special Tribunal that will conduct the trials, said he met Saddam "earlier today to explain his rights and what will happen." "The first step has happened," Chalabi told The Associated Press. The defendants were informed individually of their rights, said an international official who spoke on condition of anonymity. An Iraqi judge witnessed the proceedings. Saddam will remain in a U.S.-controlled jail guarded by Americans until the Iraqis are ready to take physical custody of him. That is expected to take a long time. However, the legal transfer means that Saddam and the others are no longer prisoners of war � subject to rights under the Geneva Conventions � but criminal defendants whose treatment will be in accordance with Iraqi law. The change in status gives them the right to attorneys. Chalabi said earlier that the trials of Saddam and other senior figures likely would not begin before 2005. L. Paul Bremer, the former U.S. administrator, said he was confident that the Iraqis would handle the trials well. Saddam "will get the kind of justice he denied his own people," Bremer told ABC's "Good Morning America." "It's a wonderful day for the Iraqis to get him under their direct control. It will be a major event." The crimes against humanity for which Saddam is expected to be tried include the 1988 chemical weapons massacre of Kurds in Halabja, the slaughter of Shiites during a 1991 uprising in southern Iraq (news - web sites), the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, and the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. Chalabi said Saddam's appearance Thursday at the tribunal, in a courthouse with a prominent clock tower inside Baghdad's sealed-off Green Zone, is expected to be videotaped for public release. The images would be the first of Saddam the public will have seen since his Dec. 13 capture by U.S. soldiers, when a clip showed the bushy-bearded leader opening his mouth for a dental examination. The Saddam lieutenants who will also appear include Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as "Chemical Ali"; former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan; former deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz; and two of Saddam's half brothers. Already there are pretrial negotiations over permitting Saddam's foreign legal team to work in Iraq, whether to televise the proceedings, and whether to reinstate the death penalty, which Bremer suspended. Mouwafak al-Rubaie, Iraq's new national security adviser, said the trial would be broadcast live on television and radio and that the tribunal would be able to impose the death penalty. He said Saddam would not be allowed to turn the trial into a political game, by calling witnesses such as President Bush (news - web sites) or British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites). "Saddam Hussein will be under the legal control of Iraqi law," he told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. "He is going to be tried according to the Iraqi criminal code." Preparations for the trial come at an extremely difficult time. U.S. administrators turned over power to a sovereign Iraqi government only Monday. Allawi's government faces a relentless insurgency, and 160,000 U.S.-led foreign troops will remain. Iraqi officials insist Saddam and the others will get fair trials. Hamid al-Bayati, Iraq's new deputy foreign minister and a leader of the main Shiite Muslim party, said there was "no chance at all" that Saddam might walk out a free man, perhaps on a legal technicality. "The whole world will see this," said al-Bayati, who said he was tortured in Saddam's prisons in the 1970s. "He won't be able to walk free." He noted that Saddam's victims are estimated in the hundreds of thousands or more, which means a huge segment of the 26 million Iraqis want to watch him answer for those crimes. But the trial could contribute to the upheaval in Iraq by polarizing Saddam's supporters and detractors, said Walid Mohammed al-Shibibi, a Baghdad attorney and editor of a legal journal. "This will escalate into terrorist attacks," he said. A team of 20 foreign lawyers appointed by Saddam's wife, Sajidah, might not be permitted to represent him because non-Iraqi lawyers � except Syrians and Palestinians � must get approval from the Iraqi Bar Association, said al-Shibibi. The job of trying and representing Saddam involves personal risk. Already, lawyers working in Iraq's justice system have received death threats � and those involved in the Saddam trial will likely become particular targets. Ziad al-Khasawneh, one of Saddam's would-be attorneys, said in Amman, Jordan, that the defense team planned to go to Iraq but that Allawi's government had not said whether it would provide security. "How can the defense team go to a country where it doesn't enjoy any protection? They will kill us there," said an angry al-Khasawneh. As much as 30 tons of documents and other evidence must be culled. And then there are the potential witnesses, which could be said to include almost every Iraqi. "If I'm asked to testify I would be willing," al-Bayati said. "But there are so many others who suffered more. There are more serious eyewitnesses." ___

Bush Sees Fertile Soil in 'Exurbia'

By Peter Wallsten Times Staff Writer

LEBANON, Ohio � Tom Grossman parks his blue convertible at a home expo center and walks through the maze of booths hawking the necessities of upscale living: home security systems, Jacuzzi tubs, fancy kitchen fixtures and wooden blinds. Then he settles into a booth of his own.

But Grossman has not come to Chestnut Hill, one of southwestern Ohio's newest subdivisions, to peddle home furnishings. He has come to hunt new Republican voters. "Hey there, have you registered to vote?" he asks passersby. "I can do it for you. Won't take but a minute." The Republican chairman for Warren County is seated behind a table stacked with Bush-Cheney bumper stickers � an incongruous sight at the expo. But he is here at the direct behest of President Bush (news - web sites)'s most senior political strategists, who believe victory in November depends on scouring the nation's battleground states not only for the much-publicized swing voter, but also for an equally important prize: the "exurbanite." Fleeing built-out areas near cities for the newest ring of developments beyond the suburbs, exurbanites are searching for more house for less money, better schools, less traffic and all-around easier living. Exurban areas are booming and, according to demographers and GOP strategists, rapidly drawing a concentration of culturally conservative but unregistered, unaffiliated voters. And that is why Karl Rove, Bush's senior political advisor, is so sure the president can make major gains in exurban areas. Along with Lebanon, places such as Fridley, Minn., Carlisle, Pa., New Richmond, Wis., and Livingston County, Mich., are the new obsession for high-level GOP operatives in Washington. Bush has visited many of these new boomtowns � he was in Lebanon on May 4 � and campaign officials say he will likely see more of them before November's election. Each visit is designed to spur more for the campaign than a one-day burst of publicity. Playing off the excitement of a presidential appearance, strategists use it to recruit volunteers for phone banks, canvassing and voter registration efforts � building what they hope will be an enduring GOP machine. Rove is so taken with the potential in the exurbs that he can quickly rattle off the names of otherwise obscure counties in swing states across the nation, along with the percentages of people who have not registered to vote in each one. "It takes them awhile to get established, to find the best grocery store, the best dry cleaner, to pick out a church, to sort of fit into the community," Rove said of the newcomers to these communities. "And then it takes them awhile to figure out the local politics, and then presidential politics." Rove thinks the GOP can make voter registration gains in these communities, bringing an advantage at the polls. In the nation's old-growth suburbs, which have emerged as key swing areas in recent years, he said that 88% of eligible adults are registered to vote. In the exurbs, it is 83%. Closing that small gap, Rove thinks, could make the difference for his party in a tight presidential race. "The growth potential is much bigger on the Republican side in exurban counties than it is on the Democratic side in urban counties," said Bush's pollster, Matthew Dowd. That potential was evident at Tom Grossman's voter registration booth at the home expo, or "homearama," a traveling home furnishings show that moves every few weeks to a new subdivision and was in the Lebanon area earlier this month. Grossman estimated that he registered about 10 GOP voters an hour. "You don't have to guess about it. They're clearly Republicans," he said, interrupted routinely with screams of "Go Bush!" and "All the way!" from passersby. On a recent Wednesday evening, 35-year-old James Brodbeck approached the table. The former soldier, his wife and three kids moved to Warren County from Milwaukee in 2002, but he had not yet gotten around to registering to vote. "I watch Fox News and listen to Rush Limbaugh, like a lot of people," said Brodbeck, whose wife works full time while he takes care of the children. He is definitely backing Bush, but had he not found Grossman, he might have neglected to register to vote. "We've just been dealing with other things," he said. Some have their doubts that Brodbeck and others approaching Grossman's booth speak for a meaningful number of voters. If many of the new exurbanites are changing addresses within their states � moving 30 miles, for example, from Cincinnati and its immediate suburbs to the Lebanon area � can that really be counted as a gain for Bush? And is the pool of unregistered exurbanites enough to make up for the newly registered Democrats that various liberal groups are courting in urban areas? "It's certainly true that the exurbs around a lot of cities are relatively Republican," said Jim Jordan, a strategist for independent liberal groups raising money to register new voters and oppose Bush. "But it is a lot less clear that there are huge reservoirs of currently unregistered voters who can be quickly put on the rolls and then given orders to march for the president." One anti-Bush group, America Coming Together, claims to have registered 65,000 new Democratic voters in Ohio alone � at least one-third of them in the liberal mecca of Cleveland. But in and around Lebanon, at least, the GOP's exurban strategy seems on target. Weeks after Bush's visit, voter registration is up, and so is the list of party volunteers. Local Republicans say there is still excitement over Bush's trip, in which he rolled into town in a red, white and blue tour bus. More than 2,500 people, many waiting at least three hours, welcomed the first sitting president to stop in Lebanon. The city's cable TV station carried the event live � including the waiting � with color commentary from a local historian discussing the significance of Bush's presence. "We're talking about the leader of the free world here, the most powerful man on Earth right now, actually," gushed John Zimkus, a Lebanon history teacher, during the live broadcast. "It is an honor to have the president to visit your town. How many communities can say that?" Indeed, the presidential visit is critical to the Rove doctrine. "You have a bigger impact in a smaller area because it's more unique to them," Dowd said. "People in big urban areas are used to whoever it is, some rock star coming to town. The president has celebrity, but in these big urban areas they see a lot of celebrities." True to that theory, Bush's May trip to Lebanon helped turn Elizabeth Uptegrove on to politics. The 28-year-old mother of two moved from Charleston, S.C., to a subdivision north of Lebanon about five years ago for her husband's job. She lives in the same neighborhood as the local Bush campaign volunteer coordinator, San Diego transplant Ricki Wilkins, who persuaded Uptegrove to help out with crowd control at the rally.

She was one of about 40 new volunteers Wilkins signed up for the event, and she has remained on the volunteer list. "It's amazing how much I've learned about grass-roots politics," said Uptegrove, who has since worked on a phone bank for the Bush campaign. "I remember seeing all the television ads as a young kid, but now living where I do I can really feel the effect of the grass roots."

Even more than a month after Bush's visit, the buzz remains. As Lebanon Mayor Amy Brewer lunched on a cheeseburger recently at the Village Ice Cream Parlor, across the street from where Bush spoke, she was greeted by several constituents with a question: "You fixed the potholes yet?" They were referring to a standard joke from Bush's stump speech, when he advises the local mayor to fill the potholes. In Lebanon, the line has been remembered. In many ways, Warren County is a case study in Rove's exurban theory. Since 2000, when Bush narrowly won both Ohio and the White House, the county has grown more than 10%, to about 180,000. The increase in voter registration, county officials think, is a direct result of the intense efforts by the Bush campaign to locate new voters. About 6,500 have registered this year already, compared with 7,000 in all of 2000. About 1,500 of those new registrants have come since the May 4 rally. In Ohio, voters do not declare a party when they register, but GOP officials say the new voters are disproportionately Republican. "We are living in a Forrest Gump moment in Warren County," said Wilkins, the former San Diego resident. "That movie was about being in the right place at the right time." Repeating the pitch she gives to prospective volunteers, she adds: "This county is going to help this state determine who wins this election, and you get to be a part of it."

TRAVEL WARNING FOR VENEZUELA-SANCTIONS FOR WOMEN AND CHILD TRAFFICKING.

The political situation in Venezuela remains fluid. The opposition continues efforts to recall President Chavez. Supporters of both the government and opposition can be expected to hold political demonstrations and marches in the period covered by this announcement. There is always potential for violence at these demonstrations. Deaths and injuries have occurred in some previous demonstrations. U.S. citizens should avoid all demonstrations and areas where groups are gathering. American citizens should exercise caution when traveling in Caracas and throughout Venezuela. Recently, there has been an increase in anti-American rhetoric. Additionally, two churches outside Caracas affiliated with a denomination headquartered in the U.S. were attacked with grenades in late May. American citizens should exercise caution when in places where U.S. citizens congregate as well as places associated with the United States. Americans are advised to check the U.S. Embassy web site: http://www.embajadausa.org.ve/ for additional information on the current situation in Venezuela , including information regarding road closures. Additionally, they should monitor radio and TV broadcasts for the latest developments. New Page 1

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White House - AP Cabinet & State

Two Men Face Terror Charges in U.S.

7 minutes ago

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By CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Two men were charged Thursday with providing financial support to terrorists and recruiting terror group members, including one person identified by U.S. authorities as suspected al-Qaida member Jose Padilla.

A 10-count grand jury indictment handed up in federal district court in Miami charges Adhan Amin Hassoun and Mohamed Hesham Youssef with providing material support to terrorists and conspiracy to provide support. Hassoun has been in custody on other charges in Florida since June 2003 and Youssef is jailed in Egypt on a terrorism conviction.

The indictment contends Hassoun helped recruit individuals from the United States for groups engaging in Islamic "jihad," or holy war, in countries such as Afghanistan (news - web sites), Somalia, Chechnya (news - web sites) and Kosovo.

LET'S CELEBRATE THE WAR AGAINST TERRORISM!

The U.S. recently lifted restrictions on the use of U.S. passports for
travel to Libya. While Libya has taken steps to cooperate in the global
war on terrorism, the Libyan Government remains on the U.S. Government's
State Sponsors of Terrorism List. Although Libya appears to have curtailed
its support for international terrorism, it may maintain residual contacts
with some of its former terrorist clients.
Recent worldwide terrorist alerts have stated that extremist groups
continue to plan terrorist attacks against U.S. interests in the region.
Therefore, any American citizen that decides to travel to Libya should
maintain a strong security posture by being aware of surroundings,
avoiding crowds and demonstrations, keeping a low profile, and varying
times and routes for all required travel. In light of these security
concerns, U.S. citizens are urged to maintain a high level of vigilance
and to take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness.
There is no U.S. Embassy in Libya. Therefore, the U.S. Government is
unable to provide any assurances of the safety of travel to Libya by U.S.
citizens. U.S. Government interests are represented by the Government of
Belgium, which, as a protecting power, can provide only limited emergency
services to U.S. citizens.
United Nations sanctions on Libya were lifted on September 12, 2003. Many
U.S. sanctions, however, remain in place. Most financial and commercial
transactions with Libya and designated persons by " U.S. persons" are
prohibited, unless licensed by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of However,
certain restrictions on payments will continue to apply to these
transactions; for example: while there are no restrictions on how payment
may be made to travel service providers in the U.S. for any travel-related
expenses, the use in Libya of credit cards and checks drawn on U.S. banks
remains prohibited. Travelers should be prepared to engage in cash-only
transactions while in Libya. Additionally, while in Libya, U.S. persons
are authorized to open and maintain bank accounts at a financial
institution in Libya to pay for maintenance, residence and travel-related
transactions while in Libya.
Americans who decide to travel to Libya despite this Travel Warning should
exercise a high level of caution. Updated information on travel
and
security in Libya may be obtained from the Department of State by calling
1-888-407-4747 within the United States, or, from overseas,
1-317-472-2328. Those travelers should consult the Department of State's
latest Consular Information Sheet for Libya, which includes further
details on the Treasury Department sanctions, and the current Worldwide
Caution and Middle East and North Africa Public Announcements, which are
available on the Department's Internet site at http://travel.state.gov.

Middle East - AP Palestinians Wary of Egypt's Role in Gaza

By RAVI NESSMAN, Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM - On the eve of a visit by an Egyptian mediator, Palestinian officials sent conflicting signals Tuesday on how much involvement they will accept from their neighbor after an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip (news - web sites).

Egypt and the Palestinians have a historically uneasy relationship, and Egypt's proposed role in securing Gaza � once ruled by Cairo � has many Palestinians worried they'll be replacing one occupation with another.

Egypt demands that in preparation for an Israeli withdrawal, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) restructure his tangled security forces and relinquish some control over them. It also wants to send 200 military advisers to Gaza to retrain Palestinian security forces. Palestinians are wary. An Arafat ally said Tuesday that Egypt shouldn't meddle or press for security reform, and Palestinian militants angrily rejected any planned Egyptian security role in Gaza. Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath tried to soften the rare criticism by saying Cairo's help is welcome. Complicating matters further, Israel is resisting an Egyptian demand that it halt military activities in Gaza after the advisers arrive there, an Israeli official said on condition of anonymity. However, Israel expects to be able to reach a compromise on the matter, the official said. With Israel shunning the Palestinians as unreliable negotiating partners, Egypt � fearing chaos on its border with Gaza � has been trying to ensure order there after a pullout, planned for next year. The latest dispute threatens those efforts and leaves Gaza's future uncertain. Egypt has a rocky history with the Palestinians. It took little responsibility for the Palestinians in Gaza when it ruled the region before Israel captured it in 1967 and worked to keep Palestinian refugees out of the country. That did not prevent Egyptian leaders from using the Palestinian cause to try to galvanize the Arab world behind its leadership. But as the most influential Arab country at peace with Israel, it is now a key broker in the region. Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman was to hold talks Wednesday in Jerusalem with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz. Afterward, he was to go to Ramallah to meet with Arafat.

Americans to Begin Leaving Bahrain

By ADNAN MALIK, Associated Press Writer

MANAMA, Bahrain - U.S. military families will begin leaving Bahrain in the next few days following reports terrorists were planning attacks here, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy (news - web sites)'s 5th Fleet said Monday.

Cmdr. James Graybeal said the formal departure orders came late Sunday, two days after the Pentagon (news - web sites) announced the first such mandatory evacuation from this longtime U.S. ally in the Gulf. Graybeal said the orders affected 350 families, or about 650 people. They were relatives of service members or Defense Department staff, he said. He said earlier reports that nonessential staff also were being evacuated were incorrect. "We are in the process of executing the departure, which will happen in the next few days," Graybeal said. Citing security, he refused to say how the families would travel or exactly where in the United States they were headed. The U.S. 5th fleet is based in Bahrain, where the U.S. Navy has had a presence for more than 50 years. On Thursday, the State Department cautioned Americans against traveling to Bahrain and advised Americans who live there to leave because of information that extremists were planning attacks in Bahrain. The Pentagon said Friday it was withdrawing service members' families from Bahrain for at least 30 days. The State Department added Saturday it had authorized the voluntary departure of family members and non-emergency employees of the U.S. Embassy in Bahrain. The State Department has provided no details on the information it has about possible terror attacks on Americans in Bahrain. Bahrain is linked by a 15-mile causeway to Saudi Arabia, which has seen a series of attacks on Americans and other Westerners living there. Some here have expressed fears that Saudi militants, under pressure from their security forces, might see Bahrain as an easier place to attack Westerners. The Saudi violence has been blamed on members of or sympathizers with al-Qaida, the network of anti-Western Muslim extremists blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. Al-Qaida has vowed to topple the Saudi royal family, accusing it of being too close to the United States and insufficiently Islamic. The Bahraini king, Sheik Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, also is close to the United States. Sheik Hamad was one of the few Arab leaders to accept an invitation to last month's Group of Eight summit in the United States, where a U.S. initiative to encourage democratization in the Arab world was unveiled. Saturday, Sheik Hamad said Bahrain was ready to send a naval force to help safeguard Iraqi territorial waters if asked by the new, U.S.-backed Iraqi government. Few other Arab leaders have been willing to commit troops for fear of being seen as supporting the U.S.-led war that toppled Iraq (news - web sites)'s Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).

Middle East - AP U.S. Hands Power to Iraqis Two Days Early

By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The temporary stewards of Iraq (news - web sites)'s future reclaimed their nation two days early, accepting limited power Monday from U.S. occupiers who wished them prosperity and handed them a staggering slate of problems � including a lethal insurgency the Americans admit they underestimated.

Kimmitt: Iraq Was Ready for Sovereignty (AP Video)

With the passing of a sheaf of documents and a prime minister's oath on a red Quran, the land once ruled by Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) received official sovereignty from U.S. administrators in a secretive ceremony moved up to thwart insurgents' attempts at undermining the transfer. "The Iraqi people have their country back," President Bush (news - web sites) said at a NATO (news - web sites) summit in Istanbul, Turkey. On paper, the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority granted power to Iraq's interim government at 10:26 a.m., 467 days after the U.S. invasion began. The reality is more complicated: Some 145,000 foreign forces � most of them American � remain in charge of keeping rebellion at bay. Hours after the transfer, four heavy explosions rang out in central Baghdad, near the U.S.-held Green Zone � a near daily occurence in the capital. There was no immediate word on the cause. In the southern city of Basra, a bomb killed a British soldier and wounded two others, but such events are common and there was no indication the explosion was tied to the handover. The U.S. civilian authority, which rode in on a swift military victory that swept away Saddam's generation-long regime, withdrew quietly. Its leader, L. Paul Bremer, left Iraq aboard a military plane two hours after the transfer and was swiftly succeeded by U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte. Hours later, NATO leaders agreed to help train Iraq's armed forces � a decision that fell short of U.S. hopes that the security alliance would take a larger role in Iraq. The shift of authority was held in Baghdad's heavily guarded Green Zone against a backdrop of Louis XIV furniture and a row of Iraqi flags � the same green-black-red banner that flew over the nation while Saddam was in power. "Please let us not be afraid by those outlaws that are fighting Islam," interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said in his inaugural address. "Some of them have already gone to the fires of hell and others are waiting their turn." Bush, whose Iraq policy has drawn criticism abroad and, more recently, at home, was passed a note from National Security (news - web sites) Adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) that put it this way: "Mr. President, Iraq is sovereign." Bush wrote "Let freedom reign!" on the note and passed it back, according to White House spokesman Scott McClellan. On the streets of the Iraqi capital, there was no sign of unusual activity or celebratory gunfire. Iraq's tentative step toward democratic rule will operate under major restrictions � some imposed at the behest of the country's influential Shiite Muslim clergy, which wanted to limit the powers of an unelected administration. The interim government will hold power for seven months until, by U.N. Security Council resolution, elections are held "in no case later than" Jan. 31. The Americans retain responsibility for security. "The political arm of our operation here has gone out of business. Certainly the military operation has not gone out of business," Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the coalition deputy operations chief, told AP Radio. Though the government is unable to amend the interim constitution, it assumes responsibility for the daunting problems that have bedeviled U.S. occupiers for more than a year � public turbulence, a ruined infrastructure that has angered the citizenry and, most urgently, the accelerating and violent insurgency that has left hundreds dead. It must make initial attempts to stitch together a patchwork of ethnicities that Saddam pitted against each other � including Iraqi Kurds who had carved out a largely autonomous region in the north. It also inherits responsibility for the fate of Saddam, the dictator-turned-prisoner whose harsh rule left tens of thousands dead. His brutality and Iraq's alleged terror links was one reason cited by Bush for the decision to invade. Saddam will be transferred to the custody of his countrymen and will appear before an Iraqi judge in the "next few days" to face charges, officials said Monday. A military spokesman said he will remain in a U.S.-run jail because the Iraqi government lacks a suitable prison. The months since his regime's demise have produced headache after headache for the U.S. government, even as it insists that slow, steady progress toward instituting democracy is under way. As of Friday, 850 U.S. service members had died since military operations began last year, according to the Defense Department � 629 of them in hostile action. The number of Iraqi dead, officially unknown, is believed to be in the thousands. On Friday, the Congressional Budget Office (news - web sites) estimated the cost of the war will probably be $55 billion to $60 billion if troop levels remain unchanged. No weapons of mass destruction have been found � the chief reason cited by Bush for war. Bombs have ravaged Baghdad, claiming the top U.N. official in Iraq among their victims. Abductions are increasing, violence has spiked and videotaped beheadings have horrified the world. On a video shown Sunday, insurgents threatened to behead a U.S. Marine and a Pakistani driver they had kidnapped unless the United States releases all Iraqis in "occupation jails." Three Turks (news - web sites) are also being held. Most problematic for Washington has been the abuse of detainees by U.S. forces at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad � a scandal brimming with details of sexual humiliation that has antagonized even Iraqis who support the U.S. occupation. Some Iraqis said Monday's transfer meant little. "The real date will be when the last American soldier leaves," Qassim al-Sabti, an art gallery owner, said after learning of the transfer. "Of course I feel I'm still occupied." The Association of Muslim Scholars, an influential, year-old Sunni clerical organization that has criticized the occupation, said Monday's events "deceived the Iraqi people and the world." "If the handover of authority had been accompanied by the withdrawal of the occupation troops, it would have been a proper handover and today would have been a day of festivities for all Iraqis to celebrate," Abdul Sattar Abdul Jabbar, a member of the association, said on Al-Jazeera television. "But what took place, as we've seen, is a formality." The most recent U.S. occupations are cited, even by the countries occupied, as success stories. Japan, vanquished in World War II, emerged from American occupation as a budding economic powerhouse. The road for Germany was bumpier but is considered a similar triumph. The transfer of sovereignty places Iraq's immediate future in the hands of two men with widely different styles and power bases: Allawi, a Shiite Muslim, physician and former Baath Party member with longtime ties to the State Department and CIA; and President Ghazi al-Yawer, a Sunni, American-educated engineer who lived for many years in Saudi Arabia and prefers traditional Arab dress. "I will leave Iraq confident in its future," Bremer told them and fellow ministers at the handover ceremony. Allawi lived for many years in London, while al-Yawer spent his time outside Iraq in the Arab world. Al-Yawer is seen as more in tune with Iraqi values and culture and has become widely popular as a champion of the Sunni minority. Although the presidency is largely ceremonial, many Iraqis expect al-Yawer to play an important role in public life. Some world leaders expressed cautious enthusiasm at the developments. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, an outspoken opponent of the U.S.-led invasion, sent congratulations and offered "trusting collaboration." Jordan's King Abdullah II praised a "landmark in history of Iraq." Others said the event was a sham. "Occupation will wear a new dress," said Syrian political analyst Haitham Kilani. Ali Hussein Ali, a retired teacher, held blue prayer beads as he played dominoes at a Baghdad cafe. "People are afraid to express their happiness," Ali said. "When security prevails, Iraqis will be very happy. They will celebrate when the American troops leave and when they are no longer taking orders from the Americans."

Health - AP U.N.: HIV Cases Hit Record High in 2003 2 hours, 27 minutes ago Add Health - AP to My Yahoo! By EMMA ROSS, AP Medical Writer LONDON - The world is losing the race against the AIDS (news - web sites) virus, which last year infected a record 5 million people and killed an unprecedented 3 million, the United Nations (news - web sites) reported Tuesday. AP Photo U.N. Says HIV Cases Hit Record High in 2003 (AP Video) Yahoo! Health Have questions about your health? Find answers here. The virus has now pushed deep into Eastern Europe and Asia, and tackling it will be more expensive than previously believed, according to the most accurate picture to date of the global status of HIV (news - web sites) infections. The number of people living with HIV has risen in every region. UNAIDS (news - web sites) chief Dr. Peter Piot said the deaths and infections were a testament to the world's failure to get prevention and treatment to those who need it. Nine out of 10 people who urgently need treatment are not getting it, and prevention is only reaching one in five at risk, the report said. The AIDS epidemic is now entering its globalization phase, Piot said at the launch of the U.N. AIDS agency's report, which is compiled every two years and released ahead of the International AIDS Conference, which kicks off this weekend in Bangkok, Thailand. "AIDS is truly a disease of our globalized world. Whereas until recently AIDS was largely a problem for sub-Saharan Africa, one out of every four new infections is occurring in Asia today, and the fastest growing epidemic is happening in Eastern Europe," Piot said. "The virus is running faster than all of us." In revised estimates based on improved information, the report says about 38 million people are infected. Until now, experts had put the ranks of the HIV afflicted at about 40 million.

Less than half that money has been set aside so far. The London-based aid agency ActionAid termed the latest figures "depressing and worrying." "Business as usual cannot remain the answer. The world needs to spend a lot more money and it must also be more strategic in its approach to the epidemic," the group said. Among the reported successes, many countries � including Brazil, Uganda and Thailand � have reduced HIV infections; prices for medicines have dropped dramatically; money is beginning to flow in for the global effort; more politicians are showing commitment to the fight; and medicines are becoming increasingly available in poor countries. Among the major challenges are improving the plight of women; keeping health workers in the developing world; tackling the stigma surrounding the disease; and looking after children orphaned by it. In some places, the size of the health work force needs to quadruple, the report found. AIDS remains untamed in Africa and progress there has been mixed. Prevalence is still rising in countries such as Madagascar and Swaziland, even though it is declining in Uganda. In sub-Saharan Africa, the number of people living with HIV appears to have leveled off at about 25 million. However, that stability is deceptive: Both deaths and new infections are up, and it remains the worst-hit region. Eastern Europe and Asia, which is home to 60 percent of the world's population, are emerging as the new front lines in the fight against AIDS. In Asia, the disease is confined mostly to drug addicts, homosexual or bisexual men, prostitutes and their clients, and the sexual partners of people who frequent prostitutes. "A country like Thailand shows that AIDS is a problem with a solution. In 1991, 140,000 people became infected in Thailand. Last year it was 21,000," Piot said. "So there is a major decrease, thanks to a massive promotion of condoms and of encouraging men to change their behavior, to reduce their partners and not engage in commercial sex." In one worrying sign, there is a lack of leadership in the fight against AIDS in Asia, outside of Thailand and Cambodia, Piot said. "Without such strong leadership, there's no way that we can contain this epidemic," he warned. The epidemics in Central Asia and Eastern Europe are being driven by intravenous drug users. About 1.3 million people there have HIV, compared with 160,000 in 1995. More than 80 percent of the infected are under age 30. Russia, with more than 3 million intravenous drug users, is one of the worst-hit in the region. In Latin America, the epidemic is concentrated among drug addicts and homosexuals. Countries have low infection rates overall, but pockets are bad. For instance, in Brazil, the most populous country in the region, national HIV prevalence is below 1 percent, but in some cities, 60 percent of intravenous drug users have the virus. In the Caribbean, the disease is mainly spread through heterosexual sex and in many places is focused around prostitution. The worst-affected country is Haiti, which has the highest infection rate outside Africa with 5.6 percent of the population afflicted. Infections are on the rise in the United States and Western Europe, particularly among homosexual or bisexual men. In the developing world, AIDS is increasingly becoming a women's issue, Piot said. In sub-Saharan Africa, the infection gap between men and women has widened. There are, on average, 13 infected women to every 10 infected men, up from 12 to 10 in 2002, the report found. The gap is even more pronounced among teenagers and young people. The ratio ranges from 20 infected girls to every 10 boys in South Africa, to 45 women to every 10 men in Kenya and Mali.

___ Middle East - AP

300 Militants Killed in Najaf, U.S. Says

By ABDUL HUSSEIN AL-OBEIDI, Associated Press Writer

NAJAF, Iraq - U.S. helicopter gunships and fighter jets pounded Iraqi insurgents hiding in a sprawling cemetery Friday in the most intense fighting in this Shiite holy city since the fall of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites). The U.S. military said it killed 300 militants.

Latest headlines: � 'Moral Call' Led Soldier to Expose Abuse

AP - 11 minutes ago � Reservist Says Intelligence Led Iraq Abuse

The clashes between coalition forces and militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army flared in Shiite communities across the country, killing dozens of other Iraqis, according to Iraqi officials and the militants. The fighting threatened to re-ignite the bloody, two-month Shiite insurrection that ended with a series of truces two months ago. A renewed uprising among the country's majority Shiites would cause severe problems for Iraq (news - web sites)'s fledgling interim government as it tries to gain popular support and coalition forces already struggling against Sunni militants. The Iraqi government said it was determined to crush all militias in the country, including the Mahdi Army, and Najaf Gov. Adnan al-Zurufi gave the insurgents 24 hours to leave the city. "We believe that the end of the military operations is dependent on the exit of the armed militias from Najaf," he told reporters. Al-Sadr blamed all the violence plaguing Iraq on the United States, which he called "our enemy and the enemy of the people," in a sermon read on his behalf at the Kufa Mosque near Najaf. The fighting also raged in the cities of Nasiriyah, where insurgents attacked Italian and Romanian troops, and Samarra, where guerrillas attacked a U.S. military convoy. In the city of Amarah, Shiite militants took over four police stations Friday, before British forces counterattacked. Intense pre-dawn clashes hit the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, where the Health Ministry said 20 people were killed and 114 wounded during two days of fighting. Separate attacks blamed on al-Sadr's followers wounded 15 American soldiers in Baghdad, the U.S. military said Friday. Amid the violence, al-Sadr's aides called for a return to the truces that crumbled in the fighting that began early Thursday and asked for the United Nations (news - web sites) and the government to step in. "We call upon the government � that has announced that it is sovereign � to intervene to stop the American attacks," said Mahmoud al-Sudani, an al-Sadr spokesman. Shiite leaders, who helped broker the earlier truces, said they were working to restore the cease-fire. "We are sparing no effort to reach a peaceful settlement by opening a direct dialogue between Muqtada al-Sadr's representatives on the one hand and the transitional government on the other," Ammar al-Hakeem, a leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq political faction, told Al-Jazeera television. Gunfire and explosions rocked Najaf on Friday as helicopters flew overhead. The streets were nearly deserted. Shops were closed and some residents near the cemetery that was the scene of much of the fighting fled with their belongings on carts. A dead woman lay abandoned on an empty sidewalk, according to Associated Press Television News footage. Fire tore through a nearby outdoor market and smoke rose from several parts of the city. The fighting on Friday dwarfed the spring clashes, residents said. U.S. Marines chased the militants into the massive cemetery, filled with stone and concrete buildings and ditches, which the militants had been using as a base, military officials said. The insurgents had taken advantage of the cemetery's location in the so-called Exclusion Zone � where U.S. forces were forbidden under the truces � to use as a base for attacks and a weapons storage site, said Lt. Col. Gary Johnston, operations officer for the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit. After the Marines attacked a police station from the cemetery early Thursday, the U.S. military retaliated, he said. U.S. helicopter gunships slammed insurgent positions in the cemetery Friday and Marines were sent in to root out the remaining militants, the military said. Gunfire and explosions shook the area throughout the day. The massive U.S. response appeared designed to quickly quash the outbreak, preventing a repeat of the spring uprising. U.S. Col. Anthony Haslam, chief of operations in Najaf, said 300 militants out of a total force of about 2,000 had been killed in Najaf since Thursday. That was among the largest militant death tolls in a single engagement since the end of the war last year. Two U.S. Marines and one U.S. soldier were also killed in the fighting, which wounded 12 other U.S. troops, the military said. Al-Zurufi, the Najaf governor, estimated 400 militants were killed and 1,000 arrested. He also said 80 of the fighters at the cemetery were Iranian. "There is Iranian support to al-Sadr's group and this is no secret," he said. The two days of fighting in Najaf also killed at least 13 civilians and wounded 58 others, according to hospital officials. Guerillas attacked a convoy of U.S. Humvees at dawn in the city of Samarra, 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of the capital, witnesses said. U.S. helicopters fired rockets at insurgent positions, and the U.S. convoy pulled out. Ahmed Jadou'a, an official at Samarra Hospital, said at least two people were killed and 16 injured during the fighting. Two houses were also destroyed. In Amarah, British troops backed by tanks fought with al-Sadr militiamen who had seized four police stations on the outskirts of the city. The troops secured the main police station, said Maj. Ian Clooney, a British military spokesman. It was not clear if they had recaptured the smaller police stations. In the southern city of Nasiriyah, assailants attacked Italian troops early Friday with automatic weapons and also targeted a police station, an Italian military spokesman said on condition of anonymity. The fighting, which lasted until dawn Friday, killed eight Iraqis, including five militants, and injured 13 others, according to Abdul Khuder al-Tahir, a senior Interior Ministry official. There were no coalition casualties, the Italian spokesman said. Insurgents also attacked a Romanian patrol outside Nasiriyah with gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades, said Gelaledin Nezir, the Romanian Defense Ministry spokesman. No injuries were reported. A coalition base near Najaf, Camp Golf, was hit by mortar fire early Friday, while rounds fired at a base housing Ukrainian troops missed their target, a Polish military spokesman said. No one was hurt. Assailants also attacked a police station in the southern city of Basra and the City Hall there, police Capt. Mushtaq Talib said. The violence wounded three police and five civilians, hospital officials said. Violence in Basra since Thursday killed five al-Sadr fighters, said As'ad al-Basri, an al-Sadr official in the city. Also Friday, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said four Lebanese truck drivers had been taken hostage in Iraq as they drove from Baghdad to Ramadi.

World - AP

Militants: Death Threat on Hostage Lifted

Sat Aug 21,11:58 AM

By RAVI NESSMAN, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Kidnappers have lifted their threat to kill a U.S. journalist abducted in the southern city of Nasiriyah along with his Iraqi translator, an aide to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said Saturday.

Latest headlines: � Iraq's Air Force Launches First Flights AP - 6 minutes ago � Militia, Shiite Leaders Bicker Over Shrine AP - 20 minutes ago � Insurgents Bomb Oil Pipeline in Iraq AP - 21 minutes ago Special Coverage

The kidnappers, calling themselves the Martyrs Brigade, threatened Thursday to kill Micah Garen of New York within 48 hours if U.S. troops did not leave Najaf, according to a video aired on the Arab-language television station Al-Jazeera. Garen and his Iraqi translator, Amir Doushi, were walking through a market in Nasiriyah on Aug. 13 when two armed men in civilian clothes seized them, police said, citing witnesses. Al-Sadr aide Sheik Awas al-Khafaji said Saturday he had spoken to mediators who said the death threat had been lifted and they were working out a way to have Garen released. "We hope that he will be released today and our efforts would be fruitful," he said Saturday by telephone from Nasiriyah. "As for the Iraqi translator, we have received assurances that he is going to be released with the journalist." It was not possible to independently verify the claim. Garen appeared in another video aired Friday on Al-Jazeera saying his captors were treating him well. "I am an American journalist in Iraq (news - web sites) and I've been asked to deliver a message," he said. "I am in captivity and being treated well." The newsreader said that Garen also had called for an end to the killing in Najaf, where U.S. and Iraqi forces have been fighting a radical Shiite militia for two weeks, though that part of the audio was inaudible. Garen was working on a story about the looting of archaeological sites in Iraq when he was abducted, said his fiancee, Marie-Helene Carleton. Garen worked for Four Corners media, identified on its Web site as a "documentary organization working in still photography, video and print media." He has taken photographs as a stringer for The Associated Press and had a story published in The New York Times. His photographs also have appeared in U.S. News & World Report. Scores of foreigners have been kidnapped in recent months by insurgents and criminal gangs seeking to extort ransom or with the political motive of trying to force foreign troops and companies to leave the country. Italian freelance journalist Enzo Baldoni, who went to Iraq for the news magazine Diario, has been missing since Friday. The Italian Foreign Ministry has said Baldoni was believed to be in Najaf. Diario's editor in chief, Enrico Deaglio, expressed hope that the reporter had not been taken hostage, saying he could have moved on to nearby Kufa and might be unable to communicate from there. The family of Turkish hostage Aytullah Gezmen, meanwhile, said Saturday they still had no word about his fate, despite the withdrawal of two Turkish companies withdrew from Iraq in a bid to save his life. A Turkish television channel on Thursday broadcast a video of Gezmen and said the kidnappers threatened to kill him if the companies didn't leave Iraq within three days. "The company has done everything necessary. They said they were leaving Iraq. But we still haven't received any news," Ethem Gezmen, Aytullah's older brother, said by telephone from the family's home in southern Turkish city of Iskenderun.

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World - AP

Militants: Death Threat on Hostage Lifted

Sat Aug 21,11:58 AM

By RAVI NESSMAN, Associated Press Writer

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� Ivan lashes Jamaica, but island escapes direct hit - 1:40 PM
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� Tourism stalls as Florida braces for third storm - 4:05 PM

Ivan lashes Jamaica, but island escapes direct hit KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) � Hurricane Ivan lashed Jamaica with monstrous waves, driving rain and winds nearing 155 mph Saturday, killing at least two people as it washed away homes and tore roofs off houses and trees from the ground but unexpectedly spared the island from a direct hit. NASA satellite image shows the outer bands Hurricane Ivan lashing into Jamaica on Friday. AFP photo In the Jamaican capital, Kingston, sporadic looting and gunfire erupted overnight and continued Saturday morning. Associated Press reporters said looters carrying boxes of groceries from a smashed storefront. (Related: Track Ivan) A 10-year-old girl drowned in Old Harbor, just east of Kingston, and a woman was killed in the capital by a tree that struck here home, said Ronald Jackson of Jamaica's disaster relief agency. The two deaths raised the toll from Ivan to 39, most in Grenada, which was devastated when Ivan swept through earlier. The toll was expected to rise since the extent of damage was still unclear, with flooding and debris blocking roads and telephone service patchy. Jamaica, an island of 2.6 million known for its tourism, reggae and Blue Mountain coffee, was saved the full brunt of Ivan's fury by an unexpected wobble and lurch to the west overnight. The change in course could be good news for hurricane-weary Florida, since Ivan may now head into the Gulf of Mexico. Forecasters warned it could still move back to its predicted course and hit the state. (Related story: Florida Key residents evacuate) "I'd say we have been spared the worst but we're not out of the woods yet," Jackson said as sheets of rain continued to lash the capital and winds bent palm trees to a 45-degree angle at 8 a.m. By 11 a.m. ET, Ivan was centered about 30 miles southwest of the western tip of Jamaica. After drifting westward it was expected to move west-northwest or northwest at about 8 mph and was forecast to come near the Cayman Islands in about 24 hours. Kingston residents started emerging from homes to survey the damage � houses with zinc roofs peeled back and waterlogged furniture, trees snapped in two at their bases, streets littered with debris. The road to the airport was a muddy river strewn with refrigerators, downed trees, traffic lights. Downtown, 20-foot-tall trees were uprooted, some flung onto the roofs of cars. Porcelain tiles that decorated the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel were torn from the facade and smashed to shards. Amid some looting, a dozen heavily armed police officers kneeled behind a car with assault rifles at the ready, saying they were in the middle of a shootout, it was not clear with whom. Troops carrying assault rifles patrolled the darkened city, its electricity cut to protect power plants. Officials were trying to clear the road to reach the cut-off eastern parish of St. Thomas, believed to be the hardest hit, Jackson said. The storm's winds were just below the 155-mph mark that would make it a Category 5, the most powerful on the Saffir-Simpson scale. But the heaviest winds did not make landfall in Jamaica. Ivan's eye "wobbled toward the west for the past few hours" early Saturday, bringing it within 35 miles of Kingston but keeping it off the island, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. Jennifer Pralgo, a meteorologist at the center, said Ivan still could return to a projected path that would take it over the smaller of the Cayman islands, across western Cuba and into the heart of southern Florida. As of now, it was still expected to hit Cuba. "We're going to have to wait and see," she said. "It may come back to course." In South Florida, long lines reappeared at gas stations and shoppers swarmed home building stores and supermarkets as residents braced for a third hurricane following Charley and Frances. Forecasters said Ivan could tear through the Keys as early as Monday. The Cayman government posted a hurricane warning and urged residents of all three of its islands to prepare for a possible direct hit. Cuba upgraded to a hurricane warning in its eastern areas, with a hurricane watch through the rest of the country. The Jamaican government had pleaded with a half million people considered in danger to get to shelters, but in the end only about 5,000 people did so, with most fearing their homes would be robbed if abandoned. "I'm not saying I'm not afraid for my life but we've got to stay here and protect our things," said Lorna Brown, 49, pointing to a stove, television, cooking utensils and large bed crowded into a one-room concrete home on the beach at the northwestern resort of Montego Bay. In Montego Bay, the Barnett River overflowed its banks, putting some businesses four feet under water and flooding inland roads and farmlands. Drenching rain washed away the main northern coastal road, the A1, just outside Montego Bay. In Haiti, east of Jamaica, flooding destroyed at least two houses and damaged a dozen more, but people expressed relief they were spared further catastrophe in a year that has already brought a bloody rebellion and deadly floods. "First we had a political hurricane, then an economic hurricane and now, with the natural hurricane, we're just glad God saved us," said Jude Vante, 32, an unemployed mason in low-lying Les Cayes, on the southern peninsula. Ivan became the fourth major hurricane of the Atlantic Season on Sunday. It damaged dozens of homes in Barbados, St. Lucia and St. Vincent Tuesday before making a direct hit on Grenada. Grenada, an island of 100,000 people, suffered the worst damage and was left a wasteland of flattened houses, twisted metal and splintered wood. The storm damaged 90% of homes, tossed sailboats to shore and set off looting. (Related video: Scene from Grenada) More than 100 Caribbean soldiers from five countries arrived Thursday to help restore order. Still, the American Red Cross disaster unit said Grenada's government has temporarily closed the country to relief shipments to ensure security. The unit's director, Doug Allen, said Grenada needs relief by Sunday to avoid a critical situation. Up to 75 convicts remained at large after about 150 of the prison's 325 inmates escaped when the storm damaged the prison. Ivan has killed 26 people in Grenada, five in Venezuela, one in Tobago, one in Barbados, and four youngsters in the Dominican Republic. Web Site Claims Turkish Trucker Beheaded

By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer

CAIRO, Egypt - A videotape purporting to show the beheading of a Turkish truck driver kidnapped last month in Iraq (news - web sites) surfaced Monday on the Web site of an al-Qaida-linked militant group.

Latest headlines: � Web Site Claims Turkish Trucker Beheaded

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AFP - 7 minutes ago � Suspected Militant Hideout Bombed in Iraq

On the video, the victim identifies himself as Durmus Kumdereli. Speaking in Turkish, he says he was transporting goods to an American military base in Mosul. Arabic subtitles accompanied his words. Afterward, a black screen reading "the execution" appears, followed by warnings from masked, armed militants to foreign drivers, and grisly footage of the beheading. The authenticity of the video, which was digitally dated Aug. 17, could not be verified. It was posted on the Web site known for carrying statements from Tawhid and Jihad, a group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi that has beheaded other foreign hostages. The Web site had been inaccessible in recent days before resurfacing Monday at a new address. In Ankara, a Turkish Foreign Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the ministry was aware of the video but was unable to confirm Kumdereli's death. Kumdereli was abducted Aug. 14 outside Mosul after delivering water to a U.S. base in Baghdad. Another Turkish driver, Mustafa Koksal, was taken hostage with him; four days later, the Turkish government said he had been rescued. The man who identified himself as Kumdereli, reading from a piece of paper, was standing next to another hostage. The militants identified the second man only as another driver whom they decided to release because he had been abducted before a warning was issued. It was not clear who he was or what warning they referred to. Kumdereli, who said he was from Tarsus, Turkey, advised truckers not to haul supplies to Iraq. He also called on Turkish companies and his government to consider the interests of "their own citizens and stop helping the occupiers." He said in Turkish that he was transporting goods to an American military base in Tikrit; the Arabic subtitles indicated it was to a base in Mosul. Past reports have indicated he was abducted near Mosul. "My advice to my truck driver friends is ... don't carry goods to Americans. You should know that Turkish companies that have contracted with American companies do not care about the lives of their workers. They only think of the money they will earn. Their eyes see nothing but money," he said. Three militants appeared in the video under a black banner of the Tawhid and Jihad; two were carrying guns and the third read from a statement. "We have forewarned. ... We will slaughter this driver and release the other," the man read. "Let it be known from today, any drivers with us will see nothing but slaughtering, whether Arabs or non-Arabs." Last month, Murat Yuce, a Turk who worked for a company that provided laundry services, was shot to death in Iraq by al-Qaida-linked militants loyal to al-Zarqawi, who is held responsible for a series of bombings, kidnappings and other attacks in Iraq. In a separate kidnapping case in early September, a tape purporting to show three Turkish hostages being killed was sent to Al-Jazeera TV from the Tawhid and Jihad militant group, which also is linked to al-Zarqawi. The bodies of two slain Turkish citizens and an unidentified man were discovered in northern Iraq later but it could not be confirmed whether the bodies found in northern Iraq belonged to the three men in the video.

THE WAR WAS JUSTIFIED...THE END OF IRAQ WAR !

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Presidential Elections - AP

Powell Defends Cheney's Remarks on Attack

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) on Sunday defended Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) for saying last week that terrorists will hit the United States again "if we make the wrong choice" on Election Day.

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Two days after uttering the explosive comments, Cheney tried to stem the fallout and subsequent criticism from Democrats. He told a newspaper that he did not say terrorists will strike if Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites) is elected. Cheney said he was trying to say that "whoever is elected president has to anticipate more attacks." Questioned about the comment, Powell said the vice president was trying to convey that voters know President Bush (news - web sites) and the strategy he is pursuing to win the fight against terrorism. "Both candidates, I'm sure, will do everything they can to defend the United States of America, whichever one becomes president," Powell said on ABC's "This Week." "But what the vice president was saying is, you know the strategies that we are following, you know the aggressiveness with which we have gone after this war against terror. "And the American people will make their judgment in due course," Powell said. National security adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) echoed Powell's view. "The vice president has said several times now what he meant by those comments," she said on "Face the Nation" on CBS. "But it is very much the case that the American people will see different strategies for dealing with the war on terrorism. And they know what this president has done." Cheney was in Des Moines, Iowa, on Tuesday when he told supporters: "It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on Nov. 2, we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again and we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States." Kerry called Cheney's comment "outrageous and shameful." Kerry's running mate, John Edwards (news - web sites), said it was "wrong and un-American" and "intended to divide us." Cheney sought to clarify himself Thursday in an interview with The Cincinnati Enquirer. "I did not say if Kerry is elected, we will be hit by a terrorist attack," he told the newspaper. "Whoever is elected president has to anticipate more attacks. My point was the question before us is: Will we have the most effective policy in place to deal with that threat? George Bush (news - web sites) will pursue a more effective policy than John Kerry." ___

American Airlines #77 Boeing 757 8:10 a.m. Departed Dulles for Los Angeles 9:39 a.m. Crashed into Pentagon

AP Photo Hurricane Ivan Rolls Towards Cuba

(AP) - Hurricane Ivan pummeled the Cayman Islands with floodwaters that swamped homes and fierce winds that ripped off roofs, then strengthened to an extremely dangerous Category 5 storm as it headed for western Cuba on Monday. The slow-moving hurricane, one of the strongest on record to hit the region, killed at least 65 people across the Caribbean before reaching the Caymans and threatens millions more in its projected path.

More... Ivan Advisories: Nat'l Hurricane Ctr. - Fla. Div. of Emergency Mgmt. Preparedness (Red Cross) - Relief Efforts (Network for Good) Storm Tracker (weather.com) | Slideshow | Message board News Stories - Cubans braced for storm onslaught - at BBC (Sep 13, 2004) - Fla. Residents Prepare for Hurricane Ivan - AP via Yahoo! News (Sep 13, 2004) - Already Battered, Cuba Braces for 'Ivan the Terrible' - at The New York Times (reg. req'd) (Sep 13, 2004) - With Eye on Storm, Skittish Floridians Search for Safety - at The New York Times (reg. req'd) (Sep 13, 2004) - Ivan Batters Cayman Islands - LA Times via Yahoo! News (Sep 13, 2004) - Bracing for the worst - at Mobile Register (Sep 13, 2004) - All-clear signals in Broward bring end to anxious four weeks - at Sun Sentinel (Sep 13, 2004) - Ivan spares Keys, South Florida even as it targets Panhandle - at Sun Sentinel (Sep 13, 2004) - Evacuation order lifted in Keys; powerful Ivan approaches Cuba - at Miami Herald (reg. req'd) (Sep 13, 2004) - Ivan heading toward Gulf of Mexico - weather.com via Yahoo! News (Sep 13, 2004) - Hurricane Ivan Rolls Towards Cuba - AP via Yahoo! News (Sep 13, 2004) - Tampa Bay hopes luck holds - Chicago Tribune via Yahoo! News (Sep 13, 2004) - Ivan Rampages Through Caribbean - at The Washington Post (reg. req'd) (Sep 13, 2004) more Related Web Sites - NOAA National Hurricane Center - includes forecasts, storm names, and a history of hurricanes. - Hurricanes: Health and Safety Guide - from the Centers for Disease Control. - Disaster Safety: Hurricanes - hurricane preparedness and cleanup tips from the American Red Cross. - FEMA: Tropical Storm Watch - background information and updates from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. - WeatherBug Blogs: Hurricane Charley - shares pictures and personal experience. - NASA CAMEX-4 - news, photos, and status reports on NASA's hurricane research study. From the Marshall Space Flight Center. - Caribbean Hurricane Network: Updates From the Islands - weather discussions and eyewitness reports of threatening tropical systems from correspondents on the Caribbean Islands. - Hurricane & Storm Tracking for the Atlantic & Pacific Oceans - current advisories, bulletins, strike probabilities, storm positions, and animated storm movement plots. - Tracking Hurricanes - news and background from Online NewsHour/PBS. - Unisys Hurricane/Tropical Data - including storm-tracking charts and text-based tables of tracking information. - Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale - explanation of the five category hurricane intensity rating system. From the NOAA. - Hurricanes - introduction to hurricanes and their associated features, where they develop, and under what conditions. From the University of Illinois. - Hurricane Season - information on hurricanes, the strongest winds ever, and a list of hurricane names that have been used. From Infoplease.com. - Washing Away - five-part series that examines how vulnerable New Orleans would be if the city were hit by a hurricane. From the New Orleans Times-Picayune. - The Hurricane of '38 - examines the great New England Hurricane of 1938. From PBS' The American Experience.

UN watchdog tells Iran to stop enriching uranium, sets review deadline Sat Sep 18, 5:04 PM ET Add Mideast - AFP to My Yahoo! VIENNA (AFP) - The UN atomic agency adopted a resolution setting a November 25 deadline for a full review of Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program, with Tehran vowing to cooperate but warning it may defy the agency's call to suspend uranium enrichment. AFP Photo Britain, France and Germany had submitted the resolution, which was strongly opposed by non-aligned countries which are against imposing a deadline on Iran to suspend uranium enrichment, the process for making fuel for nuclear reactors but also the explosive material for atomic bombs. "The resolution was adopted by consensus, without a vote," International Atomic Energy Agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told reporters at a meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors, as the non-aligned movement states gave up on pushing for amendments to the text. The United States claims Iran is secretly developing nuclear weapons and has been lobbying strongly here for decisive action against the Islamic Republic. Washington pressed for an October 31 ultimatum for Tehran to fully suspend uranium enrichment and report on its other activities to the IAEA, and for Iran to be automatically referred to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions if it failed to do so. But in a compromise, Washington and the less confrontational Euro 3 -- Britain, France and Germany -- set a November 25 deadline for a full review of Iran's nuclear program and called on Tehran to "immediately" suspend all uranium enrichment activities, with this also being reviewed in November. But no specific IAEA action was stipulated, according to a copy of the resolution obtained by AFP. Just the same, US delegation chief Jackie Sanders said "this resolution sends an unmistakable signal to Iran that continuing its nuclear weapons program will bring it inevitably before the Security Council." US Under Secretary of State for non-proliferation issues John Bolton told AFP by phone from Washington that "closing the tactical gap" between the United States and the Euro-3 about how to handle Iran had been the key to getting Saturday's resolution adopted. He said that maintaining a tough line in November will hinge "on the attitude of the EU 3," countries which in the past have favored constructive engagement rather than US-urged confrontation with Iran. Iranian delegation chief Hossein Mousavian said Iran would continue to cooperate with the IAEA but felt free to resume uranium enrichment if it so decides. He said Iran would decide in the next "two or three days" whether to resume enriching uranium. Iran suspended enrichment in October 2003 as a confidence-building measure but has continued support activities such as building the centrifuges that refine the uranium. It recently alarmed the United States by saying that it would be carrying out the first stage of the nuclear fuel cycle, making the uranium gas that is the feed for centrifuges. IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said however that Iran must suspend all enrichment activities in order to restore confidence after having hid its nuclear activities for almost two decades, as the IAEA has documented in reports in an investigation that began in February 2003. The United States reserves the right to take strong diplomatic action if Iran fails to suspend enrichment, Bolton said. "We have the option to do something before November. We are not now going to sleep until November," he said by telephone from Washington. Bolton said the United States could call on the IAEA to meet earlier than the planned next board of governors meeting in November if the suspension was not working out. The United States wants to put an end to the 19-month-old IAEA investigation of Iran, as Washington thinks it is dragging on, giving Iran breathing space in which to pursue secret weapons activities. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer urged Iran to "seize the chance" offered by the resolution and said it is of "central importance that Iran suspend all activities connected with enrichment" of uranium, in a statement issued from Berlin. Non-aligned states had wanted to avoid making enrichment, which is allowed under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), something for which Iran can be sanctioned as they "fear that depriving Iran of enrichment would set a precedent for other states to be kept away from key atomic technologies." But German IAEA ambassador Herbert Honsowitz told the IAEA board that actions against Iran would not set a precedent for stopping states from getting peaceful nuclear technology.

A European diplomat said controlling the nuclear fuel cycle is the key to building a bomb, a "breakout capacity" Iran should not have even if it is not overtly diverting nuclear materials for military purposes.

FBI Arrests Reputed Gangsters in 3 States

By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - A dozen people including an alleged underboss of the Gambino crime family were arrested Wednesday following an investigation into organized crime in Connecticut, Rhode Island and suburban New York.

Anthony "The Genius" Megale and 11 others were charged in a 46-count federal indictment with racketeering, extortion and illegal gambling. Two other indictments charges some of the same people with conspiracy and cocaine dealing.

Four of those arrested, including Megale, are alleged to be made members of the Gambino family. According to the indictment, Megale, a Stamford resident also known as "Tony Connecticut," ran the operation from Fairfield County as an "underboss" reporting to Gambino bosses. All 12 defendants were arraigned Wednesday afternoon and ordered held without bond pending bail hearings over the next week in U.S. District Court. None of the defendants entered a plea. They face up to 20 years in prison on each charge. According to prosecutors, Megale demanded $2,000 each month from a nightclub owner for "protection" and an additional amount every year as a Christmas bonus. The owner of a vending machine company was ordered to pay the organization $200 each month, the indictment alleges. The names of the alleged victims were not made public.

BUSH TO SADDAM:ALLEGATION HOTLY DISPUTED

Bush: Saddam not part of Sept. 11

Alleged new audiotape
of ex-leader is broadcast

Sept. 17 � President Bush took a step to quiet critics who charge the White House tried to blur the lines between Saddam Hussein and Sept. 11. NBC�s David Gregory reports.

MSNBC NEWS SERVICES

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 � President Bush said Wednesday that there was no evidence that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, disputing an impression that critics say the administration tried to foster to justify the war against Iraq.

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�THERE�S NO QUESTION that Saddam Hussein had al-Qaida ties,� the president said. But he also said, �We�ve had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with September the 11th.�
The president�s comment was the administration�s firmest assertion that there was no proven link between Saddam and Sept. 11. It came after Vice President Dick Cheney clouded the issue Sunday by saying, �It�s not surprising people make that connection.�
Speaking on NBC�s �Meet the Press,� Cheney also repeated an allegation, doubted by many in the intelligence community, that Mohamed Atta, the lead Sept. 11 attacker, met with a senior Iraqi intelligence official in Prague in the Czech Republic five months before Sept. 11, 2001.
�We�ve never been able to develop any more of that yet, either in terms of confirming it or discrediting it,� Cheney said Sunday. However, other U.S. authorities have said information gathered on Atta�s movement showed that he was on the U.S. East Coast when that meeting supposedly took place.

ALLEGATION HOTLY DISPUTED
Critics of the Bush administration have pointed to statements like Cheney�s as evidence that the administration was exaggerating al-Qaida�s prewar links with Saddam to help justify the U.S.-led war against Iraq.
A recent poll indicated that nearly 70 percent of Americans believed Saddam probably was personally involved. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Tuesday, �I�ve not seen any indication that would lead me to believe that I could say that.�
The administration has argued that Saddam�s government had close links to al-Qaida, the terrorist network led by Osama bin Laden that masterminded the Sept. 11 attacks. Bush himself has taken to referring to Iraq as the central front in the war against terror.
But Bush said there was no attempt by the administration to try to confuse people about any link between Saddam and Sept. 11.

�No, we�ve had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with September the 11th,� Bush said. �What the vice president said was is that he [Saddam] has been involved with al-Qaida. ... There�s no question that Saddam Hussein had al-Qaida ties.�

BUSH WOULD WELCOME SADDAM�S DEATH
Bush spoke after a number of newspapers from states important to his re-election campaign printed articles Wednesday morning based on an interview he conducted Tuesday. In that interview, he predicted that Saddam would eventually be captured or killed, but he said the definition of victory in Iraq would be when the country was free and peaceful.
The comments were published on the same day that a new audiotape surfaced in which the purported voice of Saddam demanded the United States unconditionally withdraw from Iraq or face �catastrophic� losses.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that Bush said that his policies for rebuilding Iraq and dismantling militant organizations were working but that the message had not filtered down to the public.

In response to a question about the importance of capturing Saddam, Bush said: �The definition for victory is for there to be a free and peaceful Iraq. And yes, we�d like to capture or kill him, as well. And we will at some point in time.�
The alleged Saddam audiotape, meanwhile, called for Iraqi men and women to step up their fight against the U.S. occupation.
�You Mujahedeen, Iraqis and women, increase your attacks on your enemies,� the voice said. It sounded like Saddam�s, but there was no way to independently verify who the speaker was.
The man called on U.S. forces to withdraw from Iraq immediately.
�We call on you to withdraw your armies as soon as possible and without any conditions or restrictions, because there is no reason for you to suffer more losses, which will be disastrous for the Americans,� he said, claiming that the recording was made in �mid-September.�
The man also called on Iraqis to protest against occupation in the streets, to �beat the walls in protest� and to donate money to the resistance.
The last purported Saddam tape was broadcast Sept. 1 by the Al-Jazeera television network, and the CIA said it was likely authentic.

REVENGE ATTACKS FEARED
Al-Arabiya news editor Aymen Gaballah said the new tape was received Wednesday in Baghdad. As usual, he said, someone called the Al-Arabiya office and said he had a tape of Saddam.
He said the tape was aired in its entirety, 14 minutes.
Speaking with long pauses between thoughts and with the sound of papers rustling as if reading the message, the voice sounded to experienced ears to be that of Saddam, who sounded very tired.
U.S. forces in Iraq have been plagued by guerrilla attacks blamed on Saddam�s followers since he was ousted in April, hampering efforts to rebuild the country.
In an interview published Wednesday, the commander of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, told The Times newspaper of London that U.S. soldiers now also faced revenge attacks from ordinary Iraqis angered by the occupation.

New Page 1

U.S. Troops Kill Saddam Fedayeen Officer

59 minutes ago

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By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer

MOSUL, Iraq - U.S. troops shot and killed a senior officer of the paramilitary group Saddam Fedayeen after storming his house in this northern city on Wednesday, his neighbors said.

AP Photo

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Special Coverage

The U.S. Army confirmed there were raids early Wednesday in Mosul but refused to comment on the reported death of Col. Ghanem Abdul-Ghani Sultan al-Zeidi.

Two of al-Zeidi's neighbors, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said U.S. troops stormed his one-story house in Mosul's central neighborhood of al-Sukar about 4 a.m. and shooting was heard later. Helicopters took part in the operation, the neighbors said.

The gate of al-Zeidi's house was locked Wednesday afternoon. There were several bullet holes in the gate. A black banner nearby read: "The heroic martyr Colonel Ghanem Abdul-Ghani Sultan al-Zeidi was martyred during a blatant aggression by American forces at his house on 12/10/2003."

Capt. Brian Cope, a spokesman for the 2nd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division, refused to comment on al-Zeidi's death.

Cope confirmed that the army carried out raids Wednesday against "35 separate targets" in Mosul. Cope, whose brigade controls Mosul, said dozens of people were captured in the raids including suspected members of Saddam Fedayeen and other former regime loyalists.

Hours after the raid, insurgents carried out two separate attacks in Mosul, killing two soldiers and wounding four.

Members of the Saddam Fedayeen, the paramilitary group that was run by Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s late son Odai, are believed to be taking part in attacks against U.S. occupation forces in Iraq (news - web sites).

Odai and his younger brother Qusai were killed by U.S. troops in Mosul in July.

Meanwhile, Iraq's U.S.-appointed interim government established a war crimes tribunal Wednesday to try former members of Saddam's regime.

Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, president of Iraq's Governing Council, said the new tribunal will cover crimes committed from July 17, 1968 � the day Saddam's Baath Party came to power � until May 1, 2003 � the day President Bush (news - web sites) declared major hostilities over.

"Today is an important historic event in the history of Iraq," al-Hakim said.

The tribunal will try cases stemming from mass executions of Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s, as well as the suppression of uprisings by Kurds and Shiite Muslims after the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites).

Al-Hakim said it would also try cases committed against Iran � with which Iraq fought a bloody 1980-88 war � and against Kuwait, which Iraq invaded in 1990, sparking the Gulf War.

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American Airlines #77 Boeing 757 8:10 a.m. Departed Dulles for Los Angeles 9:39 a.m. Crashed into Pentagon
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Evacuees Flee New Orleans Ahead of Ivan (AP) - Faced with a nightmare scenario of floodwaters that could drown this below-sea-level city, thousands of evacuees jammed highways Tuesday in an agonizingly slow escape from 140-mph Hurricane Ivan as it bore down on four Gulf Coast states. Bumper-to-bumper traffic flowed out of this city of 1.5 million amid a state of emergency and dire warnings that an Ivan-sized storm could could essentially overflow Lake Pontchartrain, overwhelming this saucer-shaped city with up to 20 feet of water.
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Combat Support Hospital in Africa and Reine Sofia in Spain.

[Let 10-year-old Vijay go! Today, September 9, 2004, in Trinidad he is still in captivity! Since 80 days ago he was snatched from his home and spent the terror of hurricane Ivan away from his siblings. He wants to return to his Hindu school and play with his old friends.]

A children's TV star pleaded guilty in an obcenity case. He was charged with the possession of obscene material without authorisation, and using them to teach without a copyright license. He lacked qualifications to teach or to publish electronically. Mr Herman was given 3 years informal probation that requires him to stay away from children.

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