U.S. kills 18 fighters loyal to al-Sadr

KARBALA, Iraq — American AC-130 gunships and tanks battled militiamen near shrines in this Shi'ite holy city yesterday, and fighting was heavy in two other towns south of Baghdad. The military said 18 fighters loyal to rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr were killed.
The military said four persons were detained in Baghdad in connection with the killing of Nicholas Berg, the 26-year-old American whose videotaped beheading was shown on the Internet. Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the chief U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, said two of them, arrested Wednesday, were released after questioning.

posted by Frodgie at 3:29 PM

 

Oil Prices Drop As Much As $1 Per Barrel

WASHINGTON - Oil prices fell as much as $1 per barrel Friday after Saudi Arabia said it will push OPEC (news - web sites) to raise its daily production quota by 2 million barrels, or 8.5 percent, in order to calm jittery energy markets and protect global economic growth.

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Saudi oil minister Ali Naimi, who had called for a smaller production increase just two weeks ago, said the new target was decided upon after reviewing updated projections for supply and demand. Naimi also announced that the Saudis have agreed to pump an additional 500,000 barrels of crude per day, beginning in June.

Analysts said the Saudi plan would have little immediate effect on retail gasoline prices in the United States, where motorists are paying more than $2 a gallon, on average.

"It will take 45 days for the additional crude to make its way to the U.S. and by then it's mid July and the gasoline season is already over," said Tom Bentz, an analyst at BNP Paribas Commodity Futures in New York.

However, "the markets have to respect that the Saudis are trying to make a stand to prevent the prices from rising further," Bentz said.

Citing concerns about the negative impact the high price of oil could have on the global economy, particularly developing nations, the world's largest petroleum producer said Friday that it intends to propose the higher output level on Saturday, when several members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries gather informally at an industry conference in Amsterdam.


posted by Frodgie at 3:27 PM

 

Feds push blood pressure treatment for kids

(AP) -- New federal guidelines recommend checking children for possible heart and blood vessel damage if they have high blood pressure -- a hazard increasing among the very young as Americans put on more and more weight.

The new guidelines, like earlier ones issued eight years ago, urge doctors to begin checking children for high blood pressure at age 3 during routine office visits, just as they do for adults.

"I think there is still a large proportion of pediatricians and family practitioners who are not routinely measuring blood pressure," said Ronald Portman of the University of Texas at Houston, a member of the committee that drew up the new guidelines.

The updated guidelines are being released Thursday at a meeting in New York City of the American Society of Hypertension and will be published in the July issue of the journal Pediatrics. They were written by the National High Blood Pressure Education Program.

"The real problem is obesity," said Dr. Barbara Alving, acting director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. "We are setting the stage for our children to develop into really unhealthy young adults."


posted by Frodgie at 3:25 PM

 

It's time for reckless critics to own up.

President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld were both asked to apologize recently for the illegal and amoral behavior of a few miscreant soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. They did so without qualifications, despite the fact the military had itself uncovered the transgressions and already prepared a blistering indictment of such reprehensible acts. Media scrutiny was intense; a general has already been removed from command; court trials are scheduled; and more resignations, demotions, and jail time loom.

But since we are in the season of apologies, we might as well continue it to the bitter end. Here I do not mean the buffoons like Michael Moore whose remorse would be as spurious as the original slander was lunatic, but rather serious commentators and statesmen who have crossed the line and need to step back. So here it goes.

Ted Kennedy is the senior U.S. senator from Massachusetts. He wields enormous influence and has appointed himself as surrogate spokesman for the Democratic opposition. Yet here is how he recently weighed in about Abu Ghraib: "Shamefully, we now learn that Saddam's torture chambers reopened under new management — U.S. management."


posted by Frodgie at 9:15 AM

 

Bush rallies GOP for pep talk

President Bush yesterday sought to reassure Republicans on Capitol Hill who are worried about his record-low job approval ratings and the daily drumbeat of negative news from Iraq.
"He was very upbeat and positive about the direction we're going and asked us to keep the faith," said Rep. Deborah Pryce, Ohio Republican. "To the last person in there, we're all behind him."
Still, Mr. Bush's first visit to Capitol Hill in a year was aimed at reassuring Republicans who worry that ongoing violence in Iraq will hamper his re-election campaign against Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat.
"We've got a president who is pugnacious. This man is unrelenting, stubborn, if you will. But he's not going to walk away from a situation that's tough, and that's why he's going to win," said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, California Republican.
"He needs us not to go wobbly on him," said Sen. Gordon H. Smith, Oregon Republican, on Fox News Channel. "Because we're winning this war, even though that's not very much reported."
By shoring up support among Republican lawmakers, Mr. Bush hoped to avoid the fate of his father, former President George Bush, who lost his bid for re-election in 1992 after his support among Republicans began to erode.

posted by Frodgie at 9:13 AM

 

New Details of Prison Abuse Emerge

Previously secret sworn statements by detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq describe in raw detail abuse that goes well beyond what has been made public, adding allegations of prisoners being ridden like animals, sexually fondled by female soldiers and forced to retrieve their food from toilets.

The fresh allegations of prison abuse are contained in statements taken from 13 detainees shortly after a soldier reported the incidents to military investigators in mid-January. The detainees said they were savagely beaten and repeatedly humiliated sexually by American soldiers working on the night shift at Tier 1A in Abu Ghraib during the holy month of Ramadan, according to copies of the statements obtained by The Washington Post.

The statements provide the most detailed picture yet of what took place on the cellblock. Some of the detainees described being abused as punishment or discipline after they were caught fighting or with a prohibited item. Some said they were pressed to denounce Islam or were force-fed pork and liquor. Many provided graphic details of how they were sexually humiliated and assaulted, threatened with rape, and forced to masturbate in front of female soldiers.


posted by Frodgie at 9:11 AM

 

Israel Begins Withdrawal From Gaza Refugee Camp

RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli troops pulled back from two neighborhoods in this sprawling Palestinian (search) refugee camp Friday, leaving behind a bleak landscape of demolished and damaged homes, torn-up roads and flattened cars.

Israel said its four-day military offensive in search of arms-smuggling tunnels and militants will continue. The army said no tunnels have been found so far and only one Palestinian was arrested after soldiers questioned hundreds. Security officials believed most of the militants fled before the invasion.

Municipal officials said at least 43 homes were demolished and dozens more damaged in the camp since the offensive began Tuesday. Forty Palestinians have been killed, including gunmen and eight demonstrators hit by a tank shell.

The army said it deliberately demolished seven homes, including one belonging to an Islamic Jihad (search) militant. Other damage to homes and roads was caused by heavy military vehicles and Palestinian militant roadside bombs, the army said.

In the Brazil neighborhood, 25 houses were razed and streets were torn up, local officials said. In many cases, the facades of houses caved in or were shorn off, apparently damage from wide armored vehicles moving through the narrow alleys.


posted by Frodgie at 9:07 AM

 

More released from Abu Ghraib

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Busloads of Iraqi prisoners Friday left Abu Ghraib prison, part of 472 Iraqi prisoners that the coalition plans to release throughout the day, a coalition official told CNN.

Abu Ghraib has been the site of a prisoner abuse scandal.

The new U.S. commander of detention operations in Iraq, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, said he plans to reduce the number of the prisoners in Abu Ghraib to about 2,500, according to a coalition spokesman.

As many as 6,000 Iraqi prisoners have been held at Abu Ghraib since the U.S.-led coalition took control of the facility last summer. After this release, about 3,000 prisoners will remain at the large prison east of Baghdad.

Photographs of U.S. troops mistreating naked, hooded prisoners at Abu Ghraib, near Baghdad, surfaced in April and have led to outrage, condemnations and days of hearings in Washington.

The Army has been investigating the abuses since January. Seven soldiers -- all members of an Army reserve military police company -- have been charged in the case, and six officers have received career-ending reprimands.

One soldier, Spc. Jeremy Sivits, pleaded guilty in a court-martial held Wednesday in Baghdad and was sentenced to a year's confinement.


posted by Frodgie at 9:05 AM

 

Official: al-Qaida Seeks Chemical Strike

WASHINGTON (AP) - The top intelligence official at the Homeland Security Department, worried about an increased risk of attack in coming months, says al-Qaida wants to strike on U.S. soil with something other than a conventional explosive - perhaps with a chemical or biological weapon.

Retired Lt. Gen. Patrick Hughes said in an Associated Press interview that America has gotten better at predicting and safeguarding itself against attacks since Sept. 11, 2001. But Hughes said he fears that new terrorists "are being made every single day on the streets of the Middle East."

As Homeland Secretary Tom Ridge prepares to testify Wednesday before the Sept. 11 commission in New York, Hughes and his deputies at the agency's information analysis division say the nation's security has improved since the terrorist attacks claimed nearly 3,000 lives.

"We had a dark age on 9/11," Hughes said in the interview Monday evening. "Now, we are trying to make ourselves more secure in a way that is palatable and constitutionally right."


posted by Frodgie at 6:13 AM

 

Randy Johnson Tosses Perfect Game

ATLANTA — Arizona's Randy Johnson (search) became the oldest pitcher in major league history to throw a perfect game (search), retiring all 27 hitters to lead the Diamondbacks (search) over the Atlanta Braves 2-0 Tuesday night.

The 40-year-old left-hander struck out 13 and went to three balls on just one hitter -- Johnny Estrada in the second inning. Estrada fouled off three straight 3-2 pitches before going down swinging.

"A game like this was pretty special," the five-time Cy Young Award winner said. "It doesn't come along very often."

It was the 17th perfect game in major league history, the 15th since the modern era began in 1900 and the first since the New York Yankees' David Cone against Montreal on July 18, 1999.

"It didn't faze me," Johnson said. "The bottom line was we needed to win the game. Winning the game was the biggest, most important thing."

Cy Young, then 37, had been the oldest to throw a perfect game, doing it in 1904.

Johnson sure didn't act his age, getting stronger as the game went along on a pleasantly warm night in Atlanta.

"Not bad for being 40 years old," he said. "Everything was locked in."

While it was the first perfect game of Johnson's career, it was his second no-hitter. He no-hit Detroit for Seattle on June 2, 1990, walking six.

"That was far from perfect," he recalled. "I was a very young pitcher who didn't have any idea where the ball was going. I was far from being a polished pitcher. Fourteen years later, I've come a long way as far as knowing what I want to do."


posted by Frodgie at 6:13 AM

 

'Definitely a Cover-Up'

"There's definitely a cover-up," the witness, Sgt. Samuel Provance, said. "People are either telling themselves or being told to be quiet."

Provance, 30, was part of the 302nd Military Intelligence Battalion stationed at Abu Ghraib last September. He spoke to ABCNEWS despite orders from his commanders not to.

"What I was surprised at was the silence," said Provance. "The collective silence by so many people that had to be involved, that had to have seen something or heard something."

Provance, now stationed in Germany, ran the top secret computer network used by military intelligence at the prison.

He said that while he did not see the actual abuse take place, the interrogators with whom he worked freely admitted they directed the MPs' rough treatment of prisoners.

"Anything [the MPs] were to do legally or otherwise, they were to take those commands from the interrogators," he said.

Top military officials have claimed the abuse seen in the photos at Abu Ghraib was limited to a few MPs, but Provance says the sexual humiliation of prisoners began as a technique ordered by the interrogators from military intelligence.

"One interrogator told me about how commonly the detainees were stripped naked, and in some occasions, wearing women's underwear," Provance said. "If it's your job to strip people naked, yell at them, scream at them, humiliate them, it's not going to be too hard to move from that to another level."


posted by Frodgie at 6:12 AM

 

U.S. considers reactor deal with North Korea

The United States said it would consider again supplying North Korea with a light-water nuclear reactor as part of recent talks in Beijing, according to Bush administration officials.
The discussion came during a meeting at the six-party talks last week between Joseph DeTrani, the top U.S. representative to the talks, and his North Korean counterpart, Ri Gun.
"The North Koreans raised it," said one official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "They said, 'If we address the [highly enriched uranium] program, what would that mean for the light-water reactor program?' "
The private discussion, part of the working group talks on North Korea's nuclear arms program, also was the first time since 2002 that North Koreans acknowledged their covert uranium-based nuclear program. Publicly, North Korea has denied having a uranium-enrichment program.

posted by Frodgie at 6:12 AM

 

What do we offer the world?

"So, how do we advance the cause of female emancipation in the Muslim world?" asks Richard Perle in "An End to Evil." He replies, "We need to remind the women of Islam ceaselessly: Our enemies are the same as theirs; our victory will be theirs as well."

Well, the neoconservative cause "of female emancipation in the Muslim world" was probably set back a bit by the photo shoot of Pfc. Lynndie England and the "Girls Gone Wild" of Abu Ghraib prison.

Indeed, the filmed orgies among U.S. military police outside the cells of Iraqi prisoners, the S&M humiliation of Muslim men, the sexual torment of their women raise a question. Exactly what are the "values" the West has to teach the Islamic world?

"This war ... is about – deeply about – sex," declaims neocon Charles Krauthammer. Militant Islam is "threatened by the West because of our twin doctrines of equality and sexual liberation."

But whose "twin doctrines" is Krauthammer talking about? The sexual liberation he calls our doctrine belongs to a '60s revolution that devout Christians, Jews and Muslims have been resisting for years.

What does Krauthammer mean by sexual liberation? The right of "tweeners" and teenage girls to dress and behave like Britney Spears? Their right to condoms in junior high? Their right to abortion without parental consent?


posted by Frodgie at 5:59 AM

 

Bush renews call for same-sex marriage ban

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- As same-sex couples began exchanging wedding vows in Massachusetts, President Bush on Monday reiterated his call for a U.S. constitutional amendment banning such marriages.

"The sacred institution of marriage should not be redefined by a few activist judges. All Americans have a right to be heard in this debate," the president said in a written statement.

"I called on the Congress to pass, and to send to the states for ratification, an amendment to our Constitution defining and protecting marriage as a union of a man and a woman as husband and wife. The need for that amendment is still urgent, and I repeat that call today."

Bush, a Republican, first publicly endorsed amending the Constitution to ban same-sex marriages on February 24, in part because of the new Massachusetts law allowing gay and lesbian couples to get married in the state.

At that time, Bush said he was acting because of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's decision granting marriage rights to same-sex couples, and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's decision to begin giving marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.


posted by Frodgie at 9:58 AM

 

Sept. 11 Panel Focuses on Bad Communications

NEW YORK — With thousands of lives on the line, police and firefighters were forced to make split-second decisions Sept. 11, 2001, based on incomplete communications, a new report by the federal commission investigating the attacks found.

Two days of hearings began Tuesday morning to assess how rescuers responded to the terrorist attacks. The panel will revisit the jarring sights and sounds of the attack and its aftermath.

Videotapes to be aired at the hearings show the confusing, rushed recovery efforts, and the recollections of those who survived.

"The details we will be presenting may be painful for you to see and hear," the commission staff warned attendees as the hearings began.

Over 100 family members, some with photos of victims pinned to their chests, were at the hearing. It was to be the first time they would hear an official account of the 100 minutes between the first plane strike and the crumbling of the second World Trade Center tower.

One critical issue — early public address announcements in Tower 2 telling workers to remain at their offices — is recounted verbatim by a survivor.

A 26-page staff report reconstructing events through first-person survivor accounts found:


posted by Frodgie at 9:47 AM

 

Same-sex 'marriage' likely to prove costly

Employers, insurance companies, consumers and the government would foot the bill for the financial benefits that homosexuals would gain if same-sex "marriage" is legalized nationally.
Insurance and tax costs would drop for the partners, while spousal benefits would increase.
A General Accounting Office report lists 1,138 federal laws in which marital status conveys benefits, rights or privileges. The benefits include Social Security, disability payments, food stamps, Medicare and welfare.
"Won't this just break the bank?" said Rep. Spencer Bachus, Alabama Republican, during a House Judiciary Constitution subcommittee hearing last week on same-sex "marriage."
Health care and retirement benefits for domestic partners of federal employees would cost the government about $1.4 billion from 2004 to 2013, according to a Congressional Budget Office report that was cited by Mr. Bachus.
Like President Bush, he supports a proposed constitutional amendment that would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

posted by Frodgie at 9:33 AM

 

Kerry Chides Bush Over Record High Gas Prices

PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - With the retail price of gasoline topping $2 a gallon for the first time, Democratic White House hopeful John Kerry on Tuesday chided President Bush for failing to offer hard-hit consumers any help.

The Massachusetts senator's Democratic colleagues plan to pressure the Bush administration to lower gas costs by demanding that up to 60 million barrels of crude oil be released from the nation's emergency stockpile, but Kerry said last week he would not tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).

In remarks prepared for delivery to a roundtable discussion on economic opportunity in Portland, Kerry promised to provide relief by suspending filling the SPR, working more effectively with oil-producing nations and enacting simpler and cleaner national fuel strategies.

"Yesterday, gas prices soared to more than $2 a gallon, but this administration still has not done anything to help" Kerry said. "Their inaction is costing working Americans their jobs, their savings and the opportunity to get ahead."

The national average retail gasoline price is forecast to peak in June and remain high throughout the summer, according to the U.S. Energy Department. Higher fuel prices will be felt by motorists planning summer vacations, as well as airline passengers, trucking companies and others.

The White House has been criticized for taking crude oil off the market to fill the SPR even while the national retail price for gasoline soared. Over the past week, it jumped 7.6 cents a gallon to a record high of $2.017 a gallon on Monday.


posted by Frodgie at 9:32 AM

 

Sources: At least 13 Palestinians killed in Rafah

GAZA CITY (CNN) -- About 100 Israeli tanks and bulldozers early Tuesday rolled into the Rafah refugee camp near the Gaza-Egypt border, Palestinian sources said.

Tuesday's operations followed rocket strikes from Israeli Apache helicopters.

An Israel Defense Forces spokesman put the number killed in the strikes at 13, while Palestinian security and hospital sources reported 15 deaths.

The strikes wounded at least 33 others -- eight seriously, Palestinian and hospital sources said.

The latest rocket strike took place about 3:45 a.m. Tuesday (9:45 p.m. Monday ET), in the Tal Sultan neighborhood of Rafah.

Some of the missiles struck the same area where Israeli troops already had demolished Palestinian houses.

The Israel Defense Forces had no comment on the rocket attacks.

An Israeli military spokesman earlier had said an operation was under way in southern Gaza to stop Palestinian militants and weapons from moving through Rafah into the rest of the region.

posted by Frodgie at 9:27 AM

 

Mass. Becomes First State to Legalize Gay Unions

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Two by two they emerged from City Hall, the nation's first gay couples set to legally marry, breaking a barrier many never believed would fall and putting the United States among four countries in the world that recognize same-sex weddings (search).

With the passage of a midnight deadline, Massachusetts became the first state to process marriage licenses for gay and lesbian couples Monday. Cambridge was the only city to seize the first possible moment, opening its offices to 260 couples — even supplying a giant wedding cake — as thousands of sign-waving well-wishers cheered into the wee hours.

Despite the late night, some couples said they would try to leapfrog the state's three-day waiting period by asking a judge to let them tie the knot later in the day, a routine request that is rarely turned down.

"Somewhere, someone's working really hard to find that loophole," to quash the gay-wedding march, said Baxter Brooke, 35, of Cambridge, who hoped to wed her partner, Sonia Hendrickson, 36, on Monday. "We're worried that it's not going to last."

Other Monday wedding plans included the seven couples who brought the lawsuit that eventually led the state's highest court to declare gay marriage legal.

The first couple to receive marriage paperwork was Marcia Hams, 56, and her partner, Susan Shepherd, 52, of Cambridge. After 27 years together, they sat at a table across from a city official shortly after midnight, filling out forms as their adult son looked on.

"I feel really overwhelmed," Hams said as they left the clerk's office and walked through a throng of reporters. "I could collapse at this point."


posted by Frodgie at 6:55 AM

 

Car bomb kills Iraqi Governing Council leader

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The current president of the Iraqi Governing Council was among several people killed Monday in a suicide car bombing near Baghdad's Green Zone, a council official said.

According to Iraqi Governing Council sources, council President Izzedine Salim was on his way into the Green Zone, which houses coalition headquarters, when he was killed.

The blast killed four to six Iraqis, U.S. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said, and wounded eight -- six Iraqis and two U.S. soldiers.

The explosion occurred at about 9:45 a.m. about 200 meters (656 feet) west of coalition checkpoint No. 12.

Thick, black smoke billowed over central Baghdad after the blast. The burning wreckage of several cars could be seen in video from the scene.

Kimmitt said it appears artillery rounds were packed into the back of the car that exploded.

The presidency of the governing council is a rotating position.

It was not known if Salim was targeted by the bomber.


posted by Frodgie at 6:55 AM

 

'Raymond' Seals Deal for Final Season

NEW YORK — Three days before announcing its fall schedule, CBS sealed a deal Sunday to bring the Emmy-winning comedy "Everybody Loves Raymond" (search) back for a ninth and final season.

Producer and star Ray Romano (search) agreed to a shortened season with 16 new episodes. Most television shows make about 22 episodes a year.

"I look forward to being a hapless, sexless husband again in year nine," Romano said.

The Monday night comedy featuring Romano and his dysfunctional family won the 2003 Emmy (search) for best comedy. The additional year was widely expected. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Romano reportedly made about $1.8 million per episode this season. Brad Garrett (search), who plays Romano's brother in the series, held out for more money before filming started for this season. The other cast members, Patricia Heaton, Peter Boyle and Doris Roberts also reached new deals for more money with the network last summer.

With "Friends," "Frasier" and "Sex and the City" (search) all calling it quits this season, the deal gives "Everybody Loves Raymond" a victory lap where it won't be overshadowed by other comedies. "Raymond" also will be the highest-rated returning sitcom, a program genre in need of a transfusion of new talent.

Executive producer Phil Rosenthal said it was important to maintain quality and make sure the show had not overstayed its welcome.

"Emotionally, we never want the show to end, but everything must," Rosenthal said. "We look forward to these remaining episodes as a few encores and a few more meals with our staff."


posted by Frodgie at 6:53 AM

 

Rise of a judicial dictatorship

When the Warren Court handed down its most famous decision, Brown v. the Board of Education, on May 17, 1954, this writer had a ringside seat at a high school in the inner city of Washington, D.C.

While the Catholic schools had been integrated since 1948 by Cardinal Patrick O'Boyle, D.C. public schools remained segregated. But when the new school year began that fall, desegregation was dramatic, swift and peaceful. Hopes for success were high.

The first sign of social change one saw, hitchhiking to school from west of Rock Creek Park, however, was of a bumper crop of "For Sale" signs in the front yards of row houses all the way to the Capitol. The white working and middle classes were fleeing.

While hailing Brown, Washington's social and political elites also headed for the Maryland and Virginia suburbs to enroll their kids or put them in private schools. In little more than a decade, 96 percent of the children in the D.C. public schools were black.

Looking back half a century, what are the positive results of that "experiment noble in purpose" launched by the Warren Court?


posted by Frodgie at 6:42 AM

 

U.S. athletes told to cool it at Olympics

NEW YORK — American athletes have been warned not to wave the U.S. flag during their medal celebrations at this summer's Olympic Games in Athens, for fear of provoking crowd hostility and harming the country's already-battered public image.
The spectacle of victorious athletes grabbing a national flag and parading it around the stadium is a familiar part of international sporting competition, but U.S. Olympic officials have ordered their 550-strong team to exercise restraint and avoid any jingoistic behavior.
The plan is part of a charm offensive aimed at repairing the country's international reputation after the deepening crisis in Iraq and damaging revelations of the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. forces at the Abu Ghraib prison.

posted by Frodgie at 6:40 AM