Saddam's Attitude Full of Defiance, Arrogance

NEW YORK — Saddam Hussein's showing some attitude.
The former Iraqi dictator showed up in an Iraqi court Thursday to be slapped with seven broad, preliminary charges ranging from the gassing of Kurds (search) in Halabja in 1988, killing members of political parties over the last 30 years, the suppression of the 1991 uprisings by Kurds and Shiites (search) and the 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Specific charges will be filed later.

Acting defiant and questioning the authority of the Iraqi court established to try him and the judge listening to his rants, the Butcher of Baghdad spent his time in court pointing fingers at the judge, changing moods from nervousness to exasperation, pounding his fists while gesticulating, carrying on about how he's not to blame for anything other than looking out for Iraqis while still maintaining, "I am Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq."


posted by Frodgie at 6:55 AM

 

Bremer labels Zarqawi cells hard to crack

Abu Musab Zarqawi has set up a network so well organized in Iraq it deployed a Yemeni suicide bomber in a car to blow up a police station just 48 hours after he entered the country, says L. Paul Bremer, the former top U.S. administrator in Baghdad.
"He had arrived in the country only two days before, and as analyst of terrorism for some time now, this was quite revealing to me," said Mr. Bremer, describing an incident in December when the Yemeni was shot and captured after his bomb failed to explode.
"It showed a very high degree of organization that you could have a guy come across the border and within two days marry him up with a rather elaborate plot. Targets. A thousand-pound bomb built into his car. He has the car. He knows the target. It's quite impressive."
Mr. Bremer told the story yesterday to editors and reporters of The Washington Times to illustrate the tough task the coalition faces in trying to rid Iraq of the Zarqawi network.
posted by Frodgie at 6:53 AM

 

Insurgents' attack backfires

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Insurgents rigged a launcher inside a minibus to fire rockets at a Baghdad hotel on Friday, but a malfunction caused ordnance inside the bus to explode and set the vehicle ablaze, officials said.

The rockets caused little damage, and there were no reports of casualties.

Apparently, the attackers used a timing device to launch the rockets and fled the minibus after setting it, a military source told CNN.

One of the rockets hit the Sheraton Hotel, where many international journalists stay.

A second rocket veered north and hit a parking lot of the Baghdad Hotel, setting a car on fire, security forces said.

Two other rockets hit a curb near Firdous Square, where a statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled last year.

Several empty rocket launchers were found inside the burned-out minibus.

The botched rocket assault came a day after insurgent bombs, rockets and mortars left eight people dead in Iraq.

Among the dead in Thursday's attacks were six Iraqis, including an interim government official, and two members of the U.S.-led coalition forces.

One of the troops killed was a U.S. Marine in Iraq's expansive Al Anbar province, which includes the restive cities of Ramadi and Fallujah and runs to the Syrian and Jordanian borders.


posted by Frodgie at 6:46 AM

 

Hong Kong Stages Massive Democracy March

HONG KONG (AP) - Angered by Beijing's decision ruling out full democracy in Hong Kong, hundreds of thousands of people marched Thursday to demand the right to choose their leader.

"We don't want to be subservient to the central government," said Ben Kwok, a 40-year-old factory owner, as the crowd clogged streets and turned much of downtown Hong Kong into a sprawling but peaceful protest zone.

Organizers claimed 530,000 people had marched - a turnout that would put the rally on par with one that jolted the Chinese and Hong Kong governments exactly a year earlier. Police offered a lower estimate, saying about 200,000 people were there by midway through the five-hour demonstration.

Numbers aside, Hong Kong's people made it clear they are unhappy with the way they have been governed in the seven years since Britain returned this former colony to China, and they want to make changes on their own.


posted by Frodgie at 6:43 AM

 

FBI Warns Police to Be on Alert for July 4 Attacks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The FBI on Thursday warned police of potential July 4 attacks by al Qaeda using tactics like assault teams, car bombs and suicide bombs, although it said it had no credible threat for the holiday.
In a weekly bulletin sent to law enforcement officials across the country, the FBI repeated recent warnings the United States remained a top al Qaeda target, but said it had no specific information regarding a July 4 attack.

"Al Qaeda's targets generally have been of symbolic significance as well as directed at inflicting mass casualties with the timing of attacks driven more by operational considerations than specific timeframes," said the bulletin, entitled "Fourth of July Threat Environment."

"In recent overseas attacks, terrorists have employed small-arms equipped assault teams, large vehicle borne explosive devices, and suicide bombers," the bulletin said. "These or similar tactics could be used in the United States."

U.S. officials have said since April they were worried al Qaeda might take advantage of holidays or special events over the summer to attack the United States or U.S. interests.

The bulletin gave a number of possible infrastructure targets that included gas refineries and pipelines, subways and trains, financial institutions, civil aviation and nuclear power plants.

Noting suicide bombers had been used overseas to attack "soft targets" like restaurants or nightspots, the bulletin gave officers a list of visible indicators that someone might be a suicide bomber.


posted by Frodgie at 6:41 AM

 

France vetoes Afghan mission

France yesterday blocked a U.S.-backed plan to use a special NATO force to safeguard elections in Afghanistan this fall, despite a plea from Afghan leaders that the troops are badly needed.
French President Jacques Chirac's veto of the plan on the second and final day of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's summit in Istanbul was the latest in a string of direct rebukes to President Bush in recent days and a sign that French-U.S. relations have not overcome the bitter divisions stemming from the Iraq war last year.
The Afghanistan mission was vetoed despite a direct plea from Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who said continuing violence by Islamic fundamentalist forces in the country was a threat to the fledgling democratic government.
"I would like you to please hurry, as NATO, to Afghanistan. Come sooner than September," said Mr. Karzai, who traveled to Istanbul to make his appeal.
While President Bush in recent days has talked up trans-Atlantic unity and praised the early transfer of sovereignty in Iraq, Mr. Chirac has pointedly criticized U.S. positions on Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

posted by Frodgie at 6:59 AM

 

Saudi Pipelines Could Be Next Terror Targets

NEW YORK — Iraq has already lost over $1 billion in oil revenue from attacks on its pipelines. Saudi Arabia (search) could be next.

Guerrillas in Iraq have targeted oil pipelines as a way to slow reconstruction efforts and voice opposition to the presence of U.S. and other coalition troops. With Saudi Arabia and Iraq being the two biggest suppliers of oil in the Middle East, some experts say the Saudi pipelines are the next likely targets of terrorists and more needs to be done to protect that infrastructure.

"It's very easy to get on a camel or donkey … just ride into the desert and put a pound or three pounds of TNT there to blow up a pipeline and create millions of dollars in damage," said Ariel Cohen, research fellow with the Heritage Foundation (search) and an expert in international energy security. Cohen noted that the damage is easily repairable, but larger-scale attacks on loading facilities, major hubs and refineries would do more damage.

"There's no doubt that as long as Al Qaeda (search) sees oil as the vulnerable Achilles heel for the Saudi family, the more they're going to target it," said Fox News foreign affairs analyst Marc Ginsberg, who is also a former ambassador to Morocco.


posted by Frodgie at 6:57 AM

 

Edwards tops Kerry veep poll

(CNN) -- Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina gets the most enthusiastic response from Americans asked in a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll about possible running mates for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry.

Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri places a solid second in the poll released Tuesday.

Seventy-two percent said they would be enthusiastic or satisfied with an Edwards pick, compared with 64 percent for Gephardt.

Both Edwards and Gephardt sought the Democratic nomination before abandoning their campaigns as Kerry, a four-term U.S. senator from Massachusetts, pulled ahead.

Poll respondents were also asked to consider retired Gen. Wesley Clark, Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana and Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack.

Respondents said they were enthusiastic or satisfied with those men at percentages of 59, 58 and 54, respectively.

CNN polling director Keating Holland said higher name recognition could account for the stronger support for Edwards and Gephardt.

Holland noted that the poll attempted to compensate for the higher visibility of some of the men by reading respondents a description of each man's experience and background.


posted by Frodgie at 6:55 AM

 

Iraqis given custody of Saddam

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Deposed leader Saddam Hussein is to appear in court Thursday after Iraq's interim government took legal custody of him.

The U.S.-led coalition transferred Saddam and 11 other high profile members of his former regime to Iraqi authorities on Wednesday.

After the transfer, which took place Wednesday morning, Saddam looked visibly shaken, Salem Chalabi, executive director of the Special Iraqi Tribunal said.

Saddam and his aides are no longer prisoners of war, although they will physically remain in coalition military hands until the Iraqi security apparatus is ready to hold them.

Legally, Saddam and his aides will be in Iraqi custody until their trials, which are not expected before next year.

Saddam was advised that he had the right to legal counsel, and he wanted to ask questions but was told he would be able to ask them during his court appearance Thursday, Chalabi said.


posted by Frodgie at 6:53 AM

 

A Novel's Plot Against the President
Character Fantasizes Bush Assassination

In Nicholson Baker's new novella, "Checkpoint," a man sits in a Washington hotel room with a friend and talks about assassinating President Bush.

It's a work of the imagination and no attempts on the president's life are actually made, but the novel is likely to be incendiary, as with Michael Moore's documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11."

Flush with the headline-generating success of "My Life," by Bill Clinton, Alfred A. Knopf is planning to publish Baker's work Aug. 24, on the eve of the Republican National Convention. "Checkpoint" is 115 pages long and will sell for $18.

In the book, two men -- Ben and Jay -- meet at the fictional Adele Hotel and Suites in Washington. It is midday. They eat a bag of bagel chips and order lunch from room service. They talk into a tape recorder.


posted by Frodgie at 6:51 AM

 

U.S. hands over power in Iraq

BAGHDAD — The United States ended its 15-month occupation of Iraq yesterday morning, two days earlier than expected, with a stealth ceremony inside the heavily fortified green zone that was over before it was even announced.
Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) head L. Paul Bremer handed the sheaf of legal documents transferring power to Iraqi Chief Justice Midhat al-Mahmood in an ornate office once used by Iraq's Governing Council, as new President Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer and Prime Minister Iyad Allawi looked on.
"This is a day all Iraqis have been looking forward to," Mr. al-Yawer said, "a day we are going to take our country back into the international forum."
Mr. Bremer told the Iraqi officials, "You have said and we have agreed that you are ready for sovereignty."
President Bush, meeting with fellow NATO leaders in Turkey, hailed the transfer of power as a milestone, but U.S. officials acknowledged that the ceremony was bumped up from June 30 and held in hastily arranged secrecy because of fears that terrorists would try to disrupt the proceedings.

posted by Frodgie at 6:21 AM

 

12-Week Old Baby 'walks'...

A new type of ultrasound scan has produced vivid pictures of a 12 week-old foetus "walking" in the womb.
The new images also show foetuses apparently yawning and rubbing its eyes.

The scans, pioneered by Professor Stuart Campbell at London's Create Health Clinic, are much more detailed than conventional ultrasound.

Professor Campbell has previously released images of unborn babies appearing to smile.

He has compiled a book of the images called Watch Me Grow.

Conventional ultrasound, usually offered to mothers at 12 and 20 weeks, produces 2D images of the developing foetus.

These are very useful for helping doctors to measure and assess the growth of the foetus, but convey very little information about behaviour.

posted by Frodgie at 6:19 AM

 

Arab TV: Terrorists Kill U.S. Soldier

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Militants shot an American hostage in the back of the head saying they killed the soldier because of U.S. policy in Iraq, Al-Jazeera (search) television said Tuesday, hours after Washington transferred sovereignty in Iraq to an interim government.

The Arab-language station reported that the slain soldier was Spc. Matt Maupin (search), but the U.S. military said it could not immediately confirm whether a man shown being shot in a murky videotape was indeed Maupin, who was taken hostage after an April 9 attack outside Baghdad.

The report did not say when Maupin, 20, of Batavia, Ohio, was killed.

Monday's surprise transfer of sovereignty came two days earlier in an apparent attempt to foil the timing of expected attacks by anti-American insurgents intent at undermining the transfer.

There were no major attacks throughout the day. But after nightfall Monday, four heavy explosions rang out in central Baghdad, near the U.S.-held Green Zone — a near daily occurrence in the capital. The military said there were no injuries in the blasts, which were caused by mortar fire.


posted by Frodgie at 6:14 AM

 

U.S. renews diplomatic ties with Libya

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States resumed direct diplomatic ties with Libya on Monday after 24 years, the State Department said.

Assistant Secretary of State William J. Burns formally opened a U.S. liaison office in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, marking the highest-level U.S. diplomatic presence in the country since 1980.

The announcement was made after meetings between top State Department officials and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

The U.S.-Libyan relationship has been steadily improving since Gadhafi's promise in December to dismantle the country's weapons of mass destruction, eliminate its longer-range missile programs and end its cooperation with terrorists.

But the Bush administration's investigation of a report that Gadhafi plotted to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah cast doubts on how soon the two countries would move toward an exchange of ambassadors, which would signify the full resumption of relations.


posted by Frodgie at 6:11 AM

 

Smiling Bush quietly shares Iraq handover glee with Blair

ISTANBUL (AFP) - US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) checked his watch, whispered in British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites)'s ear, and shared a smile and a handshake with his closest ally on Iraq (news - web sites) in a quiet but unmistakably joyful reaction to the handover of power there.

The silent celebration began when US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld (news - web sites) passed Bush a note during a meeting of NATO (news - web sites) leaders, not all of whom knew that Iraq's new government was assuming sovereignty two days ahead of schedule.

The furtive message was from US national security adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites), who wrote Bush: "Mr President, Iraq is sovereign. Letter passed from (US civilian overseer Paul) Bremer at 10:26 AM Iraq time - Condi."

While the alliance's secretary general spoke, Bush read the note, smiled, scrawled "Let Freedom (news - web sites) Reign!" on the note with a black marker, and passed it back to Rumsfeld, who grinned broadly.

Bush rolled up his left suit sleeve, checked his watch -- it was 10:17 am (0717 GMT) -- whispered a few words in Blair's ear, smiled and extended his hand, which the prime minister happily took as both leaders smiled.

The decision to hand sovereignty two days early -- in an unannounced ceremony held under the tightest secrecy -- came late Sunday after over a week of talks between Washington and interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.


posted by Frodgie at 6:06 AM

 

Captors Say Marine, Pakistani Held in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Arab television broadcast videotape of two men taken hostage by militants, one described as a U.S. Marine lured from his base and the other a Pakistani driver for an American contractor. Insurgents threatened to behead them both.

Also, militants hit a coalition transport plane Sunday with small arms fire after takeoff from Baghdad's airport, killing an American passenger and forcing the aircraft to return. Turkey rejected demands by militants threatening to behead three Turkish hostages unless Turkish companies cease business with U.S. forces in Iraq.

Death threats against hostages as well as insurgent attacks on U.S. and Iraqi security forces have accelerated as Iraq's interim government prepares to assume sovereignty Wednesday.

The U.S. military said that a Marine named Wassef Ali Hassoun had been missing from his unit for nearly a week. It said it was unclear if he had been taken hostage, but Hassoun's name was on a Marine "active duty" identification card shown by militants in the videotape aired by the Al-Jazeera network.


posted by Frodgie at 6:59 AM

 

Iraq handover of sovereignty completed

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The handover of sovereignty to the interim Iraqi government took place at 10:26 a.m. Baghdad time Monday, two days before the June 30 deadline previously announced by the U.S.-led coalition.

The preparations for the possibility of an early transfer were started a week ago, according to a senior U.S. official.

The low-key transfer ceremony happened inside the Coalition Provisional Authority's "Green Zone" headquarters in Baghdad.

Coalition Administrator Paul Bremer -- now the former administrator -- read his letter contained in the transfer document:

"As recognized in U.N. Security Council resolution 1546, the Coalition Provisional Authority will cease to exist on June 28th, at which point the occupation will end and the Iraqi interim government will assume and exercise full sovereign authority on behalf of the Iraqi people. I welcome Iraq's steps to take its rightful place of equality and honor among the free nations of the world. Sincerely, L. Paul Bremer, ex-administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority."

Bremer handed the transfer document to the head of the Iraqi Supreme Court, who then gave it to President Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar. Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and the deputy prime minister also attended.

"This is a historic and happy day for us in Iraq," al-Yawar said. "It is a day that all Iraqis have been looking forward to. This is the day that we take our country back into the international community.


posted by Frodgie at 6:58 AM

 

CDC: More surviving cancer, living longer

ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- The number of cancer survivors in the United States has more than tripled to almost 10 million over the past three decades because of advances in detection and treatment, the government said.

Also, patients diagnosed between 1995 and 2000 have an estimated 64 percent chance of surviving five years, compared with a 50 percent rate -- a coin toss -- three decades ago, a study by National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.

"Cancer is not necessarily a death sentence as often was seen in the past -- and still is," Dr. Loria Pollack, CDC medical officer, said Thursday.

The number of cancer survivors -- defined as anyone diagnosed with cancer, no matter how recently -- soared from 3 million in 1971 to 9.8 million in 2001, the study found.

That number is likely to continue increasing as the population ages, because cancer risks increase with age, said Dr. Julia Rowland, director of the NCI's Office of Cancer Survivorship.

The government wants to increase the overall five-year survival rate to 70 percent by 2010.

Medical advances have also helped children with cancer live much longer, the study said. In the 1970s, the five-year survival rate was about 50 percent. Now it is 80 percent, Pollack said.

posted by Frodgie at 6:57 AM

 

Refocused NATO will train forces for Iraq

ISTANBUL — NATO will agree today to train Iraqi security forces — maybe inside the country — during a summit clouded by a terrorist threat to behead three Turkish civilians kidnapped in Iraq.
President Bush, who has tried since the September 11 attacks to shape NATO into a quick-response army to fight global terrorism, is poised to get much of what he wants by the time the summit ends tomorrow.
"We have decided today to offer NATO's assistance to the government of Iraq with the training of its security forces," said a draft declaration urging member nations "to contribute to the training of the Iraqi armed forces."
"We have asked the North Atlantic Council to develop on an urgent basis the modalities to implement this decision with the Iraqi interim government," said the draft, according to Agence France-Presse.
This refocusing of the mission of an organization created to counter Soviet military aggression makes this week's summit "historic," a senior Bush administration official said.

posted by Frodgie at 6:54 AM

 

U.S. Seeks U.N. Response to Iran Nuke Plan

WASHINGTON — U.N. sanctions may be the appropriate response to Iran (search), after the government in Tehran announced Sunday that it plans to continue its centrifuge construction for a nuclear program opposed by the international community, U.S. officials said.

"Iran needs to come clean and fully cooperate with its international obligations," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters travelling with President George W. Bush to a NATO summit in Istanbul.

"We have expressed concern within the IAEA about the need to consider sending this matter to the Security Council of the United Nations and I think this latest move may only serve to convince others of the need to seriously consider that step," he added.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Iran will not begin enriching uranium, the process of injecting gas into centrifuges, but it has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (search), Britain, France and Germany of the country's intention to resume construction on the centrifuges -- a move critical to building a nuclear bomb.


posted by Frodgie at 6:52 AM

 

The Greedy Millionaire: And He's a Democrat

Teresa Heinz Kerry, through a network of investments in blue-chip corporations, venture capital funds and municipal bonds, controls a family fortune worth an estimated $1 billion, an analysis of public records shows.

The $1 billion figure is double the estimates of her wealth that are widely cited in news stories about her husband, Sen. John F. Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president.

The couple would rank as the wealthiest to occupy the White House, far surpassing such storied presidential fortunes as the Kennedys'. Their assets are so vast and far-reaching that they mirror the U.S. economy and will probably raise questions about conflicts of interest.

"She represents a new ballgame in terms of her wealth and in terms of the wealth she controls," said Kevin Phillips, a political commentator and author of the history "Wealth and Democracy."

Heinz Kerry's investments, worth an estimated $500 million in 1995, have grown over the past nine years to $1 billion or more, even accounting for large living expenses and charitable contributions, according to an analysis of Securities and Exchange Commission filings, Senate financial disclosure reports, probate documents and other public records.

Because key details of Heinz Kerry's investments are not in the public record, a precise valuation is not possible. The Los Angeles Times' analysis produced estimates as low as $900 million and as high as $3.2 billion. Three senior executives at investment companies that handle accounts for wealthy clients reviewed the Times' study and said the $1 billion valuation was a fair and conservative estimate.


posted by Frodgie at 9:05 AM