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To: T L Comiskey who wrote (39254)	3/11/2004 7:53:41 AM
From: T L Comiskey	Respond to of 89467

U.S. Soldier Killed, Two Wounded, in Iraq TIKRIT, Iraq - An American soldier was killed and two others were injured when a homemade bomb went off in Baqouba, the U.S. military said Thursday. The attack Wednesday injured the three soldiers, two of whom were taken to the 31st Combat Support Hospital in Balad, where one died. The second soldier was in stable condition and will be taken to a military hospital in the United States. The third soldier was treated at the scene and returned to duty. None of the soldiers was identified, but all were part of the 652nd Engineering Battalion and based in Baqouba. The latest death brings to 554 the number of U.S. service members who have died since the United States launched the Iraq (news - web sites) war in March. Most have died since President Bush (news - web sites) declared an end to active combat May 1.

To: T L Comiskey who wrote (39254)	3/11/2004 7:55:01 AM
From: T L Comiskey	Respond to of 89467

Iraqi police arrested in US killings KARBALA, Iraq (AFP) - Karbala police confirmed six men arrested in connection to the killing of two US government employees and their interpreter were police offciers, but insisted their guilt had not been determined. "They are from our police department. They are suspected of being involved. The case is under investigation, but they are innocent until proved guilty," Karbala police spokesman Rahman Al-Mussawi Diab told AFP. Two US citizens, employed by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and their female interpreter, were shot dead at a checkpoint by men in police uniform late Tuesday night as they headed to their offices in Hilla, 100 kilometres (65 miles) south of Baghdad. Diab identified the men as belonging to Karbala's drug division and said they had traveled to Hilla tracking a criminal gang. They were driving a white pick-up truck like the suspected assailants and had Kalashnikov rifles that were still hot, a sure sign they had been freshly fired, at the time of their arrest, Diab said. The US-led coalition said Thursday it was studying whether the killing was carried out by actual policemen or imposters. "If in fact they were bona fide police officers who were on the payroll of the Karbala police force, that is significant and the implications of that are significant," a coalition official told reporters in Baghdad Thursday. "Because the implications are so enormous we want to make sure that we are as close to 100 percent positive as we can be." The US pair were only the second and third CPA staff to be killed in Iraq (news - web sites). The official defended the vetting process for police, which the Pentagon (news - web sites) accelerated last fall as it looked to defeat a deadly insurgency made up of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) loyalists, foreign fighters and extremists. "I know we've had problems ... let me say this, there is a very robust vetting process for the police force, we have a very strict process for distribution of equipment and uniforms etcetera," the official said. But he admitted: "Other problems can slip through the cracks, people getting onto the police force that shouldn't or equipment getting distributed to the wrong people." On Wednesday, a coalition spokesman said the FBI (news - web sites) had been asked to lead an investigation into the attack, which happened as the three drove back to Hilla from the city of Karbala, 45 kilometres to the south, where they had been visiting a newly-opened women's rights centre. Hilla police chief Keis Hamser Abud told AFP he believed that men dressed in police uniform and driving a pick-up truck had carried out the killing and said that his officers had later detained six men, most of them wearing uniforms. The detained men, who were handed to US-led coalition forces, said they worked in the Karbala police drug division, which is based opposite the women's centre that the three coalition officials often visited, Abud said. Abud added, "We are living in a time when we cannot have pure policemen 100 percent of the time. There are policemen who are weak to bribery."

To: T L Comiskey who wrote (39254)	3/11/2004 8:02:14 AM
From: T L Comiskey	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 89467

Politics Bush to Do 9/11 Remembrance, Fund-Raising Thu Mar 11, topplebush.com By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites), caught in a controversy last week over campaign ads using images of Sept. 11, 2001, will attend groundbreaking ceremonies for a 9/11 memorial on New York's Long Island on Thursday, then attend a campaign fund-raising event. Bush will visit East Meadow, New York, for an Eisenhower Park ceremony breaking ground for the Nassau County 9/11 memorial. Nearly 300 people with ties to Nassau County were killed in the attacks that brought down the World Trade Center towers. The White House said Bush's attendance at the event was not in response to the controversy that sprang up last week over television advertisements put out by his re-election campaign that showed a blasted World Trade Center tower building behind an American flag and images of firefighters carrying a flag-draped coffin. "This was an invitation that was extended to the president in mid-February," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. "The president is honored to accept the invitation and pay tribute to those who tragically lost their lives on that September day." Some families of the 9/11 victims and a firefighters' association had protested the Bush ads and Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites)'s presidential campaign had accused Bush of exploiting the 9/11 tragedy for political gain. Bush is expected to appear with New York Gov. George Pataki and other officials to pay respects to the Nassau County victims of the attacks and is expected to turn a shovel of dirt to mark the beginning of the construction. Later, he is to attend an Eisenhower Park reception to raise money for his re-election campaign, which has already taken in about $150 million, far surpassing his own $100 million record from the 2000 campaign. Some Republicans are concerned about the appearance Bush is leaving -- attending a 9/11 event then a fund-raiser -- particularly in light of last week's flap over the ads. "It is politically awkward -- and quite surprising," said one Republican strategist with close ties to the White House. This Republican and others, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there is a broad sense among Republican circles in Washington that the campaign ad controversy was a debacle that served to create a controversy while consuming several million dollars of badly needed campaign funds. "It's hard to say there is anything other than fund-raising that they're doing well," said one Republican. The Republicans said there is unease in the White House about the direction of the campaign, with Bush down in the polls to Kerry and seemingly on the defensive at every turn, and suggested that changes could be in the offing. Bush, under fire for slow growth in U.S. jobs, will also speak at an economy event while on Long Island to stress that the U.S. economy has underlying strength and that he supports job-training programs for unemployed workers.