Senate rejects Iraq troop withdrawal
Senate rejects Iraq troop withdrawal
By Ross Colvin
Thu Jun 22, 5:06 PM ET
Republican senators backed President George W. Bush's Iraq policies on Thursday, rejecting Democratic plans to start pulling out troops after a debate that forced Iraq to the heart of campaigning for November elections.
Five U.S. troops were killed in the previous two days, the military said -- four Marines in two attacks in western Iraq and a soldier in a roadside bombing south of Baghdad, bringing the number of Americans to die in three years in Iraq to 2,511.
Some of Bush's fellow Republicans fear low poll ratings over the war could hurt them in legislative elections. But senators rallied to accuse Democrats of "cutting and running" while their opponents said Republicans were uniting on failed policies.
The votes came as the U.S. commander in Iraq, General George Casey, met Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for talks on future force levels. The Pentagon is considering a reduction of a few thousand troops from the present 127,000 in the coming months.
Iraqi police and other officials said a roadside bomb wounded the governor of the province where al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike two weeks ago, although some Iraqi and U.S. officials called it a car accident.
Police sources said the car in which Diyala province governor Raad al-Mowla's driver and a bodyguard were killed was struck by shrapnel in the explosion. They dismissed a statement by the U.S. military that a tire blow-out caused the crash. Mowla was stable in a U.S. military hospital, the military said.
The U.S. military said Saddam had gone on hunger strike following Wednesday's killing of a third member of his defense team, missing his midday meal on Thursday. A U.S. military spokesman said he joined a group of former aides who have missed three meals since Wednesday.
"Despite their refusal to eat their meals, they are in good health and receiving appropriate medical care," he said.
Saddam's chief lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi, said on Wednesday night Saddam had started a hunger strike. The former Iraqi leader has refused food in the past, according to his lawyers.
MASS KIDNAPPING
Confusion surrounded the abduction of dozens of factory workers by gunmen north of Baghdad as they traveled home on Wednesday, with government officials offering flatly contradictory accounts which changed throughout the day.
Iraq's Interior Ministry said 80 or more workers were abducted by gunmen near Taji, a violent town north of Baghdad. About 40, all Shi'ites or women, were later freed. The fate of the remaining Sunni workers was not immediately known.
But Iraq's industry minister, whose ministry oversees the factory, said 64 were taken and 30 released. Iraqi soldiers said they had found several bodies in the area that might have been related to the abduction. There were unconfirmed reports from one Iraqi security office that troops had freed some hostages.
Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has pledged to heal tensions that have pushed the country toward civil war between majority Shi'ites and Saddam's once dominant Sunnis.
President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, said a committee had approved Maliki's "national reconciliation" project, which would be presented to parliament on Sunday. It is likely to spell out how some Sunni insurgents can be brought into negotiations.
As part of a reconciliation drive, Maliki has announced the release of 2,500 mostly Sunni prisoners from U.S. jails in June. The U.S. military said it would free 500 on Friday.
Iraq's trade minister threatened to reconsider trade deals with wheat supplier Australia a day after Australian troops killed one of his bodyguards in a mishap in the capital.
The Australian government is trying to negotiate new wheat deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars with Iraq, whose state rations body is one of the world's biggest wheat buyers.
(Additional reporting by Mussab Al-Khairalla, Alastair Macdonald, Michael Georgy, Ibon Villelabeitia and Omar al-Ibadi in Baghdad, Paul Tait and Michael Byrnes in Sydney and Vicki Allen and Will Dunham in Washington)
Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
By Ross Colvin
Thu Jun 22, 5:06 PM ET
Republican senators backed President George W. Bush's Iraq policies on Thursday, rejecting Democratic plans to start pulling out troops after a debate that forced Iraq to the heart of campaigning for November elections.
Five U.S. troops were killed in the previous two days, the military said -- four Marines in two attacks in western Iraq and a soldier in a roadside bombing south of Baghdad, bringing the number of Americans to die in three years in Iraq to 2,511.
Some of Bush's fellow Republicans fear low poll ratings over the war could hurt them in legislative elections. But senators rallied to accuse Democrats of "cutting and running" while their opponents said Republicans were uniting on failed policies.
The votes came as the U.S. commander in Iraq, General George Casey, met Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for talks on future force levels. The Pentagon is considering a reduction of a few thousand troops from the present 127,000 in the coming months.
Iraqi police and other officials said a roadside bomb wounded the governor of the province where al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike two weeks ago, although some Iraqi and U.S. officials called it a car accident.
Police sources said the car in which Diyala province governor Raad al-Mowla's driver and a bodyguard were killed was struck by shrapnel in the explosion. They dismissed a statement by the U.S. military that a tire blow-out caused the crash. Mowla was stable in a U.S. military hospital, the military said.
The U.S. military said Saddam had gone on hunger strike following Wednesday's killing of a third member of his defense team, missing his midday meal on Thursday. A U.S. military spokesman said he joined a group of former aides who have missed three meals since Wednesday.
"Despite their refusal to eat their meals, they are in good health and receiving appropriate medical care," he said.
Saddam's chief lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi, said on Wednesday night Saddam had started a hunger strike. The former Iraqi leader has refused food in the past, according to his lawyers.
MASS KIDNAPPING
Confusion surrounded the abduction of dozens of factory workers by gunmen north of Baghdad as they traveled home on Wednesday, with government officials offering flatly contradictory accounts which changed throughout the day.
Iraq's Interior Ministry said 80 or more workers were abducted by gunmen near Taji, a violent town north of Baghdad. About 40, all Shi'ites or women, were later freed. The fate of the remaining Sunni workers was not immediately known.
But Iraq's industry minister, whose ministry oversees the factory, said 64 were taken and 30 released. Iraqi soldiers said they had found several bodies in the area that might have been related to the abduction. There were unconfirmed reports from one Iraqi security office that troops had freed some hostages.
Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has pledged to heal tensions that have pushed the country toward civil war between majority Shi'ites and Saddam's once dominant Sunnis.
President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, said a committee had approved Maliki's "national reconciliation" project, which would be presented to parliament on Sunday. It is likely to spell out how some Sunni insurgents can be brought into negotiations.
As part of a reconciliation drive, Maliki has announced the release of 2,500 mostly Sunni prisoners from U.S. jails in June. The U.S. military said it would free 500 on Friday.
Iraq's trade minister threatened to reconsider trade deals with wheat supplier Australia a day after Australian troops killed one of his bodyguards in a mishap in the capital.
The Australian government is trying to negotiate new wheat deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars with Iraq, whose state rations body is one of the world's biggest wheat buyers.
(Additional reporting by Mussab Al-Khairalla, Alastair Macdonald, Michael Georgy, Ibon Villelabeitia and Omar al-Ibadi in Baghdad, Paul Tait and Michael Byrnes in Sydney and Vicki Allen and Will Dunham in Washington)
Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
posted by Walking Contradiction at 6/23/2006 04:20:00 AM
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