Politics

Muslim Car Bomb Injures 58 U.S. Soldiers

Muslim Car Bomb Injures 58 U.S. Soldiers
TAL AFAR, Iraq -- A suicide car bomber wounded 58 U.S. soldiers and three Iraqis Tuesday when he charged the gates of an American military base and blew up his explosives-packed vehicle as troops opened fire. Soldiers manning the gate at the camp 45 km (28 miles) west of Mosul opened fire after the driver charged toward them, ignoring orders to stop. "The soldiers hit the driver several times, causing him to detonate the bomb prematurely," said Col. Michael Linnington of the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division. "He was definitely trying to get through the gate and into the camp." Most of the 58 soldiers injured suffered cuts, bruises and broken bones, the military said, but four were more seriously wounded and were evacuated to a military hospital.

US Helicopter Hit By Rocket Fire
Baghdad - A United States helicopter made an emergency landing on Tuesday near the town of Fallujah west of Baghdad, apparently after being hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. The US military said an OH-58 Kiowa observation helicopter from the 82nd Airborne Division made a "controlled landing" at 2.30pm near Fallujah. A spokesperson said he had no further details about the incident. Omar Ali, a reporter with Associated Press Television News, said two helicopters were flying in formation near the city, about 60km west of the capital, when one was struck by a grenade fired from the ground. It went down immediately in an open field, Ali said. The aircraft appeared structurally intact, but smoke was billowing from it.

Bush to welcome Communist with 19-Gun Salute,
President's order shames military honor guard
With China's new prime minister just hours away from a 19-gun salute on the South Lawn of the White House and a meeting in the Oval Office with President Bush, administration officials said there was no change in the fundamental one-China policy that now reaches back three decades. It repeated that China must not "coerce" Taiwan, that any reunification between the two must be peaceful, and that Taiwan must not provoke a crisis. But today's statements, which build on a series of signals the administration has been sending for the past week, will be broadly interpreted as a warning to Taiwan that Washington not only opposes independence, but even political discussion or a referendum about the subject.

Get US out! of the United Nations
Join with thousands of other Americans working to Get US out! of the United Nations. Take the action steps outlined on this website to carry out a proven strategy to increase your effectiveness and influence. Every individual can make a difference in the battle to preserve freedom.

Groups seeking to use pro-abort U.N. to push abortion
Internal memos produced by a leading abortion-rights group map out a multi-year strategy for using the United Nations and other international bodies to impose so-called reproductive-rights laws worldwide. The Center for Reproductive Rights wrote the memos as a summary of its strategic planning meetings last October. The memos show CRR "and many pro-abortion allies throughout the world plan to expand international laws well beyond their current scope and to impose these new laws worldwide, even upon individual nations that do not explicitly assent to the changes.

Gore Endorses Dean for Party Nomination
NEW YORK - Former Vice President Al Gore endorsed Howard Dean for the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, adding momentum and political prestige to Dean's front-running campaign. Dean said it was an honor and a privilege to receive Gore's endorsement.

Secret Service Plans No Action
on Eminem Lyrics, Issues Caution
The US Secret Service has looked into reports that rapper Eminem wrote lyrics that said ``I'd rather see the president dead,'' but it doesn't plan a formal investigation, said a Secret Service spokesman. John Gill, the spokesman, cautioned such lyrics can have unintended consequences on others. ``The Secret Service has no current plans to open an investigation into this matter,'' Gill said Monday.

Bad Cops Bounce From City to City
It is a two-step dance. First, a department lets a problem officer go without completing a formal investigation that might cost him his police certificate. Then another department, eager to find an already-trained recruit at a bargain wage, hires him without asking too many questions. Most often, a Post-Dispatch investigation discovered, these officers end up in the poorest and most crime-ridden communities.

Murdered prosecutor's route into Pa. is probed
Federal investigators appealed to the public for help yesterday in retracing the steps of Baltimore federal prosecutor Jonathan P. Luna before he was found slain in a Lancaster County creek. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Baltimore released photos of Luna's 2003 silver Honda Accord, with his University of North Carolina license plate, as details emerged that Luna had used a roundabout route between Baltimore and Brecknock Township, where his body was found Thursday morning.

Congressman Resigns Following Manslaughter Conviction
FLANDREAU, S.D. - South Dakota Congressman Bill Janklow announced his resignation yesterday after being convicted of manslaughter for killing a motorcyclist in a car accident. Janklow, a Republican, said he'd quit effective Jan. 20, the day he's to be sentenced. The conviction, returned by a jury in Janklow's boyhood hometown after five hours' deliberation, could land him in prison for 10 years. The jury rejected his claim that a diabetic reaction disoriented him. Janklow appeared stunned as the verdict was read. He walked steadily out of the courtroom, got in a vehicle driven by his son and left the courthouse. He refused to answer questions.

27 GOP Reps Threaten Revolt on Faith Based Bill
WASHINGTON -- In a letter delivered today to Majority Whip Roy Blunt and Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas, 27 Republican Congressmen "very strongly oppose" portions of the Senate version of the CARE Act of 2003 which favor selected environmental groups. It would grant a 25% break in capital gains taxes to sellers of land or water rights -- only if they sold to a land trust or a government agency. The letter continues, "We believe the Charitable Giving Act is intended to encourage and benefit faith-based institutions in their efforts to extend social services to the general public.

Key Human Rights Trial Begins
LOS ANGELES -- Seven years after it was filed, a landmark human rights lawsuit against Unocal Corp. is set to go to trial in Los Angeles. The first phase of the complex case, closely watched by human rights advocates and multinational companies facing similar civil suits, will decide the seemingly arcane but potentially pivotal point of which Unocal corporate entity should be the defendant. If the case moves to the second phase, the trial will then turn to the specific allegations: that Unocal indirectly aided and profited from human rights abuses -- including murder, rape and forced labor -- carried out by soldiers guarding a natural gas pipeline in Myanmar.

Posted by Editor at December 9, 2003 01:50 PM