2 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, November 4, 2003 I N ATION WORLD Blasts rattle downtown Baghdad, shrine NEWS IN BRIEF BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - American troops hunted for anti-aircraft missiles along Iraq's trucking routes, digging through heaps of manure, mounds of hay or piles of pomegranates yesterday. The U.S. Army retrieved the wreckage of a downed transport heli- copter and searched for clues about who knocked it from the sky. Attacks continued yesterday - a blast near a Shi- ite Muslim shrine in the southern city of Karbala that witnesses said killed at least one person, and a bar- rage of three mortar rounds in Baghdad that caused no reported casualties. One clue in Sunday's helicopter shootdown pay lie in Ramadi, west of the crash site, where an anti- U.S. leaflet warned, just two days before the shoot- down, that Iraq's insurgents would strike the Americans with "modern and advanced methods." The downing of the CH-47 Chinook, one of two carrying dozens of soldiers on their way to Baghdad airport and home leave, killed 16 Americans and wounded 20 others. It was the heaviest U.S. death toll in any single action since the invasion of Iraq last March 20. One victim, Ernest Bucklew, 33, had been expected to stop at his Fort Carson, Colo., home before travel- ing to his mother's funeral. His wife, Barbara, wept as she spoke of breaking the news to the couple's two children, 8-year-old Joshua and 4-year-old Justin. "My oldest one is just a little numb," she said at the Army post near Colorado Springs, Colo., shroud- ed in fog and a cold rain. "He understands his nana and father passed away, but he hasn't talked about it. The youngest one just doesn't understand. He doesn't understand the concept of death right now." Sixteen of the injured were flown by U.S. Air Force C-17 transport yesterday to Ramstein Air Base in Germany and treated at the U.S. military's Land- stuhl Regional Medical Center. Nine were admitted I to the intensive care unit, including five in serious condition, said hospital spokeswoman Marie Shaw. "They are being evaluated and surgeries are planned throughout the day," she said. Villagers who saw the helicopter downing south of Fallujah, 35 miles west of Baghdad, said it was struck from behind by one or two missiles apparently fired from a date palm grove in the area, deep in the Sunni Muslim heartland that has produced the most violent opposition to the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Hundreds of portable, shoulder-fired missiles are unaccounted for in Iraq, potential threats to a U.S. occupation army that relies heavily on the slow, low- flying CH-47 Chinook craft for troop transport. The U.S. command has offered Iraqis $500 apiece for each portable missile turned in but has refused to say how many have been surrendered. In one search operation yesterday, U.S. military police stretched out razor wire and set up check- points along the main artery running north from Baghdad, now dubbed "Highway 1," to look for weapons, including anti-aircraft missiles. "We have had indication that more of stuff like this (missiles) are moving out there," said Lt. Col. Dave Poirier, commander of the 720th Military Police Bat- talion. "People know they are taking a big chance in transporting weapons ... and for some of these large weapons systems, you'd have to have a truck to trans- port it." Spc. Andrew Fifield of San Antonio, Texas, jumped on top of a truck transporting pomegranates and picked through the fruit carefully. As he dug through dried manure atop a second truck, he motioned to Iraqi policemen to join him. None did. "A lot of them were not police as we'd know police back home to be," Poirier said. "Some of them were never policemen before this." . "; ,. . ' "People know they are taking IYADH, Saudi Arabia a big chance in transporting Police in Mecca round up militants wpannnd & and d r A ff.. I Vicaullns ... anlJ loru sJmeC JI these large weapons, you'd have to have a truck to transport it" - Lt. Col. Dave Poirier 720th Military Police Battalion The explosion in Karbala, 65 miles south of Bagh- dad, apparently was caused by a bomb planted in a parked car on a busy street less than 100 yards from the gold-domed Imam Hussein shrine, said Mohammed Abu Jaffar al-Assadi, a Shiite cleric. Other witnesses said it might have been concealed in a bag left outside a hotel. In addition to at least one dead, it was believed 12 people were wounded, al-Assadi said. It was not immediately possible to get confirmation of the report from Iraqi police or the U.S.-led coalition. Karbala has been rocked by deadly clashes between supporters of rival Shiite factions. Here in the capital, U.S. occupation authorities said three mortar rounds were lobbed from a firing position somewhere in southwestern Baghdad late yesterday. Two landed in unspecified locations in central Baghdad, and the third struck a camp of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment. They said no injuries were immediately reported. As a result of Sunday's shootdown, the U.S. command may have to re-evaluate the routes and flying tactics of its transport helicopters and planes over Iraq. ;s Congress g w p assesai Fpackage p p for Iraq RTTR WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress voted its final approval yesterday for $87.5 billion for U.S. military opera- tions and aid in Iraq and Afghanistan, a day after Americans in Iraq endured their worst casualties since March. In an anticlimactic moment for which only a handful of senators appeared, the Senate approved the bill by voice and handed a legislative victo- ry to President Bush, who had request- AP PHOTo ed a similar package two months ago. nstitution The voice vote - in which Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) was the only one to shout "Nay" - let lawmakers sidestep the roll call that usually accompanies major legislation. That underscored the complicated political calculus presented by the measure, which was dominated by c h popular funds for U.S. forces but also sparked questions about Bush's post- war Iraq policies and record budget for the time deficits at home. ing to be a "As the president said time and time ter and the again, we will not walk away from Afghanistan Iraq," said Senate Appropriations Com- nkly, I don't mittee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alas- ntable." ka), a leading author of the bill. "We an Islamic will not leave the Iraqi people in chaos, ire to bring and we will not create a vacuum for racticed by terrorist groups to fill." In the latest blow to Iraq's U.S. occu- religion of piers, 19 Americans were killed there rform their on Sunday. That included 16 soldiers ovisions of who died when a missile brought down translation a U.S. Army transport helicopter west of Baghdad, a crash in which 20 other ound copies Americans were wounded. rg Moham- "Our country is being tested," ecial envoy White House press secretary Scott McClellan said in a statement released le and will in Crawford, Texas, where the presi- cracy," said dent spent a long weekend. "Those who seek to kill coalition forces and e ceremoni- innocent Iraqis want America and its ovisions for coalition partners to run so the terror- n issue that ists can reclaim control." Zaher Shah. He said the money, coupled with ve emerged assistance from international donors, major con- will help make Iraq more secure and for the past help the transition to self-government e powers of for Iraqis. The money also will help to drop it Afghanistan become a peaceful, demo- cratic and stable nation, he said. Police clashed with suspected al-Qaida sympathizers in the streets of the sacred city of Mecca yesterday, killing two militants and uncovering a cache of weapons, including Kalashnikov rifles, grenades and bomb-making materials. The raid was the latest in a string of anti-militant sweeps across Saudi Arabia, where the legitimacy of the regime rests in part on safeguarding Mecca - the site of Islam's holiest shrine, and where devout Muslims must make at least one pil- grimage. An attack in Mecca could be seen as a strike on the Saudi regime. The kingdom launched its crackdown on suspected terrorists after the May 12 suicide attacks against Western residential compounds in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. About 600 people believed linked to al-Qaida have been arrested in the sweep. In yesterday's action, the weapons found and the method the militants used indicate they are sympathizers of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, an Interior Ministry official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity. "They have the same ideology as that of the other groups that have been arrest- ed," the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. "There isn't another terrorist network in the whole world that uses such methods." The official said there was no indication the militants involved in yesterday's shootout had contact with those arrested in previous sweeps. WASH INGTON Findings on August blackout list many causes A U.S.-Canadian task force essentially has completed its interim report and will cite a number of causes, not merely a single event, for the massive power blackout last August, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said yesterday. The findings of the task force could come as early as next week. In an interview, Abraham would not give specifics because some details of the report still must be cleared up with the Canadians. He made clear, however, that no single smoking gun will be cited as the cause of the Aug. 14 blackout that darkened all or parts of eight states from Michigan to New York and into Canada. "I think you're going to see there are a number of factors that emerged during this investigation as being ... causes or partial causes," Abraham said in the inter- view with The Associated Press. "We are not going to be focused on a single event. ... We will be looking at more than one," he said. On other matters Abrahah said it is essential for Congress to finish an energy bill this year, and he's "not going to give an inch of ground on that." WASHINGTON Hysterectomy horror story allowed in case The Supreme Court said yesterday it will use the case of a Texas woman whose HMO gave her only one day in the hospital to recover from a hysterec- tomy to clarify when patients can sue health insurers for denying treatment that a doctor recommends. The facts of Ruby Calad's case go to the heart of many patients' frustration with managed care health plans, which save money by limiting coverage and treatment options. "That is the quintessential HMO hor- ror story," said George Parker Young, Calad's lawyer. "They gave her one day after major female surgery," even though her doctor objected. "It kind of sums up (patients') worst fears about HMOs." The court also agreed to hear a com- panion case from Texas involving a post- polio patient required to use a cheaper pain pill than his doctor had recommend- ed. Juan Davila claims he suffered bleed- ing ulcers and nearly had a heart attack. TALLAHASSEE, Fa. Graham declares this Senate term his last A month after dropping out of the White House race, Sen. Bob Graham announced yesterday he will retire when his term is up next year, dealing a blow to the Democrats' bid to take back the Senate. Democrats had high hopes that Gra- ham, one of Florida's most popular politicians, would win a fourth term in 2004. But in the end, Graham said he had to make the decision that was best for him and his family, including his wife, four daughters and 10 grandchildren. "This has been a very difficult deci- sion for me and my family and I know for some of you it is a disappointment," Graham said. WASHINGTON New therapies show promise for psoriasis It's a new era for patients covered in the itchy, scaly skin disease psoriasis. After years with few good treatments, doctors finally have a handful of therapies that promise to help control the incurable con- dition with fewer bad side effects. What changed? Scientists learned that psoriasis isn't just a skin-deep dis- order but a dysfunction of the immune system, so the new therapies target the real culprit. "Five to six years ago, I was telling my patients it was the wasteland," says Craig Leonardi of St. Louis University Medical School, who participated in studies of the new treatments. - Compiled from Daily wire reports. Mohammed Zahir Shah, center, former king of Afghanistan, receives the country's new draft cor during an unveiling ceremony in Kabul yesterday. Draf of Mghan constitutic aims for equality, free spee KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Two years after the fall of the Taliban, the Afghan government unveiled a historic draft constitution yesterday, aiming to cast aside a quarter-century of conflict with a unified Islamic state under a powerful presidency. The draft makes Afghanistan an Islamic republic but stops short of imposing the harsh brand of Islamic law favored by the Taliban, and for the first time enshrines a per- manent role for women in governing the country. Still, turning the document's guarantees of equality, liber- ty, dignity and free speech into reality in a country lacking all of them will be a singular challenge for President Hamid Karzai and future Afghan leaders. The draft, containing 160 articles in 12 chapters, is to be presented next month for approval at a constitutional loya jirga, or grand council, of some 500 delegates from across the country. Nationwide elections would then be scheduled in June. The document was the result of a year's work - and months of delay - reflecting deep divisions and fierce back-room struggles inside the 35-member Constitutional Review Commission. The most dramatic change from earlier drafts was the elimination of the post of prime minister and concentration of power in the president - who will be commander in chief of the military, have the power to appoint one-third of the parliament's upper house, and to name judges, military officers, police and national security officials. Extending that centralized power to Afghan's provinces and patchwork of regional allegiances and ethnic groups - where warlords rule like feudal princes in areas that seem frozen in time - will be the constitution's true test. "The degree of centralizing that you see here is being simply wishful thinking, unless there's go change of the balance of power between the cen provinces;' said Vikram Parekh, senior analyst onE for the International Crisis Group think tank. "Fran see in the near term how that's going to be impleme The draft's first article declares "Afghanistan is Republic," an indication of the government's des the country together under the banner of Islam, p almost all Afghans. "The religion of Afghanistan is the sacred Islam. Followers of other religions are free to pe religious ceremonies within the limits of the pr law," the draft states, according to an English provided by the government. At a ceremony at the Presidential Palace, red-b of the draft constitution were handed to former Kii mad Zaher Shah, Karzai, and Lakhdar Brahimi, sp of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. "I hope this will be acceptable for the peop direct people toward peace, security and demo the 88-year-old Zaher Shah. The constitution accords for the former king th al title of "Father of the Nation." But it has no pr the monarchy to continue after his death - a could be contentious in southern regions loyal to2 Many feared a strong prime minister could ha as a political and military rival to the president, a cern in a country that has known little but wari generation. Much debate focused on limiting th that position before the commission decided entirely. WWWMICHIGANDAILY.COM The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily's office for $2. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $105. Winter term (January through April) is $110, yearlong (September through April) is $190. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscrip- tions must be prepaid. 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