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2A -The Michigan Daily - Monday, November 24, 2003

NATION/WORLD

Three U.S. soldiers killed in Mosul NEWS IN BRIEF

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MOSUL, Iraq (AP) - Iraqi teenagers
dragged two bloodied American soldiers
from a wrecked vehicle, pummeled
them with concrete blocks and slit their
throats yesterday, witnesses said,
describing a burst of savagery in a city
once safe for Americans.
Another soldier was killed by a
bomb and a U.S.-allied police chief
was assassinated.
The U.S.-led coalition also said it
grounded commercial flights after the
military confirmed that a missile struck
a DHL cargo plane that landed Saturday
at Baghdad International Airport with its
wing aflame.
Nevertheless, American officers
insisted they were making progress in
bringing stability to Iraq, and the U.S.-

appointed Governing Council named an
ambassador to Washington - an Iraqi-
American woman who spent the past
decade lobbying U.S. lawmakers to pro-
mote democracy in her homeland.
Witnesses to the Mosul attack said
gunmen shot two soldiers driving
through the city center, sending their
vehicle crashing into a wall. The 101st
Airborne Division said the soldiers were
driving to another garrison.
About a dozen swarming teenagers
dragged the soldiers out of the wreckage
and beat them with concrete blocks, the
witnesses said.
"They lifted a block and hit them
with it on the face," said Younis
Mahmoud, 19.
The bodies were seen with their

throats cut. It was unknown whether the
soldiers were alive or dead when pulled
from the wreckage.
Another teenager, Bahaa Jassim, said
some looted the vehicle of weapons,
CDs and a backpack.
"They remained there for over an
hour without the Americans knowing
anything about it," he said. "I ... went
and told other troops."
Television video showed the soldiers'
bodies splayed on the ground as U.S.
troops secured the area. One victim's
foot appeared to have been severed.
The frenzy recalled the October 1993
scene in Somalia, when locals dragged
the bodies of Marines killed in fighting
with warlords through the streets.
In Baqouba, just north of Baghdad,

insurgents detonated a roadside bomb as
a 4th Infantry Division convoy passed,
killing one soldier and wounding two
others, the military said.
In Baghdad, Brig. Gen. Mark Kim-
mitt confirmed the Mosul deaths but
refused to provide details.
"We're not going to get ghoulish
about it," he said.
The savagery of the attack was
unusual for Mosul, once touted as a
success story in sharp contrast to
the anti-American violence seen in
Sunni Muslim areas north and west
of Baghdad.
In recent weeks, however, attacks
against U.S. troops have increased in
Mosul, raising concerns the insurgency
is spreading.

JERUSALEM
Sharon hints at concessions, critics skeptical
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, whose popularity has slipped over his fail-
ure to end the conflict with the Palestinians, floated the idea of unilateral
steps yesterday, with officials telling Israeli media this may include draw-
ing a border and removing some settlements.
In the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday, Sharon said he remains committed to
the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, which envisions a negotiated deal, with a
Palestinian state as a centerpiece, by 2005. But Sharon added that he does not
rule out unilateral steps, presumably if efforts to revive the road map fail.
The prime minister did not elaborate, and the comments seemed largely aimed
at proving to an increasingly restless Israeli public that he has a plan for ending
three years of bloodshed. Sharon's critics include four former security chiefs who 4
recently accused him of stalling to avoid concessions and warned Israel is headed
for disaster without a quick solution to the conflict with the Palestinians.
In another development, Israel expelled three Palestinians from the West Bank to
Gaza late yesterday. In all, six of 18 on a list drawn up by the military have been
expelled. Israel says the expulsions are meant to stop the Palestinians from carrying
out terror attacks. Palestinians and human rights groups have denounced the practice.
Trying to soften his hardline image, Sharon told Yediot Ahronot daily he would
present his new plan soon.
WASHINGTON
Medicare reforms spark debate in Senate I

Kabul crash kills
five U.S. soldiers

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Five
U.S. soldiers were killed and seven
injured when their helicopter crashed
yesterday near the American military
headquarters north of the Afghan capi-
tal, U.S. Central Command said.
The soldiers were involved in an
ongoing U.S. military operation,
dubbed Mountain Resolve, taking
place in the east of the country, the
military said.
"A U.S. military helicopter crashed
today near Bagram, Afghanistan," said
a statement sent by e-mail from Cen-
tral Command, in Tampa, Fla. "Early
reports indicate seven service members
were injured and at least five service
members were killed."
It was not clear what caused the
crash, and the military said it was
investigating.
Bagram Air
Base, just north of
the capital, is home The soldier
to most of thei. o.i
11,600 coalition involve in
forces in U.S. nilitar
Afghanistan. An
additional 5,000 dubbed Me
international Reserve ta
peacekeepers
patrol Kabul. in the east
Mountain
Resolve has been COuntry, th
going on since said.
Nov. 7 in eastern
Nuristan and
Kunar provinces, but so far no major
skirmishes with suspected Taliban and
al-Qaida holdouts have taken place.
Also yesterday, a coalition vehicle
struck a land mine while patrolling an
area of Afghanistan near the Pakistani
border, seriously wounding two Ameri-
can soldiers, including one who lost
one of his legs.
Several reporters were traveling with
the 10th Mountain Division forces in
eastern Afghanistan, but none was seri-
ously hurt, the U.S. military said in a
statement issued at Bagram air base. It
gave no further information about the
journalists.
The explosion occurred at about
1 p.m. in Shkin, Paktika province,
about 135 miles south of Kabul, the
Afghan capital. A coalition base
also is located there.
The wounded soldiers received initial

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k
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medical treatment at the scene, then
were evacuated by air to a medical facil-
ity at nearby Salerno base in the city of
Khost, the statement said. The men were
Staff Sgt. Roy Mitchell, of Batesville,
Ind., and Sgt. 1st Class Michael Eichner,
of Stoington, Penn., officials at Fort
Drum in New York state said.
Mitchell, 32, suffered burns to his
face, neck and back, and had his left
leg amputated. Eichner, 31, was
wounded by shrapnel in his back and
had a broken hand, the officials said.
The soldiers were assigned to the 1st
Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment.
Eastern and southern Afghanistan
have become a hotbed of attacks by
pro-Taliban and pro-al-Qaida militants
targeting coalition forces, U.N. workers
and relief agencies.
On Friday, the violence hit Kabul
when a rocket
landed 30 yards
were from the Intercon-
o tinental Hotel,
X1n { 'on o g shattering glass but
operation causing no injuries.
The hotel, a
tain favorite among for-
ing place eign visitors, is
also near the site of
f the an upcoming loya
.'j jirga, or grand
council, set to rati-
fy a new constitu-
tion in December.
A week ago, a
French woman who worked with the
U.N. High Commissioner of Refugees
organization, Bettina Goislard, 29, was
gunned down by suspected Taliban
militants in the southern city of
Ghazni. She became the first interna-
tional aid worker to be killed in
Afghanistan since the fall of the Tal-
iban regime two years ago.
Some 35 Americans have died from
hostile fire in Afghanistan since the
October 2001 start of the Afghan war,
according to the U.S. military.
An American soldier taking part in
the Mountain Resolve operation was
killed Nov. 14 when his vehicle struck
a land mine near Asadabad, the capital
of Kunar province.
Last month, two CIA agents were
killed in an ambush near another U.S.
base in the eastern Afghan border town
of Shkin.

The Republican-controlled Senate pointed toward a showdown yesterday on a
sweeping Medicare prescription drug bill that sparked a last stand by outnumbered
critics and beckoned Democratic presidential hopefuls to the Capitol to join the fight.
Even so, the roster of declared Democratic supporters for the bill grew to nine,
when Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California and Ron Wyden of Oregon announced
their intentions to vote for it. In less-than-glowing assessments, both ascribed a series
of benefits and shortcomings to the bill, and Wyden said his decision was "a very,
very tough call."
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) led a filibuster against the legislation, arguing it
would lead toward privatization of Medicare and warning that if they were successful,
Republicans would soon be back for more. "Social Security is next. Medicare is
now" he said.
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) quickly disputed that, adding that opponents were
playing politics and would regret it. He accused Democrats of blocking a prescription
drug bill two years ago, saying they had "wanted an issue" to take into the 2002 elec-
tion. "They got a defeat at the polls" instead, he said.

. " PHOT
Opposition supporters rally in front of the Georgian Parliament in
Tbilisi yesterday.
Geor0an resident
reo,,signs as protesters
tne
theaten hs resenge

DALLAS
40th anniversary of
JFK death marked
Thousands of mourners, conspira-
cy theorists and the just plain curi-
ous gathered Saturday along the
downtown street where President
John F. Kennedy was assassinated
40 years earlier, with many of them
recalling where they had been at the
very moment they heard the news.
Some looked up to the sixth floor
of the former Texas School Book
Depository, the building from which
officials say Lee Harvey Oswald
fired the deadly shots at 12:30 p.m.
on Nov. 22, 1963. Others gravitated
toward an "X" painted on the pave-
ment to mark the spot where
Kennedy's convertible was passing
when he was hit.
A makeshift memorial with
dozens of bouquets, signs and flags
of the U.S. and other countries was
assembled nearby - one of several
memorials around the country for
the fallen president.
BLACK EARTH, Wis.
Thousands kick off'
deer hunting season
Hunters by the thousands took to the
woods and fields Saturday for the start of
the nine-day gun deer season, giving the

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heads of their kills to state workers'for
testing of chronic wasting disease.
The Department of Natural Resources
sold 644,818 licenses for this season,;4.2
percent more than in 2002 when the fatal
brain disease was detected in the state's
deer herd. The increase is still 6.4 percent
less than two years ago.
Chuck DuCharme of Black Earth did-
n't hunt last year because he thought he
didn't have enough information about
chronic wasting disease. This year,
though, he thought he was better educat-
ed and picked up a license.
MONACA, Pa.
Hepatitis outbreak
may come to end
State and federal health officials
said Saturday that Pennsylvania's
hepatitis A outbreak is winding
down, even as the number of those
infected climbed over 600. The
investigation shifted to how green
onions linked to the outbreak I
became contaminated.
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) met
Saturday with Julie Gerberding,
director of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, and state
health officials at a community col-
lege near the Beaver County Chi-
Chi's restaurant where the outbreak
was first confirmed Nov. 3.
- Compiled from Daily wire reports.

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) - Georgian
President Eduard Shevardnadze
resigned yesterday as the opposition
threatened to storm his residence. His
fall sparked fireworks and dancing
among tens of thousands of protesters,
and ended a political crisis astonishing
for its speed and lack of violence in a
blood-washed region.
Shevardnadze's resignation caps a
political career during which he won
admiration in the West by helping
guide the Cold War to an end as Sovi-
et foreign minister under Mikhail
Gorbachev. But during 10 years as
president of Georgia, he became
despised for rampant corruption.
Residents of Tbilisi poured into
streets and partied late into the night
after the resignation was announced,
honking car horns and waving flags on
the capital's main Rustaveli Avenue.
Champagne corks flew, and revelers
placed flowers into the machine gun bar-
rels of two armored personnel carriers
blocking a street.
Georgia lies at a crossroads important
to both the United States and Russia, on
the planned path of an oil pipeline
between the landlocked Caspian Sea and
the ports of the Black Sea. The Cauca-
sus nation has seen two bloody sepa-
ratist movements under Shevardnadze's
rule since 1992.
Throughout nearly three weeks of
protests - since parliament elec-
tions that the opposition said were
rigged - both sides, mindful of
Georgia's history of fatal political
conflicts, had pledged to avoid
provocations. Shevardnadze said
maintaining peace was paramount in
his decision to resign.
"I realized that what is happening


FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Senator Dang Quang Minh,
member of the National
Liberation Front's Politburo and
its ambassador to the Soviet
Union, described his feelings
about the American protestors
he worked with: "When a person
is not good for his own country,
he is useless for the universe" A
Thousand Tears Falling, written
by his daughter, Yung Krall.

U of M is home to both the
anti-sweatshop movement &
the naked mile
When you have to wear clothes...

may end with spilled blood if I use my
rights" to use force against the protest-
ers, he said on national television.
"The president has accomplished a
courageous act," said opposition leader
Mikhail Saakashvili, head of the Nation-
al Movement. "History will judge him
kindly."
But by then, it was unclear if police
and soldiers would have obeyed an order
to use force. Some soldiers joined a
crowd of-50,000 opposition protesters
who massed in front of parliament yes-
terday morning as Shevardnadze still
clung to power.
The defense minister said the military
wouldn't intervene on the president's
behalf after opposition supporters on
Saturday stormed parliament and
declared an interim government, forcing
Shevardnadze to flee the building in a
nationally televised scene.
Abroad, Shevardnadze found few
allies. He has long courted the United
States, but Washington condemned the
Nov. 2 elections as fraudulent. After the
parliament takeover, the United States
only called on both sides to avoid vio-
lence. Russia sent its foreign minister to
mediate a way out.
Yesterday, Saakashvili visited She-
vardnadze in his residence outside Tbil-
isi and told him that if he did not resign,
opposition protesters would seize the
building. Russian Foreign Minister Igor
Ivanov joined them at the meeting. She-
vardnadze then signed his resignation.
New parliament elections are planned
within 45 days. Until then, an interim
government headed by opposition figure
Nino Burdzhanadze will run the ex-
Soviet republic.
Despite the wide satisfaction over
Shevardnadze's ouster, the opposition
may have difficulty maintaining unity in
a country where political fault lines fol-
low personality and loyalty rather than
ideological conviction. Saakashvili and
Burdzhanadze worked closely during
the weeks of protests in what appeared
to be a marriage of convenience.
Further complicating Georgia's poli-
tics is the Revival party, which was often
at odds with Shevardnadze but even
more vehemently opposed to
Saakashvili, alleging that he is a fascist.
But for the moment, Shevardnadze's
fall meant only one thing to celebrating
Georgians. "Freedom," said Irma Mer-
abishvili, a 34-year-old teacher handing
out flowers in the street alongside her.
"There was no blood, no killing,
everything was peaceful," said Nona
Ushuilidze, a 60-year-old university
to-anhar w.trnalf the+, nnfrtn

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