THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8; 2008
NEWS
7A
》 MIDDLE EAST
Shiite shrine to be renovated
Workers rebuild the holy Shite shrine of al-Askariya in the city of Samarra, Iraq, Wednesday. The shrine was destroyed by a group of militants who planted explosive in February 2006, while the two of the mosques' minarets were destroyed in another bombing by militants in June 2007. The Samarra mosque bombing set off a bloody cycle of sectarian violence in Iraq.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD — Iraqi and U.N. officials toured a bomb-damaged Shiite shrine in northern Iraq on Wednesday as workers took the first steps in a long-delayed reconstruction — nearly two years after the attack on the famed golden dome became a rallying point for Shite rage.
Crews in blue jumpsuits and orange helmets picked through mounds of rubble spilling from the mosque in Samarra, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, which became the spark for a vicious cycle of sectarian violence after the Feb. 22, 2006, blast blamed on al-Qaida in Iraq.
Months of bloodletting between Shiite and Sunni extremists claimed tens of thousands of lives and lurched Iraq dangerously close to civil war. A second bomb attack last year on June 13 toppled the twin minarets, prompting Shiite clerics to step up calls for the reconstruction of the Askariya shrine.
The complex contains the tombs of two ninth-century imams who were descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, and Shites consider them to be among his successors.
An envoy for Iraq's Shiteled government, Haq al-Hakim, described the $16 million rebuilding effort as a symbol of national unity at a time when violence is decreasing across most of Iraq.
But the count Wednesday showed how quickly bloodshed can return.
Iraiq police reported at least 30 people killed or found dead around the country, including eight beheaded bodies found in the Diyala province northeast of the capital. It was one of the highest daily tolls in weeks — and included some U.S.-allied Sunni fighters who have joined the battle against al-Qaida.
Gunmen ambushed a member of a so-called Awakening Council
in Salahuddin province, killing him and three bodyguards. The attack came hours after a roadside bomb struck an Awakening Council patrol in the same province, killing a former militiaman.
In Samarra, workers cleaned tiles and welded metal bars as the delegation surveyed the site. Nearly three dozen checkpoints have been erected to protect the workers, who began the reconstruction project Monday.
An envoy for Iraq's Shiite-led government, Haq al-Hakim, described the $16 million rebuilding effort as a symbol of national unity.
cultural agency UNESCO, told AP Television News. "It is not an ordinary building project."
Lauai Kamal, the chief engineer for the endowment responsible for
"The situation is not easy. We know that there have been delays due to the security situation and preparations," Mohammed Dijelid, head of the Iraqi branch of the U.N.
the mosque, said the first phase would mostly entail separating reusable debris from rubble. Ground tests also will assess the stability of the building.
South of
Baghdad, a roadside bomb exploded near a police convoy transporting suspected Shiite militia fighters who were detained. Four civilians in a car behind the police convoy were killed in the apparent attempt to free the detainees, Brig. Gen.
Ghassan Mohammed Ali said.
The attack occurred in Diwaniyah, 80 miles south of Baghdad, the site of fierce fighting between Shite militias seeking control of Iraq's oil-rich south.
Separately, Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, spoke with President Bush during a video conference ahead of negotiations over the future U.S. military presence in the country, according to a statement from al-Maliki's office. The military agreement is expected by July, and would replace the current U.N. mandate.
The U.S. military, meanwhile,
provided further details about a
disputed raid Tuesday in Adwar, 10
miles south of Saddam Hussein's
hometown of Tikrit.
A military statement said soldiers came under fire as they approached a suspected insurgent-held house.
ELECTION
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — John McCain effectively sealed the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday as chief rival Mitt Romney suspended his faltering campaign, "I must now stand aside, for our party and our country," Romney told conservatives.
McCain leads race Romney drops out
"If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaise.
be a part of aiding a surrender to terror," Romney told the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.
Romney's decision leaves McCain as the top man standing in the GOP
edge of the conversation.
Within hours of Romney's speech, former Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman endorsed McCain and urged all members of the GOP to back him.
"Our party has had many outstanding candidates this year, but it is now time for Republicans across the country to unite," Mehlman said.
McCain prevailed in most of the Super Tuesday states, moving closer to the 1,191 delegates needed to win the nomination at this summer's convention in St. Paul.
"Our party has had many outstanding candidates this year, but it is now time for Republicans across the country to unite."
Commenting on his front-runner status — a title he had and lost last year — McCain told the conference, "This time I now have that distinction and I prefer to hold onto it for quite a while."
race, with Mike Huckabee and Texas Rep. Ron Paul far behind in the delegate hunt. It was a remarkable turnaround for McCain, who some seven months ago was barely viable, out of cash and losing staff. The four-term Arizona senator, denied his party's nomination in 2000, was poised to succeed George W. Bush as the GOP standard-bearer.
KEN MEHLMAN
Former RNC chairman
McCain and Romney spoke by phone after Romney's speech, though no endorsement was requested nor offered, according to a Republican official with knowl-
Minn. Overall,
McCain led
with 707 delegates, to 294 for Romney, 195 for Huckabee and Paul at 14.
Romney
suspended
his campaign,
allowing him
to hold onto
his delegates.
However, if
McCain secures their support combined with his own delay.
McCann secures their support combined with his own delegates he would be near at the magic number and Huckabee would be mathematically eliminated. It is unlikely Romney would throw his support to Huckabee; the animosity between the two has pervaded the GOP race.
Ronney launched his campaign almost a year ago in his native Michigan. The former Massachusetts governor and venture capitalist invested more than $40 million of his own money into the race, counted on early wins in Iowa and New Hampshire that never materialized and won just seven states on Super Tuesday, mostly small caucus states.
McCain took the big prizes of. New York and California.
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