THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 2007
NEWS
5A
The sound of music
Damian Dovarganes/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Herman Lorenzo, 10, second from right, and his brother Ivan, 12, right, practice trumpet with the Mariachi Juvenil San Gabriel group. The group practices at a music school on Tuesday in the Mariachi Plaza in east Los Angeles.
WAR IN IRAQ
War is lost, surge not accomplishing anything'
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday the war in Iraq is "lost," triggering an angry backlash by Republicans who said the top Democrat had turned his back on the troops.
The bleak assessment was the sharpest yet from Reid, who has vowed to send President Bush legislation calling for combat to end next year.
Reid said he told Bush on Wednesday that he thought the war could not be won through military force and only through political, economic and diplomatic means.
"I believe myself that the secretary of state, secretary of defense and — you have to make your own decisions as to what the president knows — (know) this war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything as indicated by the extreme violence in Iraq yesterday," said Reid (D-Nev.)
their lives every day, are going to react when they get back to base and hear that the Democrat leader of the United States Senate has declared the war is lost," said Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, (R-Ky.)
The exchange came as the House headed toward a vote Thursday on whether to demand that troops leave Iraq next year. Last month, the House passed legislation that funded the war in Iraq but ordered combat missions to end by September 2008.
The Senate passed similar, less-sweeping legislation that would set a nonbinding goal of bringing combat troops home by March 31, 2008.
The Pentagon says it has enough money to pay for the Iraq war through June.
The Army is taking "prudent measures" aimed at ensuring that delays in the bill financing the war do not harm troop readiness, according to instructions sent to Army commanders and budget officials April 14.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WAYCROSS, Ga. — Firefighters made slow progress Thursday against two wildfires that have forced more than 1,000 people from their homes and destroyed 18 homes as they spread over nearly 50 square miles of tinder-dry forest.
The fires in southeast Georgia threatened the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, one of the nation's best-preserved wetland areas, with one reaching the outer edges of the refuge, said Eric Mosley, spokesman for the Georgia Forestry Commission.
》 NATURAL DISASTERS
Southeast Georgia hit with rampant wildfires
That fire — the larger of the two — burned into a wet prairie area and slowed, officials said.
The smaller fire, a little over 3 square miles, had burned to within five miles of the refuge by Thursday morning but was mostly contained, said Shawn Gillette, a spokesman for the refuge.
Robin Fullard fled his home with his 8-year-old daughter as flames closed to within 40 feet on all sides. His brother, who lives nearby, told him the fire destroyed the home soon after.
The cause of the smaller fire was still unknown.
humidity, also made gains in containing the much larger fire, which raced through the forest after a tree fell on a power line Monday. It was 30 percent contained Thursday morning.
"It's just metal, just a frame. It burned to the dirt," said Fullard, a 36-year-old construction worker. "We got pictures and a couple of pairs of clothes and that was it."
No deaths were reported, but several firefighters were treated for smoke inhalation or minor injuries, including a firefighter who suffered a broken leg and cuts to his hand.
Firefighters, helped by higher
Southeast Georgia is extremely dry, with rainfall deficits of 6 to 8 inches for the year.
PET FOOD RECALL
FDA investigates chemical 'spiking'
BY ANDREW BRIDGES ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - Imported ingredients used in recalled pet food may have been intentionally spiked with an industrial chemical to boost their apparent protein content, federal officials said Thursday.
That's one theory being pursued by the Food and Drug Administration as it investigates how the chemical, melamine, contaminated at least two ingredients used to make more than 100 brands of dog and cat foods.
So far, melamine's been found in both wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate imported from China. Media reports from South Africa
suggest a third pet food ingredient, corn gluten, used in that country also was contaminated with melamine. That tainted ingredient has not been found in the United States, the FDA said.
"What we expect to do with our inspections in China will answer some of those questions." said Michael Rogers, director of the division of field investigations within the FDA's office of regulatory affairs.
Wilbur-Ellis Co., the U.S. importer of the tainted rice protein, said Thursday it was recalling all the ingredient it had distributed to five U.S. pet food manufacturers. The San Francisco company in turn urged its customers to recall any products that may be on store shelves.
tamination was deliberate.
Chinese authorities have told the FDA that the wheat gluten was an industrial product not meant for pet food, Sundlof said. Still, melamine can skew test results to make a product appear more protein-rich than it really is, he added. That raises the possibility the con-
"Melamine was found in all three of those. It would certainly lend credibility to the theory that it may be intentional. That will be one of the theories we will pursue when we get into the plants in China", Stephen Sundlof, the FDA's chief veterinarian, told reporters.
So far, just two of those companies have done so: Natural Balance Pet Foods and Blue Buffalo Co.
"Melamine was found in all three of those. It would certainly lend credibility to the theory that it may be intentional."
Natural Balance, of Pacoimə
FDA investigators, meanwhile, are awaiting visas that would allow them to visit the Chinese plants where the vegetable protein ingredients were produced.
STEPHEN SUNDLOF FDA chief veterinarian
dry cat food.
Blue Buffalo, of Wilton, Conn. followed Thursday by recalling 5,044 bags of its Spa Select Kitten dry food.
Calif. announced a limited recall Monday of its Venison and Brown Rice canned and bagged dog foods, Venison and Brown Rice dog treats and Venison and Green Pea
The company intercepted most of the kitten food before it reached distribution centers,company cofounder Billy Bishop said.
FDA officials would not release the names of the other two manufacturers that Wilbur-Ellis supplied, citing its ongoing investigation.
The FDA and Agriculture Department also were investigating whether some pet food made by one of the five companies supplied by Wilbur-Ellis was diverted for use as hog feed after it was found unsuitable for pet consumption.