6A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, APRIL 9, 2007
》 WARINIRAO
Shiite cleric orders increased efforts to oust U.S. military
BY STEVEN R. HURST
BY STEVEN R. HORST
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD — The powerful Shiite cleric Mugtada al-Sadr ordered his militiamen on Sunday to redouble their battle to oust U.S. forces and argued that Iraq's army and police should join him in defeating "your archenemy." The U.S. military announced the weekend deaths of 10 American soldiers, including six killed on Sunday.
Security remained so tenuous in the capital on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the U.S. capture of Baghdad that Iraq's military declared a 24-hour ban on all vehicles in the capital from 5 a.m. Monday. The government quickly reinstated Monday as a holiday, just a day after it had decreed that April 9 no longer would be a day off.
Among the 10 U.S. deaths announced Sunday were three soldiers killed by a roadside bomb while patrolling south of Baghdad; one killed in an attack south of the capital; and two who died of combat wounds sustained north of the capital, in Diyala and Salahuddin provinces. On Saturday, the military said, four U.S. soldiers were killed in an explosion near their vehicle in Diyala.
At least 3,280 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians.
South of Baghdad, a truck bomb exploded near the Mahmoudiyah General Hospital, killing at least 18 people and wounding 23. The pickup truck loaded with artillery shells blew apart several buildings in a warren of auto repair shops.
Violence in Iraq remained as relentless as the deepening debate in the United States about the way forward in the war four years after Marines and the Army's 3rd Infantry Division swept into the Iraqi capital 20 days into the American invasion.
At least 47 people were killed or found dead in violence Sunday, including 17 execution victims dumped in the capital.
Al-Sadr commands an enormous following among Iraq's majority Shiites and has close allies in the Shiite-dominated government. The statement Sunday carried his seal and was distributed in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, where the cleric called for an enormous demonstration to mark the fourth anniversary of Baghdad's fall.
"You, the Iraqi army and police forces, don't walk alongside the occupiers, because they are your archenemy," the al-Sadr statement said.
He urged his followers not to attack fellow Iraqis to but all their efforts on American forces.
"God has ordered you to be patient in front of your enemy, and unify your efforts against them — not against the sons of Iraq," the statement said.
Al-Sadr apparently issued the statement in response to three days of clashes between his Mahdi Army militiamen and U.S.-backed Iraqi troops in Diwaniyah, south of Baghdad.
In Washington, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an independent of Connecticut, said al-Sadr's words showed the American troop surge was working.
"He is not calling for a resurgence of sectarian conflict. He's striking a nationalist chord. We're going to have to watch him closely. He's not our friend. ... He's acknowledging that the surge is working," the senator, a strong backer of the war, said on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer."
In Najaf, police spokesman Col. Ali Jiryo said cars were banned from entering the city for 24 hours starting 8 p.m. Sunday. Buses were to be at all entrances of the city to transport arriving demonstrators or other visitors to the city center. Najaf residents would be allowed to drive, he said.
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J. A. VICKERS, SR. AND ROBERT F. VICKERS, SR. MEMORIAL LECTURE SERIES
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS PRESENTS AN EVENING WITH
John R. Kasich
FORMER CONGRESSMAN AND NOW BEST-SELLING AUTHOR AND BUSINESSMAN
"Stand for Something: The Battle for America's Soul"
TUESDAY, APRIL 10,2007·7:00 P.M.
THE LIED CENTER OF KANSAS
Iraqi soldiers chat at a deserted street in Diwaniyah, 80 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq, a day after U.S. warplanes blasted a militia team firing rocket-propelled grenades during heavy fighting in a major offensive to drive Shite Mahdi Army militiamen out of Diwaniyah, a farm-belt city south of Baghdad.
Jalal Mudhar/ASSOCIATED PRESS
>> PRESIDENTIAL RACE 2008
Edwards' wife plays active role
BY NEDRA PICKLER ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON They say that behind every successful man, there is a great woman. In the case of John Edwards,the woman is moving from behind the scenes to a more prominent role in his presidential campaign.
As the two campaigned this past week through Iowa and New Hampshire, she became a draw in her own right. Supporters waved signs that said "Iowa Lives Strong for Elizabeth" and "Elizabeth for First Lady," and staff quickly put up rope lines around her at the end of campaign events to control the well-wishers who mobbed her.
Elizabeth Edwards, who once wrote she liked campaigns when she was a safe distance from the cameras, is now firmly in the spotlight since the couple announced last month she is fighting a recurrence of cancer.
She said if curiosity or compassion bring out voters who will listen to her husband speak, she is happy to be the draw. But Elizabeth Edwards' influence on 'her husband's career runs long and deep.
"She's the person I trust most in
the world and I rely on her for both personal and policy counsel," John Edwards, the former Democratic senator from North Carolina, said in an interview last week. "She's involved in everything."
He said his wife combines a talent for keeping the campaign focused on the struggles that people face with "a very wonky side."
Elizabeth Edwards has helped shape everything from his policies to his speeches and campaign staff. She even makes suggestions for the wording in his press releases, although she says her advice is not always taken.
The couple, who met at University of North Carolina's law school, share a similar political philosophy, yet they do not always agree. That includes the Senate vote to authorize war with Iraq that John Edwards has said was the most important of his career.
She was opposed from the beginning. She did not feel there was provocation for war and she did not trust President Bush with the authority. But John Edwards decided to vote the opposite way and she did not try to change his mind.
as time passed, John Edwards began to believe he made the wrong
decision.
"We talked about it a lot," Elizabeth Edwards said, "and he was saying to me that it was so hard to come to that conclusion because young men and women lost their lives. ... Then he decided, 'Let's face it, I was wrong and I'm going to have to say it, even though I know what it means.'"
In longhand, he wrote out an explanation for his vote that began: "I was wrong." He submitted the draft to his aides. They advised him to cut those first three words.
"I talked to Elizabeth about it and I said, 'I really feel this is what I need to say,' he said. "And she said, 'Of course that's what you need to say if that's your feel.'"
He is not the only one to hear Elizabeth Edwards's strong opinions.
She has a reputation for being tough on staff who do not meet her expectations and he said he counts on her to help interview job candidates to judge whether they are "really committed to the cause."
Elizabeth Edwards often expresses her opinion on Internet forums, usually using her own name. She began chatting online before it was so popular — after the death of their teenage son in 1996, when she was looking for support in her grief.
HUMANITIES LECTURE SERIES 2006-2007
KU HALL CENTER FOR THE HUMANITIES The University of Kansas
MARIA CARLSON
Tuesday, April 10
All events are free and open to the public. No tickets are required.
7:30 pm
"Culture and History Matter: Russia's Search for Identity After the Fall"
Woodruff Auditorium, Kansas Union Supported by the Friends of the Hall Center
Supported by the Friends of the Hall. Center
This series is co-sponsored by Kansas Public Radio, and partial funding is provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
For more information contact the Hall Center at 785-864-4798, via e-mail at hallcenter@ku.edu, or visit our Web site at www.hallcenter.ku.edu
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