4A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 2008
IRAQ WAR
Soldier's remains found four years after ambush
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CINCINNATI — A tip from an Iraqi helped the U.S. military find the remains of an Ohio soldier captured in an ambush and then shown on Arab television surrounded by armed masked men nearly four years ago, an Army official said Monday.
The parents of Staff Sgt. Keith Matthew Maupin, who lobbied at the Pentagon and even met with President Bush about their missing son, were told Sunday of the discovery.
Carolyn and Keith Maupin, parents of U.S. Army Sgt. Keith Matthew Maupin, wave as they participate in the Opening Day Parade prior to the Cincinnati Reds game with the Arizona Diamondbacks in Cincinnati on Monday. Sgt. Maupin's remains were found last week in Iraq. He had been listed as missing since 2004 ASSOCIATED PRES
The military had received tips through the years from several sources as authorities continued their search for Maupin.
"This last one proved to be the most accurate as we kept getting closer and closer," said Maj. Mark Cheadle, a spokesman for the Baghdad area command. The tip was first reported by the Dayton Daily News.
The remains were found in northwest Baghdad, Cheadle said, but he could not provide any more details about the tip or when it was received.
The Army used DNA testing to identify the remains, said Keith Maupin, the soldier's father. The discovery of a shirt worn by soldiers at the time Matt Maupin was captured also helped the Army focus its search.
On Monday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates expressed sympathy
to Maupin's familv.
"This has been especially difficult for the Maupin family because of not knowing for almost exactly four years. So I want to extend my condolences," Gates said, speaking to reporters aboard a flight to Denmark.
The Department of Defense also announced an official change in status Monday for Maupin from missing-captured to deceased.
Maupin was a 20-year-old private first class when he was captured April 9, 2004, after his fuel convoy, part of the Bartonville, Ill.-based 724th Transportation Company, was ambushed west of Baghdad.
A week later, the Arab television network Al-Jazeera aired a videotape showing Maupin wearing camouflage and a floppy desert hat, sitting on the floor surrounded by five masked men holding automatic rifles.
That June, Al-Jazeera aired another tape purporting to show a U.S. soldier being shot. But the dark and grainy tape showed only the back of the victim's head and not the execution.
His father, Keith Maupin, still is not convinced that his was son.
"If that was Matt, I consider that's what God wanted and they couldn't hurt Matt for a long time," Maupin said Sunday. "It just took them a long time to find him."
A month after his capture, Matt
Maupin was promoted to the rank of specialist. In August 2006, he was promoted to staff sergeant.
A three-star general discussed the discovery of the remains with
Maupin's parents on Sunday in Batavia, a Cincinnati suburb where their son grew up.
Four U.S. service members remain missing in Iraq: Capt.
Michael Speicher, a Navy pilot, has been missing since the 1991 Persian Gulf War; Sgt. Ahmed al-Taie, a 41-year-old Iraqi-born reserve soldier from Ann Arbor, Mich., was
abducted while visiting his Iraqi wife in October 2006 in Baghdad; and Pfc. Byron Fouty and Sgt. Alex Jimenez have been missing since May 12, 2007.
》 ENVIRONMENT
Mo. gov. slow to grant waiver City may opt-out of E10 gasoline requirement
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Air quality officials in Kansas City say time is running out for Gov. Matt Blunt to give the city a waiver from a law requiring the use of an ethanol blend of gasoline at most pumps in the state.
The ozone season started Tuesday, and city officials say the waiver must be granted soon to prevent the new ethanol gasoline from worsening the city's air pollution.
"The governor has said he will work with us, but he is not," said James Joerke, Mid-America Regional Council's air quality program manager.
The issue centers on a new state law that requires the use of a 10 percent ethanol blend, called E10. While the gasoline is seen as a way to decrease the country's dependence on foreign oil, it also creates more smog than standard gasoline.
Kansas City officials want a waiver because the city violated the federal Clean Air Act three times last year. The number of violations is expected to increase this summer because the Environmental Protection Agency will implement stricter ozone rules.
"In a nutshell, E10 is help
in reducing petroleum consumption, but it is not helpful in terms of ground-level ozone," said Ed Peterson, Johnson County commissioner and co-chairman
request. St. Louis, which has had ozone pollution problems,has not requested a waiver, Gonder said.
"We have been working with appropriate agencies, including DNR (the Department of Natural Resources), to finalize a deci-
"In a nutshell, E10 is helpful in reducing petroleum consumption, but it is not helpful in terms of ground-level ozone."
ED PETERSON Johnson County commissioner
of MARC's Air Quality Forum. "It is the health concerns of the community that we are working to solve here."
The law allows the governor to waive the requirement. Blunt's spokeswoman, Nanci Gonder, told The Kansas City Star in an e-mail that the governor is considering Kansas City's
sion before the weather becomes a factor and a decision will be made in ample time to avoid any potential negative implications," Gonder said
But the city needs to know soon if it will get a waiver, because it has to contract with oil companies and refineries for the low-volatility fuel blend Kansas City has used since the 1990s to reduce emissions, officials said. The worst of the ozone season starts around June 1.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Britain abandons withdrawal plan
An Iraqi man named Mohammed grieve on a coffin, carrying his brother Uday Ramadan, during a funeral ceremony in the Shite holy city of Najaf, 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday. Ramadan and another four members of Mahdi Army militia were killed on Sunday during clashes with Iraqi security forces in the city of Karbala.
The British decision was announced in London one week before the top U.S. commander in
ASSOCIATED PRESS
"It's getting too late," said Susan Brown, a member of MARC's Air Quality Forum, which reviews regional air quality issues and makes policy recommendations to Missouri and Kansas.
BAGHDAD — Britain froze plans Tuesday to withdraw about 1,500 soldiers this spring after the faltering effort to drive Shiite militias from Basra raised doubts whether the Iraqis are capable of maintaining security in oil-rich southern Iraq.
>> IRAQ WAR
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday in Copenhagen, Denmark that last week's violence in Shite areas had not changed American plans to withdraw more combat forces by July.
Iraq appears before Congress to offer his recommendation on how fast America should draw down its own forces.
But second thoughts about Iraqi security capabilities emerged as Iraq's government reported a 50 percent rise in the number of people killed in March over the previous month.
Much of the increase was a result of the fighting between Iraqi government forces and Shiite militiamen in the southern city of Basra. The conflict quickly spread, engulfing Baghdad and major cities throughout the Shiite south.
Britain had planned to drawn down its 4,000-strong military force in southern Iraq to 2,500 over the next few months, handing over more security responsibility to the Iraqis.
In the wake of the Basra fighting, however, Defense Secretary Des Browne told the House of Commons that "it is prudent that we pause any further reductions while the current situation is unfolding."
Browne offered no criticism of the Iraqi effort in Basra, launched
"At this stage we intend to keep our forces at their current levels of around 4,000 as we work with our coalition partners and with the Iraqis to assess future requirements," Browne said, promising to update lawmakers later this month.
March 25 to regain control of the country's second-largest city from Shiite militias and criminal gangs which have effectively ruled the streets for nearly three years.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, flew to Basra last week and took personal command of the crackdown, promising he would remain in the city for "a decisive and final battle" to crush the militias.
Nonetheless, Iraqi officials have acknowledged they underestimated the fury of the militia resistance, which included rocket and mortar attacks against the U.S.-controlled Green Zone in Baghdad and armed assaults against government and political party offices throughout the south.
Fighting eased after anti- American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called his fighters off the streets Sunday under a deal brokered by Iran. But al-Sadr's fighters refused to surrender their weapons — a development which left the cleric in a position of power and al-Maliki politically battered.
Al-Maliki returned Tuesday to Baghdad, declaring the operation a success although several Basra neighborhoods appeared to remain under militia control. Al-Sadr, meanwhile, thanked his fighters for "defending your people, your land and your honor."
Figures tabulated by The Associated Press from police and U.S. military reports put the March death toll as of Monday at 1,247 — nearly double the February figure and the biggest monthly toll since August, when 1,956 people died violently.