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Iraqis mourn death of assasinated Shiite cleric BY TAREK AL-ISSAWI THE ASSOCIATE!) PRESS NAJAF, IRAQ -About 400,000 mourners took to the streets Tuesday, flailing their backs and pounding their chests in anguish at the funeral of a leading Shiite cleric assassinated in a car bomb attack. Jn Baghdad, another car bomb exploded outside police headquarters, killing one and wounding 13. In an angry funeral oration, the cleric’s brother blamed the U.S. occupation forces for the lax se curity that led to the attack at Iraq’s most sacred Shiite mosque. He raged against the American troops and demanded they leave Iraq. * Men clad in white robes and dark uniforms brandishing Kalashnikov rifles stood guard along the roof of the gold-domed Imam Ali mosque, where Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al Hakim was killed Friday in the bloodiest attack since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Accounts of the death toll ranged from more than 80 to more than 120. “The occupation force is pri marily responsible for the pure blood that was spilled in holy Najaf, the blood of al-Hakim and the faithful group that was present near the mosque,” said Abdel-Aziz’ al-Hakim, fhe ayatollah’s brother and a member of the U.S.-picked Governing Council. L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. civil ian administrator for Iraq, told a Baghdad news conference that U.S. occupation authorities will push the new Iraqi Cabinet to as sume governing duties and want to quickly train Iraqis to take over security. He insisted there was no rift be tween the coalition and the Governing Council. Bremer, a former diplomat and counterterrorism expert, said there were already as many as 60,000 Iraqis involved in security or undergoing training. “What we need at this point is bet ter intelli gence to find out where the terrorists are who are killing Iraqis,” he said. Al-Hakim has said he would not resign from the Governing Council but spoke with great anger about the American mili tary’s inability to pacify the coun try. “This force is primarily re sponsible for all this blood and the blood that is shed all over Iraq ev ery day,” he said, voicing the frus trations of Iraqis throughout the country. The criticism could sig nal an open fissure in the histori cally cooperative relationship be tween the Shiites and the U.S.-led civilian and military occupation. “Iraq must not remain occu pied, and the occupation must “Iraq must not remain occupied, and the occupation must leave so that we can build Iraq as God wants us to do.” ABDEL-AZIZAL-HAKIM IRAQI GOVERNING COUNCIL leave so that we can build Iraq as God wants us to do,” he said. During the procession, crowds surrounded the symbolic coffin and many mourners beat their chests in a ritual show of mourn ing for Shiites. A senior Iraqi police official told The Associated Press there were nine key suspects in the bombing in custody — two Saudis, one Palestinian carrying a Jordanian passport and six Iraqis. All nine admitted ties to the al Qaida terror net work, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. As Tuesday’s funeral was about to begin, the car bomb exploded outside police headquarters in Baghdad, killing one officer and wounding 13 others in the latest attack apparently targeting Iraqis working with the American-led occupation. An unknown number of bystanders also were wounded. Acting police chief Hassan al Obeidi, who has offices in the headquarters building and is closely associated with the occu pation authority, was not harmed. There were U.S. soldiers in the nearby Baghdad police academy, but they also were unharmed. It was the fourth car bomb in the country in the past month. Earlier blasts included the mosque in Najaf, the Jordanian PHOTO COURTESY KRTCAMPUS An Iraqi police officer is escorted to a vehicle to take him home after he was treated for injuries caused by a car bomb outside police headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq, on Tuesday. Embassy and the U.N. headquar ters in Baghdad. Also Tuesday, a Black Hawk helicopter crashed south of Baghdad, killing one U.S. soldier and injuring a second in a “non hostile” incident, U.S. military spokesman Spc. Anthony Reinoso said. Two U S. soldiers were killed and a third was wounded when a bomb went off Monday beside their convoy in southern Iraq, the military reported Tuesday. The deaths raised to 286 the ^ number of American forces killed ^ in the Iraq war. Of those, 148 died since May 1 when President Bush declared an end to major fighting. Seventy soldiers have died in com bat since the declaration. Kerry announces candidacy, stresses military connections BY MIKE GLOVER THE ASSOCIATED 1‘HESS MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. - Democrat John Kerry, seeking to regain his political footing, for mally launched his presidential candidacy Tuesday by offering his Vietnam War-hero credentials and Senate tenure as an alterna tive to President Bush’s record. “Every day of this campaign, I will challenge George Bush for fundamentally taking our coun try in the wrong direction,” Kerry told the crowd on a steamy mom-A ing. “George Bush’s vision does W not live up to the America I en listed in the Navy to defend.” The stars-and-stripes an nouncement with the aircraft car rier USS Yorktown as a backdrop and Kerry’s wartime comrades at his side comes at a critical junc ture for the four-term Massachusetts senate^-. Once viewed as the Democratic front runner in the crowded field of nine, Kerry saw that perception evaporate in the heat of party ri val Howard Dean’s summer surge. The political free-fall has prompted a fresh round of finger pointing in Kerry’s deeply divid ed campaign and has the candi date considering a staff shake-up,^ according to several campaign of-^ ficials who spoke on condition of cuiuujrmnj. The tone of Kerry’s speech, in fact, was the subject of fierce in ternal debate within the campaign over whether to focus on the can didate’s resume and Bush’s per formance, or lambaste Dean. The former Vermont governor has grabbed a hefty 21-point lead over Kerry in the latest New Hampshire poll, a crucial state for the two New Englanders. Kerry opted to devote much of his speech to his military service, years as Massachusetts senator and Bush’s record on the econo my, the environment and national^ security. He did take a few subtle^ swipes at Dean. “Some in my party want to get rid of all tax cuts, including those for working families,” he said. “That’s wrong. We need to be on the side of America’s middle class and I’ve proposed a tax cut for them because it’s the right way to strengthen our economy.” Dean favors a repeal of all of Bush’s tax cuts. Kerry also alluded to Dean’s op position to broadening gun-con trol laws, which has made his campaign more acceptable to groups such as the National Rifle A ccnriaiinn “Our party will never be the choice of the NRA and I’m not looking to be the candidate of the NRA,” Kerry said. “Courage means standing up for gun safety^ not retreating from the issue out* of political fear.” Kerry hopes to draw similar distinctions between himself and Dean at a Democratic presidential debate in New Mexico on Thursday, aides said. At the White House, spokesman Scott McClellan declined to re spond to Kerry’s criticism of Bush, saying, “I think I’ll leave the politics to the Democrats in their primary.” f . vt Summer is Over... 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