Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Gunmen assassinate three candidates in Iraq ByBASSEM MROUE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BAGHDAD, Iraq — Gunmen shot and killed three candidates running in Iraq’s Jan. 30 elections, officials said Tuesday, as a suicide bombing killed two people outside the offices of a leading Shiite political party. With insurgents trying to ruin the election, officials announced that Iraq will seal its borders, extend a curfew and restrict movement to protect voters during the balloting. President Bush spoke Tuesday morning with Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, the latest in a series of conversations between the two leaders on Iraq’s efforts to ensure maximum participation in the election. Two of the slain candidates belonged to Allawi’s political coalition, the Iraqi National Accord, a member of the group said. AJaa Hamid, who was running for the 275-member National Assembly, was shot dead Monday in the southern port city of Basra in front of his family, the official said on condition of anonymity. Hamid was also the deputy chairman of the Iraqi Olympic Committee in Basra. Riad Radi, who was running in the local race for Basra’s provincial council on a list supported by Allawi’s INC, was killed Sunday when masked gunmen fired on his car as he was driving with his family, the official said. Basra, a predominantly Shiite Muslim city, has been relatively calm in recent weeks, though insurgents fired four mortar rounds Sunday at schools slated to serve as polling centers. In Baghdad on Monday, masked gunmen shot dead another candidate, Shaker Jabbar Sahla, a Shiite Muslim who was running in the National Assembly election for the Constitutional Monarchy Movement. The party is headed by Sharif Ali bin Hussein, a cousin of Iraq’s last king. Sunni Muslim militants, who make up the bulk of Iraq’s insurgency, are increasingly honing in on Shiites in their effort to ruin the election that is widely expected to propel their religious rivals to a position of dominance. Many Sunnis argue that security is precarious and the election should not take place under foreign occupation. Tuesday’s suicide car bombing in Baghdad gouged a crater in the pavement, left several vehicles in flames and spread shredded debris on the street outside the offices of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a main contender in the election. The Shiite party, known as SCIRI, has close ties to Iran and is strongly opposed by Sunni Muslim militants. The assailant told guards at a checkpoint leading to the party’s office that he was part of SCIRI’s security staff, and he detonated his bomb-laden car at the guard post when he was not allowed to enter. Iraqi police officials reported the bomber and two others were dead and nine people were injured, including three police. “SCIRI will not be frightened by such an act,” party spokesman Ridha Jawad said. “SCIRI will continue the march toward building Iraq, establishing justice and holding the elections.” The Independent Electoral Commission announced that the country’s international borders would be closed from Jan. 29 until Jan. 31, except for Muslim pilgrims returning from the hajj in Saudi Arabia. Iraqis also will be barred from traveling between provinces and a nighttime curfew will be imposed during the same period, according to a statement from the commission’s Farid Ayar. Such measures had been expected because of the grave security threat. U.S. and Iraqi authorities are hoping to encourage a substantial turnout but fear that if most Sunnis stay away from the polls, the legitimacy of the new government will be in doubt. Iraq’s interior minister warned that if the country’s Sunni Arab minority bows to rebel threats and stays away from the polls, the nation could descend into civil war. Falah Hassan al-Naqib, a Sunni, told reporters he expects Sunni insurgents to escalate attacks before the election, especially in the Baghdad area. “If any group does not participate in the elections, it will constitute treason,” al-Naqib said, adding that “boycotting the elections will not produce a National Assembly that represents the Iraqi people” but will cause “a civil war that will divide the country.” Allawi said he will boost the country’s armed forces with 70,000 more troops in an effort to take over more security tasks from U.S.-led forces. He said the forces would be “equipped with the most advanced weapons.” A Catholic archbishop kidnapped by gunmen in the northern city of Mosul was released Tuesday, a day after his abduction. The Vatican had called his abduction a “terrorist act.” A video surfaced Tuesday showing eight Chinese construction workers held hostage by gunmen claiming the men are employed by a company working with U.S. troops, in the latest abduction of foreigners in Iraq. China’s Foreign Ministry said it was “diking all measures to rescue the hostages,” the official Xinhua News Agency said. The men from China’s southern Fujian province went missing last week while traveling to Jordan, Xinhua said. A third American died in fighting in Iraq’s troubled Anbar province, west d Baghdad, the military said Tuesday. Two others assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force also were killed in action there Monday. The military gave no other details and it was unclear whether the three troops were killed in a suicide car bombing in the western city of Ramadi that U.S. officials said resulted in American casualties. Associated Press reporters Sinan Salaheddin and Abbas Fayadh contributed to this report. 1 I v^«v * i ‘•A * , MARK HUMPHREY/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Instructions written in Arabic, top, and Kurdish, bottom, are posted for voters to see as they exit a polling place and board their bus in Nashville, Tenn., on Jan. 18. Exiled Iraqis are registering to vote in their homeland's first independent election in nearly 50 years. Rice defends Iraq war planning By ANNE GEARAN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — Secretary of State nominee Condoleezza Rice gave no ground in Senate confirmation questioning Tuesday, insisting the United States was fully prepared for the Iraq war and its aftermath and refusing to give a timetable for U.S. troops to come home. An American exit strategy depends on Iraq’s ability to defend itself against terrorists after this month’s elections, she said. Rice seemed headed for easy confirmation by the Senate as President Bush’s choice to be the country’s top diplomat. She did have a tense exchange with Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. _ Rice repeatedly asked the senator not to question her truthfulness _ but former presidential nominee John Kerry, D Mass., was the only member of the Foreign Relations Committee who told her she might not win his vote. “This was never going to be easy,” Rice said of the war and its aftermath during a confirmation hearing in which she painted an optimistic picture of the future in Iraq _ and for resolution of the long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians as well. “It was always going to have ups and downs. I’m sure that we have made many decisions, some of which were good, some of which might not have been good,” but the ouster of Saddam Hussein was worth the price, Rice said. Rice said the administration’s actions after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks —including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq — were “difficult and necessary and right.” Asked whether, with hindsight, the United States should have committed more troops to Iraq, Rice said that despite “some unforeseen circumstances” she was satisfied with the numbers. As for U.S. troops leaving, she said in response to forceful questioning from Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, “Our role is directly proportional... to how capable the Iraqis are.” “1 am really reluctant to try to put a timetable on that, because I think the goal is to get the mission accomplished and that means that the Iraqis have to be capable of some things before we lessen our own responsibility,” she said. She pledged to work to improve ties with some allies frayed by U.S. policy. A committee vote is expected Wednesday, and the full Senate could act later in the week. If confirmed Rice, 50, would be the first black woman to lead the State Department. She would replace the popular Colin Powell as America’s most visible face abroad. As White House national security adviser for the past four years, Rice was Bush’s most trusted foreign affairs adviser and a main architect of policies in Iraq, Europe and elsewhere. She said of the Iraq invasion almost two years ago, “We did meet with some unforeseen circumstances, most importantly as we swept through the country really rather rapidly.” Rice said spreading democracy through the Middle East remains a top administration objective. The Palestinian election earlier this month following the death of Yasser Arafat offers ‘‘a moment of opportunity,” she said. But she also said Palestinian leaders need to do more to end terrorism against Israel. iui iidiumg a new presidential envoy to help shepherd the peace process, Rice said “no one has objections in principle,” but there is a question as to whether it is appropriate at this time. More broadly, she said there remain outposts of tyranny" in the world that require close attention, citing North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Belarus, Zimbabwe and Myanmar, also known as Burma. “We must remain united in insisting that Iran and North Korea abandon their nuclear weapons ambitions and choose instead the path of peace,” she said. Rice also pledged to embrace public diplomacy, the face-to-face struggle to win support for U.S. policies and ideals abroad. “The time for diplomacy is now,” she said in a remark that appeared aimed at critics who accuse the administration of go-it-alone tactics. That brought a sharp retort from the panel’s senior Democrat, Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware: “The time for diplomacy is long overdue.” Rice answered the day’s harshest questioning, from Sen. Boxer, with a rare note of strain in her voice. Boxer came close to accusing Rice of having lied in her public statements about the run-up to war in Iraq. “Your loyalty to your mission you were given overwhelmed your respect for the truth, and I don’t say it lightly,” Boxer said. “I have never, ever lost respect for the truth in service of anything,” Rice replied coolly. “It is not my nature, it is not my character. And I would hope that we can have this conversation ... without impugning my credibility or m^ integrity.” _ AN HISTORIC RESIDENCE Efficiency $525 One Bedroom $585 Two Bedroom $620 Rent includes all utilities and cable TV. All rates quoted are month to month. (Leases available, prices subject to change) Located across from the University Of South Carolina Horseshoe and the State Capital, Cornell Arms offers the premier location for downtown living. (803) 799-1442 1230 PENDLETON STREET ^ COLUMBIA, SC 29201 JJ^ COCKY 4 mSm TOJOIN STUDENT GOVERNMENT ' File In 6 days! Candidate's Packet Available Now! File for candidacy Jan. 24-25 Office of Student Gov't Russell House 227 www.sg.sc.edu 777.2654 I