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Show DAILY Monday, April 23. 2007 Iraq Continued from A 1 said. death, After the killings, hundreds of angry chanting Yazidis took to the streets of in protest. Shops were shuttered and many Muslim residents closed themselves in their homes, fearing reprisal attacks. Police set up additional checkpoints across the city. Bashika is about 80 percent Yazidi, 15 percent Christian and five percent Muslim Abdul-KariKhalaf , a police spokesman for Ninevah province, said the executions were in response to the killing two weeks ago of a Yazidi woman who had recently converted to Islam after she fell in love with a Muslim and ran off with him. Her relatives had disapproved of the match and dragged her back to Bashika, where she was stoned to death, he said. A grainy video showing gruesome scenes of the woman's killing was distributed on Iraqi Web sites in recent weeks, but its authenticity Ba-shi- HERALD A3 are very bad Is this fair?" Iraqi police stations often are the target of attacks by insurgents who accuse the officers of betraying Iraq by working in cooperation with its U.S. backed Shiite government and U.S. military. Police said 13 people died five policemen and eight civilians. The wounded included 46 policemen and 36 civilians. Elsewhere in Baghdad, a parked car bomb exploded in the Sadiyah neighborhood, killing seven civilians and wounding 42, police said. A roadside bomb then struck a police patrol coming to check on the blast, killing one officer and wounding two others. In all, at least 72 people were killed or found dead in Iraq on Sunday, including 24 bullet riddled bodies and two brothers who were shot to death in the volatile city of Fallujah, a day after the chairman of the city's council was i C- - -- .JV '. -- assassinated. The U.S. military also reported the deaths of three soldiers. Twb were killed in attacks in Baghdad on Saturday, while the third died from an unidentified cause that was still under investigation, the military said. In Cairo, met with Mubarak for about 45 min- could not be independently confirmed. In Baghdad, two suicide car bombs exploded within moments of each other in utes and later held talks with Baiyaa, a mixed Sunni-Shiit- e area in the western part of the Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif . The visit came 10 days becapital. The first driver raced fore two conferences on Iraq through a police checkpoint will be held in the Egyptian guarding the station and exRed Sea resort of Sharm ploded his vehicle just outside y the building, while They will be attended the second bomber aimed his by Iraq's neighbors as well explosives at the checkpoint's as Bahrain and Egypt, and concrete barriers, police said. the five permanent members The blasts collapsed nearby of the U.N. Security Council the United States, Russia, buildings, smashing windows and peeling back metal roofs. China, France and Britain A man who was among the and other members of the 82 wounded in Sunday's atGroup of Eight industrialized nations. tack staggered through the V .' i'sA ... ( I i ; ;v ' v. Maya AlleruzzoAssociated Press non-comb- ki two-stor- . , ; wreckage. "All our belongings and mon- ey were smashed and are gone. What kind of life is this? Where is the government?" he asked. There are no jobs, and things won't attend those meetings but is lobbying for more help from the mostly Sunni-le- d governments of the Arab world in stopping violence in Iraq. soldiers from Alpha Troop, 3rd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, 3d Infantry Division search his home for clues about a roadside bomb attack in the village of Al Majahreen, 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Baghdad, Iraq on Sunday. The 3rd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division is back in Iraq for the third time since rolling into Baghdad in 2003. An Iraqi man watches Al-Mal- halts wall around Sunni neighborhood iki He did not elaborate but added "this wall reminds us of other walls that we reject, so I've ordered it to stop and to find other means of protection for the neighborhoods." He wasn't more specific but apparently, was referring to the Berlin Wall during the Cold War and Israel's construction of a barrier in the West Bank to keep out suicide bombers. U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver declined to comment on whether construction of the wall would stop, saying only that all security measures were constantly under discussion. "We will coordinate with the Iraqi government and Iraqi commanders in order to establish effective, appropriate security measures," he said. It was not the first time has flexed his political muscle in a bid to force include Sunni insurgents if he expects Arab support. Arab diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the was CAIRO, Egypt Iraq's prime minister sensitivity of the talks, said said Sunday that he has ordered a halt to told that Arabs will link their support to the U.S. military construction of a barrier a package of demands before they give him help. separating a Sunni enclave from surThe Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party had derounding Shiite areas in Baghdad after fierce criticism over the project at home. nounced the wall's construction earlier The challenge to the U.S. initiative came Sunday. as Prime Minister Nouri began "Isolating parts of Baghdad with barbed a regional tour to shore up support from wire and concrete barriers will inflict social and economic damage and it will lead mostly Sunni Arab nations for his to more sectarian tension," it said. "This government as sectarian violence persists despite a nearly measure will harm the residents and it will have a negative impact on the areas security crackdown. The U.S. military announced last week instead of solving the problems." g that it was building a who had been a key and Aides to tall concrete wall in Azamiyah, a backer but has since withdrawn Sunni stronghold in northern Baghdad his support, also criticized the barrier as whose residents have often been the victhe Americans to back down. an "unacceptable" move by the United tims of retaliatory mortar attacks by ShiIn October, U.S. forces pulled down States, saying they feared Shiite areas in ite militants following bombings usually roadblocks around Baghdad's Shiite slum Baghdad like Sadr City would be next. blamed on Sunni insurgents. of Sadr City hours after The military said in a statement earlier gave the U.S. and Iraqi officials defended plans order. The prime minister was said to have this week that U.S. soldiers had begun for the barrier as an effort to protect the feared an explosion of violence among building the wall to protect the minority members of the Mahdi Army that is headneighborhood, but residents and Sunni community on the eastern side of the Tileaders complained it was a form of disquartered in Sadr City and was loyal to gris River. When the wall is finished, Azacrimination that would isolate the comcleric Muqtada miyah will be gated and traffic control It was not immediately clear if the anmunity. A large protest was scheduled for points manned by Iraqi soldiers will be the nouncement by in Cairo was Monday in the area. only entries, it said, stressing that the deIn his first public comments on the isof cision had been made in coordination with win Sunni to an effort Arab part is said to fear rising said Sunday that he had the Iraqis. sue, support. d U.S. and Iraqi forces have long erected ordered the construction to stop. Egypt, Saudi support among "I oppose the building of the wall and its Arabia and Jordan for a rumored Iraqi na- cement barriers around marketplaces and said dur- tional salvation government led by former coalition bases and outposts in Baghdad construction will stop," Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a favorite of and other Iraqi cities to prevent attacks. ing a joint news conference with the secretU.S. forces also have built huge sand of the Arab League. "There Washington. ary-general are other methods to protect neighborwas told by key Arab leaders barriers around towns such as Tal Afar, in Cairo on Sunday that his government an insurgent stronghold near the Syrian hoods, but I should point out that the goal needs to step up reconciliation efforts to was not to separate, but to protect." border. Qassim THE Abdul-Zahr- a ASSOCIATED PRESS Shiite-dominat- three-mile-lon- -- U.S. Military Death Totals in Iraq As of Sunday, April 22, 2007, at least 3,322 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. At least 2,691 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers. The AP count is 11 higher than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Friday at 10 a.m. EDT. The British military has reported 144 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 20; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; .Denmark, six; El U.S.-allie- Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia, three; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Romania, one death each. FDA not like regulation, this administration does not like spending money, and it has a hostility Continued from Al toward government. The poisonous result is that a program its inspectors would not have like the FDA is going to suffer likely found the contaminated at every turn of the road," said food before problems, which called a massive pet food reRep. John Dingell, chairman of the panel Dingell call, arose. is considering introducing legThe outbreaks point to a islation to boost the agency's need to completely overhaul the way the agency does busiaccountability, regulatory auness, said Robert Brackett, dithority and budget. In the peanut butter case, rector of the FDA's food safety an agency report shows arm, which is responsible for safeguarding 80 percent of the FDA inspectors checked into nation's food supply. complaints about salmonella "We have 60,000 to 80,000 contamination in a ConAgra facilities that we're responsible factory in Georgia in 2005. But for in any given year,1" Brackett when company managers refused to provide documents the said Explosive growth in the number of processors and the inspectors requested, they left amount of imported foods mean and failed to follow up. Earlier this year, a salmomanufacturers "have to build safety into their products rather nella outbreak traced to the than us chasing after them," plant's Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter brands Brackett said. "We have to get sickened more than 400 people out of the 1950s paradigm" Tuesday, the House Energy in 44 states. The likely cause, and Commerce committee will ConAgra said, was moisture from a roof leak and a malfunchold a hearing into the unprecedented spate of recalls, includ- tioning sprinkler system that ing the more recent contamina- activated dormant salmonella in tion of pet food with melamine, the plant, which is now closed. The 2005 report shows FDA which has been blamed for the deaths of dozens of pets. inspectors were looking into "an alleged episode of positive "This administration does R PI findings of salmonella in peanut butter in October of 2004 that was related to new equipment and that the firm didn't react to ... insects in some equipment, water leaking onto product, and inability to track some product." During the inspection, the report says, ConAgra admitted it had destroyed some product in October 2004 but would not say why. "They asked for some of our documentation and we made the request to them that they put it in writing due to concerns about proprietary information," said ConAgra spokeswoman Stephanie Childs last week. "We did not receive a written request ... they filed the report and that was that." Until February of this year. That's when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notified the FDA of a spike in salmonella cases in states near the ConAgra plant. The agencies contacted the company, which initiated a recall and shut the plant for upgrades. Brackett said that if the inspector had seen anything truly dangerous the agency would have taken further action. But, he said, the agency cannot force a disclosure, a recall or a plant closure except in extreme circumstances, like finding a hazardous batch of growers in late 2005, Brackett wrote, "FDA is aware of 18 outbreaks of foodborne illness since 1995 caused by (E. coli bacteria) for which lettuce was fresh or fresh-cu- t implicated ... In one additional case, fresh-cu- t spinach was implicated. These 19 outbreaks account for approximately 409 reported cases of illness and two deaths." product. The problem in 2005, he add"We know that there are still ed, "doesn't necessarily conproblems out in those fields," nect to the salmonella outbreak Brackett said in an interview last week. "We knew there had right now. It's not unusual to have it in raw agricultural been a problem, but we never commodities." and probably still could not pinThe FDA has known for point where the problem was. We could have that capability, even longer about illnesses among people who ate spinach but not at this point." and other greens from CaliforAccording to Caroline Smith nia's Salinas Valley, the source DeWaal, who heads the Cenof outbreaks over the past six ter for Science and the Public months that have killed three Interest, a consumer advocacy people and sickened more group, "When budgets are than 200 in 26 states. The subtight ... the food program at FDA gets hit the hardest." sequent recall was the largest In next year's budget, ever for leafy vegetables. In a letter sent to California passed amid contamination Sell Your Home? HAY FEVER ASTHMA Here's J(W Great Ways to Advertise... Treatment by allergy specialists for children and adults with asthma and allergies to: Place an ad for 60 days and if your home doesn't sell, renew every 30 days until it sells, absolutely FREE!! Plant pollens Foods Pets Insect venom Molds are board certified In asthma as well as and allergy or pediatrics internal medicine. All physicians to r o problems in spinach, tomatoes and lettuce, Congress has voted FDA a $10 million increase to improve food safety, DeWaal said. The Agriculture Department, which monitors meat, poultry and eggs and keeps inspectors in every processing plant, got an increase 10 times that amount to help pay for its inspection programs. The FDA visits problem food plants about once a year, the rest far less frequently, Brackett said. William Hubbard, who retired as associate commissioner of the FDA in 2005 and founded the advocacy group Coalition for a Stronger FDA, said that when he joined the agency in the 1970s, its food safety arm claimed half its budget and personnel. "Now it's about a quarter ... at a time in which the problems have grown, the size of the industry has grown and imports food have skyrocketed," lubbard said. Heed PI ALLERGIES r, . INTERMOUNTAIN ALLERGY & ASTHMA Conveniently located just off 1 2300 S. exit 2422 S. 450 E. Suite C Draper VCall for an appointment or visit our website for more information www.lntermountalnallergy.eom H M M M frET r Includes: 'Photo pa t 'Daily Herald IS 1 , 0 Community Weekly Newspapers Heraldextra.com ; to advertise Daill$Hcrttti heraldextra ..cum Sutrictont mxr prtoM party, up to 90 373-645- 0 dv. call |