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Show World& Nation The Utah-Statesman 114 Mondayjan. 22r 2007- U.S., Iran and Venezuela battling over Nicaragua SAN JOSE, Nicaragua - The U.S. is again battling leftists in Daniel Ortega's Nicaragua. This time, thefightis being waged not with guns and guerrilla warfare, but with free tractors, health clinics and donated electrical plants. The U.S. government is up against Venezuela and Iran as it tries to make an ally out of the poor, energy-starved Central American nation. While the U.S. has a head start as one of Nicaragua's main investment partners, Iran and Venezuela are rapidly winning over the country's poor with promises of low-interest loans and energy aid. Sandwiched between Costa Rica and Honduras, Nicaragua has been left behind in the global scramble for power. It has no key oil reserves, and the country is the second-poorest in the Western Hemisphere, behind only Haiti. But the nation — a stunning collection of jagged mountains, active volcanos, virgin jungle, breathtaking beaches and one of the worlds largest freshwater lakes — has become immensely popular as a second home for U.S. retirees. Additionally, as a new member of the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the U.S., it is on the verge of receiving substantial international investment, mostly in the form of textile factories. Ortega's return to power has given Iran and Venezuela, always seeking allies in their fight against U.S. domination, a chance to add Nicaragua to a list that already includes Bolivia, Cuba and Ecuador. Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez has called President Bush "the devil," while Bush accuses Iran of backing insurgents in Iraq and using its nuclear program to try to build a bomb. Enter Ortega, a former Marxist who spent the 1980s fighting off the U.S.-backed Contra rebel insurgency. Ortega led Nicaragua throughout the 1980s after his Sandinista rebel movement pushed out dictator Anastasio Somoza. Following his 1990 electoral loss, he ran for president three consecutive times, losing twice before finally triumphing in November. Now he's promising to eradicate poverty and solve rolling blackouts that sometimes force airplanes to circle over the capital until light is restored to the darkened airport. With few resources of his own, he has to walk a fine line as he seeks help from both Washington and its foes. The U.S. government so despised Ortega N.M. governor seeks Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 during the 1980s that Oliver North and other aides to then-President Reagan secretly sold arms to Iran's radical Islamic government to finance clandestine aid for the Contra rebels in a bid to overthrow him. North showed up again during Ortegas latest presidential campaign, predicting dire consequences if he returned to power. The U.S. has expressed guarded support since Ortegas election, and Ortega has promised to maintain ties to Washington. If those ties are severed, some fear the superpower could pull investment and $48 million in annual aid that includes promises to build a regional training center for health workers. Ortega has avoided openly criticizing Washington, but his focus so far has been strengthening ties with Chavez and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, both of whom have agreed to spend billions of dollars around the globe on projects to counterbalance U.S. influence, especially in Latin America and Africa. Chavez shipped cheap oil to Nicaragua last year, boosting his friend's campaign. On Ortega's first day in office, Chavez showed up with promises of 100,000 barrels of oil under preferential terms, the building of a refinery, low interest loans and health aid. On Sunday, Iran's president toured Managua and told Ortega he would construct dams and homes, establish factories for everything from buses to bicycles, and improve Nicaragua's drinking water, ports and fishing industry. AP Photo/Arid Leon SANDINISTAS SUPPORTERS of Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega, cheer to Iranian President Mdhmoud Ahmadinejad during a visit to the neighborhood "Cuba Libre" in Managua, Sunday, Jan. 14,2007. As part of his Latin America tour Ahmadinejad will visit Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Ecuador. WASHINGTON (AP)- Democrat Bill Richardson took the first step Sunday toward a bid to become the first Hispanic president, saying the country needs his extensive experience as a governor, cabinet secretary and ambassador. The 59-year-old New Mexico governor announced in a video posted on his Web site that he would set up an exploratory committee that will allow him to begin raising money and assembling his campaign organization. His candidacy would make history as the field of Democratic candidates would APPhoto/RovO. Franklin be the most diverse ever. On Saturday, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton B i n RICHARDSON SPEAKS TO REPORTERS on his return to said she wanted to be the first female Albuquerque, N.M., after returning from Sudan in this Jan. 11,2007 president. Last week, Sen. Barack Obama Richardson intends to take the first step toward Ihe Democratic of Illinois jumped in, a formidable conpresidential nomination, several officials with knowledge of his tender who would be the first black complans said Friday. mander in chief. Richardson, whose father was an inter- lenges." In New Mexico, he has hosted talks national banker from Boston and whose on North Korea's nuclear program. Most mother was Mexican, said he believes the recently he traveled to Sudan to meet with country "has changed enough" that voters the country's president and to press him are ready for a woman or minority presifor an end to the bloodshed in Darfur. dent. On Iraq, he advocates using diplomacy "The country is looking for somebody to broker an end to conflict by bringing who, one, brings the country together — a together interested nations and convincunifier, a healer," Richardson told The ing donor countries to help rebuild the Associated Press. uAnd two, somebody country's infrastructure. who gets things done. Those two quests by He said U.S. troops should be Americans override any other concerns." redeployed by the end of the year to A former U.N. ambassador, Energy Afghanistan and other regions in the Department secretary and congressman, Persian Gulf. Richardson stressed his experience. He Richardson settled in New Mexico said he wanted U.S. troops to return after several years as a Washington quickly from Iraq and urged a change staffer, partly because of the state's of leadership in Washington that would large Hispanic population. He served in work to bridge a wide partisan divide. the House from 1982 until 1996, when "What this country needs is bipartisan- President Clinton named him U.N. ship and to bring back civility" in govern- ambassador. In 1998 he joined the Clinton ment, he said. "I've actually done what a Cabinet as energy secretary. lot of candidates give speeches on." Richardson ran into trouble as energy Richardson polls far behind the secretary for his handling of a scandal Democratic front-runners: Clinton, at New Mexico's Los Alamos National Obama and 2004 vice presidential nomiLaboratory over computer equipment nee John Edwards. Raising money for a with nuclear secrets that went missing. presidential race will be challenging for Some have said Richardson's position Richardson. Still, his background makes in the race — running behind Clinton, him a potentially formidable candidate. Edwards and Obama — makes him an "The national debate about the future ideal vice presidential candidate. But of our country has begun and I believe Richardson said he is "not in this race to I have a different perspective to offer. I be vice president." know I'm not the favorite in this race," the Other Democratic contenders governor said in his video. include former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack; "As an underdog and governor of a Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd; and small, Western state, I will not have the Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich. Delaware money that other candidates will have. Sen. Joe Biden has said he will run and However, I believe these serious times plans to formalize his intentions soon. demand serious people, who have realMassachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the world experience in solving the challenges party's 2004 candidate, also contemplates we face. I humbly believe I'm the bestanother run. equipped candidate to meet these chal- BUSH From page 2 are without funds, neither requested by the administration nor approved by Congress. Callahan points to a $450 million consumer education and outreach campaign on energy efficiency in that law, but says "not one penny has been appropriated" nor has the money been sought by the administration. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman says the administration over the years has spent nearly $12 billion in developing new energy technologies. He cited the president's $2.1 billion "advanced energy initiative" in the State of the Union a year ago. But most of that program goes for nuclear research and clean coal technology that generally has little impact on the country's dependence on oil, 70 percent of which is used in transportation. For that, Bush told a renewable fuels conference last year in St. Louis, "we need to change how we power our automobiles.... I like the idea of promoting a fuel that relies upon our farmers." Bush has supported lawmakers' push to use more corn-based ethanol as a gasoline blend and he is expected to call for a sharp escalation of ethanol use in his speech. It is a political sure bet as ethanol has widespread bipartisan support. Among the first bills introduced in the new Democratic-run Senate calls for using 60 billion gallons of ethanol, 10 times current production capacity, by 2030. Two 2008 presidential hopefuls, Democratic Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and Joe Biden of Delaware, are its leading co- sponsors. Ethanol is "riding a big wave" this year, says Mark McMinimy, a policy analyst at the Stanford Group. "The renewable fuels-ethanol juggernaut enjoys one of the most prized commodities in Washington — broad-based support, bipartisan political momentum." But even there, the administration has been criticized for not living up to the rhetoric. In last year's State of the Union speech, Bush announced a goal to make a "new kind of ethanol practical and competitive within six years." His administration followed within days with a budget calling for only a modest increase — about $29 million — for research into cellulosic ethanol development. Last week, the House passed legislation that would funnel $14 billion in money collected from oil companies into a renewable fuel fund. Ethanol lobbyist Bob Dinneen of the Renewable Fuels Association welcomed the action and urged that the fund finance loan guarantees — approved by Congress in 2005, but not funded — for cellulosic ethanol plants. Yet the White House strongly opposed the House-passed bill in part because it said additional taxes on the oil companies should not be used to pay for such new programs. A report last week by the General Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, concluded "it is unlikely" that the government's current research and development programs will provide the alternative energy sources needed to "reverse our growing dependence on imported oil." BRIDAL FAIRE <s> Saturday, January 27 10:00 To 5:00 At USU Student Center 2nd Floor 0 ,-r. ;VON LLA Shows By: ' A Bridal Faire Production Co-sponsored by: For more information call: 753-6736 or www.bridalfaire.org IRAQ From page 2 BRITISH TROOPS ARE SEEN the scene of a road side bomb attack on their patrol in Basra, Iraq, Sunday Jan. 21,2007. One British soldier was killed and four wounded in the attack. ready to join the fresh drive to quell sectarian violence in the capital by the first of the month, the American military said Sunday. In Karbala, provincial Gov. Akeel alKhazaali, who was not at the security meeting, said the SUVs were able to get through a checkpoint on the outskirts of the city, 50 miles south of Baghdad, because police assumed it was a diplomatic convoy and informed headquarters that it was coming. "The group used percussion bombs and broke into the building, killed five Americans and kidnapped two others, then fled," the governor said, adding that Iraqi troops later found one of the SUVs with three bodies dressed in military uniforms. The U.S. military, which has said that five U.S. soldiers were killed and three were wounded while repelling the attack, denied that two U.S. troops were kidnapped. Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a military spokesman, said all American forces "were accounted for after the action." A security official in Karbala, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose the information to the media, said the convoy of gunmen drove to Babil province after the attack. The Babil police commander confirmed that they entered the region before disappearing. Although Babil province is predominantly Shiite, some parts of it, just south of Baghdad, are Sunni and insurgents are known to be active there. The deaths of the U.S. troops, combined with a helicopter crash that killed 12 U.S. soldiers, made Saturday the deadliest day for U.S. forces in two years. It was also the third-highest of any single day since the war began in March 2003, eclipsed only by 37 U.S. deaths on Jan. 26, 2005, and 28 on the third day of the U.S. invasion. U.S. authorities also announced two American combat deaths from Friday. The heavy toll comes at a critical time of rising congressional opposition to President Bush's decision to dispatch 21,500 additional soldiers to the conflict to try to curb sectarian slaughter. The U.S. military statement about the Karbala attack said "an illegally armed militia group" attacked the provincial headquarters building with grenades, small arms and "indirect fire," which usually means mortars or rockets. "A meeting was taking place at the time of the attack to ensure the security of Shiite pilgrims participating in the Ashoura commemorations," said a statement from Brig. Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, deputy commander of the Multi-National Division-Baghdad. Thousands of Shiite pilgrims are flocking to the city to mark the 10-day Ashoura festival commemorating the death of one of Shiite Islam's most sacred saints, Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. |