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Intake platform and rock to protect the river bank from the ravages of the Tigris at Albow Ageel. (GRD Photo by Claude D. McKinney) The Tigris sustains her neighbors by Claude D. McKinney Gulf Region North US Army Corps of Engineers Tikrit, Iraq — Iraq has two major historic waterways coursing through its landscape. Civilization has been located along the Tigris and Euphrates for millennia. The flow of these rivers may have ebbed during some of those past seasons, but the population growth certainly has expanded, especially in recent decades. Rapid growth outstripped the former government’s ability or maybe...

Red Cross workers Heather Ross and Michael Patton at Contingency Operating Base Speicher, Iraq. “I love working with the soldiers – I love hearing their stories – I love being part of this,” said Ross. U.S Army photo by Staff Sgt.Russell Lee Klika Red Cross Heather Ross Red Cross Volunteer Loves Her Work In Iraq By Sgt. Waine D. Haley 133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment TIKRIT, Iraq, April 17, 2006 — Every day, women are making history here in Iraq, but one Red Cross worker is making history one family at a time. Heather Ross, assistant station manager, Tikrit-American...

Betsy Newmark, one of my favorite bloggers who I've been honored to have guest-blog here, is down. I asked her what happened. She e-mails about her nightmare: Evil Blogger has lost the page - server problems. They are the most unhelpful organization. You can't reach any human being and all I get are form letters saying that all the problems have been resolved. I'm just hoping that they fix their problem and I get back on. I don't have time to hassle with setting up a new page. She adds: All I get are their automated messages that are of...

LIMA, Peru - When the body of Claudina Herrera was discovered nearly five months ago by the side of a highway, curled in the fetal position in a cardboard box, the cause of death was obvious: The pregnant 18-year-old's belly was sliced wide open, and her baby was gone. Within days, her premature girl was located in intensive care at a public hospital, and the woman who had shown up with the baby _ covered in blood and saying she had given birth in a taxi _ was arrested along with four others. She was later found to be infertile....

Lady of Wells reveals her secrets The current bishop wants to restore the throne room A mysterious medieval wall painting found beneath the floor of the Bishop of Bath and Well's bedroom has given up its secrets. The painting, which shows a partly-clad woman wearing a transparent dress, dates from between 1460 and 1470. It was part of the decoration of the throne room of Bishop Thomas Beckynton. Dr Mark Horton, of Bristol University, who researched the painting discovered it is most likely to be part of a scene representing a medieval paradise. "It was rather like something out of...

FINALLY, LAURA HAS A WAY TO GET TO THE STUDIO ON TIME! Laura's Iraq Journal Day 1: Feb. 5th, 2006First let me repeat what I already knew--the troops serving over here are a stellar, inspiring group. I have been thoroughly impressed from the moment of our first contact with the 4th Infantry Division personnel who helped faciitate our trip into Iraq. In the middle of the night we were whisked off to an undisclosed location, and a few hours later flown to Baghdad by a great Air Force crew out of Alaska and a trusty old C-130. A number of...

2/1/2006 - WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- As the president spoke to the nation during the State of the Union address, an Airman sat in the gallery, dressed in blues, displaying the combat medals she earned in Iraq. America’s most prominent leaders were gathered in one room on Capitol Hill for the annual speech Jan. 31. Sitting attentively at her feet, the Airman’s German shepherd attended the speech too. Tech. Sgt. Jamie Dana is an Air Force security forces specialist and military working dog handler. In June she was severely injured by an improvised explosive device while on duty in Iraq with...

Shooting yourself in the foot By David Limbaugh Unlike our president, who spent Martin Luther King Day paying respectful tribute to MLK and Abraham Lincoln, Democratic Party notables, Hillary Clinton and Albert Gore, used the holiday as another opportunity to character-assassinate President George W. Bush. Just when we were beginning to think Hillary Clinton had found her voice - albeit a decidedly phony one - as a mature, seasoned politician poised for a presidential run, she reverts to those cacophonic utterances that find little resonance beyond her embittered but indispensable base. If one could momentarily suspend his powers of discernment,...

PASADENA, Calif. - Singer Kelly Clarkson, who vaulted to fame as the first "American Idol" winner in 2002, is not letting any of her songs be used by new contestants on the show. A spokesman for Clarkson insisted it's nothing personal, but the stance prompted a public scolding from "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell. "I think that by ignoring the show you're ignoring the audience who put you there," Cowell said Tuesday. Clarkson has become a major star in the past year, with her hit "Since U Been Gone" earning both massive sales and critical respect, particularly from a rock...

12/8/2005 - PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AFPN) -- More than five months, 8,000 miles and countless prayers led to an unlikely reunion at a Colorado animal sanctuary. Tech. Sgt. Jamie Dana and Maj. (Dr.) Paul Morton first met June 25 in Kirkuk Air Base, Iraq -- a hot summer day the major described simply as chaotic. They met again Dec. 2 on a cold winter day in the relative calm of the Black Forest Animal Sanctuary in Monument, Colo. At Kirkuk Sergeant Dana, a former 21st Security Forces Squadron dog handler, hovered near death. An improvised explosive device detonated...

My question - if the Beast kisses both *Billy Jeff and Ellen, doesn't that make her just another carrier? (I sure hope she's kept her shot record current...) Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (R) is seen with talk show host Ellen DeGeneres on the Staten Island Ferry touring the New York waterways, in this undated handout photograph released by Warner Bros. on November 19, 2005. This segment airs on Monday, November 21st as part of Ellen's New York Five Borough Show. EDITORIAL USE ONLY REUTERS/Albert Ferreira/Warner Bros./Handout

Today's celebrities are well aware of their responsibilities as role models but can well do without public interference in their private lives. As tennis star Sania Mirza says, “As long as I'm winning, people shouldn't care whether my skirt is six inches long or six feet long.” Speaking at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on Wednesday, Sania said, “How I dress is a very personal thing.” Wearing a long-sleeved black-and-white shirt with conservative black pants, she was speaking out in public for the first time since a cleric issued a fatwa against the way she dressed on court. Sania, who...

My sister in law, a lovely young woman, mother of three of three young children and wife of my brother has been diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer. She will undergo surgery to remove the entire right lung with in a week. At this early stage, we are uncertain of any long term prognosis. Please, please keep her and her family in her prayers.

Third officer this year to face charges; Johnson accused of molesting girl, 15 A Columbus police officer was charged Saturday night with sexually abusing a teenage girl. Bruce Anthony Johnson, 41, of 1050 Farr Road, was charged with aggravated child molestation, aggravated sodomy, statutory rape, enticing a child for indecent purposes and two counts of furnishing alcohol to a minor. He is scheduled to appear in court this morning. Columbus Police Chief Ricky Boren said the investigation began Friday afternoon, and the allegations involved a 15-year-old girl. "We started the investigation Friday afternoon, and the investigation continued until Saturday evening...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (Oct. 4, 2005) -- It was June 23, 2005, when 20 Marines boarded a seven-ton truck and began, unbeknownst to them, their treacherous journey back to Camp Fallujah, Iraq. What happened a short distance down the road, is something that has and will continue to change their lives forever. Sitting in the second to last seat in the back, on the right side of the truck was Lance Cpl. Erin Liberty of Niceville, Fla., an ammunition technician with Ammunition Company, 2nd Supply Battalion, 2nd Force Service Support Group. She remembers talking with the female...

OLYMPIA – Three years after getting drunk, blowing through a stop sign and triggering a wreck that left her passenger critically injured, a former Idaho resident has filed a $1.5 million claim against Washington's Pend Oreille County for not detaining her before she caused the crash. In her claim, Ashlen Lee says that on June 12, 2002, a county sheriff's deputy stopped her truck around 3:30 a.m. and could see that she had been drinking. But after quizzing her, the deputy let the 17-year-old drive away. The officer said he'd give them a warning," said Lee's attorney, W. Russell Van...

A teenager was back in class Friday after receiving a one-day suspension for wearing a T-shirt with slogans including "freedom of expression" and "don't drink and drive" that school administrators considered disruptive. Hanna Smith, 18, a junior at Tift County High School, said principal Mike Duck told her that if she wore the shirt again she would be suspended for the remainder of the year. The principal was arrested six years ago for DUI and running a stop sign, the Tifton Gazette said Friday in a story on Smith's suspension. Duck made a public apology for the DUI and was...

Sen. Clinton's former aide could be used against her By Kenneth R. Bazinet New York Daily News WASHINGTON - Hillary Clinton isn't on trial in Los Angeles on Tuesday - but as far as her political adversaries are concerned, she may as well be. Her former finance director David Rosen has been charged with concealing the real cost of a star-studded Hollywood fund-raiser for Clinton in August 2000 - and if he's convicted, her enemies plan to exploit it to the maximum. ''If it was any other senator, it might not be an issue, but with her past it will...

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Passing Buck on Schiavo Cheats Public By JOYCE PURNICK Published: March 24, 2005 THE House of Representatives acted quickly over the weekend in the wrenching case of Terri Schiavo, so quickly that maybe those who opposed the special bill allowing the federal courts to take over the case might have missed the Senate's role - conspicuous for its silence. The debate was confined to the House, for nearly four hours late Sunday night and early Monday. In the Senate, home of Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein of California, and, of course, Hillary Rodham Clinton and...