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Iraqis Pay Tribute to U.S. Service Members By Donna Miles American Forces Press Service ARLINGTON, Va., May 27, 2004 — As the sound of "Taps" wailed from Army Sgt. Major Henry Sgrecci's bugle today, seven Iraqi citizens pressed their new prosthetic hands against their hearts at the Tomb of the Unknowns here to honor U.S. service members who have given their lives in Iraq. Seven Iraqi merchants put their new prosthetic hands across their hearts May 27 while laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery in honor of U.S. service members killed in Iraq....

We are not sure if you ever get the chance to see this letter, however we though to drop you a few words of thanks for all the good work you and your administrations have done so far. In the world of chaos, continual human-made catastrophes and political turmoil it is easy enough to miss the humane actions of many noble people out there. But, this does not mean that normal day-to-day ordinary people cannot see and they do not appreciate your hard-work and the tremendous pressure you sustain to help your fellow innocent human being. Sirs, please allow us...

Coalition of Iraqi and Iraqi-American Organizations Thanks American People for Sacrifices Open letter expressing friendship and hopes for a democratic Iraq to appear in USA Today Washington, D.C. - As the new Iraqi government assumes full sovereignty this week, 15 Iraqi and Iraqi-American organizations have come together to sign an open letter to the American people thanking them for their sacrifices in liberating Iraq. On Wednesday, June 30, the letter will be delivered to President Bush at the White House and will run in a full page ad in USA Today. The letter expresses the Iraqi people's hopes as they...

Hamid Karzai, the U.S.-backed leader of Afghanistan who took over after the Taliban regime was ousted in 2001, accepted the Philadelphia Liberty Medal at a July 4 ceremony at Independence Hall. Karzai broke with the Taliban in 1995 and was appointed to lead his country after the U.S.-led invasion aimed at evicting the Taliban and tracking down Osama bin Laden. "The Afghanistan people have sacrificed terribly to obtain freedom. In the resistance against the Soviet occupation and the fight against terrorism and extremism, we lost nearly 2 million of our people," said Karzai, who thanked the American people for helping...

The great majority of Israelis hold the United States in high regard, a survey found. As reported by the Jerusalem Post on Sunday, the Hudson Institute poll found that 91 percent of Israelis regard the United States "very favorably" or "mostly favorably". Two-thirds of the 500 Israeli respondents also said they appreciate American support for Israel and that the Jewish state should be grateful for it.

Following the formal handover of sovereignty to Baghdad, 15 Iraqi and Iraqi-American groups have issued an open letter to the American people, thanking them for the sacrifices they endured to liberate their country. The letter will be delivered to President Bush at the White House today and published in a full page ad in USA Today. "Just as we mourn for the victims of Saddam's regime, we also grieve for the Americans and Iraqis who were killed or injured during the liberation or by terrorists determined to hold us back," the letter reads. "We will honor those who have sacrificed...

A federal court awarded $88 million to an Iraqi who said he was tortured at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq under Saddam Hussein’s leadership. Abdullah K. Alkhuzai, 33, of Pittsburgh’s Overbrook neighborhood, sued Saddam, his two sons, and eight other Iraqi leaders because, he said, he was starved, beaten, stabbed and shocked while at the Iraqi prison in 1991. In May, U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Hardiman granted a default judgment for Alkhuzai since none of the defendants responded to the suit. “I feel really great, I feel the USA got my justice for me. I feel grateful to the...

The outpouring of love and respect for my dad the American people showed last week was astonishing. It was what really kept us going all week long. Just to see the huge numbers of people who came out to join us in mourning dad, whether it was at the funeral home in Santa Monica where they broke out singing “God Bless America,” or at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley where over 100,000 people came to pay their respects, or in Washington while dad lay in state at the Capitol and another 100,000 passed silently by his flag-draped coffin, it...

Karzai Thanks Americans for Support to Afghanistan By Jim GaramoneAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, June 14, 2004 – Afghan President Hamid Karzai stood before the stained plaque marking the impact site of the jetliner that hit the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, and thanked the American people for their support of his country. Karzai met with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. The president will meet with other administration officials including President Bush June 15, and is scheduled to address a joint session of Congress. Karzai said the setting of the news conference reminded him "that we must together –...

Al-Yawer, a Sunni from a powerful tribe, thanked America for the sacrifice of its men and women to free his country and pledged to repay that sacrifice by moving "in steady steps" toward democracy. "We're determined to have a free, democratic, federal Iraq, a country that is a source of stability to the Middle East, which is very important for the rest of the world," he said. "I'd like to thank the American people for the sacrifices that the brave men and women of the United States [made] toward trying to liberate Iraq. "We're working with all our hearts to...

(Fort Drum-AP) -- Afghanistan's president spoke to about a thousand troops from the Tenth Mountain Division at Fort Drum Tuesday afternoon. President Hamid Karzai told the soldiers that their deeds will be "written in golden letters" in Afghan history. He said the troops had helped reclaim the country from terror and oppression. Because of U-S military involvement, Karzai said Afghanistan now has a constitution, a functioning government, and a national army, and is about ot hold the first elections in its history. Karzai assisted Major General Lloyd Austin in presenting Purple Hearts to two soldiers for their heroism in Afghanistan. Neither the...

A myth has developed that Iraqis aren't grateful for their liberation from Saddam. So it's worth noting that the leaders of Iraq's new interim government have been explicit and gracious in their thanks, not that you've heard this from the U.S. media. First in Arabic and then in English, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said in his inaugural address to the Iraqi people last Tuesday that "I would like to record our profound gratitude and appreciation to the U.S.-led international coalition, which has made great sacrifices for the liberation of Iraq." In his own remarks, President Ghazi al-Yawer said: "Before I...

Eastern Europe Greatful to Ronald ReaganLeaders, former dissidents and ordinary citizens across Eastern Europe expressed gratitude to Ronald Reagan for helping end decades of 'evil empire' communism and Cold War era oppression.According to Petko Bocharov, a Bulgarian journalist, that fact today that Bulgaria is a member of NATO could happen only after the efforts of this great American president.Most of the region threw off communist rule in 1989, the year Reagan retired from the Presdiency marked by a determination to loosen the grip of the Soviet Union through dipomacy, an intimidating space based nuclear missile defense system and unrelenting appeals...

(1010 WINS) (FORT DRUM, N.Y.) The president of Afghanistan will visit Fort Drum next week to honor the U.S. soldiers who helped provide security to his war-torn country. Afghan President Hamid Karzai will visit the Tenth Mountain Division's northern New York base on Tuesday, during his trip to the United States to attend the Group of Eight summit next week in Georgia. Karzai will meet with President Bush at the White House on June 15th. Karzai was named leader of the transitional Afghan government in December 2001. He will run for president in September, when the nation holds its first...

Iraq's new Prime Minister Allawi held a news conference on Tuesday. During that news conference he switched to English to say "I would like to thank the coalition, led by the United States, for the sacrifices they have provided in the process of the liberation of Iraq." Then President Busy had a news conference in Washington. Three times during that conference Bush said that he appreciated Allawi's words of thanks to the American people. According to Fox News Channel as of Wednesday evening not one major American newspaper had reported Allawi's remarks. Not one. The only thing you could find...

<p>SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq (AP) At MaDonal, a restaurant with a familiar name, diners munch cheeseburgers and fries. U.S. troops open cans of Diet Coke. An American flag flies next to the sign that bears the internationally recognized trademark yellow M.</p> <p>The scene reflects a fact of life in Iraq's north: Many Kurds are fascinated with the culture of the superpower that freed an oppressed people from brutal persecution by the ousted dictator.</p>

Basra is booming Luxury market ... electrical goods on sale in Basra From George Pascoe-WatsonDeputy Political Editor in Iraq PROSPERITY has returned to the streets of Iraq, and The Sun has been there to see it. On the first anniversary of the end of the Iraq War a new nation is under construction thanks to the tireless efforts of British and US forces. While the world’s TV cameras focus on the darkness of the post-war problems, the REAL story is of dramatic improvement in the everyday lives of millions of ordinary Iraqis. Some £15BILLION of British and American taxpayers’...

“Ah, you are from America. Thank God for George Bush!” It’s the first thing Ghazi Suleiman – a devout Muslim and one of Sudan’s top human-rights lawyers – says as I sit down in his living room in Khartoum one night. Dressed in a white tunic-like robe, he explains why he’s such a fan of President Bush. First, he says, America’s ouster of Saddam Hussein has put pressure on leaders all over the Muslim world to loosen political and religious strictures. In Sudan – a nation with a predominantly Muslim North and predominantly Christian South - the government has continued...

Turkey's prime minister reinforced his country's commitment to the war on terror today, and he thanked President Bush for adding another alias of a group operating in his country to the U.S. State Department list of foreign terrorist organizations. Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Bush spoke to reporters briefly after a morning meeting, Erdogan's second visit to the Oval Office. They were scheduled to continue their meeting over lunch. The Kurdistan Workers Party, known as the PKK, and various aliases the organization uses – the Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress, or KADEK, for example – already were on the list. Erdogan...