Sirnak, Turkey
U.S., Arab nations urge Turkey not to attack Iraq
Dozens of Turkish military vehicles streamed toward the Iraqi border with heavy
artillery and ammunition yesterday after Kurdish guerrillas killed a dozen soldiers and claimed to have captured eight in an intensifying crisis threatening to spill into Iraq.
Arab nations joined the U.S. and Europe in urging Turkey’s government not to attack suspected guerrilla bases in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, while Turkish citizens rallied across the country demanding action against the rebels.
Iraq’s president claimed the guerrillas would announce a cease-fire. But the rebels denied that, saying a cease-fire they declared in June was still in place.
San Diego
Wildfires force 250,000 to flee
Wildfires fanned by fierce desert winds consumed huge swaths of bone-dry Southern California on yesterday, burning dozens of buildings and threatening hundreds more from Malibu to San Diego, including a jail, a hospital and nursing homes.
More than a dozen wildfires had engulfed the region, killing at least one person, injuring dozens more and forcing hundreds of thousands of evacuations.
Overwhelmed firefighters said they lacked the resources to protect property.
“We have more houses burning than we have people and engine companies to fight them,” San Diego Fire Captain Lisa Blake said. “A lot of people are going to lose their homes today.”
Nearly 250,000 people were forced to flee in San Diego County alone, where hundreds of patients were being moved by school bus and ambulance from a hospital and nursing homes, sheriff’s spokeswoman Susan Knauss said.
Washington
Bush wants $46 bil more to fund war
President Bush asked Congress for $46 billion more to bankroll wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and said he wants the money approved by Christmas.
The fighting in Iraq, in its fifth year, already has cost more than $455 billion.
Democrats who gained control of Congress with an antiwar message said Bush should not expect lawmakers to rubber-stamp the request.
“The colossal cost of this war grows every day – in lives lost, dollars spent, and to our reputation around the world,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.
Cairo, Egypt
Osama bin Laden tells insurgents to avoid ‘extremism’
Osama bin Laden called for Iraqi insurgents to unite and avoid divisive “extremism,” speaking in an audiotape aired yesterday and apparently intended to win over Sunnis opposed to al-Qaida’s branch in Iraq.
In the audiotape broadcast on Al-Jazeera television, bin Laden said insurgents should admit “mistakes” and that he even advises himself not to be extreme in his leadership.
The tape appeared to be in response to moves by some Sunni Arab tribes in Iraq that have joined U.S. troops in fighting al-Qaida members, as well as other Sunni insurgent groups that – while still attacking Americans – have formed coalitions opposed to al-Qaida.
“Some of you have been lax in one duty, which is to unite your ranks,” bin Laden said in the audiotape.
– Compiled from Daily wire reports