Mr Wolfowitz said: "We are going to make sure the Iraqi people believe us at the end of the day. The main consideration on the other side in our minds is saving the lives of American men and women who are on the line.". Three American soldiers were killed today when their convoy was hit by gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades in northern Iraq. The killings were further signs that the insurgency against American troops isn't losing its strength.Military spokeswoman Spc. Eyewitnesses told the AP that the two men were killed after the car caught fire."We told the driver not to go ahead because there was an American checkpoint," said Mahmoud Haider, 50, who witnessed the shooting. "He refused."Meanwhile, the Coalition Provisional Authority announced early this week the closure of a Baghdad newspaper and arrest of its office manager, who wasn't identified.The statement said Al-Mustaqila, which means "The Independent" in Arabic, published an article July 13 calling for "death to all spies and those who co-operate with the US" It said killing them was a religious duty..
The US military today released pictures showing the bodies of Uday and Qusay Hussein, the sons of Saddam Hussein, two days after they were killed in a fierce firefight at a villa in the northern city of Mosul. Both men were bearded.The military has said the brothers and a third man, believed to have been a bodyguard, were killed by US TOW missiles fired into the villa where they were hiding out on Tuesday.The release of the photographs was a move by the military to convince sceptical Iraqis that the feared brothers were dead. Many Iraqis, especially Saddam supporters, believed the story of the brothers' killing was concocted by the American military to demoralize opponents of their occupation of the country.The military released two pictures each of the brothers who were betrayed by an Iraqi, reportedly a Saddam cousin who owned the villa where they were hiding, after the United States offered a US$15 million reward for information leading to the capture or death of either brother.. Tony Blair has welcomed the decision by the leader of Hong Kong to withdraw an anti-subversion bill after huge protests, saying it shows the former colony can handle such disputes without breaking down. She said he had cancelled a meeting with legislators yet found time to spend with the territory's richest man, the billionaire tycoon Li Ka-shing.Anger over the bill sparked a protest rally by 500,000 people on 1 July, stunning Mr Tung and throwing his government into an unprecedented reversal, which raised fears about China's reaction.
Beijing's new leaders later backed Mr Tung after he promised to listen more carefully to the public.Mr Blair said: "The disagreement has given rise to much speculation that it represents a crisis for the system. Actually, it indicates that despite difficulty there is sufficient flexibility in the system to allow a disagreement to surface and be overcome."He noted that leaders in Beijing had taken account of the controversy without overreacting to the huge rally (AP). The Burmese junta announced the release of 91 political prisoners yesterday, but kept silent on the fate of the charismatic opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. The 1991 Nobel peace laureate is being held in "protective custody".
Foreign ministers debated how to phrase a statement aimed at "nagging the Burmese junta into releasing Madam Aung San Suu Kyi". No Burmese diplomats were at the summit.European ministers insist on condemnation of Burma for suppressing democracy, while Asia prefers a softer approach. The Prime Ministers of Thailand and Malaysia publicly differed over the best action to take. Thaksin Shinawatra, the Thai Prime Minister, asked that the generals be allowed more time to reform. But Mahathir Mohamad, the Malaysian Prime Minister, threatened to expel Burma from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) unless Ms Suu Kyi, 58, was freed straight away, He was backed by Razali Ismail, the United Nations special envoy to Burma and the only outsider to see Ms Suu Kyi since her arrest on 30 May.The widow had been held in a dingy two-room hut on prison grounds, before being moved by government officials to an undisclosed location. She has spent nearly eight years under arrest, after a landslide win at elections in 1991. Mr Razali said Asean had a right to demand certain standards from its members, but he has also told Ms Suu Kyi not to antagonise the generals and impede future peace talks.Government newspapers in Rangoon recently published vitriolic articles attacking the "arrogant Auntie Suu" and blaming her for encouraging unrest with incendiary speeches at NLD political rallies earlier this summer.Chris Patten, the European Union external affairs commissioner, said the generals "should listen to what the rest of the world, and particularly their neighbours, are saying".Rangoon finds itself under increased pressure, with threats of economic sanctions being issued by the United States and Europe.
