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11-12-2005

Bush Forcefully Attacks Iraq Critics

President Bush speaks about the war against terror at Tobyhanna Army Depot in Tobyhanna, Pa., Friday, Nov. 11, 2005. In a Veterans Day speech, Bush offered a forceful defense of the war in Iraq, saying it is the central front in the war on terror and that extremists are trying to establish a radical Muslim empire extending from Spain to Indonesia. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

TOBYHANNA, Pa. (AP) _ President Bush strongly rebuked congressional critics of his Iraq war policy Friday, accusing them of being "deeply irresponsible" and sending the wrong signal both to America's enemy and to U.S. troops. "The stakes in the global war on terror are too high, and the national interest is too important, for politicians to throw out false charges," Bush said in his most combative defense yet of his rationale for invading Iraq in March 2003.

al-Qaida: All 4 Jordan Bombers Were Iraqis

The son of Fathia Ayyash, centre, who was killed during the wedding ceremony in the Radisson SAS hotel, mourns over the body of his mother during her funeral at Sahab cemetery in Sahab, southeast of Amman, Jordan, Friday Nov. 11, 2005. Al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had claimed responsibility for the bombings. The latest statement said the attackers wore explosive belts "in order to achieve greater accuracy in hitting the target."(AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) _ Al-Qaida claimed a squad of four Iraqi suicide bombers, including a husband and wife team, carried out the Ammam attacks with explosive belts after carefully staking out the hotels for a month. Jordan interrogated 12 suspects Friday who may have helped them. The terror group's Iraqi branch issued its third Internet statement since Wednesday's nearly simultaneous attacks, saying the four Iraqis had the Radisson SAS, Grand Hyatt and Days Inn hotels under surveillance "to achieve greater accuracy in hitting the target."

Reports: Top Saddam Lieutenant Has Died

Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's second-in-command, is shown in this March 6, 2003 photo. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) _ A statement circulated in the name of the Baath Party said Friday that Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, the highest-ranking figure from Saddam Hussein's regime still at large, had died. The report could not be independently confirmed. The report was based on an e-mail sent to a Western news agency and signed by the "Arab Socialist Baath Party _ Iraq Command." It said al-Douri died at 2:30 a.m. Friday but gave no indication of the cause.

Rice Urges Unity Among Iraqi Factions

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice talks to Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari during their joint press conference, in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, Friday, Nov.11 2005. Rice invited Sunni Arabs to speak their minds in new voting in Iraq, arguing during a surprise visit Friday that "differences can be a strength." (AP Photo/Ahmad al-Rubaye, pool)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) _ Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pressed for unity among Iraq's religious factions as she made an unannounced and heavily guarded visit Friday to the country, including one of its most ethnically divided regions. Rice made a personal appeal to Sunni Arabs to participate in new elections in December, but she sounded cool to an outside Arab attempt to foster political reconciliation. She also chided Iraq's Arab neighbors for being slow to send ambassadors to post-Saddam Iraq.

Poll: Most Americans Say Bush Not Honest

President Bush speaks about the war against terror at Tobyhanna Army Depot in Tobyhanna, Pa., Friday, Nov. 11, 2005. Bush, in the most forceful defense yet of his Iraq war policy, accused critics Friday of trying to rewrite history and charged that they're undercutting America's forces on the front lines. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Two crucial pillars of President Bush's public support _ perceptions of his honesty and faith in his ability to fight terrorism _ have slipped to their lowest point in the AP-Ipsos poll. While the CIA leak investigation, the mishandling of Hurricane Katrina and high energy costs have all taken their toll, the polling found the Iraq war at the core of Americans' displeasure with the president.

French Police Step Up Security After Tips

About 250 people are seen through the glass memorial "Wall for Peace" near the Paris Military School , seen in background, during a protest against the recent spread of urban violence throughout France, Friday, Nov. 11, 2005 in Paris. The word "Peace" is engraved on glass in 32 languages and 14 alphabets. The gathering was organized by a collective of some 160 suburban associations, called "Banlieues Respects" (Suburbs Respect). (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)

PARIS (AP) _ Authorities stepped up security Friday and placed restrictions on some public gatherings after tip-offs from Internet and text messages suggested "violent actions" over the weekend in the French capital. But as France marked Armistice Day commemorating the end of World War I, calls for peace in the restive poor neighborhoods of France rang out, from demonstrators in Paris to religious leaders at a Lyon-area mosque in the southeast.

N.J. Biologist Studies Ice-Hardy Worms

Rutgers Camden University professor, Daniel Shain shows ice worms crawling on top of an ice cube, at his laboratory in Rutgers University, in Camden, N.J., Thursday, Nov. 11, 2005. NASA recently gave Daniel Shain, an associate professor of biology, a three-year, $214,206 grant to figure what makes the ice worms such survivors. The answer to such studies might show how life might survive on distant ice worlds such as Jupiter's moon Europa, as well as provide answers to more earthbound problems such as preserving transplant organs kept on ice. (AP Photo/Jose F. Moreno)

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) _ Normally fodder for anglers and early birds, worms are getting a tad more respect from a Rutgers-Camden biologist who's focusing on a species of hardy wigglers able to live in freezing temperatures, surviving without food for up to two years. NASA recently gave Daniel Shain, an associate professor of biology, a three-year, $214,206 grant to figure what makes the ice worms such survivors. The answer to such studies might show how life might survive on distant ice worlds such as Jupiter's moon Europa, as well as provide answers to more earthbound problems such as preserving transplant organs kept on ice.

Management Guru Peter Drucker, 95, Dies

Peter F. Drucker is seen in this recent but undated photo made available by Claremont Graduate University Friday, Nov. 11, 2005. Drucker, revered as the father of modern management in his numerous books and articles stressing innovation, entrepreneurship and strategies for dealing with a changing world, died Friday, a spokesman for Claremont Graduate University said. He was 95. (AP Photo/Claremont Graduate University)

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Peter F. Drucker, revered as the father of modern management for his numerous books and articles stressing innovation, entrepreneurship and strategies for dealing with a changing world, died Friday. He was 95. Drucker died of natural causes at his home in Claremont, east of Los Angeles, said Bryan Schneider, a spokesman for Claremont Graduate University, where Drucker taught.

Judge Allows Lawsuit Against KISS' Simmons

Rocker Gene Simmons of the famed music group KISS, arrives for an event at Texas Motor Speedway, on June, 11, 2005, in Fort Worth, Texas. A woman who claims to be a former girlfriend of Simmons can proceed with a defamation lawsuit in which she says he made her sound like a "sex-addicted nymphomaniac" during a VH-1 television show, a New York judge has ruled.The woman, in court papers made public Friday, Nov. 11, 2005, alleges that Simmons slandered her during a "rockumentary" about KISS.(AP Photo/LM Otero)

NEW YORK (AP) _ A woman who claims to be a former girlfriend of KISS rocker Gene Simmons can proceed with a defamation lawsuit in which she says he made her sound like a "sex-addicted nymphomaniac" during a VH1 television show, a judge has ruled. State Supreme Court Justice Rosalyn Richter denied Simmons' motion to dismiss two of three claims by Georgeann Walsh Ward, 53, who says in court papers made public Friday that Simmons slandered her during a "rockumentary" about KISS.

New York Knicks Still 0-For-Larry Brown

New York Knicks' head coach Larry Brown instructs his team against the Golden State Warriors in the first half in Oakland, Calif. on Friday, Nov. 11, 2005. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) _ Adonal Foyle scored the go-ahead basket with 48.9 seconds left, then grabbed a crucial rebound on the other end, and the Golden State Warriors survived a frantic final minute to beat Brown's winless Knicks 86-84 on Friday night. Baron Davis stripped the ball from Jamal Crawford on the Knicks' final possession, and New York didn't even get a shot off to try to tie it.

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