Iraq

Pentagon tightens rules on deaths

WASHINGTON - All deaths of detainees in U.S. military custody are to be reported immediately to criminal investigators under a policy announced Thursday by the Pentagon, after disclosures about lengthy delays in the military's response to prison fatalities, even those ruled as homicides.

The policy, according to a two-page memorandum that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signed Wednesday, "reiterates and clarifies" existing rules. But the decision to restate and synthesize those rules reflects the increased scrutiny on detainee deaths that has accompanied revelations about prison abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Thursday that the war in Iraq has sparked a global crisis that must be resolved through international cooperation.

"What kind of world would it be, and who would want to live in it, if every country was allowed to use force, without collective agreement, simply because it thought there might be a threat?" he told a crowd of about 15,000 at Harvard University's commencement.

"Once again, in recent weeks, the United States found that it needed the unique legitimacy of the United Nations to bring into being a credible interim government in Iraq," Annan said.

Calls to the White House for comment Thursday were not immediately returned.

SAVANNAH, Ga. - President Bush doesn't plan to give Iraq's new government Saddam Hussein's pistol.

Members of the Delta Force commando team that captured the former Iraqi leader Dec. 13 gave the pistol to Bush during a White House visit. The president keeps the gun in a small study adjoining the Oval Office.

At a news conference after the Group of Eight summit in Sea Island, Ga., a reporter asked Bush if he planned to keep it or if he would give it to Iraq's new president, Ghazi al-Yawer.

Bush praised the commandos who captured Hussein and said of the gun, "It's now the property of the U.S. government."

BAGHDAD - Gunmen claiming to belong to a jihadist group displayed four Turks from among seven Turkish contractors they kidnapped in Iraq, demanding that Turkish companies end all business here and leave the country.

Separately, another extremist group threatened to kill two contract truck drivers - Victor Tawfiq Jerges of Egypt and Bulent Yanik of Turkey - by noon Saturday. The two were shown on a video released last week.

The threat was made by the "Jihad Groups" in a statement broadcast Thursday by the Dubai-based al-Arabiya satellite television station. The statement contained no demand or any condition to avoid the hostages' murder.

However, a previous statement by the kidnappers demanded that Turkey and Egypt condemn U.S. actions in Iraq.

World and national headlines

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times 490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 Contact the Times | Privacy Policy Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright