White House opens doors to Iraq refugees

By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer

The Bush administration plans to allow about 7,000 Iraqi refugees to settle in the United States over the next year, a huge expansion at a time of mounting international pressure to help millions who have fled their homes in the nearly four-year-old war.

The United States has allowed only 463 Iraq refugees into the country since the war began in March 2003, even though some 3.8 million have been uprooted. A senior State Department official described the expanded program on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement later Wednesday.

The administration also plans to pledge $18 million for a worldwide resettlement and relief program. The United Nations has asked for $60 million from nations around the world.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Wednesday with U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres to outline the expanded U.S. program. The 7,000 would be resettled from nations outside Iraq where they have fled. The U.S. proposal also includes plans to offer special treatment for Iraqis still in the country whose cooperation with the U.S. government puts them at risk from sectarian reprisal.

Most refugees have fled to Syria and Jordan, both of which have recently tried to restrict the influx. The U.N. estimates that 40,000 to 50,000 people flee Iraq each month and have dwindling options of where to go. Other Iraqis relocate inside then country, with some leaving neighborhoods that were once mixed among Sunnis and Shiites and resettling where their sect is more concentrated.

U.S. diplomats have discussed the refugee situation directly with the Syrian government, the State Department official said. That is notable because of the administration's reluctance to engage Syria in high-level discussions about security in Iraq. The U.S. has also discussed the refugee problem with Jordan, a close ally, the official said.

The U.N. and allies have suggested the previous U.S. policy was stingy considering the U.S. role in starting the war. After The Associated Press reported the plan to allow far greater numbers to come to the United States, Jordan's chief government spokesman did not sound impressed.

Nasser Judeh said 7,000 is still a small number compared to the 700,000 Iraqi refugees Jordan has had to accommodate.

"7,000 Iraqi refugees is just 1 percent of the number we have," Judeh said.

Syria has taken in an estimated 1 million Iraqis. It was the last Arab country to take in large numbers.

The U.N. classifies most Iraqi refugees as having only "temporary protection status," rather than as permanent refugees — presumably because it assumes most will return to Iraq after the fighting ends. Guterres' office has said it hopes to permanently resettle this year up to 20,000 Iraqis whom it considers the most vulnerable, including women, children, survivors of torture, the seriously ill and minorities.

The worsening humanitarian crisis has resulted in calls for action by members of Congress and a plea from the United Nations for more countries to help out.

"It's not fair that the burden is not being shared effectively. A very limited number of countries is paying a very heavy price," Guterres said on a recent tour of the Mideast.

In a budget request filed with Congress last week, President Bush asked for $35 million to help Iraq's refugees next year, and another $15 million for this year.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said the administration "has been slow to react to a worsening situation, amid ample warnings." Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., told Rice at a hearing last week that the United States could admit about 7,000 Iraqi refugees this year.

Nigerian Kidnappers release 24 Filipino hostages

By Estelle Shirbon

Nigerian kidnappers have released all 24 Filipino seamen they had been holding captive in the creeks of the oil-producing Niger Delta since January 20, the men's employer, German shipping firm Baco-Liner, said on Tuesday.

The kidnappers said they had freed the men "on humanitarian grounds" without receiving any ransom, following the intervention of local elders and authorities. Most abductions in the anarchic Niger Delta are resolved after money changes hands.

"All 24 hostages are on board our vessel, Baco-Liner 2, and they're on their way to Warri now where they will be handed over directly to our agent," a spokesman for the company said, referring to the main city in the western delta.

He said the men were tired but in good health.

Another seven foreign hostages seized by different armed groups are still in captivity in the delta, where violence against expatriates and against the oil industry is on the rise. The remaining hostages are two Italians, one Lebanese, one American, two Filipinos and one Frenchman.

The kidnappers of the 24 Filipinos said they had seized the Baco-Liner 2 because it was "suspected to have been conveying arms and ammunition imported by top politicians in the country, to destabilize the 2007 general elections in the region."

Nigeria is due to hold elections in April that should mark the first democratic transition from one civilian government to the next in Africa's top oil producer.

The Baco-Liner spokesman said there were explosives on board the cargo ship but these were destined for oil companies that use them for exploration and had nothing to do with politics.

"We are not engaged in any smuggling whatsoever," said the spokesman.

DIVISIONS AMONG REBELS

The kidnappers said they would take unspecified "further actions" unless Nigerian authorities met a series of demands including the release of two jailed leaders from the delta and the payment of compensation to local villages for oil spills.

The abduction of the 24 Filipinos exposed divisions among rebel groups in the delta.

The kidnappers said they were from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), whose attacks a year ago forced the closure of 500,000 barrels per day in oil output, a fifth of Nigeria's capacity. That production has not resumed.

But Jomo Gbomo, who has always spoken for MEND since the group emerged in late 2005, has repeatedly denied his group was involved in the abduction. He says a separate group was responsible and MEND does not share that group's objectives.

Activist sources in the region say the group who kidnapped the Filipinos used to have links with Gbomo's MEND about a year ago, but they had fallen out. MEND has sometimes worked with pre-existing militias whose agendas are based on local issues.

Poverty, lawlessness and a collapse in public services due to rampant corruption among government officials lie at the root of the problems in the Niger Delta, where the lines are blurred between political militancy and crime.

Most residents of the vast wetlands region live without clean water, electricity, roads or functional clinics and this fuels resentment toward the multibillion-dollar oil industry.

Attacks on oil facilities, kidnappings for ransom, smuggling of stolen oil, armed robberies and assaults on the security forces are all common. Many fear the situation will worsen ahead of April's elections as armed thugs hired by politicians to intimidate their opponents spring into action.

Edwards to retain embattled bloggers

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said Thursday he was personally offended by the provocative messages two of his campaign bloggers wrote criticizing the Catholic church, but he's not going to fire them.

Edwards issued a statement and answered questions about the fate of Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan, two days after the head of the conservative Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights demanded they be fired for messages they wrote before working on the campaign.

"I talked personally to the two women who were involved. They gave me their word they, under no circumstances, intended to denigrate any church or anybody's religion and offered their apologies for anything that indicated otherwise. I took them at their word," Edwards told reporters during a campaign stop in Charleston, S.C.

An angry Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League that counts 350,000 members, criticized Edwards for not firing the two bloggers. Donohue also promised a nationwide public relations campaign in newspapers, magazines and Catholic publications to tell voters what the candidate had done.

"When Mel Gibson got drunk and made anti-Semitic remarks, he paid a price for doing so. When Michael Richards got angry and made racist remarks, he paid a price for doing so. ... But John Edwards thinks the same rules don't apply to him, which is why he has chosen to embrace foul-mouthed, anti-Catholic bigots on his payroll," Donohue said.

Edwards has never met the two bloggers and his first conversation with them came when he called to discuss the uproar. The 2004 vice presidential nominee told reporters in South Carolina: "It will not happen again. That you can be sure of."

The campaign distributed written regrets from the two women, who stressed they were writing on personal blogs. Edwards said in the statement he believes in giving everyone a "fair shake."

On Tuesday, Donohue called for Edwards to fire the bloggers, citing posts that the women made in the past several months in which they criticized the church's opposition to homosexuality, abortion and contraception, sometimes using profanity.

"The tone and the sentiment of some of Amanda Marcotte's and Melissa McEwan's posts personally offended me," Edwards said in the statement. "Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but that kind of intolerant language will not be permitted from anyone on my campaign, whether it's intended as satire, humor or anything else."

The two were hired last week as part of Edwards' outreach to liberal voters and online activists.

Edwards spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri said the campaign was aware that Marcotte and McEwan, like many bloggers, had written provocative postings on their personal sites. But the campaign had not read them all and had not seen the postings criticizing the church until Donohue put out a statement Tuesday, Palmieri said.

For instance, Marcotte had written that the church wants "to force women to bear more tithing Catholics" and McEwan had written that the pope is among those who "regularly speak out against gay tolerance." Other postings used more graphic language.

Edwards remained silent for two days as the controversy grew on the Internet. Most of those posting on liberal Web sites were calling for Edwards to keep the bloggers on staff and stand up to Donohue, and many were vowing to work against him if he didn't.

Donohue is a frequent critic of those who speak out against the church and what he calls "political correctness run amok," such as the separation of Christmas and the holiday season.

Donohue also doesn't shy from blunt language sometimes in his criticism of gays, Hollywood's control by "secular Jews who hate Christianity" and even the Edwards bloggers, whom he referred to as "brats" in an interview Wednesday on MSNBC.

Palmieri said Edwards had been traveling through Michigan, Missouri and Oklahoma and wanted time to discuss the bloggers' statements with them and weigh their future.

"We're dealing with people's careers and reputations and livelihoods," Palmieri said.

In her statement, McEwan said she doesn't expect Edwards to agree with everything she's posted, but they share "an unwavering support of religious freedom and a deep respect for diverse beliefs.

Marcotte's statement said her writings on religion on her blog, Pandagon, are generally satirical criticisms of public policies and politics.

Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, a nonprofit formed to highlight Catholic social justice teachings, also issued a statement condemning the bloggers' remarks but accepting Edwards' assurances that he was also offended.

"Catholics comprise more than one quarter of the U.S. public, and neither John Edwards nor any other candidate can afford to take this constituency for granted," said executive director Alexia Kelley, who served briefly as a religious adviser to 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.

U.S. contractor shot by U.S. forces

Associated Press

The U.S. military confirmed on Saturday that American forces at Camp Anaconda, the huge air base north of Baghdad, shot and killed a civilian contract truck driver.

A spokeswoman for KBR, a contracting subsidiary of Halliburton that was formerly known as Kellogg, Brown & Root, said the shooting was under investigation.

Melissa Norcross, the KBR spokeswoman, said the company was not releasing the name of the dead driver or a second person in the truck who was wounded "to protect the individuals' privacy."

In Baghdad, Lt. Cmdr. Bill speaks said, "There was an escalation of force incident at Camp Anaconda on Feb. 5 (Monday) that resulted in the death of a civilian contractor. The incident is under investigation by the Army Criminal Investigation Division and KBR."

An escalation of force incident normally means a driver approaching a checkpoint did not respond to military orders to approach slowly and stop.

"Sadly, 98 KBR employees and subcontractors have lost their lives, and more than 430 have been wounded by hostile action while performing services under the company's government contracts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait," Norcross said in an e-mail response to queries about the incident.

Halliburton is spinning off KBR into its own separate, publicly traded entity.