Iraq Notebook
56% in military poll support Bush on Iraq

	CHRIS HONDROS / GETTY IMAGES Shiite Muslim men in Najaf, Iraq, flog their backs with chains to mark the anniversary of the slaying of cleric Mohammed Sadiq al Sadr in 1999 and other members of his family killed during Saddam Hussein's rule.
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WASHINGTON — After a year of constant combat casualties and grinding overseas tours, a majority of men and women in uniform back President Bush and his policies in Iraq, according to a Military Times poll.

Fifty-six percent of those responding to a random Military Times mail poll of 993 active-duty military members who subscribe to the Army Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times and Marine Corps Times approve of Bush's handling of Iraq. The poll, conducted in the past month, carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.

"Fifty-six percent is not very high in terms of support," said Andrew Bacevich, a political scientist at Boston University and a retired Army officer. "There is plenty of reason to be skeptical of the handling of Iraq on the part of the people who are paying the price."

But author and retired officer Ralph Peters called the numbers "a pleasant surprise."

"These are tough conditions," Peters said. "It speaks well of the men and women in uniform that they're maintaining such high morale."

Thousands of Shiite Muslims rally in memory of slain cleric

NAJAF, Iraq — Thousands of Iraqi Shiite Muslims marched peacefully through ancient Najaf yesterday, men flogging their backs with chains and women beating their chests to mark the anniversary of the slaying of a venerated Shiite cleric by Saddam Hussein's security forces in 1999.

Najaf residents, long oppressed by Saddam, wept as they recalled Mohammed Sadiq al Sadr as a revolutionary whose bloody end on these streets capped a life fighting for the religious and political rights of Iraq's Shiite majority. The event also honored other members of his family killed during Saddam's rule.

Moqtada al Sadr, a young cleric closely watched by U.S. forces for his inciteful speeches against the U.S.-led coalition and its Iraqi collaborators, was conspicuously absent from the Najaf events honoring his father and other members of his family.

Organizers said Moqtada al Sadr delivered a speech the previous day but was kept from yesterday's events for safety reasons.

A pair of Humvees carrying U.S. troops raced past the procession early yesterday and did not return, leaving security in the hands of black-clad militia members and a few uniformed Iraqi police officers.

Edwards defends vote against $87 million for Iraq

WASHINGTON — Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., said yesterday that his vote against President Bush's request for an additional $87 billion to support U.S. troops in Iraq and rebuilding the country was not just for show.

"This was not a show vote," Edwards said. "I did what I believed needed to be done to change this administration's policy in Iraq. And it did then, and still does now, need to be changed.

"The policy this administration was pursuing in Iraq was not working," he said. "It needed to be changed. And I wanted to say absolutely clearly that it needed to be changed."

Among other candidates for the Democratic nomination, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio voted against Bush's spending request, which passed. Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri voted in favor of it.

6 more die from Karbala car bombings; 5 arrested

KARBALA, Iraq — Hundreds of weeping and wailing mourners buried victims of a Saturday attack in the Shiite holy city of Karbala as six more victims died as a result of the car bombings, raising the death toll to 19, including 12 Iraqi civilians.

Five Iraqi suspects in the Karbala attacks were arrested yesterday, said Lt. Rafal Smilkowski of the Polish regiment that commands a multinational force in south-central Iraq. Five Bulgarian and two Thai soldiers were among those killed.

In Thailand yesterday, government and military officials debated the deployment, with one senator calling for a withdrawal of the country's 422 noncombat troops, mostly medics and engineers. The prime minister said the troops would stay in Iraq.

Bremer contradicts Blair over Iraqi laboratories

LONDON — L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. civilian administrator in Iraq, contradicted British Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday when he rejected reports that weapons inspectors had found a network of laboratories that could be used to produce banned weapons.

In a pre-Christmas broadcast on the British Forces Broadcasting Service, Blair said "massive evidence of a huge system of clandestine laboratories" had been found.

Asked on ITV's Dimbleby program about those words, Bremer was dismissive.

"It sounds like a bit of a red herring to me. It sounds like somebody who doesn't agree with the policy, sets up a red herring and then knocks it down," he said.

When it was pointed out that it was Blair who had publicized those claims, Bremer appeared to backtrack.

"There is a lot of evidence that has been made public," he said.

Britain and the United States gave Saddam Hussein's possession of chemical and biological weapons as a reason for invading Iraq; failure to find them remains a huge political liability for Blair.

Also ...

Acting on an informant's tip, U.S. troops yesterday uncovered about 580 57-mm rockets buried under dirt near Abayachi, a village northwest of Baghdad. "We ruined some arms dealer's day," said Maj. Josslyn Aberle, a spokeswoman for the Army's 4th Infantry Division. ... Jwamair Atyia Kakawi, the Kurdistan Democratic Party's deputy director for security, escaped an assassination attempt yesterday in Irbil, but three of his bodyguards were killed.

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