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In an interview earlier this month, multinational corps commander Lt. Gen. Thomas F. Metz admitted, "As much as I would love the Iraqis to love me, and my doctrine tells me I want to win the hearts and minds, I know I'm not going to do that." He's right. But few of his superiors seem to have accepted that reality. Rather, as recent events in Najaf reveal, military operations in Iraq continue to fall between two levels, destructive enough to provoke Iraqi resistance but not ruthless enough to suppress it. Instead, we continue to play at making war, sacrificing both...

Standoff in Texas Town Ends With Two Dead, One Officer Critically Injured Angela K. Brown/Associated Press Jun 18, 2004 GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas (AP) - A gunman in a van in a Wal-Mart parking lot killed one police officer and critically wounded another Friday, prompting an hours-long standoff that trapped customers in the store for hours before the attacker was found dead. Sgt. Gregory Hunter, 54, was fatally shot Friday morning as he and another officer, Bruce Seix, checked on a blue camper-style van that had been parked all night with its engine running, said police spokesman John Brimmer. Hunter went...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States warned North Korea that it would face action from the international community if it does not stop exporting dangerous weapons and other illegal activities. "If North Korea will not act, it will find the United States, its allies and other partners equally prepared to respond with measures that ensure North Korea cannot threaten our countries or international stability," said Mitchell Reiss, the department's director of policy planning. Speaking at the Heritage Foundation, one of Washington's leading repositories of expertise on East Asia, Reiss said the United States was taking steps to enforce its laws...

<p>BUCKEYE - The female corrections officer who was held hostage for 15 days was released Sunday night when two violent felons released her peacefully.</p> <p>The inmates are also in custody after surrendering.</p> <p>"She will be reunited with her fmaily," said Cam Hunter, a spokeswoman for the Arizona Department of Corrections.</p>

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. -- A Sorrento woman faces a number of serious charges after she allegedly opened fire during a standoff with deputies, shooting toward a church where services were going on. Deputies say, 39-year-old Michelle Hurley began firing shots from her home along County Road 437 with her two children inside. Her 12-year-old daughter called 9-1-1 and said her mother had been drinking and threatening to harm herself. Hurley was inside the home for hours, until negotiators talked her into coming out.Meanwhile, nearly 100 church members took cover while deputies got control of the situation.No one was hurt, but...

What's next for property owner in zoning dispute BY FRED GRAY NEWS-REVIEW STAFF WRITER CHARLEVOIX - Alanson pastor Norm Olson and former Bay Township supervisor Bob Taylor presented a spirited defense of Lyle Barkley inside the closed-door meeting Thursday with parties to the Barkleys' property dispute. Excerpts of their statements, taken from an authorized tape of the session, follow. Olson, who has interceded on behalf of the Barkleys, responded to an opening question from Sheriff George T. Lasater on where the Barkleys stood on the issues: "Both sides are moving too rapidly toward confrontation and that is unwise. Especially for...

Parties agree to talk again after court appeal:Confrontation averted, for the moment BY FRED GRAY NEWS-REVIEW STAFF WRITER CHARLEVOIX - The Barkley family and Charlevoix County and Bay Township officials agreed Thursday to put off any confrontation over a contested zoning violation until after a circuit court judge has ruled on the matter. Lyle Barkley and his daughter, Kim, who have been ordered to remove three manufactured housing units from their property by township officials backed by a district court order, met with the officials at a meeting called by sheriff George T. Lasater. Barkley, backed by militia groups across...

Barkley meeting with officials set for next week BY FRED GRAY NEWS-REVIEW STAFF WRITER CHARLEVOIX - Charlevoix County Sheriff George T. Lasater said today the meeting he promised to set up between disgruntled Bay Township property owner Lyle Barkley and township and county officials will take place next week. Lasater said the meeting had tentatively been set for 10 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 2, in the Pine Lake Room of the county building. He said he had invited the Barkleys, township officials, county prosecutor Mary Beth Kur and county building official Ken Doty to attend. He said he would leave...

Barkley edgy but hopeful in zoning dispute BY FRED GRAY NEWS-REVIEW STAFF WRITER HORTON BAY - Bay Township excavator Lyle Barkley, who has vowed to resist by force any attempt to enforce township zoning violations against him, says if he can just be left alone he'll be able to get back on his feet. "It's the slowest year I've had in 15 years of being in business, and now with all of this going on, I can't get out of my driveway to do it," said Barkley, 55. "I have some work lined up and if they'd just leave us...

Showdown averted at sunrise BY FRED GRAY NEWS-REVIEW STAFF WRITER updated Thursday, Sep 18, 2003 - 03:15:15 pm EDT Lyle Barkley (left), his daughter Kim (holding her child), and her fiance Charles McClure, at today's meeting with Charlevoix County Sheriff George T. Lasater and Norman Olson of Alanson, senior advisor to the Michigan Militia. The meeting took place at 7 a.m. on the edge of the Barkleys' Camp Daggett Road property, which is the subject of Bay Township zoning dispute. HORTON BAY - An armed confrontation in Bay Township over property rights was averted today when Charlevoix County Sheriff George...

Showdown averted at sunrise Sheriff agrees to set up meeting with Barkleys and local officials next week BY FRED GRAY NEWS-REVIEW STAFF WRITER HORTON BAY - An armed confrontation in Bay Township over property rights was averted today when Charlevoix County Sheriff George T. Lasater held a sunrise meeting with Lyle Barkley and his daughter, Kim, on the edge of their property and promised not to take any action today to enforce a court order against them. Lasater agreed to set up a meeting next week with the Barkleys, county prosecutor Mary Beth Kur, township and county officials, and Norman...

Sheriff agrees to meet with Barkley on Thursday BY FRED GRAYNEWS-REVIEW STAFF WRITER CHARLEVOIX - Lyle Barkley spent the night bulldozing berms around his 2.6 acres in Bay Township as his legal options to forestall action by Bay Township officials and the county sheriff in a zoning dispute appear to be running run out. But Charlevoix County Sheriff George T. Lasater said this morning that he had agreed to meet early Thursday with Barkley on his property along with Clint Dare, commander of Michigan Militia; Norman Olson, adviser to the militia; and representatives of the press. "Dare made the invitation...

HORTON BAY - The peaceful, rolling farmland of Charlevoix County's Bay Township belies the potential armed confrontation that may develop there in a matter of days. Bay Township residents Lyle Barkley and his daughter, Kimberly, stand near Kimberly's adjacent manufactured homes off Camp Daggett Road. A district court judge has ordered the rear unit removed, an order the Barkleys say they will not honor. A county district court judge has ordered by Thursday the removal of three manufactured homes from four acres on Camp Daggett Road. The family who owns the property is vowing an armed confrontation with anyone who...

Standoff may crumble Whitmire returns; Perry weighs 3rd special session By RACHEL GRAVES and ARMANDO VILLAFRANCA Sept. 2, 2003, 10:25PM State Sen. John Whitmire came home to Houston late Tuesday, possibly ending the long holdout by Texas Democratic senators who fled the state to prevent a vote on congressional redistricting. Whitmire, who revealed earlier Tuesday that he had sneaked home over the Labor Day weekend, returned to Albuquerque, N.M., to meet with his colleagues but did not even unpack his bags before catching a flight back to Houston Tuesday night. He said he remains opposed to redistricting, but he would...

Standoff in Berkeley Passes 24-Hour Mark A bizarre standoff in Berkeley Monday was still ongoing after 24 hours. The situation started Sunday around noon, when police responded to reports of a disturbance involving a man with a gun in the 1900 block of 10th St. When officers arrived, the suspect allegedly fired shots, slightly wounding one officer, and then barricaded himself inside an apartment. Police negotiators were communicating with the suspect, but there was no word on his motive or mental state. In the meantime, buildings in the area were evacuated.

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Taiwan boards N Korean ship Taiwan boards N Korean ship Taiwanese customs officers have boarded a North Korean freighter at the request of US intelligence authorities, reports say. The Taiwanese Central News Agency reports the US as saying the ship could be transporting illegal chemicals that could be used in the manufacture of nuclear weapons. Officials from Taiwan's Ministry of Finance and Customs Bureau (MFKCB) subsequently boarded the ship, which arrived in Kaohsiung Harbour on Thursday from Bangkok, Thailand. The Taiwanese newspaper Lien Ho Pao reported the US had urged Taiwan's National Security Council...

Meeting fails to end standoff 2 GOP lawmakers unable to sway runaway Dems By RACHEL GRAVES and R.G. RATCLIFFE Aug. 6, 2003, 11:34PM ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Two Republican state senators flew here Wednesday for a covert two-hour meeting with several of the 11 Democratic state senators who fled Texas to block a GOP congressional redistricting plan. Republican Sens. Todd Staples of Palestine and Robert Duncan of Lubbock told the Houston Chronicle Wednesday evening that they met with Democratic Sens. Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio, Royce West of Dallas and Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa of Mission. "Our only form of...

<p>SACRAMENTO - Gov. Gray Davis' top finance official lashed out at a GOP lawmaker in a fiery finger-pointing confrontation Tuesday after a press conference where Republicans accused Democrats of holding up the budget for political gain, a scene that underscores the rising tension in the Capitol as the standoff passed the three-week mark.</p>

Rowlett police fire nonlethal weapon to end standoff 05/30/2003 By STEPHEN TERRY / The Dallas Morning News The Rowlett Police Department's first use of a firearm against a suspect in years may have saved the man's life. Confronted Tuesday by a distraught man wielding an assault rifle, officers calmed him as much as possible, then fired a 40 mm foam rubber projectile. Result: The situation was defused, and the suspect suffered only a bruise. "This won't always work," said Lt. Dean Poos, a police spokesman. "But that one launcher we purchased has paid for itself in saving a human life."...

WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. -- A couple involved in a police chase ended a standoff with authorities on Interstate 75 when they disrobed and ran out of their borrowed truck, the Florida Highway Patrol said. Nicholas Daicoff, 29, was charged Tuesday with fleeing and attempting to elude police, domestic battery, leaving the scene of a crash and resisting an officer without violence. He was being held without bail at the Land O' Lakes jail. He was accused of hitting his wife, Louisa Meyer, 28, during the chase, and telling her to strip her clothes during a 45-minute standoff with officers because...