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Bush, Schroeder mend fencesBlast meant for U.S. forces hits commuter buses
(CNN) -- President Bush and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Wednesday that they had agreed to work together in Iraq with Germany offering to contribute economic and technical aid to the reconstruction effort. The two leaders met for the first time in 16 months, after relations between the two countries were strained by Schroeder's outspoken criticism of U.S. policy towards Iraq in the months leading up to the invasion. "Only the United Nations can guarantee the necessary degree of legitimacy and enabling the people of Iraq to speedily rebuild their country under an independent representative government," Schroeder told the U.N. General Assembly. "My country, Germany, stands ready to support such a process." Bush and Schroeder met Wednesday morning at U.N. headquarters. "We've had differences and they're over, and we're going to work together." Bush told reporters after the meeting. "I appreciate his efforts to help Iraq grow to be a peaceful and stable and democratic country." (Full story) Schroeder said Germany and the rest of Europe had a vested interest in a secure and stable Iraq, and said Germany was willing to help train Iraqi military and police forces. Bush met Tuesday with French President Jacques Chirac, after both had made speeches to the U.N. General Assembly. (Full story) Senior U.S. officials said Bush and Chirac still disagreed over the timeline for turning control of Iraq to Iraqi leaders, but said Chirac confirmed he would "not stand in the way" of a new U.N. resolution that would expand a multinational force in Iraq. Baghdad poll: Ousting Saddam 'worth it'Almost two-thirds of Baghdad residents polled said they believed ousting Saddam Hussein was worth the hardships they have suffered in the months since the fall of the Iraqi capital, according to a new Gallup poll. A Gallup research team conducted face-to-face interviews in the homes of 1,178 randomly selected Baghdad residents between August 28 and September 4. CNN was not involved in the survey. Gallup did not question residents outside of Baghdad. When asked if they thought removing Saddam was worth it, 62 percent of respondents said yes, while 30 percent said no. Sixty-seven percent thought Iraq would be better off in five years and 8 percent thought the country would be worse off. But only 33 percent of respondents thought Iraq was better off now than before the U.S.-led invasion -- of those, 4 percent answered much better off and 29 percent said somewhat better off -- compared with 47 percent who said Iraq was worse off -- of those, 32 percent believed the country was somewhat worse off and 15 percent said it was much worse off. An overwhelming majority of Baghdad residents -- 94 percent -- said the country was a more dangerous place since the invasion and 5 percent said it was safer. (Full story) Bus passenger killed in roadside bombingAn explosive device meant for a U.S. military vehicle hit two Iraqi commuter buses Wednesday morning, killing a 17-year-old passenger and wounding at least 12 others, according to Iraqi police and hospital officials. (Gallery: Baghdad bus blast) Five of the wounded were in critical condition, officials said. The device is believed to have been a "daisy chain" -- a series of connected explosives -- placed in the median of the road. Both small commuter buses -- traveling near a military Humvee, believed to be the intended target -- were severely damaged, and the explosion ripped through the front left side of one of the buses. The armored Humvee sustained minor damage, and no U.S. soldiers were injured. The attack happened near Anter Square in northern Baghdad, outside the Al Hariri Girls' School and near the Indian Embassy. Less than a mile away, insurgents late Tuesday attacked a joint walking patrol, injuring three U.S. soldiers and three Iraqi police officers, a coalition official told CNN. Details of that attack were not immediately available. In an overnight raid near Tikrit, U.S. forces detained 21 men for questioning in a village near the site of a deadly ambush last week, U.S. military officials said. They seized a number of Kalashnikovs, ammunition, military documents and military insignias. Three soldiers from the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division were killed and two others were wounded when they were ambushed by small arms fire. Other developments
• The Pentagon may have to alert a large number of additional National Guard and Reserve troops for duty in Iraq, if countries do not commit forces for a multinational division to relieve troops that are due to return to the United States, Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told The Associated Press. (Full story) • CIA officials said that technical analysis of the audiotape broadcast on September 17 and purported to carry the voice of Saddam Hussein is inconclusive. Because of the poor quality of the tape, U.S. intelligence analysts are unable to say with any confidence whether it's really the ousted Iraqi leader's voice on the 15-minute tape, officials said. • David Kay, the CIA official in charge of the American search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction programs, is at Central Intelligence Agency headquarters this week to give his superiors a progress report, U.S. officials confirmed Wednesday. Kay said his team has reached "no firm conclusions" as to whether Iraq has banned weapons materials. • Top U.S. officials were on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to defend the Bush administration's $87 billion war spending request. L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, is appearing Wednesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He is scheduled to testify at a House Appropriations Committee hearing this afternoon. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee. (Full story) • The condition of Iraqi Governing Council member Akila al-Hashimi was deteriorating Wednesday, five days after she was shot in an assassination attempt, according to a coalition official. The official would not provide any further details about Hashimi's state. On Monday, Hashimi remained in the critical care unit of Baghdad's Ibn Sina Hospital, a spokesman for the governing council said. She was shot in the leg and abdomen when gunmen opened fire on her convoy near her Baghdad home Saturday, Iraqi officials said. (Full story) • Al-Jazeera said Tuesday that the Iraqi Governing Council has banned the Arabic-language TV network's bureau in Baghdad from covering official business for two weeks, including the affairs of the council. The development came as the Governing Council looked into the legalities of closing down the Baghdad offices of Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, another popular network. The report could not initially be confirmed with the council or the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority. Al-Jazeera said the message was passed along verbally, and it plans to continue its activities until it receives an official order in writing. (CNN Access: 'We don't deal in politics') CNN's Michael Holmes, Jason Bellini, Phil Hirschkorn, Liz Neisloss, David Ensor and Nic Robertson contributed to this report. Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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