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 Sunday, March 19
Editor's Note: The CNN Wire is a running log of the latest news from CNN World Headquarters, reported by CNN's correspondents and producers, and The CNN Wire editors. Opposition rallies as Belarus leader said to win new term (CNN) -- Opposition supporters filled the central square of Belarus' capital Minsk late Sunday after election results showed longtime President Alexander Lukashenko winning re-election by an overwhelming margin. With 22 percent of precincts reporting after Sunday's balloting, Lukashenko had 88.5 percent of the the vote in Sunday's balloting, Nicolai Lozovick, secretary of the Central Elections Commission, told state broadcaster ATN. Leading opposition figure Alexander Milinkevich drew just 3.8 percent of the vote, ATN reported. Lukashenko has long been accused of suppressing opposition in the former Soviet republic. In 2005, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Belarus the last "outpost of tyranny" in Europe, and the State Department accuses Lukashenko of rolling back basic rights and using security services to harass political opponents since he took office in 1995. (Posted 10:15 p.m.) Cyclone hits Australian coast with 180-mph gusts (CNN) -- Tropical Cyclone Larry slammed into the northeastern coast of Australia with gusts exceeding 180 mph Monday morning, but authorities reported only minor injuries as it swept inland. The eye of the Category 5-storm hit the beach resort of Innisfail, in the Australian state of Queensland, with sustained winds of 190 km/hr. But gusts up to 300 km/h (187 mph) were reported, said Craig Burke, a forecaster at the airport in Cairns, about 55 miles north of Innisfail. "The reports that we've been receiving through the morning have been quite devastating, actually, with lots of roof and structural throughout the community," Burke said. But Katheryn Ryan, a spokesman for Queensland's State Emergency Services office, said only minor injuries had been reported so far. At noon Monday, (8 p.m. Sunday ET), the Australian Bureau of Meteorology reported the storm was a Category 3 cyclone with top winds of 180 km/h (110 mph). It was centered about 100 km west of Innisfail, moving to the west at 25 to 30 km/h. (Posted 8:35 p.m.) White House says workers impersonated journalists WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two government employees who misidentified themselves as journalists while doing advance work for President Bush's visit to the Gulf Coast earlier this month will be disciplined, the White House said. "This incident has been brought to our attention, and this is clearly not appropriate, nor is it part of our standard operating procedures," White House spokesman Ken Lisaius said. "The individuals involved will be verbally reprimanded." Gautier, Miss., resident Jerry Akins told the Biloxi Sun-Herald that prior to Bush's March 8 visit, two men told him they worked for Fox News out of Houston and were scouting for a story on new construction. But after Bush visited Akins' home, the same men told him they were not journalists, but were government workers, he told the newspaper. (Posted 10:40 p.m.) New York antiwar protests lead to 17 arrests NEW YORK (CNN) -- Three years after the U.S.-led war in Iraq began, hundreds of anti-war demonstrators took to the streets of Manhattan, where 17 of them were arrested, police said Sunday. The New York War Resisters League organized a march to Times Square, where about 350 people gathered. Protesters laid body bags in a line of black coffins leading to the door of the U.S. Army Recruiting Center in Times Square as a reminder of the civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, protest organizer Ruth Benn said. At one point, protesters formed a human blockade, which police broke by placing participants in plastic handcuffs and loading them into a police vehicle. Those arrested were charged with disorderly conduct for blocking traffic. (Posted 7:30 p.m.) Searchers find 2 more bodies in New Orleans NEW ORLEANS (CNN) -- Searchers found two more bodies in the devastated Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans on Sunday, along with bones that may be from a third person killed by Hurricane Katrina. Student volunteers assisting with debris removal in the district reported seeing a body in the rubble of a home in the neighborhood, said Steve Glynn, special operations chief for the New Orleans fire department. Search dogs indicated a second body was nearby, so authorities began picking through the debris pile with a small bulldozer, he said. The remains found Sunday bring to 10 the number of bodies recovered since searches resumed this month in New Orleans. Searchers also turned up bones at another location in the neighborhood that are suspected to be human, but have been turned over to an anthropologist for further testing, Glynn said. (Posted 4:50 p.m.) Hamas presents Cabinet to Abbas GAZA CITY (CNN) -- The Hamas leader set to become the next Palestinian prime minister showed his list of Cabinet picks Sunday to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, a key step toward the militant group's assumption of political power. At a news conference in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh said he had submitted a list of 24 people to serve as his Cabinet once he becomes prime minister. The list includes 14 members from the West Bank and 10 from Gaza. One woman and one Christian are on the list. Abbas said he would convoke the PLO executive committee to submit the names. The list will require approval from the Hamas-led Palestinian parliament, which will also make Haniyeh prime minister. (posted 4:10 p.m.) Police among dead in Baghdad, Baquba BAGHDAD (CNN) -- Iraq seemed no closer to peace Sunday than it was three years ago at the start of the Iraq war as an official with Baghdad emergency police told CNN that Iraqi security forces found 19 bodies, all shot in the head, at four separate locations across the capital. None could be immediately identified, the official said. Separately, a roadside bomb exploded at an Iraqi police commandos patrol, killing one commando and wounded another at 8 a.m. The incident took place in al-Bayaa neighborhood in southwestern Baghdad. In Baquba, one police officer was killed and ten people were wounded -- including nine police -- when a roadside bomb hit their patrol at noon. The official said four of the nine wounded police are in critical condition. (Posted 1:59 p.m.) Rumsfeld's analogy of Iraq to postwar Germany disputed WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former top officials in two presidential administrations -- one Democratic, one Republican -- disagreed Sunday with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's characterization of what would happen if the United States were to pull out of the war in Iraq. "Turning our backs on postwar Iraq today would be the modern equivalent of handing postwar Germany back to the Nazis," Rumsfeld wrote in an op-ed piece published Sunday -- the third anniversary of the beginning of the U.S.-led war in Iraq -- in the Washington Post. Henry Kissinger, who was with U.S. forces in Germany at the end of World War II and who served as secretary of state under President Nixon, a Republican, said the situations are not analogous. "In Germany, the opposition was completely crushed; there was no significant resistance movement," he told CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer." Zbigniew Brzezinski, who served as national security adviser under President Carter, a Democrat, was less charitable. "That is really absolutely crazy to anyone who knows history," he said. "There was no alternative to our presence. The Germans were totally crushed. For Secretary Rumsfeld to be talking this way suggests either he doesn't know history or he's simply demagoguing." (posted 3:25 p.m.) Bush on anniversary: U.S. strategy 'will lead to victory' WASHINGTON (CNN) -- On the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, President Bush said Sunday the United States is "implementing a strategy that will lead to victory." In brief marks to reporters outside the White House -- after which he took no questions -- Bush said he was thinking of those in the U.S. military who have given their lives for the Iraq war. Despite raging violence in Iraq and remarks from the nation's former prime minister that conditions have descended into civil war (see Iraq Anniversary - 'Civil War'), Bush offered his optimistic vision. "We're implementing a strategy that will lead to victory in Iraq," he said. "And a victory in Iraq will make this country more secure and will help lay the foundation of peace for generations to come." (Posted 1:29 p.m.) On war's anniversary, a battle over 'civil war' BAGHDAD (CNN) -- On the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, U.S. efforts to crack down on the insurgency and regain support at home faced a new challenge as a prominent Iraqi official declared the country has descended into all-out civil war. "We are losing each day as an average 50 to 60 people throughout the country, if not more. If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is," former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi told the BBC in an interview. Although conditions have not passed the "point of no return," he said, if that point is reached, fragile efforts to build a new government "will not only fall apart but sectarianism will spread throughout the region, and even Europe and the U.S. will not be spared the violence that results." Sunnis and Shiites have been killing each other in large numbers in Iraq, leading to hundreds of deaths each month in slews of bombings and attacks. But the Bush administration says the nation has not reached the point of civil war. The administration was quick to respond to Allawi's remarks. Vice President Dick Cheney said terrorists in Iraq have tried to get a civil war going. "What we've seen is a serious effort by them to foment civil war, but I don't think they've been successful," he told CBS' "Face the Nation." (Posted 11:55 a.m.) General says insurgent ammo comes from inside Iraq BAGHDAD (CNN) -- Insurgents in Iraq primarily get their equipment and ammunition from inside the country, but some bomb technology is being imported from Iran, the general in charge of U.S. troops in Iraq told CNN Sunday. Gen. George Casey also said Operation Swarmer, the military's latest offensive against insurgents in the Samarra area north of Baghdad, probably "got a little bit more hype than it truly deserved," but was accomplishing its mission. In an interview with CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer," Casey said only "a small percentage" of the insurgency in Iraq is made up of "foreign fighters." But, he said, they have "a great impact" because of their funding and experience. "Iraq is awash with ammunition," Casey said. "Ammunition buried all around the country. ... It'll be a while before they run out of ammunition." "The military equipment is also here," he added. "A lot of what was the former army's has gone over to the insurgents." (Posted 8:39 a.m.) 2 police dead, 3 wounded in Kirkuk incidents BAGHDAD (CNN) -- The bodies of two Iraqi policemen were found Sunday and three more were injured in a roadside bomb explosion Saturday, the U.S. military said in a statement. The two dead policemen were stabbed to death, the statement said. They had been reported kidnapped two days ago when their abandoned truck was found near their home in Kirkuk. Also in Kirkuk, a roadside bomb targeted a highway police patrol, damaging two vehicles in addition to wounded the three policemen, who are in stable condition in Kirkuk General Hospital. Iraqi Security Forces also engaged insurgents in a gunfight when they were attacked with mortars and heavy machine-gun fire early Sunday. The military said the insurgents ran away when they heard aircraft approaching. There were no casualties. (Posted 8:13 a.m.) GAO report criticizes FBI spending on computer upgrades WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In a new study, congressional investigators say lax oversight by the FBI may be to blame for millions of dollars in improper spending on a computer system upgrade. The 87-page report obtained by CNN, which has not been released to the public, also criticizes the role of the General Services Administration, which provides acquisition and procurement services to agencies. The study by the Government Accountability Office questions $17 million in spending for the Virtual Case File program, which was part of the FBI's Trilogy computer system. Virtual was launched before the FBI's primary mission changed following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In addition, according to the GAO, more than 1,200 pieces of equipment worth more than $7.5 million cannot be accounted for, and it criticizes the FBI's "review and approval process" for contractor invoices. The FBI told CNN Saturday that its own audit has accounted for most of the equipment. The GAO report concludes that there were "serious internal control weaknesses" in the process used to approve contractor charges related to Virtual, and that the issues identified in the review might be "indicative of more systematic contract and financial management problems." The current FBI computer system being developed, Sentinel, will cost about $400 million, and the GAO warns in its report that unless accounting procedures are tightened, millions more could be wasted on the new project. (Posted 9:43 p.m.) 
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