Articles 4.7.2005

The Santa Cruz Sentinel, San Francisco Chronicle, and KOTV News, OK, report that the custody battle over the body of Staff Sgt Jason Hendrix is being continued. SSG Hendrix, of the 1-9th, was killed in Ramadi on 2.16.2005. After a court hearing in California that ruled custody belonged to his father, he was buried last week in Oklahoma. A memorial in California is scheduled for this coming Friday. His mother has since filed an appeal after previously saying she wouldn't, and her attorney indicated "she changed her mind after hearing from other families facing similar conflicts with military policy regarding who gets to decide where a deceased service member will be buried."
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A Marine Corps news story follows a Marine patrol on a mission to hand out soccer balls and toys to children in Ramadi. The toys were donated by high school students in North Carolina.
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The Christian Science Monitor has an article on "Evolution in Iraq's insurgency" that indicates "attacks on US forces have dropped 22 percent since the Jan. 30 election, to about 40 a day, about the rate they were a year ago." However, "during the past few months, attacks on Iraqi forces and civilians have increased" (with no numbers given), and some recent attacks suggest "that fighters may be shifting to fewer but better executed operations, including ones that directly engage US forces."
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Other articles from the region:
- BBC: Iraq president set to be sworn in
- Christian Science Monitor: Iraqi government starts to take shape
- Washington Post: Handoff to Iraqi Forces Being Tested in Mosul
- USA Today: Shiite expected to be named Iraqi PM