Dawn Patrol

The Dawn Patrol, a daily feature of the Mudville Gazette, is a roundup of news stories that we think might be of interest to readers and of use to fellow bloggers. Appearances of stories or editorials in this collection are not to be considered as endorsement of their content by the Greyhawks.

• Iraqis Find Graves Thought to Hold Hussein's Victims

  Investigators have discovered several mass graves in southern Iraq that are believed to contain the bodies of people killed by Saddam Hussein's government, including one estimated to hold 5,000 bodies, Iraqi officials say.

• Fallujah?s Only Hospital to be Rebuilt

  The three-story hospital in downtown Fallujah sits empty and abandoned, but with funds allocated through the Commanders Emergency Response Program and a private donor, this is about to change.

• IRAN: Retired Army officer risks death penalty for Christian faith

  An Iranian army colonel who many years ago converted to Christianity has been summoned to appear before a Tehran court on charges of apostasy, that is publicly rejecting the faith in which one has been raised. Hamid Pourmand, 47, is the first Iranian for more than ten years to be tried for this crime, which carries the death penalty. Now retired, Pourmand is a pastor with the protestant Assembly of God faith in the city of Bushehr, the site of Iran's main nuclear reactor.

• Rumsfeld Wraps Up Middle East, Central Asia Trip in Kyrgyzstan
  
  Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld wrapped up a four-day whirlwind trip through the Middle East and Central Asia by telling U.S. troops here they?re playing a significant role in the war on terrorism and in improving the lives of the Afghan and Iraqi people.

• Annan says US, Britain ignored oil smuggling

  Secretary General Kofi Annan said yesterday the United States and Britain are partly to blame for Iraq making billions of dollars in illicit money from smuggling oil.

  • Four Charged in U.N. Oil-For-Food Scandal Four more people were charged Thursday in the scandal in the U.N. oil-for-food program, including a Texas oil executive and a South Korean businessman who was at the center of a 1970s corruption.

• Italy, U.S. Disagree Over Agent Shooting

  Reluctance by Italian investigators to accept the U.S. version of the killing of an Italian security agent by American troops in Iraq last month is holding up the conclusion of a joint inquiry into the shooting, Italian newspapers said Thursday.

  Also Thursday, the U.S. State Department said the investigation was ongoing and denied an NBC report that the U.S.-Italian commission had completed a preliminary report clearing the Americans of any wrongdoing in the killing.

• Bush Says His Privacy Must Be Protected

  President Bush said Thursday that the public should know as much as possible about government decision-making, but national security and personal privacy ? including his ? need to be protected.

• 10,000 Fugitives Rounded Up in US Dragnet

  US law enforcement officials captured more than 10,000 fugitives around the country in a week-long drive to round up some of the most violent criminals who had previously evaded justice.

• Army Completes New Probe of Tillman Death

  The military has completed an investigation into former NFL star Pat Tillman's death in Afghanistan that aimed to address concerns raised about whether the Army held back information, but its findings won't be made public.

  • Sports Biography - Hero

    Pat Tillman, the former Arizona Cardinal safety who in 2004 was the first NFL player to be killed in military action in 34 years, will be profiled on Friday, April 22, on ESPN at noon ET and on ESPN Classic at 8 and 11 p.m. ET.

  • Run providing a boon for Tillman Foundation

    When Perry Edinger decided to honor Pat Tillman, one of the most famed athletes to wear Arizona State's maroon and gold, he expected plenty of support - and got it.

• Diary: Soldier Wrote About Killing Buddies

  An Army sergeant charged in a deadly grenade attack on his comrades wrote in his diary that his fellow soldiers were mistreating him, and that once he was sent to Iraq, "I am going to try and kill as many of them as possible," a jury was told Thursday.

• Pantano supported from House floor

  From the floor of the House yesterday, a congressman urged President Bush to personally attend to the case of Lt. Ilario Pantano, the U.S. Marine charged with pre-meditated murder of two Iraqis.

• Happy ending for 'grandma'?

  It appears there will be a happy ending to the story of Ora Mae Magouirk, the 81-year-old Georgia widow whose family has been at loggerheads over her medical care, visitation privileges and whether she should be "allowed to die" but now is reaching agreements on key issues.