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.

• Iraqi insurgents shoot down chopper; 11 dead

  An Iraqi insurgent group took credit Thursday for shooting down a commercial helicopter north of Baghdad -- killing 11 people, including six US civilians working as guards.
  

  • Video Purports to Show Crewman's Killing

    In an Internet video, a man purported to be the sole survivor of a helicopter shot down in Iraq on Thursday was helped to his feet by gunmen who found him lying in the grass. Moments later they killed him in a spray of bullets, shouting "Allahu akbar," or "God is great."

• Iraqis claim scores more hostages still missing

  Villagers in an area south of Baghdad where more than 50 bodies were pulled from the Tigris River said yesterday that scores more people kidnapped by insurgents were still missing.

  • 19 Bodies Found in Iraq Were Fisherman

    The Iraqi Defense Ministry on Thursday identified 19 bullet-riddled bodies found in a stadium northwest of the capital as fishermen, not soldiers as initially rumored.

  • Iraq's Rising Industry: Domestic Kidnapping

    Abu Mohammed was chatting with a friend in an auto repair shop in Salman Pak two months ago when masked gunmen surrounded him and stuffed his 260-pound frame in their trunk and sped away. He spent the next 10 days locked in a bathroom with a hood over his head, marking the passage of time by listening to his captors' prayers.

• Attack Uptick Doesn't Undermine Progress

  It's difficult to know whether the uptick in attacks on Iraqi and coalition targets in Iraq is a trend or an aberration, said Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita today.
  ?Every commander we talked to in Iraq ? believes that ? the development of the Iraqi security forces is proceeding in an effective and appropriate fashion,? Di Rita said.

  • Thousands Show Up to Join Iraqi Police Force

    Demonstrating Iraqis? growing desire to be part of the security of local neighborhoods and streets, more than 2,000 citizens showed up for an Iraqi Police recruiting drive April 16 near Camp Taji.

• Army: Stryker Has Proven Its Worth

  Citing videotaped testimonials from soldiers in Iraq, the Army on Thursday returned fire in a battle with critics of its Stryker troop-carrying vehicle, which some say inadequately protects soldiers.

• Soldier convicted in attack on troops

  A military jury Thursday convicted an Army sergeant of premeditated murder and attempted murder in a grenade and rifle attack that killed two of his comrades and wounded 14 others in Kuwait during the opening days of the Iraq war.

• Muslims sue US homeland security over border detentions

  Five Muslim-Americans have sued the US Homeland Security Department alleging racial profiling. They say it happened when they were detained and fingerprinted by border agents after returning from a religious conference in Canada.

• Iran Hid Nuclear Plans for Nearly 2 Decades

  It was in the summer of 2001 when a top secret message was delivered to Farid Solemani.

• Lukashenko sees positive, negative aspects of Rice's remark

  US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice knows what Belarus is, and this is positive news, Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko told journalists upon his arrival in Moscow on Friday.

• Mexico's Fox 'Traitor to Democracy,' Leftist Says

  A leftist presidential favorite embroiled in a tooth-and-nail fight with the government accused President Vicente Fox on Thursday of betraying the democracy he brought to Mexico.

• Flight Instructor Behind Alert Fired

  The flight instructor who raised questions about a British national who was flying planes at Gwinnett County's Briscoe field ?- questions that eventually resulted in an international terrorist alert -- has been fired.

• Senate GOP Closer to Showdown With Dems

  Republicans are moving the Senate toward a final confrontation with Democrats over the blocking of President Bush's judicial nominations, even as internal polling shows that most Americans don't support their plan to ban judicial filibusters.

• Bolton Gets Unequivoval Backing From Bush, but Not Powell

  President Bush issued a strong new defense today of John R. Bolton, his nominee as ambassador to the United Nations, even as associates of Colin L. Powell, the former secretary of state, said that Mr. Powell had expressed reservations about Mr. Bolton in conversations with at least two wavering Republican senators.

• Pelosi pressed for trip records

  House Republicans yesterday called on Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to provide documentation to prove that a Washington lobbyist firm did not pay for a trip she and other Democrats took to Puerto Rico in 2001.

• Study: Web of Hate Growing in Cyberspace

  Internet sites that market racism, white supremacy and neo-Nazism to a young audience are spreading like wildfire in cyberspace, according to a new study.