Iraq's Mehdi militia showing stress
BAGHDAD, April 3 (UPI) -- Commanders in the Iraqi Mehdi militia of Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr say the organization has been weakened by having an absent leader.
Since Iraqi and U.S. troops began a security push in Baghdad seven weeks ago, Sadr's location hasn't been revealed, but his standing orders are causing problems, a Los Angeles Times correspondent reported from Baghdad.
Two of his orders were to stop attacks on Sunni Arabs and to allow U.S. forces to work alongside Iraqi troops. Those came as Sadr also runs a political party with 30 elected lawmakers and six Cabinet ministers, and Sadr was trying to help reconstruction efforts.
However, Abu Ferras Mutarri, the movement's political chief in the sprawling Baghdad Shiite suburb of Sadr City said the Mehdi militants are becoming restless, and defections are on the rise.
"Soon fighters might stop listening to their orders to stay quiet," said Mutarri. "If this deterioration continues, it will snowball."
A Mehdi commander who requested anonymity told the Times the militants are being further hobbled by Iranian agents who are recruiting Mehdi members away to fight U.S. troops.
Peru plans airstrikes on drug trade
LIMA, April 3 (UPI) -- The president of Peru has ordered airstrikes to be carried out on landing strips and drug laboratories hidden in the Amazon jungle.
President Alan Garcia said leaders of the drug trafficking trade must be stopped or else the country could face a drug-fueled insurgency similar to that in neighboring Columbia, the BBC reported Tuesday.
Garcia said at the end of a two-week suspension in efforts to eradicate illegal coca plants negotiated by the country's agriculture minister that the secret airstrips and jungle factories must be destroyed by air bombing or machine guns.
Agriculture Minister Juan Jose Salazar, who negotiated the brief reprieve in the eradication campaign, said that in 10 years the campaign has failed to make any headway and violence and cocaine production have both risen over the time period.
Critics accuse Garcia of talking tough in an effort to impress the United States, where the president is scheduled to visit later this month to discuss the possibility of a free trade agreement between the two countries.
U.S. House Speaker Pelosi in Syria
DAMASCUS, Syria, April 3 (UPI) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Damascus Tuesday, the highest-ranking U.S. politician to visit Syria since 2003.
Pelosi, whose visit has been criticized by President Bush as undermining U.S. foreign policy, was greeted by Foreign Minister Walid Muallim and was expected to meet President Bashar al-Assad, the BBC reported.
Syrian media praised Pelosi, D-Calif., with welcoming editorials. The Syria Times called her a "brave lady."
Pelosi has described her trip as an opportunity to talk to Syria about fighting terrorism.
"We have no illusions, but we have great hope," she said Monday after meeting Lebanese majority leader Saad al-Hariri, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.
In Washington Monday, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Pelosi's trip "sends the wrong message" to Syria, which the U.S. lists as a state sponsor of terrorism. The United States severed diplomatic ties to Syria in 2005.
Bush told reporters in a White House news conference that going to Syria "sends mixed signals" to a country that sponsors terrorism.
"There have been a lot of people have gone to see President Assad ... some Americans, but a lot of European leaders, high-ranking officials ... and yet we haven't seen action. He has not responded," Bush said at a news conference.
Iraqis threaten kidnapped Germans' lives
BAGHDAD, April 3 (UPI) -- Iraqi kidnappers holding a German mother and son hostage posted an Internet video saying they'd kill them if Germany doesn't pull out of Afghanistan.
"I urge the German people to help me in my difficult situation," hostage Hannelore Krause, 61, said, Deutsche Welle reported. "Germany was safe before it got involved in this satanic coalition with America against what they call terrorism."
Krause and her son, Sinan, who is in his 20s, were kidnapped Feb. 6 from her Baghdad home. Krause is married to an Iraqi doctor and worked for the Austrian Embassy. Her son, who has dual German and Iraqi citizenship, worked at the Iraqi Foreign Ministry.
The kidnappers' demand represented an extension of an earlier deadline. Previously, they threatened to kill the pair if Germany didn't withdraw from Afghanistan by Feb. 21.
German officials denounced the video.
"Naturally, given the situation, we are greatly concerned," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Deutsche Welle. "We know what our commitment to the civilian rebuilding means to the Afghan government and we should not be blackmailed by people who are terrorists."
Germany opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq but has 3,000 troops in Afghanistan.
British women warned about spiked drinks
LONDON, April 3 (UPI) -- A government agency advised British women against going drinking alone or leaving drinks unattended for fear they could be tampered with.
"Don't leave your drink, even when going to the lavatory," said the report from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, The Telegraph reported. "Take it with you."
The report said the threat of sexual assault increases when drinks are spiked with drugs or alcohol and said that sexual assault using spiked drinks is a "significant problem."
The council said that British rape laws don't adequately protect victims who have become unconscious or semi-conscious from rapists.
Last week, British senior judges said the existing laws were adequate and Igor Judge, the head of criminal justice, said that an alleged victim who had drunk "even substantial quantities" could consent to sex, The Telegraph reported.
