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IN BRIEF
Measure would create
lieutenant governor post
SALEM — Oregon voters could
have another choice to make on elec
tion nights to come.
The House on Thursday approved a
proposed ballot measure that would
create the post of lieutenant governor.
The bill, approved 41-15 without de
bate, now goes to the Senate.
If approved there, the measure to
create what would become the state’s
second-highest office would be on the
May 2006 primary election ballot.
The bill was sponsored by Rep.
John Lim, a Gresham Republican who
also has served eight years in the state
Senate. Lim has long campaigned to
create a lieutenant governor’s office,
which exists in every state except Ore
gon, Arizona and Wyoming.
Lim said the measure would make
the lieutenant governor the state’s di
rector of international trade. That posi
tion already exists, so the move would
n’t mean additional expense, Lim said.
“We’re not creating more govern
ment, we’re creating more jobs,” Lim
said. “We export $11 billion a year,
mostly to Asia. We need to do a better
job in international trade.”
Lim, a native of Korea, said the lieu
tenant governor could perform cere
monial as well as trade duties and that
visiting foreign dignitaries appreciate
meeting with top-ranking state leaders.
The lieutenant governor would re
place the secretary of state as first in
line of succession to the governor if the
governor died, resigned or became
unable to fulfill the office’s duties.
No one spoke against the meas
ure. Rep. Mark Hass, D-Portland,
said after the vote that the measure
is a low priority given the state’s
other needs.
“We need to elevate the quality
of education before we elevate a
politician to a new office,” he said.
Bill: Proof of citizenship
required to vote
SALEM — People registering to
vote in Oregon for the first time
would have to show proof of citi
zenship under a bill narrowly
passed Thursday by the House.
Supporters say the step is need
ed to prevent illegal aliens from
fraudulently registering and voting,
but opponents contend there’s little
or no evidence that it is happening.
The measure passed 31-25 and
now goes to the Senate.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Linda
Flores, R-Clackamas, said there are
no procedures to ensure that only
legal citizens are registering be
cause little or no checking is done.
The bill requires first-time regis
trants to produce evidence of citi
zenship, such as a birth certificate,
naturalization papers or a passport.
“We need checks and balances
before the voting begins,” Flores
said.
But foes said it would discour
age voting by putting needless
burdens on citizens who might
have problems locating birth
records or other documents.
Opponents also said there’s no
evidence of any non-citizen risk
ing criminal penalties by illegally
voting in Oregon.
“This is a misguided and unin
formed response to a problem
that doesn’t exist,” said Rep. Pe
ter Buckley, D-Ashland. “Why
would an illegal immigrant jeop
ardize himself by trying to regis
ter to vote?”
—The Associated Press
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More than 16 people killed
as terrorists infiltrate Iraq
BY BASS EM MROUE
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq’s prime
minister called on Syria on Thursday
to block the infiltration of foreign fight
ers trying to start a civil war. More than
a dozen Iraqis, including an Oil Min
istry engineer, and four U.S. soldiers
were reported killed in the ongoing
daily bloodshed.
In the day’s deadliest incident, a
Sunni lawmaker said 10 of his private
guards were killed during a chaotic
battle with insurgents and Apache hel
icopter-backed U.S. forces, whom he
accused of killing several of his aides.
The U.S. military said it was investigat
ing the incident, which it called a ter
rorist attack on Fawaz al-Jarba’s home.
In a message aimed at Syria, Prime
Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said non
Iraqis in neighboring countries filtering
across the border were responsible for
carrying out “sabotage activities.”
His government will do its best “to
preserve relations between us and our
neighbors, but there are red lines —
which are that they don’t interfere in
our internal affairs, or allow people to
cross” into Iraq, he said after a meet
ing with visiting Deputy Secretary of
State Robert Zoellick.
Earlier this week, al-Jaafari pledged
to use “an iron fist” to prevent an out
break of sectarian violence which he
has accused supporters of Iraq’s top al
Qaida terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zar
qawi, of trying to foment.
Zoellick said he and al-Jaafari dis
cussed the issue of insurgents cross
ing into Iraq “and he was quite
strong in his statements about the
need for Iraq’s neighbors, and par
ticularly Syria, you know, not to un
dermine stability here.”
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
made it “quite clear that we, and oth
ers, are watching how Syria behaves it
self,” Zoellick told reporters.
“Part of these attacks stem from
the successes of the new govern
ment. The insurgents wanted to stop
the elections and failed. The insur
gents wanted to stop the formation of
a new Iraqi government and they
failed, so now they are trying to split
the society,” Zoellick said.
Another insurgent goal, he said, is to
“disrupt the reconstruction so that
people lose confidence in the future.”
The Syrian government has not
commented on allegations that foreign
fighters are both slipping into Iraq
across its shared border and holding
clandestine planning meetings in its
country. But in February, Syria cap
tured and handed over Saddam Hus
sein’s half brother in what Iraq called
a gesture of goodwill.
A U.S. official said Wednesday that
Syria was the site of a key meeting last
month in which al-Zarqawi lieutenants
were ordered to carry out more attacks
in Iraq. More than 520 people have
been killed since the country’s new
Shiite-dominated government was an
nounced April 28.
On Friday al-Jaafari is slated to start
a two-day visit to neighboring Tlirkey,
his first foreign trip since becoming
prime minister. The insurgency is ex
pected to top the agenda.
The campaign of violence has
made the threat of civil war increas
ingly tangible.
A number of clerics, both Shiite and
Sunni, have been killed, and on Thurs
day three of Iraq’s most influential
Sunni Muslim organizations called on
mosques to shut for three days follow
ing Saturday’s dawn prayer to protest
alleged Shiite violence against them.
In the attack on National Assembly
member Fawaz al-Jarba, the Sunni
lawmaker said a group of insurgents
started shooting at his house in Mosul,
225 miles northwest of Baghdad,
around midday.
His personal security men returned
fire, sparking a clash that raised the at
tention of U.S. soldiers in the area, al
Jarba told The Associated Press.
“The firing was coming from all di
rections, and the Apaches were bomb
ing,” said al-Jarba. “The terrorists were
firing at me. Why did the Americans
start doing this too?”
Al-Jarba, a recent candidate for
parliament speaker, said one Apache
helicopter flying over his home fired
at it, leaving a large hole in his ceil
ing. Eight of his bodyguards were
killed during the initial battle and two
died from their wounds later Thurs
day in hospital, he said. The U.S. mil
itary said three terrorists were also
wounded in the incident.
One U.S. soldier was killed when his
convoy struck a roadside bomb and
another two died from wounds suf
fered when insurgents fired on their
convoy Thursday, the U.S. military
said. Both incidents occurred in Bagh
dad. Another American soldier was
killed and five wounded late Wednes
day in a rocket attack on Camp Ar Ra
madi, 70 miles west of Baghdad. The
soldiers’ names were being held pend
ing notification of family.
Three American soldiers were
wounded when a roadside bomb blast
struck their patrol in Dujayl, 35 miles
north of Baghdad, said military
spokesman Sgt. David Rhodes.
At least 1,627 members of the U.S.
military have died since the Iraq war
started in March 2003, according to an
Associated Press count.
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