Former UNM student dies in Iraq under enemy fire
Christopher Merville wanted to do his part in helping the country after the sudden death of his father and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the East Coast.
He enlisted in the Army in February 2002 and was shipped to Oklahoma for training, then to South Korea, where he met his fiancÇe.
He was promoted to specialist and was shipped to Kuwait and then to Iraq about five weeks ago.
He was killed Oct. 12 in Baghdad at age 26.
His unit came under enemy fire during combat operations, the U.S. Defense Department said.
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Christopher enrolled at UNM to study languages. He attended the University for a couple of years.
He was the sixth New Mexican soldier or Marine to die in Iraq.
Presidential candidates attack each other over Iraq
WASHINGTON - President Bush and Democratic rival John Kerry traded biting accusations over the war in Iraq on Monday as early Florida voting produced scattered complaints that stirred memories of the state's chaotic 2000 recount.
On a day of strikingly personal campaign rhetoric, Bush said his Democratic challenger stands for "protest and defeatism" in Iraq.
The four-term Massachusetts senator accused the president of "arrogant boasting" to hide bitter truths about a war waged on his command.
Little more than two weeks before Election Day, the national polls showed a tight race. The two rivals are tied statistically in some and Bush holds a slender advantage in others.
Iraq plan arms-for-cash program extension
BAGHDAD - Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi announced plans Monday to extend a cash-for-weapons program for Shiite fighters in Baghdad's Sadr City to cities nationwide in an attempt to disarm the country.
The announcement came as fresh violence erupted in Baghdad and Mosul. Multiple car bombs over a two-day period claimed at least 12 lives, and a militant group, the Islamic Army in Iraq, claimed to have beheaded two Macedonian hostages.
U.S. forces also reported fresh attacks against alleged terrorist strongholds in Fallujah.
The government launched the cash-for-guns program in Sadr City as part of a deal to end weeks of fighting in the Shiite district of Baghdad and has twice extended the deadline for fighters to hand in their weapons.
On Monday, Allawi told the National Council, a government oversight body, that the program is going so well he wants to extend it to the rest of Iraq.
Report criticizes election of gay bishop in U.S.
LONDON - An Anglican church commission on Monday urged the U.S. Episcopal Church not to elect any more gay bishops and called on conservative African bishops to stop meddling in the affairs of other dioceses.
The commission, created last year after the consecration of V. Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire, called for apologies from both sides, and for reconciliation among the world's Anglican churches.
The immediate reaction, however, suggested no move toward reconciliation. The head of the Episcopal Church pointedly did not express regret for Robinson's elevation, drawing fresh denunciations from conservative opponents who believe the U.S. church has strayed from biblical truth.
The report also urged the Canadian and American churches to refrain from blessing same-sex unions, arguing that North American liberals had breached "the proper restraints of the bonds of affection" among Anglicans.
