The Gazette from Cedar Rapids, Iowa • 1

SUNDAY March 30, 2003 m1mga2etteonfcne.com VOL 120 NO 80 AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER IN IOWA'S TECHNOLOGY CORRIDOR $1.75 Raising the stakes Suicide attack: 4 Americans Ml WAR ON IRAQ BATTLE BEGINS DEVELOPMENTS President Bush: 'We are now fighting the most desperate units of the dictator's army' Iraq official's threat: 'We will use any means to kill our enemy in our land This is just the Holies target Baghdad's Iraqis threaten more such bombings defenders to prepare for ground assault U.S. aircraft U.S. warplanes attacked Baghdad's defenders with bombs and strafing fire Saturday in a thunderous prelude to a ground assault. Iraqis inflicted a new danger on the allies a deadly suicide attack and threatened to kill Americans on Anger, mourning and resolve emanated from both sides in a conflict taking a growing toll each day in the lives of combatants and civilians alike. The international outcry grew, too.

Pope John Paul II warned of a "religious catastrophe" stirring hatred between Christians and Muslims; Russian President Vladimir Putin also cast the war in catastrophic terms and said he would push for a negotiated solution. But in Baghdad, Washington and along the war's many fronts, the talk was all of climactic battles to come. "We are now fighting the most desperate units of the dictator's army," President Bush said before an hourlong meeting with his war council and an intelligence briefing. Three-quarters of the allied airstrikes are now going after Republican Guard forces ringing Baghdad, Air Force Brig. Gen.

Daniel Darnell told The Associated Press. He said U.S. and British planes have attacked almost every military airfield in the country in the last week. In a boost to coalition firepower, U.S. aircraft flew combat missions from Iraqi soil for the first time Saturday, when A-10 warplanes flew out of a captured Iraqi base to conduct strikes, CNN and Air Force Times correspondents reported.

From the base, which CNN said was sputh of Baghdad, the A-lOs can roam longer over Iraqi territory. Some units of the invasion force went into an "operational pause" Saturday to consolidate positions, resupply forward troops and prepare for an all-out attack outside Baghdad. There was no rest for pilots taking off from the gulf. Planes from the USS Constellation alone hit 40 targets in 24 hours. WAR, PAGE 4A now flying missions from Iraqi soil; allies have hit almost every military' airfield in Iraq in the past week Peace plea: The pope warned of a religious catastrophe' stirring hatred between Christians and Muslims Rallies: Thousands protest in Europe, U.S.; supporters gather in Harrisburg Pa.

Allied casualties: U.S. military: 36 dead British military: 23 dead INSIDE Davenport death: Drowned Marine's fiancee questions company leader, 5B War watching: Eastern Iowa bars stay tuned to coverage of Iraq, 3B Focus on Baghdad: Bush urges push toward Iraqi capital despite strong resistance, 3A Fight for Basra: British forces don't take back seat to U.S., 4A War crimes: Bush wants U.S., not an international court, to handle war crimes charges, 4A ONLINE Check www.gaMte online.com for the latest on Iraq, including updated AP headlines AP British soldiers of the Royal Scots Dragoon frisk passing civilians on Saturday at the makeshift camp known as Bridge Four, just outside Basra on Saturday. Attacks by Iraqis dressed as civilians have heightened security. A suicide attack killed four Americans on Saturday, and Iraqi officials have threatened to use widespread suicide bombings to deter allied forces. Soldiers bring sad news to families of the fallen Col.

Terry Melton of the West Virginia Army National Guard made his first death notification 29 years ago. As the deputy chief of staff for personnel, he now supervises other next-of-kin notifiers. that can ready officers for the moment they knock on a door and have to tell a soldier's wife she is a widow. "You neyer know what to expect," said Maj. Bill Crane.

"It can range anywhere from total despair to total disbelief. You have to be prepared for that and do the best you can." Crane's first notification came last Sunday, when he had to make a late-night visit to Greg and Deadra Lynch, the parents of Pfc. Jessica Lynch of Palestine, a 19-year-old Army supply clerk missing in Iraq. "I hope it's the last time," Crane said, his lip quivering. "It was very difficult." part of the Army's 507th NOTIFIERS, PAGE 4A CHARLESTON, W.Va.

(AP) It was 29 years ago but CoL Terry Melton remembers it like it was yesterday. He had to tell a woman her National Guard husband was dead his first assign-men as a next-of-kin notifier. "You never forget it," Melton said. Without a major military base in the state, notification of families falls to the West Virginia National Guard when a soldier, sailor or airman is killed or missing. Melton, the Army National Guard's deputy chief of staff for personnel, oversees about 50 next-of-kin notifi-ers and casualty assistance officers.

"We need to be prepared because we owe it to the soldiers and to the soldiers' families," he said. But even with training, there is little ap GAZETTE SPECIAL REPORT Iowa's aging rural bridges pose a costly dilemma Rick and Kathy Kahler's house west of Marengo sits just a half-mile south of Highway 6. But getting to the highway is a five-mile drive over gravel roads because the bridge on HH Avenue is closed. One in five bridges in Iowa is structurally deficient, unable to carry the full weight of today's legal highway loads. 1994 and the couple hadn't lived there a year.

It has been a constant irritation since. Many rural Iowans face similar irritations or they eventually will, a Gazette analysis of inspection reports from all 25,000 bridges in Iowa reveals. The reports show: One in five bridges in Iowa is "structurally deficient," unable to carry the full weight of today's legal highway loads. Iowa ranked seventh in the nation in the percentage of structurally deficient bridges in 2001, according to The Road Information Program (TRIP), a national transportation research Gazette map By Kurt Rogahn 2003 The Gazette MARENGO Rick and Kathy Kahler's house on HH Avenue in rural Iowa County west of Marengo sits on a gravel road just a half-mile off Highway 6. But getting to the highway has been a five-mile drive for the past nine years, since the county closed the one-lane HH Avenue bridge over Big Bear Creek.

The rusting high-truss bridge remains, overgrown with brush and missing a few wooden planks, down a slight slope from the Kahlers' house. "We just came home from work one afternoon and it was closed," Rick Kahler said. There was no warning. It was group. Another 2,000 Iowa bridges are "functionally obsolete" able to carry a full legal load, but narrow or poorly aligned with the roads leading to them.

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