Military

DATE=10/17/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=IRAQ WRAP (L)

NUMBER=2-308744 (CQ)

BYLINE=NICK SIMEONE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

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INTRO: As the U-S Congress has approved President Bush's request for 87 billion dollars to help pay for reconstructing Iraq, Friday turned into another deadly day for U-S forces in that country. Correspondent Nick Simeone has the latest.

TEXT: Three American soldiers were killed in a shootout outside a Shiite cleric's headquarters in Karbala late Thursday night.

Major Mike Escudie is a spokesman for U-S Central Command.

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The engagement involved an exchange of small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades as Iraqi authorities and coalition military police were investigating reports of armed men congregating on a road near the mosque after curfew.

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Several Iraqis were reported killed in the violence as well.

In a separate incident in Baghdad Friday, a fourth American soldier died in an apparent roadside bombing. More than 100 American troops have now been killed in Iraq since May and the U-S military says American forces are now coming under attack on average more than 20 times a day.

The White House was dealt a setback, however when the Senate voted to insist Iraq repay up to 10 billion dollars in reconstruction aid. A bipartisan group of lawmakers argued the American taxpayer should not have to pay the entire bill for rebuilding a country whose vast oil reserves should be able to help offset some of those costs.

Tom Daschle is the top Democrat in the Senate.

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We need to know that the Iraqis are prepared to support those loans with some of their own resources.

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As he arrived in Tokyo Friday on the first stop of a six nation visit to Asia, President Bush thanked Japan's prime minister for his government's pledge of more than a billion dollars for Iraq's reconstruction, the largest amount of money offered by another government so far. (SIGNED)

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