Republican presidential hopeful John McCain, facing Democrats’ criticism, said Thursday that he regretted using the word “wasted” to describe the more than 3,100 U.S. lives lost in Iraq.
“I should have used the word ‘sacrificed,’ as I have in the past,” the Arizona senator said after Democrats demanded he apologize, which Sen. Barack Obama did when the White House hopeful made the same observation.
“No one appreciates and honors more than I do the selfless patriotism of American servicemen and women in the Iraq war,” McCain, a former Vietnam prisoner of war, said.
On Wednesday, McCain said on CBS’s “Late Show With David Letterman” that “Americans are very frustrated, and they have every right to be. We’ve wasted a lot of our most precious treasure, which is American lives.”
Additional nation/world news briefs:
ACWORTH, Ga.
2 women, bank teller charged in robbery
Two young women suspected of robbing a supermarket bank branch were arrested along with a bank teller after a brief car chase Thursday, authorities said.
The women, both 19, and the bank teller were stopped by police in Douglas County about 20 miles from where the robbery occurred Tuesday afternoon, said sheriff’s Maj. M.O. Harper.
Ashley Miller and Heather Johnson and bank teller Benny Herman Allen III, 22, were charged with theft, said Cobb County Police spokeswoman Cassie Reece.
Another man, Michael Chastang, whose age was not released, also was arrested.
“It was a conspiracy to take money from the bank,” Reece said. “They were in on it.”
Two women, in bank surveillance video, were sporting sunglasses during the robbery.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan
Pakistan arrests Taliban ex-official
Pakistani authorities have arrested the former defense minister of the Taliban, the most senior insurgent leader to be seized in five years, a government official said Thursday.
Pakistan’s government issued no immediate official statement about the detention of Mullah Obaidullah Akhund in Quetta.
Local news reports said Akhund was detained Monday, the day Vice President Dick Cheney arrived for an unannounced visit to urge President Pervez Musharraf to take more robust steps against Islamic militants finding safe haven in Pakistan’s tribal region near the Afghanistan border.
A U.S. intelligence official said the Pakistan government had mobilized in an effort to show that it was serious about cracking down on the Taliban and other extremist elements in the country.
Akhund is a close associate of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, who has been a fugitive since 2001.
NASSAU, Bahamas
Smith burial to follow “over the top” service
Former Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith will be buried beside her son today in a custom-made gown after an extravagant, private and “very pink” memorial service.
The service at Mount Horeb Baptist Church will be “over the top,” with up to 300 guests, a singer and copious amounts of pink flowers, said organizer Patrik Simpson of Beverly Hills, Calif.
The burial will be more intimate, with about 30 people, he said. The casket will most likely be closed, Simpson said.
Smith, 39, died in Florida on Feb. 8, setting off a battle over the burial and custody of her 5-month-old daughter, Dannielynn, who could potentially inherit millions.
