Iraq

The FBI is awaiting test results this week to determine the identities of three bodies found in Iraq, but Johnnie Reuben said she already knows - through a mother's intuition, and the piecing together of information - that one belongs to her son. "All I know is that I think he died last year," she said Wednesday afternoon. "I don't know if it's kind of a mother thing, but I think it was sometime between the beginning of last year and the fall. " Paul Reuben, a contractor from Minneapolis, was one of six men abducted more than a year ago while working for a Kuwait-based private security company.

A Winchester family is left wondering if their cousin is alive or dead, after hearing word Tuesday that his could be one of three bodies found in Iraq. Paul Reuben, a contractor from Minneapolis, was one of six men abducted more than a year ago while working for a Kuwait-based private security company. The disappearance of the men received new attention this month when the severed fingers of five of the men were sent to the U.S. military in Iraq. The FBI confirmed Monday that the remains of Ronald Withrow of Roaring Springs, Texas, and John Roy Young of Kansas City, Mo., had been found.

WASHINGTON - The economy is a rising issue in presidential politics, but Iraq still overshadows this election. John McCain's nomination was assured by the success of the surge he had consistently advocated, against intense opposition. If Barack Obama eventually wins the Democratic nomination, his extraordinary rise may be traced to a speech on Oct. 2, 2002, at an anti-war rally in downtown Chicago. That day Obama - then an obscure state senator - said: "I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences.

STANFORD - Stanford Postmaster John Dampier went to the courthouse one morning recently to get a distinguishing license plate and left with the thanks of an anonymous customer. After waiting in line at the county clerk's office to get an Iraq war veteran license plate, the reserve Navy SeaBee found out he couldn't use his debit card to pay the $14 fee, and left the courthouse in search of an ATM. When he returned, he found that a man from Moreland had overheard the conversation and thought it wasn't right for a veteran to have to pay extra, so the man paid the $14 fee himself.

Army Spec. Timothy S. Blair is a member of the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division based at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, who has deployed to Camp Taji, Iraq. The brigade combat team soldiers will serve as members of the Multi-National Division in Baghdad, where their mission will be to provide the Iraqi people with a safe, secure and stable environment to establish freedom and democracy in their country. Blair, a cannoneer crew member, is the son of Timothy and Letha Blair of Edgewood Drive in Nicholasville.

Dear Editor, Sen. John S. McCain wants to be president - God forbid. McCain is a red face bellicose war monger, full of anger. This is the man who says if he is elected, we will be in Iraq for 100 years. This is the man who desires to bomb Iran and put us in a third war with a Muslim nation - that we cannot win. McCain is filled with hostility and venom. He is a Bush clone. The last thing this nation needs is a President McCain. It would be like a Bush third term. America does not need another president who suffers tunnel vision.

HARRODSBURG - A crowd of military personnel, friends, family, media and the Patriot Guard Riders crammed into a small classroom Tuesday morning for Justin Estes' big day. Only Estes was nowhere to be seen. Estes died in the war in Iraq last March when he tried to save another soldier from a roadside bomb. Estes didn't survive a second explosion from the bomb. So Tuesday morning at the Harrodsburg National Guard Armory he was honored with the Silver Star medal, which is awarded to a soldier who has displayed bravery in battle.

The Towne and Country Homemakers convened Tuesday, Dec. 11, for a Christmas dinner meeting at Applebee's Restaurant. Attending were Betty Bonar, Sandy Hiles, Mary Lou Shearer, Sue Staton, Teresa Taylor, Deanna Wright, Denise Knoeble and Billye Jean Stigall. A short business meeting was held, and members voted to donate money to Operation Happiness and to a fund for a soldier in Iraq to obtain a refrigerator for his unit.

Babies are born nearly every day at Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center, but there's one birth anticipated in the near future that is going to be a bit special. Cpl. Andrew Powell and his wife, Kristin, will welcome a baby daughter today, and Andrew plans to be watching - even though he's overseas, serving his country in Iraq. Credit it to modern technology that a U.S. Marine can watch his child's birth even when thousands of miles separate him from his loved ones. Even greater credit should go to Powell's young wife, who figured it was probably just a shot in the dark when she e-mailed McDowell, asking if the hospital could offer a web-cam service for the birth of her baby.