The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Baghdad - British troops began rolling north to the Baghdad area Wednesday morning, a move that will free up American soldiers to tackle militant-controlled areas. About 800 Scottish soldiers from the First Battalion, Black Watch, are redeploying from the southern port city of Basra to an area about 100 kilometres south of the Iraqi capital, accompanied by dozens of U.S. marines. The move will allow American soldiers in Baghdad to shift their focus to rebel strongholds to the north and west of Baghdad, including Fallujah. It's part of a coalition effort to bring order to Iraq before planned elections set for January. The bulk of Britain's 8,500 troops in Iraq remain based in the relatively peaceful area around Basra. Washington - U.S. President George Bush plans to ask Congress early next year for up to $75 billion US more to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and fund anti-terrorism operations, congressional aides said Tuesday. Since 2001, Congress has approved $215 billion US to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and to help rebuild both countries, the White House says. Ramallah, West Bank - Yasser Arafat's doctors say the ailing 75-year-old Palestinian leader does not have cancer, countering speculation that he was seriously ill. Arafat has been ailing for years. There's speculation that he has Parkinson's, a degenerative disease of the nervous system.
