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4B Daily News – Monday, December 19, 2011 WORLD BRIEFING Iraq war that began with 'shock and awe' comes to a subdued end AT THE IRAQ-KUWAIT BORDER (AP) — Outside it was pitch dark. The six Ameri- can soldiers couldn't see much of the desert landscape stream- ing by outside the small win- dows of their armored vehicle. They were hushed and exhaust- ed from an all-night drive — part of the last convoy of U.S. troops to leave Iraq during the final moment of a nearly nine- year war. As dawn broke Sunday, a small cluster of Iraqi soldiers along the highway waved good- bye to the departing American troops. ''My heart goes out to the Iraqis,'' said Warrant Officer John Jewell. ''The innocent always pay the bill.'' When they finally crossed the sand berm that separates Iraq from Kuwait, illuminated by floodlights and crisscrossed with barbed wire, the mood inside Jewell's vehicle was sub- dued. No cheers. No hugs. Mostly just relief. His comrade, Sgt. Ashley Vorhees, mustered a bit more excitement. Vaclav Havel dies at 75 PRAGUE (AP) — The end of Czechoslovakia's totalitarian regime was called the Velvet Revolution because of how smooth the transition seemed: Communism dead in a matter of weeks, without a shot fired. But for Vaclav Havel, it was a moment he helped pay for with decades of suffering and strug- gle. The dissident playwright spent years in jail but never lost his defiance, or his eloquence, and the government's attempts to crush his will ended up expanding his influence. He became a source of inspiration to Czechs, and to all of Eastern Europe. He went from prisoner to president in 1989, the year the Berlin Wall fell and commu- nism crumbled across the region. Havel died Sunday morning at his weekend home in the northern Czech Republic. The 75-year-old former chain- smoker had a history of chronic respiratory problems dating back to his time in prison. Shy and bookish, with a wispy mustache and unkempt hair, Havel helped draw the world's attention to the anger and frustration spilling over behind the Iron Curtain. While he was president, the Czech Republic split from Slovakia, but it also made dramatic gains in economic might. ''His peaceful resistance shook the foundations of an empire, exposed the emptiness of a repressive ideology, and proved that moral leadership is more powerful than any weapon,'' said President Barack Obama. ''He also embodied the aspirations of half a continent that had been cut off by the Iron Curtain, and helped unleash tides of history that led to a united and democratic Europe.'' Even as Iraqis cheer exit of US troops, sectarian feuds point to worries ahead BAGHDAD (AP) — Even as Iraqis celebrated the departure of the last American troops Sunday, the dangers left behind after nearly nine years of war were on full display. Politicians feuded along the country's potentially explosive sectarian lines and the drumbeat of dead- ly violence went on. The last U.S. convoy rum- bled out of Iraq across the bor- der into Kuwait around sunrise under a shroud of secrecy to prevent attacks on the departing troops. When news reached a waking Iraqi public, there was joy at the end of a presence that many Iraqis resented as a for- eign occupation. In the northern city of Mosul, pastry shop owner Muhannad Adnan said he had a swell of orders for cakes — up to 110 from the usual 70 or so a day — as families threw parties at home. Some asked him to ice the cakes with inscriptions of ''congratulations for the end of occupation,'' he said. But the happiness was shot through with worries over the future. ''Nobody here wants occu- pation. This withdrawal marks a new stage in Iraq's history,'' said Karim al-Rubaie, a Shiite shopowner in the southern city of Basra. But, he said, ''the politicians who are running this country are just a group of thieves.'' House GOP leaders oppose bipartisan, Senate-passed payroll tax cut WASHINGTON (AP) — Top House Republicans rebelled Sunday against a bipar- tisan, Senate-approved bill extending payroll tax cuts and jobless benefits for two months, reigniting a politically fueled holiday-season clash that had seemed all but doused. The House GOP defiance cast uncertainty over how quickly Congress would fore- stall a tax increase otherwise heading straight at 160 million workers beginning New Year's Day. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said it could be finished within two weeks, which suggested that lawmak- ers might have to spend much of their usual holiday break bat- tling each other in the Capitol. A day after rank-and-file House GOP lawmakers used a conference call to spew venom against the Senate-passed bill, Boehner said he opposed the legislation and wanted congres- sional bargainers to craft a new, year-long version. ''The president said we shouldn't be going anywhere without getting our work done,'' Boehner said on NBC's ''Meet the Press,'' referring to President Barack Obama's oft- repeated promise to postpone his Christmastime trip to Hawaii if the legislation was not finished. ''Let's get our work done, let's do this for a year.'' A spokeswoman for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R- Va., said the House would vote Monday to either request formal bargaining with the Senate or to make the legislation ''responsi- ble and in line with the needs of hard-working taxpayers and middle-class families.'' US food aid for NKorea brings them closer to nuclear talks The United States is poised to announce a significant dona- tion of food aid to North Korea this week, the first concrete accomplishment after months of behind-the-scenes diplomatic contacts between the two wartime enemies. An agree- ment by North Korea to sus- pend its controversial uranium enrichment program will likely follow within days. A broad outline of the emerging agreement has been made known to The Associated Press by people close to the negotiations. Discussions have been tak- ing place since summer in New York, Geneva and Beijing. They already have yielded agree- ments by North Korea to sus- pend nuclear and ballistic mis- sile testing, readmit internation- al nuclear inspectors expelled in 2009, and resume a dialogue between North Korea and South Korea, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of sensitivi- ty of the negotiations. 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