Meanwhile, two U.S. soldiers were killed and five others were wounded in a mortar attack launched "in the vicinity of Baghdad" on Wednesday, the U.S. military said Saturday. The deaths put the total number of U.S. military personnel killed in the Iraq war at 3,827.A spokesman for Putin, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters in a conference call that "some of them are quite interesting and the Russian side will start examining this proposal.""We may decide someday to put missile defense systems on the moon, but before we get to that we may lose a chance for agreement because of you implementing your own plans," he told Rice and Gates in Russian, according to an Associated Press translation.Rice and Lavrov announced at a news conference after the meetings that the two sides would meet again in Washington in six months to review a "strategic framework" on evaluating and addressing the missile threat posed by countries the United States regards as rogue states, principally Iran."The ind!
irect fire attack resulted in three large explosions near the Dora market," the military said."Events have triggered more detailed planning for the curtailment or closure" of access to Turkey, one official said. The key issue is to find ways to ship supplies and other critical equipment into Iraq.The United States has repeatedly rejected Russian demands to freeze U.S. negotiations with Poland and the Czech Republic, and Rice did so again Friday, said three senior U.S. officials present at the sessions with Rice, Gates, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov.Russian President Vladimir Putin says any treaty must be "universal in nature."U.S. military planners quietly have stepped up a review of alternatives in case the Turkish government restricts U.S. access to Turkish airspace or cuts off access to the air base at Incirlik, Turkey, CNN has learned.Initial reaction from Lavrov and Serdyukov, though, was less gracious."I agree that we di!
d not agree on anything today," one official told reporters. He added
quickly that neither Washington nor Moscow had expected significant breakthroughs.The U.S. military already had been considering alternatives to Turkey because of the growing dependence on that country after the cutback of U.S. forces in central Asia in recent years.The wounded troops were transported to a military medical facility for "emergency treatment and further evaluation," the military said, adding the incident is under investigation.As part of that plan, experts from all nations covered by the system would be based at missile defense facilities to try to improve coordination and transparency.U.S. forces have searched the affected area and are trying to track down the suspects, the military said.The first explosion reportedly struck a house but no injuries were reported, while the second and third explosions "caused more damage to several houses and the casualties," the military said.
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