2 headlines, side by side in today's K.C. Star:
http://www.kansascity.com/NATION/WORLD
5 GIs dead, 3 missing after Iraq attack -
Cheney, in Mideast, seeks help on Iraq
An attack on a unit of U.S.-led forces patrolling outside the Iraqi capital before dawn left five soldiers dead and three missing, the military said.
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Vice President Dick Cheney sought greater support for U.S. Iraq policy from this moderate Arab Gulf state on Saturday in a visit also aimed at countering growing Iranian influence in the region.
Cheney met with Emirates President Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and other top UAE officials for lunch in a huge and glittering dining room in Abu Dhabi's Musharif Palace. That meeting came ahead of a delicate fence-mending visit to Saudi Arabia.
Cheney's meeting with they UAE leaders came on the eve of a visit to Abu Dhabi by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is trying to persuade the Emirates and other Gulf states to drop their military alliances with Washington.
The U.S. wants the UAE, on the other side of the Persian Gulf from Iran, to agree to shut down Iranian companies in this country believed to be backing Iran's nuclear activities.