Lieberman wants Rumsfeld to quit
Sen. Joe Lieberman, attacked by fellow Democrats as being too close to the White House on the Iraq war, on Sunday called on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign but said the United States cannot “walk away” from the Iraqis.
Lieberman, the one-time Democratic vice presidential candidate, is running as an independent in his bid for a fourth term after losing the Democratic nomination to newcomer Ned Lamont.
Lieberman, an early supporter of the Iraq war, said he had called for Rumsfeld to step down in 2003.
“With all respect to Don Rumsfeld, who has done a grueling job for six years, we would benefit from new leadership to work with our military in Iraq,” he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
DREXEL, Mo.
Man charged after remains found
A Missouri man who police say confessed to killing, dismembering and burning the bodies of seven men in his bedroom fireplace was charged Sunday with one count of murder.
Michael Lee Shaver Jr., 33, was charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action related to a killing in fall 2001.
Shaver, who police say spontaneously confessed after he was arrested following a failed carjacking, told investigators that he had shot and killed seven people at his residence during drug transactions so he could take their money and drugs, Cass County sheriff’s Capt. Chuck Stocking said.
Shaver claimed he dismembered the bodies, burned the parts in a fireplace, then used a hammer to crush large bones and skulls, Stocking said.
Shaver said he then spread the bone fragments around his backyard.
Investigators found bone fragments from two people Saturday on Shaver’s property and were scouring it for additional victims.
MIDLOTHIAN, Texas
Suspect dies after 8-hour standoff
Three police officers and a state trooper were shot and wounded Sunday afternoon and the alleged gunman died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, ending a standoff that lasted more than eight hours, police said.
Police said the siege began when officers were called to an apartment complex because of a broken window they determined had been shot out. When they went to the apartment, someone opened fire on them.
Trooper Rick Smith was shot as he responded to the report of three officers being wounded, said Lisa Block, a Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman.
Midlothian police spokesman Britt Snipes identified the dead gunman as Richard Wayne Miles, 25, of Midlothian, about 25 miles southwest of Dallas.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska
Cruise ship ports with dead whale
A cruise ship pulled into its Alaskan port with a 25- to 30-foot dead whale pinned to its bow. Federal officials investigating the incident said it did not appear the ship’s operators did anything wrong.
The crew of the 2,000-passenger ship Summit said they were surprised to discover they had hit a whale somewhere after leaving Disenchantment Bay near Yakutat. They felt no bump during their voyage, said a spokesman for Celebrity Cruises, which owns the ship.
The whale was spotted by longshoremen at the Seward dock.
It was tentatively identified as a humpback, an endangered species, and towed by a tugboat Saturday afternoon to a nearby beach. A necropsy has been scheduled to help determine whether the whale was alive or dead when it was struck.