Questions remain in wake of Iraq battle By Richard Mauer and Hussam Ali, McClatchy… Questions remain in wake of Iraq battle By Richard Mauer and Hussam Ali, McClatchy Newspapers

BAGHDAD, Iraq – A mysterious group of religious zealots who fought a fierce battle with American and Iraqi troops on Sunday were armed with AK-47 assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and five anti-aircraft machine guns rigged on tractors – raising questions about how a group with no known ties to Iraq’s current cast of political organizations came to be so well equipped and trained.

“They fought according to a military arrangement, and they moved as platoons and companies,” Abdul Hussein Abtan, the deputy governor of Najaf, said Monday.

Ali Nomas, a spokesman for the security forces in Najaf, said the militants, who numbered from 1,000 to 1,500, had purchased farms and surrounded them with a dirt barricade and a bulldozed trench. More than 2,000 AK-47 assault rifles and 700 rocket-propelled grenades were recovered after the battle, Nomas said.

Among the 300 or so militants killed in Sunday’s fighting was the group’s leader, Iraqi authorities said. As many as 400 others were arrested, including some dressed as Afghan fighters, Iraqi spokesmen said. U.S. officials put the number of arrests at more than 100.

A U.S. helicopter was shot down during the fighting. Both crewmen died.

Maj. Hussain Muhammed of the Iraqi army said some fighters escaped.

“We have information that a large number of fighters have escaped through the palm groves. Some were wearing the uniforms of the security forces, and others were wearing black,” Muhammed said.

California congressman engaging in virtual politics By Lisa Vorderbrueggen, Contra Costa Times

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. – When Rep. George Miller is “in-world,” he teleports between continents and flies into the room.

“And I have a waistline!” Miller joked.

That would be his “avatar,” a virtual rendition of the California congressman in Second Life, a three-dimensional online world in which people, represented by their avatars, live out their every virtual fantasy.

With the help of Berkeley, Calif.-based Clear Ink, Miller brought the Capitol into Second Life for the first time, unveiling “Capitol Hill Island” during the swearing-in ceremony for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Washington on Jan. 4.

Next, the Democratic leader says he will recruit other members of Congress into Second Life, where he hopes they will engage in debates about real world problems such as the Iraq war and health care.

Pelosi is particularly excited about it, Miller said. Clear Ink has designed a Pelosi avatar, though she hasn’t used it yet.

“This is about leaping over the Beltway mentality,” Miller said. “Nancy doesn’t want our discussions with the public controlled by a bunch of pundits who live their whole lives in Washington. In Second Life, we can have global town-hall meetings.”

It hasn’t been easy.

Congress is a stodgy institution that doesn’t easily accommodate new technology. Miller had to log on to Second Life during the January event from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. His congressional computer anti-hacker program blocks Second Life.

And, frankly, many of his tech-challenged colleagues are still puzzling over their BlackBerries.

“Nancy made me explain Second Life to the (Democratic House) leadership,” Miller said, “and they kept looking at me with that look of, ‘What are you talking about?'”

Created by San Francisco-based Linden Lab of San Francisco in 2003, Second Life is primarily a social networking site, a virtual world with nearly 3 million registered avatars worldwide.

Today’s student travelers start younger and go farther By Jay Clarke, McClatchy Newspapers

Tracy Ann Foley loves to travel, and she does it the old-fashioned way – backpacking. But her travel style – and those of other college-age youths today – is definitely cutting-edge.

Unlike the backpacking travelers of earlier generations, who stuck mostly to Western Europe, Foley ranges far afield. She has trekked through Eastern Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand – and so have many of her peers.

Visiting such nontraditional destinations is a growing phenomenon among today’s young travelers. Yes, they still love the old favorites – London, Paris, Amsterdam and Rome – but then they reach beyond. They head for Eastern Europe, especially Croatia, say editors of the popular Let’s Go student travel guidebooks. They go to Africa and Asia, to South America and Oceania. Thanks to cheap fares, they’re as likely to jet around a continent as take the train. They book their trips online, not through a travel agency, and they keep in touch with home via text messages, not postcards.

“Not only are today’s youth more technologically savvy than most adults, they are also more likely to be willing to travel to places that may have intimidated older generations,” said Debbie Gibb, marketing director of the nonprofit Student and Youth Travel Association.

“We’ve seen a large growth in nontraditional travel – adventure and volunteer travel,” Kristen Celko, vice president of marketing for STA Travel, one of the largest youth-travel companies, said. “They go to Costa Rica for a conservation project, to Africa to help in orphanages, to China to work with pandas.”