. -- in basra and again and elsewhere. they do not carry guns on the streets anymore. there is usually -- they are usually identified by their black shirts. right in the center of sadr city, you can see the physical embodiment of muqtada al-sadr's resurgent power. a few months ago, scenes like this would have been unthinkable. at friday prayers, the imam read out a message from muqtada o solder, urging his followers to demonstrate for the closure of alcohol shops and nightclubs. >> we will hold hold a peace w discussion. >> there seems to be a threat implicit in the cleric's words. as they gather in strengthen confidence, the fear is they could pick up arms in pursuit of its strict interpretation of islam. >> this is a first. the pope will make his first personally scripted broadcast, appearing on bbc radio. here is our latest affairs correspondent. >> never before in its 40-year history hsas "thought of the day" featured the pope. ♪ the pope will talk about his visit to britain. some saw as a turning point in his papacy. there was a new personal style, pastor of a pop

thousands of people took to the streets of the second largest city basra to protest against electricity shortages. they fought with security forces who shot and killed one of the demonstrators. rebuilding infrastructure creates jobs, and that will improve security in iraq. this should be a top priority for the new coalition government. >> it seems iraq's politicians are facing many difficulties. is there any good news in all of this? >> there is. and it has to do with the country's oil reserves. they are the third largest in the world. iraq's oil production is expected to increase gradually as the country rebuilds itself. and last week, the crude oil price exceeded $90 a barrel for the first time in 26 months. this oil price hike is helping iraq. the international monetary fund estimates that iraqi economy will grow by 11.5% next year. france, turkey and many other countries are eager to invest in iraqi infrastructure and to try to receive orders. the key to sustaining iraq's economic growth is to stabilize the coalition government as well as its security since the u.s. military is plan

i've been involved in the reconstruction of basra, which is the area that britain is responsible forand i've seen huge progress in the sense that you've got an army that's working, priests that are working. the this was an area that was subject to a lot of iranian influence, as you probably know and you've got economic and social development taking place and basra has got a future as a strong industrial region with great reserves. so in my view the reconstruction is working in iraq but i do say that the judgment of history will be looking at these three separate issues. was action justified? yes, undoubtedly so. was the reconstruction badly dealt with in its origins? i think people will know that to be the case. now would saddam hussein have backed down if there had been greater pressure for longer without military action? our judgment at the time was he wouldn't. of course all the papers will become available and people will see what actually was going on at the time. >> rose: you remain a member of parliament. you are seen in your district. your predecessors, tony blair has gone on

at the start of the iraq war, sergeant alva and 11 marines in his charge were traveling to basra. they hit a land mine which broke sergeant alva's arm and broke his leg so badly the leg had to be amputated. the president awarded him a purple heart. he received a medical discharge from the marine corps. he was the first marine, first american, for that matter, who was injured in the iraq war. he's also an openly gay man. joining us now is marine corps staff sergeant, eric alva. thank you for joining us this evening. >> thank you for having me. >> the commandant of your branch of the service, the marine says repealing don't ask, don't tell is a distraction that will result in marines being injured and killed. what is your reaction to that? >> you know, i didn't hear about his comments until this morning, even though he made them yesterday, and i was just really taken aback on how disrespectful someone who is the leader of the united states marine corps can talk about, you know, members in the armed forces who is aware of that there are gay service members serving in the marine corps

in 1990, he join the marines at the age of 19. 13 years later 3, 2 years of age, he was serving in basra on the first day of the war in iraq an march 21, 20036789 this young marine be, eric alva went into the invasion of basra, stepped on a land mine and became the first u.s. casualty of the war in iraq. as a result of that occurrence, his right arm and left leg sustained permanent damage. his right leg was simply gone. he was saved, sent to hospitals in landstuhl, jearnlings and then here in the -- in landstuhl, germany, and then here in the united states where they did everything humanly possible to repair his broken border, the broken body of this young manager the first casualty of the war in iraq. as he flai that hospital going through -- as he lay in that hospital going through countless surgeries to restore his life, he was visited by against secretary donald rumsfeld and then by first lady laura bush, and president george bush who personally awarded him a purple heart. it was the least we can do to horn his courage and heroism, being part of the first marines who went in and paid

current temperatures outside chile and we are seeing chilly weather and wet weather to the north of basra you can see show hours in the north western portions of california bring wet weather and a bit. bay area temperatures look like. 44 fairfield and concord, of 47 for napa and redwood city, here's a look at future cash on the rain making its way into the forecast on thursday best chance of showers to the north bay and then we will see a storm coming in on friday bringing scattered showers through the bay. we see a chance of showers through saturday, sunday maybe even the start of your work week. your eyes today 59 for san rosa novato 55 vallejo 60 richmond 61 for oakland to 61 for he would, fremont, mountain view. 63 for los gatos and morgan hill. 62 for san jose and 61 livermore. 7 day around the bay forecast dry weather today than the wet weather making its way into more starting with showers in the northern part of the bay then friday we will see rain on and off throughout the day, saturday sunday monday tuesday shores as well. highs through the week highs '50s and '60s. over two eri

one of the folks at lg asked me to be part of the text ed at basra counseling thought would be a great way to help parents and teens learn more about how we can be more responsible when it comes to mobile technology. now, the videos are funny i hope, and we have been able to laugh a little, but at the end of the day it's a very important issue and i'd like to see the fcc and everyone there so dedicated to having this conversation about mobile technology, the good and bad behavior. now i don't know if you are aware of this, but teens on average send a text every 14 minutes. now that's more than 20,000 texts in the u.s. every second. in fact i did someone in the audience is text think right now to all of those in the audience, and you know that you are, listen closely. today i that you're going to learn something. and parents, parents out there, don't think that you are getting off easy. we know from our research that half of you are guilty of testing and driving. that's right, parents. they are on to you but we have to make sure you are doing everything you can to model good behavior. >