Saudi Arabia

Leaders & Revolutionaries King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia Peter Akinola, archbishop, Nigeria Mohamed Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir, president, Sudan Osama bin Laden Michael Bloomberg, mayor, New York City Raul Castro, acting president, Cuba Hillary Clinton, U.S. senator from New York Queen Elizabeth II, United Kingdom Sonia Gandhi, chair, Indian National Congress Party Hu Jintao, president, China ...

Cost of war is terribly high To the editor: Regime changes by an outside force seldom have the desired consequence. In 1963 the C.I.A. engineered the overthrow of the Diem regime in Vietnam and for the next two decades the United States was bogged down in that terrible war which tore at the very heart of our nation's consciousness - ultimately ending in a disastrous defeat for the United States. But only after the loss of 50,000 American lives. The Bush administration seems to be the only one pushing for war with Iraq.

waynesboro@herald-mail.com An American flag and a West Virginia flag that Gov. Bob Wise gave to the 167th Air Lift Wing West Virginia Air National Guard at the start of the war in Iraq were returned to him Friday by troops who flew missions there and throughout Southwest Asia and Africa in support of the war. There are 130 men and women from the unit deployed in the Persian Gulf region and Iraq, said Lt. Col. Roger Sencindiver, base...

julieg@herald-mail.com WASHINGTON COUNTY - Local drivers are unexpectedly paying less at the pumps for a gallon of gas heading into a busy traveling holiday weekend, according to AAA. Gasoline retailers usually raise prices heading into Thanksgiving week in anticipation of high demand, AAA Mid-Atlantic spokeswoman Myra Wieman said. Instead, prices have dropped over the last few weeks thanks to a large supply of gasoline, mild weather and the arrival of weapons inspectors in Iraq, Wieman said.

pepperb@herald-mail.com TRI-STATE - A potential war with Iraq, strikes in Venezuela and OPEC nations that are tightening the belt on crude oil supplies are among the factors leading to higher prices at gas pumps, and things may get worse, according to a AAA spokeswoman. "In a state of war, you never know," said Myra Wieman, spokeswoman for AAA Mid-Atlantic. Gas prices in Hagerstown increased about 10 cents in the last month. The $1.45 per gallon average price of self-service regular unleaded gasoline in Hagerstown Friday was higher than the $1.09 it was a year ago, but lower than in May 2001, when prices rose to $1.63, she said.

By RICHARD F. BELISLE Staff Writer MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- A Berkeley County educator leaves Saturday for a 10,000-mile flight to Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, where he will lecture other educators in a conference sponsored by the U.S. State Department. Rodney Woods, 49, has been principal at Valley View Elementary School in southern Berkeley County for 10 years. He has been an educator for 27 years. He will speak at the Near East South Asia Council of Overseas Schools conference in Abu Dhabi.

charlestown@herald-mail.com About 100 members of the 167th Airlift Wing based in Berkeley County, W.Va., were welcomed home Thursday following a 60-day mission in which they carried 818 tons of supplies and 1,174 people in support of the war in and around Afghanistan. Members of the local West Virginia Air National Guard base were praised for flying more than 1,600 hours with no aborted missions. Conducting that many flights without having to cancel any missions was impressive considering the temperatures that reached 130 degrees and the sandy conditions, which can play havoc with aircraft, officers said.

Editor's note: Each week, The Herald-Mail invites readers to answer poll questions on its Web site, www.herald-mail.com. Readers also may submit comments about the poll question when voting. Each Sunday, a sampling of edited reader comments will run in The Herald-Mail. Last week, there were two poll questions. The first question was: What steps are you taking to conserve gasoline? "We are not suffering a gas shortage. We are the victims of corporate greed. " "If people would just slow down 3 to 4 mph, we would save millions of barrels of oil. Even truckers are starting to reduce their speed (somewhat)

scottb@herald-mail.com While some people are complaining about rising gas prices, Don Watson of Newfoundland is not one of them. "You guys are cheap," Watson said Tuesday of local gas prices. Watson, in the United States to attend a wedding, was pumping gas at the AC&T on Halfway Boulevard. Gas there was selling for $2 a gallon for regular, $2.08 for mid-grade and $2.16 for premium. Gasoline is much more expensive in Newfoundland at $1.10 per liter, he said.