Terror Groups Increasingly Active in Qatar
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now in the news, Baghdad today, drive-by shooters kill an Iraqi general and wound his two sons one day after five Iraqi women, three of them sisters, died in a similar attack. The women were cleaning staff on an American military base. The gunmen got away. West of the capital of Ramadi, a car bomb exploded Thursday at a checkpoint manned by Iraqi police officers. Eleven police officers were killed in a break from the insurgents' pattern. U.S. military investigators believes the car bomb's driver may have been forced to detonate the explosive. Word today that the United States will resume military sales to Pakistan. An official announcement is expected later today on plans to again provide Pakistan with F-16 fighter jets. A similar deal with India. The U.S. suspended support to Pakistan 15 years ago. We're told President Bush has already phoned the prime minister of India to tell him about the pending sale. Amber Alert, a statewide search in Iowa for a 10-year-old Cedars Rapid girl, Jetseta Marie Gage, missing since last night, believed taken by a man known to the family, and a registered sex offender. Authorities are scouring the state for the pickup truck they think 37- year-old Roger Bentley is driving.</s>MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We're still awaiting a response from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. That's where Terri Schiavo's parents have filed their latest appeal in a last-ditch bid to have their daughter's feeding tube reinserted. Now legal experts say Bob and Mary Schlinder's appeal has very little chance of success. It's now been a week since that feeding tube was removed from the severely brain-damaged woman. And a short while ago, Bob Schindler appeared outside her hospice to tell supporters he believes Terri is down to her last hours. Others Schlinder supporters have gathered for an all day Good Friday prayer vigil at the Florida governor's mansion. They hope to persuade Jeb Bush to intervene, despite his comments that he can't overstep his gubernatorial powers. Although the case of Terri Schiavo has made global headlines, her story's not unique. In Louisville, Kentucky a car wreck led to a similar tragedy, and similar battles a decade ago, even down to the 11th hour intervention of a governor. CNN's Tom Foreman with the story of Hugh Finn.</s>TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The story of Hugh Finn's controversial death begins on this road outside Louisville where the popular local TV host was in a horrific accident on an icy morning. The wreck left Hugh Finn in a permanently vegetative state and his wife, Michelle, in a terrible spot.</s>MICHELLE FINN, WIFE: And we had talked about the fact that we would not want, neither one of us would want to live in that type of condition.</s>FOREMAN: So, you never had any doubt about what his wishes were?</s>M. FINN: No.</s>FOREMAN: So, more than three years later she decided to remove his feeding tube at his nursing home in Virginia. His parents challenged the decision in court and they lost.</s>THOMAS FINN, FATHER: When he was in that hospital, we could touch him. There was hope. Now that he's in the hole there's no hope for him, none whatsoever.</s>FOREMAN: But with the tube removal only hours away, Michelle could not believe what happened next. Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore went to the state courts to try to stop it.</s>M. FINN: I was just hysterical. I couldn't believe -- it never occurred to me that it would happen. I kept saying how can he do this? How can he do this?</s>GOV. JIM GILMORE (R), VIRGINIA: Well, I think the public officials have a duty to make sure that those who are disabled those who are vulnerable make sure that they're properly protected. That, I think, is a proper role of an elected official and the law supported that type of intervention at the time.</s>FOREMAN: The governor lost too. The feeding tube was removed and nine days later Hugh Finn died.</s>T. FINN: It was a murder because you put him to death.</s>FOREMAN (on camera): The rift between Michelle Finn and her husband's family has never fully healed, despite efforts on both sides and she points out even her own mother disagreed with her decision. (voice-over): Michelle understands. She does not apologize.</s>M. FINN: I felt like I had one more commitment that I had made to him that I needed to fulfill.</s>FOREMAN: You didn't think you could walk away?</s>M. FINN: No, absolutely not. I could not walk away from that because I knew...</s>FOREMAN: Even though the family wanted to say we'll take care of him. Just leave him alone.</s>M. FINN: Except that that's not what he wanted and that's what I was afraid of was I knew what he wanted and if I did not do it, nobody would and he would not get what he wanted.</s>FOREMAN: Like the rest of the nation, Michelle Finn is following the saga of Terri Schiavo but, unlike most, it is a road she has traveled. Tom Foreman CNN, Louisville, Kentucky.</s>PHILLIPS: Today's security watch takes us to Qatar, where authorities today say they found a house where last weekend's suicide car bomb was prepared. The attack killed one person, injured a dozen others, and reinforced warnings to Westerners living in that region, that terror groups are increasingly active there. CNN's Barbara Starr has more from the Pentagon.</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the peaceful Persian Gulf nation of Qatar, a theater popular with Westerners earlier this month was attacked by a suicide bomber. An Islamic-related Web site posted unverified claims of responsibility. Now concern is rising across the region about the threat from fundamentals with ties to any number of organizations. As Easter approaches, the U.S. Embassy in Qatar is now warning, a number of reports have been circulating, particularly on the Internet, suggesting that American and other Western interests, such as churches, may be the targets of terrorist attacks. Senior U.S. commanders this week warned again that al Qaeda and other groups are on the move across the Persian Gulf all the way to Eastern Africa, in part because other havens have been shut down.</s>MAJ. GEN. SAMUEL HELLAND, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: With the increase in stability and security in Afghanistan and Iraq, they have to move around.</s>STARR: Commanders say it may not matter if terrorists are al Qaeda members. The attackers' goal, frighten Westerners, chill the investment climate and unsettle local governments. In Qatar, the suicide attack was the first of its kind. A close U.S. ally, Qatar hosts the desert headquarters of the U.S. Central Command, which led the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Government support for the U.S. appears unshaken. In Saudi Arabia, a brazen military attack on the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah in December ended with several assailants being killed, shockwaves through the kingdom. Crown Prince Abdullah has vowed a crackdown. In Kuwait, security forces had several shoot-outs with suspected militants in January. Security has been tightened at buildings and oil facilities across the country where Westerners work. Still, General Helland says al Qaeda is increases its ties to emerging terrorist organizations and is using them as front men.</s>HELLAND: Now, those operations could be something as simple as cutting a railroad line, blowing up a supply line, an oil line or whatever, so they can disrupt the control of the government that is in place.</s>STARR (on camera): U.S. military intelligence official fully expect more attacks, but they also say that governments in the region are responding strongly and are fully committed to defeating the terrorists. Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.</s>PHILLIPS: And CNN is committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay tuned to CNN for the latest information day and night.</s>O'BRIEN: Is a manmade problem poised to create a real life Atlantis. Coming up in the next hour on LIVE FROM, a south pacific paradise targeted for extinction by a rising sea. And up next...</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was marching on crutches, and he walking all the way, 55 miles, from Selma to Montgomery, for my freedom, for our freedom and our right to vote.</s>O'BRIEN: Remembering the march that helped change America forever.