Iraq

Lawyer: AWOL mom still may be punished

DENVER - Spc. Simone Holcomb, a National Guard medic who defied orders and stayed home with her children after a custody battle rather than return to duty in Iraq, has been reassigned to Fort Carson, Colo. But she still may face court-martial.

"The National Guard was working on a resolution to this problem," Giorgio Ra'Shadd, Holcomb's lawyer, said Tuesday. There was "a monkey wrench thrown into the works," he explained, when Holcomb's commander in Iraq called and insisted on an administrative punishment.

Holcomb, 30, and her husband, Vaughn, an Army sergeant, were both sent to Iraq in February; his mother went to Fort Carson, near Colorado Springs, to care for their seven children.

After about eight months, the couple learned that Vaughn Holcomb's ex-wife was seeking custody of her two children. The Holcombs received an emergency leave, came home and prevailed in the custody battle. But a Colorado judge said one parent had to stay or they would lose custody of all of the children.

Simone Holcomb volunteered. Soon, the military told her to be on a plane to Iraq on Oct. 9. Her requests for an emergency leave, a compassionate reassignment and a compassionate discharge were refused, she said. In the end, she disobeyed the order and stayed with the children.

"Common sense is going to prevail in this matter," Fort Carson spokesman Lt. Col. Tom Budzyna told the Associated Press. "We are going to take care of this soldier."

Budzyna also said the reassignment would be backdated to Oct. 10, the day Holcomb was due in Iraq - clearing her of the AWOL listing.

NEW YORK - Pornographer Larry Flynt claims he bought nude photos of Pfc. Jessica Lynch last month to publish in Hustler magazine, but changed his mind because she is a "good kid ... and a victim of the Bush administration."

The photos, which Flynt's publicist says show the undressed Army supply clerk posing with male soldiers, were sold to Flynt last month, according to a statement from Flynt that was read to the Associated Press on Tuesday by his publicist.

"Jessica Lynch is a good kid, she's not a hypocrite or out to fool anyone," Flynt's statement said. "She's just a victim of the Bush administration, who is using her to justify the war in Iraq and force-feed us a Joan of Arc."

In an interview with the AP on Tuesday, Lynch declined to comment on any aspect of the matter, including whether such photos exist.

Her attorney, Stephen Goodwin, said in a statement: "It's incredulous that anyone would think it appropriate in any way to attempt to publish unauthorized photos of Jessica - photos taken before she was deployed to Iraq and before her capture and rescue."

BAGHDAD - Several hundred ancient artifacts stolen from the Iraqi Museum during the wave of looting that hit Baghdad after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime have been returned to the museum, officials said Tuesday.

Two important artifacts, hidden in a field and a house in the Iraqi capital, were recovered in two separate joint operations between the Iraqi police and the American military police.

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