The Bush administration condemned the killing of Gen. Shawkat Haji Mushir, a commander of the Iraqi Kurdish resistance. The State Department agreed with Kurdish leaders that a Kurdish group tied to al-Qaida killed Mushir. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher noted Monday that Secretary of State Colin Powell has made clear his grave concern about the group, Ansar al-Islam, and their connections with Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network. Boucher said the United States had worked closely for years with Mushir, a senior official of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, an anti-Saddam Hussein group, and a minister in the rump Kurdish parliament. Full Story