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U.S. dollars wooed ally in Iraq coalitionAs the Bush administration scrambled last year to pull together a "coalition of the willing" to wage a war in Iraq, it simultaneously negotiated and financed an unprecedented multibillion-dollar arms deal with Poland - a compact that promises to funnel at least $6 billion in U.S. investments into the former Warsaw Pact nation, which has become one of the United States' primary wartime supporters. President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have criticized Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry in recent days for suggesting that the administration used financial inducements to assemble its coalition, calling his comments an insult to a country like Poland, which dispatched 2,500 troops to fight alongside Americans in Iraq.

Two senior enlisted leaders with an elite Navy dive unit could face charges of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of two sailors at Aberdeen Proving Ground in February, and others could be charged, the Navy said Wednesday. The chief warrant officer and the senior chief petty officer, whom officials did not name, also could face charges of dereliction of duty in the deaths of Diver 1st Class James Reyher and Diver 2nd Class Ryan Harris. All were members of the elite Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 2, which is based in Virginia Beach, Va., but has made frequent use of the UNDEX Test Facility at Aberdeen Proving Ground.

Shaped like a teardrop and carved out of the eastern bank of the Bush River, the UNDEX Test Facility at Aberdeen Proving Ground has earned the nickname "Super Pond" for its unusual properties. Viewed from above, the man-made pond looks much darker than the nearby waters of the Chesapeake Bay. That's because it drops 150 feet to a flat bottom, where, out of view of the public, the military tests missiles, torpedoes, sonar and the effects of explosions on submarines and boats - all within walls that can withstand the equivalent of 4,100 pounds of TNT. It's also where Navy divers practice salvage missions.

Rep. Donna F. Edwards slipped into the F-35 cockpit - a stationary demonstration model - and gave the jet a simulated spin, trying out the controls, shooting down enemy aircraft over the Chesapeake Bay and executing a celebratory roll. "This feels so cool ," said Edwards, a Prince George's County Democrat. "OK, let's land this thing - give somebody else a chance. " This hands-on version of show and tell, held in Linthicum on Thursday, is part of a public-relations campaign for the most expensive weapons program in the nation's history.

The recent decision by President Bush to authorize a $6 billion sale of 150 F-16 jet fighters to Taiwan could bring a spurt of business to the local Westinghouse division that supplies the aircraft's radar.Joseph Stout, a spokesman for the General Dynamics Corp. plant in Fort Worth, Texas, where the F-16 is built, said yesterday that the proposed sale could preserve 3,000 jobs at peak production in 1997 and keep the door open for more foreign sales in the future.General Dynamics has built more than 3,000 F-16 fighters since 1972 for the U.S. Air Force and more than a dozen foreign countries.

We know what President Barack Obama's priorities are. He gives F-16 fighters and big bucks to Egypt and plays golf with Tiger Woods for a weekend; then he closes down the White House for tours. Unbelievable! Lyle Rescott, Marriottsville Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Westinghouse Electric Corp.'s local division has received a $195.6 million order for 157 radar units to be used on F-16 fighter planes, the Department of Defense announced yesterday.The radars will be installed on planes being purchased by Taiwan.The announcement is more good news for Maryland's battered defense industry, coming a day after Martin Marietta Corp.'s Middle River plant received a $298 million contract to build rocket launchers for the Navy.Yesterday's contract stems from a 1992 decision by President George Bush to authorize a $6 billion sale of 150 F-16 jet fighters to Taiwan.

CASCADE, Md. - A recently closed Army base might not be everyone's idea of paradise, but Sharon Garcia saw enough to like about Fort Ritchie and its picturesque mountain setting to move her family here a few years ago. The place grew on her. She bowled in a league at the Sunshine Lanes. Her neighbors came to her door with cookies. And her son Jonathan found friends among the children settling with their families into the modest townhouses that once housed soldiers. Then the base's past intruded.

Hoping to make Maryland the 15th state in the nation to legalize medical marijuana, legislators introduced a pair of bills Tuesday in the General Assembly that would let doctors approve access to marijuana for their patients and sanction dispensaries, and even pharmacies, to distribute the drug. The legislation would allow the use of marijuana by patients who have a "debilitating medical condition," such as seizures, severe chronic pain or severe nausea as a result of cancer treatment.

Norman R. Augustine pushed himself away from the large mahogany desk, which, as always, was uncluttered except for a pen set, clock and family snapshots. He didn't want to be in the office. It was Saturday, and an uncommonly pleasant one for mid-March - 55 degrees and sunny.But he'd called the emergency meeting, summoning a dozen top lieutenants to his second-floor office in Bethesda. The question: Should Martin Marietta increase its $1.93 billion bid for Grumman Corp.? Two weeks ago, the acquisition had looked assured.