Insurgents don't seem to care

Those Iraqi insurgents don't seem to be cowering in fear after a Bush re-election:

Gunmen kidnapped a Lebanese-American businessman -- the second U.S. citizen seized this week in Baghdad -- and militants released a tape today showing the beheading of an Iraqi officer as a warning to those who deal with "the infidel" Americans. An unknown group claimed it beheaded three Iraqi National Guardsmen.

Elsewhere, a U.S. soldier was killed and another wounded in a roadside bombing 12 miles south of the capital. A suicide driver detonated his vehicle at a checkpoint near Baghdad airport, injuring nine Iraqis and prompting U.S. troops to close the main route into the city for hours.

U.S. jets were in action again late today over Fallujah, striking insurgent targets in the northeastern and southern parts of the city where American forces are said to be gearing up for a major assault. Residents reported fierce exchanges of fire after midnight on the edge of the city.

Gunmen killed a senior Oil Ministry official, Hussein Ali al-Fattal, after he left his house today in the Yarmouk district of western Baghdad, police said. Al-Fattal was the general manager of a state-owned company that distributes petroleum by-products.