Biden recalls pain after death of wife, daughter

  Eyewitness NewsWASHINGTON -- Visibly pained, Vice President Joe Biden recalls the wrenching sorrow of losing his first wife and his daughter to a car accident in 1972.

Biden tells families of fallen soldiers that the grief was such that he understood why some people contemplate suicide. But he says that in time the ache becomes more controllable. He credits his turnabout to meeting and later marrying his wife Jill.

Biden spoke Friday at the 18th annual TAPS National Military Survivor Seminar and Good Grief Camp in Arlington, Va.

He told families at the event that a day will come when the thought of a son or daughter, or husband or wife, in his words, "brings a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye."

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Biden calls Iraqi leaders after wave of violence

  Eyewitness NewsWASHINGTON -- Vice President Joe Biden is reaching out to Iraq's leaders to discuss recent violence there and the country's tenuous political climate.

Biden spoke Sunday with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and on Saturday with the president of the Kurdistan region, Massoud Barzani.

The White House says Biden expressed condolences for the recent violence in Baghdad and discussed the political climate in Iraq.

Biden's calls follow a wave of bombings in Baghdad earlier in the week that left at least 60 people dead.

There are also concerns of a sectarian split in the government after al-Maliki's Shiite-led coalition issued an arrest warrant for the country's top Sunni political leader.

U.S. officials are closely watching the developments in Iraq, which follow the withdrawal of all American troops.

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