Iraq

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US Presence in Iraq Open-Ended in Secret Pact

US-Iraq deal would remove limit on troops, weapons

(Newser) - US officials and the Iraqi government plan to authorize an open-ended American presence in Iraq, according to a secret draft of an agreement between the two nations. The March 7 draft, leaked to the Guardian, is intended to replace the current UN mandate authorizing operations that expires this year. The...

Split Deepens Between Iraqi Shiites

Intra-sect feuds reign between Sadr loyalists and government bodies

(Newser) - As violence between Sunni and Shiites has subsided in Iraq, animosity between Shiite sects is mounting, with a death toll to match, the Washington Post reports. The government's offensive last week against Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia in Basra exposed the grim reality of a widening political gulf. “...

Iraqi PM: No Elections for Militias

Mahdi Army must disband, Maliki says, or lose political power

(Newser) - Muqtada al-Sadr and his loyalists will be banned from upcoming elections if the Mahdi Army doesn't disband, Nouri al-Maliki said today, in his toughest rhetoric yet against the popular cleric. Sadrists say the Iraqi PM has no constitutional power to make that threat, but even if lawmakers succeed in banning...

US-Backed Militias Curb Iraqi Women's Rights

'Sahwa' stabilize areas but rule with medieval customs

(Newser) - Women's rights in Iraq are devolving under the rule of US-backed militias, Newsweek reports. These Sahwa or "Awakening" groups have stabilized regions, but rule with medieval laws and customs: In some areas, women are commonly kept at home, forced to wear headscarves, or are married into polygamous relationships, Newsweek...

Iraqi Forces Rescue 40 Kidnapped Students

Bus was grabbed at fake Mosul checkpoint

(Newser) - Iraqi police and soldiers have freed at least 40 students kidnapped by suspected members of Sunni Islamist al-Qaeda, Reuters reports. The young men had been seized by gunmen near Mosul in northern Iraq who set up a fake checkpoint and stopped two busloads of students returning to classes from a...

Iraqi Official Calls Blackwater Deal 'Bad News'

PM's adviser warns Baghdad may challenge contract

(Newser) - An Iraqi official called the renewal of Blackwater USA's contract "bad news" today, CNN reports. "I personally am not happy with this, especially because they have committed acts of aggression, killed Iraqis," said the adviser to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. With many in Baghdad upset about it,...

Combat Tours to Be Cut
 Combat Tours to Be Cut 
Apr 5, 2008 5:20 AM CDT

Combat Tours to Be Cut

Tours of duty to be cut back to 12 months; Congress to hear troop cut proposals

(Newser) - American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are to have their combat tours cut from 15 months to 12 beginning late this summer. The White House plans a formal announcement next week, an insider told the AP. Tours were lengthened last year to boost troop levels in Iraq, and the Army...

Iraqi PM Flips, Calls Off Raids on Militias

Maliki extends olive branch to Sadr after Basra battle

(Newser) - Nouri al Maliki reversed course today, ordering a stop to raids against suspected Mahdi Army militants. The move is an apparent olive branch to Shiite rival Muqtada al Sadr, who had complained that raids against his militia fighters were continuing, even after he’d ordered them off the streets. Just...

Dems Blast Secret Iraq Report
Dems Blast Secret Iraq Report
Apr 4, 2008 5:20 AM CDT

Dems Blast Secret Iraq Report

Rosy picture aims to bolster White House, they charge

(Newser) - A new, top-secret intelligence report asserts that conditions on the ground in Iraq have markedly improved, reports the Wall Street Journal. Only a select number of House and Senate members have seen the report, but top Democrats are already blasting the document as an effort to bolster the administration's Iraq...

1,000 Iraqis Deserted Basra Battle

Officers and men fled or balked as government battled militias

(Newser) - Desertions from Iraqi forces during last week's Basra battles have raised fresh doubts about the effectiveness of the country's US-trained security forces, the New York Times reports. Over 1,000 soldiers and policemen—including dozens of officers—either deserted or refused to fight. The US has linked American troop withdrawals...

Next Prez's To-Do: Fix Diplomacy
 Next Prez's To-Do:
 Fix Diplomacy 
OPINION
Apr 3, 2008 4:10 PM CDT

Next Prez's To-Do: Fix Diplomacy

New administration will need to fix problems Bush has not addressed

(Newser) - Taking the attitude that "since we were now all-powerful, allies were no longer necessary," President Bush damaged the US' image and diminished its power, Fred Kaplan writes in Slate. How can the next president heal our diplomatic woes?
  1. Visit all Middle East countries; leave a full-time envoy: "
...

Iraqi Assault on Basra Was 'Thrown Together'

Americans taken aback by Maliki's hasty, improvised raid

(Newser) - American officials were expecting a gradual, methodical operation when Nouri al-Maliki moved Iraqi troops into Basra to restore order in the city. What they witnessed instead was a rush job: an Iraqi raid that had little forethought and began even before the last of the soldiers had arrived. "He...

Reporters Wounded in Iraq Win Peabody Awards

Woodruff and Dozier honored for their war reporting

(Newser) - Two journalists seriously injured in Iraq won Peabody Awards today for their stories on wounded veterans, the AP reports. Bob Woodruff of ABC and Kimberly Dozier of CBS each won for their profiles of soldiers returning home from Iraq. Woodruff suffered a brain injury in an IED attack in 2006,...

Army's Role in Iraq Turning Personal
Army's Role in Iraq Turning Personal
commentary
Apr 1, 2008 11:21 PM CDT

Army's Role in Iraq Turning Personal

Troops 'all but qualify for Iraqi citizenship,' for better or worse

(Newser) - After five years of war, the US military is enmeshed in virtually all aspects of Iraqi life—a common development in such engagements but one that can prove to be a double-edged sword for military efficiency, writes Lawrence Kaplan in the policy forum Bitter Lemons. "American units slowly melt...

Iran Played Key Role in al-Sadr Ceasefire

Iraqi lawmakers met cleric in Iran before deal was struck

(Newser) - Iran played a key role in convincing Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to call a ceasefire in Basra yesterday, CNN reports. Iraqi lawmakers from five Shiite parties traveled to Iran on Friday to meet with al-Sadr, and returned yesterday, right before al-Sadr's injunction to halt violence in Basra, an Iraqi official...

Army Allowing Spouses to Live Together in Iraq

Long-standing policy gives way in name of boosting morale, re-enlistment

(Newser) - Desperate to combat sagging morale from repeated deployments to Iraq, the US Army has quietly eased rules against married soldiers living together at war, the AP reports. Wedded soldiers in certain camps can now cohabitate in private trailers. "It makes a lot of things easier," said soldier and...

Next Prez's To-Do: Fix Military
 Next Prez's To-Do: Fix Military 
OPINION
Mar 31, 2008 3:39 PM CDT

Next Prez's To-Do: Fix Military

Budget woes aren't the only defense issue facing White House's next denizen

(Newser) - Has President Bush done irreparable damage to our armed forces? Not necessarily, Phillip Carter and Fred Kaplan write in Slate, offering a to-do list for the next president to tackle as he or she begins the process of fixing a military "in strange shambles."
  1. Overhaul the budget: "
...

Al-Sadr Orders His Militia Off Streets of Basra
Al-Sadr Orders His Militia Off Streets of Basra
Updated
Mar 30, 2008 5:15 PM CDT

Al-Sadr Orders His Militia Off Streets of Basra

He offers weakened Maliki a truce deal as violence continues

(Newser) - Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his fighters to leave the streets of Basra and other cities, reports the BBC, in an effort to end clashes with security forces. “Anyone carrying a weapon and targeting government institutions will not be one of us,” Sadr said, but minutes after...

Brits Join the Fight in Basra
Brits Join the Fight in Basra
Mar 29, 2008 11:27 AM CDT

Brits Join the Fight in Basra

US widens its airstrikes, and Sadr tells followers to keep their weapons

(Newser) - As the Iraqi army struggles to combat militias in Basra, British troops for the first time directly joined the fight, and American forces expanded their bombing beyond the militia stronghold. The Brits, who had previously provided only logistical and air support to the Iraqis, fired on an insurgent mortar team...

New US Mideast Commander Installed
New US Mideast Commander Installed
Mar 29, 2008 8:58 AM CDT

New US Mideast Commander Installed

Out with the Navy, in with the Army as head of CentCom

(Newser) - A new commander has taken temporary charge of US military operations in the Mideast, after a quiet ceremony at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida yesterday. Lt. Gen Martin Dempsey will run CentCom while the administration seeks a permanent replacement for Adm. William Fallon, who quit abruptly earlier this month...

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