Iraq

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Blackwater Guard Kills NY Times Dog
Blackwater Guard Kills
NY Times Dog
Dec 19, 2007 4:35 AM CST

Blackwater Guard Kills NY Times Dog

Pooch attacked bomb-sniffing K-9, says security firm

(Newser) - Another fatal shooting by a Blackwater guard in Baghdad is under investigation by the US embassy. The victim this time is a dog kept by the staff of the New York Times, reports Reuters. The guard shot the dog, Hentish, last week before a visit by a diplomat to the...

Bush Wins War Budget Battle
Bush Wins War Budget Battle
Dec 19, 2007 3:39 AM CST

Bush Wins War Budget Battle

Senate approves $70 billion in war funds

(Newser) - The White House last night won a major victory in the Senate—securing $70 billion in funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, free of the restrictions linked to troop withdrawals Democrats had insisted on for weeks. In a budget deal that ended months of wrangling, the Senate passed...

eBay Halts Sale of Iraqi Treasure
eBay Halts Sale of Iraqi Treasure
Dec 18, 2007 4:24 PM CST

eBay Halts Sale of Iraqi Treasure

Smuggled 4,000-year-old tablet was taken down minutes before auction closed

(Newser) - eBay called off the auction of a 4,000-year-old clay tablet last week just minutes before it closed because an expert suspected the artifact had been smuggled out of Iraq, the Guardian reports. A German archaeologist alerted authorities after spotting the tablet, a business-card-size object covered in distinctive cuneiform script,...

Turkish Troops Cross Into Iraq
Turkish Troops Cross Into Iraq
Dec 18, 2007 6:14 AM CST

Turkish Troops Cross Into Iraq

Ground operations follow air raids on Kurdish rebels

(Newser) - Turkey sent hundreds of troops across the Iraqi border today to battle Kurdish separatists, the first large-scale ground incursion since tensions rose in the fall, Reuters reports. About 300 lightly armed troops arrived in a semi-autonomous mountainous region, Iraqi officials said. Ankara had no immediate comment on the operation, which...

Rice Pops Up in Iraq to Plead for Peace

Calls for reconciliation on surprise visit

(Newser) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Iraq for a surprise visit today to plead for increased efforts at reconciliation, Reuters reports. She flew into the ethnically mixed northern city of Kirkuk—which some expect to be the next flashpoint for violence. The city's Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen are deeply...

Iran Still Sliding Iraq Arms: US
Iran Still Sliding Iraq Arms: US
Dec 17, 2007 6:41 PM CST

Iran Still Sliding Iraq Arms: US

Pentagon report says weapons, training still flowing across border

(Newser) - Stability in Iraq may be increasing, but the flow of arms and insurgents across its border with Iran has slowed little, reports the Wall Street Journal. A Pentagon report, to be presented to Congress tomorrow, will frame Iraq's overall security in a positive light, but again call into question how...

Psych Prof Puts Bush on the Couch
Psych Prof
Puts Bush
on the Couch
OPINION
Dec 17, 2007 2:46 PM CST

Psych Prof Puts Bush on the Couch

Snarky summary has implications prez should take seriously

(Newser) - President Bush recently scorned a reporter’s “Psychology 101,” but one mind-minded professor says he could benefit from a few lessons. Bush should start by trying “pattern matching,” Jonathan Haidt writes in the LA Times, with no little humor: If he’d stop equating Islam with...

Iraq: We Need Troops for 10 More Years

But nation won't accept permanent bases

(Newser) - Despite improved security, Iraq will need US troops for 10 more years, but won’t accept permanent bases, an Iraqi official said yesterday. "For 10 years our army will not be able to defend Iraq," said government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh. Iraq has asked the United Nations Security Council...

Military: Shift Troops to Afghan Front

As Iraq improves, Afghanistan unravels

(Newser) - The US military is calling for an accelerated withdrawal from Iraq and a shift of troops and equipment to Afghanistan, reports the Washington Post. The post-surge reduction of violence in Iraq has coincided with resurgent Taliban activity in Afghanistan; both NATO and US commanders there say they need several additional...

Iraq Pumping More Oil Than Before War

Increased security at northern pipeline credited with boost

(Newser) - Thanks largely to increased security, Iraq is now producing more oil than it was before the war began in 2003, according to the International Energy Agency. The output is up to 2.3 million barrels per day from 1.9 million barrels daily at the beginning of the year. Protecting...

Iraq Invites Refugees Home, but Home Is Gone

350K displaced in Iraq; US military begs Baghdad to build new housing

(Newser) - Baghdad shocked Washington and the UN last month by inviting home 1.4 million refugees from Syria, the Washington Post reports. The UN warned against it, saying exiles would face poverty, but Iraq started a bus line to transport them back. Many found their homes looted and neighborhoods redrawn along...

Turkish Air Strikes Target Kurdish Rebels

Attack inside northern Iraq the first since US invasion

(Newser) - Turkey launched its first air strike since 2003 on Kurdish militants in northern Iraq early this morning, targeting a mountainous region near the Turkish border where the government says the PKK has its leadership council and camps. About 50 warplanes were used in the offensive, the AP reports, which lasted...

After 5 Years, Brits Hand Over Basra to Iraqis

Strategic, unstable region to test strength of Baghdad government

(Newser) - Ending five years of British control in southern Iraq, the UK today handed over authority for the wealthy, populous Basra region to the Iraqi government. Residents greeted the handover with jubilation, but the responsibility for Basra—strategically located, an oil export hub and home of Iraq's only port—will prove...

Congress Approves War Funds
Congress Approves War Funds
Dec 14, 2007 5:41 PM CST

Congress Approves War Funds

Measure doesn't tie funds to Iraq withdrawals, making Bush veto less likely

(Newser) - The Senate today authorized a defense bill providing $506.9 billion for Pentagon programs and $189.4 billion in funding for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars—but no timetables on troop withdrawals, which brought vetoes on earlier efforts. The bill, approved 90-3 by the Senate, expands the army by 13,...

Iraq Watchdog Gets His Own Probe
Iraq Watchdog
Gets His
Own Probe
Dec 14, 2007 6:42 AM CST

Iraq Watchdog Gets His Own Probe

Charges of inflated OT, email snooping and hexes by wiccan deputy

(Newser) - The tables have turned on the federal watchdog who has spent the past four years investigating waste and fraud in Iraq—he's now the target of an FBI probe of his own alleged overspending and mismanagement. Former employees claim that Inspector General Stuart Brown paid some employees inflated six-figure overtime,...

Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Go!
Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Go!
Dec 14, 2007 5:08 AM CST

Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Go!

Military's 'Will and Grace' generation more tolerant of gays

(Newser) - The US military, whose resources are stretched overseas, has become far more tolerant of gays. One Army sergeant turned over a video of a passionate kiss with his boyfriend to superior officers and was merely told to go back to work, according to a "60 Minutes" investigation to be...

Iraqis United in Mass Wedding
Iraqis United in Mass Wedding
Dec 13, 2007 12:53 PM CST

Iraqis United in Mass Wedding

Dozens of couples marry across sectarian divides

(Newser) - A Baghdad media magnate, determined to overcome the sectarian conflict tearing apart Iraq, organized a mass wedding for dozens of mixed Baghdad couples, reports the Christian Science Monitor. The newspaper owner scoured the city for 70 couples from different ethnicities or sects, and treated them to a wedding and party...

Army Deploys Anthropologists on Front Lines

Uncle Sam enlists social scientists; colleagues object

(Newser) - The US military has been employing anthropologists in Iraq and Afghanistan to help troops work more effectively with locals. The results have been so promising they've just launched a $40 million program to embed social scientists with all 26 combat brigades. But the response back home has been ugly, with...

Iraqis Vow to Take Charge Despite Bombings

Authorities lock down Amara with vehicle ban

(Newser) - Iraqi officials confirmed yesterday that they will take over security from exiting British troops in Basra, despite the triple car bomb explosions that claimed as many as 41 lives yesterday in nearby Amara. Local authorities had only recently taken over control of the city from the British military, and multiple...

Car Bombs Kill at Least 40 in Amara, Iraq

Shiite provincial capital site of factional violence

(Newser) - A series of near-simultaneous car bombs killed at least 40 and injured dozens this morning in Amara, a Shiite-dominated city in southeastern Iraq, CNN reports. The British military handed the area to Iraqi forces in August, 2006; it has been the scene of increasingly violent confrontations between Shiite factions.

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